referenced twice noting that no discipline is pleasant at the time but it is necessary
11 All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On Mother's Day, Pastor Ray walked through the opening verses of Proverbs 1, 2, and 3, letting the text speak largely for itself. He drew a through-line between the motherly voice of Proverbs and the wisdom that God offers every person who is willing to receive it. The message was personal, honest, and at times bittersweet, acknowledging that Mother's Day lands differently for different people in the room.
What was said
Pastor Ray opened by explaining why he landed in Proverbs for Mother's Day. He had been preaching through the New Testament for twelve years and had just finished it, so he looked back at what he had done on previous Mother's Days. He found he had sometimes veered into unexpected territory, including Leonard Skynard and Merle Haggard, and decided this year he would just sit with Proverbs 1, 2, and 3 and let them do the work.
He started in Proverbs 1 with Solomon's own statement of purpose for the book, that these proverbs exist to teach wisdom and discipline, to help people live rightly, and to give insight to the simple and the young. Pastor Ray noted that Solomon was David and Bathsheba's son, and suggested he had plenty of material to learn from in his own family before he even asked God for wisdom himself. That detail grounded the book as something earned through hard experience, not just handed down from a comfortable distance.
The thread running through Proverbs 1 was the call to receive correction without bristling at it. Pastor Ray was candid that this was something he struggled with as a kid and still fights. He shared a memory of his mother quietly rebuking him for mocking someone's broken English, and said that single moment shaped the way he thinks about language and learning. The point was that a mother's correction, received rather than resisted, is described in Proverbs as a crown of grace.
Moving into Proverbs 2, Pastor Ray focused on the image of tuning your ears to wisdom and searching for it the way you would search for silver or hidden treasure. He connected this to the idea that education and knowledge are available to anyone who actually wants them, and that the people who pour that knowledge out, parents, teachers, anyone further down the road, are worth listening to. The payoff, Solomon says, is gaining knowledge of God, because wisdom leads you to recognize how finite you are and how infinite He is.
Proverbs 3 brought the most familiar ground. Verses 5 and 6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding," were, Pastor Ray said, his mother's favorite verses. He spent time on what seeking God's will actually looks like in practice, particularly for people who call him at crossroads moments not knowing which way to turn. His answer was simple: if you are genuinely seeking God's will, He will show you the path.
Pastor Ray also pressed on the warning not to be impressed with your own wisdom. He said people have a remarkable ability to convince themselves of things they already agree with, and that the move Proverbs calls for is the opposite: fear the Lord, be willing to turn away from what He names as sin, and stay open to correction. He was careful to distinguish between condemnation, which he said is the devil's work for those who are in Christ, and conviction, which is God's loving discipline for the people He has not given up on.
He closed in the final verses of Proverbs 3, where wisdom is called more valuable than silver, gold, or rubies, and is described as a tree of life to those who embrace her. He pointed back to the Garden and the two trees there, and said that wisdom, received from God and passed on through parents and scripture, is itself that tree of life. The choice to take it rather than cross the line into what God has said not to do is, at its heart, what all three chapters have been asking for.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Solomon asked God for wisdom above everything else he could have had. What is something a parent, teacher, or mentor passed on to you that you did not fully appreciate until later?
Pastor Ray read that 'fear of the Lord is the foundation of all true knowledge,' and said that fools despise wisdom and discipline. Where in your own life have you resisted correction, and what did that cost you?
Speaker 1Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Judy. Well, how about y'all stand up? Happy Mother's Day.
First of all, start off right there. Happy Mother's Day. Would you stand? And we're going to sing victory in Jesus. Sing it like you mean it.
Speaker 2I heard an old, old story, how savior came from glory, glory. How he gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me. I heard about his groaning of his precious bloods atoning.
Speaker 1Then
Speaker 2I repented of my sins and won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my savior forever. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me where I knew him and all my love is to him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about his healing, of his cleansing power revealing, how he made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see. I'm bound. Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory. Oh, in Jesus, my savior forever.
He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is to him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. I heard about a mansion. He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea. I'm about the angels singing and the old redemption story. And some sweet day, I'll sing up there the song of victory. Oh, in Jesus, my savior forever. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood.
He loved me and all my love is to him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing blood. Amen.
