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[0:00] I'm slow and it's not very pretty, but I get there. Thank you for your prayers.! About all of this, but never in 30-something years of ministry have I found myself in a trial like this in terms of my health and being away from God's people this long.

[0:41] I was telling my Uber driver this morning, Kevin, who picked me up, Kevin and Angela and brought me. I said, in all my time, I've preached with concussions, I've preached with bad flu and all kinds of other illnesses and things going on, and just pushed through it.

[0:59] And this is one of those things I just, I can't push through. The doctors and the nurses and everybody have told me, and so I was a bad boy for a little while, and I paid for it.

[1:10] So I went and saw the surgeon this past Wednesday and got an update from him, and they did pictures and x-rays and all that, and kind of gave me the lowdown and sobered me and kind of slapped my wrist a little bit and said, chill and do what we tell you to do.

[1:26] And I said, that's novel. Do what the doctor said. I never do what the doctor says, but this time I'm learning my lesson. So more about all of that maybe at the end of the sermon when I let you know a little bit about the plan moving forward.

[1:40] But I do want to thank you so very much for your prayers, your cards, your counsel, your visits, the food. Oh my goodness, so many ways that you guys have shown us love over these months.

[1:52] The last time I was in this pulpit was January 18th. And then I went through that nine-week period where I was laying in the floor crying like a child, trying to figure out what was going on until they finally found the infection during the surgery.

[2:11] And then I want to say I took off from there, but I actually tanked for a little while. And then things started getting a little better. So here I am. We'll see how it goes.

[2:22] I want to let Ben and Matt know, since you guys are the closest to me, if I go out, if it locks up and I go out, just drag me off over there somewhere. Greg will come up and finish it. All right.

[2:35] We're good to go. Sounds like a plan. So this is in honor of the mothers this morning, but especially my mommy. She's in Arizona and I'm going to do a little selfie thing later and say, mommy, see, if I was there with you, we would be going to church together and I'd be in this and you'd be in your beautiful dress with her corsage and all that kind of stuff.

[2:59] She's 85 years old. And in her generation, on days like this, they would do corsages, you know, the sons or the dads would write. And so we sent her a. Yeah, we sent her a corsage and a bouquet of flowers and she called me crying.

[3:14] So we were successful. Tears from mom. So it's a it's a great day. And moms, we love you and we appreciate you. And so I had some time the past few weeks.

[3:27] I was looking at some news stuff and reading a couple of articles that kind of helped me keep my finger on the pulse of of culture.

[3:39] And it's a painful exercise. You kind of have to push through the pain to kind of figure out, you know, and keep abreast of what's going on. And that was the case. And it was one of those nights I was up in the wee hours, you know, two or three in the morning.

[3:53] And I'm doing this. And I came across several things. And I'm going to share a couple of those illustrations with you this morning as we get started to kind of set the tone for why I'm doing this, why I chose.

[4:07] It was in those wee hours after seeing all of that, that answers to these issues that I saw that I'll share with you became became came into my mind. My heart.

[4:18] And I just grabbed my computer, hit the Word document thing and just started taking notes, you know, just kind of to get it out so I could go back to bed. And that ended up becoming this message.

[4:30] So I want to share that with you this morning. This is particularly aimed at our young mothers. Now, I know we have moms in here like Suzanne, who's our children have grown and flown and they're out doing their own thing.

[4:42] We have moms in here who probably had some issues with with their kids. We have young mothers in here. You're still raising your your family.

[4:54] So I'm directing this mainly at our moms who are still raising their kids. But, you know, you're always a mom, right? We told our kids that, you know, I'm always going to be dad. You can't make me stop being dad.

[5:06] It's not going to happen. And mom's always going to be mom. But mainly are our young mothers. And what I want to talk to you about this morning, I'm going to title indispensable motherhood.

[5:17] Now, of course, I'm coming at that title from the perspective of what the Bible says. The Bible says moms are indispensable. You're indispensable.

[5:29] You're in other words. Let me put it another way. You're not replaceable. No one can replace you as mom. Nobody. And I want you to understand that.

[5:40] Oh, by the way, guys, in terms of the suit thing and all that, when Father's Day comes, I don't know if I'll do a Dad's Day message, but I'm back to my trail pants and my shirt. So don't expect this for you guys.

[5:51] OK. All right. All right. Let me share. Where's my wand? On the stool. Oh, yeah. Let me get some of this, too. I'm a little bit out of practice.

[6:06] But don't worry. I'll catch up fast. So indispensable motherhood. We'll use selected scriptures. I'll be throwing a number of scriptures out at you this morning.

[6:16] Now, here's the thing. As I share the scriptures with you and show you different things from the Bible, I don't expect you to remember all of that from today. What I want to do is I want it to have an impact on you.

[6:28] That's why I'm doing it. I want to roll these scriptures out for you and answer some of the issues that we're facing in today's culture as it regards motherhood.

[6:39] And I want the scriptures to speak directly into your heart for this. So let me share some examples with you this morning about our culture being really confused about this issue.

[6:51] And the question that I want to answer as we get started is this. How is our world undermining motherhood? Now, we could go at a number of different directions at this. I've chosen the one I'm going to do today.

[7:03] How is our world undermining motherhood? And the first example that I want to share with you this morning is very interesting to me.

[7:14] I came across it during that time in the wee hours. And this was nothing short of just bizarre for me. You see the Supreme Court justice highlighted here on the right of the screen.

[7:28] And the back, this is very quick. The background of this is Senator Marsha Blackburn was questioning Ketanji Brown Jackson, highlighted here, in the confirmation hearing for her to become the next justice of the Supreme Court in 2022 under President Biden's recommendation.

[7:49] This is the way that it went. You'll see here the words on the screen. This is just a few lines from that confirmation hearing that deals with our topic this morning.

[8:01] So Senator Blackburn asked the question, can you provide a definition for the word woman? Now, folks, do you notice that Ketanji Brown Jackson is a what?

[8:13] A woman. And so you think that she would be in a great position to answer that question, maybe better than if it were a man. And yet I don't think any of the men in our congregation would have any trouble defining a woman this morning.

[8:29] I know I wouldn't. I've been married to one for 42 years. So she asked this question of this particular candidate for the Supreme Court, the highest court in our country.

[8:45] And this was the reply. No, I can't. Now, that's a little surprising, isn't it? It was to me. So Senator Blackburn, in her incredulity, said this, you can't.

