WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:13.919 Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.280 Thank you for listening. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:27.519 Thank you, choir, praise team, congregation, kids, everybody for a great morning of worship. 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:31.440 I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:40.640 And I want to just do something that's really on my heart today, and that's celebrating God's incredible design for motherhood. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.000 We want to honor mothers today. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:49.200 You are special and wonderful and incredible. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:01:06.400 And we live in a world today where that is a fact that some people take for granted, and it is even something that people are challenging as fact in our culture with identity issues and questions of roles and life and everything else. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:12.239 People are trying to take man and woman and make them the same or change them or whatever. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:29.519 We have in all kinds of ways that people are trying to say, on the one hand, that the church, that evangelical church folks, followers of Jesus like us, that we are disrespectful to women and hold women down and all this other kind of stuff. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:37.599 And then on the other hand, they're trying to destroy the beauty of motherhood that God has designed and built in moms. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:43.760 And so all throughout Scripture, God elevates mothers. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:57.519 And He is designed from the very beginning of the human experience, from the human race in the Garden of Eden, to make mothers designed in his image and to make them powerful and wonderful. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:04.799 And so today, moms, I just want you to feel blessed and encouraged from the Word of God. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:10.800 Look, in fact, in this book, Paul is writing to Timothy as a young pastor. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:13.599 He's trying to coach him and encourage him in life. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:18.400 And look how God just takes a moment to elevate the mothers in his life. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:21.439 2 Timothy 1, verse 5. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:24.080 Here's what he says. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:28.240 Remembering, or verse 4, we'll start there just to kind of get the sentence in. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:36.080 Remembering your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy, clearly recalling your sincere faith. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:43.360 So there he's first speaking of Timothy's faith, but then look at how he honors his mother and grandmother. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:54.080 That first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.479 And then I want you to just flip over to chapter 3. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:09.120 And here Paul is talking to Timothy about the struggles that will happen in the times that will come in the last days. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.560 And we certainly are living in times that look like this. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:16.960 He says in verse 1, know this, difficult times will come in the last days. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:23.840 People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, blasphemers, proud, ungrateful, unholy, slanderers, all that kind of stuff. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:31.120 And so here's what he tells them in verse 14. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:37.680 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:42.159 And then he goes back to this same testimony of his mother's again. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.159 You know those who taught you. 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:56.240 He says, Timothy, when you're thinking about those scriptural principles and the foundations of God's word, we sang earlier about standing on the promises of God. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:05.919 And when he speaks to Timothy, he says, Listen, you know and stand on that word, but he also tells him, you remember your mama and your grandmama taught you those. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:10.159 And nobody loves you outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:13.520 Nobody loves you like your mama and your grandmama. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:17.040 Nobody's prayed for you like your mama and your grandmama. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:31.439 And he says, when he talks about those truths, he says, I also want you to remember not just the truths of God's word, but I want you to remember the life and the testimony and the love and the integrity of the women who taught you that. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.079 Continue in what you've learned and firmly believe. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.959 You know those who taught you. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:45.519 And you know that from childhood you have known the sacred scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:53.279 Not everybody has a testimony like that, but praise the Lord, I had a mom and have a mom who teaches like that. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:59.839 When I would get in trouble, I may have told the story before, but you know, my spiritual gift is griping. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.680 I'm really good at that. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:08.160 And since I'm smarter than everybody else, I know what's wrong with everything, right? 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:09.759 So everybody should listen to me, right? 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:12.079 That's kind of my functions, right? 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:15.680 And so my mom would get on to me about griping and complaining and all that kind of stuff. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:16.959 And so here's what she'd do. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:21.360 She'd do things like take scripture verses and post them on the refrigerator. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:25.279 Do all things without murmuring and disputing. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:33.519 So every time I went to the refrigerator to get a Coke or Kool-Aid, I had to look at my mom putting those Bible verses in my heart, right? 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:40.399 I mean, she taught me from Bible study fellowship, she would take her notes and would teach me how to study God's word. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:42.800 And uh and she would always encourage us. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:49.759 And my dad was the same way, Sunday school teacher or deacon, but there's something special about your mom and about your mom telling you those things. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:56.879 And she just had a way, in that nurturing, loving way, that she would talk to me about scripture and about what it means. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:02.079 And then when I was called into ministry, you know, she was there and challenging me and encouraging me. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:07.839 I remember the first time I preached a message on a Wednesday night at our home church. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.279 I had preached once before in a small church in Alabama. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:18.079 A friend of mine had invited me and he said, Look, you're gonna have to start preaching some places now that you've been called into ministry. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:19.920 And he said, You just need to practice. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:21.759 So you come to my church and practice. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:23.279 And so he coached me and I preached. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:24.319 That was my first time. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:30.000 My second message was that on a Wednesday night at my home church in Memphis, Tennessee. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:35.279 And there were probably twice this many people in the room, and uh maybe three times. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:47.680 It was a big crowd, and so we were there on Wednesday night, and so I'm I'm nervous enough already, but I've studied, I've worked hard at that, and I and the way it worked, the way you'd come into the sanctuary was my office would have been back up in there in this area. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:53.120 And so there was a stairwell that came down and it came into the back part of the sanctuary, and you'd come in like that. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:07:01.519 So here I am, I'm coming down from my office, I'm facing my first real sermon, my home church, and my mom is waiting for me right there at that door. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:06.560 I said, Hey, mom, and she said, Son, are you prepared? 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:12.000 I said, Mom, and she said, Don't mom me. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.720 Remember, I watched you all the way through school. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:17.199 You never studied a day in your life. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:21.920 And all of our friends go to this church, and I want to know if you're prepared. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:28.000 So moms have a way of challenging us in God's word and helping us grow. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:37.759 I remember one time I was learning these lessons, and I was I was in my first role in ministry, and I'd become the singles pastor, and it was one of those times where I'd just gotten frustrated. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:44.800 We had some people who were growing in the Lord, and we had some folks that just they just weren't, they just were not walking with the Lord. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:50.319 They were in that time and they were struggling and they were doing things, and it's frustrating. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:08:01.040 And, you know, I was just frustrated, and I had a couple people leave and different things, and so I called my mom, and I was not doing all things without murmuring and disputing. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:08.959 I called her to do that, and I'm griping about it and all that, and she says, son, I'm sorry that you don't read your Bible anymore. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:12.240 Excuse me? 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:16.079 And she says, Well, don't you believe your Bible anymore? 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:16.720 Don't you read it? 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:17.040 Don't you? 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:18.800 I said, What are you talking about? 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:28.160 And she says, Look, son, my Bible, and yours does too, if you would read it, says there's a broad road. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:34.080 And lots of people are going down that road, and the end of that road is a destruction. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.440 And there's another road, and it is more narrow. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.720 But the people who are going down that road are the ones that live. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.919 They're the ones that find Jesus, and they're the ones that spend eternity in heaven. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:55.919 And she said, son, you have got to learn that that broad road exists, and not everyone is going to accept Jesus as their Savior, and you cannot let that shake your faith. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:06.159 You cannot let that cause you to get frustrated and not lose your church and people and have the love of Jesus as you're preaching the gospel and calling them to faith. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:10.159 So, son, I want to remind you what God's word says. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:15.519 And it's one of those moments that I love in this scripture that I picture in my mind when I read this. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:21.519 Not just what you've learned, but who you've learned it from. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:35.440 And I am so grateful for the power that God has given to mothers and the impact that it's had in my life, the impact that it has in the lives of our children as I watch Janet as a godly mother impact their lives. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:45.279 And now I watch my daughter as a mother begin to teach and to build, even at this early stage, in our grandson Killian. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:53.360 And God has built this incredible power in mothers that He honors all throughout Scripture. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:54.639 So here's what I want to do. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:58.799 Just show you a few things today that I pray is an encouragement to our mothers. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:13.600 Here's the first thing I want you to see that the Bible says, not Pastor Greg, the Bible says that women and motherhood that was created by God in his very image and celebrated throughout Scripture. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:34.480 Again, in the life of a pastor and telling people how to be a pastor and telling a young man how to be a pastor and how to preach the word and how to stand on it, even in difficult times, he elevates the role of his mother and his grandmother and the spiritual heritage that came from then as an anchor in his ministry. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:37.440 In the same way that he's done that with my mom. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:45.039 I want you to look back in your Bibles at Genesis chapter 1, and I want you to just see straight from the Word of God a couple of things. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:58.879 Here's what the Bible says in Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, and I put this on the screen because I want you to have these indelibly etched in your mind, and I want you to see that this is the Word of God. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:04.080 And here's what the Bible says in verse 26. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:13.759 God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:20.000 They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.960 So God created man in his own image. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:29.360 He created them male and female. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:35.039 I want you to know, ladies, that you are made in the very image of God. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:47.120 I want the young ladies in the room to understand that you are special and you are unique, and God has made you in his image. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:12:03.039 I would tell our daughter that as she was growing up and beginning today, that you are a blood-bought princess of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:08.879 That he loves you and he died for you and he made you in his image. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:19.279 And don't you settle for anything less than what is deserved by a blood-bought daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:25.440 Listen, as the people of God, we celebrate women. 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.039 We elevate women. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:40.159 We elevate mothers that our ladies, in all of the power and uniqueness of who you are, it is there because God has built you like that and He built you in His image. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:45.919 You are not second to anyone anywhere in any way. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:50.639 You are specially created in the image of God. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:53.840 And please don't forget that. 00:12:54.159 --> 00:13:04.320 Young ladies, don't let some young man or somebody else treat you in a way that is less than you were created in the image of God. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:31.679 As you are working in society today and you're reading things and we're studying things and we're hearing things and politics and the news and philosophy and everything else, don't let anyone tell you as a wife, as a mother, as a woman, that you are anything less than eternally, beautifully, and powerfully designed in the very mind of God in his likeness. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:37.519 And that is according to the clear and plain teaching of God's Word. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:49.440 Not only that, he created womanhood and therefore motherhood as a very specific and unique and purposeful part of that design. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:51.679 An incredibly beautiful design. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:56.159 We've read this before, but in today's world you can never take these things for granted. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:59.919 Look at what the Bible says in Genesis chapter 2, verse 20. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:08.320 The Bible, in this setting, Adam is there and God is teaching him, and he's standing there with God physically in the Garden of Eden. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.440 They're watching the animals go by and they're naming all of that. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:16.399 And the Bible says the man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.679 He's seeing them two by two by two or more as they go by. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:31.600 And all of a sudden, after probably six thousand animals, who knows how many there were, it dawns on Adam, but for the man no helper was comparable to him as his compliment. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:37.600 So the Lord got, there's another version that says, It's not good that man is alone. 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:39.919 It doesn't say that about women anywhere. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.480 It just says, guys, you can't trust them when they're alone. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:43.919 It's bad. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:50.879 So the Lord caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept, and God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:56.000 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:01.519 And he said to the man, and the man said, This one at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:04.960 This one will be called woman, for she was taken from man. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:10.399 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.759 Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.440 So here you see this incredibly purposeful design. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:33.600 In all the ways that God, as the creator of the universe, could have made Eve and could have made her as a woman and given her the ability to give birth and to be a mother, he chose a very specific design and way to do that. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:36.799 He made her as a part of Adam. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.919 She took part of Adam away from him. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.399 He is lesser without her. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:56.000 And then he expanded it into the fullness of this incredible human being, this woman that is named Eve, and he brings her back to Adam, and Adam is now more because of Eve in his life. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:03.600 God has built in her the capacity to multiply who they are and their family and what goes on. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.960 She is taken from his rib, so she is not lesser than him in any way, shape, or form. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:12.799 She is made of the same human fabric that he is. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:29.200 In every way, God is trying to communicate to Adam and to all of us that as women, you are specifically and beautifully designed in the mind and heart of God, that you are not lesser than anyone, that God has made you powerful and special. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:47.759 He's given you God-ordained purposes and abilities in building marriage and family and life and investing into people and the capacity to nurture and do relationships in ways that are unique to your womanhood and your motherhood and you as the ability to be a wife. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.799 Listen, don't let anybody ever take that away. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.840 There is nothing lesser about being a wife or a mother. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:17:06.400 In fact, God has made it powerful and he specifically designed it that you have God ordained purposes birthed in the creative mind and heart of God. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:12.640 He said, Listen, Adam, he put Adam in the garden and he said, Adam, your job is to tend and to keep the garden. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.200 Those words are military and farming words. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:16.720 Keep is a military word. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:22.799 Farm is a is a is a uh tend is a gardening word, it's a farming word. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:28.720 And he said, Listen, you're here to work and you're here to build and you're here to be fruitful and multiply. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.279 But he said, Listen, I want someone to be with you as a companion. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:36.240 I want you to be able to do this with someone. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:41.519 They have the same abilities and talents as you, Adam, but they have something you don't have. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:53.680 They have a desire and the capacity to create a togetherness and a oneness and a companionship and a relationship that Adam's male engine doesn't have. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:01.039 God has given that incredible relational and nurturing capacity to women on purpose. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:09.039 And he's empowered it with all of his sovereign might and omnipotence as a creator God. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:20.160 And families are families in large measure because of what mothers and wives and women bring to building relationships and home. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:24.559 It is an incredible design to see that God has created that. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:32.400 And if God has created that, then we need to elevate that and celebrate that and not denigrate that in any way, shape, or form. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.319 Let me tell you what, nobody is as tough as my mama. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:44.799 She's five, too, but she is from South Mississippi, and she is tough and smart, and you better not mess with my mama. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:56.640 My grandmother, my dad's mother, they're both from the same little town in Mississippi on the Louisiana border, a little town called Osaica, Mississippi, and both my mom and my dad from there. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:03.440 And my grandmother on my dad's side, Annie Lou, I'm telling you, Annie Lou was a force of nature. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:14.720 Towards the end of her life, after she had retired, she moved to Memphis, and I was already become a pastor, and she'd call me and say, Greg, get over to my apartment now. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.440 Yes, ma'am. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.880 Sit down there and I'm gonna tell you what to say in my funeral. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.200 Well, Annie, you're stronger than the rest of us. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:24.559 Why are we doing your funeral? 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.359 Shut up and listen to what I told you to do undo this. 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:28.960 Yes, ma'am. 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:31.759 I mean, you did what Annie Lou told you to do. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.599 And then Annie would say, You need to sit there because I'm gonna pray for you. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:38.720 And when Annie Lou prayed for you, stuff happened. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:44.640 Because God has built that into godly grandmothers and godly mothers. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:50.799 And not just in my life, and not just in Timothy's life, but in all of our lives. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:59.599 And then the Bible celebrates women, it celebrates motherhood, it celebrates the power and the influence and the greatness of wives. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:01.359 Just as an example, write this down. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:02.640 We don't have time to go read it. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:13.359 It should be familiar if you've been in church any amount of time, Proverbs 31, where the Bible tells us that a mother, again, mothers teach in unique ways that no one else does. 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:20.960 She sits down, her son, who is a king, and she says, just like Annie Lou told me, son, you sit there and you listen to your mama. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:28.000 And she tells him what a king should be and what he should not do and what he should do. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:30.799 And then she says, You listen to me, son. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:33.599 Who can find a virtuous, godly wife? 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:37.920 Her value is far beybies. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.480 The heart of her husband safely trusts in her. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:54.079 And because of her influence and her power in his life, and because of who she encourages you to be, you will have no lack of gain in your life. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:21:08.160 If you are blessed and wise and understand when God brings this incredibly beautiful and powerful and God-ordained woman designed in his image in your life. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.880 And then it goes on to describe all of those things. 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:16.400 Listen, the Bible says multiple times in the book of Proverbs, he who finds a wife finds a good thing. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:22.799 It doesn't say anything about husbands being good or anybody finding us and being blessed in any way, shape, or form. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:32.240 The Bible says that riches and lands are an inheritance from fathers, but a godly wife is a gift from God. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:43.440 And you have all throughout Scripture incredible pictures of mothers and grandmothers, such as Lois and Eunice. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:52.480 Listen, you were made in God's image, ladies, and you are celebrated and powerful in the economy of God. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:59.759 The next thing I want to show you from Scripture a mother's God given design for building her family. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:12.880 Again, when you see that unique design, it says that it's not good that Adam is alone and he's been trying to teach him that all these other animals and all this process and you have this capacity for relationship. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.079 Adam, that I've built in you, and my mic just died. 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:21.599 Jacob to the oh, there it is. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:22.160 We're back. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:23.440 Stay close. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:26.000 Stay close. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:43.119 And he says, listen, Adam, I've built in you this capacity, and once all that business trotting the animals in front of him, he's trying to create in him a sense of you have this capacity for relationship, but you need someone to love and you need someone to love you, and you need a place to express that relationship. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:46.720 And so I'm going to make for you a companion. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:50.640 That's all that compliment and help mean and all that other business. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:23:02.799 He's saying, listen, I'm going to make someone who has the same talents and abilities that you do, but her desire is not to tend and keep, her desire is to do it with you. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:14.319 Why did he put motherhood as the structure of how the human race moves on and marches through time? 