>> Tribute Video
00:00:00.620 Today is your day.
00:00:02.880 It's a day to say thank you for loving us, caring for us,
00:00:06.960 and guiding us.
00:00:09.640 It's a day to recognize all you do and all you are to us, your
00:00:13.720 perfect, wonderful, amazing children.
00:00:19.440 Thanks for all the early mornings
00:00:21.600 and for taking care of the things we take for granted.
00:00:25.760 Thanks for never giving up on us, even when we stress you out.
00:00:30.460 Thanks for making sure we have what we need, and for giving us your heart even
00:00:34.480 when you're sick and tired.
00:00:38.220 Thanks for working hard, even when we're a handful, and for loving us
00:00:41.970 unconditionally when our attitude is anything but lovable.
00:00:47.220 You're our everything, Mom, and we'd be a mess without you.
00:00:51.160 Today, we thank God for the wonderful gift of you.
00:00:55.460 Happy Mother's Day.
>> Rachel
00:01:01.860 Well, Happy Mother's Day. Isn't that reality, that
00:01:05.680 last line right there?
00:01:07.680 We are so grateful that you're here, and we want to say Happy Mother's Day to
00:01:10.240 everyone. Obviously, we're not Pastor Eric.
00:01:13.300 We're a panel of women up here speaking on behalf of
00:01:17.320 women for women on Mother's Day, and then you'll get to hear Pastor Eric after we
00:01:20.780 go.
00:01:21.900 But we just want to say welcome. How many of you were at the Coffee and Connect
00:01:25.640 yesterday here at the church?
00:01:28.600 Yeah, it was a good time. Thank you events team for allowing us to
00:01:32.460 have a space and an opportunity to gather together to get to know one another more.
00:01:36.380 It was really refreshing and just an awesome opportunity.
00:01:39.800 And so this morning, we have a panel discussion.
00:01:42.280 We're going to talk about being a mom from different seasons of life that we're all
00:01:45.940 walking in. But that doesn't mean, guys, that you can check out, okay?
00:01:50.060 So dial in, listen for those little nuggets of wisdom that are
00:01:54.000 going to help you to love on your wife and the ladies in your life
00:01:58.020 some more. So,
00:01:59.860 we hope that each one receives something today.
00:02:02.940 I want to go around and just have the ladies introduce themselves.
00:02:06.340 So Bobbi, you want to start? Share a little bit about you and your family.
>> Bobbi
00:02:10.180 Sure. Hi, my name is Bobbi. I have been at Freedom Church for about four
00:02:14.060 years, and I have one daughter who is 24.
00:02:17.740 She's a NICU nurse at West Penn, and I'm super happy to be here.
>> Amy
00:02:23.080 Hi, I'm Amy.
00:02:24.900 I have four kids. The oldest is not in the photo.
00:02:28.080 He's 18, and then I have a five-year-old, a three-year-old,
00:02:32.190 and a one-year-old. And so we're really busy.
00:02:35.440 All boys, so it's quite chaotic.
00:02:38.400 But yeah, I've been at Freedom since we've launched.
>> Gina
00:02:42.120 Hi, I'm Gina. I've been here probably about three years.
00:02:46.560 So I have three adult children, 46,
00:02:50.200 43, and 40, and then I have seven
00:02:53.600 grandkids.
>> Rachel
00:02:54.640 That's great.
>> Amy
00:02:55.960 I have a three-year-old.
>> Rachel
00:02:56.620 Beautiful picture.
>> Kelly
00:02:57.320 Hi, I'm Kelly, and I've been here since we've launched, and I have twin
00:03:01.080 12-year-olds. And we live in the Murrysville area, and I run
00:03:05.100 the Goddard School down the street.
>> Rachel
00:03:07.180 Awesome. And I think most of you know my family, but we have
00:03:11.340 three kids and one on the way.
00:03:15.000 So Dalton, our oldest, is 15. Then we have Judah, who's holding the
00:03:19.000 sign that says there's a new baby girl on the way.
00:03:22.080 He's four, and Eden is two. And I'm sitting up
00:03:26.080 here with my big belly. I'm due any day.
00:03:28.800 So
00:03:30.000 pray, not today, and pray the baby comes
00:03:33.920 before June. She's due in May, so I'm hoping she gets here before
00:03:37.140 June. But yeah, it's so good to be able to speak
00:03:41.120 from different perspectives, different seasons of life, and we really pray that
00:03:45.080 you can grab ahold of something, that the Lord is speaking to you today.
00:03:49.380 So I want to start off with an easy question.
00:03:52.160 What is the best part about being a mom?
00:03:55.520 Who wants to go first?
00:03:57.240 Let's start.
00:03:58.120 Okay.
>> Bobbi
00:04:00.420 So I, even after becoming a Christian,
00:04:03.480 I found a lot of my worth and identity in my roles, whether it be
00:04:07.440 as an employee and performing well at my job,
00:04:11.040 and then for the time that I was married as a wife, and then when I had my
00:04:14.640 daughter, as a mother. But the danger in that is that when
00:04:18.640 you feel like you haven't met the standard that you want to, your world can really
00:04:22.480 crumble, and you can feel
00:04:25.940 just unworthy and like a total failure.
00:04:29.480 And so I feel like one of my favorite parts is that
00:04:33.960 motherhood is such a canvas for the work that God can do, and that's the
00:04:37.780 work that He's done in me since I've become a mom.
00:04:40.340 I don't think that I would be the person I am today if God
00:04:43.800 hadn't worked in me and helped me to grow in the way that He
00:04:47.500 did from that role as a mother, which I
00:04:51.260 love. It's my favorite thing to do, but it also doesn't define
00:04:55.160 me, which is really a blessing.
>> Rachel
00:04:58.880 Amen.
>> Amy
00:04:59.520 So I was
00:05:00.860 working full-time with two of the kids up until a couple of years
00:05:04.620 ago, and I remember hearing the babysitter downstairs playing with
00:05:08.620 my kids and having fun and doing all of the daily activities with them.
00:05:12.460 And I remember thinking, "I'm kind of jealous.
00:05:15.240 Why am I not able to do that with them?" And so I presented that to my husband, and
00:05:18.980 we started praying, and we knew it would be an incredibly hard financial
00:05:23.000 leap of faith for us. But we started praying, and
00:05:27.440 I was like, "Well, let me quit my job and become a stay-at-home mom." And I
00:05:31.400 realized that the Lord actually gave me that desire in my heart to be a
00:05:34.580 stay-at-home mom. That wasn't something that was natural.
00:05:37.450 And so I
00:05:39.880 now am home with my kids full time, and I just love that
00:05:43.940 I don't miss anything. I don't miss any of their developments.
00:05:46.720 I don't miss any of their milestones.
00:05:49.120 I get to be there for the good, the bad, the sad, the happy, the hard days.
00:05:54.100 I just feel like this is a young phase of their life that I didn't want to
00:05:57.880 miss. And so I love being able to be present every day and get to do all the things
00:06:01.600 with my kids and watch them grow into their person.
