A Mother's Prayer - Mercy Hill

All right, hey. Hey, we just want to, hey, we want to show some appreciation. Let's praise God for all the moms at all the locations.

All right, let's just take a minute and do that. I love this, y'all. Happy Mother's Day. Listen, we got moms in the house and they are simultaneously teaching Jesus and math, okay? I love that. And probably when they got that little kiddo stage going on, their favorite thing to do is, whatever it is, is sit by themselves maybe for just one minute and drink a Coke.

I love that one. But anyway, hey guys, this is our attempt to just kind of open the discussion around motherhood today. We're going to be in Proverbs chapter 31 today, okay? So we're going to look at this concept of moms pushing their kids towards some things in this life.

As you guys are turning to Proverbs 31, I've got to do this. Man, hey, our team crushed it in South Asia, okay? And listen, you guys put your hands on us and sent us out as an extension of you all. A couple of weeks ago, I don't know exactly how this summer will go because I'm still a little jet lagged.

Maybe this whole weekend is going to be a little crazy, okay? Because we poured it out. Your team poured it all the way out, all right? And I'm going to tell you, man, they did an incredible job.

It was at least 200 degrees in Thailand, okay? And it was child care all day. That was after they had put on CrossFit workouts and then they started cutting hair and now we're doing PT appointments and dental things and y'all, they just poured it all the way out. It was incredible to see your teams from your groups do that. Man, they were unified. We had one goal and that was, you know what the Bible tells us? Let's do good to the household of faith first. And we went over there and this group of people, many of them from Mercy Hill, we get a chance to love on them as they are living right on the edge of some of the darkest places in terms of a lack of gospel presence.

And we got a chance to just pour into them, y'all. These are people who their kids don't go to student camp. Their kids don't go to kids camp. So we just did both of those things together in one week as we did youth camp for their parents, okay?

And adult youth camp. And it was just an incredible time. Guys, we got a chance to see one of the mission teams baptize their daughter. We had a chance.

This was maybe the highlight for me. I want to show you guys a video. I'm not going to say their names, although many of y'all are going to recognize them. They're serving in South Asia from Mercy Hill. They've come all the way up through the system here.

They've been with us for a long time. But we got a chance to do a parent commissioning for those few families that don't get to do that with their home church here when they're over there. And so we had a chance to do that with them and it was an incredibly special moment for us.

Listen, I want to tell you guys this. Stuff like this doesn't happen without your prayer support and your generosity. Generosity fuels the mission. And then our church is giving and you are giving.

If you're jumping into that, maybe you will jump into that to understand, hey, it produces things like missionaries on the field and then our chance to go and to love on them. One of the couples there that I didn't know, they've been on the field for 25 years. They've been to multiple retreats like this. They said they've probably been to 15 retreats like this over 25 years because they go about every other year.

They do something like this. They said it was the best one they have ever been to. And I'm going to tell you why I'm saying that. It ain't because the preaching was that good, okay?

I promise you. It was because your teams poured it all the way out. They never said no. Man, they were the first ones there, last ones to leave. And I will say this, y'all, I pretty much expected that from this crew, all right, from guys coming from Mercy Hill and women coming from Mercy Hill. So I was just so proud of them.

We had one couple that, again, was not from Mercy Hill, but they said, hey, we are very tired and we were very serious about thinking about coming back to the States after our first term. And after this week, man, we feel energized and we feel like we're ready to go back into the fight. And so we praise God for that. So, man, I just want you guys to know your generosity, your prayer, it moved the needle in South Asia this week. All right, Proverbs chapter 31 is where we're going to be today. Guys, we're going to talk about the legacy of a godly mother. Man, I have the chance to have the legacy of godly grandmothers and a godly mother taught me the scripture through Bible drill classes and all of that.

Made sure we were at church. Every opportunity was given to me to succeed in the Christian faith and a large part of that was due to my mom. I get a chance to live with a godly mother in terms of my wife and I watch her pushing our kids to maturity and faithfulness. And so what we're going to talk about today is a mother's prayer for their child. And we're going to see it through the lens of a mother in Proverbs 31 as she is praying for some specific things for her child who happened to be the king. But we're going to see in her prayer this idea.

Here's the big idea. Godly mothers train their children in godliness. They train them in godliness.

