Legacy (Mother's Day) I Pastor Joshua Gay

[SPEAKER_00]: High Praise Podcasts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh will lead Pastor here at High Praise and I wanna thank you for downloading today's podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ben, how many excited for the word this morning?

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, I said, how many excited for the word this morning?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm only going to keep you about an hour and a half.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm playing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know it's a mother's day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know people have plans, but I do have a word I want to share with you today that I believe is going to just bless and uplift and honor all of the moms in the house.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you will, real quick, grab your Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go to second Timothy chapter one, second Timothy chapter one.

[SPEAKER_00]: While you're turning there, I did talk to dad and mom briefly this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: They send their love next week.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be in Georgia preaching on a couple of services on Sunday, mom and dad are going to be back.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, dad's going to be here preaching next week, so make sure you don't miss it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure it's going to be wonderful.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I think the Sunday after that is actually Pintacol Sunday.

[SPEAKER_00]: So lots of great things coming up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you're here and connected at high praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be wonderful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Second Timothy.

[SPEAKER_00]: chapter one verse three says this I think God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did as without ceasing I remember you and my prayers night and day greatly desiring to see you being mindful of your tears that I may feel be joy get this when I call to remembrance talk Paul talking to Timothy that genuine faith that is in you

[SPEAKER_00]: in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother Eunice.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I am persuaded is in you also.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, I remind you, Timothy, to start up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on my hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power of love and of a sound mind, of a sound mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's really interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is in my notes.

[SPEAKER_00]: But second Timothy, one, seven is the scripture that every parent has quoted to their kids at some point, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Every Christian parent has wielded this as a weapon.

[SPEAKER_00]: right whenever your kid comes in the room at night and it's two in the morning and like I'm scared you know what the Bible says.

[SPEAKER_00]: God our laughing because you've done it.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's not giving you a spirit of fear but a power love in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no monsters under your bed go back to sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that is not the context of the scripture at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's really not the context.

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't about being scared of monsters under the bed, or scared of the dark.

[SPEAKER_00]: Real things are happening in Timothy's life, and Paul is reminding Timothy, Timothy, there's something in you that is greater than what you might be facing right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the reasons I know this is not just because of you, Timothy, I know what is in you because what I see in you, I saw it somewhere else before I ever saw it in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But before I ever saw the annoying thing and the gifting and the calling in New Timothy, I saw it somewhere else first.

[SPEAKER_00]: And let me tell you where I saw it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now in the modern world, in our, I gotta be careful, it's Mother's Day.

[SPEAKER_00]: In our hyper, not gonna be careful.

[SPEAKER_00]: What am I kidding?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm never careful.

[SPEAKER_00]: In our hyper, red, peeled world.

[SPEAKER_00]: in our hyper culture that surrounds this idea right now when we're trying to go back to the way things were, when we're in the kitchen and barefoot and bread and dutter dutter dutter dutter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, praise God, we're two minutes into this and it's already going great.

[SPEAKER_00]: We would think that Paul would say Timothy, I saw it in your grandfather, and I saw it in your father, but that is not what Paul says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul says Timothy, before I saw this in you, I saw it in your grandma.

[SPEAKER_00]: And before I saw this in you, Timothy, I saw it in your mama.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now Timothy, I see that same annoying thing, that same calling, that same gifting in you, what Paul's really telling us is that Timothy's grandma and mama weren't barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

[SPEAKER_00]: that they were doing something for God, that they were serving the Lord, that they were making an impact in the early church under threat of persecution, under threat of death, they were making an impact so much that it begins to spill into Timothy, because what was in them?

[SPEAKER_00]: They have now imported into Timothy, and now Timothy is leading and pasturing a church, but at the end of the day, that points back to an investment, and Paul doesn't go, it's because of my investment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul goes before,

[SPEAKER_00]: I saw it in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I saw it in your grandma and I saw it in your mom.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how I know it's true, Timothy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm seeing it in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: The same legacy that was in the women and your family who came before you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now Timothy, I see that same faith in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul is making this point very clear that Timothy has been formed spiritually by the women that came before him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we know this further, because in Acts chapter 16, it tells us that Paul came to Derby and Leistra and behold, a certain Jewish woman who believed.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: That means this, she's one of the first Christians.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's one of the first Christians, a Jewish woman who believed, he meets this disciple there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what Paul's telling us is this,

[SPEAKER_00]: Timothy's mom was a Christian, but his father was not.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Timothy's mom served the Lord, but at least at the writing of Acts 16, his father is not serving the Lord, that he's not serving God, that he's not one of those first Christians.