00:06:04.920 They're so different, each of them, and so it's really cool to see
00:06:08.280 daily how they are becoming their own
>> Rachel
00:06:12.096 I feel like we're in the same season with being able to be home with our littles,
00:06:15.936 so that's fun that we get to connect in that way. Gina, how about you?
>> Gina
00:06:19.416 Well, so my kids are all out of the house, and they're grown, and they have their
00:06:22.716 own families, but I really enjoy just seeing
00:06:26.296 their growth,
00:06:28.896 how they're all... Well, most of them, two of the three are in the church.
00:06:32.976 My grandkids love going to church.
00:06:36.116 We took them to WinterFest. That was the picture up there, and
00:06:40.016 didn't know if they'd like it or not, but they were crazy. They loved it.
00:06:43.756 They loved the music. They didn't want it to end.
00:06:48.556 So yeah, and just how God blesses them.
00:06:51.036 We are astounded when we see the things that are happening to them,
00:06:55.456 and we know it's the Lord.
>> Kelly
00:06:59.516 For me, I've always wanted to be a mom, so it was a little bit of a challenge,
00:07:02.856 actually, having children. So we had a little bit of infertility and some
00:07:06.816 miscarriages and things like that.
00:07:08.896 But I do believe that God created all that, and he brought two
00:07:12.976 beautiful children into this world, and just so grateful that he gave me the
00:07:16.576 opportunity to be their mother.
00:07:18.736 In this season in life, they are 12, and so they got to come with me to the
00:07:22.576 school that I run. So having them there, that helped with that
00:07:26.556 need to want to be with them and still be able to work
00:07:30.336 and pour into all these other children and be like a mother away from home for
00:07:34.256 them.
00:07:35.496 So yeah, just so blessed that God gave me the ability to be a mom.
>> Rachel
00:07:39.136 That's such a blessing, and I can definitely relate with the infertility
00:07:42.856 issues. I was reflecting back over the past couple
00:07:46.496 days leading into today and just thinking about Mother's Day over the
00:07:49.636 years. There were about four years where I
00:07:53.636 dreaded Mother's Day because Eric and I were trying to have kids, and
00:07:57.616 we couldn't, and it was just so painful.
00:07:59.896 And I was trying to be joyful for everybody else and stay thankful that I had a
00:08:03.496 stepson, Dalton, that I love dearly, but I still felt
00:08:06.736 illegitimate, and just like, "I wanted my own kids."
00:08:11.436 And so Mother's Day was a hard day, and I think that for some of
00:08:15.376 us, maybe that's your scenario. Mother's Day's a hard day for various
00:08:19.056 reasons,
00:08:21.156 and we want to encourage you. The Lord is good, right?
00:08:23.936 And I've been able to look back and just realize that the
00:08:27.636 pain of those four years is gone, that the Lord has redeemed and
00:08:31.396 restored and given me blessings and given me kids.
00:08:34.406 And I know that's not everybody's story, but God will show up in different ways
00:08:38.396 and blessing. So He always does. He's a good God. Amen.
00:08:42.656 So we're going to keep talking about some of those hardships
00:08:45.936 of being a mom because it's not easy.
00:08:48.016 The ins and outs of every day are tough, and so I want to hear from each of you
00:08:52.096 in your season in this current walk. What's the hardest part about being mom?
>> Bobbi
00:08:57.056 So, as I said, my daughter is grown, and the early
00:09:00.846 years with,
00:09:02.976 like Rachel and Amy, it's so exhausting.
00:09:06.736 It's hard to find the energy to even make it through the day.
00:09:10.156 But then what I found is that as your kids get older, it's emotionally exhausting.
00:09:14.536 As they become more independent, you're more scared when they drive and when they
00:09:18.196 are just out there, when you don't, quite frankly, have as much control over their
00:09:21.356 lives. And so now what I find the most challenging is when
00:09:25.336 my daughter's heart is breaking, when she's sad, when she's not able
00:09:29.376 to--
00:09:31.336 When she's not feeling joy, when she's struggling.
00:09:34.276 And I can't fix it anymore. You can't fix it the way that when your kid
00:09:38.116 scrapes their knee, you can hug them and love them and put a Band-Aid on and make
00:09:41.636 it all better. It's probably why I serve in kids' ministries because I can do that
00:09:45.556 there.
00:09:47.516 But in the earlier session, the women started talking
00:09:51.356 about the flip side of their struggle, and the flip side of that
00:09:55.316 is being able to see my daughter
00:09:58.596 manage through those things herself and become a strong woman.
00:10:02.476 And I'm able to model how she's able to do that.
00:10:05.896 So while it's challenging and it can be difficult, it's
00:10:09.776 also amazing.
>> Amy
00:10:12.916 Yeah, so I'm exhausted.
00:10:15.436 I'm in that stage of life. Three under six is a lot of needs
00:10:19.376 at once, and they all think that their need is most important all day.
00:10:24.216 So that in itself is hard, and then I do work part-time from the house with the
00:10:27.996 kids at home. And so I have to put that hat on, and I homeschool the
00:10:31.895 kids. And so I'm doing that. And then
00:10:36.136 wanting to be an active and present wife for my husband and serve the house in that
00:10:40.136 way.
00:10:41.236 And so I feel like I'm wearing hats all day.
00:10:44.136 Mom, teacher mom, work mom, janitor mom,
00:10:48.456 all of the things. And so just the daily balance literally every day of
00:10:52.156 what does the schedule look like today, and what do I need to prioritize?
00:10:56.256 Who comes first? Whose need is more important right now?
00:10:59.576 But on the flip side of that, I do feel like I'm living the dream.
00:11:02.836 I am filled with joy to be able to be a mom.
00:11:05.656 I
00:11:06.656 get to be a mom, and I just think that that's amazing.
00:11:09.576 I love my husband, and so I get to serve my husband.
00:11:12.796 And so yeah, I just feel like I'm living the dream that God has really put in my
00:11:16.756 heart.
>> Rachel
00:11:17.696 That's awesome.
00:11:18.676 Yeah.
00:11:19.456 Very cool. Gina.
>> Gina
00:11:20.336 Yeah. It's changed for us. The paradigm changed.
00:11:24.216 We're no longer in the front seat driving. We're in the back seat now.
00:11:28.796 So that's really hard to adjust to
00:11:33.556 because you've put so much into your kids.
00:11:36.676 And so like you said, every victory is your victory.
00:11:40.156 Every disappointment is your disappointment.
00:11:43.256 But right now, I think
00:11:46.856 our job is just to pray for them, to pray for their strength,
00:11:51.296 encouragement,
00:11:53.196 God to surround them with people who love them and care for them, their
00:11:56.556 protection. And there's a joy watching them grow up.
00:12:00.216 You see all the changes they're making as an adult.
00:12:03.436 So
00:12:05.276 yeah, it's kind of freeing, too.
00:12:08.136 The whole process of letting go, right?
00:12:11.336 I love that.
>> Kelly
00:12:12.336 Yeah, I would agree with you. Now that the children are 12, it's
00:12:16.696 gotten easier, so there is hope.
00:12:19.436 I know it's really a struggle in the beginning.
