Kingdom Matriarchs

How many of you watch movies for the credits?

It's your favorite part.

You skip to the end and watch the credits before you watch anything else.

! Nobody?

How many of you have seen a Marvel Comics movie?

Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Iron Mans, the Spider-Mans, all that stuff.

What do they have?

Now, I'm going to test how many of you are really fans of Marvel here.

What do they have after the movie ends?

Extra scenes, right?

Usually a mid-credits scene and then a post-credits scene.

And so, if you're watching it in the theater, do you get up and leave when the movie ends?

No, you got to stick it out.

You can always see the people who leave when a Marvel movie ends.

It's like, y'all don't really know how this works, do you?

Otherwise, now what I do whenever I, we just went and watched the Sheep Detective movie.

That was funny, by the way.

Sheep solving a murder mystery, if you're wondering.

They're scraping the bottom of the barrel for what to make movies about nowadays.

But look, it was a good time.

And I was Googling, is there a post-credits scene to this movie?

There wasn't.

So, we got up and left.

Why?

Because nobody wants to stick around for the credits, right?

It's just kind of...

Now, they should.

All those people worked really hard on that movie.

And you see their names scrolling by and you're like, forget it.

I don't care who made this thing.

It's over.

We're going to start the book of Romans with the credits.

So, take your Bibles, if you would, and go to Romans chapter 16.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

It's the end.

It's the credits.

He is recognizing the people he needs to acknowledge.

Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome.

We're going to get into more of the background of the letter, the purpose behind it.

We're going to get into more of that next week.

So, come back next week if you want to know what this whole thing is about.

But today, we're going to focus on some very interesting things that Paul focused on as he ended this letter to the church in Rome.

This was arguably the most important, or if you look up at the slides, the most influential letter that Paul ever wrote.

We don't need to skip over the credits.

So, let's see what he has to say in Romans chapter 16.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

You say, why are we starting with the credits?

Why are we starting with the end?

Well, I have read Romans front to back my whole life, and only recently I was challenged by a book and a teaching series called Reading Romans Backwards, more of a lecture series, from one of my favorite Bible scholars and theologians out there.

And he got into this thing called Reading Romans Backwards.

And it's kind of starting toward the end of the book because we get to get the whole picture, the context of why he was writing this letter.

And it serves us well to start back then.

The people to whom he was writing, they already knew the context.

They knew the whole situation.

They were living it.

So, they didn't need that context.

They were the context.

So, they got to start at the beginning and understand exactly what he was talking about in context.

We have to go kind of get the picture.

So, we're going toward the end where he shares some of the context.

And then we'll work our way back toward the beginning of Paul's letter to the churches in Rome.

So, let's look at verse 1 of Romans 16.

Paul writes,

By the way, Asia, not the continent you're thinking of.

Asia was one of the provinces of Rome and about in modern day Turkey.

So, that's what he's talking about when he says the province of Asia.

Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me.

They are outstanding among the apostles.

They were in Christ before I was.

Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend of the Lord.

Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.

Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

Greet Herodian, my fellow Jews.

We have different names nowadays, don't we?

They're a little different, aren't they?

They're a mouthful.

Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

Was Narcissus narcissistic?

I don't know.

We can move on.

We don't need rabbit trails right now.

Here we go, verse 12.

Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa.

Watch this.

Those women who work hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis.

Another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

And then in verse 13, we finish.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me too.

Quite some time ago, I felt like the Lord laid this epistle, this letter from Paul to the churches in Rome that we call Romans.

We all have it in our New Testaments.

Laid this book of the Bible in on my heart to preach through.

And this has been probably the last couple months.

I've been praying through and working through what sermon series to start next for our church.

And he confirmed to me, yeah, Romans is the way we need to go right now.

So I was thinking, well, we've got Mother's Day coming up.

I kind of want to go from Romans backwards to the front.

So I'm looking through, how is this going to work?

And then that verse 13 stood out to me.

Rufus's mother, who has been a mother to me too.

Thinking, huh, that's interesting that Paul talks about mothering.

And this lines up to start this series in Romans on Mother's Day.

