"Mothers by Nature and Nuture" (Mother's Day Panel: Stephanie Cudmore, Kim Shreve, Jami Blackchief, and Lori Galli)

I'm gonna ask all you mothers if you can if you can stand to your feet, okay?

We got a bunch of mothers in here.

Amen.

We want to give you praise and honor you today.

We thank you for all that you do for your family.

Do you know that I heard one time that with all the all the things that a mother does, working, cleaning, cooking, that every mother should make$166,000.

Okay?

Alright?

I just wanted to make your day when saying that today.

Alright?

Yeah, so this is a great, great thing.

We're gonna pray for you, and we're gonna have a great, great day today in honoring you and encouraging you today.

Lord, I thank you for every mother that's here.

I thank you for the fact that, Lord, moms have a great impact and influence on their children, establishing the heritage of the Lord from one generation to the next, to a thousand generations, we pray, Lord, that the generation that knows the Lord will continue through every generation as moms train up their kids in the way that they should go, give them godly biblical principles to live their lives on, and are examples to their children, what the love and the grace of Jesus is all about.

So we thank you for each mother represented here, and we give give them honor, and we pray that you'd bless them, give them wisdom, give them insight.

Lord, if there's any that are hurting here today, we pray, Lord, that the balm of the Holy Spirit would come upon them and give them comfort, give them peace, take away any brokenness in their hearts, any wounds in their hearts today.

We pray the Holy Spirit that brings life would minister to every mom.

In Jesus' wonderful name we pray.

Amen and amen.

God bless you, moms, and let's give moms a hand clap today.

Amen.

You know, moms never stop being moms.

Amen.

Can I get an amen from you, moms?

I remember I was 35 and I I flew down to uh Florida to see my mom and pop, and they picked me up at the airport, and immediately, right off the bat, mom started zigging me, okay?

Are you reading are you reading the word of God?

Are you staying close to Jesus?

Do you have a church that you're going to?

What are you doing?

What's your testimony like?

And I said, Mom, I'm 35.

But I was thinking, man, a godly mom never stops.

Amen?

Never ever stops zinging you with the word of God and allowing you and encouraging you to be an example and live out the character and nature of Christ.

So I thank God for my mom.

Every day she got up, she was the first one up, sitting down, reading the word of God.

So every time I got up, she would be on the couch reading the word of God.

And now I live with a lady that does the same thing, Stephanie, who's a great, great mom.

And every day she's at the couch.

Well, she's got her personal chair that I can't sit in because she sits in it.

And she reads the word of God, and that's a godly, godly mom.

So we thank you.

Godly, godly moms, living your life for Jesus and be an example.

And all you ladies that are not moms might have the potential of being a mom, you can be a mom and nurture the younger generation.

Amen.

Nurture uh young folk in the way and the walk of the Lord.

So that is that is awesome.

We're gonna have a great time today.

We have four ladies that are gonna bring the word of God, and uh you're gonna be ministered to, and it's gonna be awesome.

Amen.

So I'm gonna ask uh all those ladies, if you want to come on up.

Welcome.

Oh my goodness, we have a full house.

So I'm here today with some of my just a few of my favorite women.

I mean, I have I have a big, big list of favorite women, so um, and probably you're all on that list.

Um, but today I have the honor of sharing Mother's Day with Lori, with Jamie, with Kim, and we're gonna get to hear from them.

But before we hear from them, I'm gonna tell you a little story.

Sean's gonna throw this beautiful picture up for me.

This is what's called a purple trillium.

And I grew up in the backwoods of eastern Canada, and if you lived in the backwoods like I did, you were called a hick.

And you were called from the sticks.

Now I was thinking about what is a hick?

I have no idea, but I'm I'm I'm I'm a hick legit, so a hick from the sticks.

And as a little girl, I'd go into the back, our backyard, which was forest, evergreens, right?

Lots of evergreens.

