Sunday AM Service | Mother's Day | Mark Jones

I think the announcement, so probably be better than the

message did a great job. Well, I I just have one other

announcement. Some of you remember, I'm sure

Valerie Vandergrund and Ron Vandergrund, I just happened to

see that she passed away in Texas.

If you remember, he was heavily involved in the radio stations

and Christian radio stations and taking people to Israel.

He was on fire about Israel. Apparently she passed away last

week. So you might lift him and the

family up in prayer, I'm sure. I know that the obituary that I

read said that they were rejoicing over her being in the

presence of Jesus. And you can't be in a better

state than that. But still, there's pain there,

so lift them up. So good morning and welcome to

Bridges and Happy Mother's Day for the 10th time.

God bless all you mothers and grandmothers and great

grandmothers, aunts and all the ladies, moms or not, who have

poured their lives into other people.

God bless you. Pastor Nick and Faye are gone

today. They'll be back next week, and

Pastor Nick will continue to lead us out of Exodus.

I've given him a hard time about the length of time it's taken us

to get out of Exodus, comparing it to Pastor Ben's Revelation

studies where I used to go to him and ask him, do you think

Jesus will come back before you get done?

Now? Both of them just kind of grit

their teeth and smile at me. I don't know why they haven't

kicked me out. But anyway, so he'll be back

next week. And I, I do want to say we're so

fortunate that we have a church that goes verse by verse and

chapter by chapter. You know, I grew up as a child

in a church, a dead church, which is really got off the

rails now. And the thought of doing verse

by verse, chapter by chapter was this.

It wasn't out there. And I just think we're so

fortunate to have that and we're able to be able to study the

Bible as closely as we are. So we give thanks for that.

My name is Mark Jones, and I'm one of the elders here.

And as you obviously figured out, I'm going to be given the

the message today. And because today is Mother's

Day, I'm going to be talking about world hunger.

I'm kidding. I'm going to be talking about

Mother's Day and I'd like to go to the Lord in prayer.

But before we do, I want to start with a verse, and this is

from Proverbs. It says a wife of noble

character who can find. I mean, can't you hear a Jewish

guy saying this? A wife of noble character who

can find. She is worth far more than

rubies. Her husband has full confidence

in her and lacks nothing of value.

She brings him good, not harm. All the days of her life, her

children arise and call her blessed.

Her husband also and he praises her husband.

Hint, many women do noble things, but you surpass them

all. Another message for the men,

charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears

the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands

have done and let her works bring her praise at the city

gate. All right, let's go to the Lord.

Father God, we just thank you for today and we especially

thank you for moms and grandmas and aunts and all the women that

have poured themselves into our lives.

Lord, what a blessing. We pray a special blessing upon

each and every one of them. I would just ask that you would

bless this crowd. Lord, we ask for your presence

here and especially anoint this message.

Lord, we just thank you in your name, Amen.

Now as a child of the 60s and now being in my 60s, I can tell

you my during my lifetime role and view of motherhood, that's

changed radically just in that 60 years.

And this change has largely, in my opinion, been to the

detriment of society and to the family structure.

I can tell you that the Lord's view of women and motherhood has

not, and it's not going to. Some time ago, I was talking

with Bob about being a kid growing up in the 60s and how it

wasn't uncommon if a man or teenagers were using coarse

language, which is what they used to call, at least where I

was in the presence of ladies, that as a minimum, they'd get a

rebuke and they might get a punch right to the you know

what? But you know, now when I go to

the Ponderay Cultural Center, you guys know it as Walmart.

And I hear somebody dropping the F bomb, it's often just as

likely as a young lady as it is a young man.

And that's pretty sad. And while our society has

deteriorated overall, I would respectfully submit to you this

changes in large part to the loss of biblical motherhood and

the teaching of the Lord's principles is set out in the

Bible. Now, both mom and dad have a

duty here. And it's important, important

for me to stay at this point that fathers have just a great,

if not a greater duty than the mothers.

But I'm here to talk about moms today and women and I, I suspect

that Pastor Nick will talk about Dad's duty on the 21st of June.

So by omitting my comments about dad's, don't think that it's not

as important or maybe even more important.

But we're just going to focus on mom today.

Mothers, by virtue of the very nature of nursing and raising

newborns, have special access to form the foundation of a child

from day one. So what does the Bible tell us

about what godly wives and godly mothers, What are they?