There is a job that they have and they have a job to train their children in godliness. And we're going to get into that today. I'm going to tell you all just straight off. All right straight just right off the bat here. You know I got to just tell you I am a little more comfortable speaking directly to men at times okay.

And you know that at Mercy Hill I have no problem just shooting it straight when it comes to the guys in the room and that obviously that probably just comes a little more naturally. But we are called at times I'm not called at times I am called to pastor the whole church and I feel very compelled today to speak specifically to the moms in the room in the presence of us all. I know that is not everybody.

I mean that's not even probably the majority of people that are here. But I think in seeing the scriptural depth of what her heart should be for the kids we can all learn something here together today right. There are two billion moms on the planet and so we've got to talk about this and I want to and the scripture talks about it and so we're going to dive into it today. But I say that to say this um although I you know there's kind of a brand of preaching here at Mercy Hill and the brand is like straight to it. So I got to tell you this ain't exactly your mama's mother's day sermon okay. Even though it actually is your mother's mama's mother's day sermon okay.

But you know what I mean we're going to push a little bit today because here's the deal. Whether you're mom or dad but we're specifically talking to moms today it is easy for us to fall into the rut of raising our children for our glory instead of God's. That's not just a dad problem. It's not just a mom problem. But it's easy for us to do that.

Man children are a reflection of us in many ways and if we aren't careful our dreams and goals for them will be more about how they reflect on us. This is one of the ways I think you can sometimes and listen I do this a lot. I'm not saying the things I'm about to throw out are mutually exclusive at all okay. But sometimes it'll help our heart figure out which one we gravitate toward when we put them side by side.

Man let me ask you a couple questions. In the bottom of your heart do you want a soccer star or a kid with solid character? If you could only have one. Do we want straight A's in our students or do we want kids who know how to be a good friend? Man do we want six figure salary or a strong marriage for them one day?

Now listen I know those things are not mutually exclusive. I want all of that stuff maybe for kids or whatever okay. I want little Johnny to go to the pros in baseball and have a solid character okay. I want that for him and I know you guys want that. But what do we want the most and how does it come out in our dreams and goals? Well in Proverbs 31 what we see is a mom who is intent on reminding her son about godliness, faith, character. That's what she's pushing him to and I'm going to tell you something man there may be no greater executioner in terms of the execution of the plan in a home than a mom who has the opportunity to actually execute on the plan of pushing the kids to godliness and faith and character okay. I understand we at Mercy Hill we're very complementarian and what that means is I believe it is a father's job to dream and set goals and cast vision. Man we're going this way I know that but executing on that vision man more than more times than not it is left to mothers in many many ways and so that's what we're going to get into today. Let's just kind of walk through a few verses here together and I'm going to come out with a strong charge at the end for moms and that'll be our time together all right here we go.

