Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

-God has put many women in our paths throughout our lives that have made an impact and have shaped us into becoming who we are.

We always want to recognize them in humble gratitude for giving of themselves to us.

But today we mark specifically the love and sacrifice of mothers.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS OUT THERE.

-However, we also recognize that different people are in different places in their relationship with mothers or as mothers.

And we love and want to minister to you all.

Before we have a special prayer time for mothers, I want to read something that I hope will let you know that God loves you, I love you, the church loves you, and you are not alone.

-This is in no way original to me.

I received this from a pastor friend who shares this at his church, and I believe he originally took it from a letter that Amy Thomas wrote to her pastor, and I hope it is a blessing to you:

Today we celebrate Motherhood…and the wide continuum of mothering

*To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you.

*To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you.

*To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you.

*To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you.

*To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you.

Forgive us when we say foolish things.

We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

*To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, & spiritual moms – we need you

*To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you.

*To those who have disappointment, heartache, and distance with your children – we sit with you.

*To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you.

*To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience.

*To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst.

*To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children – we mourn that life has not yet turned out the way you longed for it to be.

*To those who step-parent – we walk with you on these complex paths.

*To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren -yet that dream is not to be, we pray patiently with you.

*To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you.

*To those who placed children up for adoption — we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart.

*And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you.

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you because God designed the role and commands us to honor it.

Mothering reflects the Imago Dei (Image of God) by bringing forth new life, nurturing those on her path, and living with the tension of providing both freedom and a safety net.

-Now, I want all of you to stand up at home, and if you have a mother-figure of some sort in your household, I want you to gather around her and place your hands on her.

~If you are home alone and are a mother, please stand and know that we are mentally and spiritually reaching out to you.

~If you do not have a mother figure in your home, stand in honor of the mother-figures God has placed in your life

-Mothers (as well as fathers) have been given the task of discipleship to their children (as well as others in their care).

Deuteronomy 6 tells parents to teach their kids the Word of God in every circumstance that they find themselves in.

-And an important part of that discipleship is ensuring they understand the true gospel message.

When the kids grow up and go out, they will be confronted with a lot of contrary belief systems, and so it is important for them to know what they believe and why they believe it.

-And I have been doing this study over the past several weeks about the true gospel message because it is the only message that can give hope in uncertain times.

~Faced with viruses and murderous hornets and whatever else 2020 throws our way, we need to have our feet on the solid ground of the gospel.

-To see the previous parts of this study you can go to our YouTube channel, but what we have looked at so far is that the biblical gospel is unique, there is only one true gospel message that was founded in eternity and revealed through the prophets.

This message has God as its author, good news as its substance, and Jesus Christ as its subject….

6) The provision of the gospel (v. 5)

-According to v. 5 we have received grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace is the provision given to us.

-You see, the message of the gospel is that we cannot earn any favor from God whatsoever.

But God provides favor and salvation based on the merits of His Son.

We cannot earn merit with God.

We cannot do enough good to gain merit with God.

And so, God has to give that merit to us based on His love and goodness.

That is grace.

-We are saved by grace, meaning that God saves us from our sin not based on us and our worthiness.

Salvation has to be a gift given by God based on what Christ accomplished because sinful humanity is enslaved to sin and entrapped in the kingdom of darkness, unable to help or save themselves out of their situation.

-Someone who is stuck in a pit but doesn’t know they are stuck in a pit, or even if they have some inkling that they are stuck in a pit, they don’t have the power or the tools or the know-how in order to get out of the pit.

They are unable to work enough to get out of the pit.

They have to completely rely on someone else’s power and provision to get out of that pit.

-That is us in sin.

As the lyrics of an old hymn says:

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,

Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,

But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,

From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.

~And so, because of God’s love for a lost humanity He gives grace through Jesus—He saves us as a complete and utter gift.

-And it’s not even God giving a gift to someone worthy.

In our sin we are His enemies, and yet He gave us the most eternally valuable gift imaginable.

-Imagine that you have an enemy that has done you great harm.

They’ve hurt your family.

They’ve hurt you physically.

They’ve hurt you financially.

They have done everything possible to ruin you.

~But instead of giving them what they deserve, you turn around and buy them a brand new Ford Mustang and gift it to them out of love that you shouldn’t have and they don’t deserve.

You gift them because of grace.

-That is God’s provision toward us.

But it doesn’t just stop with salvation.

God provides grace for our sanctification=that is, our continued growth in holiness.

~We can’t by sheer effort become more like Christ.

But God gifts us with grace through His Spirit to grow and mature and change.

As we live out our identity in Christ, the Spirit changes us, but it is not something we earn or deserve—it is a gift of grace.

Only by grace can you become more and more the Christian God intended you to become.

-And neither do we have the strength and ability and power to live through the trials of this world.

Any strength we receive from God for our circumstances is a gift of grace.

We can’t work for strength, but we receive the gift of strength.

-So, you see the common theme, that grace is provided by God, and our only recourse is to receive it as a gift.

The salvation, the sanctification, and the strengthening are provisions of God’s grace.

Will you receive from His hand this most important part of the gospel?

-If you are unsure of your eternal destiny—receive the gift of grace offered to you through Jesus’ sacrifice.

Believe on Jesus, His death, His resurrection, His sovereign rulership of your life.

What a great present to give your mom on mother’s day—the gift of your salvation.

-If you are a Christian who is struggling with sin, rely on the gift of grace to kill that sin and allow yourself to walk freely for Christ—letting all the weights and anything else that hinders fall away.

-If you are struggling through this crisis or life circumstances, instead of fretting receive His grace.

Pray that God shows you how His grace will give you strength.

Pray that God will allow you to understand the lesson that Paul learned through His trials—that God’s grace is sufficient and that His strength is actually made perfect in all our weaknesses.

-Moms who are out there struggling.

God’s grace is what you need.

When you are weak, He is strong in you through grace.

When you are at your wit’s end, He is there to uphold and uplift you.

When you are at your lowest, He is there to pick you up.

-Part of the good news is that God provides grace for our salvation, sanctification, and strength.

7) The service of the gospel (v. 5)