Integrity

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[6:28] Good morning. Happy Mother's Day and welcome to Pendleton Center and Niagara Falls First United Methodist Churches. We're glad to have you here joining us for worship again today.

[6:39] This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[7:01] Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[7:12] This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray.

[7:23] Let us pray.

[7:54] Let us pray. Let us pray. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, not be all else to me, save that Thou art.

[8:31] Thou my best thought, my day or my night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

[8:47] Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true word, I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord.

[9:00] Thou and Thou only first in my heart. Great God of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

[9:15] Great God of heaven, my victory won. May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun.

[9:28] Heart of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

[9:42] The Lord be with you. And also with you. Please be seated. So we do welcome you today and happy Mother's Day to everyone.

[9:54] We just want to point out a couple of things. If you haven't done it yet, please take a moment and fill out the friendship card online. So there is a link there for you to just fill it out and it comes across digitally.

[10:06] And if we don't know you yet, please give us your contact information so we can become connected to one another. And we welcome you to join us today. We wanted to also point out that there is a link available for giving online.

[10:20] But you can also send us a check if you'd like to give in that way. Because part of the act of worship is to give back to God. Because God gives to us so abundantly.

[10:30] And so there are opportunities for giving. So prayerfully consider that. Also there is a link, another link, for the children's bulletin. So you can download that and print that off for your child.

[10:42] There's also children's worship built into our church service today. And so if you have children with you, invite them and encourage them to participate in worship along with you.

[10:52] We also wanted to say that this is an opportunity, in a way, for us to minister differently. So what we're thinking about is the possibility of having small groups built together online for discipleship.

[11:10] So if you would be interested in joining a small group online for discipleship, for encouragement, for support, for searching out scriptures. If you're interested in that, we'd love for you to contact the office and we can get that whole process started.

[11:25] And so we do welcome you again this Mother's Day. And a big hello to all the mothers out there. I know my mom is watching. Hi mom! Hi mom! It's good to see all of you together with us today. And so we're going to continue on in worship with our time of offering.

[11:41] And Susan Musawicz will be playing an offertory for us this morning. And we reflect on just how good God is, the many blessings he's given to us. And we give back with a heart of gratitude.

[11:52] Atazzi with us and the Spirit who knows how good God is, the many blessings he'll have теперь with us. And! You're welcome, Dua Tokandi and your dreams to mind that our little people can communicate when we're excited about learning from it.

[12:05] In a ghost life, I'm listening to my beautiful human Therefore, to be Aaondack followed by ferry Bokertit, by Dua Turkic, and also men. And else we join the happy home of dollars and to know what's and that giant 설곤 that will be available to you. One of us today, and to see where we see how great Lord the Tool Zombies. So that we're continuing on doing this. And I ask this community in the nature of our childhood, the story of not a PERC querido quarterback, ourLook an galluism here with the world of dulness of Trading or little Granu promote.

[12:18] Amen. Amen.

[13:18] Amen. Amen.

[14:18] Amen. Amen.

[14:50] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let us pray. Glorious God, giver of life, redeemer of our souls, you bless us in so many ways and we give back to you in gratitude and love.

[15:08] Bless these gifts that they may continue your ministry to your people and into the world, reaching people with your grace and transforming lives by your love.

[15:19] Amen. Hi, Junior Church. I'm so glad you're with me today.

[15:31] Do you know, I bet you do already, that today's a really special day. Today is the day that we celebrate Mother's Day. And Mother's Day is so important. I want to say hi to mom.

[15:42] Hi, mom. I thought I'd say hi to my mom because my mom wants me to celebrate Mother's Day with her. And you know what? I got her this card and I'm going to take it over to, I'm going to drop it off at her house today.

[15:55] And it looks like this because she likes dogs. My mom likes cats too, but she also likes dogs. And I couldn't find a cat card. So I got a dog card, but it says, Mom, I love you.

[16:06] Love you. And then you open it up and it says how much? Ready? It says, Mom, I love you this much. Wow. That doggy really loves mom an awful lot. I'm going to make sure that my mom gets this card dropped off in her mailbox today, right after I'm done with church.

[16:23] It's going to be great. You know, everybody either is a mom or has a mom. So everybody can celebrate Mother's Day. And do you know what moms have done for us?

[16:36] They do so many things. I bet you can think of all kinds of ways that mom takes care of you and the things that mom has done for you. And some moms can do more things and some moms can't do quite as many things.

