Mothers Day 2026

I left it back there. That's the first time I ever did

that. Thank you.

I have nothing to say without this.

Right? Aren't you glad?

How many pastors come up front without a Bible nowadays?

Probably quite a few of them talk about everything but the

Bible. Anyway.

What a special day. Mom's Mother's Day, I was

planning on being in Second Corinthians this morning,

chapter 2 and I was struggling yesterday as I was putting

everything together. We just wasn't coming together

and I said, Lord, what's what's up?

I was at the point I didn't even feel like preaching that

chapter. I'm thinking, well, why was

because the Lord had something else he wanted me to focus upon

and that was mothers and I like all the mothers.

This is stand for a minute if you could so we can honor you

before the Lord and thank God for your lives and the impact

that you've made on all of us as families.

Thank you so much. You may be seated so mothers,

you got a tough job. I don't have to tell you that I

I'll tell you some stories near the end about my, my journey as

a son to a mother who I broke her heart numerous times, not

intentionally, but out of stupidity.

But what's so awesome about life?

If you live long enough, you get a chance to make things right.

They don't have to stay dysfunctional or toxic the whole

time. You can actually begin to become

a child of God first of all, and then you can become a real child

to your your parents, someone who honors the Lord and honors

them. But moms, you know the struggle

you have of raising your children up in the nurture and

admonition of the Lord. Many of you are Christians and

you endeavor to do that. You do it well, but you don't do

it perfectly. And as much as you try to raise

your kids up in the way that they should go, kids have a mind

of their own too, don't they? And they make their own

decisions so often that aren't really wise.

But you can't do anything about it.

All you can do is pray Now when they're young, you can

discipline them. You can ground them.

You can do all kinds of things to say things got to change.

But then they become adults and and then it's different, right?

They're going to, they're going to live their lives the way they

feel they they want to live them.

And God gives us that capacity to live our lives the way we

want to live, even though the times are not the white the

right path and the right way to live.

But we have to figure that out ourselves too.

Because until God gets a hold of us and breaks us and humbles us

and shows us the impact that sin can make in our lives alone, our

parents lives or everyone that loves us, we just don't get it.

So the first thing that all of us need to understand, if you're

a mom and you're not born again, you need to get saved.

You need to be born again in order to know how to parent

properly. Without Jesus, you're just going

to fail. And your parenting skills, it's,

it's, it's impossible. And, and then as children,

whether you're here or next door right now, in order to be a

godly child and to be able to grow up making the right

decisions and living for the the presence and the glory of God,

you have to get saved. You have to get born again too,

because you can't be a good kid, let alone a good young adult

without Jesus. It's impossible.

Try it, it won't work. And then sometimes even as

Christians, parents, moms, dads, young people, kids, we can be

believers, but we can still do stupid things.

We can still make stupid decisions and mistakes, which we

all do because we're still in process.

We're slowly, all of us being conformed to the image of

Christ. It doesn't happen overnight.

It happens through day in and day out learning.

And for parents that pray for their kids and kids that pray

for their parents. And so that's sort of the

foundation of what I wanted to speak about this morning.

And I wanted to read Proverbs chapter 31 of this chapter of

Proverbs 31 · chapter mention

Virtuous Wife exemplifies the model of a a woman who's really

amazing but not perfect, but she's endeavoring to do what

pleases God and blesses her family.

So it says who can find a virtuous wife in verse 10 for

her worth is far above rubies the heart of her husband safely

trust her so he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil. All the days of her life.

She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands.

She's like the merchant ship. She brings her food from afar.

She rises while it's yet night and provides food for her

household, a portion for her maidservant.

She considers a field and buys it from her profits.

She plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength

and strengthens her arm. She perceives that her

merchandise is good, and her lamp does not go out by night.

She stretches out her hands to the staff.

Her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hand to the

poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands

to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for

her household, for all her household is clothed with

scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself.

Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the

elders of the land. She makes linen garments, sells

them, supplies sashes for the merchants.

Strength and honor are her clothing.

She shall rejoice in a time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of

kindness. She watches over the ways of her

household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and call her blessed.

Her husband also, and he praises her.

Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears

the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her

hands and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Father, we read this and it humbles us, especially Lord,

those of us who have moms that live this way, all they did was

for us. All they cared about was us.