[9:01] And this was Jackson's answer. Not in this context. I'm not a biologist. Now, to many people, that sounds deep.

[9:13] There would have been many people in that arena, in that time, in that venue, that would have thought, that's a deep answer. I'm not a biologist. That's pretty sharp. For us this morning, we listen to that and say absolutely how ridiculous that a woman at her age and at the level that she's going for in terms of the highest court in our land, and she cannot define or will not, is more of the answer, define what a woman is.

[9:43] And so that has a direct bearing, as we will see in Scripture today, on how you understand motherhood and everything connected with being with a woman by God's design.

[9:53] If you can't define what a woman is, are you going to be able to define what a mother is? No. Are you going to be able to define what a wife is? What if they'd asked her that question?

[10:03] Are you married? She is. So can you define for us what a wife is? I wonder what kind of stab she would have taken at that to try and talk about it. Nevertheless, she couldn't do it.

[10:15] And I sat there thinking in myself, this is so clear in Scripture. It's just, this is hard, hard, hard to believe. Now I have another one for you just to get your wheels rolling with me this morning in answer to the question, how is our world serving to undermine motherhood?

[10:34] That's certainly undermining it. This is a true story that I read about recently, and I'm going to read just an excerpt, kind of a summary that Suzanne and I put together about what happened to this couple.

[10:47] Listen to this. This concerns Joe and Serena Wales, a married couple with children, and this is what happened to them.

[10:59] Overnight school field trips are supposed to be an exciting time for young students to enjoy. Hands-on kinds of learning to bond with their classmates.

[11:12] But for many, school trips to historic American cities like Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C. have created some of the fondest memories of their educational journey.

[11:23] I don't know if any of you ever did field trips in school. That was a thing. When I was coming up and we took several. When I was over in Germany, we did several school field trips. They were really cool. I remember them well.

[11:34] They're all good. We didn't have any of this kind of nonsense going on, I can tell you. But for the Wales family, this was not the case. Instead, their daughter's trip from Colorado to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

[11:48] was marked by a deeply uncomfortable situation that created negative memories for the entire family. Hmm. Why is that? I wonder what happened. Well, leading up to the trip, Joe and Serena that you see pictured here.

[12:03] And, of course, we've highlighted Serena because she's the mommy. And she's integral to this story. Joe and Serena Wales were told that boys and girls would be sleeping separately on different floors.

[12:16] Now, these are middle school kids. What the school failed to tell them, however, is that their definitions of boy and girl were based on gender identity rather than biological sex.

[12:29] You see where this is going, don't you? So when their 11-year-old daughter... How old is Lucy? 12. So, Lucy.

[12:40] Look at Lucy. How old? 11. 11. So, that would be... Wait a minute. Madison, Olivia. Olivia is 11. Okay. See? Olivia do this.

[12:52] Let everybody see an 11-year-old. This is an 11-year-old. Oh, yes. Thank you. A beautiful little girl. Now, listen to what she endured.

[13:04] Because our world is undermining the truth of Scripture and God's design about what it means to be a mom, a wife, a woman, a girl.

[13:17] What the school, again, failed to tell them, however, is that the definition of boy and girl were based on gender identity rather than biological sex. So, when their 11-year-old daughter found out that she was assigned to share a hotel room and was supposed to share a bed in that room with a male student who identified as a female, she was understandably caught off guard and uncomfortable, to say the least.

[13:45] They would have used a different word for me than uncomfortable. Thankfully, Serena, the mom, was actually on the field trip, but she was left to try to remedy the situation herself and to protect her daughter's privacy without upsetting any of the other students or teachers.

[14:03] Meanwhile, her husband, Joe, who's back at home working, was forced to learn about the problem from his 11-year-old daughter through a text message.

[14:14] How'd you like to be Joe and Serena in that situation? You know, heads would roll. You're going to put my precious 11-year-old daughter in a bed, in a hotel room with a male, and make her sleep in the bed with him because he identifies as a girl.

[14:33] How'd that work out for you? Yeah, we're all going no. Now, you can see why this guy at 3 o'clock in the morning is sitting there ready to just rip my computer in half over this nonsense.

[14:45] I hope it's righteous indignation. I hope what wells up within me is aimed at the demonic activity behind what this is. This is demonic activity seeking to undermine the truth of the Lord and put people in captivity to Satan's schemes.

[15:03] Now, we understand that. We understand that. And I'm going to talk about that this morning and how to understand it better from the Scripture itself. I'll have another illustration a little bit later in my message for you.

[15:17] And for me, it's the most or the worst of all. Let me stick it right here. Now, let's transition as we think about this together so that I can begin to get into the Scripture with you and start answering some of this issue about our world undermining motherhood.

[15:34] I thank God for this couple and for their intervention on behalf of their daughter. Let me give you one other thing to think about as we turn to the Bible. Think about what it would have been like if this couple had bought in to what was going on in the world today as it regards this whole idea of gender identity and identifying, you know, I identify as a dog, a puppy, a fish, whatever it is.

[16:02] People do that. Think if this couple had bought into that and what their 11-year-old daughter would have been forced to do. She'd have been forced to sleep in that bed with that 11-year-old boy. And think nothing of it.

[16:14] There's nothing wrong with that. I'm sleeping with a boy who thinks he's a girl. But he's a boy. That could have happened because it is happening.

[16:28] They're being put in sports. You know, I don't have to tell you. You're the choir here, preaching to the choir as it were. Now, let's ask another question as it relates to all of this.

[16:39] Why is the world we live in so confused? Why is it so angry and rebellious about something we consider so basic to life?

[16:51] Motherhood. Being a mom. Being a girl. Being a wife. We're not confused about these issues. We may struggle with issues in our roles like this.

[17:03] We may struggle with sin in trying to live out these roles biblically. Yes, I understand that. But we're not confused about what God says about what these roles entail.

[17:14] So how can we understand and explain then such a downward and detrimental, degrading turn of thinking like I've shared with you already this morning? The first thing we can offer is this.

[17:26] What does the Scripture say? The mind, the heart, set on the flesh, self, is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God.

[17:39] Now, I want to point out two things from that verse to you. The first is, no one is neutral in this situation. Nobody is neutral in this topic.

[17:52] If you see interviews and people say, well, I don't have an opinion. That's not true. The heart of mankind is not neutral about the things of God. You are either submitting to God or you're rebelling against God.

