Mother’s Day 2022

May 8th 2022

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: Mother’s Day 2022

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Acts 1: 12-26 & 2 Timothy 1: 1-2 & 5

Sermon Blurb: Happy Mother’s Day! The Bible has so many stories about so many incredible women! As we continue to walk through the book of Acts we see some in the readings today.

Sermon:

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!!

Will you just take a moment and if you are by your mom, grandma, spiritual mother, aunt, etc. will you just take a second and thank them for being so amazing!!!!

PAUSE

Ok, let’s bring it back in…..

Ladies….you will all be getting blessed as you excite service today!

And at the end of service….one lucky lady will be leaving with a pretty cool gift as well!

And I can promise you….you are going to want to win this gift!

PAUSE

Now, if you are new or newer to Family Church, we are really happy you are here today.

Last week we launched into a whole new sermon series starting to walk through the book of Acts, and we will continue in that today.

If you have your Bible with you, please open it up to Acts chapter 1.

PAUSE

As you are getting there let me say a few things…..

First, I LOVE how God works…. because in the passages today God talks about women in the early church!

I love that we don’t need to do a one-off message to honor Mom’s because you will see how the women were a critical part of the early church today!

PAUSE

Last week we gave you all an overview of the book of Acts, and I want to encourage you to listen to that if you missed it because it will be very helpful as we start this journey.

And I call this a journey because our last BIG sermon series walking through the life of Jesus took over 4 years!

Which I know sounds crazy, but it was a great study as we dove deep into the life of Jesus….

And this series I think will be just as powerful….

PAUSE

Let’s start reading God’s word where we left off in verse 12 of Acts 1.

Acts 1: 12-26 Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.

PAUSE here for a minute.

Let’s make sure we all have this in context.

Jesus was killed 43 days before this.

Jesus spent then raised from the dead 3 days later.

Jesus then spent 40 days showing himself to hundreds of people proving he was alive, after death.

Then last week we saw Jesus in the presence of a ton of people ascend from earth right up into the clouds.

Then two angels told that group…..

STOP standing around and go tell people about Jesus!

So, they are walking back to the city….

And they are doing what all of us would be doing….

They are pondering what all this means….

They are pondering what Jesus meant by “go to Jerusalem and wait for me to send you a helper.”

PAUSE

They have to be thinking…..

Why did Jesus leave us again….

Why did Jesus say he would send us help instead of just staying with us….

And I am sure they were still in aw of seeing Jesus look like Super Man and just levitate up into the clouds…..

I mean you have to agree that would be pretty sweet to see!

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…

13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Very clearly you see right here….

Jesus’ movement was NOT a man-only thing….

We see women with Jesus all the time during his life and ministry.

Who remembers….did Jesus appear to a man or a woman first after his resurrection?

Yes….a woman!

There are a LOT of people who try to push women to the sides in church ministry…..understand Jesus did NOT do that.

PAUSE

And let me pause here and show you one other passage that comes to mind when I think about the importance of women in our spiritual lives.

Let me share two verse with you from the book of 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 1: 1-2 & 5 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my dear son:

Pause there for a second.

Paul is not Timothy’s real dad.

He is a spiritual father.

He is a guy that has been investing in Timothy to help Timothy become who God called him to be.

Verse 5…. Listen to this…..

5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

Timothy’s faith did NOT come from his grandfather.

Timothy’s faith did NOT come from his father.

Timothy’s faith came from mom & grandma!

Maybe Tim was raised by a single mom….we have no idea…

But we know it was mom and grandma that rubbed off on him and lead him to go into ministry….

PAUSE

(add something about your mom or grandma or an aunt like this)

I know for me this is largely true as well.

Not to slight my dad at all, he goes here and is a great man of God.

But my dad, like a lot of dads in the room, was very dedicated to his job and providing a good life for our family.

So, my dad was gone a lot growing up.

My mom was the one around all the time, whether I wanted her to be or not, and so she had a GREAT impact on my spiritual life.

My mom is actually the first person who told me one day I would be in ministry….and I said, “That will NEVER happen.”

But as well all learn as we grow up……

Mama….is always what church?

RIGHT!!!!

PAUSE

Moms……I know some of you are overwhelmed in life.

Some of you feel like a failure…

Some of you feel like you’re a terrible mom.

I can promise you so did my mom…..

I cannot tell you how many times I told my mom growing up that I hated her.

How many times I slammed the door in her face.

How many times I disrespected her.

I was NOT a great kid in a lot of ways…..

But mom’s listen to me…..

KEEP investing in your kids!

KEEP forcing them to go to church!