And I'd take the pathway, and I was allowed to go deep in the forest because my father taught us where to go, and I never went far enough to see the bears because I didn't want to see the bears, but he told us what to do if ever we would see one.

And as a little girl, I always loved picking flowers for my mom.

And this one, it's called uh the um, it's a purple troleum or aka, also known as a stinkin' Benjamin.

I love the name, I love the flower, and they're these teeny little flowers, they just they just grow low, so you've got to kind of look down.

And in the springtime, all these purple troleums start popping up.

And my mom was taking a nap in the den one day, and uh, you know, probably one of her favorite things.

It's one of my favorite things.

My mom loved naps, she um, I love naps.

And I went to pick a tiny little bouquet of flowers for her, and I crept into the den where she was sleeping because who wants to wake your mom up during nap time, right?

Ask Ameris and Zachary.

They could wake me up in the night and I'm gonna meet their needs and care for them, no problem.

Even if it was three or four or five times like one of my children, old, younger, one of my, the one that's over there.

He would wake me up a lot.

And uh, but I said, Don't you dare wake me up from a nap unless you're bleeding or broken.

So that's why I crept into my mom's den to give her this little bouquet of of flowers of stinking Benjamins, and she wakes up, and oh no, she is like looking all through the room.

What is that smell?

What is that smell?

And she cannot find the mess that she thinks the cat made.

And then she spots the purple trillium.

Oh.

So there's a reason why it's called the stinkin' Benjamin, because it is a beautiful, pretty little flower, so delicate, but once you pick it, it literally stinks to high heaven.

It's nasty.

I didn't care.

I was just giving my mom my favorite, my favorite flower.

So here's here's what we're gonna get to hear about from these beautiful women.

We're gonna get to hear that we don't like we don't want to be a stinking Benjamin as we're moms, right?

We really want the Holy Spirit to allow his fragrance to come out of us.

We don't want to just look pretty on the outside and stink on the inside.

We want the power of God's world, power of God's word and his Holy Spirit to transform us.

We want the love of Christ to cover over a multitude of sins in our lives.

We want that for our children.

I long for my children's love for me to cover over my sin because I know where I've messed up as a mom.

I do, and it grieves my heart.

And so, Ameris and Zachary, like, forgive me for the times I've messed up with you guys, but no, and know that I love you with all of my heart, and I long for your love for me to cover my faults and my sin in the same way that I know that I do that for my mom and dad.

So, with that said, we are gonna pass on to Kim and we're gonna get to listen in to what it to what it means to be a mom that's really following Jesus.

Good morning, happy Mother's Day.

So, my part here isn't really geared only to mothers, it's geared towards everybody.

And you know that we've been going through First Peter as a church, and a couple weeks ago, because I wasn't here last week, Pastor Dan was talking about First Peter 2.12, and it really stuck out to me.

How do I live honorably?

And I probably should read the verse again just to make sure that everybody knows it.

1 Peter 2.12.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God in the day of their visitation.

So how do I live honorably?

It got me thinking, okay, honorably, honor, honor, honor, honor.

We honor everybody.

Well, what does it actually mean?

What does it mean to honor, to be able to live honorably?

So I Googled it, and there's this like whole page of definition.

What it means in Google, anyway, is it honor refers to a high level of personal integrity, honesty, and moral character, often coupled with public esteem, respect, or a reputation for fairness, for being fair.

Honor represents both a personal code of conduct like valor or chivalry, and the recognition of worthiness of honor given to an individual or an institution.

So there's some pretty interesting things in there.

The first thing, what they defined was character and integrity.

Well, character is how you live, right?

And integrity is how you live up to what you live, which sounds redundant.

Um, but it's the character and integrity part is acting according to a high standard of principles and conscience.

Respect and esteem is high regard or admiration felt for someone, often involving social status or reputation.

There's a lot of reputation in this definition.

Public recognition or reward, an honor, is a tangible reward, a title or a distinction, or it could be a privilege.