[18:07] That's the way the Bible describes it. And so here we see that a heart that is set on self is hostile to God. It's not neutral. The second thing I want you to see is that it doesn't subject itself to the law of God, which means this.

[18:23] We can sum it up in one word. Rebellion. People are rebellious. They're hostile and they're rebellious. Now, we understand this.

[18:34] We also understand that what this is teaching us is that unbelievers think and act like, wait for it, unbelievers. And so we shouldn't be shocked.

[18:46] We shouldn't be proud and look down our nose at them as if we're superior. I was once an unbeliever and so were you. And we're not unbelievers anymore by the grace of Almighty God.

[18:57] Certainly not by our doing, right? Okay. Unbelievers think and act like unbelievers. And the reason they do this is because this is who they are.

[19:08] They are being true to their nature. This is the way we understand this from Scripture. You are not an unbeliever the first time or a sinner the first time you sin.

[19:21] You are born into sin. It's just a matter of time before you sin. And you don't have to teach babies to sin, do you? No. As we see our precious little ones that we shower with kisses and love grow up, we see the sin come out of them.

[19:39] Now, we don't have to teach that. We don't have to train them in sin. When unbelievers act like unbelievers, they are acting true to their nature.

[19:49] Now, as we turn to God's truth book for life, we're going to find clear explanations, clear explanations for why human beings around the world go from one lie to the next lie about who we are, about how we should understand ourselves and about the way we should live in our world.

[20:13] Look, God has covered all of that for us. We don't have to be in doubt. We don't have to be confused. We don't have to worry about identifying as one thing when we're really another.

[20:26] All of that gets blown out of the water when the truth gets into our heart. Is that not true? Yes. And so we turn to the truth book to give us this.

[20:38] The fact is this. The entire world is caught in this deception. It is caught in this deception about who we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to live like.

[20:52] Look at what the Scripture says again up here on the screen. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one according to 1 John 5 verse 19.

[21:02] The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Satan is a real being. He is acting as a spiritual force ruling this world for the sake of evil.

[21:20] Not for the sake of the gospel. Not for the sake of truth. Not for the sake of Christ or heaven. But for evil.

[21:31] He's active. Very, very active. In fact, Peter tells us this. Notice the screen once again. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

[21:48] Seeking. He's like a heat-seeking missile for the souls of men and women. He is seeking someone to devour.

[21:59] Another way to say this, as you see I've written on the screen here, Satan is an apex spiritual predator who is seeking to rip apart, ravage, or claim as his victims as many souls as he can for the purpose of teaching them and training them in the practice of evil.

[22:19] In the practice of evil. Now folks, so far, everything I've shared with you and everything that we're reading from the scripture is helping you to understand the baseline for why people are doing these ridiculous things.

[22:33] Things that seem to us so out of touch and out of character with reality. That's right. Let me tell you why. The best definition of sin that I know of is sin is lawlessness.

[22:45] That's what the Bible says. We can understand that this way. Sin is insane. Is it not? Sin is insane. Sin leads us into doing things, thinking things, saying things that really are insane.

[23:06] Things that don't have any basis in reality because sin is a lie. When you sin, you live a lie. You're not living the truth because you're not living for the glory of Jesus in those moments.

[23:18] You tracking with me? I'm not that rusty, am I? Okay. You've got to track with me here. Stay with me. I know this is very basic to many of you, but this is where I wanted to draw a baseline for all of us.

[23:35] Now listen to this. Satan already owns, owns, the souls of every person who does not believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

[23:48] But what about Christians? What about Christians? Here's the question now. Are God's people immune to Satan's attacks?

[24:00] What's the answer to that, church? No. No, we know better. The Apostle Paul's great concern for Christians was this. I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve, a perfect human being, up to that point without sin, by his craftiness, that's how he deceived her, by his craftiness, your minds, your own hearts, will also be led astray.

[24:32] From what? Led astray from what? From a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. To Jesus Christ.

[24:43] I want you to know what the issue is according to the Apostle Paul. It's not simply that you will be led astray from the truth. You will, because Jesus is the truth.

[24:54] He is the way, the truth, the life. We know that. The issue here is that you will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to a person, to Jesus Himself.

[25:09] In other words, what Satan is most concerned with, with you as a Christian is this. He wants to undermine your walk with Jesus Christ. He wants to undermine your closeness to Jesus.

[25:22] He wants to distract you, deceive you, discourage you, dissuade you. Pick your word. But this is the work that Satan's involved in.

[25:34] I'll let you be religious. I'll let you go to church. I'll let you read your Bible. I'll let you do all kinds of churchy things. As long as you don't get closer to Jesus and become more like Him in character.

[25:49] So that you speak like Jesus, think like Jesus, live like Jesus, prioritize your life like Jesus. Be a daddy for the glory of Jesus. Be a mommy for the glory of Jesus.

[26:01] Serve each other for the glory of Jesus. Be a church who loves Jesus. Anything but that. Anything but that will do. That's his business.

[26:13] He's an ancient being and he's super, super good at it. He already owns the unbelievers of the world. So as you look around and see unbelievers being unbelievers, you now know, you understand what the Bible defines is going on.

[26:28] They are hostile in their hearts to God because they are rebellious in their hearts before the Lord. And so they're going to live out that rebellion. And it's going to look like boys identifying as girls, girls identifying as boys, and a whole bunch of a menagerie of evil and wickedness coming out.

[26:47] That's the world we live in, but folks understand, isn't that our mission field? These people are not our enemies that live like this. They're our mission field. They need the truth of God to penetrate their heart so that they will give their lives to Jesus Christ and be forgiven for their sins forever.

[27:06] That's the work we need to do in Williamsburg, Virginia. We gather here to worship together like this so that we can honor the God who has brought us from death to life.

[27:17] Brought us from the lies to the truth. Given us the hope that we have for eternity now to be with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen? All right. Now, we need to take that same love, that same passion, that same intensity of worship out into the everyday life that we live.

[27:34] That's our mandate to go out and get them and to make disciples. You do that one person at a time, one conversation at a time. But you do it nonetheless.

[27:48] Now, I want to ask another question as we deal with this issue of Satan's deceiving Christians. Satan's deceiving Christians. What about all of this and what Paul says about being led astray?

[28:02] All right, here's the question. What is Satan's primary method of trapping Christians in his schemes and lies? Now, if someone were to ask you that question, think about how you'd answer it.