The words of King Lamuel an oracle that his mother taught him. What are you doing my son? What are you doing son of my womb? What are you doing son of my vows? Now Proverbs 31 starts with showing us who this to and who this is about and the idea is that we have an a deal here that is it's written in the hand of King Lamuel but it's from the lips and heart of a mom okay and so what what you have is Lamuel is is recalling and he's thinking about this is what my mother's prayer was for me this is what she wanted for me now what what does that come up in your in your mind what comes up in your heart right now when I ask that question like what are the dreams and goals that mom had for you or what are the dreams and goals that you have for your kids whether they're little kiddos in the home that are still being shaped whether they're already out in the world and you still have an opportunity to influence them what what do you want for them what what's that big goal that you have in their life now it's hard right off the bat let me address this it's very hard to know exactly what this is about because King Lamuel is not exactly a prolific character in the scripture okay and people have debated who is this all this I have landed a little bit on this for me I'm okay if we wanted to debate this I think Lamuel is probably a pet name for King Solomon okay the word Lamuel actually means dedicated to God so maybe it was just kind of a pet name or a name in the home any of you guys have a name in the home that isn't the actual name that you call the kids like all of us do right okay my my youngest son is named Benaiah um somewhere along the way I don't know why we started shorting that to Nai and then one day that turned into Niner okay so right now you'll hear us yell Niner out at baseball games or whatever and we're talking about Benaiah I don't know how we got all the way there but that's where we are some of you guys probably have that in your home you have a name that you call a kid that's not our nephew or niece or something like that it's not their name but it's kind of a pet name maybe that's what's going on here and certainly that would make sense because the mother is saying she has a lot of affection for her child and so maybe she would call him something about the one who is dedicated to God but here's what I want to show you today look what it says what are you doing my son what are you doing son of my womb what are you doing this is a phrase that I want to key in on for a few minutes and and just kind of camp on what are you doing son of my vows now this is a good thing for any of us any parents anybody who think they may be a parent one day anybody who has you know people in your life that you're walking with that are parents that you want to help you know prop their arms up and hold their arms up okay what does it mean to have children of your vows a son of my vows you know I think one of the bible is getting into here and I know it's like okay what vows is she talking about is this some sort of what we just saw like a parent commissioning type of vow or dedication that somebody would do in the old testament that could be what's going on I think another way to think about this is son of my vows meaning fruit of my marriage meaning that this child has been given by God as a fruit of the marriage that he has brought together now I know and I even bring that up I just want to make sure you hear me say this I understand that we have many single moms in our church single moms at the different campuses and I think you would even say that is not in terms of what God has originally designed that is not his heart in terms of what he originally wanted maybe there was a death in the family maybe there was a divorce maybe there was something out of wedlock but God can redeem any situation we're going to hit that up more in this sermon but the idea here is this whether you are that the children are a fruit of your vow in marriage or maybe they're a fruit of a vow that you need to take right now but the idea is this that you would see them as the fruit of something God is doing not something that is there primarily the kids are there primarily for your pleasure your enjoyment your reflection of who you are you to live your second life through vicariously nope they are a fruit of of God in our life they are a son or daughter of our vows you can say like this by God's design children are the fruit of marriage mothers we can learn here that our children are born of the fruit of a relationship that God has put together there there there's something that he has given to us not just for our pleasure not just for our you know reflection not just for ourselves to make a whole life because we have kids now now we can be complete now we can be whole no no no there is a bigger game that is going on you can say it like this kids are not put here for our pleasure they're put here for God's purposes our children are not primarily about our respect but his renown that's what it's about the gift children are given to us as fruit to God son of my vows that this is this is what it's about God you have brought some things together and because of that now there is a child and this child is dedicated to you for your fame your glory they are a fruit from you and for you y'all this is a challenge I know there's a challenge in my life there's a challenge for parents in particular for mothers uh for parents in general for mothers in particular to understand this because it is very easy for us to start getting it twisted that our kids are in our life for some other reason than fruit from God fruit for God that there's something different than a son or daughter of my vows to him and all of a sudden it comes about making our self-worth higher proving ourself the things that we got wrong they're gonna get right they're gonna make me happy they're gonna make me complete you know when a child's performance is all wrapped up in our ultimate happiness we will crush them because here's what happens when we believe they're not a fruit of vows they're not a son of vows of what God has put together and what we have dedicated to him but instead they're here for us then here's what happens our ultimate happiness is riding on their performance and when they fail we will feel like they're trying to hurt us we will feel like they're lashing out at us you know every every every parent