Speaker 1Amen. You play it like you know it. That's good. Grace greater than all our sin. Amen.
Isn't that good? Grace greater than all our sin.
Speaker 2Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's Mount outpouring, there where the blood of the lamb was filled. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin, sin and despair like the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss. Grace that is greater. Yes.
Grace untold points to the refuge, the mighty cross. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace grace. God's grace.
Grace that is greater than all our sin. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look, there is flowing a crimson tide, whiter than snow you may be today. Grace, grace, God's grace.
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace. God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. One more verse. Marvelous infinite matchless grace freely bestowed on all who believe.
You that are longing to see his face. Will you, this moment, his grace receive grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all sin.
Speaker 1What a beautiful thought that is. Grace that is greater than all our sin. Y'all can have a seat? I have a couple of announcements. I'll share it with somebody else has got an announcement too.
We need volunteers always for the connect hour. This is sort of a perpetual one because we have that hour between services and it's not a dead hour. It's an hour of active community fellowship and down the hall in the fellowship Hall. If you would like to help by preparing breakfast, they had great protein and fruit and vegetables and all kinds of stuff down there this morning. It's wonderful.
If you'd like to set that up, you can call Addy or you can sign up on the list and that's something the church pays for the groceries and y'all just kind of set it up and arrange it. That's the connect hour. Hometown Nazareth where Jesus was a kid is the theme for this year's vacation Bible school here at First B. It'll be June 24 through the twenty seventh, pre k through sixth grade. You can sign up kids at firstbjackson.org if you'd like to sign up as a volunteer.
There's a little bit of training that goes along with that, but you can sign up also right there or there's some paper sheets out there in the vestibule. You can try it that way. We're having potluck for Gene. You'll be glad when this thing's over, won't you? Yeah.
When that picture gets down from up there. This is Friday, May 17. We want to celebrate. Saying good goodbyes is a really important thing in life and so we're going to say a good goodbye. Potluck for Jean DeMarsh.
No gifts please, but you can bring green beans or you can bring casserole, you can bring whatever you want to. Potluck is plenty. Friday, May 17, that's coming, 05:30 in the Fellowship hall. Where is she going? Jean is going to Bellingham, Washington.
Joe, her son lives there and Joni, her daughter, who used to always attend alongside, Joni moved there and I kind of thought Joni would come back. She would be saying, I gotta be back with mama before long and it turns out that Jean's saying to herself, I gotta be there with Joni. And so she's gonna move out to Bellingham and they'll have more of the family there and that's good. Thank you. Church cleanup.
Tim, would you come make this announcement? So Tim Dalton has been for a while now in charge of our property and grounds. And so he himself does a lot of the work, but he's gonna ask for some help.
Speaker 3Yeah. Not to be outdone by Nick at our church, This is going to be the double, super exciting, happy, happy, happy, great times workday. So anyway, next Saturday, the eighteenth, from 9AM to around one in the afternoon, we're going to have a workday here at church, and we're going to be doing several projects. We're planning to stain the fence, clean windows, wash tables, hang a new church sign, few various things. And I'm gonna If you're interested in one of those things, I have some sign ups.
You can come down to the fellowship hall after church and just sign your name up. It's kinda good to know numbers on these things of And who might be willing to lead a project. So, we're gonna have some pizza afterwards. Good pizza. What's that?
Speaker 1Good
Speaker 3pizza. Okay. Good pizza.
Speaker 1Super Happy happy good pizza. Yeah. That's right. Of course.
Speaker 3And so And also, I wanted to say, you know, we do have a lot of miscellaneous church projects around. As you walk around church, as I do, you probably see things, and you're like, I think we need to do something about that. If you have any skills in any certain area and would like to help out, feel free to give me a call, talk to Diane, Ray, someone, get my phone number. And I could always use hands to help. So, we'll see you next Saturday, if you can work that into your schedule from 9AM.
Speaker 19AM is what? Yep. Thank you, Tim. I appreciate you, man. Thank you.
And happy Mother's Day. That's good. Thank you very much, Tim. We'll get in that for the sermon. Look at this.
This was last night. Nick, who works in church office but he's a photographer guy. So, he went up and he and Lauren went and he actually did that with his phone. So, love you, mom. That's pretty nice.