00:12:21.936 But yeah, when they're really young, meeting all their needs and things like that,
00:12:24.956 that can be very challenging. But now we're on the other end of it now,
00:12:28.876 and they're pouring into us, which is really awesome.
00:12:31.516 So everything that we hope that we're instilling in them, and the love of God
00:12:35.696 is coming back to us, and they are doing that for us too when we have
00:12:39.136 challenges. So, so awesome.
>> Rachel
00:12:41.596 So awesome. These hardships are awesome.
00:12:46.216 I would say for me, I didn't realize that I was an angry person
00:12:50.236 until, or I had anger in me I should say, until my two-year-old
00:12:54.196 looked at me and said, "No."
00:12:56.956 And then those emotions that come up can be hard to manage.
00:13:00.756 And managing your kids' emotions at the same time.
00:13:03.716 So all of that emotional regulation has been tough in these younger
00:13:07.396 years, and trying to help them, and also work on myself at the same time.
00:13:11.976 Another hardship that I think is just so common with us as women
00:13:15.976 is comparison.
00:13:17.756 I don't know if everyone can relate.
00:13:19.736 Hopefully, everyone can relate, because I feel like I compare myself to other moms,
00:13:23.216 and feel like I come up short. "Oh, I'm not like her," or, "I'm not as good at
00:13:26.956 this," or, "I'm not good at cleaning," or
00:13:30.776 whatever it might be. But I think we can often compare ourselves and then end up
00:13:34.576 feeling that mom guilt and mom shame. So I want to hear from you.
00:13:38.096 Are there struggles in that area? Have there been changes
00:13:42.596 since-
00:13:43.326 Yeah
00:13:43.326 ... social media and-
>> Gina
00:13:45.216 Oh, yeah. So,
00:13:47.136 when I was growing up and my kids were growing up, we had this little
00:13:50.996 TV, and it was plastic. And it had, sorry, it
00:13:54.796 had an antenna on it, and you got maybe six channels.
00:13:58.496 So you controlled what came in your house.
00:14:01.956 You had the newspaper, came in the morning or in the afternoon.
00:14:05.616 You had a phone that was attached to the wall,
00:14:08.936 so you couldn't go privately and talk somewhere. You were out in a public space.
00:14:13.396 So it's really changed in that you could really control what came
00:14:17.236 into your house and what influenced your house today.
>> Amy
00:14:22.356 I would say for me, speaking of how it is now with
00:14:26.136 social media, and it's all over the place and things, and it's really quick
00:14:29.676 to be like, "Oh, I want to have that life.
00:14:32.236 I want to have that relationship. I want to have that vacation and all that." So
00:14:36.216 that comparison, and maybe do things the way that mother does it,
00:14:39.896 definitely is more so now than it ever has been.
00:14:44.016 And the way I combat that is I try my best to always just remember
00:14:48.156 God gave me them. And
00:14:50.436 they are specifically made for me to be a mom to.
00:14:53.806 And I don't have to be like all those other moms.
00:14:57.956 He chose me. So there's freedom in that, to be able
00:15:01.896 to know that however He made me to mother them, that's
00:15:05.896 what He wants for them. So I don't have to really look at, "Oh, that's a really
00:15:09.636 great activity. That's a really great thing. Maybe I should do it.
00:15:11.696 Man, I never thought of doing that," and feel mom guilt about it.
00:15:14.976 I didn't plan that. Now it's more like, "Okay,
00:15:19.356 those are great options, but let's see what works for our family."
00:15:22.296 Yeah.
>> Kelly
00:15:23.036 And I spend a lot of time pouring into other
00:15:26.696 people's kids for long days with the
00:15:31.016 director job that I have. So I would have this thing, we called it
00:15:34.776 Wacky Wednesday. So every Wednesday night we did something, and even if it was a
00:15:38.856 flop, it was five, 10 minutes of an uninterrupted time with them.
00:15:42.996 And so our goal was to always do something that was basically free and just spend
00:15:46.416 time together. So sometimes it turned into an hour or two, and other times it
00:15:50.336 was like, "Okay, that was just a few minutes," making a fort together.
00:15:54.716 But that's how I found that that worked best for us.
>> Rachel
00:15:57.956 That's so good. Yeah, and I think keeping our eyes on what has the Lord
00:16:02.196 spoken to us about our family. Just keeping our eyes on
00:16:06.136 Him and really asking the Lord, "What is it that I'm supposed to be doing for my
00:16:09.556 family in this season?" is so helpful for combating that
00:16:13.116 comparison. Because some of the images that we see aren't even real now, right?
00:16:16.836 So it's so hard to know what...
00:16:19.916 Just looking and seeing and comparing, it steals our joy,
00:16:24.156 right? It steals our joy. So let's shut off our phones at times.
00:16:27.796 Let's set the phones down. Let's keep our eyes fixed on
00:16:31.756 what the Lord has for our specific family.
00:16:34.936 Good. So in those struggles, what are some ways that you have
00:16:38.616 found time to stay close to God? Obviously, that's so important as a mom.
00:16:42.396 Our relationship with the Lord, being filled up with Him so that we can pour out
00:16:46.516 His love into others. So what are some ways that you have found some
00:16:50.436 rhythms or some habits to stay close to the Lord?
>> Amy
00:16:55.056 Yeah, I'll share on this. I do fight for it daily.
00:16:59.156 I do think that's crucial. It's important.
00:17:01.416 My kids sleep in, which I feel really grateful for that, so I get the mornings to
00:17:04.816 myself. But I do intentionally wake up before my kids
00:17:08.136 and read scripture, just me and God alone.
00:17:12.237 And then fortunately, I get to incorporate that throughout the day, within our
00:17:16.036 curriculum and stuff, like Bible studies and praying.
00:17:19.056 Something that was super heavy on my heart this morning was,
00:17:23.277 a couple days ago, Phoenix asked me, "Why do we pray and read
00:17:27.247 the Bible every day? What's the point of that?"
00:17:30.376 And I said, "Well, what if you woke up one morning and you just went into the
00:17:33.856 kitchen and you got yourself breakfast, and I'm sitting on the chair, and you walk
00:17:37.176 right past me, and you get your breakfast, and you come into the room, and you
00:17:40.656 start watching TV. I'm sitting there in the same room with you, and you're just
00:17:44.616 doing your own thing, and then you go get dressed, and you start playing a game,
00:17:48.586 and you go outside, and you do all these things, and I'm sitting right there with
00:17:52.256 you. But yet you're not talking to me, you're not engaging with me, you're not
00:17:55.456 asking me to participate with you. Wouldn't that be weird?
00:17:58.896 If we went an entire day and I'm sitting in your presence and
00:18:02.856 you didn't talk to me." And he was like, "Yeah, why would I do that?" And I'm like,
00:18:06.876 "Well, people do that with God." We're in the presence of God, and
00:18:10.716 yet we can go an entire day without engaging in a conversation with Him,
00:18:15.256 reading, praying, asking to listen to what He has to say to
00:18:19.116 us. And so I'm like, don't miss the days.
00:18:22.688 Be in communication with the Lord.
00:18:24.028 And so I think it's just important to realize he's in our presence.