[28:15] Don't say it out loud. How would you answer that question from the Bible? How would you give a Bible answer to that? Just think about it.

[28:29] All right, now let me let the cat out of the bag here. Here's the answer. Spiritual deception. Remember, we're talking about Christians, not unbelievers.

[28:40] Unbelievers are already owned by Satan. He doesn't have to work to get them. He has them. But what about Christians? Satan's primary method of trapping you concerns spiritual deception.

[28:55] What are we talking about? Well, notice who it is he wants to deceive you about according to the Apostle Paul. He wants to deceive you about Jesus. Satan knows that he cannot unsave or unchristian you.

[29:13] He can't do that. But he can lead you astray according to the Apostle Paul in terms of your heart's devotion to Jesus.

[29:23] Again, Satan's primary aim is to mess with your devotion to Jesus Christ. He wants you to be religiously distracted.

[29:35] He just doesn't want you making it about Jesus. And he wants you making excuses about not making it about Jesus. Because I promise you, if you will focus on making it about Jesus, it will be very, very, very hard for Satan to trip you up.

[29:53] The closer you come to Jesus, the more you live for and the more you live like Jesus Himself. It's called sanctification. It's called sanctification. Growing in holiness or likeness to Jesus Christ Himself.

[30:07] We make a big deal about the man who died on that cross for us, don't we? And with good biblical reason. He is the centerpiece. He is the most lovely treasure we have on this earth.

[30:21] And we are called to make it about Him. Here at Grace, we say, we make it about Jesus. We do. Now, we trip up in that.

[30:32] We stumble in that. We sin in that. But that's why we put our arms around one another and encourage one another in a life of following Him and loving Him.

[30:44] I say again, Satan cannot unsave you, but he can deceive you. He wants to confuse and deceive you about living life for God, especially as your life concerns...

[30:57] Now, listen to this. He wants to deceive you and lead you astray and confuse you in all of this, especially as your life concerns... What, Pastor Jeff? What?

[31:08] Here it is. Authority. You see it up on the screen. This deals with who you most listen to and follow for how you live.

[31:20] See, don't tell anybody that this is about Jesus when you live for yourself. When self is more in control of how you think and live than Jesus is, then you can't say it's about Jesus, can you?

[31:36] No. Now, I understand if you're battling with sin and trying to make it about Jesus, that's a whole other story. But there are many, many, many, many issues of hypocrisy among us as Christians.

[31:50] And we want to deal with that because that's an abomination before the Lord. Authority is the issue. When we stray from under the authority of God's Word where He tells us the truth about life, where He tells us the truth about love...

[32:10] See, the world is very confused about love. It has no idea what love is. It throws the word love around with all kinds of curse words surrounding it. It's crazy.

[32:21] Have you ever seen these people come up on the platform or the stage to thank people for the award and they say, I thank God or I thank Jesus and then a string of cuss words follows on all that?

[32:33] And you just sit there and just shake your head? A lot of hypocrisy going on. A lot of deception going on. God tells us the truth about life.

[32:43] He tells us the truth about love and the pursuit of holiness, not happiness, holiness. When we wander from His authority, we suffer the spiritual deceptions that lead us into ruined and wasted lives.

[32:59] This is why we struggle in marriage. We struggle in marriage because we're selfish and we're sinful. God knows that as Christians. And so God has given us the remedy of repentance for that.

[33:12] It's contained right here. But we need to submit to it. And I'll tell you, submitting to it is very, very, very hard. In fact, it's impossible apart from the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life.

[33:25] Because we're rebellious at heart. So keep in mind these deceptions that I'm talking about. I'm going to circle back around in just a moment and tell you how all this ties into motherhood.

[33:36] But I'm trying to do it a little along. Now listen to this. How Scripture defines this. You see this on the screen? He who gives attention to, gives attention to, the Word of God will find good.

[33:52] And blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. So you're giving attention to God's truth, God's Word, to help define your life, help define you, help you understand the issues of life, help you sort out the hard stuff of life.

[34:11] I don't need to do that anymore. Okay. He's doing that for you. Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord. You believe.

[34:22] You have faith. You are willing to trust God in what He said as He's written it. You take Him at His Word and you follow in faithful obedience.

[34:36] You may not understand it all. You don't know how it's going to turn out. But you're willing to follow the Lord because the Lord said it. Is that enough? Is it enough that Jesus Christ said it?

[34:51] Or are you stubborn enough where you say, no, I've got to have some proof. I've got to have some proof. Show me a little more. Get me a little further down the road before I really go all in.

[35:03] Are you all in in the truth or not? Remember what we're taught in Revelation? Don't be warm. Right?

[35:15] Don't be lukewarm. Either be cold or be hot. When you're lukewarm, what does God do with you? That's right. Now that's pretty clear, isn't it? We don't want to live in that hypocrisy.

[35:27] He who gives attention to the Word of God will find good. That will find good. And blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. However, notice this one at the bottom of the screen.

[35:42] There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Hello. That captures quite a bit of what we see happening in our world today and so it's been.

[35:58] Now let me share this third example with you. And for me, this was the hardest one of all for me to digest and get past. This concerns a man named Shane McAnally.

[36:12] He's a homosexual country music singer. I've never listened to him. I didn't even know he existed until I saw this particular excerpt. Some of you may have heard of him. Some of you may have heard his music.

[36:23] It doesn't matter. Tex, Tex, is Shane McAnally's third child with his husband. The first two of his children were twins.

[36:39] A boy and a girl. Twins. All three of these kids were obviously not born to Shane and his husband. Why not, church?

[36:51] Because men can't have babies. So they have to figure out another way for them as husband and husband to have babies.

[37:03] In other words, a woman has to be involved. A woman who will become a mother will have to be involved in this triad of rebellion against Almighty God.

[37:19] And so that's what happened. All three of these two men's children, children, in quotes, were born via surrogacy. I did not know, did not look up, and have not looked up any of the details about how that surrogacy worked.

[37:36] I don't know who did what to whom and how the babies came. But they came through someone else. All right? Can we just leave it there? This is a G-rated place. You know, the Bible takes me into some pretty sketchy stuff, but it's the Bible.

[37:51] All right? So I want you to look at this exchange that was posted somewhere. I saw the excerpt on a particular social media site, and it's a video.

[38:03] It's a brief video showing what we're about to read. You can actually watch this interaction happen. They posted this in pride.

