Mother's Day

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We have already hyped children, but we'll try to survive the rest of Mother's Day, I guess, on that. But good morning. Happy Mother's Day. Just a little announcement. After the service, we do have some flowers in the back for all the women in the church, so please feel free to take one or two, and I think you can plant them. I tried to get ones that you could plant, but after that, it's up to you to keep them alive. Yeah, and hopefully everything goes good today because nothing is working right, so just, well, for now. We'll see. So just bear with our service today if something randomly shuts down, so. All right, so today we're celebrating Mother's Day, and we're also celebrating women who may not have children of their own, but they embody the spirit of motherhood.

So being a mom, the first day I was pregnant, I learned that it's mainly about sacrifice. So first our bodies are taken over as we grow this new human, which alone is a miracle of design and science that only God himself could have created. Then you have morning sickness, followed by stretch marks, and your favorite foods taste different, and the foods you used to hate, you crave. And what I've found is even the most random things, like you lose your hair, your eyesight changes, weird stuff happens when you're growing a baby. But when that life begins inside a woman, that's when the woman begins to adapt and keep going, no matter what sacrifices to her personal physical self is happening. So then comes labor and delivery, which everyone has a different story about that. But once again, the woman proves the strength and miracle that our bodies are able to survive such a traumatic event.

And from then on, you have this beautiful little soul whose job is to never leave you alone again. So now you sleep in personal space, showers, sanity, sometimes hot coffee, your food becomes their food, and your lap becomes their dinner table. You get to deal with a lot of really gross things, a lot of gross things, things I never even thought could happen. But you get to the wonder of seeing their first smiles and their first crawls and first steps, and you get to be there for them in the pains of their first injuries and boo-boos, and the first time they deal with the loss of someone or something that they love, and see the joy of them learning something new or discovering something for the first time. And so to me, motherhood is simply a beautiful and terrifying sacrifice that you never know what's coming next.

And we know that every woman is not a mom, and we know not all moms are good, but we do know that every woman possesses that same strength of sacrifice. Women's bodies are vastly different from men, and that is both wonderful and frustrating. But there are many things physically and mentally a woman deals with, and women have continually learned to adapt and keep going. And what I've learned from our women's study is that the women throughout the Bible have dealt with life-changing and even traumatic events, that they're able to find their strength and hope in the Lord. And any woman today who can do that is an unstoppable force in this world. These are women who extend kindness and compassion to those who've only known abuse their whole life. Women are women who embody the spirit of motherhood. Women who speak up for those who have no voice,

protect the weak with a fear that's often described as a grizzly bear, or women who embody the spirit of motherhood. Women who have offered shelter, clothing, food, comfort, healing, wisdom, who show honesty, who have an open ear to listen to all the zany stuff that kids talk about. My kids are a prime example. They never stop talking, and people just sit there and listen happily. And that's great, because my ears are tired. And women who give an example of integrity to all the little girls around them, all of these things embody the spirit of motherhood. And possibly the biggest reason that all of these things embody the spirit of motherhood and the strength of women is that most of the time, we do these things when we simply don't want to, or we feel like there's no way we have enough energy for ourselves, much less anyone else.

And that's when the strength of the Lord comes through. In 1 Chronicles 16:11 it says, "Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually." So some of the strongest women I know do this very thing. Seeking the Lord continually in the midst of hurt, loss, frustration, depression, trauma, monthly cycles, miscarriages, infertility, adoption processes, recovering from the pain of giving a child up for adoption, even recovering from the pain of deciding to have an abortion. Continuing to live in a world where oftentimes women are seen as less than always possible, this is how a woman remains strong, and this is how mothers seem like unstoppable forces. The joy of the Lord is her strength, and strength and dignity are her clothing. And so today we're actually going to read that verse out of Proverbs 31, if we'll go ahead and stand together.

We're going to be reading Proverbs 31:25 through 31, and the words should be on the screen, and hopefully they'll stay up there. And it begins, "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come." She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray.

