R1584 A Mother’s Life of Crisis

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and the discussion of a mother's life in crisis. Life in crisis, goodness, does that ring a bell today as we look at the world in which we are in and the desire to draw closer to Jesus Christ as individuals changing, being willing to grow and be more like Jesus, to love God and love others.

Well, there's a grand example in Scripture, and it's the mother of Jesus. Today, Dr. Don Wilton, well-known author, evangelist and pastor, is going to share a message called A Mother's Life of Crisis, and we'll gain insight that will help you and I live out our lives for Jesus Christ. While we're doing so, we're here for you. We'd love to talk and pray with you at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 or online at tewonline.org. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to open your Bibles with me to John's Gospel, chapter 19 and verse 25. I want to speak to you about a mother's life of crisis, a mother's life of crisis. We're going to begin today by looking at one of the most remarkable scenes that you and I can ever imagine. Behold our God. Look at Jesus on the cross. I'm praying for you today, my friends.

I'm praying in two regards. Number one, that you would give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot live without Jesus. He's the only one that can forgive you for your sin. And he's the only one that can grant us access to our Heavenly Father and write our names in the Lamb's Book of Life. Take us to heaven to be with him forever and forever.

I'm going to pray that God is going to get a hold of your life. Look at the cross. I want to show you something here that is remarkable as we consider a mother's life of crisis. I'm reading from John Chapter 19 and verse 25. Now there stood at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, his mother. And his mother's sister, Mary.

The wife of Clopas. And Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold, your son. Then he said to the disciple.

Behold, your mother. And from that hour. That disciple. Took his mother.

Into his own house. Now, there's a lot that we can say about. What transpired with Jesus' brother. And his mother, Mary.

There's also a lot of speculation. But we do know one thing. And that is this, that when Jesus hung upon the cross. He was dying, giving his life for the sins of mankind. And Jesus understood the crisis of humanity. Nobody understood that better than the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, he himself became sin for us, even though he knew no sin. Jesus was tempted in all points, just as we are. Yet without sin. And to boot here upon the cross, Jesus was well versed with the viruses of life.

He understood intimately and personally, both humanly from his flesh and divinely as God. He understood what it means to face the difficulties. Of life, you have difficulties and I do. The sin of man has produced one crisis after another. We are warring within our flesh. The flesh is fighting against the spirit. And right now you find yourself in the midst of a crisis.

And some are definable and some are not so easily definable. And here right there at the foot of the cross, Jesus looks and he sees his brother and he sees his mother. Yes, I fully concur. That what Jesus was wanting to tell his brother was simply. Please take care of mom. We know that. And particularly at her age and the fact that she was a widow and the responsibility that God gives to us. As a church, as believers, as human beings to take care of widows. And our wives and those God has entrusted us with and especially. Our mothers.

But I believe with all my heart that when Jesus. Said to his brother, behold your mother. That he was very much.

Saying to his own brother, you will never make it in your life of crisis without mom. He could not have entrusted a better person. To the disciple that he loved. Because he loved him so much, he assigned to him the greatest person possible.

To be at his side because Jesus knew. His mother's life. Of crisis. Just think about your mother.

But let's think for a minute. About what Jesus' mother had demonstrated during her life. Of crisis. It's one crisis after another. First.

Jesus' mother had demonstrated. How to deal. The very unexpected announcement. I can't even go there.

A very shiny man made a sudden appearance to this very young lady. Unexpected. I can't even begin to imagine the shock.

Can you? We cannot even comprehend the shame of her crisis. The predicament of her life. The Bible tells us very clearly how that she was greatly troubled in her soul spirit. Of course she was, was young Mary.

But she demonstrated how to deal with this crisis. She said, I'm but the Lord's servant. I wonder what Jesus had in mind when he entrusted her to the beloved disciple. Here's your mom, John. Take care of her, but let me let you know in no uncertain terms, she's going to take care of you. You need her. Number one, because she dealt with an unexpected announcement. She demonstrated.

How to give birth in a very stinky environment. You know, we have so romanticized sometimes the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I just want you to think about this for just a second. Try and think about Mary. Nine months pregnant, perhaps, with Joseph having to leave Nazareth, riding on a donkey, walking over those hills, those rocks.

Let alone the Roman census, not very popular, being forced to uproot at a very critical time of her life, a very delicate time of her life. Arriving in the city of David, finding out that all the motels were booked. All accommodation was taken, being relegated to what we call an inn, most likely just a lowly cave set on the side of a hill in the city of David, filled with what? Donkeys?

