Welcome And Big Idea

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Kid Us Out First Podcast, where we're building transformed lives one message at a time. Each week you'll hear Christ-centered sermons from Dr. J. Perry Fowler, rooted in the truth of God's Word. This is where real faith meets real life, because a life built on truth is a life that lasts.

The Continental Divide Picture

Parents As A Bridge

When Culture Discards Parents

Father As Governor Mother As Guide

A Good Name Worth Dying For

Honor That Disciplines And Directs

The Power Of Presence At Home

The Promise Of Life And Blessing

Jesus Honors His Mother

Prayer And Invitation

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And we have landed on Exodus chapter 20, verse 12. Here it is. Honor your father and your mother. Let's say it together. Honor your father and your mother. Why? So that your days may be prolonged in the land the Lord God has given you. God is good, isn't he? You know, at the Continental Divide, up in the Rocky Mountains, there is this phenomenon that it just seems overwhelming when you begin to think about it. Because as the rain descends on the Rocky Mountains, what we know is as it descends, each little droplet, it falls to the ground, and some of those droplets will begin to move east. And as they move east, they're at the continental divide, what we know happens is that water will trickle down eastward. It will eventually make its way through the streams and the gullies and finally meet the mighty Mississippi. And when it meets the mighty Mississippi, ultimately it will end up in what we've called the Gulf of Mexico. But then there also are some droplets that land nearby, up in the Rocky Mountains at the Continental Divide. And as they land, what we know is instead of going east, they trickle west. And as they trickle west, they move and they go down through streams and down through rivers. Ultimately, though, they make their way to the Pacific Ocean. And when they get there, they are literally droplets that will end up continents apart from the other droplets that went east. Now, when we think about this, all children start at the same place. All children begin at conception. When children are brought into this world through the passions of their parents, the Bible says that male and female created he them. And what a gift that is. And as that happens, what we know for nine months they are gestated in their mother's womb. These little lives are protected inside a watery sack. It's called the amniotic sack. And yet the day comes when the water breaks and the child is born and they begin their journey through what we know, this world, and through this life. Now, when we think about that, it's an amazing thing because along the way, there are some hands that help them as they begin. And they're gentle hands. They're the hands of a mother and they're the hands of a father. And from as they travel from infancy all the way to adulthood, their lives end up being shaped from that moment of birth through the hands of parents and the teachings of parents and the love of parents, their beliefs and their behaviors are shaped, and ultimately their lives are launched into the world, and we rejoice when they begin those days of their life. Because every day that we have is a gift from God. And I want you to think about this, and that includes this day, Mother's Day. Aren't you grateful for the gift of this day where we celebrate the women in our life and our mothers? What a blessing it is. And God Himself wanted us to celebrate this to the point where we look at the Ten Commandments, and there are 286 words in English in the Ten Commandments, and among those words are words about honoring our fathers and our mothers. Remember that God himself came down from heaven, and when he came down from heaven, what we know he did is he came upon Mount Sinai with his own finger. He etched into stone the very commandments of God. And among those is Exodus chapter 12 that says, honor your father and mother. So this morning, that's what we're going to do. We're going to honor our fathers and our mothers, especially today on Mother's Day. And I hope that you've already done that in some way and plan to do that throughout the rest of the day. But when we think about parents, why are they so important? Why is it that God said when he wanted to create us and he wanted to bring us into this world, that he wanted us to have the gift of a mother? Why is it that he wanted us to have the gift of a father? Well, let's think real real biblically today, and let's see what the Bible says. The Bible teaches us to honor our father and mother. And in the language here, we see so many deep things about what it means to be a parent. So how does a parent shape our life? Well, the first thing they do is they're a bridge. I want you to think about that. Think about a bridge. What does a bridge do? They take us, a bridge will connect us from one place to another. And that's exactly what our parents do. They're like a bridge that takes us from childhood to adulthood. They're a bridge and they teach us things that we need to know. Among those God says, listen, I want you to know this. I want you to know that your relationship with your father and mother really matters. So when we look at the Ten Commandments, what we find is in the first few commandments, it's all about our relationship with God. We're told to have no graven image. We're told that there should be no other gods before Him. We're told we should not have idols. And over and over, we're told to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. We're taught about honoring God. But now we venture into that part of the Ten Commandments where