God, we thank you so much for the opportunity to gather here today, and to be encouraged by one another, and for those that are watching online, and for the opportunity to worship you. We thank you so much for moms and women, and the strength that you give us and give them, and the wisdom that you give them, and for just carrying us through so much that half the time we can't even imagine what other women go through, but we know that you are there, and that you're with them. We thank you so much for the love, and the compassion, and the kindness, and the strength and dignity that is described here in Proverbs 31. And it might seem like something that's out of reach for us as women, but those that fear you have already accomplished these things.

We thank you so much for Jesus. We thank you that he loves women. He protects women. We thank you that you think women are important, and that we thank you for the women that help grow the church. Be with our service today, and allow it to glorify you. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so we're doing a new song today, and I think it's working. I don't know where Brandon went, but I think it's working. So we're going to be doing "My Lighthouse" today to start, and if you don't know it, that's fine. We'll learn it, and we're going to be doing a couple verses, and then we'll move on with our service.

In my wrestling, in my doubts, in my failures, you won't walk out. You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh, you are the peace in my troubled sea. In the silence, you won't let go. In the questions, your truth will hold. Your great love will lead me through. You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh, you are the peace in my troubled sea. My lighthouse, my lighthouse, shining in the darkness, I will follow you. My lighthouse, my lighthouse, I will trust the promise. You will carry me safe to shore, safe to shore, safe to shore. I won't fear what tomorrow brings. With each tornado I'll rise and sing. My God's love will lead me through. You are the peace in my troubled sea. You are the peace in my troubled sea. You are the peace in my troubled sea. My lighthouse. My lighthouse. Shining in the darkness. I will follow you. My lighthouse. My lighthouse. I will trust the promise. You will carry me safe to shore. Safe to shore.

Safe to shore. Safe to shore. Safe to shore. Fire before us. You're the brightest. You will lead us through the storms. Fire before us. You're the brightest. You will lead us through the storms. Fire before us. You're the brightest. You will lead us through the storms. My lighthouse. My lighthouse. Shining in the darkness. I will follow you. My lighthouse. My lighthouse. I will trust the promise. You will carry me safe to shore. Safe to shore. Safe to shore. Safe to shore. Safe to shore. All right. Good job. We're going to be moving into our prayer and share time next. If you're watching online, there'll be a slide up with a number you can text if you have any requests. Please send them to that number. And we will be muted here during that time. Just a few minutes, and we'll be back after that to move into our time of communion. And so we're going to be singing "I Need Thee Every Hour."

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can peace afford. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Stay Thou nearby. Temptations come to Thee. Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh. I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Teach me Thy will. And Thy rich promises in me fulfill. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. Alright, you may be seated. Thank you. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. All right, as we move into our time of communion, we're going to be singing "Reckless Love." That was my fault. Here we go. Before I spoke a word, you were singing over me.

You have been so, so good to me. Before I took a breath, you breathed your life in me. You have been so, so kind to me. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights till I'm found, leaves the 99. I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. When I was your foe, still your love far from me. You have been so, so good to me.

When I felt no worth, you paid it all for me. You have been so, so kind to me. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I've found leaves the night. I couldn't earn it. I don't deserve it. Still, you give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. There's no shadow you won't light up, mountain you won't climb up, coming after me. There's no wall you won't kick down, lie you won't tear down, coming after me. There's no shadow you won't light up, mountain you won't climb up, coming after me. There's no wall you won't kick down, light won't tear down, coming after me. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights till I'm found, it leaves the 99. I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.

In Luke, the 15th chapter, Jesus will tell three stories to two audiences: one audience, the sort of self-righteous, religious people of the day; the second audience, a group of tax collectors and sinners. The message to both audiences is the same: that God loves you, God wants you, and it's an invitation to come home to the Father. And the first story, we're familiar with these. Some people titled this chapter of Scripture, "The Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son." And we're familiar with these stories. The first one is a parable about a lost sheep, the second, a parable about a lost coin, and the third, a parable of the lost son. And I understand the sorrow of the lost coin, because this would have been this lost coin that this woman lost, even in terms of monetary value, maybe not expensive.

