Mother’s Day 2025

May 11th 2025

Series: N/A

Sermon Title: Mother’s Day 2025

Topic: Made for More

Key Passages: ADD

          Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will learn how God made us for more than we might realize. How God gives us our identity and that we should never be ashamed to be who God created us to be.

***1st week ODD months add communion & target message at 15 pages.

***1st week EVEN months add space for dedication, baptism, or ministry highlight & target message at 15 pages.

***Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, and/or a picture that goes on the screens.

***Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.

Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight (1st Sunday, even months):

Sermon:

Campus Pastor

Happy Mother’s Day Family Church!!!!

Welcome to Family Church… whether you are in person or watching online…

Let’s do this….

If you are by your mother, grandmother, spiritual mother, and so forth…

Why don’t you just get up right now and give them a hug and say I LOVE YOU!!!!

Come on church!!!

Celebrate salvations / re-dedications / baptisms last week.

I am SO HAPPY that you are all here today!

Today’s message is going to be one that I think will not only resonate with all the mothers here today…but it will resonate with everyone.

Today the message is titled “Made for more.”

Today will learn how God made us for more than we might realize.

How God gives us our identity and that we should never be ashamed to be who God created us to be.

PAUSE

And I am not preaching today….today, ADD SPEAKERS INTRO will be here.

Will you all welcome them with me…

Now, before I take off, I want to help them honor some of the women here today.

We LOVE to honor mothers on Mother’s Day!

So, we have a few gifts today for a few special mom’s and then EVERY woman here today, regardless of age or if you are a mother, will get a gift on the way out of church today….

Sorry guys, you get NOTHING today….you will get something way better on Father’s Day!

Give away 3 gifts:

1- Newest mother in the room – Gift card related to babies

2- Oldest mother in the room – Multi-generational Family Photo session paid for.

3- Mother with the MOST children in the room – Spa gift because you need it!

PAUSE

Jenny – Thanks hunny!

Good morning, everyone.

I am so thankful to be here with you all today.

Today, our goal is quite simple.

We want you all to walk out of church today feeling uplifted.

I know a lot of women we walk around always feeling like we do not measure up.

We struggle with comparison.

We struggle with identity.

We struggle with body image.

If we can be honest, we struggle just accept how God made us because we live in this culture that tells us we are never enough...

PAUSE

And today….

We want to open God’s Word with you and show you that you are MORE than enough.

That you should NEVER be ashamed of who God created you to be.

We will do that by reading some real-life stories of women in the Bible who had struggles like ours.

So, if you would open your Bibles with me to

Genesis 12

And by the way…..

(New Person Bible Connection)

If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Or if you have a Bible stop by there anyway and we will give you a gift card to a local restaurant because we LOVE that you came today and we want to bless you!!!

Just go to (ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE) and get one for FREE!!!

PAUSE

Let’s read the first few verses of Genesis 12.

Genesis 12: 1-5, The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

How old does it say church?

5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated….

We will stop reading there.

Abram and Sarai were, let’s just say, well along in years when God gave them this CRAZY call to leave EVERYTHING and move to an unknown land.

You want to talk about not knowing if you’re good enough to do what God is calling you to do!

You want to talk about being nervous!

I mean moving away from everyone and everything will do that to you!

ADD PERSONAL STORY ABOUT THAT….

As many of you know, I am pastor Adam’s wife.

And some of you might not know this, but before Adam was a pastor, he was in construction.

And as he was moving up the corporate ladder he moved us all over the country.

I stayed at home rasing our amazing kids.

But every time we moved it was SO HARD on me.

See, I am a homebody.

And I LOVE my family!

And Adam’s career moved us further and further from family.

Like Sarai, I had to start over in a new land several times, and it was SO hard for me.

I mean we lived in almost 10 different states before we turned 30!

But here is what I want you all to know was the key for Adam and me.

Getting plugged into a local church.

We made all our best friends from small groups and serve teams at our local churches.

Let me encourage you all today…

If this is your FIRST time at Family Church…

Or if you have been here for a while and you have struggled to make friends…

Join a Small Group and get on a regular serving team here at Family Church!

It is SUPER simple…

Just grab the connection card from the seat back in front of you.

