(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Let's sing Assurance. Here in Washington is blood. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all that may love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all that may love. Perfect submission, perfectly fine. Visions of rapture, at first the west side. Angels who stand, we pray from above. And those of mercy, whispers of life. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all that may love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all that may love. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I am my Savior, and happy and blessed. Causing and waiting, looking above. Filmed when his dirt is lost in his blood. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all that may love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all that may love. Praising my Savior all that may love. Praising my Savior all that may love. Praising my Savior all that may love. Song number 408, Loyalty to Christ. Song 408, Loyalty to Christ. All were ill and clean, here comes the single train. There's loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. His music goes along, the hills become the sky. Of loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. All to victory, all to victory. The great prize will bring her in her arms. The movement is the land, will soon possess the land. There's loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. Here he brings sound, the lonesome earth can round. There's loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. Our lives are near and near, bring out the watch for truth. Of loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. All to victory, all to victory. The prize will bring her in her arms. The movement is the land, will soon possess the land. There's loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. Of loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. Where Satan's man is born, we'll sing the name of the Lord. Of loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. All to victory, all to victory. The prize will bring her in her arms. The movement is the land, will soon possess the land. There's loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. The strength of his real name and Jesus' name today. There's loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. His gospel will remain throughout the world to be. Of loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. All to victory, all to victory. The prize will bring her in her arms. The movement is the land, will soon possess the land. There's loyalty, loyalty, there's loyalty to Christ. Good morning. Thank you so much for being at Setfast Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin, we'd love to get you one. Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there. And we are still working on our Bible memory passage, Revelation chapter 1 verse 15. Any child that's able to quote the verse of the week can get a treat during the midweek service. Also on the inside, we have our service and soul winning times. And we have several regional soul winning times. We actually have a soul winning time every day of the week. So if you'd like to join us for soul winning, there's a lot of great opportunities here. You can see all of our expecting leaders. We have our church stats below. And then on the right, we have the list of our expecting ladies. We have several ladies who are expecting. And one that you need to pencil in and add to the bulletin for Megan Gore. So congratulations to them. That's exciting. Your husband told me to say it, so there you go. No, I'm just kidding. Also on the prayer list, we have several people there that you can be praying for for our church family. On the back, we have church reminders. Please take note and make sure that you're paying attention to those. Also upcoming events, May 20th is the spring swap from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. And then also June 6th, we're doing another Shreveport, Louisiana soul winning marathon. And so if you weren't able to make it to the Bahamas, this is about the best you're going to get. So it's a great area. We've been there multiple times. And every time we've been, it's been really nice. It's not even that far of a drive, honestly. It's probably about two and a half, three hours, depending on what part of the city you're coming from. It is directly east. And so if you're on the west side, it might be a little bit further. But it's a great area to go soul winning in. It's been, like I said, very receptive. And years past, that's why we keep wanting to go back, honestly, is just due to the receptivity factor. And so if you can make it, we would love for you to do that. Also, July 1st, we have the wedding in honor of Suhail and Miss Lori May. And so if you would please email Brother Suhail so that way he can get a full RSVP for their wedding. Also, can I get a couple ushers and Dylan? Maybe you can help me with this real quick. We have a Mother's Day gift for the ladies. And thanks so much to everybody who participated in our Mother's Day tea yesterday. It went really well. We have a lot of people sign up. But we have one of two options. So you ladies get to decide. And again, how I define mother is if you've ever conceived. So if your child is still in the womb, you're a mother. If your children are in heaven, you're still a mother. If they're here in the room, you're obviously a mother, all right? So that's for all of them. Also, if your mom is a member of our church but couldn't make it a day due to sickness or anything like that, please grab her one. You can choose. Either we've got an embroider sewing kit option. And then you also have an option of a nail clipper kit. So whichever one you want to do. You want to clip some nails. You want to sew some clothes together. So it's basically you want to destroy or repair, okay? And we all know you all have different feelings there. But we'd love for you to pick one. And that's just a choice. So we'll have our ushers and everybody go by and get that. I'm going to go ahead and lead our third song, Psalm 149. So you want to turn in your special handouts, the Psalm books. Psalm 149. Praise be to the Lord, sing to the Lord a new song. And it is praise to the congregation of saints. And it is real rejoice in him that made it. Let the children cause I am being joyful in their King. Let them praise his King in the day and let them see. Praise his unto him with the silver and heart. Let the Lord take his pleasure in his feet. He will purify the King with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in their glory. Let them sing aloud upon their face. Let the high praises of God be in their lap. And the two edges soar in their hands. Till there's a few vengeance upon the even. And punishment upon the people to find their peace with Jesus. And there goes the curse of my yearn to execute upon. Let the judgment dictate his heart and all the saints. Praise be to the Lord. Please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter number 20 and we'll pass the author in place around. Matthew chapter number 20. Matthew chapter number 20. Matthew chapter 20, the Bible reads, For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them unto his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you, and they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us, he saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong, didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way, I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last, for many be called, but few chosen. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise again. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? she saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him, and behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace. But they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for all the mothers out there, and I pray that you would bless them. And I also pray, Lord, that you would bless the service this morning, and just enable us, Lord, to pay close attention to the message that you've laid on Pastor Shelley's heart. Fill them with your spirit now. And Lord, we just pray for your protection over our church, and we love you. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. Look back at verse number 20 again. The Bible says this, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children. And that's actually the title of my sermon this morning, is The Mother of Zebedee's Children. And I wanted to drive a few different points from this particular text, and I find this text is very interesting to be found here in Scripture. It's actually mentioned in a couple different places in the New Testament. But notice that this mother is coming with her sons to Jesus. It says in verse 20, worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him. So her and her sons are coming to the Lord Jesus Christ with a very specific purpose. They have a desire, they have something that they wish to ask him. It says in verse 21, And he said unto her, What wilt thou? Now, essentially, they just come unto Christ, and then Christ can kind of anticipate the fact that she has a question, or she wants something. And, you know, it's kind of interesting when Jesus is asking you, What do you want? You know, it almost kind of gives me the same impression that you have with Solomon when God is, like, saying, Hey, you know, I'll give you whatever you want. What do you want, essentially? And while Christ didn't necessarily say that he'll give them whatever they want, we know from Scripture that God will give us whatever we want, as long as it's within the will of God, as long as it's within the will of Scripture. And so him asking this carte blanche, What wilt thou?, is kind of similar in the sense that, you know, whatever this woman's going to ask of Jesus Christ, she is going to get, you know, assuming it's within the confines of what Scripture says. Notice what it says, She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. That's a very interesting request, because notice it has nothing to do with her. She didn't say anything about her or what she would get or something about her life. It's just simply just asking about her sons. Hey, would you allow my sons to be on the left in thy right hand in thy kingdom? Now, verse 22 says, But Jesus answered and said, You know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, or am I going to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Now, when we read this in other portions of Scripture, Christ also kind of indicates that this isn't necessarily His to give, in the sense that it's technically God the Father who's going to decide some of these things. But another aspect here is that He's saying, I don't feel like you understand what you're actually asking from Me, because it's not like we're just going to have a party, and I'm just going to come into power, and it's going to be basically just all fun. No, in order to be able to sit on my right hand or my left hand means that you're going to have to be willing to lay down your life in the same way that I'm going to lay down my life, the same way that I'm going to be, quote, baptized. And so when He asked this question, He's kind of asking to double down. Is that really what you want? It gives you a better understanding of what you're even asking for, and they say unto Him. So notice the they there is talking about her and her sons, and you read this in some other epistles, and you'll see how even the sons said the same thing. So most likely, Mom asked the question, and the sons kind of asked the same question altogether, and then when He kind of is confronting them on this issue, they all said, hey, we're able. Now, that's kind of an interesting thought, too, because not only are the sons saying that they're able to lay down their lives or to sacrifice for the Lord Jesus Christ, but think about her. Isn't she also saying, I'm willing to allow my sons to be martyrs? I mean, how many mothers want that for their sons, or how many mothers would be willing to be buried after their children? And that's a pretty big, tall ask of the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice that she's not being selfish in this particular request, but she's rather being selfless. She's very selfless in her approach to come unto Jesus. She gets any of her desires asked for here in the sense that Jesus is saying, hey, what do you want? Which, again, is special, because not every time someone came unto Jesus did he get to talk to him, or did he personally, you know, hey, what do you want? A lot of times it was multitudes, it's throngs of people, not everyone gets this special attention. Even think about this, Jesus Christ's own mother and brethren wished to speak to him, and he didn't even talk to them. He's basically just going to continue doing his ministry. So for her to get this specialized attention from Christ, for him to ask, what do you want, and then for her to say, hey, I want you to give my son something, shows the selflessness of this mother. And really that's one of the greatest attributes of just mothers in general is just how selfless mothers are. And, you know, we're celebrating Mother's Day today, and really I think of many times we don't appreciate, and we probably never can truly appreciate, how much mothers are selfless for their children. Now I want you to go to Philippians chapter number two, go to Philippians chapter number two for me, and we'll kind of come back to Matthew if you want to keep a finger there, but you don't have to. Philippians chapter number two, we get some more explanation about just the mindset that Christians are supposed to have. And frankly speaking, I find that almost every mother to some degree naturally has a lot of these feelings. And something that we could all learn from mothers is how selfless mothers often are. But look what the Bible tells us, the type of mindset we're supposed to have, look at Philippians chapter two verse three. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So notice the mindset of the Lord Jesus Christ that we're supposed to have. That mindset is that others are better than ourselves. That is incredible. And think about what we're actually saying. Just think for a moment. The Bible is saying that Jesus Christ was actually thinking that we're better than him. How incredible is that? I mean, we're not better than Jesus, folks. I don't know if you realize this, the Lord Jesus Christ is much better than us. There's not even a contest here. His value is infinite. Our value is dust, whatever dust is worth. You know, Jesus Christ's strength is infinite. Our strength is small. Jesus Christ is capable. He's omnipotent. He's all powerful. And you know what? We have very limited capabilities. And so when you look at the comparison here, it's not even close. Yet Jesus Christ is actually elevating us above himself. Because shouldn't Jesus Christ have come down from earth and just everything glorified him and praised him and just everything was obedient to him immediately? But instead, he humbled himself and became a servant so that he could elevate us. So he could lift us up from our position of being a sinner to being a son of God. Because when you get saved, you're no longer a sinner. You're a son of God. You're a child of God. You get to put on Jesus Christ's righteousness and true holiness, and inside you've been made perfect. And so you've truly been elevated. You've truly been lifted up. You've truly been brought to a place that you did not deserve. And really this is the similar, you know, concepts that we have for mothers who take an infant baby who's been born unto them, who has no power in comparison to them, has no intelligence in comparison to them, has no real ability in comparison to them, but rather invests all of their life resources and effort and energy into growing up and developing these children, and in fact in many cases so that they can be better than themselves. Just like the mother of Zebedee's children did not say, Lord Jesus Christ, put me on thy left hand and Joyce Meyer on thy right hand. No, she didn't say that, did she? She was saying, you know what, my sons have a brighter and a better future than even me, and so what I should do is I should invest in them and I should ask things of the Lord Jesus Christ not for me but for them. Imagine if Jesus Christ said you only have one request granted you for your whole life. There's only one thing I'm going to give you in your entire life, and to use that on someone else. I mean, think about how selfless that would be, and we see that coming from the place of a mother, and I think that mothers, you know, the thing that we have to truly appreciate about them is the sacrifice of mothers. Caring about her sons being elevated, not caring about herself being elevated. Serving and sacrificing for her family as opposed to herself. Whereas American culture and feminism teaches women to do the opposite, doesn't it? It's teaching women to sacrifice for themselves, to go and go to college and get the career and be the career woman and to elevate self and to not have children or children are a hindrance. You know, many Hollywood actresses have even said publicly how their children were a hindrance to them and they're so thankful that they were able to murder their children so that they could get some Academy Award. Glorifying self. But here's the thing. In about 20 or 40 years, no one will even know who that is ever again. They'll be dead and burning in hell and nobody will care, and just like nobody knows who won the Super Bowl five years ago, certainly nobody knows who won an Academy Award five years ago, or 20 years ago, or 40 years ago, and that stupid trophy will rot somewhere and get destroyed, and her leftist grandchildren, if she even have any, will basically be like, what is this trash? And they'll probably ruin it anyways. But she probably won't have any grandchildren since she murdered her own children. And look, the only people that really care about you when you're old are your children and grandchildren. And once they're gone, no one cares about you. I mean, pretty much everybody that's ever existed on this planet, we know virtually 0% of them. I mean, we know about .0000001% of people that have lived in the past, and nobody really cares about any of them. But you know what? God will bring those who are saved back into remembrance, and they're going to shine brightly for the works that they did. And you want to know a woman that's going to be greatly remembered for all of eternity? It's the mother of Zebedee's children. And look at the title. We don't even know this lady's name. We don't even know if it's Abigail or Sarah or Mary, or it's probably Mary, because everybody's Mary in the box. Right? We don't even know what her name is, but it doesn't matter. It's not Beyonce, you know, Sasha Fierce. No one cares. You know what her title is? The Mother of Zebedee's Children. But you know what? What a great woman. And you know what? You know what's a great title? Mom. Not whatever your name is, not having your name in lights, not being all these Hollywood horrors and all these celebrity actresses. No, they're selfish. You know what's the great title? Mom, because being a mom is selfless. Being a mom is selfless because they have to go through so much. Go over to Proverbs 31. I want to go over there for a moment, but think about all the things that moms sacrifice. And really, to be a mother, you have to humble yourself. Because moms sacrifice their body. I mean, that's a big sacrifice. That's why so many women refuse to have children, is just simply due to the sacrifice of their body. And you say, what do you mean by sacrifice of their body? There's so much. There's so much you can even talk about all the sacrifices the woman goes through. Number one, they have to be pregnant for nine months. That is a tall task. I mean, their hormones change dramatically, where it's just all kinds of crazy stuff. And when you have hormonal changes, that also affects your body. It makes you crazy, of course. You know, it could give you acne. It could cause pain in all kinds of different places in your body. It can cause weird things with your hair. It can cause changes in your eyes. It can cause all kinds of changes. It's going to cause changes to your physical body. I mean, it's going to cause certain parts to develop differently. And, of course, mothers' bodies just start to change their shape and their size and everything, preparing for the delivery of a child. That's just leading up to it. Then, to actually go through the birthing process is an intense event. I mean, it's very extreme. It's going to grab all of your attention, okay? You're going to be focused in on that process. Plus, it's very painful, just the process itself. There's a long recovery, depending on the circumstances. Even beyond that, then the women have to sacrifice their body afterwards to breastfeed their children, which is another continual process. Their hormones are going to slowly get back to, quote, normal. You know, as time goes on. And yet, that whole process, just the whole event is just crazy. Not only that, I mean, women's bodies in general every month are just basically just getting ready. Just, you know, a whole process that God has developed for women so that they can have children, they have to constantly go through that. There could be even further. I mean, the fact that getting pregnant is difficult, giving delivery, giving birth. You know, many women, in fact, even go through a miscarriage, which we don't necessarily talk about. But just even being a mother is something that you potentially have to go through that. You have to experience that. Some women, I've known, their very first child has either been a stillborn or a miscarriage. And for her to go through all that pain and suffering and evil, but to then decide to still go through it again, just so you could have a child. You know, my mom, my mother, her firstborn was fine, but the secondborn was a miscarriage, and it was kind of a later miscarriage. But you know what? I'm so glad that my mother, even going through that traumatic experience, going through that difficulty, decided to have more children and to have my brother. And then, really long time after that, they decided to have me, okay? And so, you know what? Praise God that I get to be here today and I get