Then I went back through the rest of that chapter and I saw how many women Paul was highlighting in his credits, in his acknowledgements at the end of his letter.

So I worked through this and the Holy Spirit guided me into seeing how valuable a role these women played in not only Paul's life in ministry, but the work of the early church of Jesus Christ.

Jesus had died.

He was risen from the dead.

He had given his marching orders to his people, his followers, to spread around the known world at the time and carry the message, the gospel message of Jesus, the good news.

Jesus was here.

Jesus had come.

Jesus had risen.

He was alive.

And all could be forgiven of their sins and have a place in God's kingdom through Jesus Christ.

This was the message.

So his followers started preaching that message.

They started going everywhere they could.

And Paul was one of the early fathers of this movement.

He was one of the people that God used in the most instrumental ways to help this catch on.

And there were people all around Paul that were helping him in this ministry.

And he acknowledges them in each one of his letters.

And in this one, women are featured prominently.

So I think it's appropriate on this Mother's Day to look at these women that Jesus valued, that Paul valued,

and that God used mightily in the early days of this church.

Churches are gathered all across this world, all across America celebrating Mother's Day.

Let's look and see what role they played in the life of Paul.

So, number one, we're going to look at the planters.

We've been in Romans 16.

We're going to jump around a little bit to a couple other places.

But if you want to keep your Bible open to Romans 16, that'll work because we'll keep referring back to that.

So let's start back at the beginning with Priscilla and Phoebe.

Phoebe and Priscilla.

What does he call them?

He calls Phoebe our sister, a deacon, a benefactor.

It's safe to say that Phoebe was instrumental in the life of Paul and the early church.

Now, what do we mean by a sister?

We call somebody a sister in Christ.

What are we talking about?

Come on, y'all.

This isn't a hard one.

Somebody's got this.

Fellow believer, right?

A fellow Christ follower.

We believe the same thing about Jesus.

So you're a woman.

We believe the same thing about Jesus.

So I can call you my sister in the faith, following Jesus together.

I'm married to my wife, but she's also my sister in Christ, right?

So let's move on to the next part.

He calls her a deacon.

This was a diakonos.

That is the Greek word that was used.

It's talking about a servant of the church.

Usually would have some kind of ordination coupled with that,

based on Paul's other teachings.

So Phoebe was a sister in Christ.

She was a deacon, and she was a prosthesis.

That is a benefactor.

That means she had means.

She had income.

She had some measure of wealth and was able to help support,

both probably by opening her home and also giving financially to the work of the ministry.

So she was an instrumental key player in Paul's ministry and in the church.

So when Paul was writing this letter to the church at Rome, he wasn't in Rome.

He had to send this letter by hand.

They had to travel over a thousand miles to get to Rome to share this letter with the churches in Rome.

We'll give you more background next Sunday on the churches in Rome.

I'm not going to spend too much time diving into that.

So come back next week, and you'll find out what was going on in Rome.

But Paul needed somebody reliable.

He needed somebody who could speak well.

He needed somebody who could expound on what he was writing.

When they went and read his letter multiple times to the different churches meeting in Rome,

they weren't all gathering in a building like we enjoy today.

There were many house churches that had sprang up throughout Rome.

They were filled with a mixture of Gentile Roman believers,

and they were filled with a mixture of traditional Jewish believers,

all trying to follow Jesus in the days after his resurrection.

And Paul needed somebody to go on his behalf and preach this letter to these churches.

The most reliable person he had was Phoebe.

So she played a powerful, dynamic, vital role in the early church.

And God used her in this arguably most important, most influential letter that Paul wrote that we call Romans.

One of the early church fathers, Origen.

Noted this about Phoebe.

He said there were women ordained in the church's ministry by the apostles' authority.

So we see this Phoebe being called a deacon.

And that would have been, like we said, coupled with some ordination.

Well, that wasn't something the church would take lightly.

They would identify who are the best equipped, who are the most qualified,

who are the people who are going to serve the church well in this servant role of deacons.

God has blessed us with some wonderful deacons here in our church.

We've got nearly 20 deacons who have set themselves apart to serve the church.

And they do so every week.

They meet every month.

