to the heart of worship, and it's all about you. All about you, Jesus. And you've got to bear in mind, when you come to worship, it's not about performance. It's about focusing on the person of Jesus and all that he is and has done for us. Today, I have a subject of nothing. There it is. Jump ahead of me. Yeah. Mother and motherhood, that will be the subject this morning. And we'll look at two mothers that alters human destiny. I don't know if I would have time to finish all of this, but we'll see how far we go with it, but try to get the main points in. I just want you to put this in your heart, a little story. An Italian mom, or Italian moms who poisoned their children. And this is an article coming out in February of 2025, very new. It goes like this, unwittingly living off polluted lands in the Northeast Italy for decades. She had toxic chemicals in her blood, which she passed on with each pregnancy. And I just want to quote some of the words. It is painful to think that poison water flowing under my feet, and for thousands involved in the region, and so on, they ate the vegetables and passed them to my children in pregnancy. Basically, I poisoned my children. Just keep that background in your mind as we consider the subject, poisoning of the children, unknowing, unwitting. Mother and Mother. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers here. And under the sound of my voice, thank God, mothers are great. And I think in every sphere, in every region, in every place in the world, mothers are precious. There's nobody like a mother. What they do for children, not just when they're young, even when the children are old. Thank God for mothers. So thank God for all the mothers here this morning, and God bless you. You know, as we think of motherhood, there's a disclaimer. I'm not a mother, cannot speak for mothers, all right? But what I'm going to say is what I gleaned from scripture and what other mothers have said. So I think we have some legitimacy to what we're saying this morning. So in the context of motherhood, mothers and motherhood, we want to look at two mothers that altered human history, human destiny. We read, and there's just a text here in Genesis 3 and 20, Adam named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of all the living. You know, Adam named Eve, Eve was just a woman. It's after the fall she got her name, mother of all the living. I don't know what he was doing, maybe he was enjoying the delight of Eden. And after sin of his, he got his God. that sort of delightful pleasure. Well, it was Luke 1, again, this is the second mother that ordered history, and we know we're talking about it. In a loud voice, she exclaimed, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear. But I am so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me. And obviously, that is speaking about Mary, and the child of the Lord Jesus Christ, the mothers that altered human history. Now, unfortunately, we are in the 21st century, and we have to define our motherhood. That's unfortunate. Governor Evers, right here in Wisconsin, recently referred to mothers as inseminated persons. That's what he called mothers, an inseminated person. What a shame. These are intelligent people, and this is how they think. He's a homosexual, actually. He's married to a man, you must understand. So they are trying to redefine, they are trying to move the pillars of human society. And that couldn't happen without harm to society. So today, we don't know who a woman is, who a mother is. Apparently, we don't know. But you know what? These are terms that God himself defined. God defined what a woman is. God defined what mothers are. And let us stick with those definitions. I want to just make sure we are clear on the definition. These are women speaking here now. Everything you see in this quote, women. In fact, one woman, spoke of her in an article, she said, as a proud mother of two, it is absolutely insulting that the governor in his 25-27 bill would reduce me and millions of other mothers across Wisconsin to inseminated persons. It is only deeply offensive. It's outright attack on the very essence of motherhood. It is unconscionable that the governor has the audacity to take the most beautiful life being active for a woman can perform, bringing training to the world and turn it into nothing more than gender neutral, virtue signaling jargon to appeal to the violent base. God help us. There we are in the 21st century. But we know what mothers are. Female parents, very important, who give birth to or raise child, provide care and support, and nurturing. It's a female that gave birth or takes care of children. But primarily, we're talking about somebody that gave birth to a child. You know, my father, when he was... And this was pointed out at my mother's funeral by my sister-in-law. She noted, she said, for a long time, as long as I knew my father-in-law, he always referred to his wife as mother. Because she took care of him for almost 16 years, my father was incapacitated. And she took care of him, a lot of care. And he saw her as his mother. That's