Forrest: And happy Mother's Day today to all the moms in the house.
Forrest: Can we give it up for all our moms that are in the room right now?
Forrest: Today, and uh myself and my beautiful bride Emily here are gonna have a conversation about motherhood.
Forrest: We this is actually the first time that we're doing anything like this in 15 years of me being a pastor.
Forrest: Um, and so I'm grateful for my beautiful bride for joining me today.
Forrest: And uh this is Emily, and uh she is uh a pharmacist full-time, um, and so she's actually Dr.
Forrest: Emily.
Forrest: And yeah, um, and she's an amazing mom to uh our kids, and I'm thankful that we're gonna get to um share some with you today.
Forrest: You know, uh when you think about Mother's Day, um you may think about a picture like this, uh, but this is completely fake, okay?
Forrest: These are paid people, actors, who went someplace with the photographers, they got all made up, uh, they got makeup and everything, and they have somebody saying, okay, hold the flowers in just that right spot, and y'all kiss them on one, two, three.
Forrest: Like, who even knows if they're even a family or not?
Forrest: We don't even know.
Forrest: But uh, this is not real life.
Forrest: And so if your mother's day has not started like this, join the club, okay?
Forrest: Um not sure exactly how your mother's day is is is off, but uh that is not real life.
Forrest: What is real life is that our families, we are, as our families, it it's it's in some ways, it's an everyday battle with our families.
Forrest: Um it's it's uh a battlefield for the heart, for the lives of our homes, and I know that because we have an enemy that wants to steal, kill, and destroy us.
Forrest: It wants to still kill and destroy our homes.
Forrest: And so we're jumping into a series that we're gonna be going through the next few weeks called Family Feud.
Forrest: And the the Family Feud and what we're gonna do in the next few weeks is try to equip our families for the battle that's ahead.
Forrest: That we're gonna forge families that are fit for the fight that we have, that sometimes those fights are happening inside our families.
Forrest: Sometimes those are the external pressures and even the enemy that wants to steal from us.
Forrest: And so I asked Emily to join me today.
Forrest: We have had some amazing examples of godly mothers.
Forrest: And uh Emily and I, we have been Christians the same amount of time.
Forrest: We were baptized on the same Sunday as kids at our church, but Emily has been a better Christian this entire time than me.
Forrest: Um and uh we've been married going on 14 years uh this year, but we have had some amazing examples of godly women and mothers in our lives, haven't we?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yes, we have.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm here um not as a model mother.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you know me or have met my very normal children, you know that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I am grateful to be able to share, um, like Forrest said, a little bit about the good moms who were very faithful and godly, and just to be a good steward of the good example that we've had.
Forrest: And tell them a little bit our kinos.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, these are our girls.
SPEAKER_01: Um we have Ember, who's four and a half, Magnolia, who is almost two.
SPEAKER_01: They are the wild women of our house, and um we have we have a lot of fun and they keep us on our toes.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but if today with this many people here in the room and this many families and different expressions of families that are represented, I know that um today is probably one of joy for a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01: My sister is here celebrating her first Mother's Day.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, we celebrate with you and are excited for you.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but know that probably that's not everybody.
SPEAKER_01: Um, maybe today is a new first for you and it's the first Mother's Day without your mom, or a first Mother's Day where you thought a baby was going to be here that isn't yet.
SPEAKER_01: Um maybe there's some grief mixed in.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you like us have a normal family that has um some wild dynamics and things sometimes get complicated.
SPEAKER_01: So if you are feeling guilt, regret, um, joy, anything in between, just know that today.
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's space for that, and that is allowed, and I believe that God wants to meet you right where you are.
Forrest: Yeah, that's good.
Forrest: Um, like Emily said a second ago, and I can double down on the fact there are no perfect parents.
Forrest: Can I get an amen?
Forrest: There are no perfect parents.
Forrest: Uh and uh here's the thing.
Forrest: Um, we're all gonna mess our kids up a little bit.
Forrest: The goal is just to mess your kids up a little bit less than your parents messed you up, and then you're just a little bit ahead of the game for the next generation.