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts 16 makes it very clear that Timothy's father is not a believer.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I've heard this thing thrown around before, and I think it's been debunked a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there is a monochrome of truth to it, but I've heard this stat thrown around that if mothers are the first person in the family to become a Christian, there's a 17% probability that everyone else in the household will follow, but if fathers, it's a 93% probability that everyone in the household will follow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're here today as a mom who has a husband that isn't serving God, that can just be depressing.

[SPEAKER_00]: That can feel overwhelming.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know what sat say, but you know it's better than a sat.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know it's bigger than any statistical reading, the goodness and the faithfulness of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, don't ever let a stat become bigger than what God says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't ever let your situation become bigger than the word of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't ever let what somebody else tells you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He begin to deter you from his goodness and his faithfulness and the fact that he is faithful to do exactly what his promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people might say it's a lost cause, but we declare today that like Timothy, your son's and your daughters will prophesy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people may say, you ain't gonna happen because dad's not living right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, I don't care what it says your son's and your daughters will prophesy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people say, well, you're a single mom, you're up against the ropes.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might be up against the ropes, but I've seen people against the ropes still win the fight.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is still faithful.

[SPEAKER_00]: His promise is still true, and you don't ever let your situation speak louder than the voice of the Lord in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you ever let what somebody else did?

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell you that your handicapped and your kids aren't going to make it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you ever let what somebody else decrees and declares over your life be bigger than the decree and declare of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your sons and your daughters.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't say you're sons and your daughters will prophesy if they're raised in the perfect nuclear home and there's no problems and there's no issues and you'll never fight in front of each other and you never have a problem and you are there all the time at home cooking and making sure they get a fresh meal every night.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, it's the year 2026.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know what that's like.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise God, if you can get a meal on the table at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some hamburger helper, praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think I turned out okay, maybe that's my problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, it's not if the conditions are perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's who you believe in.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's where your trust is.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's where your faith is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people might say it's a lost cause, but I say that my children will know the voice of the Lord all the days of their life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a stranger, they will not follow.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I want you to really hear in all of this and what I really want you to see in this passage of second Timothy chapter one is really simple.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want all the moms in here to hear me really well.

[SPEAKER_00]: You matter.

[SPEAKER_00]: what mom does matters.

[SPEAKER_00]: The life you live in front of your children will leave a bigger legacy than you could ever fathom.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, let me be clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever I say the life you live in front of your children, I don't just meet Sunday and Wednesday.

[SPEAKER_00]: Although Sunday and Wednesday are important.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to be in the hospital or we need to be in church.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's one thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: My parents raised me with and I know that one reason that they raised me that way is because those people raised my dad that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: If the doors are open, you know where we going be.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you're response.

[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if the doors are open, we know where we going be growing up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I played, I played sports.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's hard to believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: but I didn't have to laugh that hard, but I did play some sports.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we had a few rules in our house for playing sports, which is this, you can play sports.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the moment sports interferes with church, on a regular basis, once again, I'm not saying if there's something happens, rogue or rare, that's one thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the moment that this becomes more important than being in church, guess what's gonna get, not church?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know your baby is going to the league.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what they're receiving at church and in the House of Lord is going to leave a bigger legacy and bigger impact in their life than any sports or dance or whatever could ever leave and the church says.

[SPEAKER_00]: So y'all who laughed when I said they ain't that's because your mama told you you were going to the league.

[SPEAKER_00]: And last I checked.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, nobody in here in the league praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's more than just what you do on Wednesday and Sunday because if you come to church on Sunday and lift your hands, but you go home on Monday and you don't continue to leave lead that life in front of them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you're sending a message to them, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The way that we live in front of our children matters.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, let me say this, that doesn't just go for you, moms, dads, that goes for you too.

[SPEAKER_00]: the way you live in front of your children matters and it makes a difference.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it leaves a bigger legacy than you could ever fathom, Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, the man who was president during one of, if not the most difficult era our nation ever faced.