00:18:27.568 We're in his presence to enjoy his presence on the daily, to thank
00:18:31.388 him for the cereal that we got, to thank him for the house that he's
00:18:34.968 provided, the little things. We get to sit in his presence on the
00:18:38.828 daily.
>> Rachel
00:18:40.048 So good. Bobbi, do you have anything you want to add there?
>> Bobbi
00:18:43.908 It's of course important. I love what you say, Amy, that you have to fight for that
00:18:47.368 time, because we all have to fight for that time, whether you have kids or don't
00:18:50.688 have kids.
00:18:52.348 That time does not just naturally happen. We all have to make it happen.
00:18:57.588 I had a thought here, and I just lost it.
00:18:59.868 Oh, the thought was,
00:19:01.928 to me, prayer is really just what you were saying, talking to
00:19:05.688 God. And so I try to be very purposeful throughout the day just to talk to
00:19:09.548 him. The little victories, like when I don't get mad because I'm
00:19:13.208 frustrated with people in a meeting.
00:19:15.188 I'm like, "That is a victory, and thank you, God.
00:19:17.848 Staying calm is because of you."
00:19:20.348 So I just try to really, throughout the day, make sure I'm acknowledging him
00:19:24.888 and praising him when I feel like it and praising him when I don't.
>> Rachel
00:19:27.968 That's so good. Yeah, and I feel like throughout the different seasons of life, our
00:19:32.248 schedules and our times with the Lord have changed, right?
00:19:34.808 So I know I'm getting ready to go into sleepless nights and
00:19:39.048 brain dead. And so I remember with my other two,
00:19:43.268 having days where I was just like, "Okay, God, literally all I can say is I
00:19:47.288 love you and help me.
00:19:49.208 Amen."
00:19:50.968 And that's my time with the Lord, because I didn't have anything else to give at
00:19:53.928 that point. And I think the Lord still blesses that and receives that,
00:19:57.508 right? And so, different seasons for each of us, but I think
00:20:01.528 it's really important to be intentional with where do I have that time?
00:20:05.428 Where can I carve out that time to make sure that I'm being filled up, to make sure
00:20:08.708 that I'm spending time with the Lord, to make sure that I'm hearing the guidance
00:20:11.808 and the wisdom that can only come from him?
00:20:14.348 There's so much wisdom and guidance that can happen in the world, but his wisdom is
00:20:18.128 the most important,
00:20:20.008 and his guidance is. So yeah. Just encouragement for everybody.
00:20:23.868 Find that time, carve that time out, make sure it's a priority, because it's so
00:20:27.248 important, especially as we're parenting and trying to guide our
00:20:31.288 children in the right way of the Lord.
00:20:34.028 Amen. All right. So quick lightning round here.
>> Amy
00:20:38.208 What encouragement would you give to moms today?
>> Rachel
00:20:43.508 Me?
>> Amy
00:20:43.988 Yeah.
00:20:45.708 I'll say this. My encouragement is specifically for
00:20:49.588 either
00:20:51.228 mothers who have not stepped into motherhood yet, or moms with young
00:20:55.248 kids like mine, that we get day one disciples.
00:20:59.508 We get to model to them how to serve the church well, how to love our
00:21:03.068 spouses well, how to give of our time and our talent.
00:21:07.828 I am raising young men. They're going to grow up someday, and Lord willing, they
00:21:11.708 get to be husbands and fathers. It's past this point of
00:21:15.808 five, three, and one. This is generational work. I'm going to be gone someday.
00:21:19.688 My husband's going to be gone. And so what we get to do is participate in kingdom
00:21:23.748 work, and it's just important to be
00:21:27.288 mindful of that. They are going to grow up, and they will have
00:21:31.928 something to add to society. We talk a lot about
00:21:35.768 generational cycles and trauma, which is real, and I'm not taking away from
00:21:39.648 those experiences, but we get to stop that, and we get to
00:21:43.368 start generational fruit and generational blessings.
00:21:46.648 And so it gets to start with us young moms, that we get to
00:21:50.308 restart for our kids so that they have generations
00:21:54.308 to come that impact the kingdom.
>> Rachel
00:21:56.028 Amen. Bobbi?
>> Bobbi
00:21:58.448 So I have a different answer than the first service,
00:22:02.868 which I now of course have forgotten.
00:22:05.188 But
00:22:07.628 God spoke it to me, and then it just went out like that.
00:22:10.248 But I think really what I was trying to say is, as moms, we
00:22:14.168 all really feel like we need to be strong for our kids, and of course we do.
00:22:18.348 But what I've realized is we also need to teach our kids how to
00:22:23.708 react when we feel frustrated, how to react when we feel
00:22:27.768 angry, how to react when we feel sad.
00:22:30.188 It is okay to cry. I don't ever want to hear anyone say, "I'm so
00:22:34.208 sorry for crying." That is a valid emotion that God gave us to express how
00:22:38.207 we feel. So
00:22:40.768 take that lie of being strong off of your back,
00:22:44.968 and demonstrate for your kids how to manage through your emotions, because that is
00:22:48.588 a gift that you're giving them. Those are life lessons that you're giving them that
00:22:52.368 will stay with them the rest of their life, that will help them with healthy
00:22:55.368 relationships. So thank you, Lord, for bringing that back to me.
>> Rachel
00:22:59.628 So good. Gina?
>> Gina
00:23:00.528 Yeah. So recently, I get up early, and I'm really tired,
00:23:04.408 so I found some audiobooks that I listen to and
00:23:08.588 find that they're pretty good. Sometimes in the evening, we'll go to YouTube, and
00:23:12.528 we find some really good YouTube videos.
00:23:16.308 But nothing compares to actually reading the
00:23:20.308 Word and writing it down.
00:23:22.968 It says the Word does not return void,
00:23:26.908 but
00:23:27.928 that's probably the best advice I can give you, and also train
00:23:31.828 your kids up in the way of the Lord. Let them know.
00:23:34.728 Let them realize how much he loves them, he cares for them.
00:23:37.948 He's so much greater than them. He protects them. He's just.
00:23:43.668 Amen.
>> Kelly
00:23:44.028 Man, I don't know how to top any of this. This is wonderful.
00:23:47.368 I feel the same way. I think that that's my biggest goal in life is to
00:23:51.208 teach our children about God, and for them to go straight to him for
00:23:54.948 everything. So whether they're having stress at school, whatever it is,
00:23:59.248 that they know to go straight to him.
00:24:00.688 And then if they see us struggling, we keep things real and raw at home.
00:24:03.788 They come to us now, and they're like, "Can I pray over you?" That kind of thing.
00:24:07.468 That's awesome, because I know that's how I learned most about
00:24:11.428 God is through my mother, who's in heaven.
00:24:13.698 And so I always think, "Oh, what gift did she give me?" There's so
00:24:17.528 many. But the biggest gift you can give someone is to teach
00:24:21.448 them about God and what he does for us,
00:24:24.308 and all his sacrifices and everything.
00:24:26.808 So I feel that we're doing a great job as parents with that, but it's
00:24:30.748 definitely something that you have to ask him for help with.
00:24:33.888 They are his children, so he gifted us them.
00:24:38.008 But I think that's the best advice ever, is to just teach them
00:24:41.968 in the ways of the Lord.