Forrest: Here's the thing.
Forrest: Um, what's certain about parenthood is it's filled with uncertainty.
Forrest: And we're gonna take a look today at a passage of scripture where Jesus speaks specifically to uncertainty, to worry, to fear, and take a look at what that looks like for us as we're walking out our life with Jesus, also for uh the mothers that are in the room, your motherhood, your parenthood, you as a family, and just to set the stage for this passage, in Luke chapter 10, Jesus is speaking to this large crowd, and he speaks to them about hypocrisy, and a few verses later he uh he ends by giving them this warning uh against having uh stored up earthly wealth while at the same time not having a rich relationship with God.
Forrest: And then after he gives this teaching, he turns directly to his disciples and he gives them some extra nuggets and he says this to them, starting in verse 22, and Emily's gonna read it for us.
SPEAKER_01: Then turning to his disciples, Jesus said, That is why I tell you not to worry about every day, everyday life, whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear.
SPEAKER_01: For life is more than food, and your body is more than clothing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the ravens.
SPEAKER_01: They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them, and you are far more valuable to him than any birds.
SPEAKER_01: Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
SPEAKER_01: And if worry can't accomplish a little thing like that, what's the use of worrying over bigger things?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the lilies and how they grow.
SPEAKER_01: They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon, in all of his glory, was not dressed as beautifully as these.
SPEAKER_01: And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you have such little faith?
SPEAKER_01: And don't be concerned about what to eat and what to drink.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about such things.
SPEAKER_01: These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your father already knows your needs.
SPEAKER_01: Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
SPEAKER_01: So don't be afraid, little flock, for it gives your father great happiness to give you the kingdom.
Forrest: Amen.
Forrest: Thank you, babe.
Forrest: Uh there, this passage, wow, there's a lot in here, right?
Forrest: Jesus is telling us and connecting the worries of these lives and of this life, and he even says, Why do you have so little faith?
Forrest: He connects it to our faith in him, the worries that creep in.
Forrest: And even to the point of talking about what's dominating your thoughts.
Forrest: What's dominating your thoughts today?
Forrest: What dominates your thoughts regularly?
Forrest: What dominates your thoughts as a mother?
Forrest: Because Jesus in this passage, he says, hey, if you're worrying about this life, if you're worrying about your kids, it's like you're an unbeliever.
Forrest: Woo, man.
Forrest: Come on, Jesus, lighten up a little bit.
Forrest: You know, he says, you know, uh, God already knows what we need.
Forrest: Will we just trust him?
Forrest: Jesus is giving us this word.
Forrest: And Emily and I, we were talking uh earlier this week about, and I asked her what surprised her most about motherhood thus far, and she shared with me fear.
Forrest: And so, Emily, will you tell us more about that?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, before becoming a mom, I would not have described myself as an anxious person or a worrier or somebody who is, you know, very fearful.
SPEAKER_01: And then they put this beautiful, perfect little baby in my arms, and you know, she got a whole life ahead of her.
SPEAKER_01: She's just full of potential and possibilities and opportunities, um, but also just nothing but uncertainty.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked at her and I saw a a million ways that I could fail and mess her up.
SPEAKER_01: And boom, fear in my life, here to stay what it felt like.
SPEAKER_01: And um, I I don't think I'm the only one in the room who can say as moms, like we can worry about anything, like we can we can figure out big or small.
SPEAKER_01: And um, our kids, they are still little, so they're not even making those like important life decisions.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, they're gonna have consequences for years to come.
SPEAKER_01: But some of you are, some of you are walking with your kids as they are choosing colleges and they are choosing spouses and becoming parents in in their own right.
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, the scripture says, like, don't worry about if you have enough to eat, and don't worry about what you eat or what you wear.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it even in our few years of parenting, I have spent lots of time worrying about well, are they eating enough?
SPEAKER_01: And is it healthy?
SPEAKER_01: And what about the dyes and the processed foods?
SPEAKER_01: And if they don't eat kale at three, will they eat it at 33?
