Living Life For The Lord

Living Life for the Lord – A Mother’s Story

Mother’s day video – “I’m a Mom” from Centerline New Media

Slide after video

I love that video.

Because I think that being a mom is one of the most important jobs there are in the world along with being a dad.

I believe that God has made this one of our greatest responsibilities.

But boy is it hard sometimes, isn’t it?

Wouldn’t you think that if we are doing what God wants us to do and we are doing it well, it should be easy, shouldn’t it?

Today we are going to learn that that is not always the case, that in fact, it is sometimes very difficult, but even in those difficulties, God provides for us and gives us strength and support to persevere and experience his glory and goodness.

I want to wish all of our mothers a Happy Mothers’ Day today. We are going to be looking at the life of a mother who experienced some deep hardships, but by persevering through it, she experienced God’s goodness and pleasure.

Honor moms

But before we begin, I just want to say that I am honored this morning to be in the presence of so many ladies who have glorified the Lord by heeding the call to motherhood and have helped or are helping to raise this and future generations.

In the 10 commandments, the fifth commandment tells us to “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12).

This morning, I would like to ask all of those who are moms to stand so that we might honor the Lord by honoring you.

Applause!

Thank you mothers. Now if you would turn with me to

Luke 1:26-38

Slide

We are going to look at the story of Mary, Jesus’ mother.

Now this is not a story that applies solely to moms, but to everyone of us who seeks to live a life for the Lord, but wonder why it is so hard sometimes and question if God is really watching over us.

Let’s begin to look at the circumstances that Mary faced as the mother of Jesus and we also look at the resources God provided Mary and to each one of us as we face the circumstances of life.

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God."

38 "I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Pray

Wow, what an unbelievable honor for Mary. God’s favor rested upon her and she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, Son of the Most High. How awesome is that! Wow. But, while this is an unbelievable honor, this honor also brought with it some circumstances that aren’t so awesome.

If we stop and think about it, one of the circumstances Mary would have faced as a result of this honor is

The Disapproval of Society

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Mary was a virgin and yet she was going to have a baby.

Now the Scripture doesn’t tell us that society disapproved of Mary specifically, but we know from history that out of wedlock births were not looked on to well, and the law was still such that a person could still be stoned for sexual relations outside of marriage.

But we do know that gossip concerning who Jesus’ father really was, was still circulating when Jesus began his ministry.