What, how do they act? What are their characteristics?

Well, first of all, they're teachers.

I'm going to Proverbs here. Proverbs here 22/6 train up a

child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not

depart from it. The implication is that wives

and moms will be training this child and that this training is

critical to the spiritual development of the child.

I suspect that there are many of you, including my wife and I,

who have found this verse to literally, literally be true.

Many of you know we were, it's strange, so shall we say, from

our son for about 7 years and he's back in our lives.

And it was 7 years of prayer and I believe it was 7 years of

Christian School and, and hopefully instructions that help

bring him back. And so we give praise to God for

this and for this verse because it's true.

The importance of the mother child relationship, not only the

nurturing content, but the teaching component is critical

to the spiritual development of the child, the family, and

consequently our whole society. Now, if you think I'm condemning

women who vote or I'm sorry, who?

If you think I'm condemning or criticizing women who work, you

are mistaken. In this society, it's almost

required that women work. God bless those who have chosen

not to, and they pay the price for that.

But this modeling and teaching of children is still possible,

but it takes intentionality. You have to focus and

intentionally raise that child as you would as a godly mom.

This of course includes fathers who have a duty to help raise

that child as the child should go.

And of course grandparents and great grandparents can also help

in encouraging this. So in keeping with this idea,

let's go back to Proverbs and him seems to be a lot of

knowledge in Proverbs. I don't get it, my son, keep

your father's command and do not forsake the law of your mother.

Bind them continuously around upon your heart.

Tie them around your neck. When you roam they will lead

you, when you sleep they will keep you, and when you awake

they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp

and the law of light. And So what this verse is saying

is that there is power in God's commandments and that if

children are taught the basic concepts that the commandments,

that it will guide them for the rest of their lives.

And that when they roam, which implies they're not being

supervised, they'll do the right thing.

And that it will be throughout the day in in different

situations, they will be thinking about these teachings

that they learned as a child. These teachings are fundamental

moral building blocks for a child, and they're going to

remain with the child their entire life.

And I would respectfully submit that the lack of that is going

to make a huge barrier or stumbling block for an

individual to seek or find the Lord.

So give them that extra, give them that extra boost and talk

to them. Lay that foundation Now the Lord

actually says in Isaiah 6613, as a mother comforts her child, so

will I comfort you. Now, ladies, you may not take

that with the, the understanding or you may not think of this,

but I'm telling you, if the Lord compares his care for us as the

care of a mother, it tells you how first of all, important that

comfort is, but it tells you that it is the same standard as

how the Lord loves us. So you are when you impart to

that child the love, the nurturing and the teaching that

you're, you're doing the same work that God is trying to do in

US. And I think it's, I think it's

amazing. And the the second or next

component of this is that a godly woman is faithful and she

is a prayer warrior. And I'm going to Samuel one now.

When she had weaned him, she took up with her with three

bowls when he fed a flower and a skin of wine and brought him to

the House of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young.

Then they slaughtered a bowl and brought the child to Eli, who

was the priest. And she said, Oh my Lord, as

your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood by you here

praying to the Lord for this child.

I prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition, which I

ask of him. Therefore I have lent him to the

Lord. As long as he lives, he shall be

lent to the Lord. So they worship the Lord there.

Now, this is the story of Hannah.

She was barren and she was bitter because she was barren.

And if you remember, she was in the temple and she was privately

or quietly praying and her mouth was moving.

And the priest, Eli, thought she was drunk.

And so he confronts her and he, she tells him that she's been

adamantly praying for a child. She's been barren.

But you know who heard her? The Lord heard her and she gave

birth to Samuel who she dedicated to the Lord and Hannah

was faithful to the Lord. Hannah lived her faith and so

does this godly woman. And so ladies, the, I think

maybe the most, one of the most important components aside from

the teaching and nurturing is being a prayer warrior.

And certainly that's something that whether you're an aunt or

maybe you're even, you never had a child and you just know people

and you're concerned about them, you can become their prayer

warrior. You can kind of become their

grandma or their mom, depending on how old you are.

And you can provide prayer and uplift them.

It doesn't matter if you're in a wheelchair and you you can't

really get around your nursing home and I'm talking to the

people online. If you guys, even if you say,

well, I can't get to church, I can't do that.