how he referred to her, mother. That's how he literally called her, mother. And she noted, I never even noticed that. She pointed that out. So she offered care and in that sense she acted in the capacity of a mother. So what I want to talk about today is just birthing man. Those that need birth to children. Mothers have the hallowed opportunity to partner with God in the reproduction of children. Little human beings. And I put their souls. Now that's a very important point. They partner with God in this procreative act of producing children. They give birth to souls. When you see a child in the womb, that is a soul. When a child is born, that's a soul with a destiny. That's a soul that is marred by the poison of his mother. You know, Satan knew all this from the very beginning. Satan was in the council of God. We found that out in Ezekiel. He knew the great plans of God. And so he swooped in very early. And he went after the mother. And through the mother's deception, sin entered them. Very important, the birth of souls, souls that never will die. As a mother, think about that. You have given birth to a soul that never will die. Natural nurturers, these are again women speaking. This is a mother. Natural nurturers, the carrying of a child to term, creates a natural bond to protect and care, comfort and guide. It's natural for mothers to swoop in to protect their child and care for that child. Sometimes as father, sometimes when I go back, why is she not giving me space here? It's natural. That's who she is. It's natural. Biologically, mothers have been given the opportunity to bear children because they nurture the developing child in their own bodies. They almost always feel a compelling drive, that's it, to prevent sorry, to protect the new entirely dependent life they have given birth to. Most mothers also feel inherent motivation or comfort to guide their children. So it is natural in the vast majority of cases that a mother becomes a child primary caregiver, especially during the first. And that's true. We know that. Wonderful. Thank God for mothers. Again, women speaking. Mothers, mothering is the most complex and demanding work imaginable. Being a mom can require the learning of a stage of development of a child, preparing nutritional balanced meal, helping with algebra, homework, wiping their nose, and so on. The role is made even more complex by the need for individualized parenting. Each child is different. Each child is a unique soul. It doesn't matter you have the task of balance between you two. My mother had 13 children. How she did it, heaven knows. But she did it. She was a doctor, she was everything. Very wise. She did it all on her own, as she said, everybody working, helping themselves, carrying on life. That's a great achievement. That's a mother. She put values into all those children at the feet of God. How to do it, God knows. No material possession can replace a mother. who is present and available to our children. Very important, present and available. You know, we live in an age where they say you must drop the child off somewhere, go to work. Some people don't have a choice, I understand that. But the best way, if you can, is to be there for the child. They thrive when mommy's home, where they are, when she is loving and accepting, when she listens to them, and tries to understand. That's God's model. And the scientists of children do better under those circumstances. Motherhood is a journey, women speaking. It's a journey of guilt, grace, and growth. I leave that to think about. Every motherhood journey is unique. There's no way to do it perfectly right. So there's no perfect way to mother. So just do what you're doing and do it in the fear of Allah. You're doing fine. It is the quiet courage of showing up every day when you're exhausted and full of doubt. You know, I forgot what mothering was about until recently. I saw my daughter and how true that is. You are tired. You don't sleep at night, but you've got to be there. It's tough. Tough business. It's only a mother who'll do that. It's wiping away tears, theirs and yours. How many times my mom must have cried over me? Only God knows. It doesn't come with a manual, yet it teaches you more than a book can ever. How true that is. Our greatest legacy as mothers is love and presence. We said that. Being there. Being there for that child. Being aware of inner critics. Most women suffer from self-doubt. Am I making a mess of this child? Self-doubt with mother. And gracious, this is a big one. Motherhood is an expression of God's love. As a mother comfort a child, so I comfort you. Motherhood is an expression of God's love. So you are really doing God's service when you are a genuine mother. But it's uneasy. You know, there's an African proverb that said, you take a village to raise a child, and it's true. Raising children is tough business, you know? And all because of the fall. Now, we cannot consider motherhood in a biblical sense without going back to the very beginning, the gravity of this issue. hangs on the fact, as I said earlier on, that women give birth to