SPEAKER_01: And you know, all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but even, you know, just being more honest when I think about what are the the thoughts and the worries that dominate my mind, um, it's it's definitely a level deeper than that.
SPEAKER_01: And and taking stock of of my family and knowing that, you know, we have several generations of people and women in particular who have struggled with with body image, with weight, with, you know, where does our value come from?
SPEAKER_01: And um, and I really I don't I don't want to pass that to my girls.
SPEAKER_01: And I worry, like, are they gonna be um are they gonna struggle with shame and fight with shame the same way that I have experienced?
SPEAKER_01: Or is God gonna help me to break that cycle for me and for them?
SPEAKER_01: Or am I gonna be so hyper focused on their behavior that uh I miss grace and I misrepresent God's heart for them?
SPEAKER_01: And of course, you know better than anybody how quickly and easily I can get into that zone where I'm just paralyzed by fear and convinced that like every little decision is make or break.
Forrest: It reminds me the scripture in 1 John 4.18.
Forrest: It's talking about the love of God.
Forrest: And it says it says that such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear.
Forrest: Some translations say casts out all fear.
Forrest: And so what that means and what that says to us is that as we receive God's love, that he wants to generously shower on us, that as he's showering his love, as the love of God comes in, the fears of this life they flow out because it's his perfect love that's gonna expel that fear, that's gonna cast it out.
Forrest: And you think about when you get into that moment or that that that feeling of being afraid, and you know, Emily, how do you feel when our kids are afraid like that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I hate it.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: It's not but I don't like it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like to see them be afraid, and even just like a week like this week, you know, it's stormed almost every night.
SPEAKER_01: And I I know that I can't control, you can't control the the storms and the thunder and whatever it is that is making them feel fear.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I want them to have comfort in my presence and to feel safe because I'm right there with them and nothing's gonna get them.
Forrest: Who knows that God wants to do the same thing for you?
Forrest: God sees you as a son or a daughter and doesn't want to see you paralyzed or stuck in a place of fear, of worry, of doubt, and he wants to come to you with his presence and bring peace with it alongside and with you.
Forrest: Now, now I know from everything that we just read in the passage that of the words of Jesus, everything that we just talked about is easier said than done.
Forrest: Right?
Forrest: Much easier said than done.
Forrest: Think of the lilies in the field all together, and how their clothes, it's it's it's one of those things where it's like, okay, God, I'm hearing you and what you're saying, and I know that your love is sufficient for me, but how in the world do I do this?
Forrest: How could I possibly do that?
Forrest: And Emily and I, we've had the gift of having godly women and mothers in our life.
Forrest: And so, um, Emily, speak to what's an example of faith in the midst of uncertainty and in the midst of the unknown that you have looked to?
SPEAKER_01: I have two very clear memories that just immediately come to mind.
SPEAKER_01: And the first was um sitting and talking with my grandmother during the time that I was applying for pharmacy school and just going through all that process, taking the the entrance exam, and telling her, like, I really wanted to go to UK, but um was thinking about not even applying because I was so afraid that I wouldn't get in and didn't know if I could handle the rejection of my grace not being good enough or not interviewing well enough or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll never forget her looking me just straight in the eye with so much confidence, just saying, Emily, if you are walking with Jesus, if you are endeavoring to be obedient, there is nothing in heaven or on earth that could keep that could close a door that God has opened for you.
SPEAKER_01: And um she was just so confident of God's goodness toward me and of his activity in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And another example that I think of is of my mom, and um, you know, to this day, come in in the morning and you can count.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, she's gonna be sitting in her chair with her Bible, with her prayer journal open.
SPEAKER_01: And um in the, you know, that was a constant of my childhood.
SPEAKER_01: I'm grateful that they, you know, raised us in church.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but in 2000, the crash of 2008, my parents lost everything.
SPEAKER_01: Um they moved from a 5,000 square foot home to a two-bedroom apartment, and uh their their world was upended.
SPEAKER_01: Um had to auction off our family possessions, and um in the face of a very uncertain future that looked so different than what they had built for many years.