KEEP forcing them to go to youth group!

KEEP forcing them to read their Bibles!

Because you can look at me as an example…..

There would not be one single teacher in the school I grew up in that would have thought I would be a preacher one day…..

I mean I got kicked out of school MORE than once!

I would doubt ANY of my youth leaders, or small group leaders, would have EVER thought one day I would be in ministry….

But I am……

Because I had a mother and my grandma Grill….who did NOT give up on me.

PAUSE

Mom’s…..

Pray for your kids like your life depends on it.

Pray for their friends.

Pray for their future spouse.

Pray for their future kids.

Pray for their career.

Pray them and push them toward God.

PAUSE

I would not be who I am without my mom.

Jesus would not be who he was without Mary.

Jesus’ movement would not have been what it was without the women in it.

PAUSE

Let’s move back to the reading in Acts…. I want to show you something remarkable….

Verse 15

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

Stop there….

I want you all to start this in your Bible and write original church size by it.

This is the church right after Jesus’ ascension.

There are 120 dedicated people who are there still.

First church 120 people.

If you rewind in our church’s history back in 2017 when God called Pastor Adam and his family to go after this church plant then called Grace Chapel by the Lakeshore that was about our size of the church as well….

PAUSE

Now you see in your notes this…..write it down.

The start of Jesus’ church had 120 people.

Now……as we walk through the book of Acts I want to challenge the mindset of some of us.

I know there are some who LOVE small churches and want the church to always be small.

And hey….here is the first church and it is small.

But let me show you why you should not want church to be small.

Look at this picture of weekly church attendance.

PAUSE

Now I do not know about you but I would guess God wants more than 36% of people to be in church weekly in America.

I mean look at parts of Africa….80% or more are there weekly!

We should want our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers with us in church!

We should want all those people engaged in church life!

We should want that MORE than we want the church to sing the songs we like.

We should want people in church MORE than we want the church to decorate to our style!

We should want to see all churches in our area growing….

PAUSE

But let’s be honest today.

Why do most churches die?

Because they become internally focused.

They forget about serving those outside the church.

PAUSE

And…..as we walk through the book of Acts you are going to see this church struggle with the same things….

And you will see how God shakes them out of it!

PAUSE

Put that verse back up on the screens I want to say one more thing here.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

Peter stood up.

Now let me remind you or tell you if you are new to church.

Peter stood up…..is quite a statement!

Peter was the guy who constantly was messing up following Jesus!

Write this down….and them I am going to show you it is true.

Jesus loves, and works through, imperfect people!

Repeat

Let me share with you only 13 of Peters failures in following Jesus to give all of you a lot of comfort and peace today….

Because it Jesus can work through Peter…..

Guess what!!!!

Jesus can work through you!

Peter’s failures and sin reveal Jesus Character… and thus God’s Character.

AKA how God relates to us in times of weakness, sin and failure.

How good and patient our God is…..

Maybe take some notes of this and study later….

1. Peter doesn’t understand the Parable of the 4 Soils but is confused. (just like us) Jesus instructs him in the meaning of the parable without rejection Matt 15:16.

2. Peter and the other disciples’ mis-interpret Jesus words about “Yeast of Pharisees and Sadducees” and think that Jesus is talking about “bread” Jesus repeats the phrase until they understand. Matt 16:1

3. Peter & other the other disciple try to keep the children away from Jesus. Jesus rebukes them… Mark 10:13

4. Peter fails to “continue” to walk on water. Jesus catches Peter and asks him why he doubts…. Matt 14:22

5. Peter, filled with selfish ambition (sin), argues with the other disciples about “Which one of us is the Greatest!” Jesus corrects them. – Mark 9:33, Mark 10:35, Luke 22:24

6. Peter speaks up on the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah appear to talk to Jesus about His death. No one is talking to Peter. But Peter suggests it is good that he, James and John are there.. so that they can build 3 shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah> Jesus corrects him. Mark 9:5

7. Peter speaks for Jesus, without consulting Him, and commits Jesus to pay the 2 Drachma tax. When Jesus finds out… Jesus doesn’t reject or even correct Peter, but He instructs him. Matthew 17:24

8. Peter resists the single greatest reason Jesus became a human, to atone for the sin of the human race! Jesus severely rebukes Peter and says, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

9. Peter resists Jesus when He says that He is going to wash Peter’s feet. Jesus say you either let me or you will have no part of me. John 13:8

10. Peter fails to stand by Jesus’ side and falls asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane right before Jesus is killed. Jesus finds them sleeping and instructs & disciplines them, “

11. Peter denies following Jesus at all multiple times….

12. Peter is completely overwhelmed by his sin, self-discovery of his own weakness and quits the Apostolic Team and goes back to the only work he feels he can do… fishing. John 21

13. Peter years after this we are reading about today….. Pulls back from the Gentiles & Paul in fear when some of the circumcision group arrive in Galatia – Galatians 2:11

PAUSE

I could go on an on with all the failures of Peter….But that is NOT the point…

The point is

Jesus loves, and works through, imperfect people!