What else? Can you imagine the smells? Not very sanitary, in my opinion, not conducive for childbirth, not according to our standards, most certainly.

Not very healthy, very confining, very limiting, very threatening. She showed us, John, behold your mother, mother who lived her life from one crisis to another. She's the one who said right there, she said, my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior in the midst of a stinky environment. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word, and I smile when I think of that stinky environment Dr. Don's talking about. All of us have faced that.

Maybe you're in the middle of a stinky environment right now. I'd like to have someone to pray with you and for you. It'd be our joy to do so. You can reach us at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Anytime, day or night, we'd be happy to pray with you and for you, connect with great resources. Every single day people are giving their lives to Jesus Christ.

We'd like to talk about that as well. We'd love to connect with you. And that's the reason so many friends are saying we want to be prayer and financial supporters of The Encouraging Word. And to do that, you become what we call encouragers. Have you been praying about how you can make a difference in the world? We would love to have you join us by becoming an encourager ministry partner.

Call us at 866-899-WORD to request an encourager brochure today. There is no greater gift that you can give than to help spread the gospel. Together we can do much to impact the world for Jesus Christ. Make a commitment to help spread the gospel in 2020. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Again, you can discover more about who we are online at TEWonline.org and know that we're here to pray for you as well at 866-899-9673. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don. But I want you to notice too, if we do a life track, that Mary certainly demonstrated how to receive adoring fans. When Jesus was born, she faced another crisis.

You and I look at this and we love it and rightfully so. Oh, here come the shepherds. There were a bunch of them. By the way, they were a rugged bunch of stinky men. They probably had fleas.

They lived out there in the wilderness. Have you ever seen a mother around a newborn baby? You and I as dads know about that. How many times do we go and wash our hands and put on this and put on that and tiptoe around? Today, you even have to put those funny looking green looking pullover slipper things that you have to put on in hospitals.

Can you imagine this? All the wise men, these important people, they showed up too. But Mary, she showed us how to receive adoring fans. To us, a crisis to her as a mother, the interruption of her rest, the exhaustion of her delivery, the confinement of her space. All of these things were a crisis.

She demonstrated furthermore how to undertake a terrifying journey. She and Joseph got word. Herod was out to kill them.

Forget all the bluff and the game. Dad knew, mom knew, God spoke, they accepted it. Do you know what they did? Do you know what they did?

If this is not a crisis, I don't know. They didn't head back to their home. They didn't go back to the lovely space, to the familiarity of their surroundings.

No, they jumped on that donkey again. But this time, they went a long way to the land of Egypt. There'd been a lot of speculation about when they went today, driving time, probably 10 hours. I've driven from Cairo to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, same place really. It's a long way. Even by today's standards, it's a long way, about 464 miles perhaps.

I'm talking about like today. We don't know exactly where it was that they went. But Mary, having just delivered this baby, undertook a terrifying journey. Can you imagine going through the Negev, the rocks? No, no, no, no, there were no paved highways. No, no, no, there wasn't a Holiday Inn every 10 miles. There were no billboards. There was nothing. What a crisis.

Can you imagine the robbers, the marauders? Can you imagine how terrifying this was for a mother with a newborn baby? She demonstrated furthermore how to take Jesus and dedicate him in the temple like God said. That's exactly what she did. She took her baby and she went to the temple right there in Jerusalem at the time of the feast.

She took him to Simeon and Simeon took baby Jesus and he prayed over him. Now you think that's just happened? That was a crisis. Do you know how easily I think? Maybe? I don't know. I understand the law, but could we not just do this at home? Could we not just keep ourselves within the context of our own comfortabilities?

Are you too comfortable right now? She showed us, this mother did. She showed us how to process a perplexing dilemma.

A perplexing dilemma. You see the feast of the Passover happened and they went up to Jerusalem again and Jesus was just 12 years old. You know what happened when they turned around to leave? Jesus disappeared. We've experienced that in our family. I remember the times when one of our children just suddenly were not to be found.

You know that panic? Bible says very clearly that they were unaware. In fact, when they found Jesus in the temple, they were astonished. That's what the word of God says. Actually, Jesus' mother turned to him and said to him, Boy, do you know how anxiously we have been searching for you?

Do you not understand the panic? The Bible says that they had gone a far way down the road, heading back to Nazareth. Now there were a lot of people and the children were playing and they found Jesus. She showed us how to process a really perplexing dilemma this mother did. Bible says she treasured these things in her heart.