It's an honor to speak to you today.

Sometimes I wonder if I deserve it.

So but but I try to be worthy of it.

The other one is it could be used as a verb to show respect or to pay public tribute to or to fulfill an obligation.

So we honor our mothers today because we respect them.

Or we or an institution or a company would honor a contract, they would actually do it.

Um, it's also used as a title of respect for a public official like a judge.

Your honor.

Your honor, can I approach the bench?

That type of thing.

So, with all of that basic definition out of the way, honor is a lot in the Bible.

And the first thing that I looked was the Ten Commandments.

That's in Exodus 20.

Not going to read all of the commandments, but the all ten of them have to deal with honor, honoring God and honoring each other.

But the first time that the word honor is actually used is in verse 12, when it says, honor your parents, that you may dwell with you may have long life and dwell in the land that I provide for you.

So I was like, oh, that's kind of cool.

1 Peter 2, 12, Exodus 20, 12, that's the same verse.

Um, another one is um Proverbs 21.21.

And that one says, Um, well, Sean had the uh the verse up there, honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord is giving you.

So Proverbs 21, 21 tells us that whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and righteousness and honor.

And these are all Old Testament scriptures that you can find for yourself.

Proverbs has a lot to do with honor as well.

And Philippians 4.8, which is New Testament, that's Paul.

He tells us what to fill our minds with.

He tells us in Philippians 4.8, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is anything of excellence or anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

So if we're having trouble being honorable, think about the things that Paul just tells us to do, to think about all of those things.

There are different categories, all kinds of stuff.

So if you have trouble being honorable, because when we think about what Paul says, it starts to become an action.

If you think about doing good, you're going to do good.

You think about making mistakes, you're going to make mistakes.

Then also, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4, mostly verse 11 and 12, but it says, What is it there for?

So it starts back in nine.

Concerning brotherly love, you don't need anyone to write to you about, to the Thessalonians, because you've been taught by God to do brotherly love, to live it.

But we urge you to do this and more in verse 11, to aspire to live quietly and to work, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.

And verse 12, so that you may walk properly or uprightly or honorably before outsiders and be dependent on no one, which also goes back to 1 Peter 2 12.

Live honorably so that when they um when they speak evil against you, you can say, uh-uh, this is how my life lives.

I've been honorable.

I think you have a mistake.

Now, he also says to aspire to it.

I'm not 100% at this.

I hope to be and I aim for it, but I don't always make it.

So I when I try to live honorably when I make a mistake, when I do something that I shouldn't, when I do something that it shouldn't be that way, I try to make amends, I try to make it right.

I apologize, and I try to change my behavior so that it does reflect honor and glory back to God.

So hopefully that will encourage you.

The word the Bible's more practical than you think sometimes.

And it tells like um you're hearing from some of the other ladies we talked to yesterday about what we were gonna speak, and we're like, wow, it just feeds right into mine.

So and it just feeds right into the hers, and it just feeds right into hers.

So I'm gonna finish my part and hand it over to Jamie so she has another aspect of living honorably.

Amen.

When I first became a mother, um, I didn't experience it in the way that I thought I would.

I thought, I'm gonna have this baby, it's gonna be the best thing ever, I'm gonna be happy all the time.

I mean, yeah, I was happy.

I mean, you've you've met my daughter, she is an absolute joy.

Her act her name actually means joyous.

But when I first became a mother, I was governed by fear.

I was terrified.

I was gonna screw this kid up.

I was gonna do something wrong, I was gonna not be a good mom.

I was gonna bring harm to her in some way.

There there was a list of what if, what if, what if, what if, what if.

And I got to the point where fear completely governed every aspect of my life.

And I would spend my nights with my hand on her chest making sure she didn't stop breathing.

Fear just came in and it took away all my joy.

It took away everything that was supposed to be uplifting, that was supposed to be good, that was supposed to be a wonderful time in my life.