>> Rachel
00:24:43.444 Amen. Teach them the ways of the Lord. So good.
00:24:46.364 Yeah, and if you want to hang out towards the very end of service, and even
00:24:50.244 longer, you'll see a tantrum Judah.
00:24:54.244 You'll see him crying because he doesn't want to leave church, and what a blessing
00:24:57.564 that is, actually. Even though it's really annoying every Sunday he's crying.
00:25:02.504 He doesn't want to leave. He loves spending time with his friends and loves being
00:25:05.584 here and loves hearing the word. And even at a young
00:25:09.464 age, he's able to memorize scripture.
00:25:11.984 So I'm just so encouraged by that,
00:25:14.784 realizing the impact that we can make for eternity in our kids
00:25:18.724 and in the people's lives around us. So, what a blessing.
00:25:21.624 I want to say, last comments, you've got this, moms.
00:25:24.984 You're doing a great job. Keep going.
00:25:27.444 Don't give up, and also know that you're not alone.
00:25:31.104 You have a church family here. There are women in this room, and
00:25:35.064 in the 9 a.m. service, that want to help you, to support you, to love on you, to
00:25:38.984 teach you, to walk alongside you in whatever
00:25:42.724 season you're in. And so we just want to encourage you with that.
00:25:45.964 Find someone if you don't have that someone, that there are ladies here
00:25:49.924 that want to be that for you, want to come alongside and
00:25:53.704 encourage you along the way.
00:25:55.684 So with that, I'm going to pray, and then Pastor Eric's going to come up and give
00:25:58.704 us an encouraging word.
00:26:00.724 God, we thank you so much for today.
00:26:02.224 I thank you for all the moms and all the women who are here and who are represented
00:26:06.184 and who are watching online. Lord, I pray a blessing on each one, God,
00:26:10.124 knowing that sometimes seasons are hard,
00:26:13.764 sometimes Mother's Day is hard, and we've all gone through different hardships
00:26:17.744 and different experiences, but God, you are good.
00:26:20.134 And so we just keep focused on you. We
00:26:23.044 keep that eternal perspective, realizing that you are with us, you're guiding
00:26:26.844 us, you're leading us. We are not alone. And so we just thank you so much for that.
00:26:31.384 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
>> Pastor Eric
00:26:34.364 Amen. Put your hands together for the ladies. Great job, moms.
00:26:40.964 I don't know if I can really add much to that, but we're going to give some word
00:26:43.824 today. We love the word, and as mentioned by many of the women
00:26:48.024 here, how important the word of God is.
00:26:51.444 This message is not just for moms. It applies for all of us, and
00:26:55.484 it's going to be very truncated just for time's sake, so we can all get to lunch
00:26:59.484 before everyone else if you're going out for that.
00:27:01.664 But how many of you like cooking or baking? Anybody like cooking, baking?
00:27:05.504 All right, come see me afterwards. We'll set up some meal times. No.
00:27:08.184 But how many of you know when you bake something especially, if you forget an
00:27:11.424 ingredient, it can ruin the entire dish? Right?
00:27:14.144 When you bake something without baking soda, or you forget the salt on something,
00:27:18.264 it can make the entire dish very unpleasing, and it lacks
00:27:22.024 something when you miss that. But in our Christian lives especially, I believe for
00:27:26.024 everyone, a very important missing ingredient that often
00:27:30.224 we neglect is the ingredient of gratitude, of how
00:27:34.184 important gratitude is in our lives, and thankfulness can be in our lives,
00:27:38.204 that changes everything. It really is a highly important
00:27:42.124 ingredient in our lives. And I want to share a Psalm with you, and want
00:27:46.084 to just unpack as much as I can of this Psalm.
00:27:48.404 The Psalms were written as songs or poems,
00:27:52.004 primarily in the book of Psalms. There's 150 of them in the Bible.
00:27:55.624 They're all pointing us to God, attributes of God.
00:27:58.664 Some are more historical accounts.
00:28:00.584 Most of them are often devotional or religious in a sense of
00:28:03.944 devotion to God. And Psalm 103 is written by
00:28:07.864 King David. Many of you have heard of King David, know about King David.
00:28:11.804 This was written most likely late in his life, as there's a lot of wisdom in
00:28:15.824 it, and he's looking back on some things and reminding
00:28:18.964 himself of some important truths.
00:28:22.064 So in Psalm 103, verse 1, he says, "Let all that I am
00:28:26.404 praise the Lord; with my whole heart I will
00:28:29.624 praise his holy name." David had to remind
00:28:33.384 himself. He says, "Let all that I am praise the Lord," that everything
00:28:37.244 within me, my entire heart. In different translations, it says, "Oh,
00:28:41.064 everything within me, bless his holy name." Bless the
00:28:45.144 name of God, that he had to remind himself that God is
00:28:49.164 holy. God is worth our praise. In fact, many of the Psalms,
00:28:53.184 in Psalm 150, says that we were created to praise God.
00:28:57.144 That it's really the reason that we have breath in our lungs is to
00:29:00.804 praise the Lord. That's why praise and worship, I believe, is so
00:29:05.144 important for us. In verse 2, King David says, "Let all that I am praise the
00:29:09.124 Lord; may I never forget the good things
00:29:13.124 he does for me." How many of you are really good at forgetting things, right?
00:29:16.944 You forget where you put your keys. You forget where you put your phone.
00:29:19.564 You forget where we put stuff. We forget when somebody speaks something to us.
00:29:23.244 But may we never forget the good things that
00:29:26.524 God has done for us.
00:29:28.464 Amen.
00:29:29.224 Yet those are often the things we forget the most quickly.
00:29:32.704 The good things in life. We remember the bad things and forget the good
00:29:36.544 things. And gratitude is not merely politeness.
00:29:40.144 It's not being polite to God, saying, "God, thank you.
00:29:43.004 God, we give you thanks for the good things you've done for us." It's a
00:29:46.544 spiritual principle that changes our
00:29:49.784 perspective and strengthens our relationship with
00:29:53.564 God. Over 100 times throughout the Bible, we're commanded to
00:29:57.564 give thanks, to give thanks in all circumstances, as
00:30:01.364 1 Thessalonians says. It doesn't say give thanks for all of your
00:30:04.904 circumstances, but in all circumstances, we can give
00:30:09.124 thanks for God. We're not always thankful for all of the pain, all the
00:30:13.124 trials, all the trauma, all the abuse, all the things that are bad in our
00:30:17.084 lives, but we can still give thanks through all
00:30:20.184 circumstances and in all circumstances.
00:30:23.284 As my wife Rachel mentioned, for four years, we tried for kids and couldn't
00:30:27.304 have them. Mother's Day was not a good day for her.
00:30:30.804 Mother's Day was a very negative day, and I know some of you here today,
00:30:34.744 you may feel that same way. Mother's Day's not a joyful, happy day.
00:30:39.084 How do you have joy in days and in circumstances
00:30:42.764 where things didn't work out the way you thought they would?
00:30:46.024 Things didn't go the way you had planned.