to have a wife and I get to have children. You know, I wouldn't even be able to do that if my mother was not willing to sacrifice and to go through that difficulty. Plus, my mother, when she gave birth to me, I believe she was 43 years old. So, that's pretty late in life for a woman to give birth. In fact, if you look up statistics, and this shocked me the other day, but I was looking it up, pregnancies after the age of 35, 20% of them end in miscarriage. And then, pregnancies beyond 40 years of age, 50% of those end in miscarriage. So, the statistical likelihood of a woman going all the way through all of those years, even to 45, and never even having a single miscarriage is actually really low. It's actually probably pretty rare. And I'm just telling you, that's just another aspect of pain, of going through difficulty, of going through problems. And you know what, praise God for my mother for being willing to go through that kind of pain. Praise God for your mother, praise God for your wives that are willing to sacrifice their bodies so that they can give birth. Plus, you know, after a woman gives birth, it's very, very rare that they're ever going to look like they did before. They're going to look a little bit different because they just went through a crazy experience where their body was stretching and growing and going through all these things. And you know, that's another reason why a lot of women say, well, I don't, you know, I just want to be this skinny mini or whatever celebrity. I just want to be this anorexic girl for the rest of my life. And it's like, okay, well, you know what, that means that you're just selfish. That means that you're just selfish. You know, you're just selfish to have that. Now, some women, they're just thin as a rail no matter what. So okay, you know, God bless you ladies, all right. But I'm just saying like, you know, some women I know choose not to have children because they want to stay as skinny as possible. And you know what, that's not more virtuous than being a mother. Being healthy and being fit is not better than being a mother. And you know what, there's plenty of mothers that sacrifice and, you know, if you're having children regularly, you're going through all these different problems. I mean, the idea of you being one of these Hollywood celebrities while going through all that is unrealistic. And so, of course, they're having to sacrifice. They're having to go through difficulty. But you know what, that tells me this person cares more about her children than her own body. And you know what, praise God for women that care more about children than their own bodies. Not only that, women have to sacrifice their energy. Boy, going through pregnancy especially, the first trimester, a lot of times women, they lose a lot of their energy, it can be difficult, they have morning sickness, they're tired all the time and they're having to go through this problem. Not only that, they're having to potentially, if they do breastfeeding, oh man, I mean, you know, God bless every mother that breastfeeds. But I'll tell you, that is a lot of energy because you're having to feed so many times, you're having to do it in the night often, which is even worse because whenever I'm tired, I'm just angry. I'm just an angry person. I'm not nice, I'm not even sweet at all. And if I'm kind of tired and I've kind of gotten drifted a little bit and someone wakes me, I might hurt them. So, like, it's a good thing that I am not breastfeeding a baby, okay. But you know, my wife will have many sleepless nights or have to go through all this difficulty. Plus, just raising little children is so exhausting. Guys, wasn't it so hard yesterday while the ladies were at tea? I mean, man, and that was just a few hours. I could barely even survive, okay. How do they do this 24-7? You know, and of course, women, you have a lot to give to the world. You have a lot of energy to be able to bless someone with and a lot of women bless themselves with that energy, don't they? They're constantly just working on themselves. They're going out and getting their own careers and doing their own things or just elevating self-traveling. Traveling can be exhausting or just all the different things that single ladies are doing. Complaining online must be exhausting. But all their shopping, that's definitely exhausting. The most exhausting task is shopping, so I get it. But, you know, you only have so much energy to give and for a woman to give it all to their children is often very selfless because then they don't have energy for themselves, do they? They don't have all the things that they could put their energy towards. And again, there's another reason why a lot of women choose not to have children is because they're like, I don't want to waste my youth on children. I want to go and have fun. I want to go to the club and I want to go to the bar and I want to travel and I want to go shopping and I want to have a purse that matches every outfit. It's just like, is that really why God gave you so much energy and so much youth and so much strength? I mean, women are strong. For women to be able to give birth and raise these children and go through every day, I mean, that's a lot of strength. That's a lot of energy that they have. You know, God gave you all that effort and energy not to suck at basketball, okay? I mean, good night. Why are we trying to get all these young women to play basketball and softball and all these different things? You know, it's like, why can't they put all that effort and energy in having children and being fierce in that way, right? Mama bear. But of course, women are not being told the wonderful beauty that they have and how they can bless other people with all their energy, but they just selfishly spend it on glorifying self. And again, you know, it's a vain task because how many people really care about the WNBA? You know, the WNBA loses money every year and the NBA just has to supplement their losses. I mean, they can't even pay them the $5 they pay them, you know, or whatever it is because they obviously don't pay them any money. Because it's a worthless sport. But I mean, it's just insane how this is what so many people are doing today. I mean, you go to the high school and what's a big deal at the high school? Women's sports, isn't it? In fact, think about the most recent legislation all across America. Of all the problems that we're facing, the most important issue is women's sports. Like, who cares that if trainees ruin women's sports, just shut them down then. Just shut down, just quit women's sports. I mean, and then we can just say everybody can just compete on the same level. You know, it's more important to elevate women's sports. No, you know, it's more important to elevate womanhood and to elevate motherhood and to elevate the things that truly matter. And the one thing that women can do that men can never do, give birth to children. You know, they always talk about on these sporting events how men keep, you know, these trans men or whatever, you know, freaks is what I would call them, how these freaks keep breaking all these women's records, right? The powerlifting record and the sprinting record and the swimming record. But you know what? No trans men's record, you know, woman's record that a trans man will ever beat? Birthing count. Never. I mean, you have one child and you're going to beat every trans man forever for all of eternity. In fact, some of you guys are going for the Olympics. I