[38:14] The two men posted this in thinking it's funny, that it would make people laugh, and it would endear people to the moment that they shared with texts. This, I think it's about a four or five month old baby.

[38:28] And here it is. Some of you may have seen this. This is the family right here. Suzanne was insightfully pointing out to me she said, Jeff, notice who's holding the baby.

[38:41] The only girl in the room. I thought that was very interesting. All right? Here's the exchange. This just really happened. So Shane asks, he's laying on the couch.

[38:53] Hold on, I don't want you to read it ahead of me. Shane is laying on the couch on his back, and he's got the baby propped up on his waist, and he's looking up at the baby, and he's talking to the baby through this exchange.

[39:07] And the baby's looking down at him during this. Four or five months old, maybe. So Shane says this, who do you want, Dada or Pop?

[39:19] Baby texts, Mama, Mama. This really happened, guys. The partner off screen laughs hysterically. He thinks this is funny.

[39:30] The baby's asking for his Mama. Shane says, No Mama. Do you want Dada or Pop? Who do you want, Dada or Pop?

[39:40] Text, he starts to say Mama. Nope, nope. Do you want Dada? Do you want Pop? Baby texts, Mama. No way, Jose.

[39:51] There is no Mama. Yes, there is. There is a Mama. So baby text begins to cry. They don't see this as cruel.

[40:03] They think it's funny. I'm so sorry. You have Dada, you have Pop. Partner off screen. You have two choices. Shane says, No Mama.

[40:15] Again, baby texts fussing. Mama. No Mama. Dada or Pop. Baby texts fussing. Mama.

[40:26] Mama. Partner off screen, Snickers. They think this is funny. If you watch this, you'll cry. It'll break your heart to see this baby asking for its Mama and these two lustful, greedy, perverted men bringing these children into this abomination and perversion and telling them there is no mother for the three of you.

[40:53] You don't have a mother. Yes, they do. Every one of these kids had to have a mother. mother to come into the world. But these men are denying them their mother.

[41:09] And it's sick. And it's going on across our land. And if we don't stand and if we don't speak up in the love of Jesus, I think we can be righteously indignant about this and say enough is enough.

[41:24] We need to stand as mothers. Christian moms who love Jesus. Christian moms who are determined every day to walk with their Lord and submit to their Lord.

[41:37] And not give one inch of ground to the world about what God says He's designed for motherhood. Now can I get an amen on that? Alright.

[41:47] We don't have to be rude. We don't have to be unkind. We don't have to demean these people. We were all like these people in our rebellion in the Lord and don't you think we weren't?

[42:01] The Lord sees sin as sin and we all get hell for sin. But we're saved by the grace of God and we want to see these people saved. This angers me because it's spreading all over the world.

[42:15] The world. The entire world is in the power of the evil one. This is something that flies in the face of an indispensable motherhood designed by Almighty God.

[42:28] My friends listen to me this is where most of the world lives. They live I'm going to put it up on the screen under the authority of their own minds.

[42:40] These illustrations are showing you in clear crystal clear terms what it means for people to live under the authority of their own minds and not under the authority of Jesus not under the authority of the truth of God's word not under the authority of what is eternal in heaven.

[43:00] They don't care about that. In other words they do what seems right in their own eyes and without regard for what God says is right and true.

[43:12] now listen let's sum this up why is the world we live in so confused angry and rebellious about something we consider so basic life.

[43:23] Now when we think about the truth this is the question we're dealing with right now when we think about the truth that this entire world lies in the power of Satan that Satan is an active spiritual force seeking to ravage ruin and lie against our souls that the devil schemes to deceive us as Christians into following his authority instead of God's authority as it's given to us in the Bible we might ask we might ask this question where is the hope for us to overcome this spiritual force of deception and lies and to escape the evil Satan desires to create for us.

[44:06] well it's a one word answer it's the name of a person and who do you think that person is?

[44:18] Jesus is our authority and hope now that's that's not just a Sunday school answer it is the answer that brings us hope there is no other answer that brings us hope none you say Jeff none none according to the scripture there is no other name under heaven by which you must be saved none it's the name of Jesus isn't it so you're not surprised as Grace Church Williamsburg that your pastors would go here Jesus is our only authority I could put only in that he's our only authority and hope now I'm going to get you busy turn into some scripture so we're going to go to the gospel of John I've shared a number of scriptures with you already on the screen just to save me some time moving through all of this let me let me show you how the

[45:18] Bible particularly from the apostle John we're going to do John and then we're going to do first John answers these questions that we've been asking about how we overcome deception how do we overcome self how do we overcome sin how do we overcome Satan how do we overcome the issues that the world throws at us constantly day to day well in John chapter 14 verse 1 that's where we'll start John chapter 14 verse 1 Jesus is offering comfort to his disciples who are anxious confused and fearful and this is what he says do not let your heart be troubled believe in God believe also in me now if you would look up here I don't want you to keep reading please look up here do not let your heart notice where he's zeroing in he's zeroing in on your heart your heart is the core of who you are it's the center place of how you relate to your world yourself and your

[46:33] God your heart is the place where you worship from where you give loyalty to where you desire from where you make your plans from it's the core of who you are he says don't let your heart be troubled troubled here is a Greek word it's a powerful word it means anxious or agitated and it has some deeper root meanings to it but the basic idea is do not let your heart be anxious or troubled now listen to me please listen to me he's not telling them not to let this happen to them it already has happened to them their hearts are anxious their hearts are agitated their hearts are fearful and so what he's saying here is stop it stop allowing your hearts the core of your worship center stop allowing your hearts to be agitated and anxious about the issues of the world the troubles that you have in the world stop it

[47:34] Jesus said that to his disciples this is just hours before Jesus is going to be crucified arrested and then crucified and he's telling them they're all anxious they're all agitated they're all fearful because Jesus has just made it clear to them that they're going to come and get me in just a little while they're going to kill me if you'd followed him for a little over three years and now the person you love that you're looking to to lead you in life tells you they're going to come and murder me you'd be a little agitated too wouldn't you that's exactly where they are and so Jesus says stop it stop doing that and then what is the remedy believe in God believe also in me there you go in other words none of this is going to be stopped the circumstances are going to go right on as they are and yet you are called to believe in God and to believe in me to exercise faith in other words

[48:39] Jesus is saying draw near to me this is the time for you to get closer to me than you've ever been because you're going to need me more than you've ever needed me before this is what he's telling them isn't that loving isn't that wise isn't that kind what are you going through right now that Jesus Christ is you as a Christian you as his child is beckoning you and saying draw near to me as you've never drawn near to me before because you're going to need me now more than you've ever needed me before now I'm preaching to me right now I've just spent three and a half months of my it got that serious a couple times and I just what could I tell the Lord Lord I know they're your people but I love them and I miss them and I'm not done with them yet I got things I need to tell them what are you going through right now that you need to draw near to

[49:47] Jesus in a way that you never! have before because he's making it clear to you you need me more than you've ever needed me before that's what he's telling them folks and that is a loving kind and gracious Lord is it not this is what he's telling them notice what he tells them down in verse 6 Jesus said to Thomas after he asked the question in verse!