And I don't know about you, but I don't think that's a very good way to live.

And it wasn't until I could get my thoughts shifted from fear, from this what if, from this, I've got to do all these things right, shift my mindset to God that things changed for me.

Isaiah 26, 3 is a core verse for me.

And it says, You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.

Perfect peace.

Now, Isaiah 26 is a song of peace.

Uh, I encourage you, take some time this week, read through the whole chapter.

It's beautiful.

But I'm I'm not gonna go through the whole chapter right now for time's sake.

But that perfect peace, God says that he doesn't give to us as the world gives.

He isn't shifting, he isn't changing, he is perfect.

And when we can rest in his perfect peace, nothing else matters.

Everything slips away, and that's where we can get a grip on where we're supposed to be doing with our lives, where our focus is supposed to be.

Um, Jocelyn, when she was little, I taught her Psalm 91, 11, which says, For he will give his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways.

And three-year-old Jocelyn, you would say to her, What does that verse mean?

And she would say, Angels, I have a job for you.

Angels, you protect Jocelyn wherever she goes.

You know, and as Pastor Dan said, out of the mouths of babes.

And that right there, it wasn't on me to protect her.

It wasn't on me to even be the breath in her lungs.

You know, yes, it was my responsibility to keep her alive, but the bigger responsibility of her life wasn't on me, it was on God.

So that's when I dug a little bit deeper into scripture.

And 2 Timothy 1.7 is my verse.

Um, when I was younger, when I would struggle with fear, my father would say, Jamie Lee, what is your verse?

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, a spirit of power, and a sound mind.

In those times when I was terrified, I got to the point where I was convinced I was going crazy.

And that is not what God has for us.

God has a spirit of love, a spirit of power and a sound mind, a mind that is fixed on Him.

And when we live our lives fixed on Him, we can enter into that perfect peace.

We can get out of that turmoil, we can get out of those things where we're focused, and we can see the big picture of what God actually has for us.

And the good news is a lot of the things we take on ourselves aren't ours to take on.

We can keep our thoughts fixed on him.

We can live in perfect peace.

So we didn't talk about what we were sharing until yesterday, and which at that point we had already decided.

Phenomenal how God ordered this.

What I'm gonna share has been on my heart for a while, and so we will focus on Ephesians 4, 29.

But fun fact about me, my name before I was Lori Galley was Lori Word.

I grew up as a word.

And honestly, I find words pretty fascinating.

Um, one of the classes I enjoyed the most in school was the history of words, their origin, and their evolution, and how kids, specifically how kids grasp language and all that.

It's it's very cool.

So we're gonna look at Ephesians 4.29 and break it down.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

So that word corrupting, this is from the Greek.

It means what it sounds like, rotten, worthless.

It comes from two Greek words, combined, meaning to rot, decay, to putrefy, degenerating from the original virtue.

Malicious in effect or influence.

And when you look at where this word is used elsewhere in scripture, it has a prophetic aspect to it that that corrupting word, corrupting talk will cause decay.

So good.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good.

Okay, so that word describes what originates from God and is empowered by Him in your life by faith.

For the building up.

Okay, building up is an architectural term.

Refers to structure, specifically your home.

It implies that constructive criticism or instruction that builds a person up to be a suitable dwelling place for God, where the Lord is at home, as it fits the occasion.

What's needful, necessary, required, it implies to supply what is absolutely necessary for life.

And we're familiar with the word grace more.

Grace, unmerited favor, refers to the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in a life.

And I'm not just speaking to moms either today.

What I'm sharing applies to every single one of us because we all speak words to the people around us.

Moms have a unique opportunity to speak into the lives of their children.

But let's read the verse again.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up as if it's the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

So the words we speak are important.

You've heard words are powerful, right?

Well, it's true.

It's true.

Proverbs 1821.

Proverbs 1821 says death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Now Jamie just spoke about fear, right?