knows I know this I mean every parent knows this man you put your kids in sports for the first times sometimes dads don't go well okay uh you know you're you're just sometimes it's hard I remember my kids are four or five years old and every time we practice ball in the yard they'd come in crying and it's like what's the problem I said we're practicing she's like well I don't think they're supposed to cry during practice I'm like yeah they are it's practice right turns out they're not supposed to cry during practice turns out maybe something about their performance I'm relying on for my happiness and the smoke of that listen you know how you're doing that with your kids any time you overreact which is like a lot you know man when we overreact to things what is it saying it's saying we're not seeing them as fruit for God from God we're seeing them as some reflection of us something I need to make myself ultimately happy if they get it right they get it wrong why do we overreact to a grade why do we overreact to a social situation they didn't handle the right way why do we overreact when they don't get in that school or whatever it is and I'm not there yet my oldest one is a freshman I can't imagine what that's like if we don't get that fixed for when they're out in the world doing things where the mistakes can be bigger man where the things they can fall into can be much harder where it's a less controlled environment what we have to get straight today is this children are are from our vows a son of my vows they're fruit from God they're fruit for God that's why parenting looks different in Christian homes than it does in the rest of the world and listen I know that that we mess up I've already told you I know I mess up in this I try to repent of those things people know in my life when that happens all right but we are we're gonna mess up but the overall the overarching theme in the Christian home should be different than a worldly home because we are raising kids for a different purpose you know I'm always shocked and amazed sometimes I think people in the world and I know you may not be a believer here at one of our campuses you may think this about us right now you're like man Christian parents are so intent on shaping their kids in a particular way hey man why don't you just live and let live you know that's kind of the world's mantra I'm gonna tell you why because we really believe from the Lord that we are raising them for more than the American dream if all we're raising them for is a decent income and and you know not to go to jail and have a fun life well there's a million ways you can do that but if you want to raise kids to live for God's purposes and not to accumulate things but rather than be with rather than that be willing to give themselves away to a mission it's gonna take something different and the foundation for that of us has got to be to remember that they are a son of our vows that this is why God has given them to us to steward for a while for him and for his glory you know I read the uh this week and um a research poll came out it said 88 percent of of uh parents in America say the number one priority for their children is financial independence now I thought about that for a minute I thought you know that's better than a lot of things okay I get that and um you know I certainly want that for my kids you know um but I also thought about it I thought man that's so important but I will tell you this man there are plenty of man there are plenty of people that are financially independent and also independent from God you could be financially independent and independent from God man in the church our main thing ought to be no no we want to raise God-fearing dependent interactive with the Lord strong mature growing all the days of their life children now part of that is that they grow up and get a job I pray okay that's part of it I get that but but but it's a my point is it's a way bigger game for us and if we get it in our mind they're son of our vows children of our vows yes we're affectionate towards them son of my womb my son son of my vows then the table is set for us to obstruct them disciple them apprentice them into adulthood and then one day planned emancipation for them and they go out on their own but it all comes down to this why did God give us these kids they're for him our vows are for him do not give your strength to women now she's going to get into some moral teaching here do not give your strength to women your ways to those who destroy kings it is not for kings old Samuel it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to take strong drink lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted give strong drink to the one who is perishing and wine to those in bitter distress let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more now two things come out here we're going to talk about both of them but I want to try to make sure we zoom out first okay the two things are hey Samuel watch out for running around with women and watch out for running around getting drunk and intoxicated okay because those are two things that are outside of your purpose as a ruler and I know we're not dealing with any kings here I think a lot of our kids probably think they are okay but but we're not you know we're not we're not we're not dealing with that but those two things bridge over nicely right to the things that they need to do and the purposes in their life and we're going to talk about both of them in turn but before I say that let me say this y'all we follow the character of this woman's prayer in Proverbs 31 because we understand that moms have a duty to shape character in the home this is I mean this godly formation of character is there anything higher than that we go back to the gospel it starts with a heart of gratitude over what god has done and then it it blossoms and grows into all of these different areas of wisdom in our kid's life I mean you you read the book of Proverbs and here's what you're gonna find you're gonna find things like man financial wisdom relational wisdom marriage wisdom civic wisdom you're gonna find wisdom about the way that we interact with the world all of these things are little little little seeds of character that in a heart of gratitude born from the gospel we're shaping in our kids lives we're shaping them psalm 120 says 127 says like arrows you know