It was from her wedding. It would have had deep sentimental value. And I understand the son who goes astray and returns home, and the sorrow and the joy of that. But the one that always sort of catches me by surprise is this parable of the lost sheep. So it says this, beginning in verse 3. So he told them this parable, "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays his on his shoulder, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the sheep that was lost, just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

And it's a little bit startling because he has a hundred sheep. And percentage-wise, the one that goes lost is just one percent. A business owner who looks at his sheep and says, "Well, one percent have disappeared," but then he leaves ninety-nine percent to go and find the one. We might say that from our perspective, it seems like it's maybe not a good business decision, or maybe not a wise thing to do, but the good shepherd seeks to bring all of his sheep home. But I also, in verse five, there is a picture here of love and care, and you find the attitude of the shepherd toward this lost sheep. He doesn't scold it. He doesn't yell at it. We've had problems. We've shared this before with Dodger running away. We finally chase him down and catch him.

It's never like, "Oh, you're such a good boy. We're so glad you came back," right? It's like, "Why are you the way that you are? Why do you keep doing this to us?" He doesn't scold this sheep, but look at what he does in verse five. "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing." So you have the shepherd who goes out after the one sheep. When he finds it, he doesn't scold it. He doesn't reprimand it. He doesn't give it a lecture, but what does he do? He picks it up, puts it on his shoulders, and with joy carries it home. It's a picture of the gospel that you and I, who have gone astray from our good shepherd, he has come and found us. He didn't stay with the other sheep, simply calling out, hoping we would hear, but he came, stepped into our world, into our lives, and he found us.

And when he found us, he didn't scold us, he didn't lecture us, he didn't reprimand us, but he laid us on his shoulders, and he carries us home. And so, as we partake of this small meal, this little piece of bread, and this little cup of juice, we remember that we have a good shepherd. A good shepherd who ultimately gave his life for the sheep, so that they could be brought home. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for sending your son to find us. Thank you that you didn't leave it up to us to try to find you, but rather you stepped into our world and came to find us. We thank you that you saved us. Thank you that you bring us safely home. So as we break this bread this morning and drink this cup, may we see your love that has been poured out through the cross.

May we see your grace, and may we see the hope that you have given us. I ask that you bless this bread and bless this cup. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In 1 Corinthians, as Paul writes about this meal, he says this, "For what I received from the Lord I delivered to you, the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's partake together.

In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

I just want to make a little bit of a note this morning. If you came in and you are used to grabbing a sermon handout, you noticed that there were no sermon handouts. There is a bit of a reason for that. We're going to take a look at just, I think there's maybe four total verses. Three of them are essentially the same, with sort of a surprise fourth verse. And just like when you watch a movie, a new movie, you don't want somebody spoiling it for you. I don't want you reading ahead and getting to the end before we get there, because it sort of takes a remarkable turn in how things go. So I'm going to go ahead and pray, and then we will just dive into it. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace.

Be with us this morning as we consider the good news of the gospel, as we consider how you change the trajectory of families, how you change where they're going and what they're doing, and we thank you for quiet faithfulness. So we ask this morning that you would help us to be encouraged by the gospel, to be changed by the gospel, that you would be at work in our lives and in our families, and that you would help us to see the inspiring power of quiet faithfulness. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So it was my last year of college, and it was spring break, so it was 2003, I think the beginning of April, and I was driving from Missouri to Vermont, and the best route, not really a lot of good routes, but the best route to do that was to go through Interstate 90 across New York,

and I was hitting the big rest areas where they have gas and food and everything, and I needed coffee, and it was pretty late at night, and I'd pull in, and it just was this scene of chaos, right? Everybody was wearing orange. Everybody was, like, talking and yelling and cheering, and I was just like, "This is really, really strange." So I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to go to the next one." So I, you know, drove another 20 or 30 miles, pulled in to that one. Same thing was happening. I was like, "I don't know what's happening. Like, has this part of New York turned into, like, a weird orange-wearing cult where everybody's just yelling and screaming and super excited?" So I got my coffee, got back in my car, and I said, "I'm just not going to stop in New York ever again."