If you know people in your spirit of influence that that

need prayer by God, pray for him, no pun intended.

And you grandparents and and great grandparents and aunts,

you need to be a prayer warrior for these children.

You need to be praying for your nieces and nephew and you need

to be praying earnestly and frequently for them because it's

a nasty world out there and these kids and these families,

mom and dad, actually need it. Next, moms are encouragers and,

and this is one that really personally hits me because I

lost my mom 13 years ago and my mom was the biggest encourager

of my life. And she encouraged my wife when

we got married. She absolutely loved my my son

James. And I just can't overstate how

important that was in his life and in my life and cream's life.

And we miss her. I know she's in the presence of

God and I'm happy for her, but you know, we still miss her.

And so I would tell you that a godly mom, grandma, aunt is an

encourager. And so I would encourage you to

do that. And kids need that.

I mean, you look at you look at what these kids are exposed to

now, the evil or crap, the, I mean, just the most unbelievable

stuff need to be encouraging. And you know what, you can slip

a little bit of the Bible in there sometimes if you're not

church, hey, you know, God doesn't like that or God loves

you or whatever. So be an encourager and This is

why being a godly mother and father, but godly mother,

because we're talking about that or grandma or aunt so important.

I'm going to Timothy. This is really a sad commentary

and we're actually seeing this played out in modern day

America, Second Timothy 3. But know this, that in the last

days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of

themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers,

disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving,

unforgiving, slanders without self-control, brutal, despisers

of good traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure

rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness, but denying

its power. And from such people turn away.

For of this sort are those who creep into households and take

captive of gullible women, and, I would assume, men too loaded

down with sins, LED away by various lusts, always learning,

and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.

Now as Janice and Jamberries resisted Moses, so do these also

resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds disapproved

concerning the faith, but they will progress no further, for

their folly shall be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

But you who have carefully followed my doctrine, manners of

life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love,

perseverance, prosecutions, afflictions which I have, which

happened to me at Antioch and Icon and Lystra, what

prosecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered

me. Yes, and all who desire to live

godly in Jesus Christ will suffer prosecution, but evil men

and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being

deceived. But you must continue in these

things which you have learned and have been assured of knowing

from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have

known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for

salvation to Jesus Christ. All Scripture is given by

inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for

reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped

for every good work. Now, I would respectfully tell

you that it's so important your your part in raising a child

that it really can't be understated.

God bless all of you who have poured your lives into your

children or grandchildren and others around you.

You have a great reward in heaven.

But I also know in this church and in this room, there are a

number of women who had miserable childhoods or they had

horrible relationships with their moms.

Now, I don't know everybody here, but I give thanks to the

women that I'm thinking about who have put aside their

childhood experience and are now the godly women of this church.

I won't say who, I won't say what, and I won't say anymore

because I don't want to embarrass them, but they are the

witnesses now to the unsaved. I saw that here and I saw it in

Israel. They are the sounding boards for

younger women and children I see in this church in the mornings,

kids seeking them out. These older women, you know,

they're the same age. I am, I'm not old, but they are.

But I see them and I see these kids seeking them out.

And I say praise God because you just cannot state or overstate

the importance that older women have on these younger kids and

setting an example. They set an example by their

life, by the witness by word and testimony and our witness by

example. May God bless these women and

all women who have overcome these experiences.

And I know there's people here that I don't know about that

have done that. There's people listening online,

but if you've been blessed by somebody in your life, not just

the woman who gave you a life, but somebody who's poured

themselves into you, I would tell you, go tell them thank

you, give them a hug and just love on them because they need

it now. Last year I had the privilege to

give the Father's Day message. Today was not intended.

It just happened. I'm giving the other end of the

book book in today, the other book in and with this message

about Mother's Day. It just happened.

But I want to talk about something serious.

And just as with Father's Day, this holiday brings tremendous

amounts of emotion for me. It's the loss of my mom.

I know she's in heaven. I know she was saved, but it

still doesn't make it any easier.

You know, I still think 13 years later, as I'm cruising down the

road, I had to give my mom, you know, I can't give my mom a

call. She's dead.

So, but I had a positive experience.