He had the the lead off too and before we go on with the rest of the song service and rest of the service, this morning, Emily Fates Stall and Tyler Stall, her husband brought in little Maureen May. Lot of y'all know Maureen Fates. We lost Maureen in 2022 but this little baby, we did the dedication this morning and we it for those of you who didn't grow up Baptist, grew up maybe Lutheran or Catholic or something else. It was sort of like a dry baptism. We read a few things and we made a few promises.
They came forward with the recognition that Maureen May is a gift from God and to thank God and glorify him for the gift that that Maureen May is. She's named after her grandmother. And they accept the joys and responsibilities of parenting and they committed to teach Maureen May the fullness of God's word to the best of their abilities and demonstrate their own example what it means to love God with all your heart and your soul and your strength and then as a church and I'm gonna spread it to this part of this church too because y'all are just as apt to be a part. Will y'all offer your ongoing love and support and prayers and your encouragement to both Tyler who is a quiet cowboy and Emily who more of you know in their role as Maureen May's parents and if you would, just please say we will.
Speaker 2We will.
Speaker 1Would you also be faithful in praying for Maureen May and as much as you're able, help to teach her and set a godly example for. I know there's some kids ministry folks in the room that can't wait to have her in their class. To set a godly example for us so that she might one day come to trust in Jesus as her lord and savior and follow him. Will you? Yes.
Amen. Thank you. Well, we didn't exactly dedicate her because she's not here but dedicated y'all to her and that's plenty. Would you stand and we're going to go on to the solid rock.
Speaker 2Eousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness seems to veil his face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor hold within the veil. On Christ, the solid rock I stand. That all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, all lest to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
Speaker 1Amen. Rock of ages, it's a nice standard. A lot of mother's favorite songs this morning.
Speaker 2Rock of ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in need. Thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed, we have sinned a double cure. Safe from wrath and make me pure.
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone in my hand. No price I bring.
Simply to the cross I cling while I draw this fleeting breath. When my night shall close in death. When I two worlds unknown and behold thee on thy throne rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee.
Speaker 1Amen. I'm going ask the ushers to come forward. Y'all can have a seat and would you pray with me? This is a offering time. We call it the worship through giving.
Lord God almighty. We'll hit it in the sermon today just in passing that we should honor you with our resources lord. May we think about that when we are so busy, busy, busy, busy. May we realize how much time we have. It's the same amount as everybody else.
May we be giving that precious resource to you, Lord. May we be giving you our time. May we be giving you the meditations of our mind and our heart, and may we be willing Lord to have a conversation with someone who needs to be loved, someone who needs to be heard, and someone who may be hurting. Lord, I pray that you would take the resources that we have, that you would increase our understanding, that you'd increase our capacity, that you would increase our ability to honor you with all of those resources. In Jesus name, we ask that you would do your will and your way among us lord but also through us.
May we be continually pointing the way to the savior. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you, Judy. So here we are. ABC.
Who taught you your ABCs? Just wonder. Your mama? Most likely. Most likely.
My mom taught me pretty early actually, not because I'm smart, but because she's very persistent. Very, very persistent. I'm the oldest, and so we were home together a lot. My first words my first word was cookie. My brother's first words were no no Ray.
So that tells you a little bit about my childhood. I did not sleep very much and my mother needs sleep and I used to send her flowers on my birthday because I was nearly twelve pounds when I was born. She she taught me ABCs and my aunt Beverly when we were staying with her when I was little bitty like really little and aunt Beverly came in to the breakfast table and I was sitting there eating and I said, alright. And I Sue, come get this boy. Something's wrong with him.
But but anyway, mama taught me ABCs and I, the song at the time, you know, I was born in '71. It was still out. The ABC easiest one, two, three, Jackson five song, kind of was all around. I'm going to go with Proverbs one, two, and three and typically in Proverbs, you'll see. Now, you know, are 31 chapters.
It's great. Thirty one days and a lot of months and we've got this is just kind of a ready made Bible study in the morning, a morning devotional. Thirty one days in a month, you got 31 chapters in Proverbs. My mom was the one who told me, hey, if you don't have another plan, this is a good one. On the first, you read the first and on the second, you read the second one.