00:30:47.524 Or maybe you have grown children who are not walking with God, even though you did
00:30:51.924 as best as you could to point them to Jesus.
00:30:54.444 So Mother's Day, yes, it's joyful.
00:30:56.704 It's supposed to be a celebratory day, but at many times it can be painful.
00:31:00.704 It can be a grieving day. And we have to learn to choose
00:31:04.484 joy and choose to have gratitude even in the
00:31:08.172 midst of poor circumstances. Gratitude is one of the
00:31:12.012 most transformative attitudes in the Christian life.
00:31:16.012 It changes how we see God, it changes how we see ourselves, and it
00:31:19.872 changes how we see our circumstances. So three things.
00:31:23.192 When you remember, remember what God has done specifically,
00:31:26.672 gratitude rises. Our gratitude increases when we
00:31:30.412 remember what God has done. And as gratitude increases
00:31:34.352 and rises, faith grows. And as your faith grows, you
00:31:38.092 remember God was faithful then, he will be
00:31:41.592 faithful now. Amen?
00:31:44.492 God is faithful. But we forget, and we get in these
00:31:48.152 circumstances, or we get in these times when we question, "God, are you really
00:31:51.892 going to show up? God, are you really there?
00:31:54.312 God, are you faithful now? Because it doesn't look like it right
00:31:58.212 now in my circumstances." We need to remember and remind
00:32:01.712 ourselves of what God did previously, so that we can have
00:32:05.132 gratitude and thank God for everything he's done in our past.
00:32:09.202 And it builds faith to remember God is still faithful.
00:32:12.192 He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:32:15.932 He does not change. I believe our greatest spiritual
00:32:19.112 danger isn't usually rebellion. It's not actively sinning
00:32:23.072 against God. It's forgetfulness.
00:32:25.922 That we forget who God is. We forget what God
00:32:29.552 has done, and then we lack the faith to live a life
00:32:33.492 of faith, and we allow fear, we allow doubt, we allow
00:32:37.312 anxiety, we allow all the busyness of life to crowd
00:32:41.272 out the truth and the reality of who God is and what he's
00:32:45.212 done. We forget the prayers that God answered.
00:32:48.772 I had to remind myself this past week when our four-year-old and two-year-old are
00:32:52.072 just not listening, not behaving well, and I'm like, "We
00:32:56.032 prayed for four years for this child.
00:32:58.072 And God, you answered this prayer," right?
00:33:00.532 As we're about to have another child, she's 38 weeks pregnant, I'm like,
00:33:04.502 "We prayed for these children. We prayed for these..." As last night, when Eden is
00:33:07.872 up in the middle of the night multiple times, I'm like, "God, we prayed for this.
00:33:11.812 We prayed for her," and we are so thankful for them.
00:33:13.932 But without that posture, that attitude, choosing to be
00:33:17.712 grateful and remembering that we prayed for them, our
00:33:21.312 children can just become a lot of problems.
00:33:23.652 Our children can be nuisances and, yes, they cause us to miss
00:33:27.482 sleep and peace sometimes, but ultimately, they're a gift and
00:33:31.372 a joy from the Lord. We forget the doors that God has
00:33:35.332 opened. We forget the grace that he provided, the
00:33:38.932 forgiveness that he extended. We forget so often what God has
00:33:42.872 done. So what should we remember? Remember the crisis that God carried you
00:33:46.912 through.
00:33:48.292 I have to stop and consciously think to remember all the
00:33:52.292 things that God has brought me through in my life.
00:33:54.992 All the horrible situations, all the terrible times where I didn't think I was
00:33:58.792 going to make it through, yet God brought me through.
00:34:01.042 And I know many of you have those same stories, that God has brought you through
00:34:04.692 crisis. God has brought you through pain, through grief, through
00:34:08.572 loss, through suffering. God has brought you through, yet
00:34:12.513 we forget. So let's remember what God has done. Remember how he's provided.
00:34:16.473 Remember how he's healed. Remember how he's given us so
00:34:19.973 much to move us to where we are today.
00:34:24.172 King David continues in verse three.
00:34:25.692 He says, "He forgives all my sins. He heals all
00:34:29.692 my diseases. He redeems me from death and
00:34:33.332 crowns me with love and tender mercies."
00:34:37.493 The fact that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose from
00:34:41.401 the dead, that he forgives our sins, that
00:34:45.212 even if God never answers another prayer we pray, the
00:34:48.993 empty tomb is more than enough. That he did what he
00:34:52.772 needed to do for us to live a life of gratitude, of joy,
00:34:56.732 of thanksgiving, because he forgives all our sins.
00:34:59.932 He heals our diseases. He redeems us.
00:35:02.512 Every single one of us was on a path to death, and
00:35:06.272 God came and intervened. Now we get to have eternal life
00:35:10.012 because of Jesus Christ. And he crowns us, not with
00:35:13.492 punishment as we deserve. He crowns us with love and
00:35:17.372 tender mercies. That's what God does.
00:35:20.072 God took the punishment. Jesus bore the crown of thorns
00:35:24.012 on himself and gives us a crown of love and tender
00:35:27.952 mercy, yet he was perfect, and we fall short
00:35:31.812 and sin all too often. In verse five, he says, "He fills
00:35:35.772 my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the
00:35:39.712 eagle's. The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all
00:35:43.932 who are treated unfairly." If we would stop for just a
00:35:47.972 moment, and I encourage you every single day, one of the prayers I try to do on a
00:35:51.872 daily basis is I say, "Thank you, God, that I can wake up
00:35:55.792 today. God, thank you I can breathe without a ventilator or on a
00:35:59.452 machine. God, thank you that I have eyes to see my beautiful family, and I can
00:36:03.212 drive wherever I want to. I can pretty much go to any store and buy anything I
00:36:06.892 want." Because we live in a country and a place of such abundance.
00:36:10.972 We have so much to be thankful for, that we can walk on our legs,
00:36:15.192 that we have arms to embrace and hug one another.
00:36:17.712 There's so much that we have, so many good things that the
00:36:21.632 Lord has filled with our lives. In verse seven,
00:36:26.272 it says, "He revealed his character to Moses, his deeds to the people of
00:36:30.032 Israel. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow
00:36:34.032 to get angry, and filled with unfailing love." Verse
00:36:37.892 nine, "He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain
00:36:41.512 angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins.
00:36:45.812 He does not deal harshly with us as we deserve."
00:36:49.772 Every one of us deserves to be treated harshly by God, but he
00:36:53.432 chooses not to punish us, but to bear that punishment
00:36:57.492 on himself. Verse 11, "His unfailing love
00:37:00.962 toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens
00:37:04.972 above the earth. He has removed our sins as far
00:37:08.892 from us as the east is from the west." It cannot get
00:37:12.752 moved any further away. He separates us from our sins because he
00:37:16.392 took the weight of our sins upon himself.
00:37:18.992 He took and paid the price for our sins.
00:37:23.052 In verse 13, "The Lord is like a father to
00:37:26.912 his children, tender and compassionate to those who
00:37:30.872 fear him."