For me, the the memory of my biggest encourager and the loss

of that is what I remember. But for others, it may be a

horrible childhood, a horrible childhood or a horrible

childhood memories or the realization that they, your

mother failed as a mother. And so that causes so much

emotion. I think there's people that you

know, may stick away from their stay away from the church during

this because it's so painful. But for those of you who had

difficult childhoods and difficult experiences with your

mother, I can tell you there's one solution.

And his name is Jesus Christ. And for your own will being, you

have to forgive that mom or that person.

You have to. And this forgiveness is not for

your mom or the bad actor. It's for you.

You have to take out that bit of poison in your life that has

not, that was not self created and allow you to to grow

spiritually and to heal with Christ.

You have to forgive that person, but remember why you have to

forgive that person. You do not have to forget.

And so this is very important for you to understand and let me

be very clear, you have to forgive that person, the abusive

person or the rotten mom, but you do not have to forget what

happened. In other words, if if you had

someone was physically abusive or you know, screaming and

yelling and you know, absent some absolute life changing

salvation that's occurred and you can see indwelling spirit of

Christ, don't expose your kids to this person.

Don't repeat the cycle. Forgive them and be as civil as

you can, but don't expose your children to them.

As I say, you have to forgive them, but you don't have to

forget. It would be the same with sexual

abuse or anything like that. So for yourself, President of

Christ, he, he will, he will help you through this and just

go to him. It's really simple to say,

Jesus, this is my situation, this is what I feel, this is

what I think and he will help you with that.

And whether you choose to tell them that you forget them

forgiving them, that's up to you.

You have to wait and see what the Holy Spirit tells you.

Now, the next level and the difficulty, I know that there

are women who may have made poor choices earlier in their lives.

This is a new level and they may be listening online, they may be

here. I don't want to know.

Maybe they had an abortion, maybe they abandoned a child.

Maybe they're just horrible moms to you.

Again, there's only one solution, and His name is Jesus

Christ. If you're wracked by guilt and

you close your eyes and are overcome by guilt over the

implications of Mother's Day, go and talk to Jesus about it.

Jesus will forgive you. He is waiting for you to come to

Him and be asked for forgiveness, and it will be

granted. At no point in human history has

someone come to Him and confess to sin and have Him go.

What he knows already the sin to happen.

He knows it. And and if you're feeling

condemnation on Mother's Day or you, you, this, you, you think

about whatever this bad event was, this bad choice was at some

point it's him saying, hey, come to me, I can take care of this.

I've got the cure. It's me.

And so I would, I would just ask that if you're feeling

tremendous guilt and you say to yourself, Jesus will not forgive

me for what I did, that is a voice of Satan.

Jesus already knows what happened.

He knows what occurred. This is not a surprise.

Satan will try to get you to do anything but go to Jesus to

confess your sin and to ask for forgiveness.

That voice that you hear, that condemnation, the calling,

whatever you're experiencing, if you have this guilt in your life

is proof that Jesus is calling you.

And He wants you to come to Him to ask for forgiveness.

And He will. He will place His indwelling

spirit in you and He'll eventually begin to work in you

and you will be able to deal with these facts.

I'm sure it's tearing you up and there's no reason to go through

it. You can't undo it.

You can only go to Jesus. Jesus absolutely loves you

despite all of your sins, and I'm living proof of it.

If you're here and you want prayer and would like to pray

with one of us, just ask. And finally, I'd like to talk

with the ladies who maybe never had children, maybe never got

married. Guess what?

I got great news. You can still be that mom or

grandma figure in someone's life.

It's never too late. If there's someone in your life

and you feel led to try and help them, that's the Holy Spirit.

Don't ignore it. The simplest way to start is to

begin praying for that person. Pray that you can see an

opportunity to support them. God will provide that

opportunity. I warn you, if you do this, you

may have so many people on your list.

You're going to have to write it down, and I hope you do.

But this is an opportunity that you can become a supportive,

Godling woman in their lives. Ask how they're doing with

sincerity and be there for them. Degenerate.

Be generous with hugs if they will accept them.

You're never too old, you're never too disabled.

You're never too tired to make a difference in someone's life.

And again, I just, I want to honor all of you ladies who have

poured your lives into someone else.

God bless each and everyone of you.

You have a great reward in heaven, and that's all I've got

to say about that. All right, So thank you.

So we're going to do one more song and then I'll close in

prayer.