God's Gift of Mothers
1995 Pastor Tony Cirigliano
Revised on May 12, 2000 and Preached at Columbia 1st SDA Church On Sabbath, May 13, 2000 and at Boone, New Life Fellowship on Sabbath, May 9, 2004.
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Today is Pathfinders and Mother’s Day Sabbath – they go well together!
The Pathfinders are going to have a part in the worship service and will also deliver the flowers to mothers whose children are not here.
These young people are the future of the church, and Pathfinders is the best thing going for our young people I feel!
We have a great Pathfinder Club here under the leadership of the Allens – God is good!
All the time!
They will be delivering 10,000 Great Controversy’s in Banner Elk – delivering God’s truth along with invitations to meetings I will be holding in Foscoe, and they will be earning $2500 for their trip to the Oshkosh Camporee!
Tomorrow is Mother's Day. So today we want to think a little about mothers, and the blessing of God they are to us.
God gave us Mothers to show us a glimpse of His love for us!
Who can ever really understand what mother has gone through for us?
A godly mother’s love is a glimpse of God’s magnificent love for us?
Mother carried us around inside her womb for nine months,
She nursed us through countless colds, sicknesses, cuts and scrapes, wounded hearts and she dried our tears.
She prayed for us and worried about us, and she sacrificed for us.
Mother cooled our fevers, calmed our fears, took our side when no one else would.
We can never get too proud for mother - she changed our diapers and wiped our noses!
She knew us when!
There is only one perfect child in the world, and every mother has that child!
The theologian Thackery said, "Mother is the name for God in the hearts and on the lips of little children."
Our parents, both father and mother are to be the ones who guide us to Jesus.
What a sacred responsibility and wonderful Privilege mothers have.
In the book Adventist Home, on page 238, the Lord's messenger writes this:
"The Christian mother's work, if done faithfully in God, will be immortalized The devotees of fashion will never see or understand the immortal beauty of that Christian mother's work, and will sneer at her old fashioned notions and her plain, unadorned dress; while the Majesty of heaven will write the name of that faithful mother in the book of immortal fame.
In God's book of heroes, the name of the faithful Christian mothers will be written.
Perhaps all of us can think of times our mothers sacrificed for us
I remember my mother wearing worn out dresses so that the seven of us could have new clothes for school.
She worked on a frame doing beading to make extra money.
Mother's have a great influence with their children.
In the book Adventist Home, on page 240, it says, "Next to God, the mother's power for good is the strongest known on earth."
There’s no greater power for good the servant of the Lord said than mother’s love!
Right in the heart of the Ten Commandments, the first one in fact that deals with our relationship to one another on earth, God commanded us to honor our father and our mothers.
In fact, if children won’t obey their parents, they may never obey God!
Heaven takes it very serious when children dishonor, strike, or disobey their parents.
In Testimonies, Volume 5, on page 125, it states:
"There can be no baser ingratitude than that of disobedience to a Christian mother."
After our relationship with God, the most endearing and important relationship of all on earth is that of a child to his or her parents.
There are some people who are not even on speaking terms with their mothers. This ought not to be for Christians!
It is not good for us spiritually or physically to hold resentment or bitter feelings against our mothers or fathers, no matter what they have done.
If they have done evil, they are to be pitied and forgiven for having been pawns of the devil, if good they are to be honored,
In both cases they are to be loved!
Proverbs 15:20 says, "A foolish man despises his mother."
Again in Proverbs 23:22, Solomon wrote: "Do not despise thy mother when she is old."
Today we read more and more about children doing violence to their own parents, and we see everywhere the disrespect of those whom God has put there for children's good!
Yahweh, our heavenly Father takes a dim view against and gives dire warnings to children who strike or harm their parents:
In Exodus 21:15 it states: "He who strikes his father or mother shall surely be put to death."
When I was a rebellious teenager, and didn’t know Jesus, I had fights with my Father!
The law said, "he that strikes his father or mother should be put to death."
But I praise God that through the gospel of Jesus Christ there is forgiveness!