mean, you know, 8, 9, 10, 11. That's impressive, folks. That's a record that you're smashing them into the ground. They have no chance to compete with you on this level. You know, we trick women into thinking that they should do something a man's supposed to do. Sports, running around, jumping, throwing, and lifting. And then people get offended when they're not as good at it as men. It's like, well, why don't we get women into the arena that they can only compete in? Giving birth, being a mother. You know, what a great thing. Go, if you would, to verse. I want to look at a verse here. And we're thinking about what the Proverbs 31 woman does. It says in verse 15, she riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household and apportioned her maidens. You know, of the sacrifices she's making, how about just time? You know, she's sacrificing in the birthing category, which, frankly speaking, is the only one that can do that. But also, you know, if you're a mother who's staying home and raising the children, it's going to be more difficult for dad to stay up all night and then also go to work. You know, dad has to get sleep. So often the picture here is the mother is getting up and she's doing things in the night, and you know what? God bless the mothers who are giving up their sleep and giving of their time for their family and sacrificing for their family. And notice, she's rising early in the morning just so everybody can eat. And you know, why is it so important that people eat? In America, we sometimes forget this because we have a McDonald's in every corner. But especially throughout history, if you didn't get up early and make food, you didn't eat. It wasn't like, well, why do you have to get up early so that you can physically eat? Also, since we have such an abundance of food in the world today, people like me, we can just skip breakfast and have no problem because I know that I have so much food and it's easy because a lot of us are cutting and dieting. These are first world problems, folks, okay? In other countries and other areas, people are starving. People are starving. And you got your man that needs to go out and provide and work hard for the day, you know what? He might need a breakfast. He might need actually food for strength for the day. And so the mother is rising really early in the night so that she can make food in time for dad to actually eat and then go out in the strength of the day and work hard because probably he's not going to have lunch and then he's going to come back for dinner and he's going to get that next meal that he can possibly have so that way he can actually provide for the family. And so we see the sacrifice of a wife or of a woman for her family. And you know what? Also for the children. You know, I'm okay with children playing. I like that children play, but again, historically speaking, the young men and women would often have to work during the day. Yeah, I love education. Let's teach our children. Let's educate them. But you know what? The young women are going out and getting water. They're going out and filling up buckets. They're going out and milking the cows. They're going out and collecting the eggs. The young men are going out with dad and they're chopping the wood. They're going out and building fences, building buildings, doing pretty much all of the work and all the labor. And you know what? They need energy too. And where are they going to get that energy? From mom making the meals. And you know what? Mom is sacrificing of her time, sacrificing of her sleep, so that her household can have a portion. Notice, and giveth meat to her household and a portion to her maideth. Not only that, even just the servants. So notice, this mother is just sacrificing to raise that family and sustain them and to make sure that they have what they need. And I'll tell you what, that's a big sacrifice. Women that don't have children or no one to look around, they don't have to get up early necessarily. They don't have to waste a lot of time on these things. In fact, with the food culture we have in America, many women don't even know how to cook. Isn't that crazy? If you went back in time and you explained, hey, there's going to be a time in the future where women don't even know how to cook, they would laugh at you, let alone tell you that men are going to be in dresses and you're going to call them women. But I'm just saying, just telling them, hey, women won't know how to cook, they won't know how to clean, but they'll have really long nails. They'd be like, what? What are you talking about? I mean, that's just a weird culture that we live in. And I'm telling you, look, I'm not down on you if you don't know how to cook necessarily, but at the end of the day you should be putting your time, effort, and energy in your family. You should be putting your time, effort, and energy into your family, especially when you have children, when you have that opportunity to bless them. You know what? Put in some effort. Put in some energy. And we love the moms that do this. Not only this, they just, how loving moms are. I mean, they sacrifice and they give all their love to children and not to a dog, okay, folks? Now, look, if you have a dog and you love your dog, I'm not mad at you, all right? But there is not the same kind of love for a child as an animal. And women that have had both know exactly what I'm talking about. It's not even close. And what I don't like about this title, where people go around and they call themselves a dog mom, is they undermine what it even means to be a mother. Because, you know, a lot of these dog moms, and let's just be real, a lot of women, they have a dog for a short space and they get rid of it because they don't even want it anymore. Because it's inconvenient to them. They didn't give birth to it. They didn't milk it. They didn't, you know, give breast milk to it. They didn't feed it that way or anything like that. They're not bathing it and grooming it the same they would a child. They're not nourishing it. They're not loving it the way they would love a child. Often they're also not disciplining it, okay? They don't love, you know, an animal the way that a true mother loves her children. But we see a lot of women, they're taking the love capacity that they have and they're bestowing it on something that is a cheap substitute. You know, a dog is a cheap substitute to a baby. A career is a cheap substitute to a child. You know, even here's another cheap substitute, yourself. Yourself is a cheap substitute. And you know what, the mother of Zebedee's children, you can tell that she took all the love, all the capacity of love that a woman could possibly have and she bestowed it upon her children, didn't she? I mean, the fact that she goes on to the Lord Jesus Christ and she's asking things for them as opposed to herself shows she took all the love she had on herself and she was like-minded as Christ and she bestowed it on others just like Christ would have bestowed it on others. And let me tell you something, there's a lot of mothers today who are bestowing their love on their children and on other people and we don't even appreciate it. Mothers often are sacrificing and giving of their intelligence. Look, just because we believe mothers should stay at home doesn't mean they're not intelligent. I guarantee my wife is way more intelligent than all of these feminists out there. She knows so much more than them. She speaks with wisdom. Just like the lady here in the Proverbs 31, look at verse 26, she opened her mouth with wisdom. You know, the women of the Bible are very smart. The women of this world are not. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 2, go to 1 Timothy chapter 2. Not only that, they bestow all of their patience. Look, women are so much more patient than men. God bless them. That's why children, when they hurt themselves or screw up or do anything wrong, they always want mom. I'm not that patient. It's like children just make a mistake, an honest mistake, and they get in trouble with me. You know, they accidentally drop something. I'm mad at them and I discipline them for that. You know, moms are like, oh, it's okay, honey, he's two, he's four, whatever. You're just like, no, do it right. You know, it's like, man, I'm not the same level of patience as my wife and you know what, God bless the mothers out there. You know, when you have a hard day, you want mom. Why? Because she's so loving and she's so patient. Not only this, women are so skilled in being multitasking. You know, I can't multitask the same way that my wife can, and you know what, God bless the women who take all that multitasking energy and effort and instead of wasting it on a management job down at the corporation, they put it into practice at home, don't they? And look, obviously there's a reason why women elevate to these positions often in the corporate workplace is they're better multitaskers, they're good at oral and written communication, so often they put them in these office jobs and they do a great job. You know, they do better than men can in a lot of ways. But you know what, if you have this great strength, if you're better, why wouldn't you put it in the best place you could and put it in the home and be able to multitask? I mean, the things that women have to do, I mean, they're cooking, cleaning, sewing, you know, doing laundry, thinking about children, educating, also being pregnant, breastfeeding, all that stuff at the same time somehow while they're tired. When I'm tired, I just go to bed, you know. Like, if I'm tired, that's the one task, sleep. Hungry, eat, okay, work, work. I can do like about one thing at a time, right? I just, I have, what's the biggest problem in my life? I fix that one, right? Women are just sitting here just like juggling like master jugglers or something over here and you know what, praise God for the mothers that are doing that. They're 24-7 on call, they have a thankless job and pretty soon their teenagers and their grown-up children will never appreciate and love them the way that they should. You know, when you have, enjoy the little kids, okay? Because the little kids, they want to sit in your lap and hug you and kiss you and say thank you and love you. As soon as they turn into a teenager, it just all flips off. It's just like pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft. All these like stupid little sounds that teenagers make, don't they? Pfft, pfft, pfft. You know, mom said, clean your room, pfft. You know, why do you have to wear clothes like that? You know, it's just all these, it's just attitude. It's just attitude comes out of nowhere and it's like the mom didn't stop being a great mom, you just started being a punk, didn't you? And you know those teenagers, they just stop saying thank you as much, they stop being as appreciative as much, they stop loving back as much, because now they're going to be independent, you know, they're going to be cool or whatever. And it's just like the mom doesn't get as much thanks as she deserves, does she? And then when they grow up, they start worrying about themselves and get their own families and move out and do their own things and whatever. And you know what, let's be realistic, how often do you tell your mom thanks anymore? And you know, for everybody, you know, God bless all of you in here that still have a mother. If you have a mother today, you need to thank her. And you know why you need to thank your mom today? Because I can't. So why don't you thank your mom since I can't even do it today? And you know what, shame on you if you don't even call your mom or thank your mom or say something nice to your mom on Mother's Day when some of us in here can't even do it and we would love to be able to do that. And you know what, your mother sacrificed so much for you and she has such a thankless job, if anybody is going to thank her, it's you. If anybody's going to thank her, it's the children, okay? And when you're thinking about this sermon, you need to be thinking about your mom. Now, I want you to go back to Matthew chapter 20 for a moment. I want to look at another verse here. The mother of Zebedee's children was very selfless, very selfless, and that's what makes mothers great is how selfless they are. And even if you say, well, my mom's not, you know, the mother of Zebedee's children. Yeah, but I guarantee the things I just talked about, she had a lot of those sacrifices too, didn't she? And you can thank her for those things. Now, here's the second thing that makes the mother of Zebedee's children great is in verse 20 it says, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping him. Notice, this woman is spiritual. And you know what, God blessed the spiritual mothers out there, the women who are spiritual and put God first, Jesus Christ first, and are willing to recognize the Savior and are willing to put worship at the forefront. Go if you would to 2 Timothy chapter 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1. So not only is this woman selfless, but she's also spiritual. And you know what, praise God for the women in this room that are choosing to be spiritual, who choose to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and want to love our Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, what I want you to also understand, and I don't know where the timing of this fits in the sermon, but the one takeaway I want for all of you women to realize is this. When Jesus Christ asked this woman, she asked this mother, what do you want? You know, you might think, wow, I wish I had that opportunity. You have it every day. Jesus is always, Jesus is always looking, every mother in this room, every woman in this room, Jesus Christ is looking down from heaven and every single day he's just looking at you and saying, what wilt thou? He's just saying, what do you want? And you say, okay, well then, how do I get what I want? You pray. You pray. Every single day you can pray and you can ask Jesus for the things that you want. And he wants you to pray to him the same way that Zebedee's mother was talking with Jesus in the flesh. And think about this. The request that she had for Jesus was not going to be granted that day. It wasn't going to be granted the next day. It wasn't going to be granted that week. This was a lifelong prayer request. This is a prayer request that is a vision for the future. It's not a prayer request for today. And let me tell you something. Prayer is an exercise of faith and God wants us to pray every single day. And so you mothers should be praying for your children every single day for the things you want. Praying that they'll grow up. Praying that they'll be godly. Praying that they'll get saved. Pray for your children to be saved until they get saved. Pray for your children to read the Bible all the way through until they read the Bible. Pray for your children to be a godly teenager until they're a godly teenager. And then