SPEAKER_01: Um they had two kids out of the house, I was in college, Rebecca was in middle school, and even then she could come out in the morning, and my mom was gonna be sitting in her chair with her Bible on her lap and her prayer journal open, probably tears running down her face.
SPEAKER_01: Um but I saw her fight for her faith and fight to figure out if she really believed that God is who he said he was.
SPEAKER_01: And she had she used to make these no cards.
SPEAKER_01: Um, she would write scriptures out and she would have a stack on her nightstand and a stack in uh in the bathroom where she would get ready and one in her purse so she could have him on the go.
SPEAKER_01: And I saw her very intentionally fix her eyes on Jesus and fix her eyes on the truth and remind herself of that truth in the midst of things being not just uncertain but feeling hopeless.
Forrest: Yeah, isn't it so important to implant the promises of God in our heart?
Forrest: And I want to I want to speak a promise over you right now.
Forrest: This is Isaiah 26, 3.
Forrest: It says, You will keep you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.
Forrest: God is is promising to us that he will keep us in perfect peace if we are in the trusting relationship with God and our thoughts are fixed on him always.
Forrest: Uh, I want to do something real quick, just humor me for a second, if you wouldn't mind to stand to your feet and give your neighbor a high five, maybe one or two high fives, and then grab a seat once you've done that.
Forrest: You can say happy Mother's Day to somebody if it's a happy Mother's Day and then grab a seat.
Forrest: Now it's it's safe for me to assume that not one of you just now worried when you sat back down if that chair was gonna hold you up when you sat down.
Forrest: Because you'd already been sitting in that seat.
Forrest: You already trusted it to do the job that it was going to do.
Forrest: And I don't think anybody's chairbroken here, hopefully.
Forrest: But you were thinking about it because you already had the trust that that chair was gonna do what it was supposed to do in the same way.
Forrest: Our trust in God is moment by moment.
Forrest: As we're trusting him to do what only he can do.
Forrest: And we're walking out in this life with our God, with the promises that he gives us implanted into our hearts, knowing that those promises are true, and being just as confident as you were a second ago to plop right down into his hands, into his lap of our God and our godly Father.
Forrest: I I will uh ask you, Emily, and thinking about the trust moment by moment, and as you are walking out your relationship with Jesus, with motherhood, how how has your discipleship, your walking with Jesus, how has it been influenced with your motherhood?
SPEAKER_01: You know, as I face certain situations, uncertainties, um, triggers, there are definitely times that I've I've learned that my knee-jerk reaction is to become close-fisted and to try to control everyone and everything around me so that I will feel more secure, feel more in control.
SPEAKER_01: And so walking with Jesus in the midst of being a mom and now having two more people who I also can't control is it has been a continual process of like reopening my hands to relinquish the control that I never had in the first place, um, and remembering that like I have to fix my thoughts on him or I will be dominated by fear.
SPEAKER_01: And um it is also I think one thing that's that has surprised me is just how much I would be thinking about my own identity as a child of God.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I have these two beautiful examples in front of me of childlike faith, of just pure delight and wonder, and and it has reminded me um that like I get to do that too with with God.
SPEAKER_01: And I also feel the weight as a mom of discipline.
SPEAKER_01: Like my girls, I have to show up and do my job to discipline them, or they very likely won't be who God has called them to be.
Forrest: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And it makes me think about Proverbs 3.12.
SPEAKER_01: It says, for the the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is that I know that I know that as a mom, like I correct my kids because I love them and I want them to be, you know, profitable members of society.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but also like God corrects me because he loves me, he disciplines me because he loves me, he delights in me because he loves me.
SPEAKER_01: And it it has been um honestly a sweet process of embracing that reality again, um, that discipleship is is both discipline and delight.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: And I I get to be the kid full of wonder.
SPEAKER_01: I get to be the kid with the childlike faith.
SPEAKER_01: And probably the scripture that I think about most when I'm thinking about, you know, being a mom or what the Lord requires of me, and that encourages me the most is Galatians 6 9.