All they sacrifice was for us and all they live for was for

us. And yet, Lord, at times we

didn't see that. We didn't understand it, we

didn't appreciate it, we didn't value it.

But Lord, as you work in our hearts, we begin to see the

treasure you've given us and the moms that you've provided for

us, especially the moms that knew you, that told us about you

throughout our whole life, always reminded us that you were

the way, the truth, the life that you would never leave us or

forsake us. That You were always there to

help us. No matter what we went through

in our lives, You would be there for us.

And that legacy of a faithful mom who trusted you and lived by

faith and was an example in the good and bad times of looking to

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

So Lord, today we want to honor our moms.

Some of us have moms that are no longer here.

We remember them fondly and just if they're with you today, Lord,

this send up our love to them and our respect and appreciation

for them for moms, Lord, are on the planet still that still

don't know you who have maybe messed up their lives because of

their own stupid mistakes or fractures.

Lord, if we know you, help us to help our moms get back with you,

Lord, or get to be with you for the first time as we pray for

them, as we hold them up, Lord And Lord, help us to think on

the things that are pure and lovely and just in a good

report, not the not the bad times, Lord, but to be thankful

for all the good times we've had because of the moms you've given

us. And we pray, Lord, this message

today would bless them and honor you.

And we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.

I don't know all you moms here, but I, I know some of you much

more deeply. So when I look at the legacy of

a mom, they're usually people that I played with their kids or

knew their kids and I would be at their house and I would see

their mom and how they treated their own kids or how they got

them to church on Sundays, even if the dad was sleeping in or

whatever. The moms many times are the

spiritual backbone of the family and they were the ones that

really would speak out about what the family needed to be

doing spiritually. So obviously I I watched my mom,

Sheila Laufer, I watched Cindy's mom, Alice Alexander.

I saw them up close and personal.

I, I saw and I watched my daughter Jessica de Checca raise

her family and Melanie Harhai raise their family.

And I look at the legacy of my mom and Cindy's mom as a

matriarchs and how the kids and the grandkids and the great

grandkids watch them at this age of life, still trusting God,

still depending on the Lord, still praying for us, still

pushing us toward living for Jesus.

And now they're much older our moms and I think of the the the

verse there charm is deceitful and beauty is passing.

I I look at the pictures of Alice when she was younger,

beautiful woman and my wife picked up on her beauty is she's

a beautiful woman and my mom, she was a beautiful and still

is, but she's older and and that that beauty is is passing.

She was a professional fashion model and it was funny.

When I was in high school, I wondered why all my friends

always wanted to come over to my house.

I wanted to see my mother. They didn't want to see me.

It was funny, but I also knew Jenny Eichelberger, Steve's mom

because his mom and my mom are best friends.

They served the Lord and the church in the Presbyterian

Church in Irwin and they, they taught the Bible and they were

telling people they needed to be saved and be born again when the

pastor wasn't even doing that right.

And they would do puppet shows and the pastor say, well, you

got 5 minutes. But boy, those two women would

make sure they got the gospel in and those 5 minutes of the

people in the church would hear the Bible for a change.

So, and I, so I watched these moms and how they, how they are

and how they were. And, and I, I watch Cindy and

Melanie and Jessica because they've been impacted by Sheila

and Alice and how they are and how they flow as moms.

And, and I, I know Rene well and I, I watch her because I know

that Jenny had an impact and still does impact her.

But the whole clan follows Jesus.

It's just amazing and and I've watched all these women go

through like really challenging times of heartache and

heartbreak and didn't matter what they were going through,

they never turned their back on the Lord.

They were always examples of God is able, God is faithful and God

will help us get through this no matter what.

So how, how awesome is that? So I also remember growing up

and not wanting to hear what my mother had to tell me.

Any of you guys ever experienced that pride, right.

Your mom would tell you something, you know, it's true,

but you don't want to deal with it because you're not ready to

live the way they're telling you you need to live.

So my mom would, with a light touch, sort of say a couple

things and she knew like I didn't want to hear it, but she

would tell me anyway and I'd have to listen, right?