[16:50] And some people have moms that are still with them right now. And some people have moms that aren't with them anymore. But our moms have all done one thing that's the most special thing of all.

[17:05] Ready? Our moms gave us life. And life, like babies being born and all that, that comes from God.

[17:18] People can't just do that on their own. God is the one who made us able to be able to give life to new people. And every one of us at one time or another was a little baby that a mom gave a life to.

[17:35] Isn't that amazing? You know, even Jesus had a mom. Do you remember what her name was? I bet if you think of it, you can. If you didn't already, we always learn about her at the Christmas story, don't we?

[17:50] Her name was Mary. That's right. Some of you said it. I heard you. Mary was her name. And Mary, when Mary knew she was going to have Jesus, that she was going to be able to give life to the son of God.

[18:06] She was so excited. She said this really neat thing. She said, my soul magnifies the Lord. You know what that means? That means that she was really, really excited.

[18:19] And she knew that what God was going to do was going to be a very wonderful and amazing thing by allowing her to give life to Jesus, who's our Savior.

[18:30] And we know that love comes from God, the love that Mary had in her heart to give life to Jesus, and the love that all of our moms have in their heart that they were able to give life to us.

[18:45] So even if they're not able to be with us right now, we know how special that love is. So let's remember how special God's love is. Ready? We wouldn't have love without him.

[18:56] Say it with me. When God's love is in my heart, I can love everybody.

[19:08] That's right. Let's say it one more time all together. Here we go. When God's love is in my heart, I can love everybody.

[19:19] And I want you to remember if your mom's with you today to make sure that you say, I love you, Mom. And even if your mom's not right there with you, I know you can think about your mom and remember how much you love your mom because your mom gave you life.

[19:36] And we want to be thankful, thankful for everything our moms have done for us. I bet that even if your mom hasn't been with you for a really long time or even if your mom's right there right now, that you can think of at least one thing that you are thankful for that your mom has done for you.

[20:00] Can you think of one? Can you think of one? I can. I'm thinking it right now. Are you thinking yours too? That's wonderful. I want you to keep thinking about how thankful you are.

[20:13] And let's sing that song about being thankful for all that God has done for us, for God giving us love, for God giving us moms who could give us life that comes from God.

[20:26] Let's sing thankful. Let's sing thankful. Let's sing thankful. I like to think about the goodness of the Lord He gives me everything I need and so much more So I just want to lift my hands And say that I love Him I just want to lift my heart in praise And I want to be thankful I want to be grateful I want to remember everything that the Lord has done I want to be thankful I want to be grateful I want to be, I want to be, I want to be I like to think about the goodness of the Lord

[21:31] He gives me everything I need and so much more So I just want to lift my hands And say that I love Him I just want to lift my heart in praise And I want to be thankful I want to be grateful I want to remember everything that the Lord has done I want to be thankful I want to be grateful I want to be, I want to be, I want to be Thankful I want to be grateful I want to remember everything that the Lord has done I want to be thankful I want to be grateful I want to be, I want to be, I want to be I want to be, I want to be, I want to be

[22:33] I want to be As we prepare for our time of prayer I want to remind you that if you go to PendletonChurch.org Slash friendship card You can fill out a friendship card for us And we'd appreciate that On that card you can send notes to staff But you can also put your prayer requests Whatever it is that you might be needing For the church staff and prayer team To be praying for you during the coming week So please let us know I also want to remind you that we have an ongoing Prayer vigil happening Ever since all of this time of pandemic And online church services has been happening We have been having a time of prayer For all of the folks for our church And each and every week We have a different prayer prompt for you To help guide your time of prayer As you join us in prayer This week's prayer prompt Came from our prayer team member Debbie Stern

[23:34] And she was concerned That we would always be encouraged And so that we would pray for encouragement She says God always encourages And strengthens me As I recite all of Psalm 143 But especially Psalm 143 in verse 8 Let the morning bring me word Of your unfailing love For I have put my trust in you Show me the way I should go For to you Lord I lift up my soul As we walk through this uncertain time And are restricted from doing many of the things That we are accustomed to Debbie would have us join together in praying That God will remind us daily Hourly Moment by moment Of his unfailing love And show us what we can do

