The Spirit Filled Mom
John 7: 37-39 May 11, 2008
Today is a very unique day in the church… Because Easter came so early this year, Pentecost Sunday is being celebrated on Mother’s Day… Or, maybe Mother’s Day is being celebrated on Pentecost Sunday… Whichever the case, today we celebrate both Pentecost and Mother’s Day…
Pentecost is the day that the Holy Spirit came like flaming tongues and fell upon the disciples… So I thought I would preach about Fiery mothers today, or hot momma’s…
No, I’m just kidding… but somehow I felt like I needed to put the two together… So today I’m going to talk about The Spirit Filled Mom…
Now I’ve never been a mom, but I know that being a mom is not easy…
Illus: I read about a stay-at-home mom who went to a PTA meeting one night. While she was gone, her husband and oldest daughter decided they would clean the kitchen for mom and surprise her when she got home.
Well, they washed all the dishes, put away the pots and pans, cleaned the stove and countertops – the kitchen was spotless…
Later than night, mom came home from the meeting… she walked in the kitchen and fixed herself something to drink and then went into the den to watch TV with her family… but she never said a word about the kitchen being cleaned…
Finally, her husband said, “Honey, did you notice the clean kitchen?” “I did,” she said… “Well, you’re not going to say thank you or anything?” She said, “Why should I? It’s a thankless job, isn’t it?”
Being a mom is sometimes a thankless job – and that’s why they need a day like today… a day that is devoted just to them and a day that allows us to show our appreciation…
Illus: Lori got up this morning and started cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes… I told her she shouldn’t have to clean the kitchen on Mother’s Day – I told her to wait until tomorrow!
Illus: I read about a little boy who was going to buy his mom a slip for Mother’s Day… The clerk asked him did he know what size she wore and he said no… So she asked him to describe her – was she fat, thin, short, tall? The little boy said, “Well I would say that she’s just about perfect…” So the clerk sent him home with a size 34… A few days later the mother came to exchange her gift, as it was too small… She needed a size 52! But to her son, she was just about perfect!
As I was thinking about Mother’s Day and how it relates to Pentecost Sunday, I kept thinking about my mom’s sweet spirit…
I was blessed to have a Christian mother… She made sure that my three brothers and I were in church and Sunday school on Sundays…
My mom loved people and she taught me to love people… My mom loved the church and she taught me to love the church… My mom loved the Lord and she taught me to love the Lord… And she taught me so many other things but these three things came straight from her loving spirit… The Spirit of God that was in her is what she shared with those around her…
And that’s what Pentecost was all about… It’s about receiving the Holy Spirit and then sharing that Spirit with those around us… Jesus said, “From out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water – which is the Holy Spirit.” John 7: 38
The First Pentecost: If you remember, the first Pentecost occurred when the disciples were sitting around in the Upper Room… The story is told in the second chapter of Acts… Jesus had been crucified and resurrected and had shown himself to the disciples many times… And just before his ascension back into heaven, Jesus told his disciples to return to the Upper Room and wait there for the promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit… (Acts 1: 4)
And as they were waiting, suddenly from heaven there came a sound like a rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were staying… Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability… (Acts 2: 2-4)
And because of the Holy Spirit, they were empowered to go out into the streets of Jerusalem to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God with those around them… The Holy Spirit is what empowers each of us to do the things that God calls us to do…
You and I can’t do anything Godly without the power of the Holy Spirit leading us. But with the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we are unlimited in our abilities to perform the works of God…
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples that they would do greater works than he has done because of the Holy Spirit… (John 14: 12)
And in 1 John 4: 4, we are reminded that “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we have this Godly power to do things that we could never do on our own…
I know that my mother was filled with the Holy Spirit… that’s the only explanation as to how she could raise four boys and still love us after all that we put her through… We tested her Spirit on a daily basis and it was always stronger than we were…
If you think about it, most of us are in church today because of our mothers… It was the Spirit Filled Mom that taught us the importance of church…
My mom started playing the piano in the church at age 12 and was the church pianist at age 14… and then played every Sunday for 40-plus years after that…
And she was devoted to her church… There was no doubt that my mother was going to be in church on Sunday morning and Sunday night… And do you know what? There was no doubt that her four boys were going to be there with her…
I was blessed to have a Spirit Filled mom who taught me the importance of loving the church… And she loved the church because she loved her Lord and Savior Jesus… and had a love for God…
But do you know where she learned the love of God? It wasn’t from her father, it was from her Spirit Filled Mom, my grandmother… And do you know where my grandmother learned the love of God? It was from her mother, my great grandmother, Momma English…
I was told that my great grandmother, Momma English was a very Spirit Filled Mom… She was always spiritual but in her later years she dedicated her life to reading the Bible and praying… and rocking, she was a rocking Christian!