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:30.720 It is because mothers are given the power and the ability and the supernatural design to love and nurture in a unique way that is a force of nature in the human race. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.599 Because God designed it to be that way. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:38.319 In Titus chapter 2, you don't have to turn if you don't want to. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:42.880 If you can find it, go ahead, but I have the references there on scripture for you. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:51.119 And in Titus 2, the Bible tells us that God is speaking and teaching, again, another young pastor. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:55.279 Again, this is a church matter, and it is important that we understand that. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:00.319 Yet another pastoral training passage, another letter to a young pastor. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:03.279 And here's what he tells them in chapter 2, verse 3. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:10.640 In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to much wine. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:25.599 They are to teach what is good so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure homemakers, kind, submissive their husbands, so that God's message will not be slandered. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:48.720 In other words, he says, listen, women have this incredible role that they are building a home and building relationships and loving children and loving husbands, and the home functions, and relationships function because you, ladies, are the relational engine and experts in our families. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:55.279 God has given you a supernatural ability that is beyond comparison. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:03.359 In fact, when you're thinking about this, loving your husband and impacting him, the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 3, it says this. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:30.079 In other words, he says, I have built in you the key to your husband's heart and the power to literally change his heart. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:36.000 It's incredible the power that you have in relationships, and God has given that to you. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:40.720 And we need to celebrate and honor that and listen to that. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:48.240 And then he talks about you in this role are the ones that turn a house into a home. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.960 Again, look what he says there in Titus. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:54.000 And it says this all throughout Scripture in Proverbs 31. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:55.279 She does all this stuff. 00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:00.400 She manages the house, she manages the servants, she clothes her family, she buys from afar. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:06.480 Her children will rise up and call her blessed, and her husband also, because of the impact that she has. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:07.759 Look what it says here. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:17.119 They're to teach what is good so that they may encourage young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure homemakers. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:18.559 What is he talking about there? 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:20.960 He's not talking about housework. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:26.720 He's not limiting them to some role of cooking and washing dishes or whatever kind of a thing. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:39.519 And if somebody out there who does not know scripture and they do not know who we are as the people of God, and they try to say that we put women in that role, you stop them and you show them the scripture. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:45.519 You tell them that we love and elevate women, moms, wives. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:49.599 It is incredible the ability that God has built them and the power in them. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:58.240 Listen, they are talking about in this home business in places like Proverbs 31, that they are making that house a home. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:02.960 They are making kids love each other and love their parents. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:08.960 It was my mom that taught me to respect my dad and look up to him. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:19.519 It was my mom who would stop me as the oldest child, and she'd say, son, your siblings, they love you and they look up to you because you're the oldest, and that gives you a responsibility. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:24.880 And you're supposed to love them and protect them, not pick on them and not be in their face and do all this. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:32.960 And it was my mom that understood those relational dynamics and challenged me and taught me and grew me in those things. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.839 It's moms that make it a home. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:42.480 It's Janet in our house who would turn dinners into something more than food. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.440 That would be experiences and life. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:58.160 It was a mom that in my house growing up, and now in my children's lives, that turned a trip into a family time and experience and memory. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:01.920 It's moms that make that work. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:06.720 It is moms who build a home and a family. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:19.359 Here's the next thing God's word teaches us that motherhood ministry is so inherently vital to the church and to the human race and to families. 00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:24.799 It is such an existential thing that motherhood ministry never ends. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:26.319 Listen to what the Bible says. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:27.759 Titus chapter 2. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:34.240 And this is something that the church as a whole has not, not our church, every church. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:39.920 The church has failed dramatically for generations in this. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:41.519 Look at what the Bible says. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:46.319 In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders, not addicted to much wine. 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:54.240 They are to teach what is good so that they may encourage young women to love their husbands and to love their children. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:59.839 Homemakers, kind, submissive, so that God's message will not be slandered. 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:08.640 It is a gospel ministry that God has given women to be mothers and then to teach mothers and then to be grandmothers. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:16.400 Ladies, you are to never stop mothering and teaching mothers. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:18.240 Now I've been trying to encourage me. 