[24:36] Even in this strange and troubled time To share his love with others So we hope you'll join us together in prayer We also have some prayer concerns From our congregation That we want to be sure to lift up Shirley Ducharer is in hospice care now She's back up here in western New York But she has gone to be in hospice And so we want to keep her family All of those who love her I'm thinking of Connie And her daughter Connie And Pastor Mike And also Gary We want to lift them up As they're concerned for Shirley We also want to lift up Elena Rose Who is a brand new baby In our congregation And she was born 12 weeks early So both mom and baby are fine But they're in need of our prayers And it's going to be a bit of a long haul Before everybody's okay And Lynn Reimer is also in need of prayer

[25:38] For ongoing healing And continuing that she would come back To good and full health Since this recording Other concerns have come up Within the church family Please pray for Penny Liedenfrost Her brother Bill passed away this past week Also pray for the Friends family And our church family With the passing of Shirley Ducharer Shirley is the mom of Gary Ducharer And Connie Clifford And was a matriarch At Pendleton Center With these prayer requests And those that are on your heart Let's turn to the Lord In prayer Gracious Heavenly Father Father We are so grateful That you have given us The opportunity

[26:39] The desire To pray To come into your throne room And seek you So that those things that We are troubled by in this world Those things that we see need to be helped For our own needs And those in the world For those we love And those you have called us to love We just pray in Jesus' name Lord God That you would hear our prayer That you would answer us As we pray Lord we lift up all of those people Who are sick and infirm Lord we pray for your healing power To come upon them To touch them To bring them to health In their spirits Their souls And their bodies From the tops of their heads

[27:40] To the soles of their feet Lord you are the one Who knows what each and everyone needs And so we lift them up to you Knowing that it is your desire That they would be made whole Help each one Lord God To know your presence Help each one To find assurance in you Lord we pray for All of the healthcare workers And caregivers of all kinds Who are working with all different kinds of patients With all different kinds of things going on In their lives We pray that they would have wisdom Lord God To know exactly what to do That they would have compassion In dealing with people Who may have Very limited Ability to be visited By friends and family members

[28:41] Because of the current situation Father we pray in Jesus' name That all of the healthcare workers Would be protected and kept well So that they may continue To do the work That you have called them to do To bring health and healing And so we pray for all healthcare workers In whatever capacity they serve We pray also Lord God For those who are grieving losses Of all kinds It's so hard Lord God That we cannot gather in large groups And have celebration services Of people's lives And be able to set them to rest To set our own hearts On the road to peace And restfulness Knowing That we have shared In a time of celebration Of the lives of those

[29:43] Who have gone before us We just pray in Jesus' name Lord We pray for those Who are grieving We pray that they would have A renewed sense Or for some even A brand new sense Of the hope of eternal life That is found in you Draw them to yourself Lord God Let them see your face Let them know How much you love them And let them know That there is the hope Of eternal life That they can trust in We pray Lord God For new life For young children Who need to grow And be nourished So that they may thrive Lord We pray for How difficult it is For children

[30:44] Who are not able To be with other people To be with their friends To experience the things That children need Growing up And we pray also For all of the adults And older children too We all need the nurture The loving nurture Of in-person connection Father I pray in Jesus' name That by your spirit You provide what is needed Help Lord Help the people Help the people Who are hurting Help the people Who are going through All kinds of life transitions Without someone To sit beside them And hold them To comfort them And give them peace And rest We ask Lord God

[31:44] That you would pour out A special measure Of your presence Of your presence That people can feel And sense And know That you're there Know that there is comfort To be found Father we pray also For all of the other people Who are working so hard To keep things going Who are risking Their own health To varying measures We just pray in Jesus' name That you would continue To protect them And give them strength And give them confidence And hope And we pray in Jesus' name Also Lord God That you would grant wisdom To all of us Each and every one So we would know Where to go When to go How to conduct ourselves In all circumstances Help us Lord To put the well-being Of all of our

[32:46] Brothers and sisters In the family of God And the human family beyond Help us Lord To care for one another well And Lord There are just so many things That we're concerned for There are things On our hearts That have not been Spoken out loud So right now In the silence of our hearts We pray For all of those things And now we ask Lord God That our worship Would continue to be A blessing to you And that as we bless you That we too Would be blessed And transformed

[33:46] As we sing songs of praise And continue to pray Our prayers Lord That we As we hear the word Being spoken And as the message Is brought forth We just pray That all of our worship Would bless you Because that is why We worship We want to show How much we love you And how grateful we are For you Being in our lives For wanting to love us And care for us And so Lord We gather together now Even though we're far apart In one voice And pray Slowly So that everyone May join in The prayer that Jesus Taught us Our Father Who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done

[34:47] On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day Our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those Who trespass against us And lead us not Into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom And the power and the glory Forever and ever Amen Shall we hear from the word of the Lord God bless us

[35:53] Because our heaven We have nothing For us And tobbe A?" T Good morning. Today's reading is from the book of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 15 through 23.