[SPEAKER_00]: Famously said this, he said, all that I am or ever hope to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: I owe to my angel mother.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother, Lincoln, who is widely considered one of our greatest presidents, says everything he was, he owed to his mom.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have to think that when she was holding him, when she was instructing him, when she was

[SPEAKER_00]: that what she was doing, the love she was showing, the care that she was giving, which shape a man who would become an absolute gift to our country during one of its most tumultuous times.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, mom, you don't know what your love is sewing into.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know what your care is sewing into.

[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, we know it's into our children, but we don't know what they're gonna carry into the future because of the investment that you're making now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't fully know, but I do like to think that we carry at least a little piece of the picture.

[SPEAKER_00]: that moms, at least have a little piece of the pictures.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mom have this, moms have this prophetic gifting inside of them, to be able to see potential and capability beyond what others can see.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm be honest, men of God, your wife, the mother of your children, oftentimes, does a much better job of this than we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are much better at seeing potential.

[SPEAKER_00]: Men see problems and we want to fix them, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm talking about?

[SPEAKER_00]: We love our kids, but we're like, you need to fix this and you need to fix that and you need to do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And come on, y'all don't look at me that ton of voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas in my men of God, I know what I'm talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: You do this, you need to do that, and moms like, but I see where this is going.

[SPEAKER_00]: I see the future and the potential that's on their lives and like, if they don't get it together, they're going to be living under a bridge.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the men are doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But moms have this ability to see prophetically and see something bigger and see something further.

[SPEAKER_00]: They speak to potential.

[SPEAKER_00]: They speak hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: They speak life.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about it before.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's really what the prophetic is.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not telling you who the anti-Christ is going to be and that Apple pay is the market of the beast.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's foolishness.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's not a time to get on that train today, but I don't know how many anti-Christ there's just been in my, I was born with an anti-Christ according to some people.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was a Reagan Arab baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know that hurt some of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That were alive and voted for Reagan.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm old enough to remember, I've done enough studying to know this.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were people who thought Ronald Reagan was the anti-Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Ronald six, Wilson six, Reagan six.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what that means?

[SPEAKER_00]: Six, six.

[SPEAKER_00]: It settled.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's done to all the proof we need.

[SPEAKER_00]: And how many of you know that was foolishness?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm old enough to remember everybody said, Obama was the anti-Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he was going to refuse to leave office, and he was going to dominate or indebted or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: He left office.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Elon Musk is the anti-Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people say, all right, when are we going to get over this foolishess?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not where the prophetic is.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what the prophetic is?

[SPEAKER_00]: The prophet is when Mama's holding her baby and saying, they're going to do great things for the God and his kingdom.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to God's God and a call or anointing.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's much more prophetic than somebody

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let me give you some practical examples of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: My great granny, my grandfather's mom who passed away in what year grams, grandma answered.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yes, when I'm talking about she knows what I said, I said, what year grams, grandma go 73.

[SPEAKER_00]: Told y'all, she's gonna keep him in line.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I'm talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a woman of God right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: 1970, she passed away in 1973.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I never had the opportunity to meet her, but I've heard a lot of stories when my dad was growing up.

[SPEAKER_00]: She at some point moved in with my grandparents and probably messing up the story I can tell because we're almost looking at me like I'm getting the details wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: But she's not on your head, yes it me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Am I getting it right?

[SPEAKER_00]: She lived with him from day one, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: And eventually, y'all got her her own house, because they said enough of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: but she from the time my dad was born that she was in the house of them that was born in 61 and grandma grandpa working she would nurture and be there and do all that kind of stuff whenever there's a grandma you were working for part of that correct amen so she was being a wonderful grandmother and mom and mother-in-law and helping with the kids and I've heard these

[SPEAKER_00]: She would sit in a rocking chair with my dad and say, this one has a great call of God on his life, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is when he was small, but there's something about moms, there's something about grandmothers that they can recognize these callings and giftings on lives when nobody else sees them.

[SPEAKER_00]: When all everybody else sees this problem, is all everybody else sees this a dirty diaper, all everybody else sees this a crying baby, all everybody else sees this someone crying for food, they look at them and they say, there's something on you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they have the ability to call that out.

[SPEAKER_00]: She passed in 73, so dad was 11, 12 years old, whenever she passed.

[SPEAKER_00]: She never was around to see him right songs that went around the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: She wasn't around to hear him preach messages that impacted people.

[SPEAKER_00]: She wasn't here to see him counsel marriages that were on the rocks and see those things put back together and restored.