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:21.920 I've been trying to be encouraging, but if you'll give me three minutes, I'm gonna preach a little bit. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:25.440 Look at what God's word says. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.799 There are three stages of adulthood life. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:36.960 Motherhood, you teach your children, you build that home, you are that influence and all of that. 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:46.720 And then it says when your kids are moving on and they're growing up, it is your job to teach younger mothers. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:51.920 Why are there questions about motherhood? 00:29:52.640 --> 00:30:10.240 Because we have young mothers and generations of mothers that they have not had biblical women with this wisdom and faith and strength and influence who have stepped into their lives and brought this message that I'm bringing today. 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:19.359 I mean, remember, this is a pastoral passage and letter that's telling a pastor how to be a pastor. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:28.079 And it is your job, if you have not mentored a young mother, I need you to get busy. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:44.079 Where are mothers in the river valley going to learn the power that God's built into them to embrace the strength of who they are, to flourish, and their children and their families flourish because they're flourishing. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:47.200 It is going to be mothers who have stood on the word of God. 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:54.640 It is going to be mothers who have learned these lessons, and they're going to step in the lives of young mothers, and they're going to teach them how to do this. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.920 Look at our anchor passage in 2 Timothy. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:07.359 He says, Timothy, I need you to understand where your faith comes from because I'm going to teach you and Titus and all the other young pastors out there planning churches how this works. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:12.960 Timothy, I know that you have faith and that you love Jesus, but Timothy, I know where it came from. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:16.160 Your grandmother walked with Jesus. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:21.279 And because she walked with Jesus, your mama walks with Jesus. 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:33.440 And now you walk with Jesus because of the heritage of faith of a godly mother who taught her daughter, and then a daughter who learned that lesson so well that she taught her son. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:37.599 And that grandmother continues to be an encouragement and a blessing. 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:47.200 And Paul puts them together and he says, Listen, I've seen both of them in your lives, which tells you that Lois and Eunice were involved in this together. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:51.920 So that she didn't quit when Timothy walked out the door. 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:55.359 Moms, you're not done when they graduate from high school. 00:31:55.599 --> 00:32:16.640 It's your job to go get involved in the children's ministry and the student ministry and to find the mothers who are raising those children and bring the message that I'm giving today into their lives, the power and the strength that God has given, the faithfulness that He uses to empower them and the impact they have for eternity when they are teaching their children how to walk with Jesus. 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:26.960 Motherhood is an unending ministry because it is existential to our lives as people and as the church. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:30.160 God put that in Scripture. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:34.799 So it is a mother teaching her children how to walk with Jesus. 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:38.160 The faith that is in her, investing that in her children. 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:52.640 And then when her children are gone, it is to turn around and find another young mother who has children that age and to get in her business and to get into her life and support her and love her and encourage her and strengthen her and remind her of the promises of God. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:56.319 To be there to pray for her and to love her through that process. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:33:02.880 And then when her children begin to have children as a grandmother, you're not done. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:05.519 You step in. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:13.440 My dad used to tell me all the time, son, if I'd have known how awesome grandkids were, I'd have skipped you and gone right to Mabrian Grant. 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:17.359 I now know why he said that. 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:20.400 Yet again, I find the wisdom of my father, right? 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:21.599 Now that I have one. 00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:23.680 And so it's incredible. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:27.359 But we, it is so, and here's the message of this. 00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:42.640 Moms, this is how powerful and elevated motherhood is that God has made it unending in the lives of people and the lives of the church. 00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:44.319 Is that incredible? 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:45.680 Okay, y'all are safe. 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:47.039 I'm done preaching. 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:49.599 Finally, I want to close with this. 00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:51.839 And I want to give you a blessing. 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:58.480 Mothers have a God-empowered, eternal impact. 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:06.480 Proverbs 31 in describing that mother says that her children rise up and call her blessed, and her husband also. 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:13.360 You will be elevated by the people in your life and by the impact that you see in them. 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:21.199 I'm telling you, nobody takes greater pride in anything that I halfway do decent than my mom. 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:28.480 Now she takes that pride because she is proud of me without thought to herself. 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:38.559 But God has given mothers this incredible blessing of joy when your children flourish. 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:50.239 And he helps you understand, even when your soul desire is for them, he has built something in you that reminds you you are their mom. 00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.280 And you are a part of that. 00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:55.920 Here's what the Bible says. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:34:57.599 Look at this next screen. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:01.679 Faith that first lived in Lois. 00:35:02.719 --> 00:35:05.119 I get this from people all the time. 