I inherited her old rocking chair… And I was told that she used to sit in that rocking chair for hours at a time wrapped up in her afghan reading her Bible and praying… I was told that she prayed for everybody… If someone needed prayers they would seek out the prayers of Momma English… I was told that she never raised her voice and never got upset… and was just so soft spoken, gentle and loving… and weighed about a 100-pounds soaking wet… with long white hair that she always wrapped up and wore in a bun… I like to think that I inherited more than just her old rocking chair – I’d like to think that I inherited a part of her sweet Spirit and her love for the Lord…
That’s some of my heritage of why I’m a Christian and why I love the church… My spirit is linked and molded to the spirit of my mom, and hers to her mom, and hers to her mom… And I hope that you can trace some of your heritage back to a Spirit Filled Mom…
Spirit Filled Moms teach us to love the Lord, to love the church, and to love others… And what a legacy it is to raise a family in a Christian home…
Illus: As a preacher, it’s an honor for me to say, “My mother practiced what I preach…”
Illus: The other day I was thinking about some of the preachers that have had an influence on my life – and there weren’t too many… But the greatest preacher in my life never stood in the pulpit and preached a sermon… The greatest preacher in my life was “My Mother” and she preached the greatest sermons through living out the Word of God in the way she lived her life…
Hopefully, you have or had a mother that preached to you… But more importantly, you need to be The Spirit Filled Mom… If God has blessed you with children or grandchildren, or, if you’re just a mother-figure to someone, your life needs to be Spirit filled…
We who believe in Jesus have been given a wonderful gift called the Holy Spirit… We receive it when we become a child of God…
It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to love one another as Christ loved us… We are able to care for people, and to have compassion for people…
We are able to share and we’re able to witness…
With the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to do Godly things… Things that are more spiritual than they are worldly…
Yes, it’s Mother’s Day and I’m talking about mothers… But the Holy Spirit is not just for moms… In fact, that was the entire message of Pentecost…
When God sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples unlocked their doors and they left the Upper Room and took the message of Jesus Christ out into the streets and shared it with everyone speaking in foreign languages so everyone could receive it…
Acts 2: 37 and following says, “And when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…” Listen to this! “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2: 37-39)
Church, the message hasn’t changed! Repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…
Jesus said in John 7: 37, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. For out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water. Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive…” (John 7: 37-38)
I know that my mother drank from the living water of Jesus – because from out of her heart flowed rivers of living water… which was the Holy Spirit of God…
The greatest gift we could give our mother’s is for us to take a drink of the living water of Jesus…
The greatest gift that we could give our children is for us to take a drink of the living water of Jesus…
The greatest gift that we could give to ourselves is for us to take a drink of the living water…
Peter said, “The promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away… (Acts 2: 39)
I can truly say “Happy Mother’s Day,” because my mom was a Sprit Filled Mom… who led me to the living water of Jesus…
Pentecost and Mother’s Day – Somehow I feel like they do go together – they were meant for each other… and they are both meant for us!
Rev. Mike DuBose
Newhebron United Methodist Church
Newhebron, MS
www.newhebronumc.com
