WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.840 Good morning everyone. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:03.839 Welcome to Christ Redeemer. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:09.039 Particularly if this is your first time here today, we hope you really enjoy our service. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:11.119 My name is Jill Kirschner. 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:12.960 I'm married to Steve over there. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:17.839 And I've been at this church now for five years and absolutely love it. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:22.559 The messages, the worship, the people, it's fantastic. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:27.760 I have been asked to come up here to talk a little bit about Mother's Day. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:30.079 And I've actually been a mum now. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:32.159 I say mum too, I'm sorry. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:33.679 It's not going to change. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:35.840 I know that's a plant over here. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:37.359 I know I'm not a plant. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:39.759 I just can't adjust to saying mum. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:41.679 It's really uncomfortable for me. 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:48.079 So happy Mother's Day to all the mothers here and the grandmothers and the first-time mothers as well. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:52.560 If it's your first time, I'm excited that you actually made it to Mother's Day. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.039 Have we got any first-time mums here? 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:58.159 Jiding one over there. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:00.320 Give her a great big hug this morning. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:02.159 COVID hug, of course. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:06.560 As I said, I've been a mum for 34 years. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:14.079 I have two grown sons, both married, whom I adore and I'm so proud of, and I have four grandchildren. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:19.680 But before I talk a little bit about mums, I'm going to let you know in 1996 I moved here. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:20.640 I moved here. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.319 I still sound like this. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:24.159 It's another thing I can't help. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:35.280 But one of the most important things I brought from Australia was a huge tote of things that my children had made before we left Australia. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.640 This is my eldest son's first Mother's Day card to me. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:49.359 And I can really understand from this card why Steve married me because I just have the most amazing figure. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:51.120 Square, no neck. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:53.519 I mean, what else could you want in a woman? 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.560 That's the Proverbs 31 woman right there. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:04.159 The second one I have is from my youngest son, and it's all made of hearts. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:09.199 He never told me that this was me, so I'm going to just say this is not me. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:11.199 But it's really, really cute. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:16.639 So anyway, I want to talk to you from Proverbs 31 just quickly. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:28.000 Proverbs 31, it's not a list of rules of what we have to do, it's a proclamation to women, okay, of what can come out of us, what God sees for us. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.759 And I'm reading verses 25 and 26. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:36.639 25, she is clothed with strength and dignity. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.400 She laughs without fear of the future. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:48.000 When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:52.800 Sometimes we think, as mothers, we've just got that really down. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:59.280 When I had my first son, I just thought I was the most amazing mother in the world. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:04.719 I looked around at all these other young mums and thought, I could just solve all your difficulties. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:06.159 Just watch me. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:08.400 My son is amazing. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:11.199 Well, then the second one came along. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:16.319 And I'm telling you, I don't think I ever made it out of the children's church room. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:18.319 He just never stopped screaming. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:19.599 He was embarrassing. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.280 He pushed some child off a play area. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:25.599 He was the kid that would punch someone else out. 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:32.560 I'd go to preschool, and there were scratches down someone else's face, and I went to the other extreme. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.080 I'm definitely not clothed with strength and dignity. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:38.159 I'm not coming out of my home. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:40.800 My future is not great at all. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:43.680 So we've got two ends of the spectrum. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:48.960 I don't know if you're a mum that always feels good, always feels down. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:53.520 But generally speaking, you know, this is not something we really like to believe. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:56.639 But there's more hard days than easy days. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:58.560 Even for we mothers. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:03.360 So much of what we do is done in quiet that no one else sees. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:07.599 But I want to talk to you about a lady in the Old Testament. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:10.000 She just excites me. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:11.360 I just love her. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:13.520 Her name's Naomi. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.079 She's in the book of Ruth. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.319 The book is not named after her. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:24.959 I'm not denying that Naomi is a fantastic woman, but I'm a cheerleader of Naomi. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:33.920 Naomi in chapter 1, verse 20, announces to the people in her homeland that she's bitter. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:46.800 Call me Mara, not pleasant Naomi anymore, but call me Mara, because I've lost everything and the Lord has dealt harshly with me, blamed it all on God. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.279 See, why was she like that? 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.519 She'd moved to Moab, a land of pagan gods. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:56.319 She thought it would be great there. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:03.199 She lost her husband, she lost her sons, all in the space of about 10 years. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:10.160 And when you were a widow at that time, if you had no family around you, there was no one to look after you. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.639 You were on your own. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:18.399 And so she had so much to just be bitter about. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.519 She couldn't have children anymore. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.079 She had no one to look after her. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:32.879 But you know, in her hard time, we actually see these qualities shine through. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:38.480 And I believe that's what happens for we as mothers, as grandmothers. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.399 We don't stop loving our kids no matter what they do. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.120 Naomi goes back to Bethlehem, a land of the living God. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:54.800 And whether this was knowingly wise to her or not, she took one of her daughter-in-laws, Ruth. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:03.040 So she actually rescued Ruth from a land of pagan gods and took her to the land of the living gods. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:08.000 Ruth had to get used to a totally new culture. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:10.560 I don't know if you've ever moved across the world before. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:11.519 I have. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:21.680 And while I probably look the same and I sort of speak the same language, if I say anything that's sort of offensive to you, I really apologize. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:27.600 But Ruth, in her grief, had to acclimatize into a new culture. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:31.839 She had to get on her feet, she had to find work, make friends. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:33.920 That would have been so hard. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:35.680 And yet here's Naomi. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.959 Out of her bitterness, she's pouring kind instruction. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:43.680 She's pouring wisdom. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:54.319 Well, then at the very end of the book, we see something absolutely amazing, which often comes out of that shocking crisis as we stay focused on God. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:59.199 Naomi is holding a little baby boy. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:04.079 See, she guided Ruth into marriage. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:09.759 The child that she gave birth to is actually in the lineage of Christ. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:17.360 And so I don't actually know, but I see Naomi at that moment smiling at the future. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.519 Something that had not been able to be done in her past. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:30.160 In the Old Testament, Mara, meaning bitter, that's what Naomi named herself. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:36.959 But as we move through to the New Testament, do you know what that means in the Greek? 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:39.519 Eternally beautiful. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:48.319 And I think today that God looks down on we mums, moms, grandmothers, and that's what he sees for us. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:51.600 That no matter what, he doesn't withdraw his love. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:08:00.639 We have our bad day with our children, we have our great days, but no matter what, he smiles down and he sees us as eternally beautiful. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:02.079 Let's pray. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:09.360 Father, I thank you that you have entrusted us with the next generation. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:12.639 I thank you, God, that these qualities shine through. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:17.839 I pray that you continue to guide us, particularly as we go through our trials. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.240 I pray too for our pastor today. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:22.959 I thank you that we have him as our pastor. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:30.240 I pray that you guide him in this message this morning, that our ears are open and that we hear what he has to say. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:32.000 In Jesus' name. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:32.960 Amen.