They'll take meals to those who can't get here.

They will pray.

They'll serve.

They meet together.

They pray for each other.

They pray over needs that you have.

They serve the church well.

The church has had that.

The church at large, the universal church scattered around the world and identified in local individual assemblies just like ours here in Henrietta.

They have had deacons throughout from the very beginning.

And Phoebe was one of these.

So we recognize and celebrate that a woman like Phoebe, the church believed she ought to be ordained into the ministry because she helped in many ways.

There was precedent for this.

Think back of Luke chapter 8 when Mary Magdalene and Joanna provided for Jesus' ministry out of their own means.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

Jesus was the first one to normalize women as the financial and logistical backbone of his ministry.

So Paul was picking up the torch of what Jesus did.

The early church was saying, yes, we see the value that women brought to Jesus' ministry, and we're going to continue that today.

Back in Luke chapter 8 and verses 1 through 3, the 12 were with him, were with Jesus.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

And also some women, Mary, called Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Chusa, the manager of Herod's household, Susanna, and many others.

These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

So this is Phoebe.

Then we move on to Priscilla.

Along with her husband Aquila, Paul says she risked her neck or risked her very life.

He called her his co-worker in Christ.

She laid it all on the line for the ministry.

So on this Mother's Day, we recognize these women that were instrumental in Paul's life and in his ministry.

By the way, Paul's son in the ministry.

We're going to test your Bible knowledge here.

Does anybody know or want to guess who Paul's son in the ministry was?

Timothy.

We got it.

Timothy.

He wrote two letters to Timothy.

First Timothy, second Timothy.

We've got them in our New Testament.

He uses the same word for Timothy that he uses for Priscilla and Aquila.

This co-worker means somebody who carried the burden with them.

Somebody who shared in the load.

Priscilla was identified as a church planter.

They would open their home, Priscilla and Aquila, and help get churches off the ground.

They were the early version of a church starter, a church planter.

And they were teachers, Priscilla and Aquila both.

Funny thing is, in Acts chapter 18, there were two great teachers in the church in the day of Paul.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

One was Paul.

Does anybody remember who the other one was?

Apollos.

It was Apollos.

It was Paul and Apollos.

These two great teachers of the Christian faith.

Apollos was out there teaching.

And you know what Priscilla and Aquila did?

They invited him into their home and they corrected his teaching.

They corrected his theology.

In Acts chapter 18, you can read about this.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

They set him straight on some things.

Said, Apollos, you're doing great.

You're a little bit off on a few things.

So they brought him in and set him straight according to the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

So these women had powerful ability in ministry.

A deep understanding of the faith and the scriptures.

And Paul gives them credit here at the end of Romans chapter 16.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

So Phoebe carried the letter.

Preached it to the churches in Rome.

Priscilla explained the teaching of the scriptures.

Without them, Paul's teachings, Paul's ministry look a lot different.

So we're thankful for them.

Moving on.

There we go.

Number two.

Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis.

Who were these women?

These were the ordinary laborers.

Paul calls them hard workers.

Mary.

And then there were seemingly the twins, Tryphena and Tryphosa.

Do you know what those names meant back in that world?

Tryphena meant dainty and Tryphosa meant delicate.

So whatever vision their parents had for these ladies, maybe they were dainty and delicate in some ways, but they knew how to work.

Paul specifically calls them out for their hard work.

Look back in chapter 16 of Romans, verse 6.

Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

And then jump down, if you would, to verse 12.

Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who worked hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

Here's what I want to leave you with.

Ordinary work is the invisible strength of God's kingdom.

So on this Mother's Day, I think it's appropriate to highlight how hard these women work.

How many of you would say mothers work as hard or harder than anybody else?

You better have your hand up right now.

It's Mother's Day, y'all.

Of course they do.

The role of motherhood demands hard work.

These women worked very hard.

Paul noted them for their work.

There were plenty of other people who worked hard.

Listen, it wasn't easy being a Jesus follower.

And starting point this morning, we talked a little bit about that.

In today's world, it's different.

You get up.

Sometimes you fulfill a societal expectation of going to church on Sunday.

Sometimes it's more than that.