[SPEAKER_00]: She wasn't around to see him and my mom plant a church that is still living and thriving and growing to this day.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I like to think that back in the sixties,

[SPEAKER_00]: that she saw a picture of this, that she saw a piece of this, that there was something inside of her that knew there was a calling on his life, that was bigger than what they could even think or imagine at that time in a small little house, probably with no AC.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, no AC.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the real tribulation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Being in Florida with no AC.

[SPEAKER_00]: Moms and grandmothers have this prophetic ability to call things that are not as though they are.

[SPEAKER_00]: In my life, mom and dad were traveling.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was probably about 13 years old and they went to this church and they were ministering at this church and there was somebody on stage who was playing basic guitar and my mom looked at the person on the stage and said,

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a true story.

[SPEAKER_00]: Joshua can do that, so four of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And said he can do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I got a base, but my mom and dad came home.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't asked if I wanted to play base.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was just told, you can do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, all right, I'll give it a shot.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we went to light's music, bought a bass, I started learning how to play bass guitar, taught myself how to play bass guitar because lessons, who cares?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have the attention span for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we're gonna have you playing and like,

[SPEAKER_00]: four months and like just give me a guitar and I'm just going to figure it out, praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was playing on the stage in like two months.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for years I played bass and then led worship from that bass guitar for years and years and years.

[SPEAKER_00]: But where did it start?

[SPEAKER_00]: My mom saw something and said he can do that that I didn't see.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I didn't necessarily have this burning desire to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when they told me, you're going to play Get-Based Guitar.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, well, fine, if you don't need me to do that's fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because every good pastor's every good pastor's kid is raised, just to go, sure, whatever you need me to do, I'll do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what we did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I learned to play bass.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I studied play bass for years and years and years on that platform.

[SPEAKER_00]: And on this platform, and I'll let worship on this platform, and on that platform.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at the end of the day, it comes down to this.

[SPEAKER_00]: My mom saw something on my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And said, he can do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mom's, let me say this real quick, mom's never apologized for putting a demand on what you see in your kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: Never apologize or feel bad for speaking to their potential and pulling it out of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's things that I'm doing today that I probably wouldn't be doing if not for my parents seeing something on my life and going, they can do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's able to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: My brother and sister would stand here and tell you the same thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Time and time and time again, story after story.

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially about my dad, but especially about my mom, because a thing that a lot of people don't know is whenever we were young and growing up and dad was traveling a lot in ministry, we traveled as much as we could as a family.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we drove all over the United States ministering together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like all over.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there were times where trips were just too far, it was too short or whatever, and Dad would need to go, and Mom would stay home with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in those moments, it wasn't like our spiritual maturing and formation stopped because Dad wasn't present.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mom was just as much a part of forming a spiritually as Dad was.

[SPEAKER_00]: In our home, my wife is just as much a part of forming our children spiritually as I am, because that's the way it should be,

[SPEAKER_00]: You are not less than.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for the men y'all are missing out right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Women of God, you are not less than.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are important.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are just a little bit important.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're incredibly, but I would be lost without my wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what I would do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We would be in trouble.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine me trying to raise four kids?

[SPEAKER_00]: That would be a disaster.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where are my men of God at?

[SPEAKER_00]: You'd be lost without your wife, amen?

[SPEAKER_00]: Mama, the role you're playing is at second class.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me, you aren't just a taxi cab driver.

[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't just an Uber driver.

[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't just a chef.

[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't just the person who does the laundry.

[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't just the person who cooks or cleans or whatever other sort of traditional roles we wanna think of.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are imparting a spiritual legacy that will carry for generations yet to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have to really get to where we understand this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to hurry.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have to eat where we understand this, that the role of women in the kingdom in the church isn't second class.

[SPEAKER_00]: God isn't checking your gender before he decides if he can use you or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: My dad posted this a couple of years ago, and I think it's so good.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to quote him.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of weird, but I'm going to quote him.

[SPEAKER_00]: We call it Abraham Lincoln and my dad, praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said this, the gospel liberates women.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus came to free women to be all he created them to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: A gift from heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mom's, don't you ever let someone tell you that God can't use you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus came to bring liberty breakthrough and freedom over death and over hell.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the church says, and that started because there was a young woman.