[36:26] Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbrushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven. Many of you will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?

[37:32] Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

[37:45] Many will say to me on that day, the day of the Lord, the day of resurrection, how do we make sure we're on the right side of eternity? The day of resurrection is the judgment day.

[38:00] In the book of Revelations, it says, I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. Books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, the death, and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.

[38:26] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

[38:40] By what we have done. Today's Mother's Day. I remember when I was young, my brother and I had a room upstairs in our house.

[38:50] And my mother would oftentimes yell up the staircase something like, You better pick up your room! And, you know, we knew she was downstairs.

[39:02] Now, if you didn't know my mother, she had polio when she was 25. And so it wasn't easy for her to go up and down those stairs. So as long as we had those stairs between her and us, we could kind of give whatever answer we wanted to.

[39:15] Except when she said, If I have to come up there. Those were words we never wanted to hear from our mother. What we do matters.

[39:28] In verse 21, Jesus said, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles?

[39:49] And Jesus will say, Away from me, you evil doers. What we do matters. The dead, according to Revelation, will be judged by what they've done, which is written in a book somewhere.

[40:05] I don't like that book. But it's there. Now we have to remember what good we do is also written in that book. James, the brother of Jesus, in chapter 1 said, Do not merely listen to the word of God and so deceive yourselves.

[40:23] Do what it says. He says, Faith without actions is dead. Oftentimes people are accused of being hypocrites, which means their words don't match their actions.

[40:38] Because actions actually prove what our words are saying. In verse 22, it talks about true and false prophets.

[40:49] Many people will use, even preaching, even the word of God, they'll use messages for their own agenda. Religion can be a mask that hides a heart's true condition.

[41:02] Jesus called them wolves in sheep's clothing. Sounds like the story of Little Red Riding Hood, doesn't it? Not quite.

[41:12] But they wrap themselves up like sheep. But honestly, they're dangerous. They're evil. Integrity. Integrity is what we seek to have.

[41:23] Where our words and our actions match each other. To integrate means that everything we are and everything we do align with each other.

[41:35] Inside and out. Appearances can be deceptive. Actions show more of what people really are.

[41:46] Actions show a person's heart. You can even fake appearances. Especially public ones. I've noticed that from time to time now, on some of the TV shows, people will come in dressed with a suit and tie.

[42:00] And then they'll step away from the camera and they'll show that from the waist down, they're wearing pajamas or something else even worse. We can change.

[42:12] We can adjust our appearances. Integrity means that you do what you're supposed to do even when no one's watching. That old phrase that they have, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

[42:29] Not if people are watching. And by the way, nowadays, they're always watching. So integrity is shown by who we are when no one's watching.

[42:46] In this passage, Jesus says that it's like a tree or a bush. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

[43:01] So by their fruits, you will know them. What kind of fruit do you produce? My mother would yell up the stairs, did you clean up your bedroom? And we would always answer, yes, mom, of course we did.

[43:18] There's a parable in the Bible. It's a very short one. It says that a man had two sons and he asked them both to go to work in the vineyard. One said, no, I won't go, but then went and did.

[43:29] And the other said, yes, I will go, but then didn't. And Jesus asked the people standing there, which one did what the father wanted? And the people gathered around said the one who actually did what he was supposed to do, even though he didn't say so.

[43:46] Obviously, it'd be better if he said yes and his words matched his actions because their fruit will prove what they are.

[44:00] In verse 21, it says, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. The will of my father.

[44:11] The will of God. Only the ones who do what God wants. What does God want from us? You know, Micah posed that question in his writing. He said, what does the Lord require of you?

[44:26] He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Throughout the Bible, it's clear what God is looking for.

[44:38] Care for the weak and the oppressed. Love and forgive. Obey the laws of God. Worship God. Pray to God. Fast.