souls. That's a gravity of motherhood. In God's context, they give birth to souls. Souls that never die. And as a result of this sort of sin, Those souls are tainted with the traits and the nature of the mother. When I say mother, I mean the man too, right? Same, you know, there was a brother, Corbin, back home. He was an elder in the church, very gentleman, but very straight up. When I had my son, Sammy, and we went to church and everybody, oh, what a beautiful baby. Oh, beautiful. Okay, beautiful, beautiful. He said, brother, he's just another sinner. And you know, you tend to get offended by that, but that's true. He's a soul that is tainted by sin. That's the gravity of motherhood. You know, we said certain Satan knew this and he didn't waste time. But anyhow, motherhood is God's story. And we said, brother, this is God's business. This is not human construct. Therefore, human beings have no business trying to change and alter these pillars. We do ourselves harm when we do that. It's God's story. And so we go back to the very beginning, to Genesis 1. Let's just get there quickly. We're going to read just those verses so we get this in our mind. Genesis 1, 26 to 30. Let's just get there as quickly as we can. We read there that, then God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish of the sea, bird of the sky, over the livestock, over all the wild animals, over all creatures, and move that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God created them. He created them, and God blessed them and said, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth, subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea, birds of the sky, every living thing, and so on. So there it is. That's the story, it's God's story. He created mankind for a purpose. He created male and female for the purpose of procreation. It's God's story, it's not the story of man. Let's go back to chapter 2 verse 7. This is the outline is in chapter 1 for the younger ones. Genesis 1 is just an outline of God's creation. Chapter 2 is the detail of the creation of man. There's very little detail of the creation of other things. God is focused now on man. Alright? So chapter 2 we see here in verse 7 to 8. He said, then the Lord God form a man from the dust of the ground and bring into him not his nostril the bread of life. And man became a living soul. All right? It's God's story. And God planted a garden of Eden. And there he put the man that he had formed. Okay? Let's hop over to verse 15. The Lord God took a man and put him, sorry, took the man, put him in a garden of Eden and worked to work it. I take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat of every tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For the day you eat it, you shall die. And the Lord said, it's not good for a man to be alone. I would make him and help me. All right. And we saw there that down to verse 21. All right. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. And while he was sleeping, he took one of man's rib, and closed up the place of the flesh. And the Lord God made, or fashioned the woman from the rib. He had taken out of the man, and he brought him to her. And the man said, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman. All right? Ish, isha. For she was taken from me. Those are the words of Adam. So there you are. Motherhood is God's story. Now, one must understand that when God does something, the primary reason for God doing it is for himself. He is all God, not for us. That sounds selfish, no. Simply put it, there's no greater glory than his. So everything that God does is about himself. That's why he created man. That's one of the purposes for creating man and woman, for creating the family. Two, he created man to have fellowship with him. That's why God created them. In the cool of the day, we read God went down and he fellowship with man. In Eden, we'll talk about Eden just kinship with God. He wanted man to be a priest to worship. Adam was a priest. He lost his priesthood when sin came in. He was a priest, he was occupied in serving God in that perfect environment. Two, he created them to fulfill the procreative purpose. You see, God created this vast, beautiful world. He created the animals, but he said, you will fill the earth. So he wanted Adam to be a partner, if, in the procreative purpose. That's where motherhood comes in. That was the purpose of it. To be a partner in that mandate to fill the earth. Fill it, conquer it, take control. And of course, God created man for mutual delight. And I have another point here, to demonstrate redeeming love and power. Now what does that mean? You know, long before God created man, he knew they would fall. He knew it, yet he did. It's logical, why did God do it? God did it anyhow, because he knew out of this, Praise that will rebound for all eternity. Angel will see something they would not see otherwise. That's why he did it. He's going to get all the glory and that's what it's all about. It's not about us. We just sang that, right? It's not about us. It's all about God. So motherhood is critical to fulfill