SPEAKER_01: It says, so let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time.
SPEAKER_01: We will reap a harvest a blessing if we don't give up.
SPEAKER_01: And um, we're in the saying things thousands of times, hoping that it will sink in a territory.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe it gets better, maybe it doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me if it doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but what I know is that my discipl my discipleship and motherhood is a continuation of the journey that I've already been on with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, God was faithful to me.
SPEAKER_01: He's only ever been faithful to me.
SPEAKER_01: He was faithful to me in middle school and high school when I was terribly lonely.
SPEAKER_01: He was Faithful to me in the midst of a lot of brokenness in college and just a lot of wrestling.
SPEAKER_01: He was faithful to me in the early days of our marriage and through all the transitions of moving, I think, 10 times.
SPEAKER_01: That's a lot.
SPEAKER_01: In the grind of pharmacy school and in the panic and insecurity of unemployment that followed that.
SPEAKER_01: If he was faithful and present in all of those highs and lows, he will most certainly be faithful to me in motherhood.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that because I've walked with him.
SPEAKER_01: And that because of that, I can have confidence.
SPEAKER_01: Do not grow weary in doing this good work because the the reward will come.
Forrest: Right.
Forrest: Definitely as you shared that, and thank you for sharing what you just shared.
Forrest: Um if you had an encouragement that you would give to those that are right now that are in our church or here today who are moms, they want to be moms, desire to be moms, or they're serving in that role in someone's life, grandmothers, um, uh foster parents, or uh what whichever role, what encouragement would you have for them?
SPEAKER_01: I would say to not underestimate the power of your prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And that doesn't mean that you have to be a particularly good prayer.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be eloquent or fancy, but the power is in the God that we pray to.
SPEAKER_01: And not only is there power in what he can do in our circumstances, in the lives of our children, but there's also a lot of power in just going to him in prayer, especially in those times of worry, um, you know, to look back to him.
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, we I I personally subscribe to the um Persistent Widow school of prayer, which is basically the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, God may say no to me, but he's gonna know exactly what I'm asking for because he will have heard it enough times.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but um I would encourage you to figure out a way to weave prayer with and for your kids into the rhythms and fabric of your life.
SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes we we call this like hanging prayer on hooks, and a hook is just a trigger to remind you to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: Um, an example for us is we have a four-minute drive from our house to 2nd Street, and um, so in the morning we pray, and my girls know the very not fancy and repetitive prayer that they are in for, and I am going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna thank God for our family and our church family.
SPEAKER_01: We thank God for you every day.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we are going to pray for their teachers by names.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to ask that God would show him, show them his true character, that they would grow to know him, to love him in his church, that he would save them, fill them with his Holy Spirit, that he would give them irrepressible joy that would point people to him, that they would get to go on a wild adventure with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And again, it's not fancy.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we pray, Lord, would you please fix all of our attitudes?
SPEAKER_01: Like we just have to start there, you know?
SPEAKER_01: But Ember, you know, she's only four.
SPEAKER_01: And when we're praying for her teachers, you know, she may think, Oh, mommy, Miss Tasha is sick.
SPEAKER_01: We should pray for her.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll say, Ember, God loves it when you pray to him.
SPEAKER_01: God loves it when you talk to him.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you pray for Miss Tasha?
SPEAKER_01: And she will.
SPEAKER_01: And so even just getting to teach them and to reinforce, okay, like God loves, God loves it when you talk to him, just like I love it when you talk to me.
SPEAKER_01: And um thinking back to the example of of my grandma and and my mom.
SPEAKER_01: My grandma, she uh also had her, hers was a leopard print chair that she would sit in and do her quiet time.
SPEAKER_01: And um, she just is a notorious like card and notewriter, and she's an underliner, you know, like she'll underline the words that she really wants you to know, like she means that for you, and would write scriptures out and um just think about all the encouragement that has come.
SPEAKER_01: I have a box of them of cards from her that have encouraged me.
SPEAKER_01: And um, think about my mom.