[44:50] And prove your faith in God. My mother was a church woman. And, you know, when we ate food, we got our baked goods from what we call the stale store, which was my father went to a secondhand store where he got bread that was like two days old.

[45:08] So it was always a little stale. So the only time we really had good, good bread was if my mother baked, which once in a while she did. But what made us crazy is we would smell that smell going through the house.

[45:22] You ever smell that? That wonderful aroma. Mom's baking something. We'd come down the stairs and we'd see a cake or we'd see cupcakes or muffins or something sitting on the table and we'd reach for a wedding and she'd say, those are for church.

[45:38] Oh, we didn't like that. Those are for church. No, Mom. Those are for us. But right from the beginning, she instilled in us that sometimes we have to be willing to sacrifice what we want for people who are in need.

[45:55] Integrity matters. What we do has to match what we say we are and who we are because it also represents God.

[46:08] We represent God. We may be the only Bible people read and by our fruits, our actions, our behaviors, they will come to know God or not.

[46:21] There's a story I heard quite a while back about a pastor who was getting on a bus. He was new to town and he had left his car in the repair shop and so he's taking a bus back home.

[46:35] When he got on the bus, he got his change from the bus driver back then they used money and he noticed that he had an extra quarter. We sat down in his seat and started pondering like many of us have pondered.

[46:48] I got an extra quarter. What should I do about the extra quarter? Should I give it back? Probably, but you know, it's a quarter. And obviously the bus company can afford a quarter and it's only a quarter.

[47:01] Is it worth making a lot of fuss and when we stop, stopping the line of people going out the bus, what should I do with the extra quarter? What should I do? We're faced with those kind of questions all the time and God blesses us if we live a life of integrity.

[47:19] So that people can trust us. So that we can have lasting relationships. So we can get up out of bed and have a good night's sleep because we're not troubled by what we did the day before.

[47:32] So that we don't have to make excuses or explain things or lies to cover up behaviors we never should have done. Integrity is faithfulness.

[47:44] And it's faithfulness shown over a long time. Integrity is consistency or staying within the boundaries that God has set on a regular, faithful, consistent way so that not only people can rely on us, but God can depend on us.

[48:04] I have a faithful car if I get in it and every time I turn the key it starts. My refrigerator is faithful if it works every day. If my refrigerator only works every seven or eight days or even if it works seven out of eight days, it's not faithful.

[48:24] It doesn't have integrity. We can only hide our nature for a short time. In verse 16 of this, it says, by their fruit you will recognize them.

[48:36] Because sometimes plants, you can't tell exactly what they are or what they'll become until they produce their fruit. A lot of plants look very similar, especially to just people who don't know a lot about horticulture.

[48:50] And so just looking at a bush that's blossoming doesn't necessarily mean that you can tell if that's a bush that's good for you or bad for you until the fruit appears.

[49:01] And then you can see that even the raspberry bush with all its prickly branches is good because it bears fruit.

[49:13] Truth is, is we need to be people of integrity. I thought my mother was a person of integrity. I would think most people, not everyone, but most people love their mother and love to be with their mother.

[49:27] Another summer day has come and gone away In Paris and Rome But I wanna go home Maybe surrounded by a million people But I still feel all alone Just wanna go home Oh, I miss you, you know Let me go home I'm just too far From where you are I wanna come home Let me go home Let me go home

[50:35] I've had my run Baby, I'm done I gotta go home It'll all be alright I'll be home tonight I'm coming back home I miss coming home To see my mother's face The smile, the excitement My mother was a woman of integrity She had high expectations of us She wanted us to succeed But you ever hear that phrase A face like only a mother could love I remember when I was young and I was in high school And our idea back then was to just let our hair grow wild Kind of like what I'm doing now And the idea was We would just be as raggedy and messy as we possibly could

[51:36] My father wouldn't look at my brother and I when he ate his meal He said he couldn't eat his meal and look at us Someday I'll have to show you a picture Maybe I'll just show you in real life soon But my mother always accepted us Always loved us Because a mother generally loves us even when we fail Even when other people don't Because the truth is Integrity doesn't mean that we never mess up It doesn't mean that we're perfect Because we all sin and fall short of the glory of God We all give in to temptation We all have our failings None of us is perfect Sometimes I say the wrong thing One of the nice things about this video stuff I can just change it if I want to But those of you who have seen me preaching live you know that sometimes I just say the wrong thing Even worse Sometimes I say I'll be somewhere and my mind slips and I forget or my time runs short and I can't make it happen

[52:42] Sometimes I disappoint people Sometimes Like everyone else I fail That parable about the two sons Jesus ended it in an interesting way He ended it with these words As the people said The son who did what his father wanted even though he said the other thing was the one who was the good son And then Jesus said this to them Which of the two did what his father wanted?

