SERMON: “BORN TO LIVE FOR HIM”
MAY 10, 2020, MOTHER’S DAY
PRAYER: Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can come into your presence any time and know that you hear and answer our prayers. And our prayer this morning is a simple one, Lord. We just ask that you would bless all the mothers that are listening this morning and watching us today. Bless their lives, bless their families, bless their husbands Father. In all things may you be honored and glorified this day. We praise you and thank you asking your special blessing on this day. IN JESUS’ NAME, AMEN. Open your Bibles and read Proverbs 31:10-12; 25-31.
SERMON: We are going to take the words of Proverbs this morning and expand on them a little bit as we honor our mother’s today. The title of my sermon this morning is “Born To Live For Him”. As far as I can remember, which is a chore for me these days, I don’t think I’ve had two consecutive opportunities to use articles from Decision Magazine as illustration for my sermons. But I was really struck by an article by TimTebow’s mom, you might know who TimTebow is, a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, a NFL quarterback, and now a major speaker at conferences; he goes all over the world to tell people about his experiences and his love Jesus Christ. But I want to take you back to before TimTebow was born. This article about his mom, her name is Pam, is really quite amazing. I want to highlight a few thing about her and they way she has lived her courageous life, and I believe the word courageous doesn’t even begin to cover the fortitude and the perseverance of this wonderful lady.
I thought it appropriate to use her story this Mother’s Day to reaffirm how God’s love, mercy and grace can transform even the worst situations into someone thing quite beautiful. Pam was raised by good, but not Christian parents. One Sunday morning while her dad was playing golf and her mother was sleeping in, she decided all on her own to go to the church down the street from where they lived. She was 12 years old at the time and she dragged her 8 year old sister with her. At the end of his sermon the Pastor asked if anyone would like to ask Jesus into their life. Pam walked down the isle and made the commitment to God that day. Her parents wouldn’t allow her to go back to the church, but she never forgot what she’d done. Years later Pam met the love of her life, BobTebow at the University of Florida. Bob’s desire was to serve God with all his heart. Soon they were married and found themselves as missionaries to the Philippines
Fast forward a few years and after four children were born in thee family, Bob became burdened for the children being lost to abortions in the United States every year. They decided to have another child and to name him Timmy, which means “Honoring God’ and raise him up to be a preacher. But she was worried because she had developed a serious illness called “amebic dysentery “. Immediately there were problems and she was bleeding and was told by her doctor that she needs to abort the baby to save her own life. Then he told her that the baby was only a mass of fetal tissue, anyhow, so it didn’t matter. She refused the abortion and prayed. A few months later, Time Tebow was born, and as they say, ‘the rest is history.’.
Tim never became a preacher but he has been given a much bigger stage to preach the gospel on. He became a football player, a Heisman Trophy winner, and an NFL quarterback. He has used that platform to tell others all of the world about Jesus. Pam says that she knows that the decision not to abort her son was God’s plan. To show the importance of every human life and what He can do if we are willing to let Him take control of our lives, no matter what the situation.
A virtuous woman, what King Solomon was praising in Proverbs 31, and although our world today is 3000 years removed from when he wrote those words, nothing has changed as far as God is concerned.
There are good moms out there and there are bad ones too. But I truly believe that the only difference is the love that Jesus places in lives of those who trust Him. Your child may not be the next TimTebow, he’s doing what God uniquely made him to do, but each individual has been created by God for His purpose. If you, wherever you are this morning, trust God with your child’s life, there is no telling what amazing things he or she can do through Him, and that life, whether he or she, is able to do in the hearts and lives of others.
I would like to spend a few minutes to talk about something that’s very near and dear to my heart, and that’s a place down in Fresno California, and it’s called Evangel Home. The ladies there come from all different walks of life. Evangel Home is a homeless shelter and so at Evangel Home all kinds of ladies walk through the front door; young ladies, older ladies, rich ladies, poor ladies, they all have needs. Some of these ladies have made the decision to abort children, and they have had to live the their decision over their lifetime, and it’s been difficult to reconcile all of these things and make sense of them. When they come into Evangel Home they are given the opportunity to see what God can do in their lives. Evangel Home has a motto that says; “God Leads, People Follow and lives change”.
For me, the important thing to remember always, is that God has a purpose for each and every life. Just like Tim Tebow. If his mother would have aborted him, we would have never known what kind of a man he would be. It’s true for the 60, or 70 billion children that have been aborted since Roe V. Wade back in 1973. My purpose here is not to berate people one to make a challenging statement, my purpose is just to let people understand the truth that will set people free. And the truth is “That God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that who so ever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). Everlasting life begins at inception, begins and ends when God sees fit, and we have to remember that. That God is sovereign in every situation, especially in the hearts and lives of young people. PamTebow made a decision when she was 12 years old, to follow Jesus. And because of that decision many thousands of lives all over the world have been able to hear the gospel through what Pam is doing, she has her own ministry. What her husband is doing, Bob has his own ministry. And what Tim is doing, and the rest of her family. Her whole family is involved, all 5 children, are in some form of ministry. Because of that many, many lives have been changed.
My parents prayed for me when I was a young man, going very much the wrong way, and 20 years later I walked away from what I was doing wrong and turned my life over to Jesus. The things that they prayed for came to fruition. I never thought that I would be a pastor, but here I am this morning preaching to you wherever you are this morning. God has a purpose for every life. You mother’s remember that. You are responsible for the lives that you bring into the world. God wants you to do the very best you can for them. It’s so important that we realize God’s purpose, God’s meaning for life. His Word says that He loves us and that He wants the best for us and that He wants us to spend eternity with Him. That’s all possible because He sent Jesus to die for us. Especially on this day, especially under the circumstances in which we are living right now, remember that God is still sovereign, God is still Holy and God is always willing to bring you in to His loving arms and caress you, comfort you, strengthen you and give you a hope. A Hope beyond this life, a hope for eternity that never ever passes away. God Promises, I believe it, and as the saying goes, that settles it!
If you need Jesus in your life today, just say the simple prayer, “God I am a sinner, I know I need you. I want you to come into my life and take control.” If you do that, He will do it and He will forgive your sins and give you, in the bargain, eternal life, life forever with Him.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning and we pray that this is a wonderful Mother’s Day for whoever you are, wherever you are. God Bless You.
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