Fill it out.

Flip it over to the back side.

Read the serving teams there and check off some that sound interesting…

Or check off the box to join a small group.

And we will reach out to you and help you get plugged in!

Maybe also write this point down…

Being connected to God’s people will help me live out God’s call on my life.

Repeat

Now let me tell you all a FUNNY but 100% true story about your pastor that might shock some of you…

And I think will resonate with some of the men in the room.

Let’s be honest. I am sure some of you men are thinking right now, “I sure hope my wife does NOT try and sign us up for a small group because I don’t want to go to some small group Bible study with some random weird people.”

Do any men want to do that????

Rewind Adam’s and my life to when we just moved to Missouri so Adam could take a promotion for the construction company he worked for.

We found a great local church.

But I was struggling to make friends.

One Sunday, I told Adam I wanted us to join a small group to find some friends.

Adam was NOT happy about it!

Adam literally told me he had ZERO desire to join a small group.

This is all true….

But you know the saying, “Happy wife….what church?”

So, guess what we did?

We joined a small group!

But here is what I want everyone to hear.

Look back at that point you just made…

Being connected to God’s people will help me live out God’s call on my life.

Adam literally said to me, and if you have read his book, you might remember this…

Fine…I will go, but under a few conditions…

And men…lean in because some of you might feel this way…

YOUR PASTOR years ago said…

I will go, BUT…

1. Do not expect me to become friends with these people.

2. Do not EVER share anything personal about us or I will NEVER go back.

3. Do not EVER ask me to read the Bible out loud or I will NEVER go back.

4. And several other things….

PAUSE

Your Pastor…many years ago…was like many of you…

He thought he was too busy for more God stuff in his life.

But ask him sometime, and he would say that small group became a catalyst for change in his life.

The two of us getting connected to God’s people…. helped us start to live out God’s call on our life.

And the same came true for Abraham and Sarah…

As they leaned into this call God had on their life they went on to become a blessing to entire people groups!

And that would be our hope for all of you here at Family Church…

That you would lean in here…

Get involved here.

Become a part of the family here.

And find out who God created you to be and what God created you to do!

PAUSE

Addie -

That is soooo good mom and so true.

I know for even me being only 18…

Like how I chose to go to the mission field after graduating high school.

That was SUCH a hard decision to leave my family and my AMAZING boyfriend Ryan…

But it was probably one of the best decisions of my life.

It changed me.

Shaped me.

Molded me.

Refined me.

And it was REALLY hard at times….

At times I wanted to quit and come home…

At times I missed everyone so much…

But it helped me learn to depend on God and seek God in a much greater measure than I had ever before.

PAUSE

Move in your Bibles a few chapters to

Genesis 29

I want us to read part of another story in the Bible that is odd in many ways for our modern culture…

But it also will resonate with a lot of people in the room…

And especially the women…

PAUSE

So Genesis 29, verses 1-14, is all about a guy named Jacob who moved to a new land, like what my mom talked about.

He settled there and began working for a guy named Laban.

And we will pickup in the second half of verse 14… it says this.

Genesis 29: 14-29, After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,

15 Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

And here is where it starts getting interesting.

17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.

Now I ask my dad about this… What is the whole weak eyes thing?

He said most scholars would say that was a nice way of saying she was not like her sister.

Her sister was beautiful.

Leah was not.

This reminds me of the story of me and Ryan. See Ryan is from a family of all brothers…and his older brother is tall, dark, and handsome. His younger brother has hair that curls for days. And then there is Ryan and his receding hairline….

And the story continues with…

18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

19 Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.”

20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.”

22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.

23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her.

24 And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.

25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban,

“What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”

26 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.

27 Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”

28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

29 Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant.

30 Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

So this is a bit of a crazy story…

But here is where I want us to focus on.

Because there are a lot of us, if we are honest, who struggle with comparisons and not measuring up.

Leah was not as pretty as her sister.

Leah could not control that God chose to make her sister more beautiful on the outside.

And if the ladies here today are honest…

We ALL struggle with this!

We ALL compare ourselves to someone we think is prettier than us!

Someone who is skinner than us.

Somone who is more fit than we are.