And, and it's interesting in, in my wayward years, even even as a

Christian at times, she was always, she was a chief

intercessor for my life. I mean, the, the fact that I'm a

pastor today and my brother's a pastor is not because there was

anything great about us. It was because she prayed us

through hell and back and never gave up on us, even when we were

living stupid. And that's the legacy of what a

mom does, you know, and the, and the perfect mother, if we had

any mother that we could say it was close to perfection, was a

mother of Jesus, right? And what she went through, he

never broke her heart because of sin, but he broke her heart

because of his calling to die on a cross for our sins.

And the one picture I remember of the story in the Bible was

when all his closest followers ran from him and his disciples

decided, you know, to, to not stand there with him except for

John and Mary. She stood there and she watched

him suffer and take that horrific abuse and death for all

of us. And it said that her heart would

be cut open in the Scriptures because of what she had

experienced watching her son have to die that agonizing

death. The wonder that she had, that

was three days later, she got to see him raised up from the dead,

right? How awesome is that?

But I remember also when he was a young boy, he was out sharing

the the word in the temple with the elders.

And her and her husband were like Joseph, Where's where's,

where's Jesus? We don't know.

They're trying to find him. And I think he lost him or they

left him behind or whatever. And they were exhorting him,

saying, you know, you shouldn't have done this, you shouldn't.

He said, don't you know, I have to be about my father's

business? I mean, it was just amazing.

But as a mom and as a human being, she experienced

everything. And she had to take that journey

to Egypt to get away from the danger of them taking Christ's

life before it was time. Everything she went through, she

lived a very humble life. She wasn't concerned about

prosperity or having the the finest or whatever.

She, she just wanted to be a, a maid servant to the Lord and do

everything she could in her life to please the Lord as a servant

of the Lord, That's what Mary's heart was like.

And so I, I'm around my own daughters at times when they

raise their kids at different seasons of life and when they're

babies, boy, it's crazy. It's, it's, it's 24/7 bottles

and nursing and sickness and taking care of them and making

sure they don't get hurt. And then you work through all

that and then you get a little season of they get a little bit

older and so they're playing and it's a little bit more fun.

You don't have to be totally hands on all the time.

And that's when you're playing sports or running around with

them and just having good times. And then they, they move into

these years called teenage years, right?

Those are like the worst years ever.

You, you think like they're exciting, but they're, they're

insane because that's when your own kid becomes a devil in your

house, becomes the enemy in your family.

Like how, how come I, how come this person, this kid I love so

much, like where's all this hate coming from?

Are there's this rebellion coming from and there.

And this is part of the, the growing process, the aging

process, the developing process. And thank God it doesn't last

forever. Sometimes it lasts a little bit

longer than it should, but nonetheless, I believe if you

really do what you need to do as a mom, eventually you'll see the

fruit of your prayers and your labor and they'll begin to, you

know, wake up and and begin to live not for themselves anymore,

but they begin to live to care for others.

Narcissism big issue in every one of our lives and that's

lover of self and the Bible says in the last days men and boys

and girls are to be lovers of themselves and boy, it's

everywhere. Everything's about you, right?

Everything's about me. And even as Christians, it can

become so much about us. But as Christ takes over more of

our life, more of my life should be about you and more of your

life should be about me and and others.

And as kids you begin to like how can I bless my mom?

How can I appreciate my parents? How can I love my brothers and

sisters? How can I realize that they're

going to be the ones that are going to be with me forever?

As I'm growing older, my friends will eventually fade away that I

think are so important right now.

Like I have one friend from high school that I'm still in touch

with. All the people I ran with

whenever I was giving my parents a hard time.

They're either dead or they're losers, man.

Like, you know, I don't, I don't even want to be around them

anymore. But it's funny how as life

develops and that you begin to realize that the people that

really always had your back are your mom and your dad, right?

And I remember many times going in when I was depressed or going

through stuff and my mom knew I was struggling and, and she just

opened up a conversation and she was very easy to talk with.

She listened, as did my dad, more than talk.

And they'd let me dump and unload.

And then maybe they'd just pray and have a word of wisdom or not

say anything and know that I'm in process and that God's at

work and changing my my life. So I'm very, very convicted and

convinced more than ever that people need Jesus.

Families and life will not work out right without Christ.