[53:12] The first they answered him Jesus said to them Truly I tell you The tax collectors the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness and you didn't believe him but tax collectors and prostitutes did and even after you saw this you did not repent and believe in him Jesus is saying better a repentant heart someone who is turned to God and seeking grace than someone who doesn't think they even need it The problem in this passage is we have people they don't even they don't even realize they're on the wrong side of eternity Integrity means that we also are willing to say I messed up I'm sorry I was wrong because God wants to hear us recognize our need for his grace

[54:18] I invite you to pray with me if you will a prayer of confession Dear God in heaven I have sinned I've fallen short of your expectations I've fallen short of my own expectations forgive me Lord help me to repent to turn around to be a person of integrity to live the way you want me to live in Jesus name we pray Amen you know God knows we aren't going to make it perfect He wants us to succeed just like our mothers do but He loves us enough to accept us if we simply admit that we need to be forgiven in the name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven glory to God

[55:29] Amen and it is glory God loves us one of the interesting things about my mother is everyone who knew my mother loved my mother now that's that's a pretty strong statement but I can't think of one person in my mind that I ever knew that didn't love my mother that's pretty amazing don't you think I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't love me I can't think of one person who didn't love my mother and I was trying to think about that was it because she was perfect she never did anything wrong no she was my mother I know she had her faults I think it was because she loved everyone wherever they were as they were that she was willing to receive and accept people no matter what and that's something we learned from her my mother taught me how to accept people she taught me how to forgive she taught me how to embrace people even when they have hurt you

[56:33] I know that because she did it with me she did it with my brothers and my sister and she did it with her friends and her neighbors not because she never got hurt not because she never got upset but I never saw the sun go down on her anger I learned that in the Bible too to know God is to be loved to know God is to be loved and love makes all the difference you know we would be up in our bedroom and my mother would yell up the stairs and we knew we were safe because we had the stairs between us and she would yell up if I have to come up there well that didn't really worry us very much because we knew how hard it was for my mother to come up the stairs so she wasn't likely to come up very much but every once in a while we'd hear her coming up the stairs I have to tell you the truth we would scurry around like crazy to get our room perfect now we had a little time because it took her a little time to get up those stairs not hours but we had some minutes and we moved faster than lightning things went under the beds they got thrown in the closet whatever we had to do we got that room right and it wasn't because we were afraid of my mother

[57:56] I don't want this to sound wrong my mother was a handicapped lady about this tall we were strappling strong teenagers what was she going to do to us it was because if we caused my mother to go through so much struggle to get up those stairs we wanted her to look in our room and say well done well done like we want God to say well done good and faithful servants because we loved her in verse 23 Jesus says to these people I will tell you plainly I never knew you away from me you evil doers do we know Jesus does Jesus know us is our name written in that book of life are we part of the family of God do we have a God in heaven a heavenly daddy that loves us like our mother loves us and we love him in return do we know Jesus enough to love him with all our heart our soul our mind and our strength not know about him but actually know him so that what Proverbs said becomes true in verse or chapter 4 it says above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it if your heart is filled with love for God truly filled with love for God and love for other people you'll be a person of integrity you'll be a tree that bears good fruit your name will be written in the book of life you don't have to worry about what's written in that other book because God will only see the good parts some people don't know Jesus they're on the wrong side of eternity that might be you today you have a choice to repent and turn your life to God but I know for a lot of the people

[60:03] I'm preaching to you know Jesus but do people know Jesus because of you in that little book of Titus in the Bible it says these words and everything set an example by doing what is good in your teaching show integrity seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned that pastor got up from his seat when he got to his bus stop and as he was walking off the bus he turned to the bus driver he said you know I don't want to trouble you but you gave me an extra quarter with my change and the bus driver said to him aren't you that new pastor in town I was thinking about coming to your church I gave you that quarter on purpose to see what you would do I'll see you this Sunday how do people see you when they see you do they see God Proverbs also says to us in chapter 27 as water reflects the face so one's life reflects the heart people love my mother