It does NOT matter how much you have messed up in life! Jesus can work through you if you will let him!

Peter understood this and I think it could change lives in this room today if you will internalize this life Peter did!!!

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading….verse 16…they shift to talking about one of their members....Judas who betrayed Jesus…

16 and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:

“‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’

21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” 26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

Thus ends….chapter 1 of Acts….

We start with Jesus ascending to heaven.

Jesus telling the church, which was 120 people, “hey go hang out in Jerusalem and I am going to send you a helper soon.”

And they have no idea what that means…….

But they DO know it does not mean someone who is going to overthrow Rome…..

Because they asked that and Jesus said NOPE…

So they go back to Jerusalem…..

Wondering what all this means…..

And while they are waiting on this person Jesus is going to send to them to give instructions on what to do next….

Peter gets up and says….hey while we are waiting we should elect someone who has been here since Jesus’ baptism

Which by the way would have been about 3 years ago…..

We need to pick one from the 120 people here….

That has been here for 3+ years following Jesus….

That did NOT bow out after Jesus died.

Someone who SAW Jesus alive and well over the last 40 days with us.

Someone who KNOWS Jesus well…..

We need to vote on who fits that bill to replace Judas on our leadership team.

So, the group nominates two men. Joseph, not Jesus’ father by the way, and Matthias.

Now….let’s pause here as well…

Who knows…. have we EVER read about Joseph and Matthias before this in the life of Jesus?

Nope….

Never….

Not one single verse.

Not one mention.

PAUSE

So why does that matter?

Well…..these were apparently great men.

Godly men.

Close friends and followers of Jesus that we know nothing about.

So why does that matter?

Because the reality is this…..

There are LOADS of amazing MEN and WOMEN of God who we know little to nothing about.

That does NOT mean they did not have a BIG impact on the Kingdom of God!

There are a bunch of you out there, listening to this, that are just being awesome Jesus lovers who will never be Pastors or Elders or Deacons or ministry leaders and that is ok!!!!

You are STILL critical to the mission of God!

And we know that because right here we have two people who we know literally NOTHING about who were just one person away from being in Jesus inner circle of 12….

And they are now 3 years later elevated to a position they were not ready for 3 years ago.

PAUSE

I believe with everything inside of me that some of you out there…..

You have been sitting in church for years and God has a great call on your life!

I believe God has great plans for you!

And the only question today is this write this down………

Will I step into Jesus’ call on my life?

Repeat

PAUSE

Matthias did.

Matthias became an apostle.

Matthias we will see goes on to preach in Judea.

What is God calling you toward?

Will you listen and submit?

Maybe you’re being called to become a mother and have a child or adopt!

Maybe you’re being called to start your own Christian business.

Maybe you’re being called to change your major in college.

Maybe you’re being called to go into ministry!

Maybe you’re being called to be a group leader!

Maybe you’re being called to volunteer!

Maybe you’re being called to mentor someone!

PAUSE

If God can work through someone like Peter who failed SO MANY TIMES he can use you.

If God can use someone like Matthias who was a behind scenes person….he can work through you!

PAUSE

Mothers….Grandmothers….aunts…..spiritual mothers….

God is working through you as well.

Do not stop investing into the boys and men around you.

We will never admit it….

But we need you.

We would not be who we are without you.

We love you.

We need you!

Let me give you your life application today…..

Life Application: Do you really think God will do something BIG through you one day? Ponder and talk with someone about why you think what you do.

Let’s Pray…..

Mother’s Day giveaway –

Before you all get up to go let me share what all the ladies are going to get as they exit service today…..

Explain whatever it is…..

Now…..beyond that blessing!

We have one lady who is going to walk away with something even better!

Start next month so June, July, August and September this lucky mom will be getting flowers delivered to her home!

And to make it fun!!!!

It is going to be based on something not one Mother in the room had any control over!

Her name!

The winner today is going to be the mom with the longest name.

So add the letters of your first name to the letters of your middle name to the letters of you last name!

And then shout out how many letters and the mom with the longest name wins!!!!

***MAKE SURE TO GET THE NAME AND ADDRESS