maybe you have to start praying for them to be a young adult. Pray that they marry a godly spouse. Pray that they're going to be a godly husband and a godly wife. Pray that they're going to have godly grandchildren. Because you know what? One day you're going to have grandchildren. Wouldn't you want to say, you know what? I've been praying for this grandchild for 20 years. I've been praying. You know, think about this. Some people even have adult grandchildren. Think like I've been praying for this grandchild to be godly for 40 years. And now they're 20 years old and they're godly. But how many mothers today have a 20-year-old grandchild that is just of the devil? And there's no fixing it. And you say, what would fix this? How about 40 years worth of prayer? But you know what you can't do? You can't do 40 years worth of prayer in five minutes. You can't go back in time. But you know what you can do? You can start praying now, can't you? And you know what? Praise God for the mothers and the grandmothers and the women that were praying for their sons and praying for their children so much. In fact, I meet a lot of people. And they've told me, hey, my mother was very spiritual or my grandmother was very spiritual. And they would pray for me all the time. I knew they were always praying for me. And you know what? Sometimes we don't even realize what kind of impact that's having on our lives. Look at 2 Timothy 1. Look at verse 5. When I called a remembrance, the unfeigned faith that is in thee, I felt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice, and I persuaded that in thee also. Notice, we see at least a 40-year faith going from grandmother to mother into Timothy. You could argue this might be 50 or 60 years. I don't know the age of these people. But it's most likely at least a 40-year faith that we're seeing come to fruition through the grandmother to the mother into Timothy. And you say, why is Timothy such a great guy? How about a grandmother praying for 40 years and having faith for 40 years for her grandson? How about a mother following in that faith? And we see the impact that a woman can have on this world when she elevates others and she's praying for others. You know, it makes me think of Esther. Let's just keep your finger here because I want to come right back. We'll go to Esther chapter 7 for a moment. You know, she's more concerned with her sons serving Jesus than anything else, too. Think about this. Couldn't she say, hey, grant that my sons will be taller? Grant that my sons will be stronger. Grant that my sons will play in the Super Bowl. You know, I think there's a couple times or a couple instances where brothers have actually made it to, like, the Super Bowl or they played in high-level competition sports together, and people can say, oh, what a proud mother, you know, to have their sons. And, of course, that's an extreme accomplishment, but it's a carnal accomplishment. And notice she doesn't want a carnal accomplishment for her sons, does she? She wants a spiritual accomplishment for her sons. And, you know, one thing that I have to say about my mother that I just, it'll always stick with me, is how my mom specifically, the only thing she cared about was me being spiritual. I mean, my mom, she would tell me all the time, she would say the only thing I even care about is my sons knowing God, is knowing Jesus. And my mom, she prayed every day, multiple times every day. She read her Bible every single day. She was a devoted Christian. She loved the Bible. She loved church. She gave everything to church. They would drive. I mean, the only thing this woman cares about that I can really tell is God and church. And you really think it's just an accident that I even am the person I am today? No. I could be all kinds of different things. And, you know, while I have free will and every person has free will, all of us are a product of the environment that we're in. And, you know, I was raised to just drive as far as possible to go to the best church in my area. And you know where I went to church as a child? In this area, okay? We went to the Church on the Rock, all right? And Church on the Rock was like a 40-minute drive from where we lived. We lived in Keller. It was like a 30- or 40-minute drive. I don't remember where it is. I think the church is gone now. But I remember, hey, you know when we were driving, we're passing all kinds of churches. We're passing all other kind of places. We're passing the McDonald's spiritually. We're passing the Burger King spiritually, you know, to get that Heinz barbecue. No, I'm just kidding. To get that Outback, right? Or to get whatever it is to get the strong meat of the word. And look, is that church the greatest church in the world? Not even close, okay, folks? I don't even know if it was a good church in general. But I do know this, that the Sunday school teacher preached the gospel every single service. And I walked down the aisle and I prayed and asked Jesus Christ to save me. And I'll tell you what, the same day I was motivated by that to go and preach to my neighbors and try to get them saved. So they had something going for them. I mean, there's not a lot of kids wanting to do that kind of stuff. And I'll tell you this. I know that my mom prayed for me all the time because she would tell me too. But she was constantly praying for me. And, you know, it's funny. And I don't know if this is true or not or how this works out. But my mom would always just say, look, I've always been praying for you because I believe you're going to be a preacher one day and you're going to have a lot of people want to listen to you and you have really important things to say. And what's funny about it is I would get in trouble at school every single day for talking too much. So, especially when I was here in Keller. There's always a connection here. No, I'm just kidding. When I was here in school, boy, they had this, I think I've told this story before, but they have like a red, yellow, green stoplight in the classroom. And everyone starts at green. You know, it's like everybody starts in the book of life or something, right? And you all had a clip with your name on it. And as soon as you made a mistake or got in trouble that day, you'd go to yellow, right? And then when you either did something really bad or multiple mistakes, it's red, okay? I basically, my mom said, look, any day you're in green, I'll get you McDonald's, okay? So, all right. I get a McDonald's Happy Meal. I think I got about five McDonald's Happy Meals for the year. I mean, and look, it wasn't like our teacher was really strict. It was just me. And, you know, I just got in trouble. But, you know, instead of my mom being mad at me for that, she would encourage me to say, you know what, I think the reason why you talk so much is because God's going to use that gift for his kingdom. And, you know, at the time, I'm thinking, like, whatever gets me off the hook, you know? Like, I don't really care. I wasn't being spiritual. I was thinking, like, whatever, I don't care, you know? But, you know, those things stick with you as a child. And you know what? God blessed the mothers out there that are looking at their children and saying, hey, you're so stubborn, maybe that's because you're going to be a steadfast Christian in the future. You're so strong, maybe that means because you're going to defeat foes in the future, right? They're looking at what might be ornery or difficult. You know, they're so quick-witted or