[61:13] I hope the people will see who she was in me and that my life will be a reflection of her and the love I learned from her about the love I can have from God when people see me I hope they see my God and if I do that that's the best Mother's Day gift I can ever give thousand times I've failed still your bursting remains should I stumble again still I'm caught in your grace everlasting your light will shine when all hell stays never ending your glory goes beyond all pain your will above all else my purpose remains beyond all losing myself in bringing you praise everlasting your life will shine your life will shine when all else stays never ending your glory goes beyond all pain my heart and my soul

[62:51] I give you control consume me from the inside Lord let justice and praise become my embrace to love you from the inside rise my heart and my soul rise you come in you oppose me from the inside Inside out, Lord, my soul, rise out.

[63:34] My heart and my soul, I give you control. Consume me from the inside out, Lord.

[63:45] Let justice and grace become my embrace. To love you from the inside out, everlasting.

[63:55] Your light will shine when all else fades. Never ending, your glory goes beyond all things.

[64:06] And the cry of my heart is to bring you praise. From the inside out, Lord, my soul, rise out.

[64:16] From the inside out, Lord, my soul, rise out. Over all the earth, you reign on high.

[64:46] Every mountain stream, every sunset sky. What my one request, what my only name, Is that you reign in me again.

[65:00] Lord, reign in me, reign in your power. Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour. You are the Lord of all I am.

[65:15] So won't you reign in me again? Over every thought, over every word, May my life reflect the beauty of my Lord.

[65:32] As soon as you want to be, let any earth be free. So won't you reign in me again? Lord, reign in me, reign in your power.

[65:46] Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour. You are the Lord of all I am.

[65:56] So won't you reign in me again? Lord, reign in me, reign in your power. Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour.

[66:09] You are the Lord of all I am. Won't you reign in me again? The Lord be with you.

[66:24] Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is always right and a good thing to give thanks to God.

[66:36] He is the one that blesses us in all circumstances. And especially on a day like today, When we celebrate the women who gave birth to us.

[66:47] Our mothers, the ones who raised us. The people we care about. We are talking about how can we respond to the word. And we have talked about how we can call somebody.

[66:59] People we may not even know. Or we can send a note in the mail. Or we can help a neighbor. Or today, I want you to particularly think about how can you give a call to your mom.

[67:10] Or your grandma. Or your daughter. Or your son. Or your grandchildren. That today, of all days, we can remember particularly our family and take some time.

[67:22] My grandparents and my parents are now with the Lord. But that doesn't mean that I can't think of them. That I can't have wonderful memories of them. And my wife and I were saying it would be a good time for us to go down to the cemetery where they are.

[67:38] And tend to their graves. There are things we can do to remember our parents. To honor our parents. Because that, after all, is one of the Ten Commandments.

[67:49] God wants us to respond to them. Look around you. See what you can do. Maybe it would be a good time to go help somebody plant a garden. Maybe it would be a good time to mow the lawn.

[68:00] I'm noticing it's really starting to grow now. Maybe it would be a great time to help somebody in some way they least expect. Step out of who you are and where you are on a normal day.

[68:13] And make this a day that you live like God made you to live. That you love like God made you to love. Let's turn our prayers to the Lord in heaven. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[68:29] Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses.

[68:40] As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom.

[68:50] And the power. And the glory forever and ever. Amen. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.

[69:12] In my heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.

[69:33] In my heart. In my heart. Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.

[69:45] Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart. In my heart. Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.

[70:00] Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart. In my heart. Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.

[70:12] In my heart, in my heart, Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.

[70:28] Lord, I want to be like Jesus. I want to be as good, as perfect as I can be. You know, in the message I was giving, I referred to my mother as handicapped. Some people don't use that term anymore. But that's the term my mother used, because she didn't want to be called disabled. She didn't want to be called impeded or anything like that, because as far as she was concerned, she had a difficulty caused by polio, which she had to overcome. So she had to struggle with the brokenness. She had to struggle with the difficulty and with the things that made it harder for her, so that she could show to the world that she could be just like everyone else. Jesus takes our difficulties, our struggles, our deficiencies, and he breaks them away, breaks through our brokenness, and makes us whole, makes us the way God always intended us to be. Take Jesus in your heart and let God make you whole today and always. Go in his peace. Be safe. Amen.

[71:29] Amen. Amen.

[72:00] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[72:11] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[72:21] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.