Proverbs one, two, and three. I'm just going to do the first part of one, the first part of two, and the first part of three. Typically, in Proverbs, it'll go, things will go well if you listen to wisdom and then the bottom half of the proverb will say or there are other ways it could go. The other thing that I have been doing and most of you who go to church here and are normally here on Sundays, you know, I've been going through the New Testament for twelve years and we finished it about a month ago and so, I went back and thought, what have I done on Mother's Day? Because I don't want to kind of just say the same thing every time.
Going back, I don't think I'm in any danger of saying the same thing over and over. One time, I talked about the seven bowls of God's unright I mean, God's righteous wrath. No. We do I did not. Don't believe that.
The first three slides, that's where we were in scripture and then another time, there was one where it was like, do I really have to do this? So, I I have stared away from it a couple of times. One of them was we were ending the book of James and James gives all kinds of great advice. It's a transitional sort of book. James has a very Jewish flavor.
Jesus' brother and he presents this good advice. If you'll take it, it'll be like your mama's best advice. That Sunday, I felt possessed to sing a Leonard Skynyrd song, Simple Man, Motherly Advice in that song and then five years ago, I sang Mama Tried by Merle Haggard. Mama tried to raise me right but I refused. That that is the way that it tends to be when you have time on your hands, you know, turn 21 in prison doing life without parole.
You have time to think about all that stuff mama said. We're going to go from the New Living Translation of the Bible. My normal devotional Bible that I sit and read is a New King James. It sounds the most like scripture to me in my head and I memorize from that but I wanted to have it in a very common parlance sort of way this morning. So, I'm using the New Living Translation.
Starts off Proverbs one like this. These are the proverbs of Solomon, David's son. Now, we know Solomon to be the author of wisdom literature. We know that when God presented him with the opportunity to ask for anything that he could, he asked for wisdom. Now, when we read Ecclesiastes and we read Proverbs and even Song of Solomon and we read about him in first Kings, second Kings, whatever.
When we read about him, we see that he had a lot of experiences, right? And he gained a ton of wisdom from these. These are the Proverbs. These are the nuggets that Solomon gathered. Now, he is the son of David and Bathsheba.
Do you think he learned a lot from his father's life? He did and his mother's words, I'm sure. He includes that. He starts off right here and said, this is the reason I'm writing this book. I love it when a biblical author says, this is why I'm putting these things together.
Like John says, I'm writing these things so that you might believe and have life in his name. Solomon says, the purpose of these proverbs is to teach people wisdom and discipline. To help them understand the insights of the wise. Just this week, Pascal was asked at the classical school if she would lead a sort of an assembly, the morning celebration, the morning gathering where they do the pledge of allegiance and they do the they do the Lord's prayer. They asked her if she would speak on wisdom because it's the virtue of the month and so she did and one of the things she said is, it is a wise person who can learn from the mistakes of other people.
So, David and Bathsheba, Solomon learns those things and then, he learned them for himself. Over and over. The purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline and if we go to Hebrews, no discipline is pleasant at the time. Right? The getting up and doing your exercises in the morning is not necessarily a pleasant thing.
Walk into the top of Snow King, you might enjoy it now but oh, isn't it hard to get started on that? The purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline to help them understand the insights of the wise. The purpose of these proverbs is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives. To help them to do what is right and just and fair. Does this not feel like a cleansing bath?
We have been presented lately in in the last fifty years, maybe more. We've been presented with many truths. Right? But the truth is the truth. The purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives to help them to do what is right and just and fair.
These proverbs will give insight to the simple. They'll give knowledge and discernment to the young. So, when I was little, I got in a lot of fights. A lot of fights. It would surprise some of y'all.
Maybe it wouldn't surprise all of y'all. But, I did not like to be corrected for one thing. I didn't like to be shushed at all. That one still hangs around. I have to fight that one.
But there are things that we don't understand when we're young because we're simple. We we don't have a wealth of experience and your mama does. Right? Your dad does. The Proverbs will give insight to the simple.
Think about this. One of the ones that stands out, I think of it every single day that my mother said. I don't know why I was and it's unconscionable to be now that I was making fun of somebody for speaking broken English. But she leaned over and said, Ray, that means they already speak another language and they're working on their second one. How many do you speak?
I was like, thank you, mama. For that little rebuke and it's always thought I've always thought, you know what? I'm not afraid to speak in another language because that makes sense. I'm not gonna be perfect. It's alright.