it talks about our relationship with others. See, God knows that your life is not complete without relationships. God knows that your life is not complete without, say it with me, relationships. And relationships really matter. Your relationship with God matters, and your relationship with others matter, and your parents are a bridge to both of those relationships. Your parents bring you to church. Your parents tell you about Jesus. The Bible tells us that the Jews were told to say this every day. They were taught to teach their children the ways of God. They said, put it on your doorpost, put it in your home. Make sure that God is not just mentioned. Make sure he's modeled. And that's the teachings of God when it comes to this beautiful call of parenthood, so that we would bridge our children to God. But also we bridge our children to other relationships. And in that, what we find is we find that because of that, that is a special position. If you're a parent here today, or maybe you're a to-be parent, you're praying to become a parent. Listen, while you do that, let's just start at square one and let's understand why God says to honor our parents. And see, in the last days, the Bible says that there will be a problem there. The Bible says in the last days there will be a dishonoring appearance. As a matter of fact, in the New Testament, we're here in 2 Timothy chapter 3, 1 through 5, it says, in the last days, perilous times will come. Now that that language there, perilous times, it literally means dangerous times will come. And the Bible says that children will be disobedient to parents. Furthermore, they will be unloving and they'll be unreconcilable. In other words, they won't connect with their parents anymore. They'll break apart. We call that cancel culture in our current culture. And so God says, listen, no, this is what's going to happen in the last days, but I'm calling you to something different. And we go to verse 12 and we learn what that looks like. Also in Mark chapter 13, the Bible says that children will rise up against their parents and even have them put to death. What a statement. And there's so many places we could go and discuss that today. There's so many avenues that we could go down when we think about the discarding of parents, but yet in the last days, this will be a reality. People will discard their parents. And then in the book of Romans, the Bible says that children will rise up against parents, of course. And in the book of Romans as well, we see there will be a collapse of natural affection. And one of the and one of the fallouts of that will be that there will be cold and abusive family dynamics. The whole dynamic of the family and the whole definition will change, and there will be this falling away from the teachings of God when it comes to our relationships and what God teaches us through his word. And so with that, we pause today and we look at this verse. It says, honor your father and mother. Now, this is in the Old Testament, but we also hear it in the New Testament. In the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 2, the Bible says this again: honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise. So it is the first commandment here that has a promise attached to it. That's how much God wants us to honor our father and mother. Now, what does it mean to be a father? Now, maybe you're wanting to be a father today, maybe you are a father. Maybe now you're like me, you're a grandfather. How in the world did we get there? But yet, nonetheless, when you're a father, the word father in the Hebrew language finds its roots in this one idea, and that is the idea of being a governor. In other words, what you do is you're kind of one that when your child comes into the world, you begin to help govern their life for a period of time so that they can get to adulthood. And then the word mother finds its root in the Hebrew language, and it literally is a picture of a fork, like a fork in the road. Have you ever had your mother come and say, Listen, I am going to stand here and I'm going to tell you this is wrong, and you're not getting past me on this. I am going to tell you the truth. Well, that's what it means. A father is like a governor, a mother is kind of like an obstacle that stands at the fork of the row and says, I'm going to show you which direction to go down. That's what it means in God's economy to be a true spiritual father and mother and to follow biblically what God's plan is for every dad and every mom. So in this, what we pause to see is as God says, Listen, I want you to have a place of honor for them. Now that word is usually set aside only for God. But yet God says, I'm going to share that word. I'm going to share that word, that word honor, which means to give reverence to. It means to instill value in these relationships to the point where obviously a child will be brought to discipline and understanding that they need to listen and follow the leadership of mom and dad. And so it's very important. Maybe you're here today, and maybe you're online and you're saying, okay, yes, it's Mother's Day, and I'd like to ultimately be a dad or a mom. And there's a lot of you in here that might be there. Or maybe there's you're you're now going through the journey of dad and mom. And God is saying, Listen, I want you to understand why I gave you this gift, this gift of parenthood, why you get to do this. And that's really what it is. We get to be parents. It is a gift from God. It is a call of God. It is a blessing from God. So it's an imperative that we understand who that call came from. It came from God Himself. It came as a gift from God. So anyone who has children, obviously, if you have children, that