Insecurities, weaknesses.

Kim talked.

About living honorably and what we're thinking on and how that affects how we live.

So fear is real.

I I don't think any one of us would say it's not, it's real, and we all have it.

Every single one of us has some sort, some fears, right?

Some are rational, like um, I don't know, there's a snake right there.

Kind of afraid it's gonna bite me.

Some are irrational.

Lightning striking me dead right now.

But I don't want to downplay fear or the real things that we deal with, okay?

Because they are real.

We have men and women who have been in the armed forces.

You know, some of us have suffered traumas, abuses, we have chemical imbalances that affect things, right?

So it's real, but there's a real danger in allowing the world's influence to uh affect what we say out of our mouths, especially over our children.

Like things that public school teachers or guidance counselors, therapists, social media, the entertainment industry, they can really influence us.

And while our intent is not malicious, we're not intending to do damage or cause rot, it can inadvertently happen.

And I'm gonna point out to you two lies that are popular in our culture today.

And I think that if we're not careful, we're gonna fall into speaking them.

Lie number one.

There's a commercial on TV that I see quite often.

It's for one of the children's hospitals where they're treating children with cancers mostly, I think.

And there's this image of a child, probably like two years old.

You can tell she's not well, and it's all focused on her, and you can hear a female voice in the background, right?

So you assume a mom saying, You are strong, and she repeats it.

You are brave, and that child repeats it.

Affirmations, right?

That's what that sounds like.

Affirmations.

We're told, like, put it on your mirror and say these things while you're brushing your teeth and brushing your hair, right?

It's a lie, it's a lie, it's perverted.

Why?

Why?

Because it's teaching that child to focus inwardly to find strength and bravery.

Inwardly, we're not gonna find it.

No, it's a dark place in here, right?

Um that mother with all good intentions is actually breeding weakness into her child by teaching her child to do that.

So the world tells us to speak affirmations, right?

What does the scripture tell us to do?

Speak the word, speak God's promises.

Philippians 4 13.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Romans 8 37.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Joshua 1 9.

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Now I'm gonna ask for Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5 to go up.

Hebrews 13:5

But I'm not gonna read it to you out of the ESV, but I want you to look at the ESV, okay?

Because I'm gonna read it out of the amplified, and the parts that I put in are telling you what the words mean, giving you the emphasis that the verse intends.

For he has said, check this out, guys, this is so powerful.

For he has said, I will never under any circumstances desert you, not give you up, nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless, nor will I forsake or let you down or relax my hold on you, assuredly not.

Now that's the truth.

That's the scripture, not affirmations, but speak the word over our children and our friends and family.

Those verses direct our attention upward to look for our strength from the Lord.

I will tell you though, they're all conditional.

God's promises are conditional.

They don't apply, honestly, they don't apply to every single one in the room.

Only the ones that are looking to the Lord for their strength.

Only they're the ones that have submitted their lives to the Lord and are living for Him.

But you can be, in a blink of an eye, you can be, and those will apply to you.

So that's lie number one.

We're told those affirmations, speak them over your child.

Lie number one.

Lie number two, fear, anxiety.

So don't raise your hand, but how many of us have been told that either by an actual person or by something we saw on social media or or TV?

How many of us have been told that we have anxiety?

We have anxiety disorder, we have extreme anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorders.

And again, please hear me.

I'm not saying that you don't have that.

Okay, we all have things that we're dealing with.

But are we gonna come into agreement with what the world labels us?

Are we gonna sew those into our children like it's a uh incurable thing?

That they can't get away from it, they just had to figure out how to cope, right?

So Jamie quoted 2 Timothy 1.7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

That word self-control means a sound mind.

It even means a sane mind, a calm and well-balanced mind.

And what did she say?

She said it gripped her, controlled her until she got her focus on the Lord.

And what Kim said was that we have to think on honorable things, and that will change how we behave.