If they're making fun of me, that's fine. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, give knowledge, and discernment to the young. Let the wise people listen to these proverbs and become even wiser and let those with understanding receive the guidance like I was saying, it's a wise person that can learn from the mistakes of the others and from the victories of others too. It's not just a mistake. By exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, think about them by exploring the meaning, the words of the wise and their riddles.
There are a lot of things in Proverbs if you're reading along in kind of a daily devotional manner that you'll see and go, that's interesting. And that's something that I I don't quite get that. But if you keep on exploring them, it'll help you and it'll help you primarily in this way. Fear of the Lord, a reverence for God is the foundation of all true knowledge. Fear the Lord's beginning of wisdom, you might have heard it.
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of all true knowledge but fools despise wisdom and discipline. How many of you all just absolutely love school? Not me. I I see a hand. That's good.
I'm so glad. You're wise. That's wonderful. I despised it. I'd actually like to learn.
I just can't couldn't stand getting up early, couldn't stand getting on the bus, couldn't stand getting off the bus, couldn't stand the people on the bus, couldn't stand so much about school I did not like. But the discipline part of it of just having to do it all the time, it teaches you. And I will say this, wisdom is available, knowledge is available, education is available for the one who wants it. And there are lots of school systems and there lots of ways of doing things, but education is available for the ones who want it. My child, listen when your father corrects you.
Listen when your father corrects you and don't neglect your mother's instruction. I know that there are bad examples of fathers and bad examples of mothers and I know that there are abusive situations and I know that there are exceptions to the rules, but this is the standard. This is the norm. Your mom and your dad love you and listen when they correct you instead of bristling under it like little Ray. Don't neglect your mother's instruction.
Pay attention to what she has to say. What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck, a necklace around your neck, not a chain but a necklace is a typical reading. What you learn will crown you with grace and we always say, grace is unmerited favor. You didn't really do anything to deserve the love and the instruction and the knowledge that they're presenting. It's an amazing thing.
A lot of those country songs I was mentioning earlier whether it's Mama Tried or Falls in Prison Blues or a lot of those are about having heard good instruction and resisted it and then learned the error of your ways. This is saying, take it while you can. There's one more song that rattles around in my head that there's a man in town when I was growing up and his mother had passed and it hurt him for the rest of his life and he would sing anytime and he was near a microphone. He'd grab the microphone and sing, if I could just hear mama pray again. Right?
To not recognize it at the time. Proverbs two. So, that's the first part of Proverbs one, not the whole proverb but Proverbs two starts like this, my child, listen to what I say and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to hear wisdom. Tune in to wisdom and concentrate on understanding.
If you will tune your ear to hear, education is available for you here. If you will concentrate on understanding, if you will cry out for insight, don't be afraid to raise your hand, don't be afraid to ask, don't be afraid to ask somebody and I mentioned this extends beyond just mamas and fathers but to teachers. If somehow take a job that pays next to nothing and will show up day after day after day after day and they have to deal with all of the aggravation. I mean, every day and they're there because they are a little further down the road than you are and they're willing cry out for instruction. Cry out for insight.
Ask for it. Ask for understanding. If you hit upon something with somebody that fits their bailiwick and they just love it, and you ask them a question about it, they will flow forth information to you. Search for insight and understanding as you would for silver, seek them like hidden treasures and then, then you'll understand what it means to fear the Lord. You recognize your finiteness and how little it is you actually know and how infinite God is and how much he has to offer, you will gain knowledge of God.
It will humble you and you will gain knowledge of God. For the Lord grants wisdom. I love that Solomon is the one who wrote that. When God asked him, just name what it is that you want and I will give it to you and he said, what I want above all is wisdom and he became the wisest man that has ever lived. He knows that the Lord grants wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Are we to live by bread alone? No, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. We have the Bible. We have propositional truth. I've been making a case for it for the last couple of weeks that we have good, accurate, faithful translations of God's word.
Old Testament and New Testament and we can hang on every word that comes out of the mouth of God and trust that it's good and true and we will gain understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. That leaves the deceitful in a world of hurt, doesn't it? Be honest and God will grant you a treasure of common sense. Now, there are so many things in our time that go against common sense.