is a gift of God. And so what we do with that really matters to God. It really matters to God. Now I want to tell you a story about a man. His name is Butch O'Hare. Butch O'Hare, years ago, when uh he was uh fighting in the war, what we know happened is he was assigned to an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, uh the South Pacific, and he was in a squadron of fighter jets, and uh they were together and they took off and they went to go uh to uh on a mission. And as they went, what happened is this Butch O'Hare noticed when he got off the aircraft carrier and began to fly, he looked down and his fuel gauge was low, and he realized that they forgot uh back on ship, they forgot to fuel him up. So he called into the squadron leader and he said, Listen, I'm I'm low on fuel, I'm gonna have to turn around. They released him, he ended up going back and flying back toward the aircraft carrying. As he did, he saw a squadron of zeros, of Japanese zeros that were coming. And while that was happening, he had one goal in mind. And his one goal was this I'm not interested in shooting down any planes. I just want to damage them enough so that in turn they'll have to turn around because they were going straight toward the American fleet. So he began to, he went down there and with a 50 caliber uh machine gun, he began to fight, and sure enough, they ended up turning around and uh they ended up retreating. And as they did, of course, he went back to the carrier, and then there was a there was uh mounted a camera on his wing and they saw it, and here's the rest of the story. The rest of the story is from that. We know that Butch O'Hare began to he had a good name, and so he was honored, and what they did is they named a little airport in Chicago after him. How many of you have been to the Chicago O'Hare Airport? That's named after Butch O'Hare. But here's the rest of the story. There's more to the story. There was also a man in Chicago, his name was Eazy Eddie. Now, Easy Eddie was a man who uh, of course, was a slick, easy-tongued, sharp-minded lawyer for Al Capone. So he was involved in the mob. He was a mob boss, and his sharp uh mind and his legal maneuvering was always keeping Capone out of jail. And uh for this happened for a really long time. The result of that was Eazy Eddy and his family lived in a mansion. It was fenced off. He had everything he wanted, but his dad, Eazy Eddie, said this: uh this man said, he said, Listen, I have everything to give to my family except a good name. And so what Easy Eddie did was Eazy Eddie ended up turning evidence against uh Al Capone, against the mob. And about a year later, in a blaze of gunfire, he was shot on a Chicago, a lonely Chicago street, and he and he passed away from his result of that. But yet he said he was, he knew he would die, but he wanted to die giving his family a good name. That man's name was Eddie O'Hare, Butch O'Hare's dad. Now you hear stories like that, and you're like, man, I want to do that for my kids. I want to give to them what they need. There's something more than giving them money, something more than giving them a new car, something more than even sending them off to that school where they want to go. There's something more that I want to give to my kids. I want to give to them a good name. Well, I want to tell you, if you are a Christian and you lead them to become a Christian, you've given them a good name. Furthermore, if you're walking with Jesus and you're looking at the relationship with God and you're saying, yes, I want to honor God, but I also want to teach my children to honor their mother or honor their father and to live in this in this avenue of blessing. It's the first command with blessing. If you're doing that, what you're doing is you're bridging your child to a successful life. Because listen, life is not successful without a relationship with God. I mean, because this life goes beyond this life, it goes through into eternal life. And when you know Jesus, listen, you are preparing your child for not only successful life here, but a successful eternal life. Furthermore, if you're leading your child to honor, to know and understand the call of respect and honor to you personally, and that's why discipline is important, if you're teaching your child to honor and to look at your husband and say, I'm gonna respect you, or look at your wife and say, I'm gonna respect you, what you're doing is you're preparing them to understand this value of honor in relationships in this world. And it begins within the home, teaching our children, listen, your dad really matters. Your mom really matters, what their teachings really matter. And it and we are called as moms and dads to see this glorious calling of God, which is the calling of parenthood. So God here takes out time in this in this these Ten Commandments to say, listen, I'm gonna take a verse and I'm gonna commit it to this because this thing called parenthood really, really honors me. The second thing that it does is not only does parenthood, not only does it provide a bridge for us to bridge our children into a future, into a successful life, into a successful eternal life because they know Christ, but also it's a bridle. Now I want you to think about a bridal. Parents uh not only bridge their children into uh life, but they also provide a bridle. And uh we see that as we see the word honor. The word honor, deeper if we look into it, is the Hebrew word kavod, which means to bring reverence. And this is kind of building on what we just talked about. But you not only bridge your children into relationships for the future that involve respecting one another, listening to one another, loving other people, uh, and