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:12.960 You know, Pastor, I messed this up, or I didn't do this well, or Pastor this, or whatever, or Pastor, I'm so unequipped in this moment. 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:14.480 How do I do this? 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:17.440 How in the world do you handle teenagers? 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:18.639 I have no idea. 00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:19.760 Don't ask. 00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:21.760 Nobody's figured it out yet. 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:25.119 I mean, all these times we have those kinds of questions, right? 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:31.599 But here's what happens: you don't have to be an expert at motherhood. 00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:34.639 God is an expert at motherhood. 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:40.480 You walk with Jesus, and he'll use you more than you could ever imagine. 00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:46.559 If you have taught your children how to love Jesus, there is nothing more you could teach them. 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:52.159 There is nothing more important, there is nothing more powerful, and you have done it all. 00:35:52.400 --> 00:36:04.239 If you have taught them to love Jesus, if you have taught them who Jesus is, if you have taught them about the love of Christ, if they know the gospel, if they know the word of God is true, then your faith is alive in you. 00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:08.000 And the journey of adult children is difficult. 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.719 They are learning things just like we do. 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:15.119 There are times that my kids do stuff and I say, Lord, have mercy. 00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:17.519 Where did you come from? 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:21.840 And there are other times I'm proud of them, but they make their choices and they go through that. 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:28.559 But listen, as parents, I want to encourage you, wherever your kids are right now in their journey, listen to me. 00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:31.920 If you gave them Jesus, you did it right. 00:36:33.679 --> 00:36:35.119 Be blessed. 00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:38.400 Know the power that God has built in you. 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:53.440 And if you have taught them to love Jesus and you've shown them the love of Jesus, and then they know that they can get the answers in Scripture, you can't make their choices for them, but you have given them everything they need to make the greatest choices in life. 00:36:53.760 --> 00:37:02.239 To follow God, to know, to stand on Scripture, to give their life to Jesus Christ. 00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:04.880 Paul is encouraging mothers here. 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:14.079 What you give your kids is not a law degree or a medical degree or make them teachers or teach them to read or whatever kind of a deal. 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:21.199 What you give your kids is Jesus, and when you give them Jesus, you have given them everything they'll ever need. 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:24.239 And it changes their eternity forever. 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:28.400 And let me tell you what, Paul is building in again. 00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:39.039 There is no one any more powerful to teach us about Jesus than our praying mothers and our praying grandmothers. 00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:49.199 So, moms, I want to encourage you to love Jesus, and he will empower you in ways you can't imagine. 00:37:49.760 --> 00:38:02.639 You teach your children to love the word of God and to turn to Jesus, and that makes you eternally powerful in their lives that you have pointed them to Christ. 00:38:03.519 --> 00:38:05.599 I want you to bow your heads as we close. 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:09.920 I believe what we just said. 00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:17.920 The most important thing that you can teach anyone is that Jesus loved them and died on the cross for their sins. 00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:21.599 That he rose again conquering death to offer salvation. 00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:27.679 And if you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, I want to invite you to come to Jesus. 00:38:28.559 --> 00:38:35.840 You may have never accepted Christ, but you know you had a grandmother or an aunt or someone who loves you who's been praying for you. 00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:40.079 And listen, they are doing exactly what we just said. 00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:43.360 They love you and they are praying for you. 00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:46.880 If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to invite you to come. 00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:52.559 If you're online, if you're watching on television list, there's information at the bottom of the screens, right there where you are. 00:38:52.719 --> 00:38:53.920 Just talk to the Lord. 00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:55.039 Confess your sins. 00:38:55.199 --> 00:38:58.000 Tell them you believe that he loves you and died for you. 00:38:58.159 --> 00:39:01.599 And then reach out and let us make sure we help you understand that. 00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:04.079 Walk with you and give you a blessing for that decision. 00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:08.480 If you're in the room this morning, as we close in a moment, God, I'm going to pray. 00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:10.239 God's people are going to stand and sing. 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:12.000 We'll have pastors at the head of our aisles. 00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:16.639 If you need Jesus, I want to invite you to come and make that decision to follow Jesus. 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:22.800 Lord, we love you and we thank you that you teach us so much about how life works and how it is. 00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:35.440 The most important lesson that you teach us and that you reiterate is that Jesus stepped out of heaven, died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, rose again, conquering death and sin to offer us salvation. 00:39:35.760 --> 00:39:44.639 I thank you for our mothers and our grandmothers who have taught us that and continue to teach us that and model that. 00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:51.920 And today, Lord, if there's someone who needs to be saved, Lord, I pray they'll come and they'll give their life to Christ. 00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:55.679 We pray this in the saving name of Jesus and all God's people said. 00:39:56.559 --> 00:40:01.199 We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus. 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:04.239 Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you. 00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:11.840 Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can. 00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:18.239 Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.