Someone who has a better life than we do.

And so on….

WE ALL can struggle with the comparisons game…

And I cannot imagine how hard that was for Leah knowing she was the SECOND choice…

But also look at verse 30….

Her husband always loved her sister more.

Leah’s story in the Bible is a powerful reminder that even when we feel overlooked or like a second choice…

God sees us, loves us, and has a purpose for our lives.

Though Jacob loved Rachel more, God did not forget Leah.

God blessed her with children, and a LOT of them!

Leah became the mother of Judah…

And if you are not aware….

The lineage of Jesus came through the line of JUDAH!!!!

Leah’s life is a testimony that our worth is not defined by how others see us but by how God sees us.

Even in our pain and rejection…

God is working behind the scenes for something greater.

Leah may not have been Jacob’s first choice, but she was chosen by God to play a vital role in His divine plan.

If you’ve ever felt unseen or unappreciated, remember Leah.

See here is the point church…

Write this down….

God is still writing your story, and His purpose for you is beautiful and full of hope.

Repeat

I know I have struggled with my image.

I know I have struggled with my identity and who defines me.

But I can promise you all this…

Once I found my identity in God.

Once I came to believe God made me for a GREAT purpose, everything changed…

And like my mom said…

At Family Church we want to help you find who God made you to be and what God made you to do….

PAUSE

Your story is NOT done….

God has GREAT plans for you!

Lean into God and see what happens…

PAUSE

Jenny….

Wow Addie that is so good…

And so true.

Ladies, we are going to do a few things to end our service today to make it special, so we want to leave some time for what God might do there….

So let me give you the life application today….

It says this….

Life Application: Make a choice to get more involved with God’s people. Sign up to join a serving team, get in a small group, or get discipled.

As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.

CAMPUS PASTOR –

We thought we would end our services differently today.

Our worship team is coming up right now and we are going to end with a song….

Before we do that, let me remind you about two things…

1st…as you exit, we will have a gift for every lady here today, regardless of age….please grab one as you exit.

Men, it is NOT for you!

2nd… I want to invite you all back next week.

Next week we jump back into our series on Elisha and are in the final two weeks of his life.

You are not going to want to miss the next two weeks!

So…

Here is how we are going to end our service today…

The praise team is going to lead us in a song called Made for More.

We believe you are all made for more than you realize…

And we want to make you all an offer….

Will you all rise with me…

As we sing this song we…Addie…Jenny…Me…and some others are going to be up front here…

We would LOVE to pray with anyone here today who would like it…

To pray for you if you are struggling.

To pray with you if you are celebrating.

To pray with you if you are hurting.

To pray with you if your child is way ward.

To pray with you if you want to give your life to Jesus.

To pray with you if you are struggling to have a child.

To pray with you if you need to be encouraged…

We are going to be here…

As we start singing…

Feel free to come and let any of us pray with you or over you…

Prayer:

Make sure to do salvation call!

Offering:

Thank you all for being here today!

If you would like to continue your worship through giving, there are offering boxes by the doors as you exit or behind me on the screens you can see other ways to give here at Family Church.

You can also place any connection cards you filled out in there.

Week #1 –

If you did not know, you can set up Family Church in your online bank bill pay.

This is a great way to ensure consistent giving, and it costs you and Family Church nothing!

Have a great week!!

Week #2 –

If you did not know, can you set up one-time or recurring giving in our app?

Just open our app.

Click the give icon in the bottom right corner, and it will walk you through the process.

It is super secure, and hundreds of people are already giving to us on a scheduled basis that way!

Have a great week!!

Week #3 –

If you did not know you can text to give here at Family Church.

It is as simple as texting FamilyChurchGive to 888-364-4483

Have a great week!!

Week #4 –

If you did not know, you can donate stocks, bonds, retirement minimum distributions, gains on investments, and so forth to avoid all the taxes on them!

If you want to do that email [e-mail] and she will help you!

Have a great week!!

Week #5 -

Did you know you can add Family Church into your end-of-life planning?

We have many people who have added Family Church to their wills to leave 10% to their church.

It is a great way to show your family that leaving a Godly legacy is important to you.

Have a great week!