But sometimes it's just, well, it's Sunday.

I guess we're going to church.

Church, we've got Christian radio.

We've got Christian bookstores.

We've got Christian music.

We've got Christian insurance.

We've got Christian everything, man.

That was not so in their world.

It was a very pagan world.

It was a very anti-Christ world, anti-Christian world.

And this church was trying to get its feet under it.

And it was hard being a follower of Jesus.

You know what Christian means, right?

Like Christ.

So when we call ourselves Christian, as just a side note, what we're telling people is,

I'm like Christ.

I'm like Jesus.

I'm like the one who called himself the Christ.

Well, that's a lot to live up to.

So by God's power, by his spirit, we can reach that.

We can become more and more like him with each passing day.

But man, being a Christian back then, it was dangerous.

It required a lot of hard work.

You didn't have a beautiful building to come in and have your service and go off to your classroom and all that.

We didn't have any of that back in the early church.

We, as a church, as a universal church, were just trying to get our feet under us.

We were trying to get going.

We were trying to stay out of prison, trying to stay off the government's radar,

and still propagate or spread the gospel message of Jesus.

And it did spread.

It spread like wildfire because of the hard work of the men and the women of the early church.

And Paul notes four of them here specifically.

Mary, Tryphena, and Tryphos of the twins, and Persis.

And you know what he uses when he says work?

He uses the word copiao.

Copiao means we're not just working a job.

It means laboring to the point of exhaustion.

It means working until you're ready to drop.

Working your fingers to the bone.

Now think back on your own mom.

How many of you would say,

I remember seeing my mom work to the point of exhaustion.

I remember seeing her work, laboring, hard.

She's exhausted.

She's tired.

And she kept working.

Kept a smile on her face.

God has given mothers this unique gift,

this unique ability to sometimes, often set themselves aside

and prioritize those whom they love

and work their fingers to the bone for those people.

And Paul's calling out these women for doing that

on behalf of the Lord and his work and his church.

So we should value our moms.

Value the women in our midst

who work tirelessly,

who work to the point of exhaustion

for their families,

for their church family,

for their community.

And I've seen it in this church.

I've seen it in our school system.

I've seen it in your families.

I've seen so many examples sitting in this room

of women who tirelessly are used by God

to work, to labor for the faith,

for their families.

This is the same word that Jesus used in John 4

when he was tired.

He had worked himself to the point of exhaustion.

And he sat at a well.

And a Samaritan woman came up

to draw water from the well.

And while he's recovering from the point of exhaustion,

he shares Jesus.

He shares himself.

He shares the way, the truth, and the life

with this woman.

But that's the word.

It's what Jesus needed.

He needed to do the work

that his father had sent him to do.

And so many of you,

specifically, I'm looking at you moms today,

work yourselves tirelessly

for the same work that Jesus did

that we're all called to do as his church.

So Paul noted these women for that.

These women represent the invisible strength

of God's church,

the invisible strength of God's kingdom.

I'm thinking of, man,

I'll start calling out examples

and then we're gonna leave out way too many people.

But one specifically,

I'm thinking of Jaquita Graves,

who has taught her class for so many years.

And so many people have been used,

have been, she's been used in their lives.

She's taught them so much.

Their knowledge has expanded.

Their faith has grown.

Their walk with God has been cemented.

Roots have dug down deep

because of the ministry

that God has done through her.

Not only that,

but she's chairman of the committee on committees.

And listen, y'all,

we could do a dozen other examples

off the top of my head

from this church.

So we're only gonna take time for one.

And if you got mad that it was Jaquita,

I can't help you, all right?

But she's one that comes to mind immediately.

But there are so many other women in this church

that we could highlight

and just thank God for their faithful service,

tireless service.

But you know they do get tired.

But they continue on.

And we thank God for that.

They aren't always in the spotlight.

Sometimes they might be in the scullery.

Sometimes they might be in the background.

Sometimes they might be

in a seemingly low level position.

Sometimes they might be taking care

of a screaming baby in the nursery.

Who else wants to do that?

I don't.

I don't want to take it.

I don't covet their role in the nursery.