We can redeem the time through Jesus – and we can start afresh!
The good news is that if we have failed to honor our parents in times past, like any other sin, there is forgiveness In Jesus! Praise His holy name!
Jesus himself gave us an example of love and concern for mother.
While He was dying on the cross, and suffering the most intense pain . . .
While He was feeling the awesome weight of the sins of the world being placed upon Him . . . .
And sufferlng the mental, physical, and spiritual anguish, Jesus remembered His mother!
Turn with me to John 19:26-27: "When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son.’ Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold thy mother,’ and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own
home."He saw to it that His mother' s needs would be taken care of through His beloved disciple John.
Do you know that there scarce was a great man that did not also have a great mother.
On mother's knee, at the family altar, that is where character is formed!
If a mother raises children that love Jesus and obey Him, they are a tremendous success!
From the cradle up is where the foundations of life are laid.
THEY SAY THAT MAN IS MIGHTY HE GOVERNS LAND AND SEA.
HE WIELDS A MIGHTY SCEPTER, 0’ER LESSER POWERS THAT BE,
BUT A MIGHTIER POWER AND STRONGER, MAN FROM HIS THRONE HAS BEEN HURLED, FOR THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, IS THE HAND THAT RULES THE WORLD.
Let's permit some great people give their testimony as to the influence of their mothers.
Abraham Lincoln said, "All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother."
John Wesley wrote: "My mother was the source from which I derived the guiding principles of my life."
Booker T. Washington said, "If I have done anything In life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother."
The great inventor Thomas Alva Edison said, "My mother was the making of me . . . If It had not been for her appreciation and her faith in me . . . I should very likely never had been an inventor."
Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist said, "All that I have ever accomplished in life, I owe to my mother."
Henry Ford said, "I have tried to live as my mother would have wished. She taught me as a boy that service is the highest duty in the world."
George Washington: "I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from my mother."
The closest thing we have, albeit a distant second to God's love is mother's love.
The following true story typifies Mother's love.
A pastor received a call from a new father.
He wanted the pastor to be present when he told his wife that she had given birth to a beautiful baby boy.
The baby was healthy, except the baby had no ears!
The baby had the openings and all the inner ear parts necessary to hear, but no fleshy part outside.
The doctors told the parents that the problem could be corrected when his growth was completed and a donor was found.
School was very hard for this boy.
Many times he came home weeping, "The children called me names and made fun of me."
His mother would embrace her boy and comfort him.
This boy became an excellent student and went on to be a geologist and science teacher.
During his last year of college, he received a call from his father saying, "Son! We have finally found a donor. The operation will be this summer."
The operation was a great success. He was overjoyed. His new ears were beautifu1 .
He graduated with honors and moved to the midwest to work.
His parents were so proud of him and were there at his graduation.
Years later he received a call from his father that his godly mother had a heart attack and died.
At the funeral home, his dad called him to the casket, and pushed back his mother's hair to show his son something.
His mother didn’t have any ears!
She had given them, part of herself for her son!
Her love and his great need was what prompted this act of love.
That’s mother’s love! And it is wonderful! But God’s love is greater!
Jesus came and gave more than his ears, He gave all because we were in desperate need of redemption!
He said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends."
Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales.
She was carrying her infant son in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard.
She never reached her destination alive.
When the terrible blizzard subsided, they found her body covered with snow.
But the searchers discovered the baby well and covered with all the mother's outer clothing and sheltered under her body.
She had given her life for her baby.
The baby’s name was David Lloyd George who grew up to be Great Britain's prime minister and one of England's greatest statesmen!
He said, "My mother gave her life for me and showed me what true love is. I will live a life in honor of her."
Friends, We are living in the last days. Jesus gave His life for you - that's true love!
Let us live a life in honor of Him! Let’s not tolerate sin in our lives, but rather choose to live for the Lord!
Let’s choose to share His love with others. There’s no greater joy than sharing Jesus.
Last Sabbath I had the privilege to lead a man and his mother to Jesus and I have a study with them this afternoon!