SPEAKER_01: And my mom, she still will send me pictures of handwritten prayers in her prayer journal saying, daughter, this is what I'm praying for you and for your family today.
SPEAKER_01: And even though I'm not under her roof anymore and haven't been for a long time, she is still, God is still using her to point me to Jesus and to remind me to fix my eyes on him and that I can do it and he has equipped me and she believes in me.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I have to borrow her confidence.
SPEAKER_01: Um but I I I want to encourage you if you're a mom, grandma, you are a co-mom and are investing in somebody else's kids, we've got some of those in our life.
SPEAKER_01: Um if there if there's breath in your lungs, you are on the clock.
SPEAKER_01: And God still wants to use you powerfully in the lives of the people and the children around you, even if they're grown children.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so so stay engaged and don't underestimate what God can do through you.
Forrest: Yeah, Emily, as you're describing this and you're talking about the prayers and and and the legacy of faith, we we are keenly aware of the fact that this may be a completely different world than what you grew up in.
Forrest: I know that in our church there are people that that as we talk about a mother that's filled with faith and the word and and prayer, there's so many people who are in our church that didn't grow up in a Christian home or had a different expression, and and and things looked different.
Forrest: And what I want to encourage you is, I want to encourage you with is that you can write a different story.
Forrest: You can write a different story for your children, for your grandchildren.
Forrest: You can turn the page and and and begin to uh walk out your motherhood, your parenthood in in partnership with God.
Forrest: Just to do the simplest things that Emily was just describing and talking about.
Forrest: And that that can be that can be through and with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Forrest: You're not doing it on your on your own.
Forrest: Now, Emily and I, we we have had that experience, and the scripture says, too much is given, much is required.
Forrest: And so we have had that legacy of faith, and so we that much more uh need to be walking out that faith together.
Forrest: And that looks very similar for my upbringing in my home.
Forrest: I uh have lots of memories of my mom in our living room sitting in her blue chair with her pink uh women's uh study bible open in her in her lap, hard back, all torn to pieces in the binding, and her reading the word, her praying for me, her praying for our family.
Forrest: My mom, she led by example in our home.
Forrest: Uh, she was much less of the uh teaching type.
Forrest: It was my dad that was the Mr.
Forrest: Teachable Moment guy, and all the lessons that needed to be said and taught to you, you know, as we're doing yard work.
Forrest: Uh but my mom, her example was in a lot of ways just a quiet stability.
Forrest: And I even think about, and our family went through a tough time as my dad was struggling with the bottle and alcohol early when we were kids, and my mom, as an angel, kept our family together, rooted in God's word and his church.
Forrest: And I'm so thankful for my mom and her example of faith and her encouragement that she still gives to me today.
Forrest: And as we are talking about these these passages, and Jesus is telling us, don't worry.
Forrest: But not just don't worry, but don't grow weary either.
Forrest: Don't worry and don't grow weary.
Forrest: Emily read Galatians 6 9 earlier.
Forrest: So let's not get tired of doing what is good.
Forrest: At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.
Forrest: And to think about that and how that plays out in our week to week.
Forrest: And what I know about worry and fear is that it's a sneak attack.
Forrest: Like I'm pretty sure that none of you can over.
Forrest: I'm gonna put it on your calendar.
Forrest: Okay, 12 o'clock to the description, I'm gonna worry about my kids and refunding incidents, I'm gonna make a little time, I'm gonna sit around, I'm just gonna worry.
Forrest: Let me just put it on the calendar.
Forrest: Let's not have my words, remember?
Forrest: Instead, the enemy wants to sneak attack you with worry, with fear, with being paralyzed, and it's in those moments that we have the choice to trust right now.
Forrest: See, to push that back, to not grow, to not be worried, and to not grow weary is a right now decision.
Forrest: And I and I want to I want you to get this that if you do the right thing right now, at the right time, you will reap a reward of righteousness.
Forrest: What that pastor just told us.
Forrest: The right thing right now, at just the right time, you're gonna reap a reward.