It's impossible. If you want the best life now,

it's going to be if you have your relationship with Christ

straight and right. And that affects your marriage,

that affects your health, that affects your mind, your

psychological makeup, your spiritual insights, and your

relationships and business and family and life.

And everything you do centers around Jesus.

Because Jesus said he that hath the Son hath life.

If you don't have Jesus, you don't have life.

You think you're living life, but you don't have real life.

Jesus said I have come that you might have life and that you

might have it more abundantly. He wants you to have a good,

healthy, joyful life. And what messes that up is our

own sin. Now, I wondered, like, when did

Mother's Day start? And I'll give you a little

history here. Anna Jarvis, She's a woman that

started Mother's Day. And she was one of thirteen

children. Only four of them lived

adulthood. Her older brother was the only

one to have children of his own, but many died young from

tuberculosis. And the last direct descendant

died in the 1980s. She had a campaign for a special

day to celebrate mothers. And this is she inherited this

vision from her mother. And so she she began this vision

here and she spent her life mobilizing mothers to care for

their children. That's a good vision.

And she wanted mother's work to be recognized.

And she hoped and prayed that someone sometime would find the

memorial Mother's Day commemorating her for her

matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life.

She was very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church,

where from 1858 she ran Mother's Day work clubs to combat high

infant and child mortality rates, mostly due to diseases

that ravaged the community. In Grafton, WV and the work

clubs, mothers learned about hygiene and sanitation, such as

the vital importance of boiling drinking water.

The organizers provided medicine and supplies to sick families

and when necessary, quarantine entire household to prevent

epidemics. We think being a mum's tough

now. Can you imagine being a mum back

then? She herself lost nine children,

including five during the American Civil War.

When she died in 19 O 5, she was surrounded by her four surviving

children and Anna. The daughter promised to fulfill

her mother's dream. She wanted to celebrate the work

done by mothers to improve the lives of others.

Her Anna's perspective was that of a devoted daughter.

Her motto for Mother's Day was for the best mother.

Whoever lived your mother and that's what we can say.

Who's the best mother that ever lived your mother.

She envisioned the holidays, a homecoming day to honor your

mother, the one woman who dedicated her life to you.

Now, before we take the communion in a little bit, I

want you guys to take a minute and think about your mom and

sacrifices they've made for you and continually make for you.

They put themselves behind so that you could be pushed ahead.

Whether it was financial goals, it was always like, what could I

do for my kids before? What could I do for myself?

What it was educational goals they they sacrificed to help you

get the best education, whether it was you needed money for a

down payment for a car or a house.

Parents user involved in some degree of helping kids with

that. And I'm shocked today how many

people I know that the kids don't even talk to the parents

anymore. That's messed up, isn't it,

where there's no phone call on Mother's Day to a mom who gave

their whole life for the sake of their daughter.

It doesn't make sense or a son that he wouldn't call his mother

or honor her. I don't I don't understand that.

But without Christ, that's how you behave.

It's all about you and never about them and and what can you

do to make it up to your mom? It's never too late to, if she's

still on the earth to make amends or be reconciled.

And tell them how much you value them, how much you love them,

and that you want to honor them. In the UK, the 4th Sunday in

Lent has long been celebrated as Mothering Sunday, originally a

day when people who had left home returned to their mother

church and were reunited with their parents.

My kids are watching online today.

Thank the Lord for that and the honor of their own mother that

we'll catch up with later today. A movement to revive Mothering

Sunday traditions was launched in 1920 by a Nottinghamshire

woman and out of concern that the secular US Mother's Day

would displace the Christian Mothering Sunday.

So when you think about Mother's Day in light of the Bible in

Proverbs 31, I just read. And worshipping God together as

a family where moms bring their kids to church today or

hopefully every Sunday, as many Sundays as they can, is much

more important than the typical Russell Stover candy box or the

flowers from from whatever flowers and candy are are nice,

but the most important way to honor your mom is to honor her

and the Lord. So this is a message that people

could really get behind. And so this this developed down

through the years. And it was meant to be an

important day, which to this day, it is still a very

important day. And, and the author of the

article said that every day should be Mother's Day, right?

I remember you, Karen, and how you and, and Debbie took care of

your mom in the last days. I had a privilege of getting to

know her and praying with her and, and you do, you do whatever

you had to before you put her in a facility.