Can you believe that? You lose your son. You can't find him and then you find him and then he says, I'm about my father's business and she treasures these things. How do you treasure such a crisis? But this mother knew how to do that. Furthermore, she responded to an awful predicament. Remember the wedding she went to with Jesus? She was there.

It was a who's who. Awful predicament. They ran out of wine.

You didn't do that in those days. And everybody was in a panic, but not mom. Everybody was in a panic. What are we going to do? How are we going to face the crowd?

What are people going to think of us? Not mom. She knew exactly what to do.

Just do what he tells you to do. This mom, a mother's life of crisis. She demonstrated how to watch a brutal beating of the son she loved.

I can't even go here. Because now we're getting into the divine purpose of God. Now we're going to a deep level, but that deep level rests in a mother's heart. And this mother's heart for sure.

I think personally of the many, many times that I must have brought great grief to the heart of my mother as a young boy and as a teenager. But she knew better. Have you ever tried to enter into the heart of this mother as she stood there and watched them beat her son the way they did? This mother, she demonstrated how to gaze upon her dying son. She was there at the foot of the cross. Wasn't a pretty sight. John, see your mom, see mother.

I know I'm taking license. This is Jesus dying for the sin of the world. Jesus knew. He sought, he walked it, he lived it, he experienced it. This is the very reason why he was on that cross.

Yep. Jesus tried to tell the disciples, fear not. I know I'm going, but I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that it would be a while before the comforter would come. Jesus understood, he saw the Romans, he felt the impact of that Canaanite tales. He saw the anger, he experienced the hostility. Jesus knew it. There was no doubt about it.

None whatsoever. Jesus knew. John, you need mom, son. Yep, your responsibility is to take care of her. You provide for her. You give her security, you give a roof over her head.

You make sure she eats properly. You do everything necessary, but let there be no mistake, John. I love you so much. You are the beloved disciple.

You need mom. So what does this teach us? Get this now. I want to just put this on you.

You ready for this? You might want to write this down. I love to go to scripture, to the Bible, and then ask God to show me the overriding principles here. This is for you and for me. This is what God has put in my heart.

Here it is. Number one, these are, this is what God teaches us. Number one, God's ways are not our ways. The angel came to young Mary, everything about the birth of Jesus, everything about everything about Jesus. God's ways are not our ways. I want you to be encouraged today. Number two, principle number two, who we are is far more important than where we are.

Did you hear that? You see, Mary was in a crisis in a cave in Bethlehem. She was away from home. She was in a stinky place.

She was surrounded by too many people, but she never changed. Who we are is far more significant than where we are. Sometimes we look at our home and we say, man, I just wish we could have better. I wish we could be better. I wish we could go there.

I wish we could live there. It's who you are, my friend in Christ. That's what matters. That's what Mary showed us.

Principle number three, this is what we're taught. God does speak through godly people. He does. He sent the shepherds. He sent the wise men. God does speak through godly people. You know, this past week, one of the most precious men that I've ever met, Dr. Alastair Walker, last Monday, closed his eyes in this life, and God's angels came and picked him up and gave him a royal escort into the presence of Jesus. God does speak through godly people. I will always thank the Lord Jesus for the life and the ministry, the friendship, the encouragement, the mentorship of Dr. Alastair Walker. I thank God for you and for your godly life. That's what Mary showed us.

This is what we extrapolate. Number four, I think this is what this teaches us, a mother's life in crisis, that the world is God's parish. The world is God's parish. Didn't matter if it was in Nazareth, Bethlehem.

How about Egypt? The world is God's parish. Don't restrict God, my friend.

Don't put him in a box. Don't inform God that you will serve him just so long as it is where? The world is God's parish. Christ died for all people and especially for you. That's why today I'm inviting you to give your life to Christ. That invitation to give your life to Christ is now.

Would you like to do so? It's as simple as opening your heart to God in a simple prayer like this. Lord God, I realize my sin has separated me from you, but I realize you, Jesus, because of your love for me, have gone to the cross to build a bridge to erase my sin and to give me a new life. I ask for that. I believe in you, Jesus. I believe you're the Son of God. Help me, save me, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. If you have given your heart to Jesus, we'd love to put some resources in your hands to help you grow in the next steps. Why don't you call us at 866-899-WORD. Jot this number down. It's available 24 hours a day, 866-899-9673 or online at tewonline.org.