No, thank you.

But they are making sure

that the hungry are fed.

They are making sure

that the babies are comforted.

They're making sure

that the ministry gets done.

They're making sure

that people get taught the word of God.

They're making sure

that prayers are continually

being prayed on behalf

of those in need.

In the kingdom of God,

there is no menial work.

It is all missionary work.

It is all important work

for God's kingdom.

Ordinary, what we might call

ordinary work,

is the invisible strength

of God's kingdom.

When we're lacking

that ordinary work,

something breaks.

we're weaker.

So, I was supposed

to take you to this slide

when I read that word out,

kopio.

But that's the Greek word

that Paul was using there.

Then we go to number three,

verse seven.

Would you go back with me

to verse seven,

Romans chapter 16.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

There's a married couple here,

Andronicus and Junia,

my fellow Jews

who have been in prison with me.

They are outstanding

among the apostles.

They were in Christ

before I was.

Now, if you want to dive deep

on Junia,

there's some controversy

over whether or not

she was an official apostle,

whether she and her husband

were called official apostles,

or were just recognized

by the apostles.

But it seems like

most Bible scholars

who seem to do the best work

and really pour themselves

into the study of the scriptures

and exegete correctly,

they seem to agree

that this title was given

to this married couple,

Andronicus and Junia,

that they were recognized

as apostles.

Now, that could only come

from the apostles themselves

saying,

we recognize you

to be an apostle.

That had to be given

by the apostles.

Each church couldn't just vote

and say,

we're going to vote

on an apostle.

It was different

than a pastor, okay?

Very different.

So this was a very special role,

a very special title.

John Chrysism,

another early church father

who's long been dead,

but whose work was valuable

in the early church,

wrote this about Junia.

He said,

how great is the devotion

to the work of God

that this woman had,

that she should be worthy

of the title,

the appellation,

the title of apostle.

This was rare.

Somebody would be given

this title,

that they would be recognized

by the apostles themselves

in this way.

So we should pay

close attention to this.

What was so special

about this woman?

Well, when we study,

Junia and her husband,

Andronicus,

they had been in prison

with Paul.

How many of y'all know

what Paul got put in prison for?

You're thinking through it?

You don't have to raise your hand.

You can just say it out.

What did Paul go to prison for?

Yes, he did.

Preaching the gospel.

He would run afoul

of the local government.

He'd run afoul

of the Roman government.

He would get put

in local prison.

He'd get put on prison

transport ships

and get transported

to another island.

And then he would get

shipwrecked along the way.

And crazy things

would happen

in the life of Paul.

Somebody's got to make

a movie at some point

about the life of Paul.

It would be amazing

cinema.

But clearly,

these women,

this man and his wife,

were out there

preaching the gospel

with Paul

because they got jailed too.

So these people

had a side-by-side

laboring role

in the ministry

of Paul.

Think of the resurrection

in John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

Jesus chose someone

to be called

the apostle

to the apostles.

You know who that was?

Mary Magdalene.

He entrusted

the most important news

in human history

to a woman first.

Junia,

being called

an apostle

by the apostles

of the early church,

reminds us that

God does not

call the qualified.

He qualifies

the cult.

Regardless of

your gender,

regardless of

your status,

God can use

you

in powerful

ways.

Just like

he used

these women.

So,

we have

the planters,

Phoebe and Priscilla.

We have

the ordinary laborers,

Mary,

Tryphena,

Tryphosa,

Persis.

We have

the apostle,

Junia.

And now we're

going to bring it back

to the heart

of the home.

And this is

the mother

of Rufus.

Paul said

of the mother

of Rufus

back in verse 13,

the last verse

we read,

Greet Rufus

chosen in the Lord

and his mother

who has been

a mother

to me too.

This woman

was not seemingly

related to Paul.

She was the mother

of Rufus

and Alexander.

Rufus is mentioned

here.

Alexander is mentioned

in Mark 15.

Let's go over

to Mark 15.

Look at verse 21.

A certain man

from Cyrene,

the father

of Alexander

and Rufus

was passing by

on his way

from in

from the country

and they forced him

to carry the cross.