[SPEAKER_00]: who said yes to the Lord, who said yes to scorn, who said yes to ridicule, who said yes to potentially her husband even leaving her, her patrols leaving her, but she said yes to her own detriment in order to carry the Son of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mary said yes to the pain, the turmoil, the sleepless nights of the scorn.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus could liberate us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me hear me, ladies, don't ever underestimate what's your simple yes to the word of the Lord

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't ever underestimate what your simple yes to the word of the Lord can do in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: People say, well, you know, women aren't called to be ministers or just dead or dead or dead or dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, somebody didn't tell Jesus that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now we're getting real quiet in here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So somebody didn't tell Jesus that because Jesus meets a marginalized woman at the well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Scripture tells us she is drawing water from the well during the hottest part of the day.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know why she's doing that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because she's the outcast of the outcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because she's trying to avoid ridiculed, scorn, and mockering everything else.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus meets her at the well and he prophesized her and he releases purpose in her life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Scripture tells us this that she goes back and she leads a revival in her city.

[SPEAKER_00]: that many people believe because of the testimony of the woman.

[SPEAKER_00]: But some reason, in 2026, we've decided women can't do that anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for some reason, we think that we know better than Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: But hear me, we don't know better than Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if Jesus empowered a woman and her testimony to go change the city, guess what can still happen today?

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, ladies, there's power in you telling what Jesus did for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, you don't have to have a microphone to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can go home and you can tell your kids what Jesus did for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to leave an impact on your children?

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell them about the goodness of God in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to leave an impact on your family?

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell them what he's done for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And watch as they will carry those testimonies for years and years and years and years and years to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: People that you may never know my stand and tell your stories one day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I never knew my great grandmother, but I'm here telling her story today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here as a result of her faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here not because of my greatness and my annoyingity.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here standing on the shoulders of men and women who have come before me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here standing because of people like my great-grandmother.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here standing my great-grandmother who are both God-fearing women.

[SPEAKER_00]: on my dad's side and my mom's side.

[SPEAKER_00]: God fearing women who went to church, who believed the voice of the Lord, who showed up even when it was difficult, and when it was hard, and when there was nobody else with them, that they still showed up.

[SPEAKER_00]: That they didn't give up, even when other people did wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: My great grandmother, I mentioned earlier, had every reason to just kind of fade into nothing if you don't want it to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Her husband, my great-grandfather, my grandpa's dad, was not the greatest of guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that fair enough to say, Gramps?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not in this head, yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was not the greatest of guys, but you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: She stood on spear to legacy anyways.

[SPEAKER_00]: She didn't let what was done to her become an excuse for why she wasn't gonna serve God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have time to tell the stories this morning, but thank God for her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't underestimate that power.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't underestimate your testimony.

[SPEAKER_00]: Women, you're not second class.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Scripture, Mary Magdon is the only person recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as testifying to Jesus' resurrection.

[SPEAKER_00]: John and Mark portray her as the first witness of the resurrection.

[SPEAKER_00]: St. Thomas Aquinas, great, theologian and thinker in the ancient church would actually call Mary Magdon the Apostle to the Apostles.

[SPEAKER_00]: Aquinas would call her the Apostle to the Apostles because she was the first to share the message of the resurrection.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus didn't get the memo that women aren't allowed to leave a legacy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus didn't get the memo that women were second-class.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus didn't get the memo that women didn't matter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is constantly empowering women.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if Jesus empowers women, then we, as the church in the year 2026, should continue to empower women

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, the early church didn't get that Mimmo either.

[SPEAKER_00]: Roman 167 talks about Andronicus and Juni and my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was Juniah is a woman.

[SPEAKER_00]: And according to Paul on a apostle, we all love what Paul says until we don't.

[SPEAKER_00]: According to Paul on a apostle,

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for that overwhelming response.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pastor Casey had my back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody else was like, how much of them why they meant it or not?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, when Paul is constantly listing his people who are his contemporaries, one of the couples he mentions a married couple is Priscilla and Aquila.

[SPEAKER_00]: Priscilla being the wife who Paul most of the time lists first, which,

[SPEAKER_00]: In antiquity would have been incredibly.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's still wild today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, most of the time when we talk about couples, we still list the man first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Casey Lindsey, Castle and Bethany, Gill and Ruthie.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Paul's doing something very intentional when he lists Priscilla first.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is subverting what everybody thinks about women and he's saying she is just as valuable.

[SPEAKER_00]: as a quilla is.

