Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening - Lead with a Story!

Introduction

Main Idea -

Opening -

Mother [muhth-er] -noun

One person who does the work of twenty.

For free.

(See also: ‘masochist’, loony’, ‘saint’.)

“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” - Milton Berle

“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.

All I am I owe to my mother.

I attribute all y success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I recieved from her. - George Washington

“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.

They have clung to me all my life.”

Transition -

Main Idea -

“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.

They have clung to me all my life.”

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” - Milton Berle

Abraham Lincoln

“If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.”

- Booker T. Washington

“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Main Idea -

“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.

They have clung to me all my life.”

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

Abraham Lincoln

“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.

All I am I owe to my mother.

I attribute all y success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I recieved from her. - George Washington

Today, the world celebrates mothers, and we should!

Everyone has or had a mother for this we are thankful.

Where would we be without mothers?

I have two mothers.

One biological and one adoptive.

I am grateful for both, but mostly for the woman who raised me.

I remember when I found my birth-mother almost 20 years ago.

It was quite an event!

In three hours, my wife and I went from knowing very little about her to actually speaking with her on the phone.

It is quite a story that I’ll save for another time.

But I remember going to my parents after Angie and I found her to tell them the good news.

My dad, who rarely did so, started crying!

And my mom who was excited at first, quickly became fearful that she would be replaced by the one who birthed me.

How silly!

After all...

The one who raised me, taught me, comforted and encouraged me.

Who made my school lunch everyday and saved me from my tyrannical older brother often.

She was and always will be my mom.

I had this plaque hanging in my bedroom while I was growing up...

NOT FLESH OF MY FLESH

NORE BONE OF MY BONE

BUT STILL

MIRACULOUSLY MY OWN

NEVER FORGET

FOR A SINGLE MINUTE

YOU DIDN’T GROW UNDER MY HEART

BUT IN IT

Regardless of your situation, if nothing else, your mother brought you into this world and for that we give her thanks!

And of course we thank our mothers for the countless hours they spent teaching us the things that we easily take for granted (MaryKate on the potty)...

And while it is important for us to take the time to thank our mothers for their undying love and sacrifice, as your pastor, moms, it is an opportunity for me to encourage and challenge you to realize the tremendous, immense and crucial role you have as a Christian Mother!

And to do this I want us to go to a powerful letter found in the New Testament.

A letter that was written to a young pastor/elder who had been given the task to train up elders to oversee the various church plants on the Island of Crete.

Of course I am talking about the letter written by Paul to Titus.

This letter is one of three found in the New Testament that are called the Pastoral Epistles or letters.

Letters written by Paul to Timothy and Titus giving them explicit instructions on how the local church should operate.

It is well worth your time to read through each of these letters and discover their rich truths and how they relate to church life even today.

One of the things you will notice in these letter and especially in Paul’s letter to Titus is how these men, these pastors are to instruct and disciple the people of these church on how to live.

Yes, the bible is more than a book on how to avoid Hell and get into Heaven.

The Bible is an instruction manual on How to live life until we get to Heaven.

And in the letter written to Titus, Paul challenges the people of the island of Crete to live lives that accurately reflect the righteousness of Christ.

In fact, in chapter two, Paul gets right down to business when he challenges the older men and women and the younger men and women on how they are to live their lives in Christ.

I strongly encourage you to spend time reading and studying through this chapter.

Today, I want to focus on two of the four people groups in Titus chapter 2, the Older and Younger women.

In a society that is doing everything it can to blur the distinctions between men and women, it is good to be reminded from the Word of God that...

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

It is interesting in light of the perspective of our latest cultural shift that the apostle Paul distinguishes between the sexes.

He doesn't simply speak to them as one group of people, but recognizes that they are different.

Not unequal, but different.

And while this concept is worthy of a sermon on its own, can I just say, celebrate the sex you are! be content with who God has made you.

If you are a guy, love that fact and revel in it!

If you are a lady, praise God you are an amazing creature of God’s created Genus.

In our gender confused world, would you just take a minute and celebrate the gender that God gave you!

He doesn’t make mistakes!

You are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Revel in that fact!

Ladies!

Celebrate your glorious and distinctive role as a woman and all that come along with this!

You are not subpar or subservient but fearfully and wonderfully made and equal to men in your standing before God!

And ladies, as this holiday we celebrate makes abundantly clear, we desperately need you.

In SO many ways we NEED you!

I could give you list upon list describing to you in detail why we NEED each and every one of you.

But there is one thing we NEED from you.

One thing that you simply must leave here understanding this morning...

Main Idea - Ladies, we need you to follow Jesus now, more than ever!