there's never ever one time been an arrow that just fell out of a tree totally ready to go right it's got to be shaped and trained and there's friction and there's sparks but that's what the mother is to do in the home I'm not saying dads don't do that what I am saying is that many times in a typical family a lot of times moms you log way more hours with kids over the course of their life sometimes than dads do and it's just kind of the part of the deal and and we have this opportunity to shape them yes that is setting vision mom is executing on the vision so my question is what's the vision for the children well I guess what I'm saying is this moms here here's what we know we're gonna get into keep away from women keep them away from alcohol okay there's a great Southern Baptist sermon here okay we're gonna get into that all right but but what we're gonna say right now is what are you aiming them at what what is that when you're in your mind's eye for the children or maybe it's grandchildren now or maybe you're still have an opportunity to influence adult children now I'm sure you are I'm certain you are what are the things that when you close your eyes what is your eyes what is your mind's eye see about where you want them to go what does godliness look like for them you know I shared this one time then I had a couple people reach out to me they wanted me to give it to them this you know this is not this is just me you know writing stuff out for my family because I'm wired that way some people are not wired that way some people don't need vision statements and they don't need this and they can just kind of and I really mean that I mean I've met people that are naturally I'm not naturally like that so for me it helps me to kind of write out where I'm trying to go and create a vivid vision of what I want to see in my kids and so this is for me and Anna and I read this periodically okay this is one of those things that we're trying to shape in them what do I want to see when they're an adult I want kids who know how to handshake and make eye contact kids that have high EQ that they're well read politically competent financially smart we're trying to raise kids that are tough both physically and mentally biblically knowledgeable they're passionate for the nations they're heartbroken over fatherlessness and abortion they don't make excuses they're joyful and they're humorous but they're also head down hard workers they're comfortable being outside around chainsaws amen right their family bonds are the tightest on earth they dream without putting the limitations on what God can do they understand that death and life are in the power of the tongue they do not call names and they look out for the weak now I don't know what your this is that is not Bible that is just me writing okay I don't know what comes to your mind man what are you what are you trying to do what do you want to see in them if we aim at nothing we'll hit it every time right okay so so what we need to think about here is okay we are shaping the character of these kids in our home and we're shaping them for that planned emancipation that day that comes that we're working them toward when they're shot out from the home okay we're working towards that we want to see this in their life we have a lot we can talk about in that but she only talks about two things those are the things I'm going to talk about okay do not give your strength to women your ways to those who destroy kings now what does it mean to give your strength what it's saying is that a mother has a responsibility for her son for her daughter I would say they to make sure they understand you don't give your strength faculties your power your wealth resources both body and mind you don't give that away to people who God doesn't intend for it to be given away to now obviously the context here is in sexuality but I would say that's that's maybe one thing I mean think about our culture where we are right now this does you know kind of balloon into other things that we need to talk about but it can't move beyond this thing I mean in our culture I mean we're living in a crazy sexual revolution time right like we've got to at least say what the letter of the law says here and teach the kids one let me try to zoom out a little bit on this but I think this is what it's saying maybe we can try to maybe put this you know in a little bit of a you know you know kind of applied a few other things teach kids to honor God by honoring his design over their body now that that applies to a lot of stuff right but it certainly applies to what he's saying here don't give your strength to women now who's she talking to if this is Samuel well Samuel also had obviously Samuel Solomon obviously had a problem with women okay if you go back to if you go to the end of his life the harem the thousand this I mean just kind of crazy and I thought well you know our kids don't live and you know they don't live in a time where harems are all that popular okay but do they live in a do they not live in a TikTok Instagram Snapchat world I mean how can we not be pushing them man many of our children go to public schools who want to teach them how to give their strength away safely this is crazy we don't even want them to vote but we'll tell 15 16 year old kids how to safely give their strength away Christian parent mom you will never be more counter-cultural than when you tell your kids man your unbelieving friends in this area are wrong the tv shows are wrong your health care teacher at school is wrong but God is right about your body God is right in the way that he designed it and God is right and what he pushes you to in it you'll never be more counter-cultural in today's world actually you'll be seen as this is crazy but Christian this is where we are you will be seen as an oppressor when you begin to say to people no no no child what the bible says is that you abstain from sexuality until you are married and if you never get married then you die a virgin and you have given all your strength to him and his kingdom you'll never be more counter-cultural than that I know as I say this a lot of feelings can come up because of where we live y'all we live in a in a world that's gone crazy with this stuff and probably none of us in here honestly are unaffected by that and you might be here today at one of our campuses and you're thinking man that