-Transcript-
00:36 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the cafe.
00:39 Good to be here today. So glad that you are joining me today as we get into God’s Word. And look, what time is it? It’s May.
00:46 It’s springtime. We’re talking about Mother’s Day. By the time you’re hearing this, Mother’s Day might have just passed.
00:53 And we look at moms and what courage it takes to be a mom. You know, it’s incredible all what the Lord has done in both strengthening moms but also in sentencing them to bear many burdens of being a mom. You know, look at Genesis 3:16. This is God’s judgment on Eve after eating the forbidden fruit.
01:17 Unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children and thy desire shall be tothy husband and he shall rule over thee. Genesis 3:16 explicitly and plainly states that there will be sorrows in conceiving and sorrows in bringing forth children.
01:38 And I know we experienced that in our marriage. It was a difficult time to have a child and it was a difficult pregnancy. Several pregnancies for my wife, especially that last one was very hard on her.
01:55 And she developed kidney stones and had trouble breathing and couldn’t lay on her back and was in just a magnitude of pain. It was just very, very sorrowful. And so again, the Bible is just dead on accurate.
02:07 And we see that this is one of the repercussions of sin. And don’t worry, man is also judged for sin as well. Get into Genesis 3 and you’ll see.
02:15 But women, they bear a burden when they have a child. And I always think of it this way. They put their life on the line when they have a child.
02:23 When we had Jenny Rose, my wife got pregnant not long after with CJ. And my first thought was, you know, I was super excited to be having another child. But my first thought was, is she gonna be okay? Is this gonna be too much for her body to bear? You know, and I was very worried for her because I feel like she’s putting her life on the line.
02:45 And truly, it was a delivery that was almost, almost went bad. There was a red button in the room for emergencies. And I’ll never forget that the doctor, you know, delivering the child, kind of had his hand hovering over that red button for a long time because they hadn’t expected CJ to be as big as he was.
03:03 And it was just an unbelievable pregnancy. And thank God, by the grace of God, he was okay. And she’s okay.
03:08 But it’s been sorrowful ever since. Raising children and dealing with all the issues children go through from a young age till school age. And as they grow older, there has just been many sorrows and burdens.
03:23 And anybody that’s a parent will admit that. It’s a wonderful joy and a blessing. But it’s a huge responsibility.
03:28 And while dad and others have roles in this responsibility, the mom is the cornerstone. The mom is the rock. The mom is often the one caring for the child when everyone else can’t or won’t.
03:41 And so it takes courage to be a mom. A mother is a bearer of many burdens. And yet God calls mothers to this position, strengthens them while they’re there, and rewards them in heaven.
03:52 So, moms, God calls you to that position. And God strengthens you while you’re in that position. And God will reward you in heaven for it and here on earth too.
04:05 2 Chronicles 15:7 is our text verse. 2Chronicles 15:7. Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.
04:24 And I love this verse because it points to the truth of parenting and of what mom’s got to go through. She has no choice but to be strong in a time of great vulnerability, in a time where she’s physically putting herself out there to to potentially have great harm come her way. And she can’t be weak.
04:46 She can’t choose to be weak. Again, I remember my wife’s pregnancy. She was tired, but she had to be strong for that child.
04:54 And she endured great, you know, a pretty difficult pregnancy. And she kept asking after our son was born, is he okay? Is he okay? Is he breathing okay? All she cared about was that child. She did not let her hands be weak.
05:04 For your work shall be rewarded. And I believe God is very serious about this promise that he’ll reward mothers for their work. I think of the mom that’s had an unexpected pregnancy, and she doesn’t know what to do.
05:16 And she asks family members, and maybe they advocate for an abortion, and she doesn’t know what to do. And she looks to the news and the media, and they say, hey, you can, it’s your choice. Goes to, you know, a so-called psychologist or psychiatrist, and they give her some bad advice.
05:34 Visits a center for pregnancy help, and gets good advice that she should keep the child. And she’s just all over the place, and she doesn’t know what to do. And she says, you know what? I’ll be strong.
05:46 I’m not gonna let my hands be weak. I’m gonna go ahead and trust that I should have this child, because this child is a creation from God. And that mom that does that, our God knows every bit of the sacrifices that that mom makes in having that child, in giving birth to that child.
06:06 And God will reward that mom. And no, it won’t be easy. Oh, it’ll be so hard.
06:12 But the fruit of that will be great. I can speak from experience, because I was unexpected, and my mom had me. And the Lord called me to the ministry.
06:23 The Lord knows I love him, and I’m thankful that I get to serve him day in and day out. But I wouldn’t be here if my mom wasn’t strong, and didn’t believe that I was a creation from God. Amen.
06:36 So, we realize that God is so amazing and powerful that he can strengthen moms, even in their weakest moments. 2 Timothy 1:7, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and oflove, and of a sound mind. I love this verse.
06:54 I had this verse written on our wall. We had a chalkboard wall in our old house, and I had this written on our wall. And as we went through some trying times, I just kept reading it over and over again.
07:04 God had not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. So God gives moms power to have children, to bear a child. And God gives moms that love, that deep affectionate love for the child.
07:19 And that sound mind to rear up that child, to teach that child right and wrong. You see, mom is so blessed because God is guiding, and providing, and giving mom that instinct. You’ve ever heard of the nesting instinct, or the mama bear instinct? Where did that come from? Oh, well moms are just like that.