00:37:32.242 Now, most of us view God, at least we start off this way, we view
00:37:36.032 God, our heavenly Father, through the lens of how we view our
00:37:39.972 earthly father. So if you had an earthly father who was abusive,
00:37:43.992 berating, overbearing, controlling, rude to you, you often
00:37:48.012 view God with that same lens. Or maybe you had a father who was
00:37:51.872 not present. He didn't show up at your sporting events. He was absent altogether.
00:37:56.272 Often we view God through that same lens of, "God, where are you?
00:37:59.792 Can I count on you? Can I trust you?" And we have to shift our
00:38:03.612 focus of not viewing God through the lens of our earthly
00:38:07.372 father, but seeing God as who He truly is, a perfect,
00:38:10.792 loving Father. And I know for me, when I grew up and I became a
00:38:14.812 Christian, that was new to me. I had to learn the
00:38:18.432 attributes of God. I had to learn who God was as a loving, perfect Father
00:38:22.632 who cares for me, who is tender and compassionate.
00:38:26.152 That's not typical of many of our upbringings.
00:38:30.272 And he uses this word, this phrase, "For those who fear him." Now, that
00:38:34.172 fear is not the fear of punishment, but rather a fear of
00:38:37.812 reverence, of awe, of God is so great, He's so
00:38:41.572 loving, He's so mighty, He's so merciful, that it's such
00:38:45.512 an awe-inspiring, such gratitude and
00:38:48.772 gratefulness that we have fear in a healthy sense.
00:38:52.712 There's a healthy fear of the Lord, and there's an unhealthy fear of the Lord as
00:38:56.212 well, when we're afraid that He's going to punish us, which we're going to look at
00:38:59.952 in a little bit. But he says he knows how weak we are.
00:39:03.212 He remembers we are only dust. Verse 15, "Our
00:39:07.012 days on earth are like grass, like wildflowers.
00:39:10.172 We bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone
00:39:14.012 as though we had never been here." How many of you know
00:39:17.512 life is short?
00:39:19.582 Amen.
00:39:19.612 Some days you're like, "When is this day ever going to end?" But overall, our
00:39:23.072 lives are short. If you've got kids, grandkids, you
00:39:26.872 know how quick it goes. We get told all the time. It goes by so fast.
00:39:30.472 And yes, we have a son who's driving.
00:39:32.862 It's like it goes by fast, and our lives are just like this.
00:39:36.512 They're like grass, wildflowers.
00:39:38.192 We bloom, we die, the wind blows, and we're gone.
00:39:42.192 There's encouragement coming. Just hold on, I promise.
00:39:45.072 But without the reality of our perspective, we can go
00:39:49.052 through life thinking everything's about us rather than seeing that our
00:39:52.892 lives really have very little meaning unless we do something with them.
00:39:56.572 I love what Amy shared about her raising men of God.
00:39:59.832 That's generational. We're raising men and women of God in our family.
00:40:03.232 That's generational. That goes beyond just the here and now or my life.
00:40:07.132 But what's going to last beyond? Well, verse 17
00:40:11.072 says, "The love of the Lord remains forever with those who
00:40:15.012 fear Him." Again, that healthy fear of the Lord, that knowing His
00:40:18.912 love, knowing His mercy, knowing His compassion, knowing His character,
00:40:23.212 it leads us to fearing the Lord in a healthy and appropriate
00:40:27.252 way. And the love of the Lord remains forever.
00:40:31.312 The love that God has, the act of what He did for
00:40:34.512 salvation remains forever. Jesus
00:40:38.572 is our greatest reason for gratitude.
00:40:41.752 At the center of thankfulness is Jesus.
00:40:44.532 The reason that we can have eternal life is because of Jesus.
00:40:47.492 The reason we are forgiven, we are loved, we are adopted.
00:40:50.452 The reason we have hope is because of Jesus.
00:40:54.961 The greatest gift God could ever give wasn't a thing.
00:40:58.792 It was His own Son, Jesus.
00:41:01.792 So I want to encourage every mother here today
00:41:05.392 that what you are doing matters.
00:41:09.672 You may never get a thank you, you may never get appreciated by the people and
00:41:13.292 family that raised you. Maybe you have grown children, and you never felt like
00:41:16.352 they appreciated you or cared about what you did.
00:41:19.492 I want to tell you, God sees. God knows.
00:41:22.852 God sees the pain in your heart. God sees the sacrifice, the
00:41:26.912 sleepless nights, the weeping and crying for your children that you
00:41:30.652 gave. God sees it. He knows. And I want to say thank you.
00:41:34.452 I want to say thank you. If nobody ever else says thank you, thank you.
00:41:37.972 We honor you. We bless you. I pray today would be a day of
00:41:41.612 joy, would be a day of gratitude. No matter what happens the
00:41:45.592 rest of this year, you can know that God sees you, God loves you, God
00:41:49.352 knows, that you are blessed by Him.
00:41:52.732 Before you were a mom, you were a daughter.
00:41:55.992 Before you became a mother, or even if you desire to be a mother and you haven't
00:41:59.832 had that happen yet, you're a daughter first and foremost.
00:42:03.282 That God is a perfect heavenly Father,
00:42:06.852 and He wants you to know that your value and your identity comes from
00:42:10.792 Him. Not in what you do, not in what you produce, not in
00:42:14.712 whether you work or not. It's in whether you follow Him, you spend
00:42:18.692 time with Him, and ultimately, that's where your value comes
00:42:22.112 from. Gratitude does not ignore pain.
00:42:25.372 It does not ignore the hardships. It magnifies His grace.
00:42:30.212 It magnifies God's grace when we choose that we have gratitude
00:42:34.592 over the hardships and through the difficult circumstances.
00:42:38.812 But before we can really become children of God, I want to read you
00:42:42.532 Proverbs 24, verse 16. It's the last verse.
00:42:47.252 This proverb, it's a wise saying. It says, "A man who is right with God
00:42:51.012 falls seven times and rises again, but the sinful fall
00:42:54.872 in time of trouble." Before anything else can
00:42:58.732 happen, the most important thing that any of us can do is choose to have a
00:43:02.592 relationship with God the Father.
00:43:05.752 Now, many times we think we have to get cleaned up first.
00:43:08.992 We have to be made right first. We have to do, do, do all these steps,
00:43:12.992 all these things to be made right with God.
00:43:17.492 Excuse me. But this says a man is made right with God, and actually, the Bible says
00:43:21.332 consistently that the Lord gives righteousness. The Lord
00:43:25.236 is the only one who can make you right with him.
00:43:28.576 Righteousness is to be in right standing with God.
00:43:32.816 Now, we try really hard to be in right standing with God, but ultimately,
00:43:36.876 apart from Jesus, apart from his sacrifice, we can never be
00:43:40.876 made right with God. In our own strength, in our own doing, in our
00:43:44.756 own abilities. This verse, it actually says, "The righteous are the ones who
00:43:48.796 fall down seven times and get back up again."
00:43:52.876 So maybe you're here today and you feel like you've fallen down.
00:43:56.096 You've failed, you've sinned, you've fallen short. Guess what?
00:43:59.816 We all have. The only difference in the righteous and the wicked
00:44:03.916 is the wicked stay down. The righteous get back up again.