honoring God, and looking to our creator, and trusting our creator, and by faith walking with our creator. But the word honor means to put weight in something. It means to uh make it heavy, it means to really value your parent. So I love it that we have Mother's Day. We should do that. I'm so grateful that in the United States of America that we've taken a moment and we say, listen, we're gonna honor our moms today. We're gonna put weight and value in a mother's role in our life. And some of us have purchased flowers, some of us purchase gifts, and some of us are gonna go eat out of this after this service, and you're saying, hallelujah, line the glory, thank you, God, for mama. Amen. Amen. Okay, uh ladies, they're cheering you on this morning. But the honor is very important. Why? Because they're bridling. What does this mean to honor? It means not just simply an attitude, it means an action. It reminds me, uh back in 1982, there was a lady from Lawrenceville, Georgia here. Her name was Angela Cavallo. And uh Angela was uh one Sunday afternoon, she was out and uh was out in the yard, and her son was inside the garage, or his name was Tony, and Tony, what he was doing is is he was working on this 1964 Chevy, and Paula, I sure would like to have one of those today, wouldn't you? But nonetheless, uh had and and what happened was is while he was working on the suspension there, one of the jacks fell off and it pinned him to the ground. And what she did, Angela, his mother did, is she went over, she picked up the front of the car, a 3,500-pound car, and yelled for a neighbor, and the neighbor came and put the jacks under there, and she saved her son's life. Uh matter of fact, I think here is a picture, she was the super mom, but here's a picture just so you'll know of the of the um newspaper article, just so you'll know I'm telling you a real story. All right, there you go. So people ask, why did she do that? And doctors got together and they wanted to give an answer, and all the journalists wanted to have an answer. How does a woman who's never been a a bodybuilder, a weightlifter, and uh maybe walked a little bit from here and now, but uh really not a not a not an athlete, how in the world did she pick up that car, 3,500 pounds? And the answer was simple. The doctors all collabor collaborated and they said, because of her hormones. I'm not kidding. They said, because of her hormones. And they're like, what specific hormone are you talking about? They said, it is a hormone called adrenaline. And adrenaline, she literally saved her son's life with a hormone that was in her body and a heart full of love. That's what she did. And so when we think about parents, listen, they're powerful. She loved her son so much, but before she even thought about it, she lifted up a car and she saved her son's life. I want you to think about the power in a parenthood. The power of parents isn't just found in hormones, it's actually found in the home. It's where the lives of children, they find direction in their life. And moms and dads, that's what we do. We help give our kids direction, and that's what God called us to, and somehow we know that we're not just going to set our children free. We don't just have them and say, here, go do whatever you want to do. We have this little thing called discipline. And when we discipline and we guide our children, we love our children. The Bible even says those that the Lord loves, He disciplines. So God disciplines us. So we should do the same with our children. We should bring them and to raise them up in the nurture and admonition, literally the discipline of the Lord. And so that's one of the things we do. And it's not always appreciated, but it is very, very important. Why? Because there's a sin nature that's always fighting against discipline. But also the power of parents is not just found in this position alone. And just because you're a dad or a mom doesn't mean that that's powerful. What makes it powerful is that you're there in presence. You're not always in control, but you're always in connection. Isn't that interesting? Even the older you get, even my own mom, she still seems, if she sees me, she knows exactly what's going on in my life. I mean, she can read my mail like nobody else. You know why? The reason why is because of that connection. And I always tease my wife, I said, listen, it's not fair because we men were already nine months behind when the child was born. Because you've been walking around with that baby inside you. There's been an intimate connection between you guys, 24-7, ever since conception. And it's not easy on us guys. And often I would ask my wife, I'd say, honey, what's going on with the girls? And what I thought was going on, she'd say, Oh no, that's not what's going on. And she'd tell me something totally different. And I realized, boy, these girls need that woman. Because I can't do this on my own. And it's true. I mean, God gave us both roles. Gave women a role, men a role, gave moms a role, gave dads a role, and it fits together like a puzzle piece. When you put together a puzzle, guess what happens? You get a whole picture. But when you take one piece and you put the other piece aside and you don't connect them, it's a little difficult to get the picture. And God wants your children to get the picture. And that's why the Bible says that God gave a man and a woman to be the husband and a wife. Well, he gave children. One of the first things he did when the child was, uh before children were born, he brought the man and the woman together in the garden. They became, the Bible says, one flesh. And a man is to learn to love his wife as Christ loved the church. And there's no place for abuse in that. There's