07:37 Well, how are moms just like that? No, our God in heaven made moms like that. So we give praise to God for making moms like this, and we give thanks to moms for following through, and being a godly mom, and being a mom when it’s so difficult. It’s incredible to see the sacrifice that moms make.
07:59 In this day and age, it’s unbelievable. Moms got to apparently work, and take care of the kids, and take care of the house, and be a wife, and a sister, and a friend, and a servant in the church, and all of these things. It’s incredible.
08:14 And moms never get enough credit. And so I want to thank God for the moms today, and thank the moms for being godly example for these kids. Amen.
08:22 And I’ll say that what I’ve seen out there in the world is a lot of times if you look at ministries, you’ll have a few men in there, but a lot of times it’s a lot of women, a lot of moms that are involved in the ministry. And again, I could brag on my wife all day long, but God knows that she serves the Lord, and also takes care of her kids. So we have a call to be a mom that comes from God, and then we have strength to be a mom, which is from God alone as well.
08:49 Isaiah 41:10, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee.
09:00 Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Oh I love that.
09:04 It shows God’s power and strength, and that we should not fear. Again Timothy, 2 Timothy 1:7 starts out with, For God hath not given us aspirit of fear. And then Isaiah 41:10, Fear thou not.
09:18 Look, it’s scary to be a mom, is it not? It’s scary to be responsible for another human being, and to worry about them all the time, as they, you know, did they sleep okay? Are they, you know, is the blanket on their head? Did they eat something wrong today? They’re getting an ear infection. Is everyone being nice to them at school? And on and on. It’s so fearful to be a mom, and who provides the strength to overcome that fear, and to do what God calls them to do? God Himself.
09:50 Fear thounot, for I am with thee. That’s God. God is with you moms.
09:54 Be not dismayed, for Iam thy God. I am thy God. God is with the moms here today.
10:03 I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
10:06 I will say this, my mom had me unexpectedly. My mom was a single mom for most of my life. My mom dealt with a very serious mental illness that has had her in a facility of some kind or another for 20 plus years now, but yet I was 17 years old before she went off to that facility.
10:26 Now, on paper that makes no sense, because as I understand it, my entire life she dealt with severe mental illness, and yet 17 years she was able to be there. Well, who allowed that to happen, or who kept her able to do that? Oh, that was God. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
10:45 A righteous God provided the strength to allow her to be a mom until I was almost 18 years old, which is like, again, remarkable. I have kids now, and thank God I don’t suffer from that type of mental illness, at least to the best of my knowledge, and it’s hard, it’s incredibly hard for me, especially with our two little ones, and I can’t imagine what it was like, and I’m married, and I’m working, and all these other things, and I can’t imagine how my mom did it. And so what I have to say is, praise be to God, because God did it through her, and praise to her for allowing God to work in her life.
11:19 And finally here we see a reward awaits. You know, we want to make sure to acknowledge that all of this sacrifice, all of this love that moms pour into children is not lost upon God, is not forgotten about by God. God knows what moms have done, and choices moms have made, and when moms sacrifice for their children, when moms do everything they can for their kids, God sees it, and God will reward it.
11:45 `First, he’ll reward it here on earth by giving you strength. Isaiah 40:31, So we see here that when we wait upon the Lord, and we serve the Lord, and we trust the Lord, he renews our strength. And he will give us the strength to run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint.
11:59 And that’s how I believe moms are able to make it these days, and really throughout all of history, by God’s great strength. Oh, how God strengthens moms here today, and rewards them with his strength. And as moms turn to God and say, God help me, I need to be strong for my children.
12:28 God fills them with that strength every single day. He renews their strength every single day. It’s incredible.
12:35 It’s I gave the example before, it’s like having a blood transfusion every single day, we have this blood and we’re dying, and we need a certain kind of blood to live. And God comes in and gives us that blood every day. Except it’s not just the blood, He gives us the air in our lungs.
12:49 Amen. He gives us the strength in our bodies. It’s all from God, it’s all by God, and to God the glory.
12:54 And I thank God for moms, and I thank God for what he’s doing for moms. And I believe there’s a special place in heaven for those moms. Amen.
13:03 I think of Jesus on the cross, giving his earthly mom to John, His disciple, and saying, okay, here, you’re going to take care of her from now on. Moms are, you know, really, if you study Jesus’ earthly ministry, there is such a huge role that women and moms play in the life of Jesus as he’s here on earth. A huge role.
13:25 And so I believe there is a huge reward waiting for moms in heaven. And those moms that have taken care of those kids and love those kids, there’s a huge reward. God knows, amen, that he will bring blessing after blessing to those that have lived a godly life, to those that have reared up their children to be godly.
13:45 That text verse we have here from 2 Chronicles 15:7, earlier in 2 Chronicles 15, it mentions, the prophet mentions, speaking on behalf of God, that if you hearken to Him, He’ll hearken to you, Amen, and if you forsake Him, He’ll forsake you. So godly moms out there that have hearkened to God, He’ll hearken to you, He’ll be there for you. Thank God for godly moms, and thank God for working in the lives of godly moms.
14:08 And I thank you for listening. Take care, God bless, and Amen.