sounds great but I mean that ship sailed a long time ago and I don't know how you know what though here's the deal we survey God who says in his word I can restore the years the locusts have eaten it's not a shame thing some of us in here right now are like man I'm not doing that I'm not having the con I have not been having those conversations with my kids they're living in destruction because of that okay tomorrow is a new day and God's mercies are new every morning it's not a shame thing about looking back about what we should have done and should have done it's about what are we going to do today this is practical theology that means it's not up in the clouds it's not it's not just kind of not head knowledge what will we do now and what the bible is calling us to do I think is have dreams and goals that are communicated to our kids and part of that is instructing them on how God has designed their bodies and what sexuality is for look at what verse four here's what it says it is not for kings lambuel it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to take strong drink lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted give strong drink to the one who is perishing and wine to those in bitter distress let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more now this is an interesting passage okay and here's where it's interesting it's interesting for anybody who has grown up with this sort of attitude where what here's what they always say and people say this to me they'll be like well hey I just take the bible literally you ever heard anybody say that I just take the bible literally and and what do people mean by that well I think what they what they're trying to say is they take it very seriously I think because if you say like I take the bible literally what do you do when the bible says I don't know for example that the stars came down and fought for israel what do you do in a passage like this see we actually need to go a little bit deeper than a very simplistic understanding and understand that the bible is filled with genre and genre and scripture informs how we read this see if what you want to have is a simplistic understanding then any one of you who doesn't go out and buy a bunch of little wine bottles to hand out to homeless people is in sin that would be crazy that would be destructive right that would probably hurt I mean none of us are going to do that right why because we intuitively understand genre and this is what's going on a mother is pleading with her son in a leadership position and here's what she is saying you are not to get drunk with wine the bible tells us that strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise and yet at the same time jesus drank wine and turned the water into wine what's he saying here the idea is to understand that I mean what does she say you're gonna get you're gonna drink and forget what has been decreed well you only forget what has been decreed if you're in drunkenness what she is saying to him is this you are in a position that we can't afford for you to engage in activities that help you to forget what god's purpose is for you are and some of us maybe even in this room right now we abuse alcohol in this way if we get to that place where we forget god's purposes in that way and if we are then we need to understand what the bible tells us and don't be drunk with wine but be filled with the spirit that's where you are if you're struggling with that then you need to talk to somebody about that you need to talk to your group leader that will get to an elder come talk to me about it after a service or your campus pastor at our campuses man we want to help you with that but what we got to understand right now let's zoom out is the purpose of this listen none of us are kings in here okay so what's the purpose of this are we engaging in activities that help us to forget what god has originally decreed and what his purposes and plans for our lives are well if you're in a king situation that's a pretty big deal they don't live in a democratic republic all right so if the king forgets something that's bad bad bad there ain't nobody else to appeal to but for us in our life it's still very similar y'all god has given us purposes there is plans that he has for our life and anything that we're engaging in that intoxicates us that makes us to forget those plans it's something that is destructive in our life you know you might have been reading the bible for a long time let me tell you something let me bring a little insight here okay if lamuel is solomon who is his mom who is his mom bat sheba never you never thought you'd hear a sermon where the end charges be like that sheba okay but in all seriousness now do we begin to understand maybe why her two things to her son are not to give your strength away to women and don't be drunk think about her story how destructive was alcohol in her story i know we don't have time to go all the way back but king david and uraya and drinking and all i mean it was just right so you understand this is coming from a deep place son of my wounds son of my vows man stay away from these things so man teach kids to honor their body i would say this teach kids to honor god by remembering his purposes and his plans for them for the king this was the plan open your mouth for the mute for the rights of all who are destitute open your mouth judge righteously defend the rights of the poor and the needy mom you have a charge in the home to awaken your kids to the purposes that god has for them one of the things that we say all the time at mercy hill comes from ephesians 2 10 all right for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them man your kit there are things that god has prepared for your kids to walk in that if they don't do they won't get done in the way that god originally intended man there are there are giftings that he is waiting to bestow upon them upon their conversion that they will use in the kingdom for the rest of their life i know it feels like diapers and driving people to practices and doing homework i understand that's what it feels like but man it's really about this it's about awakening them to the plans and purposes and equipping them for what god is going to do with them in his kingdom all the days of their life you know i've shared this illustration before but every one of our kids has uniqueness about them