God-created purpose. Very important. Patent equity process, we saw that. And so motherhood was squarely placed in the context of a family, male and female. All right? Married people. Our society today is riddled with problems because babies are in homes where there is no structure. America is in trouble. Most societies with the rate of unwed mothers. It's a problem everywhere. And again, society will tell you the prisons are filled with people who are there because they were born in homes where there were no structure, no family structure, no fathers, nothing. Remember, mothering is very hard. It's difficult to bring a child up. It was never meant for so long. Always meant for two people and others, the grandparents and so on, to come alongside or help. You see? So this is the beginning of motherhood, all right? It started, as I said, early on after the fall. So the mandate was primarily procreation, which fell on the woman. That was her main job. That was her main job. And she was built for that. A woman is built for motherhood. We know that that's basic science. Yet today, people seem to have problems with this. It's obvious. It's obvious, a woman, a young woman as she develops, her body changes, she's preparing herself for motherhood. The widening of the hips and all this stuff, mammograms, it's all, that's how God designed it. And I just put here, as I know, there are words, a play of words. You know, when God formed Adam, he literally took a lump of clay and he formed Adam. Tremendous. The complexity in the human body is amazing. Now, there is no fine details given. But this was an act of divine power to make a man. But he said when he formed it, he built it. Different word. Yastar is the word for forming Adam. But for Ibn Banar, he built to fashion. Just as how when God made the heavens and the And the earth, he really put a lot of fine details for beauty and glory. And we know that now as we can pay our eyes into the heavens. Tremendous glory and beauty. When God built a woman, she was specially built for beauty. So when Adam saw his wife, he... He was enthralled. And that's what preoccupied him for all this time. Before the fall. You know, he was occupied with a movie. Now, just trivia, for those, you may want to answer, how long was Adam in Eden before Eve was formed, or fashion? I don't think we know, right? But it took, was a time. Now, somebody who read the scripture, you get the impression, I think, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. No. There are time gaps between those events. That could be many years. We don't know. But Adam was placed in the garden first, name the animals to take your stuff and so on before God said no this is not working you got you need somebody like yourself right then he brought Eve to how long before they became intimate we don't know but we read that and after the fall then he knew his wife and Cain came about all right how old were they when Eve became pregnant we don't know But it occurred after the fall. So there was a little time for Adam to enjoy Eden by himself. This is not good. I need a partner here, right, before Eden. What if Eve had children or a child before the fall? That's a question I ponder sometimes. What if they had children before the fall? What dynamics would have been? One child would have been pure, perfect, seedless. Are they true? Be simple. How would that dynamic work out in the scheme of things? We don't know, but that didn't happen, right? Just seem to tease your mind. All right, when we hear the word Eden, time is on me. All right? Right away, most people think about Eden as Adam and Eve, but let's just tell you a little bit about Eden. Eden at that time was a region of earth reserved for God. It was where the council of God met. And it is there that God put Adam. Glory, beauty, that is where God put the man, in Eden. Eden is described as a garden of God. You know, it is where the council of God met, and there's scriptures that support it. Heaven praise your wonder, Psalms, the assembly of the Holy One, that's a council of God. In the council of the Holy Ones, God is greatly feared and so on. You see, it's like, in ancient times, they said you had the emperor, the kings would have a council of advisors. And similarly, in how God governed the universe, there's a divine council, that when God is doing something great, that council would meet, Like when God created the world, in the beginning God created. It was the act of a council. When Christ came into the world, who would go for us? It was a council of God that decided that. Of course, it's God's decision. But God had a council, and they met in Eden. You know, God preside over in Psalm 2. 