[50:13] Lord we don't know where you're going you're telling us you're about to leave us but you're going somewhere how do we know the way we don't know how to follow you where are you going and Jesus said to him I I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father but through me Thomas stop looking for some other path stop looking for a way around your circumstances a way under your circumstances a way to avoid your circumstances these are all so endemic to us these are all so common to us stop stop looking I look to me come to me I am the way that you seek you are seeking the way forward here it is you are looking in his face right now I am the way see you may not know whether to turn to the left or right in your circumstance but you can always always always know for sure that you are on the right path when you are looking to

[51:15] Jesus and saying whatever I do you I am the way what does he say next I am the truth you know of all the things that you need in your life right now as you face these trials and circumstances and all the stuff swirling around you you need to be able to sift through the fog and move through all of that and you need to see clearly what is the truth in this what is the truth and all I could say sitting on that couch or that chair at times barely in my right mind was this God is good God is good God is good that's all I could do nothing about what was happening to me made sense I couldn't make sense of the pain I couldn't all I could do was say but I know I know I know God is good God is good God is good and I would tell myself things like he's got this he's got this he knows and so it helped me not worry so much about you now

[52:21] I can't stand up here and be a hypocrite and tell you I didn't worry about you but I repented and I said you know they've got a great pastor pastor Greg it's not an issue with him at!

[52:32] I trusted him completely it just wasn't me up here doing it and I had to go did you hear what you just said okay so you're just going to pound me some more while I'm laying here you're just going to kick me this is the love of God telling you the truth he may not be telling you what you want to hear but he'll tell you what you need to hear because he loves you because he loves you whereas the world will lie to you your own heart will lie to you so you better figure out what's going to anchor you because if you're not in it yet it's coming because you live in a broken world around a bunch of broken people it's coming let God get you ready for it verse 27 in chapter 14 what does he say peace

[53:32] I leave with you oh Lord please give me peace in the midst peace I leave with you my peace this is the peace of Jesus this is shalom shalom I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you in other words I'm not giving you something shallow and insipid something here today gone tomorrow I'm giving you something that will steady your heart and ready your heart and take you through not around not over but through it is my peace do not let your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful why because I've given you peace peace will steady and ready your heart it will help dissipate the anxiety and sense of anxiousness and fear of the unknown that you feel it will cause your heart to rest in what you know not be anxious about what you don't know this is where

[54:40] Satan wants to take you Satan wants to keep you in the realm of what you don't know and what you can't control and the longer you camp out on what you don't know and what you can't control you stay in charge and you make a terrible God so turn to the God that can help you know what you can know and do what you can do and stay in your lane stay in your lane chapter 16 verse 1 these things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling so all these things that he's saying to his disciples right now he's saying because he doesn't want them to stumble in sin if you look down at verse 33 the last verse of chapter 16 in John these things I have spoken to you so that purpose clause in me in me don't you need to circle that in your

[55:43] Bible in me you may have here it is again peace not an anxious heart not a troubled heart not a fearful heart not a heart straying from the truth not a heart trying to invent answers for yourself but a heart submitting to God and being willing to go through the trial and let God teach you these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace in the world you have tribulation but take courage what does it say folks at the end of chapter 16 verse 33 I have overcome the world do you see that I have overcome the world notice over in 15 chapter 15 verse 11 this theme began over here these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full you want to have joy in trials you want to have joy in life notice that in all of these

[56:48] I have spoken these things to you he says this is about me in you it's my joy it's my peace it's my truth so it's always going to be about Jesus it's always going to circle around and come back to Christ how are you walking with the Lord you may say Jeff I'm really not I've let this thing beat me down I've let this thing trip me up I've let this thing discourage me and distract me I've turned to other things I've turned to my hobby I've turned to work I've turned to just getting inside my own head or whatever no no good and then finally look at John 17 17 I want you to understand as Jesus prays for his disciples and for us he comes to verse 17 and chapter 17 and he says to

[57:49] God sanctify them in the truth your word is truth his prayer is make them holy sanctify set them apart for your use God you hear me set them apart for your use God and do that according to your truth your word is truth folks you are set apart to obey and serve the Lord according to the truth of God's word so this is why I'm up here preaching God's word not Jeff's word Jeff's word only is helpful to you if it reflects God's word and so I can't call it mine I can call it what it is it's God's wisdom not mine now let me give you a few more turn back to the back of the Bible to first John now remember I'm using I'm using these scriptures to help answer the issue of Jesus Christ being our authority and our hope this is answering the issue of how we overcome

[58:54] Satan and his power sin and its power self and its power and the world we live in and its power how do we overcome all of that we overcome!

[59:06] it in Jesus 1st John chapter 2 1st John chapter 2 let me get to the right book here and I'm going to start in verse 15 do not love the world there's the first item and do not love the things of the world now this is an issue of where your heart's devotion is where is your loyalty your obedience your focus is it more on the issues and things of the world if anyone loves the world again this is loyalty this is where you're putting your worship in any given moment if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him it's a big deal folks look at chapter 3 if you would chapter 3 verse 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil now practices is the key word in this verse about sin because he's talking about someone who is living a lifestyle of sin practices is your lifestyle is reflected by sin not by holiness so we're talking about an unbeliever here aren't we the one who practices sin is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning now notice what he says the

[60:33] Son you want to see the works of Satan in the world and in your life and in your family destroyed turn to Jesus Christ there's no other hope there's no other authority there's no other answer Jesus is God's provision for overcoming the works of the devil is that not hallelujah we wouldn't be here this morning if it wasn't for the truth of that verse Jesus Christ overcomes the work of the devil in you and in me and in our church this is why we don't have just a whole bunch of individuals in here we have a family we have a family!