that god is is preparing to put them in the game in a certain place i've shared this before but you know michael felts is the most decorated olympian of all time right 23 different metals i think he has 13 14 of them are gold or something like that it's crazy right and and and he's the most decorated olympian of all time well it's really no wonder when you look at his body you know he's a swimmer and when you look at his body you kind of understand michael felts is only six foot four but he has the torso of a man that's six foot eight so you know and his legs are a man of five foot nine which is cool because the torso creates push and the legs create drag so shorter legs bigger torso gives you more in the water he also has the wingspan of a man that is way bigger than his six foot four frame you know one thing that's crazy about michael felts is that he has double jointiness in all of his limbs okay so you know you and i get a certain amount of motion out of our feet and out of our legs he gets 15 more bend at the bottom michael felts has 12 liters of oxygen that he can hold in his lungs you and i have about six and a half when you look at the brother you're like hey there's no wonder he can swim he's a dolphin okay i mean i just described a dolphin and the idea of that is wait a minute it's almost like he was created to get in that water and and be and be a champion and swim right here's what i want you to see spiritually speaking moms your children every one of them are uniquely created in some way there is some area in their life that god has given them where they're only six foot four but their torso is six eight that they're given god has given them more than than uh than what would be average or more than what would even be natural because it's supernatural gifting man are we thinking about it this way man our job in the home is preparing them to be connected to those works that god has for them that are out there man our i know it it's diapers it's it's driving in car lines it's practice it's homework it's preparing the kids in this church to take their place and be among the 500 missionaries that we send out by 2032 it's about raising godly teachers and nurses that will be the aroma of christ to the hurting it's about raising the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders that will give to fund the mission and lead co-workers to christ it's the next generation of people who will preach and proclaim the gospel and it's all out there for them think listen i don't care if it's alcohol hobbies and obsession with sports grades there are many intoxicating things out there and moms it is given to you man to push them away from those things and into god's design for them you know acts 1336 here's what it says david after he had served the purposes of god in his own generation fell asleep and laid with his fathers is that our prayer for our kids that they would fulfill god's purposes in their generation all right so here's what i call you to today all right accept the call to train your kids accept the call to train your kids whether they're school age whether they're out of the house man let us accept the call to train them in godliness to connect with the works ephesians 2 10 that god has for them that are out there in their adulthood after their planned emancipation is over and they're gone man are we preparing them for that it is hard for us to prepare them for that if we are relying on them for our own happiness for our own wholeness man how can we ever equip these kids to go out and be dangerous and risky and courageous for the kingdom if we need them in a way that god never intended are they the children of our vows you know this generation that i'm a part of has been uh sort of um you know tagged a lot it's like being helicopter parents and i think there's that now move kind of away from that and all that but that tendency is there in our generation i think and you see it come out and how many times we tell our kids to be careful how many times have we told them to be courageous this last week how many times the last time they get out of the car when they hop out to go to school we say be careful honey when it should be be a leader today be courageous today take a risk today because that's what the kingdom is going to require of them are we shaping that in their life well let me give you three ways that we need to kind of get on this so that we can shape them and i'll be done okay here we go the first one is this you can't pour into your children if you are on empty mom you are called to be a thermostat in the home not a thermometer and what i mean by that is this too many times well i'm tired and dad just got home and basically the kids are crazy and all that i'm doing is with my actions and with the things that i'm saying i am sort of passively sort of giving the reading of everything that's going on or are we called to be a thermostat that sets the temperature in the home uh not not not not read it not not just be you can tell how she's doing if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy okay sometimes the other way ain't nobody happy so mama ain't happy maybe that's the maybe that's a thermo thermometer part what about being a thermostat we're not going to be able to do that if we're on empty we're not going to be able to pour in what we don't have you know so i would just say this i would say listen you can't give away what you don't have so moms this mother's day this might be the biggest call i can give you to just ask you the simple questions man when people listen when people are struggling spiritually i'm telling you this is anecdotal 80 90 maybe more of the time i can get to the bottom of at least part of it in about four questions you ready are you gathering and by gathering i mean serving too that's part of the gathering are you in a group are are you giving consistently and are you thinking about ways that you can be involved in the mission i will never i will be shocked to the day i die about how many people will stay in a spiritual place that is unhealthy for a long time without all four of those answers being yes but they won't and so mom here's what i would tell you today listen i know you're under the leadership and guidance of your husband with these things but for you let me ask you yes what's your time in the world looking like yes how's the prayer life going but even before