You had her in your home. And I'm sure that wasn't easy

for Mark, right, Mark? But Mark was gracious and he

supported that. And eventually she had to be

somewhere because they couldn't help her anymore.

But I have these examples even in the church here of so many of

you that or, or that kind of mother.

I was thinking of Terry and Janelle and and the women at

work with the kids next door. They have mother, their mothers

and their families of their own, but they're spiritual mothers to

all those kids, right? They're pouring into your sons

and daughters, moms and dads, Jesus so that they would know

him and begin to walk with him. And then all of a sudden you're

at home and you say, like my kids different, they're acting

nicer, they're more obedient. Well, that doesn't that doesn't

magic. It's the word of God working in

our hearts and the Holy Spirit beginning to give them a

relationship with Jesus where they begin to think about other

people instead of themselves. So this one woman, she was

paralyzed by fear of having to be a mom.

She was overwhelmed. So she chose to crowd the God in

prayer and one of her prayers in this season was God help me to

become a really good mom. And she heard the Holy Spirit

speak to her heart say I am the best Co parent you could ever

have. You can't be a good mom without

Jesus. Jesus is always with you and

always for you and always praying for you, and God meets

you where you are. The idea of motherhood can feel

intimidating. Being responsible for a little

life is a big deal. From the inconsistent sleep,

late nights and early mornings of the newborn phase of the

terrible twos, the intro into the tweens to the teens and

beyond, being a mom is in a walk in the park.

I've been with my daughters and they got great kids.

But when the kids break their hearts, they're breaking our

hearts, right? Because your kid is always your

kid, no matter how old they are. And there's nothing better than

hugging your kid no matter how old they are, letting him cry on

your shoulders because they understand you in ways that no

one else can. A mom and a dad.

Being a mom isn't a job that you apply for an interview for and

accept. Being a mom is a God-given idea

and identity that starting the Garden of Eden.

And I was thinking of this simple truth.

There's no way you and I would be here today, any of us,

without a mom and a dad. You know why?

Because you're the only ones that can procreate together.

A guy and a guy and a woman and a woman can't do that.

That's not normal. God set it up and it would be a

man and a woman. And if it wasn't that way, none

of us would be here today. The Bible speaks plenty of about

mothers, their goodness, kindness, and intention for

life. The Bible honors mums by

highlighting their nurturing and caregiving nature.

God honors women so much that he decided to make it a concrete

command in the 10 commandments. Our first Bible verses for Mum

comes from the book of Exodus. Honor your father and mother so

that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving

you. Exodus 2012.

That's a promise. You want to have a long and good

life. Start with honoring your father

and your mother. Proverbs 31, as I read it, says

she's clothed with strength and dignity.

She can laugh at the days to come.

Her children arise and call her blessed.

Her husband also, and he praises her.

The Bible verses for moms highlight the strength and

dignity that women carry from God and into that their children

and family will praise moms because of their strength,

dignity, and joy that they carry.

The word praise in the Bible verse means this.

It's used to commend, to boast about, or to shine God's favor

and light onto something. Every Mother's Day, take time to

intentionally boast about your mom, which I'm going to boast

about mine in a couple minutes here.

I'm reminded Paul said in Second Timothy, 1/5 of your sincere

faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and

your mother Eunice, and now I'm sure dwells in you as well.

He's speaking this to Timothy and the impact that his mom and

grandmother had upon his ministry.

It's a profound reminder of how much God honors women.

Biblical motherhood not only has a generational impact, it has an

eternal impact. Proverbs, 4011.

He tends his flock like a shepherd.

He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his

heart. He gently leads those that have

the young. The picture of our Heavenly

Father and nurturing us as his kids is what a mum does

naturally. This Bible verse from others

highlights that God gently leads those who have young.

The Lord is accessible to parent you while you are parenting your

own children. I love that God will parent you

as you parent your own children. God is intentional in bringing

the right children into your life at the right time and

equipping you to love them, care for them, and show them the

goodness of the Lord. As a mother comforts her child,

Isaiah 6613, so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted

over Jerusalem. This scripture for moms comes

from the book of Isaiah. God gives the Israelites a

picture of His love for them by reminding them of the comfort a

mother brings to her kids. God could have chosen any other

metaphor picture to showcase His love, but He chose to use the

picture of a mom. Think about the times when you

were little, you were sick and throwing up.