It turned out what had happened, and this tells you a little bit about me, was that it was the night of the final game of the Final Four, and it was the year that Syracuse had won the championship, and I was literally driving by Syracuse at all of these rest areas, and you just sort of stumbled into this thing, and you have sort of no idea what's going on. Now, some of you would. Rachel probably would have. She will make fun of me for all of this later. But I had no idea what was going on. And the person that we're going to meet this morning in Scripture, he sort of stumbles into a very similar type of situation. Not a happy situation, but on the other end of the spectrum, he gets into town, and it's sort of like, "What has happened? Where am I going? What is going on?"

So I want to introduce you to him this morning. There's not a lot in Scripture about him. Three verses in the Gospel are the only places he's mentioned. There's a fourth verse that is sort of tangential to his story. And I think the important part that we want to look at this morning, but these three verses almost essentially say the same exact thing. And so the person I want to introduce you to this morning is named Simon. We know where he's from, North Africa specifically. Today we refer to the country as Libya. And so if you look at a map of Africa, and you kind of see the top where Libya is, and where you sort of move west along the coast in the northern part, and you begin to sort of drop south right where it begins to turn.

There's a little city that existed for centuries, and he is from that city. We also know that he is Jewish, and we know for two reasons that he's Jewish, because his name is Simon. And secondly, he's in Jerusalem for Passover, something that would have been a dream of Jewish people. He's not just Jewish sort of in the sense that he says, "Well, I'm Jewish," but he's faithfully Jewish. You see, for those Jews who had been dispersed from Israel, the depth of their dream and their desire was to return to Israel and celebrate Passover. Now, if you lived a little ways away, you could do that every year. But if you lived in Libya, this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, a once-in-a-lifetime journey, something that you would have planned for, that you would have saved for, that you would have prayed, that you would have been able to take,

with no guarantees that you would ever have been able to do this. It was the work of years to prepare for this, the work of a lifetime. And we see his dedication in the fact that he makes this journey. So if you go in a straight line from where he lives, in Libya, all the way up to Jerusalem, it's 785 miles in a straight line. Now, a lot of that is water. Now, if you were to, today, I don't know what route he would have taken if he went by ground, but if you were to get in a car and drive from his city to Jerusalem, it would be something like 1,142 miles. And so, 1,150 miles in those days, you could walk between 20 and 25 miles a day. It was sort of average walking pace because everybody walked everywhere all the time.

You're talking somewhere 50 days or more to make this journey on foot. So not only is it long and dangerous and difficult, it requires you to take time off work, if you're doing this on foot, it's going to take you two months to walk to Jerusalem. And so you have this man who is from North Africa. He's Jewish. He's from far away. He's looked forward to this moment for his entire life to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem with God's people from all over the world. This picture of unity. The emotions would have been running high. And when we meet him, it's in the middle of a Friday. And he doesn't know it, but the night before, a man by the name of Jesus has been arrested. And he's been tried by the Jewish authorities three times,

by the Roman authorities three times. Pilate has had Jesus flogged. The soldiers have beaten him, spit on him, mocked him, put a crown of thorns upon his head. And then they have taken that cross beam of the cross, 50 to 75 pounds, placed it upon the shoulders of Jesus, and began to march him to the place where they are going to kill him. And it's as they put that cross on the shoulders of Jesus, and as they began to walk down that road, we meet Simon. Luke 23. As they led him away, they seized one, Simon of Cyrene, that's North Africa, Libya today, who was coming in from the country, he just walked into the city, and they laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. Matthew says it this way, "As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene,