Now y'all,

I wasn't there.

So I can't say

with absolute certainty.

But the vast

consensus

among those

historians

and Bible scholars

who have done

the work

of piecing

the scriptures

and historical documents

together

believe

that the Rufus

mentioned right here

in Romans 16

is the same Rufus

who was the son

of Simon

from Cyrene

who carried

the cross

of Jesus.

And his wife

became like a mother

to Paul

who God used

arguably more

powerfully

with greater impact

than anybody else

we've seen

in the early church history.

So we thank God

for the letters

of Paul

that he used

so powerfully

and is still using

today

to teach churches

like ours.

But then we've also

got to thank

Simon's wife

who God used

so powerfully

in his life.

She wasn't

his mother.

His mother

likely was not

a follower

of Christ.

but Simon's

wife was.

And because

God allowed

Simon

to be picked

from the crowd

that day

Simon

from Cyrene

Cyrene was a country

in Africa

a region

in Africa

about where

Libya is today

seemingly

he was

a Hellenistic

or Greek Jew

who was probably

living there

at the time

and he came back

during the Passover week

to celebrate

the Passover

back in his homeland

and the Roman soldiers

plucked him

from the crowd

well

I think God

allowed that to happen.

God directed

their choice

to the right man

for the job

because then

when Simon

carried the cross

for Jesus

seemingly

if he hadn't yet

he converted

his whole family

to the way

of Christ

and then Rufus

was chosen

in the Lord

his son

because

Simon had been

chosen by the Lord

even though

those Roman soldiers

thought they were

doing the choosing

God directed

their choice

to the person

you see how it all

fits together

because then

Rufus was chosen

in the Lord

his whole family

turned

his wife

became a mother

figure

to Paul

father of the

early church

so let me say this

to the moms

in the room

God has given

you your children

to have an impact

to

but you can have

so much of an impact

even beyond

your own children

Rufus' mom

was not content

just to be a mother

to Alexander

and Rufus

God used her

as a matriarch

of the early church

to fill that role

of support

encouragement

love

teaching

to Paul himself

so

it's appropriate

on Mother's Day

to recognize

who Paul looked at

as a mother

in his life

Paul was a giant

of the faith

he was a Pharisee

he knew the scriptures

knew them inside

and out

his teaching

often revealed

that

but he had

a spiritual mother

that God brought

into his life

and he felt

that it would

not be complete

this letter

to Rome

would not be complete

without recognizing

her

and the impact

she had

and then he goes

on and greets more

there are a few

more women

that he greets

but this is all

the time we have

to highlight today

so let me conclude

with this

the most important

credential

in God's kingdom

is answering

his call

you might not

have all the

Pharisee training

like Paul had

you might not

have all the

seminary degrees

you might not

have all the

history of

serving in

particular roles

in the church

etc etc

the most important

credential that

every single one

of these women

answered

in God's kingdom

is answering

his call

if you say

yes to Jesus

there's no limit

on what Jesus

can do

through you

whether you're

a husband

or a wife

a father

or a mother

a sister

or a brother

a woman

or a man

a child

or an adult

a teenager

or college age

regardless of

your age

your gender

your wealth

your abilities

if you say

yes to Jesus

he can use you

in ways

that you will

never dream

Galatians chapter

three verse

twenty eight

Paul affirms

this

he says

in Christ

there is neither

Jew nor Gentile

there is neither

slave nor free

man

there is neither

male nor female

we are all

one

under Christ

so Phoebe

shows us

that the gospel

is authoritative

she carried

the authority

of

and Junia

as well

but she carried

the authority

of the ordination

into the

the deaconhood

from the early church

and the apostles

Junia carried

that authority

of the apostles

that they had

bestowed upon her

collaborative

the gospel

is collaborative

this letter

was collaborative

and Priscilla

shows us that

as they were

co-workers

co-laborers

with Christ

it is transformational

we see what happened

in the lives

of all these women

but Junia

specifically

having been in prison

and then God

transformed

what seemed to be

a terrible thing

a setback

into a powerful thing

that God used

to spread the gospel

message

every time

the Romans

or the Jewish

traditionalists

tried to stamp out