Nothing worse than that, right? Who's there beside you with the

bucket in the towel? Not dad, usually.

It's usually mom. And when you got the dry heaves,

it's really bad, right? You think it's all done and

there's poor mom coming in with new, new, new towels, clean

towels, whatever, ginger ale, whatever you need to help you

get back on your feet again. Psalm 2127 versus 3 to five

children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from

him like eras in the hands of a warrior or children born of 1's

youth. Blessed is a man who has a

quiver full of them. That's seven.

Anybody have seven kids in this place?

OK, you guys stand up once. Stand up.

All right, we're jealous. And I got 2, but I'll tell you,

like, I got Gray hair for 2, so I don't know what you're going

to look like in a few years with Sabbath.

You already got some Ruby. Yeah.

It looks good on you. They don't worry about it.

The Bible verses from mums. A beautiful encouragement to the

mums who feel like they're in the trenches.

You feel like you're in the trenches sometimes you feel like

you're pulling your hair out trying to raise your kids.

Hey, that's part of the job description, right?

The scripture from mom even goes to say that children are a

reward from him. Whether you're a new mom and

adopt A mom and expect a mom or waiting to become a mom, God

loves your family and loves you as a mother. 2nd Proverbs 22 six

train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he

will not depart from it. Some people say, well why is

that not happening for me? I did that and my kids are still

out there right? He didn't tell you the time

period. He just said, this is the way

it's going to be. Cindy said to me this morning.

No matter where you are and what you're doing, God's giving you a

conscience. You lay your head down the

pillow as a kid, a rebellious kid.

God's telling you you're living in the wrong way.

You're acting like an idiot, and you need to have your life

changed and get right with God. Now.

You will hear that, but you might not respond to that for a

while. But eventually it sinks in and

you say, you know, I really need to change or I need to get some

kind of counseling to find out why I'm behaving the way I am as

such a self-centered individual. These Bible verses are from moms

are sprinkled all throughout the book of Proverbs and encourages

moms to train up their kids in the way they should go.

So I'm at the Presbyterian Church as a kid.

My mom's teaching these high school kids from primarily

Norwin at the time with Janney Eichelberger and they're being

used by the Lord. Kids are getting saved in this

Bible class they have. Meanwhile, she drops me and my

brother off. My brother goes to his class.

I have my quarter for the offering.

I look around, no one sees me. I walk up the guys, which is a

little store convenience store. I could get a hamburger, a

milkshake and play pinball for about an hour with a quarter.

That's what I did. Yeah, that's the password.

Not too cool, is it? That's the way I was.

And anyway, you know she didn't even know about that until I

told her about it because she was too busy working with the

kids, right? So the Bible says that you're

created your inmost being knit together in your mother's womb.

Psalmist says I praise you because I'm fearfully and

wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful.

I know that full well. Have you ever stopped to wonder

why God decided to come into the world through the womb of a

woman? Jesus chose to come into the

world through her mom. God could have chosen any other

Ave. to come to the earth. He could have snapped his

fingers or spontaneously appeared.

Jesus decided to be nurtured through her mother's love even

though He was perfect and divine.

The Bible verse from mom shows the humility of Jesus and just

how much He honors Mother's. It tells us in Proverbs 18 and

9. Listen, my son, to your Father's

instruction. Do not forsake your mother's

teaching. They are Garland to grace your

head and a chain adorn your neck.

If any of you are here today and you're not listening to godly

wisdom from your parents, you're a fool and you'll suffer the

consequences for that. Believe me.

I know because I went through some very heartbreaking times on

my own life because I thought I was smarter than my mom and my

dad. These Bible scriptures are for

moms full of reminders about the goodness of a mom's teaching.

The Bible verse for mom even relates to teaching of a mom to

a beautiful necklace. Whether it's a big pieces of

wisdom or simple instructions like don't touch the hot stove,

show your gratitude to your mom this Mother's Day.

Words of encouragement for your mom's.

You're not alone. It can be easy to feel alone,

however, the Holy Spirit is always with you.

You are not alone. Finding community like your

local church where moms can get together and pray for each other

and encourage each other is also a wonderful blessing.