There’s no greater way to show your loove for Jesus than to share.
Every SDA shoukld have a present Bible study going on!
God gave us part of himself, His only Son because He so loved the world, that He gave!
God’s love for us is many times greater than even a mother's love for her little helpless Infant!
Turn with me to Isaiah 49:15: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee."
We hear of mothers abandoning their children, but the Lord says I will never abandon or forget you!
Jesus said, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
Not too long ago I heard of New York City garbagemen finding a healthy baby in the garbage can!
How could this be? Human nature can do terrible things! That baby's father and mother forsook her.
But do you know that we never have to worry about our heavenly Father doing that!
Jesus said in John 6:37, "He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out."
Psalm 27: 10 says, "When my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take care of me."
In the book Ministry of Healing, on page 72, the Spirit of Prophecy writes this: "Greater than the love of a mother for her child is Christ's love for His redeemed."
In the face of a godly mother, we can get a glimpse of God's face, and understand His great love for you!
The Bible says that "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end!"
If we have an account with the dentist, or with the doctor, or with the telephone company . . .
We will get a statement each month telling us how much we owe them.
And if the payment is not sent in, they want to know why!
How many of us have ever received a statement from our mothers telling us how much we owe her?
Mothers don't keep books.
They make no debit entries against us, and don't keep account of what we owe them,
Maybe that’s’ why we sometimes forget how much we owe to our mothers.
That may explain why we don't make more payments on the account.
Fortunately, in these days of hustle and bustle and busy activity, there is one day out of 365 that has been set aside as Mothers Day,
While we can never repay mom for all that she has done, we can make a little payment to her which might be entered on the credit side of the ledger!
The first general United States observance of Mothers Day was in the churches of Philadelphia.
A Miss Ann Jarvis suggested in her church that one day in each year be set aside for Mothers Day,
For 50 years she campaigned for this memorial to Mothers, and the idea soon caught on in more and more churches.
Finally, in 1914, an act of congress was signed by President Woodrow Wilson setting aside the second Sunday in May as Mothers Day.
The carnation was chosen as the flower for this day.
A red carnation to be worn by mothers still living, and a white one in remembrance of mothers that have fallen asleep.
So today, to close our service, we are going to take a few minutes to make a little payment to mother on Mothers Day,
You see the beautiful spray of carnations in front of me, well we want to give some of these beautiful carnations out to the mothers that are here,
But before we give them to all the mothers, I want to give out some special ones.
First, let’s have our Adventurers up here, and some deaconesses.
The first red carnation we want to pass out is to the oldest mother here.
I don't know if that person would want to fess up to that!
We also want to give one to the mother with the most children here.
Next we want to give a red carnation to the mother with the youngest infant here.
Now we will have all our mothers stand, and if any children of these mothers are here, I want the children who are old enough to do it, come up here and get a red carnation and bring it to their mother - give it to her with a kiss for Mother’s Day.
Mothers keep standing until you receive a carnation. Those with no children here our deacons and deaconesses will be your children for today and bring you a red carnation.
Now all those who have mothers that sleep in death, please come up here and take a white carnation in remembrance of them.
We remember our mothers, and we love them, Tomorrow is Mothers Day.
But you know, to our loving heavenly Father, every day is child's day!
He remembers to love us and care for us every day!
Mothers love is wonderful, and praise God for it.
There is one thing I think all Christian mothers have in common, and that is the wish that their children will be saved, and love Jesus and obey His Word!
Don't you think so?
We will never know how much our mothers have prayed for us.
My mother telling me to wear a scapula.
Maybe you and I are Christians today because of mothers prayers!
Perhaps today there is someone here whose mother has never seen her prayer answered for you, that you might be a Christian.
The One who answers prayers is here today!
One who loves you more than anyone else. Yes, more than your parents, your spouse, your children.
He’s the Lord Jesus Christ and He’s here today.
He’s waiting to give you an everlasting spiritual hug!
Let’s pray
Call