Woman of God Mother's day

Woman of God living in Grace! Mother’s day 2020

2 Peter 1:2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

INTRODUCTION

Well, Happy Mother’s day!! Southpointe Church!!

When the Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when the angel appeared and said. "You're taking a lot of time on this one."

And God said, "Have you read the specs on this order?" She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts...all replaceable.

Run on black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. And six pairs of hands."

The angel shook his head slowly and said. "Six pairs of hands.... no way."

"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," God remarked, "it's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have."

"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. God nodded. "One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in

there?' when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say. 'I understand and I love you' without so much as uttering a word."

"God," said the angel touching his sleeve gently, "Get some rest tomorrow...."

"I can't," said God, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick...can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger...and can get a nine year old to stand under a shower."

The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. "It's too soft," she sighed. "But tough!" said God excitedly.

"You can imagine what this mother can do or endure." "Can it think?" "Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise," said the Creator.

Finally, the angel bent over and ran his finger across the cheek. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model." "It's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear." "What's it for?"

"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride."

I want to talk to the mothers this morning but also to each person here and those that are watching online.

About living a life of grace!

When I think about grace, I am not that thought because grace I am not anymore.

Dancers and Ice skater and how they flow with so much gracefulness.

They would never have been able to reached the level of achievement unless they had spent time and energy to develop their natural giftedness.

All of them have devoted hours, days, years, and perhaps even decades of work to build their strength to perfect their skill.

It has been a lifestyle of commitment and dedication that lies behind their focus, flexibility, fitness and firmness.

Godly mother are grace-full, too. Maybe, they can not dance and skate like those pro-ice-skater and dancers.

Their grace-fullness has nothing to do with how athletic they are.

Those godly mothers are grace-full because of God’s grace in Jesus which they received at their new birth in Christ Jesus.

2 COR. 5:17 THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATURE: OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW.

Because of Jesus’ death on the Cross for our sins, all the riches of God’s grace flow into our lives minute by minute.

There in 2 Peter 1:2

2 PETER 1:2—GRACE AND PEACE BE MULTIPLIED UNTO YOU THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND OF JESUS OUR LORD.

The Holy Spirit lives in us and is transforming us into Christ’s image day by day.

I want to look at what characteristics of a godly mother, which makes her grace-ful.

1. FOCUS

PHIL 3:13 BRETHREN, I COUNT NOT MYSELF TO HAVE APPREHENDED: BUT THIS ONE THING I DO, FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND, AND REACHING FORTH UNTO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEFORE,

PHIL 3:14 I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK FOR THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.

The Apostle Paul offers us a vivid picture of the kind of focus we can have as God’s grace-full people, and he describes what we should and what we should not focus on:

What we should not focus on those things behind us, being our past.

God has placed all of it behind, He has dropped all of it into His Sea of Forgetfulness.

Stay focus on the task today, don’t get caught up into yesterday failures.

Your focus on yesterday leads to poor performance today.

A dancer who focuses on yesterday’s injury or defeats will loses his/her concentration on today’s events.

What we should focus on is Christ Jesus and His grace.

You need never to experience that. As women of grace and growing in grace, You must focus on Christ and on the work He has given each of us to do today.

WE should concentrate on opportunities to demonstrate God’s love, to act with His patience, to treat others with His kindness.

But a mother’s influence on her children is one of the most important thing to focus on.

I am convinced that the person who influenced Jesus the most, second only to God the Father, was Mary.

That’s not to detract from Joseph's role. Had he lived, I think he would have been on Cavalry's Hill standing right next to Mary.

Mary's role in God's plan did not end when she gave birth to Jesus. God used her to help mold the personality and ministry of Jesus.

John 2:1 The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,

John 2:2 and Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the celebration.

Mary was always there for Jesus. Her love surrounded Him. Mary stayed focus on her son.

All through Jesus’ life, you will see Mary his mother was there, her focus was on her children.

There a very power poem I want to read:

The poet Rudyard Kipling:

If I were hanged on the highest hill,

I know whose love would follow me still.

Mother of mine. Mother of mine.

If I were drowned in the deepest sea,

I know whose tears would come down to me.

Mother of mine, Mother of mine.

If I were damned by body and soul,

I know whose prayers would make me whole.

Mother of mine,

mother of mine.

2. FLEXIBILITY

Are you limber enough to touch your toes? To stand on your head? To do the splits?

If not, don’t worry! God’s grace gives us a far more important kind of flexibility.

A mother should have the flexibility of the heart.

This kind of flexibility makes it possible for us to extend Christ’s care and compassion to others, to bend over backwards to meet people where they are.

ROM 12:15 REJOICE WITH THEM THAT DO REJOICE, AND WEEP WITH THEM THAT WEEP.

Grace-filled, we become flexible enough to bend down to embrace the mourner, even when it’s inconvenient.

We become strong enough to lift up those beaten down by life and to carry them to the comfort and consolation of our Heavenly Father’s arm.

We are able to reach out far enough to throw our arms over our heads to celebrate the successes and joys of other people, knowing the true joy ourselves of resting in Jesus.

Flexibility.

3. FITNESS

Probably, most of us could work a little harder on keeping our bodies in shape.

The good news is that remaining grace-full rests on God’s work in us and not on our willingness to go to the gym every day.

His Spirit at work in our hearts prompts us to exercise our faith in real time, in real life all the time.

We reveal the faith of our hearts as we exercise that faith in actions moments by moment.

JAMES 2:17 EVEN SO FAITH, IF IT HATH NOT WORKS, IS DEAD, BEING ALONE.

Grace-filled, Faith-filled lives, Mothers, is lives and breathe, the calling God has placed on your lives.

You are to show love to God, and to others in everything you do and stay fit.

How does one stay fit by exercising your faith, Mothers don’t just talk the game that play the game.

Always exercise your faith.

Fitness!

4. FIRMNESS

The kind of firmness that keeps us going, that keeps us from giving up when life is hard.

I understand that our life our hard.

Look what Apostle Paul writes to Corinthian Christians when they were struggling.

2 COR 4:1 THEREFORE SEEING WE HAVE THIS MINISTRY, AS WE HAVE RECEIVED MERCY, WE FAINT NOT;

We faint not:

If the dancer had decided to give up after the first or second try, that dancer would never been able to do moves, If that runner would have quit in that last 100 yards, that runner would never finished the race, it would have remained unfinished the rest of their life.

Mothers don’t lose heart! Life get hard, prayers seems sometimes to go unanswered, But don’t lose heart!

Do not lose heart, Period. No matter what, Praise God, He is faithful even when we are not!

2 Tim 2:13 If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.

1 Thess 5:24 God will make this happen, for He who calls you is faithful.

God will work in us the courage we need to remain firm to the end of our troubles and even to the end of our lives here on earth.

Stay Firm!