82.1, God presiding the great assembly. He renders judgment. That's Eden. That's talking about the council of God. This is Satan now. You were in Eden. That was long before man was on the scene. The garden of God. You were the anointed sheriff. So Satan was there. He understood how the council of God worked. He understood how God made decisions. He must have been part of that. The counsel of God, divine beings, they meet for counsel. And God makes decision in that way. It was a place of grandeur and glory. So Adam was placed in a place of grandeur and glory. And that is where he got his wife. As I said, they were preoccupied with all this beauty. Until God threw him out. So man's story started here. Womanhood started here. Family was supposed to start here and live in beauty and grandeur. Motherhood was not supposed to be painful now. It was not intended to be painful. Motherhood was not intended to be hard. But the fall caused all of that, you see? So we see in Genesis 3 here, If we hop over to Genesis 3, the fall of man occurred. Adam lost glory. You know, and we see God stepped in and He declared that womanhood or motherhood will save the day. That brings us to that second mother. The seed of the woman is going to crush your head. You see, Satan went after the woman and through her brought sin in. But God is going to use a woman and he's going to take the devil down. And we know who is that. That's Lord Jesus. That's our champion. Yes, that's our champion. So glory be to the Lord. So we read the sad story of God banishing him from the garden of Eden. You see, that is a place of, a holy place. It's a place where the glory of God cannot tolerate sin. You know, we read in Jeremiah that the train of Israel, the sin angers God forever. That's what happened here. God's attitude to Adam just changed. He just could not tolerate sinners. And so we read, he was banished. from the garden of Eden. He was banished from the place where God would walk in the cool of the day. And man was thrown out, never to return again. You see? Now, God's holiness, remember we said that motherhood, I'm talking pretty quickly here, motherhood produces souls. When Adam and Eve sinned and they were thrown out, the first thing that God said to Adam, to Eve, you're going to be, childhood is going to be very painful. That is what she was designed for. And God went to the heart of that. You're going to have a very painful experience giving birth. That was the curse. But the souls that are produced, what is the biggest concern? We know the story, Adam and Eve, big children and so on. People started to produce children and so on. Hop over to Genesis 7. And I mentioned this before because this thought was marinating in my mind for a long time. And I shared it at the breaking of bread. But let's look a little bit at what's going on here. Remember we said, motherhood produces souls, sinners. Sinners in the hand of an angry God. So when you hop over to Genesis 7, that's about 1600 plus years we are told. God is going to do something about it. He was so angry. His anger was burning because of what these souls that were produced by sinners how they were doing, they were homosexual, they were killing their babies, they were murder. Violence was very, very rampant. He said, the violence, he said, I'm going to destroy all these people. Think about that. And God put it into effect. Again, the counsel of God decided that he's going to act here because this offends his glory. This offends his justice. I'm digressing a little bit from motherhood, just to show you. Motherhood produces so, but there are eternal consequences. God said, every living thing that moves and it burns, I will destroy. He said, every living thing that moves, perish. Birds, livestock, wild animals, every creature that swarms you, all mankind, everything on dry land that breathes, nostril, die. Everything on the face of the earth was white of people, animals, creatures that move. What a horror. This traumatized God. If you read in Genesis 8, after Noah came out of that, think about the wailing and the screaming and the dying and the death. God saw all of that. He said, I'm not doing this again. Never again. He said that. He said, I am doing this no more. The heart of God was broken. Now what has happened? You know what? This is a picture of what happens to souls that were produced in the world that knew not God. Sinners in the hand, this is a picture of sinners in the hand of an angry God. You know, Peter warns us about this. And he said, this is an example of what God will do. This is an example that God is faithful in judgment. I think I mentioned the numbers before. Billions of people perish here. And Peter talked about it a little bit in his writing. He said that they are in prison. These spirits are still in prison right now. These souls are in prison because of what happened in Eden, sin that tainted the souls of men. This is just a little example here of what... This is an example of what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. Peter mentioned it as well. All right? It is known as the bursting of an island. They said a meteorite. And there's evidence right now. This is a model, actually, a computer model of what could have happened there. They call it... This article was published in 2023. There's evidence that confirmed the fact that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. We'll talk about... Sodom air burst was larger than the famous explosion of the Tunguska in Siberia. Now, this occurred where the