"CAUSE MOTHER SAID TO DO IT"
John 2:5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Mother’s Day is a wonderful day of recognition for one of the hardest job this world has to offer. Mother’s are wonderful people. I am not talking about this sentimental nonsense that makes mothers out to be a sinless saint. We know better.
I despise this semimetal nonsense that accompanies MOTHER’S DAY. It tries to make a super saint out of mothers and most of the children know that she is not. She is just a sinner saved by God’s grace. She will make mistakes and get irritable at times. If you are in your teen years or older you have already had serious encounters with your mothers.
I think I saw Motherhood defined, when after I had taken 3 years of Pastoral Counseling and had years of experience dealing with peoples problems and felt quite confident that everyone including my children knew how qualified I was – to have the phone ring at 2 am and one of our children say, "Hi Dad, Can I talk to Mom?"
This will be the 13th Mother’s Day that God has given me the privilege of sharing with this wonderful church. Every Mother’s Day I have quoted this poem by Sikes:
I’ve Worship In churches and chapels
I’ve prayed in the busy streets
I’ve sought my God and found Him
Where the waves of the ocean beat;
I knelt in a silent forest
In the share of some old oak tree;
But the dearest of all my alters
Was raised at my Mother’s knee.
MOTHER’S INCOUNTER WITH CHILD: One young man comes in on Mother’s Day Morning and standing by his mother’s bed. "Hey, Mom! Wake up. I made you a Mother’s Day card." "My, how sweet of you." she says. "I did it all by myself. Go ahead & read it."
She begins to read:
"I was going to buy a card with hearts of pink & red.
But then I thought I’d rather spend the money on me instead.
It’s awfully hard to buy things when one’s allowance is so small.
So I guess you’re pretty lucky I got you anything at all.
Happy Mother’s Day. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m done.
So how about getting out of bed & fixing breakfast for your son."
Signed, "Calvin."
or
The story of the young man on Mother’s Day that brought his mother a gift and handed to her and said, Happy Mother’s Day, "It’s a pet rat, I hope you like it better than the pet snake I bought you last Mother’s Day.
MOTHER’S RELATIONSHIP WITH FATHER: The speaker at our women’s club was lecturing on marriage and asked the audience how many of us wanted to “mother” our husbands. One member in the back row raised her hand.
“You do want to ‘mother’ your husband?” the speaker asked.
“Mother?” the woman echoed. “I thought you said ‘smother.’
We were talking Wednesday night and several mentioned how difficult Mother’s Day is for some.
Some of our members are not here because they drove many miles to be with their mother this week-end. Some are here this morning because they made the trip to be with their mother. Some here this morning does not have the privilege of phoning or spending time with their mother.
Let me make some suggestions:
1. If you mother is living – phone her or visit her (she is the only one you will ever have.)
2. If you don’t have the option of contact. Take some time to reflect on the good memories you have of her.
Tears are all right. Tears are our payment for the love we shared. Wouldn’t it be sad to have never loved someone enough to shed tears for them once they are gone?
I LOVE THIS STORY BY ERMI BOMBECK: I THINK IT REALLY DEFINES MOTHERHOOD.
I really think it defines Motherhood better than any other article I have ever read.
For the first 4 or 5 years after I had children, I considered motherhood a temporary condition -- not a calling. It was a time of my life set aside for exhaustion and long hours. It would pass. Then one afternoon, with 3 kids in tow, I came out of a supermarket pushing a cart (with four wheels that went in opposite directions) when my toddler son got away from me. Just outside the door, he ran toward a machine holding bubble gum in a glass dome. In a voice that shattered glass he shouted, "Gimme! Gimme!" I told him I would give him what for if he didn’t stop shouting and get in the car.
As I physically tried to pry his body from around the bubble gum machine, he pulled the entire thing over. Glass and balls of bubble gum went all over the parking lot. We had now attracted a sizable crowd.
I told him he would never see a cartoon as long as he lived, and if he didn’t control his temper, he was going to be making license plates for the state.
He tried to stifle his sobs as he looked around at the staring crowd. Then he did something that I was to remember for the rest of my life. In his helpless quest for comfort, he turned to the only one he trusted his emotions with -- me. He threw his arms around my knees and held on for dear life.
I had humiliated him, chastised him, and berated him, but I was still all he had. That single incident defined my role. I was a major force in this child’s life.
Sometimes we forget how important stability is to a child. I’ve always told mine, "The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth.... the hardest part is showing up for it each day..."
Mother’s day is traditionally the day when children give something back to their mothers for all the spit they produce to wash dirty faces, all the old gum they held in their hands, all the noses they wipe, and all the bloody knees they "made well" with a kiss.
This is the day mothers are rewarded for washing all those sheets in the middle of the night, driving kids to school when they missed the bus, and enduring all the football games in the rain.
It’s appreciation day for making your children finish something they said they couldn’t do, not believing them when they said, "I hate you," and sharing their good times and their bad times.
Their cards probably won’t reflect it, but what they are trying to say is, "Thank you for showing up."
When we think of mothers, there is no greater mother than the mother of our Lord. She was a godly, dedicated child of God. She was just a sinner saved by grace but chosen by God for one of the most important task ever given to a person. Let us remember that God’s Word say that all generations of people will call here blessed.
Last week we looked at John chapter two. We talked about what to do when the Wine runs out.
Today I want to take one statement that was made by the Mother of Jesus and suggest that "IT WAS THE BEST ADVICE A MOTHER EVER GAVE."
I WANT US TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE STATEMENTS MADE BY OUR LORD.
I am sure you will find some that I should have had on the list: In a real sense - everything Jesus said was wonderful advice. In another real sense - The entire Word of God is what He said.
T/S This morning I want us to consider a few things the Lord Jesus told us to do.
I. JESUS SAID, YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
John 3:5-7 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
How do you make a pig into the Father’s Son?
II. JESUS SAID, "COME UNTO ME ALL YOU THAT LABOR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
It is a terrible load to bear it alone.
III. JESUS SAID, "TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU"
Matt. 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
IV. JESUS SAID, "ABIDE IN ME"
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
V. JESUS SAID, "FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU TO BECOME FISHERS OF MEN.
Matt. 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
I want to assure you that following Jesus will make you to become fishers.
VI. JESUS SAID, "ASK AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU.
Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
You have not because you ask not.
VII. JESUS SAID, ’EXAMINE YOUR MOTIVES
Matt. 6:1 TAKE CARE not to do your good deeds publicly or before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you will have no reward with and from your Father, who is in heaven. {Amp.}
JESUS SAID:
PRAY, FORGIVE, DON’T WORRY, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, LOVE THE FAMILY OF GOD, SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOME OF GOD, AND MANY, MANY MORE BUT TO CLOSE LET ME GIVE YOU THE BIGGY.
VIII. JESUS SAID, "TO PRACTICE LOVING."
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. The second is like it, Love thy neighbor as thyself.
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CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: Larry Jacobs
email: LarryJ713@aol.com
Web Site: cbcbedford.com