00:44:07.856 You
00:44:08.836 can't fall down if you're lying down. You've got to get back up.
00:44:12.596 So, it doesn't mean you have to be perfect.
00:44:14.996 It means you've got to keep getting back up, and it's the Lord who makes you right.
00:44:19.256 It's not your doing, but the Lord gives righteousness.
00:44:22.636 He gives his grace. He gives you the empowerment to lift you
00:44:26.636 up, to rise up, and to continue on taking one
00:44:30.416 day, one week, one month, one year at a time,
00:44:34.376 doing the next right thing before you.
00:44:38.096 I invite you to actually stand to your feet as I want to close in prayer.
00:44:43.836 But I want to offer you this right now.
00:44:45.136 If you're here today and you feel like you've messed up too much,
00:44:49.416 you've fallen down,
00:44:51.496 you're not good enough to get back up,
00:44:54.376 I want to offer you today
00:44:57.416 the reality that you cannot make yourself good enough,
00:45:01.356 but God can. God can give you righteousness.
00:45:03.976 He can put you in right standing with him.
00:45:08.036 I want to pray,
00:45:09.836 and just offer you in this moment, in this posture of prayer, whatever posture you
00:45:12.916 want to take, you want to open your hands, bow your head, close your eyes.
00:45:17.436 I want to pray for you. If you're here today
00:45:20.956 and you say, "I've fallen down again. I've stumbled again.
00:45:23.856 I've fallen back into some sin. I need to get made right with God,"
00:45:28.176 it simply is asking him,
00:45:30.596 asking him to give you that grace to lift you up once again,
00:45:35.436 to choose to dedicate your life to Jesus.
00:45:39.016 If you've never done that or you know you need to recommit, rededicate your
00:45:43.056 life to Jesus, I want you to do that right now.
00:45:46.936 To simply say, "Jesus, I know I've sinned.
00:45:50.656 I know I've fallen short. I feel like I keep falling down over
00:45:54.496 and over and over again. One step forward, two steps back."
00:45:58.796 I want to tell you something today.
00:46:02.056 God wants to set you free out of behavior
00:46:05.516 modification, out of just trying to get ahead, just surviving,
00:46:09.416 to having a life of freedom, a life of victory, a
00:46:13.176 life that's going to set you free for the rest of
00:46:16.536 eternity, that you get to experience that freedom here and now.
00:46:21.056 So if that's you, I just want to pray for you.
00:46:22.456 Heavenly Father, I pray for every person in this room, everyone watching online
00:46:26.156 that maybe doesn't have a relationship with you, but they want to.
00:46:29.816 They want to know you. They want to give their lives to you.
00:46:33.576 They need help, God. They need your grace to pick them up one more
00:46:37.376 time. One more time. Every time they get knocked down, God, that you would
00:46:41.316 lift them again, that your grace would be upon them.
00:46:44.536 Father, I pray that
00:46:46.136 for every single one of us, God, that we would know where we would be without
00:46:50.096 you. God, apart from you, we have nothing good within
00:46:54.036 us.
00:46:55.156 That, God, we have sin in our lives. We fall down. We fall short.
00:46:58.876 God, may we confess our sin to you. May we repent and turn
00:47:02.876 from our sin and turn to you as you lift us up with your
00:47:06.916 grace, with your mercy, that you crown us with love and
00:47:10.796 tender compassion. God, I pray for anyone in this room that needs to make
00:47:14.676 that decision, they would make it today.
00:47:16.996 They would choose to follow you. They would choose
00:47:20.956 to stop trying to earn your love, but, God, trust that you already
00:47:24.976 love them,
00:47:26.216 that you would adopt them as sons or daughters of yours.
00:47:30.656 God, I pray for every single one of us, that we would see the things that we've
00:47:34.076 prayed for that you've answered. We'd remember all the good that we have in our
00:47:37.876 lives, that we would choose to live lives of gratitude.
00:47:41.536 In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. You can be seated.
00:47:46.196 I have a couple of mentions. If you made that decision, you want to
00:47:50.336 dedicate your life to Jesus, you can actually fill out on our website.
00:47:53.896 You can do that for anyone watching online.
00:47:55.576 You can tap your phone to the tap card on the seat back in front of
00:47:59.596 you and just fill out the information.
00:48:01.376 We want to help you take your next step.
00:48:03.836 We have water baptisms we schedule every month or so, so we're going to be
00:48:07.636 planning more water baptisms coming up. We want you to get signed up.
00:48:11.036 But fill out that card saying, "I want to surrender my life to
00:48:14.556 Jesus," and we'll follow up with you with your next steps.
00:48:18.116 Speaking of next steps, next Sunday, May 17th, we
00:48:22.136 have next steps after the 11:00 AM service.
00:48:24.966 If you want to learn more about Freedom Church, we help you identify what
00:48:28.996 gifting, what personality styles you have, and how God has uniquely
00:48:33.136 gifted you. We'll help you identify your next steps next Sunday.
00:48:36.716 We do encourage you to get signed up because we provide food and childcare and need
00:48:40.576 to know how much to provide for that next Sunday.
00:48:43.626 Also next Sunday is going to be child dedications.
00:48:46.536 We have two families right now going to be dedicating their children.
00:48:50.516 The way we do it here at Freedom Church is we let parents decide that they want
00:48:54.456 to dedicate their children to the Lord. Doesn't mean the child is saved.
00:48:57.876 It means they're choosing to raise their child to know God, to honor
00:49:01.816 God, to do everything they can within their household to raise their
00:49:05.576 children to be men or women of God. So, we have child dedications available
00:49:09.576 next Sunday. If you want to sign up, you still can.
00:49:12.546 We ask that you do it today, so we have all week to make sure we're prepared for
00:49:16.336 you next Sunday.
00:49:17.916 Also, for all the moms, all the women 18 and
00:49:21.916 over, we have a gift for you out the back doors to the left.
00:49:25.016 It's right in the hallway on the table.
00:49:27.036 They're charcuterie cups from a local business called Board & Bites.
00:49:30.616 But just a gift we want to put in your hands.
00:49:32.336 I think there's some little kids going to be handing those out to you.
00:49:34.816 So, if a kid offers you free food, just take it.
00:49:37.536 It's a nice little gift basket we want to put in your hands.
00:49:40.676 Also, there's a photo wall in the cafe.
00:49:43.476 So out the back to the left in our cafe, there's a photo wall.
00:49:47.316 It's all self-explanatory. Touchscreen.
00:49:49.366 If you can't figure it out, get somebody young, maybe they'll help you figure it
00:49:51.816 out. But take some photos, hang out, enjoy the day.
00:49:55.706 And I just want to speak a blessing over all the mothers.
00:49:58.116 Heavenly Father, we thank you for all the moms.
00:50:00.376 God, that none of us would be here without our moms, God.
00:50:03.976 So we thank you for them. We thank you for all the stepmoms, all the
00:50:08.196 adoptive moms, foster moms, spiritual moms, grandmoms.
00:50:12.156 God, we thank you for them. We just pray your blessing upon them.
00:50:15.016 In Jesus' name, amen. Have a great rest of your day.
00:50:18.716 See you next week.