some of those things there are foundational things man are we serving are we in a group do we have community are we giving are we going you know guys i would say this to you i said it before i'll say it one more time here men you have if you're if you're married and you're in a two-parent home you have a responsibility to set the temperature as well you have a responsibility to make sure the environment for her is one of flourishing that's your main goal man you you you love her more than those kids and more than yourself and they should know it and you should show it and that's what we're called to do so i don't know maybe you see an area in her life maybe she's not drinking deeply from the word maybe she's not stewarding her health and body maybe she doesn't have time for this or that maybe sleep is an issue what are you doing to change things around the home to create wellness for her because she can't give away what she doesn't have all right secondly instruct children only after you remember the gospel okay now i gotta this is this is this is the moment of the sermon i've been dreading the whole time okay i'm just gonna tell you but because because here's the deal the bible says in the book of proverbs and i'm not saying only women because men do this too i do this but the bible specifically talks about women can have a tendency to nag welcome to mother's day okay i mean i'm just telling you what do you think a dripping roof is i mean you go back to the book of proverbs you're gonna see here you know what you know what you know what the antidote for that is you will sound different in talking to people if you have remembered the gospel first you will sound different in the way you come off to them if you remember you first you know why because all the little kids in your house that are sinners and they are okay all those little kids in their centers in your house your husband's a sinner in your house you were a center before they were and if we can remember send again you know center first send against the second it will change the way that we sound we will remember some things about who we are first because i want to call you to that instruct the children after remembering the gospel you know you got you got to think about this let me let me ask you women moms have you never given your strength away to anybody else have you ever been have you ever been guilty of of hiding from the purposes that god has you through some type of intoxication have we ever fallen in any other ways the scripture has given us see this is what's crazy about this passage this passage is really this is what's crazy about this passage this passage is really if it's basheba it's basheba's retelling of a passage in deuteronomy that is about what kingship should look like and here's the deal there's only been one king ever in the history of the world that never gave a strength away to anybody else and never forgot his purposes that god has given him jesus christ he is that king so if you ain't jesus we have fallen short you and i we all have but praise god this king came to save us because of all the times that we had failed in these areas man king lamuel solomon he wasn't it you and i we're not it we have failed in these areas but jesus christ went to the cross so that we would not incur the wrath of god over all the times that we had failed but instead we could be saved we could be resurrected we could be brought into newness of life with him if we would admit our sin believe in what he has done and confess him as the lord of our life i'm telling you if we are in gospel mindfulness it will change the way we sound and the last thing i'll say is this y'all want to call you to ask the lord today moms ask the lord if your family is finished growing some of you guys are going to get upset with me for getting them to ask this okay ask the lord no seriously families is your family finished growing some of you might say today biologically it sure is and some of you might say today even though it might might be that way that doesn't mean that adoption may not be on the table for us i want to call our church to remember something man under the leadership and guidance i believe of the spirit i mean certainly our our our you know our directional team at the time our lead team at the time and i did not hear one i didn't hear one complaint about this which many times i take is okay like man the church seems excited about it you know we set a goal a few years ago to see 200 adoptive and foster families raised up in this church by the year 2025 and we're probably 30 shy of that which is awesome right it's great but it's not where we want to be and so i just want to use this as an opportunity to say wait a minute maybe god might use this mother's day sermon to awaken some people to say why not us why wouldn't we step forward in this ministry of adoption i know this is not for everybody i too i totally get that but more than our should step forward and i and i pray that maybe you would think about this uh here today as adoption something that's out there for you maybe you've dealt with miscarriage maybe maybe maybe there's a infertility thing that's going on right now i know how hard that can be man we uh we we dealt with that and dealt with that multiple miscarriages in our time before we had kids and i get that and that can be a tool that god uses to bring you here but it may not be that at all maybe you would adopt a child and you're gonna be like me where people come up and they're like you know you you adopted her but you have three other healthy kids and you say yeah my primary motivation for adoption isn't biology it's theology come on i've been i've been brought into a family we want to bring a child into a family you guys can get more information about this right here okay adoption and foster care mercyhealchurch.com adoption and foster care all right let's pray father we come before you and lord we just ask right now that you would move in our midst at our campuses we go into our prayer time here lord i pray that you would push push the moms of our church today god push them to think about shaping their children in godliness so many of them are doing an incredible job we thank you for that but lord every single one of us no matter where we are as a parent we want to do that in a better way and so father i pray that you would help us in that christ thing amen