[61:14] of individuals brought together by love for Jesus so we serve each other because we want to see God glorified not ourselves what about chapter 4 in chapter 4 of 1st John beginning in verse 4 you are from God little children so now we're talking about believers in contrast to those who are practicing sin and are of the devil you are from God little children and have overcome them that is you have overcome the false teachers and their false teaching the deceptions of Satan that he uses people to put on others to put out there in different ways because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world folks how do you overcome self that's one of your biggest issues Satan deceiving you and yourself rising up in any given moment here's the hope the hope is greater is he who's he

[62:17] Jesus greater is God Jesus in you than he who is in the world who's in the world Satan who's overcome the world Jesus who's overcome what self is in you Jesus so we're batting a thousand so far he's overcome the world he's overcome self let's see what else he's overcome notice what it says in verse five they are from the world therefore they speak as from the world and that's what you have to be careful of because sometimes it sounds very sophisticated but it's not it's a lie it's about the world and the world listens to them you see there are a lot of!

[63:03] people espousing this nonsense about gender identity etc etc they are speaking from the world as the world and the world listens to them but we don't we do not have anything to gain as truth speakers from a dialogue with error truth has nothing to gain from a dialogue with error we are from God he who knows God listens to us he who is not from God does not listen to us by this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error notice chapter 5 verse 1 whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and whoever loves the father loves the child born of him isn't that the issue folks doesn't that pretty much sum!

[63:55] it up believing in Jesus now notice what it says! verses 4 and 5 of chapter 5 who is the one who overcomes the world he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God folks how do you overcome the world through faith in Jesus this is the one who came by water and blood Jesus Christ not with the water only but with the water and the blood it is the spirit who testifies because the spirit is the truth how do we overcome the world in Jesus Christ by the fact that he is the truth and so we're living in the truth you just don't I don't get tired of this over and over and over again this is said to us finally we'll end with verses 20 and 21 in terms of what John is telling us 1 John 5 20 and 21 and we know we know as God's children that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding you see he has given us something we didn't have prior to coming to him now we have spiritual understanding and what's the purpose of that so that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son

[65:16] Jesus Christ this is the true God and eternal life little children guard yourselves from idols guard yourselves from the deceptive ways of Satan who will try to replace your devotion to Jesus with anything now hear me what I say next even with your kids moms if Satan can replace devotion to Jesus with your children he will do it and you will think the whole time that it's a good thing be careful moms please hear your pastor your children cannot be the most important thing in your life who is the most important person in your life the best thing you can do for your children is to love

[66:18] Jesus Christ with all your heart mind soul and strength amen the best thing you can do for your families mom is love the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart mind soul and strength that will bless your children beyond anything you could ever understand on this earth the best gift you can give your children mom!

[66:39] is to love Jesus and to walk with him with all your heart mind soul and strength that truth that we just shared deals with the world the flesh and the devil and now you have seen that Jesus is the one who overcomes the world the flesh and the devil now finally what does this have to do with motherhood what does this have to do!

[67:07] motherhood! remember now I'll put it up here on the screen so we can just move through it we are answering the issue of spiritual deception about motherhood by turning to God's truth book to expose lies to guide us in truthful living for the greater glory of God so we're letting God speak into this issue of motherhood and we've let God's word help us understand how the world is fighting tooth and nail against this design everything that we would learn to do everything that we would learn here about walking with the Lord in other words you've seen me do this I haven't told you that it's about all the truth in Genesis so we need to believe in a six day creation and we need to believe and all that that's all true but what's more important and what stands behind all of that belief is this that we are walking in faithfulness to Jesus Christ that is the issue that is the issue so this is what we're answering in God's truth book what does it mean to have truthful living all right well let me ask you a question who made motherhood think about it you're a Christian you read the Bible who made motherhood all right next question who came up with the role of being a mother who invented that who made the responsibilities for the role of motherhood now the answers the answers reveal our single highest authority for what it means to be a mom and it doesn't matter what the world says or doesn't say about the answers to these questions because the answers to these questions are contained in God's truth book amen right that's that's the truth and these answers reveal our single highest authority for what it means to be a mom now you're going to find this turn real quickly with me

[69:07] I'm moving toward a close here you knew that I was going to come here and if my back held out you were going to get it right you're going to get a full meal deal and it's not because I think you haven't been getting a full meal deal but I'm worried that some of these people let you out too early so I'm you know I'm just kind of teasing Genesis chapter 2 and I want you to notice what God says here in verse 21 so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man that is Adam and as he slept God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place and the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man and the man said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man boy I hope you see that you've heard me preach this so for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother as he grows up and becomes a man he will leave his family of origin his mom and his dad and he will be joined to his what wife that means a woman right and they shall become one flesh because their one flesh relationship is mirroring the one soul relationship that God forms in them spiritually when they're joined together in marriage and the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed so what do we see going on here

[70:46] God created marriage God created man and God created woman God created husband and God created wife and we're going to see what happens with all of that what was God's first mandate or directive for these two people as man and wife well to see that you go to Genesis 1 verse 28 God blessed them that is the people that God created in his own image Adam and Eve God blessed them and God said to them what did he say to them be fruitful and multiply that's where you become a dad that's where you become a mom because you have kids and fill the earth with these children and then subdue the earth manage the earth steward it rule rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves in the earth you and your kids and teach your kids grow your kids up to rule and manage and steward what I've given you enjoy what I've given you as a family

[71:55] God invented the family this is all God's invention folks we don't have to be ashamed of this we don't have to be intimidated by all the quote unquote science that comes down the pike and wants to argue against this to tell us that people are born with certain genes men are born with certain genes that make them crave and want other men not women that's a lie I've already told you from this pulpit several times transgenderism is a lie from the pit of hell there is no such thing as transgenderism a human being in their biological sex cannot transition to another sex they cannot do it they cannot rip their nature out of themselves and replace it with a different nature they can't do that listen only God can do that he takes your sin nature that makes you want to say stupid things like that and he gives you a new nature in the Lord Jesus Christ and moves you through the Christian life learning to love the Lord and not yourself and not chase after these lusts that foist themselves on other people like baby Tex so that baby Tex grows up thinking this is normal when God says it's an abomination this same this same mandate is repeated to Noah in chapter 9 of Genesis chapter 9 verse 1 look at this so after the flood if people want to argue yeah well then the flood came and changed everything well okay let's see and God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth sounds like the same thing he said to Adam and Eve doesn't it be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth have babies