Your Mama is someone that you need to cherish while you still

have them and take advantage of the fact that they're still

here. My mom's 92 now and Cindy's

mom's 95, and so I got to get a chair here.

Sorry, Jean, I'm throwing your stuff on the floor here.

I'll put it back. I got to sit down here so I

don't feel weak. Mostly overwhelmed here.

But this is like for you, Mom, Sheila, watching my memories of

my mom, Cindy's mom, I'm as I said, my mom is a beautiful mom,

a fashion model, and she always really took care of herself.

And to this day she does. I'll see her sometime Sunday

after church. I said, you look great, mom.

She said. I got dressed up for church.

Even though she's not in church, she's in the presence of the

Lord, right. She was a kind of woman that she

came to know the Lord in a deep way.

When my brother and I got saved and and she caught fire.

She started having these Bible studies in our home for over 50

years, community Bible study of women from different churches or

no churches would come and hear her teach the Bible and many of

these women became Christians. The resolve that Bible study and

I remember sort of a history thing here.

RC Sprole was a personal friend of our family of Janian and

Sheila. And they would go up the

Ligonier before he was a big deal and go to his Bible study

and he wrote this book, The Holiness of God, the Holiness of

God series that he chose to use. My mom's home is a place where

women would come and watch and, and watch season and make

comments, right? And they filmed it and they took

videos, they did interviews. There was close to 4050 women

crammed into the house at times, some of these studies.

And RC was an interesting guy. He he was a character.

He said a lot of things, a lot of different ways.

It had to get your attention. But biblically, but I never

forget, I went to the conference of Reformed theology in

Philadelphia. My mom liked to Reformed

theology and I do too. And so I, I went and we went to

Jim Boyce's church in Philadelphia.

Tenth Presbyterian or C Everett Coupe would go, He was the

surgeon general at the time. He'd be in the front row with

his little bow tie on and, and just an amazing church.

But anyway, we were there. They had like all these famous

guys teaching in the conference. And so we went back and RC was

having coffee with his wife, Festa, and he caught up with my

mom, gave her a hug and all that.

And they were talking. And so walking away, he says,

you know, Sheila, you still have great legs.

And his wife hit him at best. You know this the way our our C

was, you know, I'll never forget that.

She knew how to budget. She taught my daughter's how to

budget money and stretch a dollar.

Her home is always open in times of crisis.

Where? Our daughters needed to be when

they couldn't maybe be with us at a time of season.

The doors are always open to my brother's family, our kids,

anybody. She did life with us all the

time. We play games.

We were always doing fun stuff. She would be there to do the

science project in the middle of the night when I told her

earlier, hey mom, I got a project to do what I got to do a

science project. When's it do?

I said tomorrow morning. So she'd be up all night doing

these salt maps and making something look good where I at

least get AB. You know, she always at her

games, baseball games, basketball games, just like our

kids are always at their kids games, play tons of tennis

together. Remember that.

And she'd always tell me, play with someone who's better than

you because then you'll get better.

So eventually I started beating her and we didn't play anymore.

And I played with other people and I but she always knew when I

was in rebellion and she knew when I was broken that she

always would pray and trust God for us.

You always convinced me that that the Lord would always help

me no matter what, whether it was in my marriage or raising my

own kids. She always was just this

available to to us and to this day she still is.

Write my notes here. Here at the last one.

She modeled to our wives and daughters and sons and son in

laws what it means to be a great mom.

She was lots of fun, still is. I remember the beach walks in

Stone Harbor. You wonder why I love Stone

Harbor so much and so full of memories with my mom and my dad

and my brother when we were young.

And now our kids and grandkids. We all enjoy that place and to

this day, she says, I can close my eyes and still feel like I'm

walking on the beach. She's at this stage now.

It's hard for her to get around anywhere.

Holiday gatherings were always perfect decorations.

Christmas, this. She always did everything to

make everybody else happy. Her amazing chocolate cake with

seafoam icing. I miss that.

Whenever she would come to Calvary and we'd have the agape

lunch, she always made that and I made a mistake of mentioning

how good it was and I get over there and it was be gone.

All you guys would grab it before I got there.

To this day, whenever we visit her, her face lights up.