So going back to where Kim was, God gives us the perfect antidote for anxiety.

It's right there.

All the steps.

Philippians 4, starting in verse 5.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And here it is.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

There's one version, I don't remember which one it was, but I love it.

It says, and the peace of God which defies comprehension will guard your hearts and minds.

That word guard is uh it's a it's a military term.

It's like standing guard.

You got your weapon, you're looking out.

And Kim referred to Philippians 4.8.

Finally, brethren, whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

So look at your fear.

Where's it coming from?

Evaluate it.

Is it rational?

Is it irrational?

Is it something that you really have, or did somebody put that on you?

That's the reasonableness.

The Lord is at hand.

And then pray about everything, give it all to Him, and think on those things that are honorable, because then that peace that defies comprehension will be yours.

And sow that into our kids.

Don't come into agreement with what the enemy says over your life and into the lives of your children.

Because what we hear and see dominates our thoughts, our thoughts become words, our words become actions, our actions become our habits, and our habits become our destiny.

Thank you, Lord.

I just want to wrap up really simply what each of these ladies have said.

The scriptures, I hope they have ministered to your hearts today.

Because this week, as I've been meditating on what the women have been planning for today and reading the scriptures and praying through the scriptures, I know they've really ministered to my heart.

And it's why we want to be in the Word, not just as moms.

Again, whether you're a mom because you gave birth to a child, adopted a child, maybe you're a mom because you're nurturing a child, you're a spiritual mom, or maybe you're someone who's longing to be a mother, and you still have that ache, you're waiting for it to be fulfilled.

And let me tell you, my husband and I know what that ache is to be waiting for a womb to be filled, to be told that you can't have children, that it's not possible.

Who do we know?

We know God, right?

He can make anything possible.

And I don't know about you, but I know I know that God gave my husband and I two beautiful children, and I would do it all over again.

So wherever you are on your journey as a mom or as a parent, and sure it's Mother's Day, but let's not leave the guys out.

Mother's Day can be difficult for the men too, if you're hoping to be a father.

We don't want to leave you out.

We want you to know that God sees you and knows you and loves you.

So why do we why do we meditate on God's word?

We want to meditate on his word because we want his word to flood our minds.

That's why when his word floods our minds, we can live honorably, right?

We can conquer those fears.

We can have our speech seasoned with godly words.

And remembering that it's his word, his word that is going to keep us from sin.

But know this sin keeps us from the word of God.

So it's in that moment when the Holy Spirit convicts you.

Don't run away from Jesus.

Realize that's exactly why he died.

No matter how little or great you think your sin is, it all put Jesus on the cross.

It all caused him to be whipped, to be stabbed, to be abused, to be spit on for our sin.

He hung on that cross naked for us.

But he didn't stay there, did he?

We just celebrated Easter.

Sure, we celebrate and remember his death because we know Sunday's coming and he rose again and has given us his Holy Spirit.

So we meditate on scripture, we treasure his word in our heart so that it can guard our heart and our lives against sin.

Because we all know as moms, we need it.

When our kids try our patience and we want to pull our hair out and we lose control and then realize we should have kept our mouth shut.

Oh, did it again, yelled at my kid.

Ask American Zach how many times I've yelled at them.

When they've seen, I mean, I went through a couple of years, it was it was rough, and then thankfully I was able to get under control again.

And yeah, part of that was some chemical imbalance going on with me.

And so I can attest to the fact that I believe the Lord has healed me from that because I no longer have to take the same medication on that I was on for a year that finally made me feel like a normal human being again.

And I pled for years and years and years for God to bring healing in that area of my life, and I believe that He has, and I and I rejoice in that.

But when I know I'm failing, I'm gonna cling to the hem of his garment because I know that's where I find healing and wholeness and forgiveness.

Is it the hem of his garment and the and is at the cross of Jesus?

So, ladies, thank you for sharing your hearts today.