no excuse for abuse in that. Furthermore, there's this call of a woman to come alongside and to say, listen, my husband and I, we're one. Listen, ladies, it's very important that your children understand that's your man. That's your man. And to say, listen, we're together as one. And that's why God says, honor you. He didn't just say honor your mother alone. He says, honor your father and your mother. Why? Because God gave us this gift. And if you have that gift, you've really gotten something. So the power of directing kids' lives is in the heart of the home. It's a place where the truth is spoken consistently, where we just tell them the truth. That's why we bring up children in the nurture and administer of the Lord. We need God's word. So then turn, we can put his word in their heart. The Bible says, how can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to the word of God. And that's what parents do. That's why it's important that you bring your children to you, bring them to church, but also not only just mention Jesus in the home, but model Jesus in the home. It's so imperative because what God does is in the heart of the home, in the soil of the home, is where the seeds of faith are planted by parents and then ultimately harvested by God. It's a beautiful thing that God has planned. And that's why He takes out time in the Ten Commandments and says, honor your father and your mother. One man put it this way: He said, the Christian home provides a battle. It not only uh restrains life, but is a guide. It's like a bit in the mouth of a horse that directs the strength and the purpose of a child in a world that runs wild. It becomes a place where hearts are trained, words are tempered, and lives are steered toward Christ. I love that. Just a pretty good definition of what a home should be like, a Christian home. So listen, what we do is we provide a bridge. And some of you have had, I mean, this last week we had we had our students that came up here. You know, I've been the pastor for 18 years, and I thought, oh my goodness, some of those kids, I think I did baby dedication one man, I mean years ago, and now they're graduating high school. And some of you have I've watched you, I've watched you, I've watched, I've gone to the hospital and seen you with that baby, and then I've I've watched you through the years, and now they're graduating high school, and you're launching them out into the next stage of life. And listen, it it how did that happen so quick? But it does. So it is a very limited period of time that we have, but it's a very imperative period for us to bridge them over into life and also for help to help bridle and discipline and lead them in a direction that God wants them to go down. And what else does a parent provide? A godly Christian parent provides a blessing. I want you to see as we go to the end of this verse, it says, Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land. I always used to hear a comedian tease and say, That's so your parents don't kill you. I've heard that a thousand times. But but yet I want you to understand what God is saying. He's making a greater statement than just a home. He's saying something about life. Do you know what he's telling to you about life? He's saying life, life is sacred. There is nothing more important than life. That's why God says in the in the following verse, you shall not murder. We should not take a life. Why? Because life is sacred. And we read in the Bible how sacred it is, because God, the first thing he does when we open up his word, when you take the book of God in the Bible, you open it up, and immediately what you read is God is bringing life. In the beginning, there was God. And the Bible tells us that he did things and he did it immediately. He said, Let there be light, and snap, there is light. He said, Let their waters be gathered together under the sea. And they came together into one place in a snap. And the Bible says, and the earth brought forth grass, and it was so. God was creating life. And then he said, Let us make man, but he said something interesting. He says, In our own image, we're different. So God gave us life, and we live in a world on the land that God has given to us. He's the creator and he's given it to us. But what is he saying? He's saying, everything that you have, every portion of life comes back to me. And that's why it's imperative that we see that, listen, when a child is conceived, that's when life begins, folks. Now you're going to argue it all you want. And you can make a political statement out all you want, but you take it up with God face to face someday, and I'm going to tell you, whether you believe it or you don't believe it, believe it if you will, change it, you may not, you may do, but uh change it, you cannot. And life begins. God says life is sacred. Life is sacred. You know what I believe? I believe that everything that's in this world could have a barcode on it that says, made by God. You know why I say that? It's because the Bible says so. The Bible says that God has given us the land. What does this mean? It means he sent it forth. So he first created something for us to live on, and then he created people so that we could go and we can manage and we can make decisions. And one of the beautiful things is God says, listen, everything began with me. Life began with me. He spoke it into order. He said, Let us make man into our own image. And God did that. And he says, He breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Every child that is here today, we dedicated children this morning. Every child is a sacred vessel with a soul that God has given life to, and it's an eternal soul. So when we look at one another, we should value. No wonder God says, listen, first off, honor me. The first commandment is honor me. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. There shall be no other gods before me. You shouldn't have graven images. He goes on and on. And now he begins to introduce life and people and relationships. He's given it, he sent it forth. It reminds me of the little boy that came home one day. He had obviously been to Sunday school, and he was also a very smart little boy. And uh he had a loaf of bread. His mom said, Where'd you get the bread? He decided he would be a little theologian, so he said, I got it from the grocer who got it from the baker, who got the wheat from the farmer, and the farmer got it from the field who got the wheat from God. Everything goes back to God. But what's so cool about that is in the same way that you know you have bread that you carry home, but it all goes back to a seed. It all goes back to something God created, and God has given the ability for us to participate in this creative process. Isn't that interesting? That's where we get to motherhood and fatherhood. It's a beautiful thing. Uh the Bible teaches that God created, but then he says male and female created he them. Why did God do that? Because he wanted to give you a gift, an opportunity to enjoy something that he loves, which is a creative thing that God gives in the love and in the intimacy of a man and a woman. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing that God has done. And so Acts chapter 17, verse 28 says, For in him, read this, in him we live and move and have our being. For he, for we are also, listen to this, his offspring. Isn't that interesting? God loves to give life. And what's he say? He says, listen, if you since I'm the giver of life, if you'll honor your father and mother, what's he say here? He says that what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you the gift of prolonged life. This is the first commandment with a promise. Now that word that's used for prolonged is a word that's very interesting. It's called, it's the Hebrew word arach, yam. The word yam means day, it means long days. And uh it speaks not just of quantity of life, it speaks of quality of life. As a matter of fact, in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 2, Paul picked up on that and knew that language, and this is what he said. He said, honor your father and mother. So he's using the same language as we find in Exodus chapter 20, but then notice what he does. He says, that it may be well with you, that's quality of life. And then he says, on top of that, and that you may live long upon the earth, that's quantity of life. So if you want quantity and quality of life, here's where it's found: it's found in Jesus. Now, with this, we pause and we look at Mother's Day. And we pause and we say, God, thank you for my parents. I mean, have you done that this morning? God, thank you for my parents. Thank you for those that have given me life. Thank you for those that were a bridge, that were a bridle, and we're a blessing to me. Thank you for this gift. And it's appropriate we should do this. And I'll tell you why. Because Jesus did it. Do you know what Jesus did? In the goodness of God, in the book of Exodus, God gave to us this beautiful commandment, honor your father and mother. And Jesus lived it out. So we have a few words, 286 words, in the Ten Commandments, which include these words, honor your father and mother. So it's it's a small list, it's a small section of real estate in the Bible. But there's also another small list, and there's also a small piece of real estate in the Bible that includes Jesus' final words. There were seven of them from the cross. And among them, he did something very similar to what we see here in this passage. He said, I'm not going to say all these final words and these very important words. Listen, what somebody says on their deathbed really matters. And what Jesus says in his final moments of life, he looks at his mother while he's there on the cross dying to redeem her and the whole world. What he does is he simply looks to John and says, Behold your mother. What is he saying? He's saying, honor my mother as I honor her in death. It is a beautiful thing to honor our father and mother. But as Mary was there, she not only had held Jesus in her womb as a mother, but as she looked up to the cross and she heard these words, she not only remembered having Jesus in her womb, but in that moment, she honored her son by never leaving his side, by doing one thing, by sitting and being present and supporting and loving him. And today, that same mother, if she was here, because Jesus was not just once in her womb, Jesus was in her heart. She would say to you, Would you invite my son into yours? Would you walk with my son the way I have walked with him to the very end? And the glorious blessing of all is she saw him not only die, but she saw him risen. Today, Lord, thank you for the gift of eternal life that comes through your son, Jesus. Thank you for the many gifts that you give to us in our life, including our mothers. And Lord, we don't want to leave this place today without first just opening our hearts up to you and asking you to speak to us. And ask that, Lord, whatever our response to this moment should be, that we would do it. That we would have the boldness, that we would have the spiritual inclination and the drawing of your Holy Spirit to respond in heart, soul, mind, and feet to this that you're saying to us through your Holy Spirit this day. May you get the glory and the honor as we call upon the name of Jesus and give honor to him in this invitation time.

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