Ruby's made a big impact as as as as the whole clan of the Echo

Burgers. He'd care for my mom.

Great. Thank you for your love for her

and help in the garden. Amy, everybody Anyway, you when

her face lights up, so good to see you.

Her flower gardens, all the work that she did in the dirt, she

can't do any more. She directs other people to do

it, but she loves looking at the flowers and still being able to

be at home and look out the window, taking something

beautiful out of a seed and see created into this incredible

garden. Melinda who attends here, she's

one of the caregivers and as is Susan, they send 4 hours a day

with her and she text me. She says mom wants a red

umbrella for Mother's Day for her back porch and our gardenia.

So Cindy ordered the umbrella on Amazon or arrived today and I

went everywhere. I was out the other morning at

Lowe's and home. You guys say you have gardenias.

I'm freezing my butt off it's cold.

It's like no, where do you get these?

Finally someone said you got to go up to Lake Trobe and that

garden place up in the left head and toward Ligonier.

So I went there and got her this beautiful gardenia and it has a

couple blooms on it and boy, they smell like nothing like you

could ever smell. They're so awesome.

So I took that down to her the other day and she was so excited

to get that this white shirts like the gardenia color for her

today. So that's it mom.

I could probably have three more sundaes to tell everybody how

awesome you are, Alice, to have moms and how much we love you

and appreciate you. But for you guys as a worship

team comes forward. Remember your mom's today and if

they're still here, reach out to them and love no matter how

fractured the relationship might be, you think it can still be

healed and and the Lord can take care of it.

OK. And if they're gone, as we take

a couple minutes to prepare for the Lord's Supper, just thank

the Lord privately for them and what he's taught you through

them and how you can be more like them as, as the moms that

God has given you. And if there's any fracture in

your homes right now and any kind of relationship with your

kids and moms or whatever, make it right.

Life's too short, right? You don't want something to

happen and then all of a sudden you can't make amends because of

some accident or crisis or tragedy.

As as Paul said, the day is a day of salvation.

If you hear his voice, don't harden your heart as they did in

the wilderness, but say Lord Jesus, I can't do this life

without you. I need you to come into my life

and save me for my sin and forgive me.

I want to be like you. I want to be a parent like you

are to me Jesus, and I want to be used by you to be a blessing

to other people. Lord, help us to get our lives

on track with you. Help us to live for the sake of

others and not ourselves. Forgive us of our self

centeredness. We're all self-centered.

Help us Lord to love as you tell us in First Corinthians 13.

Love suffers long. Love doesn't keep a record of

wrongs. Love isn't easily offended.

Love thinks no evil. Love never fails.

And we thank you, Lord, may your love encompass every family,

every individual, everybody you've brought here today,

whether it's online or in the building.

And Lord, thank you for my mom, Sheila today, my brother and my

mom's our mom, Sheila. Thank you for her life.

Thank you for Cindy's mom, Alice, today as well, and

everybody else's mom. We we praise you and we give you

glory for all that you've done and are doing in all of our

families. Strengthen moms, strengthen

kids, strengthen husbands, strengthen families, and we pray

all these things in Jesus name, Amen.

Let's take the supper together and just take a minute to talk

to the Lord about where you are with your mom today.

Lord, thank you for your forgiveness, thank you for your

patience, your kindness, teaching us through the Word how

to be parents, how to be children, how to be healthy

human beings because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

For him taking our sin and forgiving us and cleansing us

and giving us a new life, giving us a new start.

Whoever needs a new start today, I pray, O Lord, you'd work in

their hearts and make all things new again.

For those who have never put their faith into today, might

they say, Jesus saved me from my sin.

And for moms who are struggling today, may you encourage them,

comfort their hearts, deepen their faith, to trust you for

their children, no matter what they see with their eyes, may

they believe what your word says, Father.

And the night that Jesus is betrayed, he took the bread in

his hands and he broke it, and he gave thanks and he said,

take, eat. This is my body which is given

for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.

The same manner he took the cup. He said this cup is a new

covenant in my blood which was shed for the forgiveness, the

sins of many. Drink this in remembrance of me.

For as often as we eat this bread and we drink this cup, we

show forth the Lord's death, we comes again, Amen.

Happy Mother's Day, God bless you guys.