this way of Christ

God would use it

to transform

more lives

and more hearts

and the mother

of Rufus

shows us

that it is relational

that is one of the most

important aspects

all are important aspects

but that relational part

is maybe the part

we feel the most

that warmth

that dependability

that steadiness

so we thank you moms

we thank you ladies

for your service

back in the day of Jesus

back in the day of Paul

and all throughout

the history of the church

to today

right here

in First Baptist Church

Henrietta, Texas

we thank you

for your giftings

in the spirit

we thank you

for your willingness

to serve us

to serve the Lord

to serve our church

to serve your families

to serve your community

the gospel came to Rome

in the hands of a woman

the gospel has come

to your heart

so many of you

through the hands

through the love

of those

who have labored

for you

may we be a church

that honors the women

the mothers

in our lives

not just with flowers

today in just a moment

but with the dignity

the respect

and the appreciation

that both Paul

and Christ

showed to mothers

and women

would you join me

in praying

God you took time

out of your ministry

for everyone

for the great

for the small

for the old

for the young

for men and women alike

those who wrote

the records

of your ministry

on this earth

knew that it would be

important to highlight

the women

the mothers

who you used

powerfully

in your kingdom work

and Paul did

the same thing

so we would be wrong

to not recognize

the impact

they had

and on this

Mother's Day

I pray that we

would not only

just say thank you

to mom

and say happy

Mother's Day

hand them a flower

or maybe a card

or whatever else

we have planned

maybe give them a call

if they're not here

but God

I pray that we

would take it

a step further

and say

we recognize

the impact

you've had on us

we've recognized

the impact

that God

has had

through you

that we would

give them

the dignity

the honor

the respect

that you

showed them

that we would

not stifle

when you want

to use them

in your work

that we would

celebrate that

that we would

support it

God however

you choose

to work

through the lives

of women

in your church

I pray that

we would not

stand in the way

but just like

the early church

did

that we would

say yes

God is working

through them

we celebrate

that

we honor

it

we make

room for

it

God

work

through

every one

of us

if there's

somebody

here

who doesn't

know you

today

I pray

that they

would see

that you

are a God

who values

every one

of them

everyone

equally

that there

is no one

who would

say I'm

too far

gone

I'm out

of the

reach

of God's

love

every one

of us

regardless

of status

regardless

of identity

you love

us all

and you

died for

us all

you rose

for us

all

and you

offer

each one

of us

eternal

life

through

Christ

with our

heads

bowed

and our

eyes

closed

I'll

just

ask

this

question

church

there's

someone

today

maybe a

guest

or maybe

someone

who's been

coming here

for a long

time

and you

would say

I know

today is

the day

that I

need to

surrender

to Jesus

I need

to open

my heart

to Jesus

and say

I want

to follow

you

I believe

I believe

that you

are God

I believe

that you

died on

the cross

to take

the burden

of my sin

to forgive

me

I believe

that you

rose

from the

dead

by the

power

of God

and I

believe

you're

alive

today

and I

want to

follow

you

through

the rest

of my

life

if that's

you

today

would you

slip

your hand

up

and I'd

love to

pray for

you

thank you

how many

of you

would say

God

is working

on my

heart

about

something

else

and I

need

prayer

would you

slip

your hand

up

and I'd

love to

pray for

you

as well

I need

prayer

thank you

thank you

thank you

how many

of you

well I'm

not going to

ask you to

raise your

hand right

now but I'll

just throw

this out

there

if anyone

would like

to join

us in

membership

in this

church

if you've

been maybe

attending

for a little

while

and you say

I'd like

to commit

I'd like

to make

this my

home

church

and be

a part

of this

body

of Jesus

followers

please come

down front

after the

service

is over

or meet

me in the

back

I would love

to set up

a time

to talk

with you

and discuss

what it

looks like

to join

us as we

follow Jesus

we want to

welcome you

into our

number

God thank you

for meeting

with us

today

we love

you

we want

to do

our best

to follow

you

and to

honor you

as we

also honor

the moms

in our

lives

in Jesus

name we

pray

amen