And if we're duplicitous and we pretend that there are a lot of different things that are competing truths that both of them can't be true and we just say, well, that's your truth, that's my truth. We're not being honest. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest, he's a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the path of the just, and he protects those who are faithful to him and you might read that and go, what about Jim Elliot or what about some of these missionaries that died on the field? What about all of the apostles, all of the disciples?
What about those who have suffered loss? He protects those forever. Right? It's an eternal protection. Yes.
It's appointed once for a man to die. But then, those he is protecting the ones who have put their faith in him. It's a longer view. This is saying, go by what is right, do what is just, walk in your integrity, and he will guard that path and he'll protect those who are faithful to him. Even Jesus walking that path all the way through to crucifixion and death was raised.
Right? And by that same power raised him from the dead, we can walk in holiness by the spirit and then we will understand what is right and what is just and what is fair and you'll find out the right way to go. I'm surprised by how many times in the book of Proverbs it says something along this line that is commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established, right? Seek first the kingdom of God, Jesus would say, and everything else will be given. You'll understand what's right, just, and fair, you'll find the right way to go.
For wisdom will have entered into your heart and knowledge will be filling you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you and understanding will keep you safe. Do you all remember Renzy? Renzy Reno was our youth director for several years And Renzy's main main point at the end of every youth group function, whether it was a feeding frenzy with Renzy, we had in early in the morning before school or youth group. He would always say, make good decisions.
When they walk out the door, he's given them five. Make good decisions. Make good choices. Wise choices will watch over you, understand and will keep you safe. Mike, our current youth director, one of his favorite sayings is that there is no new news.
There's only old news happening to new people. Right? Because they're not paying attention to this. Last choice is to watch over, you understand and will keep you safe, make good decision. Now, we're up to Proverbs three.
Proverbs three one says this, my child, ain't that just great that God cares for us. He is our heavenly father but through scripture, he is very motherly and gentle. This the Proverbs when I read Proverbs, they sound like my mama's voice. Right? That's what it sounds like.
My child, never forget the things that I've taught you. Store my commands in your heart. I mentioned this earlier in the in the first service, I hadn't mentioned it yet here. I know that this week it's a celebration of mothers and we're we're gonna do that. But in the room with us right now, we have mothers who have lost children and we have children who have recently lost mothers.
This week, I talked to a mother who lost a baby this week. I talked to someone who lost their mother last week and a precious dear grandmother the week before that. It's It is very sweet but it also can be bittersweet. Joe, the guy I mentioned earlier that sang, if I could just hear my mama pray again, he had stored up her commands in his heart. It's a good thing.
If you do this, the the general rule is you'll live many years and your life will be satisfying. Never let loyalty and kindness leave you. Loyalty and kindness go together well. Never let loyalty and kindness leave you. Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them down deep within your heart. Be loyal, be kind, and then you'll find favor both with God and with people and you'll earn a good reputation. One of the things is in the New Testament tells all Christians do it, it reiterates for elders is that we should have a good reputation among outsiders. Being loyal and being kind will go a long way to establishing a good reputation for you. You'll find favor with both God and people.
My mother's favorite verses. Proverbs three, five, and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Dwell on that for a minute. The Lord is infinite.
He is good. He's righteous. He's true. He's long suffering and patient. Trust in him with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding.
If we're just looking at it from a metaphysical standpoint, physical standpoint, we are finite beatings that have a beginning and an end on this earth and he is an infinite. He is the infinite God. Are we going to make better decisions than he is going to make? No. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all that you do and he will show you which path to take. A lot of what people call the pastor to talk about is I don't know which way to go. I'm at a crossroads right now. I'm not sure which way to go. Are you seeking God's will?
I am. He'll show you the way to go. That's usually my response. I I never say a over b unless it's good over evil, but that's hardly ever the case. Seek his will in all that you do and he'll show you which path to take.
Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. This one sounds a lot like my mama too or my wife. You believe in your own press. Right? Don't be impressed with your own wisdom.
There's a limit to what you know and understand. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, what's the option? Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. I will say that we as people have an incredible ability to convince ourself of stuff we already agree with.
It's a way that seems right to man but in the end, that's the path of destruction. It says, don't be impressed with your own wisdom and just be looking for things that confirm it. Instead, be fearing the Lord and be ready to turn away from evil. The sermon as it was gonna naturally fall today was a sermon about repentance. Repentance of knowing what it is that the Bible says is sin and instead of trying to justify my sinful behavior, being able to change my mind under God's instruction and walk away from my sin and towards him.
Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord, turn away from evil, and then, you will have healing for your body, you'll have strength for your bones, honor the Lord with your wealth. I prayed through it during the operatory prayer today. Whatever it is that God has given you, be honoring him with that. For some of you, it is financial resources, for some of you, it is a great ability to think clearly and articulate.
And if that's the case, by all means, be writing, be expressing that, be teaching, honor the Lord with whatever he has given you, your wealth. And with the best part of everything that you produce, whatever it is that is the thing that God has gifted you in. Now, say Tim. Tim is a handyman. He's also a job site manager for construction companies and has been for a long time.
He's a very handy guy. He knows what he's doing and he is doing that for the church. He's also offered y'all a possibility of coming in and doing the same thing. So if it's something that you're, I I can't really build this, that, or the other thing, but I can clean a kitchen sink, you know. I can get it done, then that might be what this verse is directed towards.
Honor the Lord with your wealth, but also with the best part of everything you produce. And then, he will fill your barns with grain. It is the seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then he will supply all else. Your vats will overflow not just with wine but with good wine. My child, don't reject the Lord's discipline.
Again, with Hebrews, no discipline is pleasant at the time but it is necessary. Don't reject the Lord's discipline. If you're reading scripture and you're feeling condemned, that's probably the devil because there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. But if you're reading scripture and you feel convicted, that's not the way my life actually is. That's not the way my life actually looks.
I'm not rejecting the discipline, Lord. Show me. Show me how you would have me walk it out. And don't be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves.
I hate to think. I hate to think how I would have turned out without having somebody quote this to me. For somebody that hated to be corrected so much. For the Lord corrects those he loves just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. God hasn't given up if he's still correcting you.
He has not given up on you. He's not going to. The Lord corrects those he loves just as a father corrects. The child in whom he delights. We're on the last set of verses here.
Joyful is the person who finds wisdom. Would you agree with that? It's much better to be wise and the one who gains understanding for wisdom is more profitable than silver, her wages are better than gold, wisdom is more precious than rubies and there's nothing that you desire that can compare with wisdom. She offers you long life in her right hand, riches and honor in her left, she'll guide you down delightful paths and all of her ways are satisfying. Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her.
Does that conjure up the Garden of Eden? There are two trees in this garden. There's a lot of other vegetation too. Lots of animals, lots of everything else, but there's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that required crossing a line. Going against what God has said and the tree of life was right there.
This says that wisdom is in itself a tree of life. I'm not searching to know for myself. I'm taking the instruction that God has given and this these three proverbs that saying that my father, my mother have given is matching that which God gave and that is a tree of life to those who will embrace it and happy are those who hold on to her tightly and I think that's the last slide. I got out up without singing anything. Anything weird?
Would y'all stand and I'll let's pray and I'll ask you to come forward. We're gonna sing Cleanse Me. I I said at the beginning that it's like a cleansing bath or a shower to just look at scripture, not add much to it, just a personal reflect reflection from me on Mother's Day, really, but just looking at what it says and examining it and thinking, is this where my heart is? This has four verses in this song. The first one is search me, God.
And know my heart today. He will let us know in a loving and truthful manner if we'll open ourselves up to his instruction. Would you sing with me? We'll sing all four verses.
Speaker 2Search me, oh God, and know my heart today. Try me, oh, save your. Know my thoughts, I pray. See if free. I praise you, Lord, for cleansing me from sin.
Fulfill thy word and make me pure within. Fill me with fire magnify thy name. Lord, take my life and make it holy thine. Fill my poor heart with thy great love, divine. Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride.
I now Holy revival comes from thee. Send our Start the work in me. Thy word declares, thou wilt supply our need
Speaker 1May I pray for you This verse that comes up right there. Lord, I pray that we would be trusting in you with all of our heart. Soul, mind, strength, that we would not depend on our own understanding individually but collectively surrender our will to your way. Lord God almighty, I pray that we would be seeking your will in all that we do individually and collectively and we know lord because you have promised to do so that you will show us the path to take. Would you empower us with the Holy Spirit to carry out your will and your way.