[SPEAKER_00]: So nobody gave Paul the memo that women didn't matter when he talks to Timothy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, our text we read, he recalls the faith of Timothy's grandmother and his mother, women don't you ever let anybody?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what the podcaster says.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what these people say.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are not second class.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are not lesser than.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are not unimportant.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the stupidest things we ever say is that women who stay home, who are homemakers, right, that they're just doing nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You try it for a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got four children, so I got to stay home with a little girls.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, but on hour and a half in, babe, when you can be home,

[SPEAKER_00]: Eva is driving me insane in the middle of all this, and I know I've kind of been all over the map, but the middle of all of this, what does this mean for moms?

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, wherever you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's imperative mom, there he is.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's you understand this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I said it already, but you weren't just a taxi driver.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know it can feel like that at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got three girls, three of our four children are girls.

[SPEAKER_00]: They all take dance, per sitals this week, and they're in like 47 dance numbers.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because they all take as many classes as they can.

[SPEAKER_00]: And my wife, three or four nights of the week, is out driving and going and caring people all over the place and she's back and forth and too and fro.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's burning up the roads and linhaven, taking our girls to dance.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know there's times you can just feel like a taxi driver, but what you're doing is being more than just a taxi driver.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not just being an Uber driver.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to encourage you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are great moments for you to build relationship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are great moments for you to impart wisdom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are great moments for you to show love.

[SPEAKER_00]: So while I'm most fall into memories as a child is driving in the car with my parents and us singing and being stupid together, I know you're hard for somebody to believe, but my parents can be the goofiest people on the face of the planet.

[SPEAKER_00]: And my tone the truth, we have videos.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got one yesterday, I can prove it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Put it on the scum just kidding.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're more than just a chef.

[SPEAKER_00]: Although even whenever you prepare that meal for your family and you put it on the table, it is love-express to them, not just a duty that you're having to fulfill.

[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't just a maid, you are so much more.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're a role model.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're a leader.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're a prophetic voice in the lives of your children and grandchildren.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are leaving a legacy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're leaving a legacy that's bigger than you could ever think hope dream or imagine.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of you know, I'm a, I love theater.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of my favorite shows, it's come out in recent years as the show Hamilton, don't judge me.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't like it, just ignore this part.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in the penultimate song of the musical,

[SPEAKER_00]: And the character of Alexander Hamilton has the thing he says he says legacy, what is a legacy?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's planting seeds in a garden that you may never see.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is a legacy is planting seeds in a garden that you may never see.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me, mom, there may be some seed that you're planting.

[SPEAKER_00]: That you're planting them and you may never see the totality of it in this life.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I want you to know, I believe you're going to see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even if you don't get to see it with your mortal eyes, it's still worth it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's seed that you may be planting in your grandchildren or great grandchildren that you may never see the full fruit of But you're still gonna see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says this that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses as we run this race I mentioned my great grandmother earlier.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what she may not have seen my dad minister with her mortal eyes and you don't have to believe this if you don't want to But I do I believe that there was a way for her to look in and look down and see that the sea that I planted

[SPEAKER_00]: bore fruit, the seed that I planted bore fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that she has watched me minister and said the seed that I planted bore fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: One day she'll watch my kids minister and she'll say the seed that I planted bore fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Legacy is what you're leaving.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is so much bigger than you could ever think hope or dream or imagine.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are here today as a people of God because of the incredible legacy of

[SPEAKER_00]: by Grandma Lewis, like Mama Eunice.

[SPEAKER_00]: These incredible women in the life of Timothy, we all have these people in our lives who blaze to trail.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't have that in your life, you be that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here we women of God, you be that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You start a legacy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You begin it so that one day your grandchildren can look back and say, I'm here standing on the shoulders of Grandma.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here, and you're great, grandchildren.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here standing on the shoulders of my great grandmother.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're blazing a trail.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're showing the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're leaving a legacy that future generations will follow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to tell you this before we dismiss for obvious stand-up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to make sure you hear me very loud, very clearly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here at High Praise, you matter, you're important, and you're leaving a legacy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here, me ladies, you matter, you're important, and you are leaving a legacy.

[SPEAKER_00]: We send it to your feet this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for downloading this podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: We trust that this message has blessed and encouraged and identified you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a message here for high praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also, you can follow us on social media, on Facebook and on Instagram, and don't forget to go subscribe to our YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with another incredible message.

[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.