Forrest: And I think about all the families that are represented in this space, in this place, and it just makes me burdened, and also just a feeling of determination for our church, that we would recognize that worry is for the world, and that faith is for family, we would leave the worry behind us because ultimately we have a God that gets it, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_01: He does.
SPEAKER_01: I I love uh verse 32 um the Luke passage that says, So don't be afraid, little flock, for it gives your father great happiness to give you the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And parents don't don't we know doesn't it give us great happiness?
SPEAKER_01: Don't we want to give our kids the kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah and to me that just it just reminds me like hey, God gets it.
SPEAKER_01: He knows how to be a good dad.
SPEAKER_01: I've experienced him as a good dad, and I want my kids to know that too.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know that too.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know him as a good dad and he loves you, he wants to give you the kingdom, it makes him happy to give you the kingdom.
Forrest: In those moments of worry and of doubt, what if, what if we trusted the fact that God wanted to give us the keys to the kingdom?
Forrest: What if in those moments, what if our heart and those worry, and that that right now decision that we turn to God and we say, God, you're good.
Forrest: I know that you want to nothing more than to give me your kingdom, your goodness here on this earth and into eternity.
Forrest: And I'm wondering today, is there anybody in the room that maybe you've come in today and life has been going a different direction?
Forrest: You've not yet received the keys of the kingdom that Jesus bought and paid for you on the cross to die for you, so that you and as a mom, that you could be free.
Forrest: That you could be free, that you can be forgiven, that you could have the kings, the keys to the kingdom to walk from this life into eternity new with God, with Jesus.
Forrest: I wonder if there's anybody that needs to take on that mindset, take on that truth today.
Forrest: I believe there may be, will you bow your heads and pray with me now?
Forrest: God, I pray right now over every single person that's here in every home that's represented, in every family that is represented here today.
Forrest: God, I pray specifically for our moms and for grandmothers.
Forrest: Lord, I pray, Father, a blessing over them right now.
Forrest: God, I pray, God, for, Lord, them to turn their hearts towards you in moments of worry and of fear and of doubt, Lord, that God, their right now decision would be to trust you fully.
Forrest: God, I pray right now all across the room, Father, there's anybody in this place who has not trusted you as Savior, has not received you as savior, has not trusted in and taken your finished work on the cross, your death, burial, and resurrection, walking out of the grave alive, so that they too could be alive, so that they could be saved, so that they could be in heaven with you, so that they could get the kings of the kingdom right now, starting today, and and and follow right into the kingdom in heaven.
Forrest: So, Father, if there's anybody in the room that they have not yet made that decision, today would be the day, God, that they do, God.
Forrest: I pray that it will, that they would pray this, Jesus, save me.
Forrest: If this is you, pray this from your heart and mind.
Forrest: Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you are the Son of God and that you are alive.
Forrest: Forgive me.
Forrest: Let me walk in freedom so that I can be in your kingdom now and forevermore.
Forrest: Cleanse me, wash me.
Forrest: I give my life to you as you gave your life for mine.
Forrest: Thank you for saving me.
Forrest: No one looking around today was the day that you prayed for you to receive the finished work of the cross, for you to cross from death to life, for you to be a citizen of heaven.
Forrest: And today you prayed that in your heart and your mind from a genuine place.
Forrest: I want to acknowledge you.
Forrest: I want to pray for you.
Forrest: If that's you today, I'm gonna ask you to take action and for you to raise your hand towards heaven when I count to three.
Forrest: If that's you today, and I want to lock eyes with you, if that's you.
Forrest: Ready?
Forrest: One, two, three.
Forrest: Anyone in the room?
Forrest: Father, I pray today, God, for those in this room that God need to turn their heart and their life towards you, need to receive your finished work.
Forrest: That God, you would seal it.
Forrest: God, you would save.
Forrest: And Father, we pray for all the families, God, all the mothers today, a blessing over them.
Forrest: Father, of love, of your love, your perfect love that casts out fear and freedom in Christ.
Forrest: In Jesus' name.
Forrest: Everybody said, Amen.
Forrest: Church, we stand together as we sing.