Simon by name, and they compelled this man to carry the cross." So first thing, he's just getting into town, right? Travel from a long distance is not predictable. Even today, when we go to fly somewhere, it might be delayed, it might be canceled, you might have to be diverted to another place, and in this time, even more so, right? Because if you're going by ship, there's no ship schedules. Is there a ship going in the right direction that has room for passengers? Good, you can go. If not, you wait for the next one. And so this guy who has been traveling, likely for at least a month if he's gone by water, maybe two if he's gone by foot, has finally arrived, and he's just barely made it to the deadline. And he walks into town,

and he stumbles into the middle of the Romans getting ready to murder someone. Right? And he doesn't have a choice. Luke says that he was seized. The word there is really emphatic. It's not just that they're looking for volunteers, or they say, "Hey, you." This is literally a Roman soldier. Walks up to him, grabs him, pulls him into the street, they place the cross of Jesus on his shoulders, and say, "Walk." He doesn't have a choice. And can you imagine his emotions, right? He's making this trip to celebrate the deliverance of God. And as he walks in, he hears this noise, and he comes in the crowd, and he looks out and makes eye contact with a Roman soldier, and the guy just grabs him, pulls him in, throws a cross on his shoulders, and tells him to walk.

Can you imagine how that would turn your life in that moment upside down? And you follow Jesus to the place where he is crucified. You've come to celebrate God's deliverance, and you're in the middle of an execution. And you don't have the context of those who have lived in Jerusalem. You don't know who this guy is. You haven't heard him. You haven't heard him speak. You haven't heard the rumors. You haven't seen what he's done. All of a sudden, you find yourself in this place with no idea of what's going on. All you can do is sort of fearfully carry the cross. And that's it. That's what those three Gospels tell us about Simon, the man from Cyrene. Well, it's almost all of what they tell us. It's all they tell us about him, but we can learn a few more things about him.

In Mark 15, it says this: Mark, writing to the Romans 25 years after Jesus has been crucified, will say this: "And they compel the passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country." And so, you sort of have Matthew and Luke. You hear sort of both of their verses there. But Mark adds one detail that nobody else does. "Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry the cross." You know why he says that? Because the church knows Alexander and Rufus. It was this week, I was talking to somebody, and I said, "Oh, we're going to have breakfast with my Uncle Brian and Aunt Becky this week." And not knowing that they had no context for who that was, I said, "They knew Cody." And I said, "Well, that's Cody's parents, right?"

And that's what Mark is doing. The church he writes to in Rome knows Alexander and Rufus. You know why they know Alexander and Rufus? Because they're Christians. Now, we don't know how Simon becomes a Christian, but we know his children are. We don't know how they become, when they became Christians. We don't know any of those details, but we know that 25 years later, the man from North Africa who comes to Jerusalem and carries the cross of Jesus, his sons are active and part of the church in Rome, serving God. It's remarkable, right? We don't know so many of the details, but 25 years later, we know that this North African family was Christian. Now, there's one more glimpse I want to give you of this family, and it doesn't include Simon at all. Paul, when he finishes up his letters, one of the things that he really, really likes to do is say hi to everybody he knows, right?

It's like when we're on the phone with the grandparents on either side, and the kids go, "Who are you on the phone with?" And we're like, "Oh, we're on the phone with Grandma." We want to say hi, right? And so Paul, as he begins to talk, sometimes he'll say hi for people. You know, the people who are with me say hi. Or sometimes he will say hi to the people he knows who are in the church. And so he goes to this giant list in Romans, the 16th chapter, saying, "Say hi to this person. Greet this person. Greet this person." And you get all the way down to verse 13 and you find this, "Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well." And the picture you find in Scripture is not only does Simon evidently become a Christian, not only are his sons Alexander and Rufus known to the church in Rome,

but the mother of the children is a Christian as well. And you find, "Greet Rufus." This time maybe Alexander has moved on, is ministering somewhere else. He says, "Greet this mom. We don't even know her name." But look at what Paul says, "She has been a mother to me as well." So I want to take three things away from the picture of this family. First of all, I want to point you toward the picture of the Gospel that we see. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus takes our place, He dies in our place for our sin, and He rises again for our victory. So He takes all of the bad from our life, and He gives us all of His good. And as Simon, and this is so remarkable to me, as He carries the cross of Jesus, Jesus is about to carry Simon's sins on that same cross.