[73:50] I created you for this and then in verse 7 notice what he says in verse 7 of chapter 9 as for you be fruitful and multiply populate the earth abundantly abundantly and multiply in it that word populate I told you when I preached through this populate actually means swarm in create a swarm have a lot of babies go out and have babies man it's all good it's wonderful this was God's mandate listen folks we find our answers about motherhood in the beginning of being human from the very beginning motherhood was about was it listen being human we find our answers inextricably melded into the very soul of womanhood so that listen well I'm answering the issue motherhood motherhood is rooted in womanhood we find that scripture teaches us that being a mother is a high and holy calling of womanhood now I don't have time to go off on this this will have to have to happen another time

[75:11] I'll just mention it please don't be fooled mothers into thinking that being a mother motherhood and using your skills and gifts and abilities and intelligence raising your children and investing in your children is somehow beneath you or somehow third or fourth tier in what you could be doing if you could get out into the world and really show people your abilities in a job and show them what you're made of and what you could do and so here I am I'm just sitting around kind of wasting all of my education and wasting all of my abilities raising these snotty nose kids it is because that's not what God says about motherhood God puts motherhood way up here the world denigrates it but God puts it way up here so we need to keep it up there folks we need to preach the truth and keep the bar where the bar needs to be we are aspiring to godly motherhood we don't want to pull the bar down because motherhood is hard life is hard that's why we look to the

[76:21] Lord as God's chosen people Jewish parents were charged to raise their kids to be in humble awe of God and His ways it's in Deuteronomy 6 1-7 I'm not going to go there for the sake of time I need to finish but listen to what it says basically it says teach your children when they're coming and when they're going when they're in and when they're out when you sit down when you stand up teach your kids the truth of God that's what it says raise your children up in the truth of the Lord it needs to be a constant thing your family should be built around teaching your kids about Jesus Christ and the truth of what it is to walk with him here's what Jesus says about being a mommy here's look these little girls these precious kids here's what Jesus says about being a little girl we need to tell them that right now at this age here's what Jesus says about being a little girl it's very simple it's very straightforward you need to obey daddy that's what it boils down to be a good little girl and obey your dad no come on show them the love of Jesus as you love each other faithful Jewish parents would teach God's ways live out

[77:33] God's wisdom together with their kids but this went into the New Testament the Apostle Paul would say the same emphasis about Christian parenting in Ephesians 6 chapter 4 what does he say raise up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord that's a constant thing mom that's a high calling to teach your kids the ways of God and model that way for them in the way you live especially in regards to your husband that's the highest calling that I know of in scripture for a woman now I'm not putting down women who work I'm not saying if you can work and fulfill these things knock yourself out great we're in your corner no problem I am not preaching that all of our moms should quit their jobs and go home and be with their kids 24-7 I'm just saying you need to be faithful and if you can find a way to be faithful to what I'm preaching right now go for it right there's a lot of room for that to happen but it needs to happen now let me share with you as I close the biblical principle holding together this bond of family reverence for God and his ways as it concerns motherhood

[78:40] I know this is kind of an offbeat sermon about motherhood but bear with me many Christian moms this is the principle many Christian moms believe their most important role in the family concerns their relationships with their children but that is not what the Bible teaches you say yeah but Jeff we're talking about being a mom I would think the kids be pretty important they are but they're not the most important in terms of your relationships while there is a very real sense moms hear me while there is a very real sense in which you will always be mom to your kids I'm 64 years old my mom is 85 years old I'll catch her and I'll become 65 before she becomes 86 we're about 20 years difference 85 she's still my mom I still call her mama right she calls me and tells me what to do and I say yes ma'am because she's mama right there was there's a sense in which you will always be mom to your kids your role in motherhood will dramatically change when your kids grow up and leave your home to make their own home life moms you understand you're raising your kids to leave

[79:59] I hope you understand that you are raising your children to go out to leave and cleave even if they don't marry and God gives them the gift of singlehood they need to go out and live their life that's biblical but now I want to ask you a question but who will still be home with you mom when the kids are grown and flown what's the answer the husband at least you hope he sticks around he better we will tell him to right it is through your love for your husband that you most consistently profoundly and beautifully show your children the love of Jesus working in and from your own heart so don't ever allow your kids to be elevated in priority over your relationship with your husband we would tell our kids you know what this is when they got older one day you're going to be grown and you're going to leave the house and it's just going to be me and mom so when you see me and mom being me and mom and doing the me and mom thing we don't want any attitude about it because you're going to leave and

[81:08] I'm still going to be with her deal with that and we would tell them that this is about me and mom and we are asking you to get in on it if you don't like it do whatever me and mom are living life and we be part of our party if you don't like the party and they got to the point where they didn't like the party and guess what it's still me and Suzanne and we're tighter and closer and more in love than we ever have been I told her the other day I said 42 years baby wow now she's never mind I'm not going to throw myself under the bus here okay a godly marriage is made up of godly fathers and mothers who show the love of Jesus to each other and then they labor together to model and minister that same love of Jesus Christ to their children for a lifetime there it is can you get behind that so moms you are indispensable to god and to his design for godly family life your own walk with

[82:15]  Jesus matters mom it is indispensable to the health and welfare well being of your family life resist satan draw near to the lord love your husband and don't let the world dictate to you it's nonsense and don't let it make you feel ashamed that your priority is your husband and your children and family life as you try to live in the honor of the lord Jesus Christ that is a very high calling will you pray with me father i thank you for the stamina that you've given me to preach your word i had no idea i would be able to to do this and it is you who have sustained me through the prayers of your people and i'm grateful for it thank you for this time that you've given us i pray now that you will bless these precious precious friends and souls these are your people these are your children they belong to you and not to the devil and i know that he wants to deceive them and distract them and discourage them but i pray for them in my prayer for them greg pastor greg's prayer for them as we shepherd together is that you will use us to shepherd well in the truth of the lord making it about jesus and helping them to be more and more in love with you more and more enamored with your truth more and more encouraged by what they hear and sing and read as we give ourselves over to the truth of the lord in scripture thank you for the people who are visiting with us new faces that are new to me i thank you for bringing them here to hear this word i pray that you will help them to be established in your word as a family and to be made strong as we do the one another's of scripture to help each other and be encouraged as we stumble through life together looking to jesus christ and to love him supremely it's in his name that we pray and for his glory amen now folks i've taken a little bit more time obviously who who