meteorite, they said, were 50 meters wide, exploded, and it was 10,000 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. This was more worse than that. He said 80 million trees, over 800 acres were just wiped out. That is the experience that we have in modern times, all right? That occurred in, I can't remember the year, but it's not too long, 100, 200 years ago. This is what you call, they call it over 200 degrees, and they're digging up stuff right now where they're seeing four feet thick carbon ash. rich, destructive lair, melted pottery, and mud brick. Another part of the Dead Sea, where there'd be the sword of God. Souls, in the face of an angry God. And this is a digression to the gospel here. You're born into this world, you need to be saved. You have a soul that will never die. So what is God's solution? God's solution again is through the mother. We said that earlier on, the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, the savior of sinners, the God-man who became like us. And there's so much we can say on this subject. I'm just gonna quote the words of Hebrews and I'm gonna stop. In bringing many sons, remember Adam was banished They had no opportunity to bear their children there because of sin. You can't do it outside of India. In a hard place, if you read the words of Mithusala and others, he said, this one will save us from the hardness of it. It was tough because of sin. That's another subject. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, thank God, this is what God did to salvage what was lost. It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom exists all things, should make the pioneer of the salvation perfect through what he suffered. But the ones that make people holy and those who are made holy are the same family. So Jesus was not ashamed to be called their brothers and sisters. And the verse I really wanted that it was He was made just in every way. He was fully human. Through a mother. Again, the story is there, you can read it. Mary, young woman, just going about her business. Again, the counsel of God met. And the scripture tell us that God sent Gabriel. Once you see Gabriel is on the move, big things are about to happen. Two of them, Gabriel and Micah. Big things are on the move. God sent him directly, go to that virgin there. And you declare to her God's great plan of salvation. And so redemption came to a woman, the mother of our Lord Jesus. And we know what has happened, many songs. What was lost in Eden is now restored in Christ. We read in Revelation 22, the tabernacle of God is filled with people. That is God reversing what was lost. You know, and many souls of men and women, born of women, who were ruined by sin will be restored, renewed, rejuvenated in Christ. Thank God this morning that, you know, we have this great privilege of sitting here this morning knowing that we are saved and rescued from the wrath of an angry God, we saw that. That is not the trifle, right? Peter talked about it three times. He said angels, when they sin, they have no mercy. They are held in chains of darkness in their age. Some of them, some of them are roaming the world today, causing a lot of havoc. I mentioned this morning, Satan and the Indian. Others were so bad. that they will judge right away. Change of darkness, and they are waiting for judgment. You talk about those souls who were disobedient to Noah, and really, they are in prison, waiting for final judgment. Those are plenty souls. How about the babies? How about the children? These are questions, they're hard questions we have, but you know, God is the judge of, and he will do right. And then you talk about Sodom, God extinguish the cities on the plain with fire gone. The judgment of God is very severe against sinners. And may God help us this morning. You know, while we celebrate motherhood, let us think about what we are by nature and what God has done to rescue us from ourselves. May God bless you with a heart full of mercy. Ian, can you close and pray for us? Dear God and Father, how we thank you today for the wondrous plans of creation. And as we think about Mother's Day in particular, we thank you for those who have been mothers in the assembly here and in so many other places as well, and who are bringing up their families in the fear of the Lord, with correction and all that's necessary, with the family complete, with a man who is the leader and the provider and all of those things. We thank you for the for the strategy involved in the plan of families in scripture, and it should be the plan for every family today. We know there's a mess around us today. Satan has been working, but we know that the day will come when we will be reunited with the Lord Jesus, and we'll be taken to be with him. We wait for that day. Meanwhile, we pray that you'll help each one of us to live in a way that is honoring the Lord Jesus and following him and following the strategy that he's put forward for us as individuals, but also as families. And we thank you for the mothers in this assembly and pray we bless you on each one. Thank you for the message today.