That Jesus is about to die for this man who has likely never met Him and never heard about Him, but who will go on to be part of the church. And He and His family, His sons and His wife will minister in the church, right? They don't go back to North Africa, right? They keep moving. You see how the gospel comes about. But you also see very clearly, and one commentator said to you this, this is the first recorded account. Jesus in Luke 9:23 says this, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." You literally get a picture of the gospel that Jesus, as Simon carries his cross, carrying Simon's sin. And then you also get a picture of what it means to follow Jesus, as Simon follows behind him,

carrying this cross. You see, Jesus takes the burden from us, the burden of our sin and our brokenness and our guilt and our shame, and he takes that away from us. He gives us his righteousness and calls us to follow him. The second thing that is remarkable about this is you see how the Gospel transforms families, right? They're 800-ish miles by sea from home, 1,142 miles by land from home. We don't know if they go home. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. When did they become Christians? Maybe at the day of Pentecost. Luke makes it a point when he talks about how people who become Christians in Luke chapter 2, he says there are men of Cyrene who become Christians. Maybe Simon was in that group. How do they leave Jerusalem? Why do they never go home?

Maybe it's when a man by the name of Saul begins to persecute Christians, and they leave Jerusalem after the murder of Stephen. We don't know. We don't know where they went, how they went. We just know that 25 years later, some of the family is in Rome, right? And they were well known to the Roman Christians. It wasn't just somebody who sort of sat in the back, but they knew who these people were, right? They have walked through the Roman world, obviously serving and being part of the church. You see, the gospel changes the whole trajectory of this family. And third, I want you to see this testimony of quiet faithfulness, right? The remarkable faithfulness of this unknown woman. We don't know her name. All we know is Paul says, "She's like a mom to me," right? She's not his mom, but

she acted like one toward the Apostle Paul. In Scripture, we see the wisdom from mothers, the provision, the protection, the teaching, the help, the prayer, the struggle for their children. And what you find is the Apostle Paul who frequently struggles, who is frequently persecuted, who is sometimes on the run, who is sometimes discouraged. He finds this woman in this family. You say, what impact did this woman have on the church? She was like a mother to the Apostle Paul. And one of the remarkable things that I have come to love about the church is you see this not just in Paul's story, but you see it in the story throughout the church. This quiet faithfulness through godly women. I remember the very first church I preached at was this little tiny church about four or five miles right from the edge of the Mississippi River. The river actually used to run

through town, and then in the course of the flooding it changed and shifted over. And I remember the very first Sunday I was going to preach at this church, I liked to be there early. And so it was like an hour and a half before church was to begin these deserted back roads in rural Missouri going into to rural Illinois. And I crossed the bridge into Illinois, and I'm going along, and I was like, "Nobody's there. The roads are straight. They're flat. You can see, you know, I like to drive fast because I want to get to church on time," right? And there is this little old lady in this little Chrysler who's puttering along at like 40 miles an hour. And on the back of her car, one of those stickers is like, "Don't drive faster than your angels can fly." And I was like, "I don't think they're having any trouble

keeping up with you today, ma'am." Right? And I'm sitting there going, like, "I'm just going to pass her." And then my thought was, "Well, obviously, she's somewhat religious, right? She's talking about angels. There's really nothing here except for the church that I'm going to." I was like, "Maybe I won't tailgate her the rest of the way to the church and just see what happens." I've got plenty of time, and won't you know it? Sure enough, as we get there, go to turn into the church parking lot, this little old lady in her slow car pulls in right in front of me, and turns out that she got to church super early every Sunday to make sure the doors are unlocked, make sure everything was ready to go, make sure communion was prepared, make sure the heat was on if it needed to be, open the windows if it wasn't,

because there was no air conditioning, right? And for the next three years that I preached there, I made it my goal to try to beat her to church, just like one Sunday. Like, for three years, I never did it, right? And she was one of those quiet, faithful women who just served the Lord. And not just for me. One of the interesting things, and I've never had this happen in church before, where you're a little country church, you kind of got this little piece of property, it was always kind of a struggle to keep up with everything. One of the guys in the church worked for the Department of Corrections, the guys who organized the work crew on the side of the road. He's like, "Hey, I got a solution to our yard problem." He's like, "I'll show up here with a gang of convicts

and we'll take care of it for you on Tuesday." And wouldn't you know it, she was there and she had lunch and a whole bunch of pie ready for these guys, right? And they walk in and there's just pie, right? Like everybody got a pie. It was amazing, right? And that's not a unique experience in the church. The experience that Paul has in faithful women, you see it throughout Scripture, right? Jesus' whole ministry is supported by a group of very important faithful women who follow and provide, right? The first good news of the resurrection is proclaimed by a group of faithful women who go to the tomb when the disciples are staying at home to take care of Jesus. And they get this wonderful joy of announcing the Gospel first. You see it in Priscilla, the wife of Aquila.

You see it in those who let the church meet in their homes. There is this wonderful picture that goes in the Old Testament and the New Testament of faithful women who have kept the church going, right? And here's the reality. Most of us, men and women, we're going to live lives of quiet faithfulness. We're not going to have our names trumpeted throughout the world. But think of the impact this anonymous woman has, right? The mother, adopted mom of the Apostle Paul. She loved, she cared for, she helped, she protected. Sometimes it likely Paul stayed with them, at least for a period of time, to develop that kind of relationship with them, right? And yet, here she is supporting the ministry of the Apostle Paul. So I would remind you this morning, because it's easy for all of us, men and women, to be discouraged.

Especially when we think about our gifts or our labor, and we say, "I'm so small, and there's so much to do, and it's so big." Remember that God takes this quiet faithfulness, and He does amazing things with it, right? He takes this little family you never would have guessed, I never would have guessed, from North Africa. You know, 800 miles as the crow flies, 1,142 miles by land, transforms this family. Shows us the Gospel. And then we have this picture of quiet faithfulness. You may not know how your faithfulness impacts people in the future, but God uses that for the good of the church. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this mom who wasn't a mom of the Apostle Paul, but she became like a mother to him. We thank you for this picture throughout Scripture of men and women who have quietly served.

And we thank you for those who have sacrificed so much for your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing "Who You Say I Am." And it's another picture of gospel transformation. It's easy for us, I think, in many cases, to look at all of our smallness and our weakness and look at all of our struggles and our fears. And this just simply reminds us that our identity is not found in ourselves, but it's found in what God has to say about us. "Who am I that the highest King would welcome me? I was lost, but He brought me in. Oh, His love for me. Oh, His love for me. Who the sun sets free. Oh, is free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. At last He has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. While I was a slave

to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, He died for me. Who the sun sets free. Oh, is free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. Who the sun sets free, who is free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I want to thank you all for being with us this morning. We will be back on Wednesday night. Continuing on, we've had a couple weeks of some differences happening in life, but we will be back at 2 Thessalonians taking a look as Paul talks to a church that is hurting and struggling.

He's going to talk about what he's thankful for, and then he's going to share some things with them that encourage them in the midst of their struggles. We'll be here Wednesday night, and then next Sunday we will be back in the Book of Acts. We want to remind you, too, that on the back table here, there are a bunch of flowers, and so those are for the ladies of the church. And so we've got a bunch, so if you don't take one, expect Rachel to kind of shove one in your hand as you're going out the door, regardless. So we are very thankful for you, and we are glad you're here. I'm going to pray. I'm just going to read one verse from 2 Corinthians, and then we'll sing the doxology. Father in heaven, thank you for how you change us, transform us, how you encourage us. We just thank you for the grace that you have shown us, the love that you have shown us,

the fact that you have not left us alone, but have sent your Spirit to help us and encourage us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Paul ends his second letter to the Corinthians like this: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.