sarcastic or whatever the problems are, and you say, you know what, you're going to probably be able to use, you're going to make some great memes in the future. But, you know what? You just got to love the mother that's trying to make everything spiritual and bring it back to God. And, you know what, praise God for my mother that wanted me to serve God. And, you know what? I may have not always been the best kid, I know I wasn't, but I do know this, that I always had an internal desire to want to serve God and I think it was placed there for my mother. Look at Esther chapter 7, verse 2. And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, what is thy petition, queen Esther, and it shall be great for thee? What is thy petition, queen Esther, and it shall be granted thee? And what is thy request, and it shall be performed even in the half of the kingdom? This reminds me, another woman being presented with basically just like, what do you want? I mean, this is pretty, in fact, up to half of the kingdom. We know what all the Hollywood whores would want. They divorce and get half the kingdom, don't they? Give me half the assets, right? Says then Esther the queen answered and said, if I have found favor in thy side, O king, please the king, let my life be given me at my position and my people at my request. You know why she went in? For her people. For other people. Obviously, she's included. But notice what she says in verse 4. For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue. Notice what she's saying. She's saying, I would have accepted being a bondwoman, but I'm willing to sacrifice my life just for other people. Of course, you have to understand the context of Esther is the fact that by her just even asking the petition of her husband, she could be put to death. You know? That's how women should treat their husband, right? No, I'm just kidding. Go to Proverbs 29. Go to Proverbs 29. I'm not going to have you turn back to 2 Timothy 1. The point that I want to make with 17 and 1 that I was going to still make there is the fact that it was unfeigned faith. A sincere faith. And let me tell you something. Children can tell if your mom or their mother has a sincere faith. And why is Timothy so great? Because the moms were real. And you know what? Praise God for mothers who are truly spiritual. Let me tell you something, ladies. You that are actually meek and quiet and reading your Bible and making church a priority, even though you might not be preaching or speaking even out loud, your actions are making a life-worthy impact on your children. My mom didn't have to tell me, hey, John, I want to let you know, I read my Bible today. You know what? I saw her reading her Bible every day. I saw my mom being spiritual. I saw my mom doing all these things. She didn't have to tell me about it. You know what I would have also noticed? If my mom was watching TikTok videos and dancing in her underwear all day. Or if she was just going shopping all day. You know, my mom, she honestly, she was a very spiritual woman. She didn't even like going to the fancy shopping. She pretty much would only buy stuff at thrift stores or garage sales. Now, she liked going there because she liked finding deals. But that's actually found in the Proverbs 31 woman where she's going afar and traveling and trying to get the deals. She taught me how to shop. We would go to the grocery store and she'd always point out the prices to me and point out what the good deals were. She'd tell me where to go. She would use the coupons and do all that kind of stuff. Why? She was being thrifty and being resourceful. And, you know, my mom wasn't, honestly, my mom just wasn't carnal. She didn't really care about that stuff. She pretty much never wore makeup or any of that kind of stuff. She would wear it, but, you know, she wasn't really that, she didn't have to be dressed to the nines or anything like that. She gave away a lot of her jewelry just because she didn't even, she didn't even want it. And, I mean, think about this. My mom, she gave away her diamond engagement ring just to church, just because she just wanted church to have it more than for her to have it. How many women would be willing to give up their diamond engagement ring? But, you know what? That's a spiritual lady that says, you know what, I don't care. And look, folks, it's a rock, okay? It's rocks. Who cares about it? It's rocks. Who cares about it? You know, it's meaningless. At the end of the day, it's vanity at the end of the day. But you know what's not vanity? Being spiritual so your children can see that. Loving God so that your children can see that. And let me tell you something. Every action you make every day has a huge impact on your children. Do they see you cooking? Do they see you cleaning? Do they see you reading your Bible? Do they see you praying? Do they see you taking them to these things? Are you praying with your children? All of these things are having such a huge impact on your children, you know? Are you just laying around and being served? Are you just watching TikTok all day? Because you know what? Your children will turn into you. That's why the children of the youth today are just terrible. And look what the Bible says in Proverbs 29 verse 18. Where there is no vision, the people perish. You know what I love about this woman, the mother of Zebedee's children? She had a big vision for her children. And you know what? Just like I had no idea and I doubt my mom knew for sure what my future would be, she cast a big vision for me. She said, you're going to be used greatly by God. Every time I'd even play with swords or guns, she's like, you're such a great warrior, but you're going to be a warrior for Jesus. Not physically, not carnally. And I was always like, I kind of want the carnal one. I love using the sword. I love using the gun, you know? I just loved war. I just loved war. I don't know why. War has fascinated me. I had all kinds of army men. And then the computer game that I love was Red Alert. Who likes Red Alert? OK, God bless those hands, all right? I see you. Oh, man, I just love strategy. I love war. I love the fighting. And my mom sees that again and says, hey, but you know what? We can turn that into a spiritual weapon to be used. And you know what? She casts a big vision. This mother is having the biggest vision for her children ever. What's the biggest vision? Hey, sit at Jesus' left hand and Jesus' right hand. And you know what? Some of you women need to get a big vision for your children. But let me tell you something. You know how you're going to get your children there? You're going to have to actually work on that. But you know, when you have no vision, I guess you can just lay around and do nothing all day because you have nothing for your children to accomplish. You know what? The women that actually say, I want my child to do x or y or have a big vision, you know what? You're going to be motivated to work on that. I want my children to speak another language. I want my children to be a gospel preacher. So I'm going to teach them how to do soul winning. I want my children to know how to cook. Or I want my children to know how to clean. I want my children to know how to do all of these different tasks. Some women do all kinds of cool things. Sewing, even fixing up houses or gardening. There's so many things that you could be teaching your children. But why not have a big vision for your children? You know, teach your children how to play an instrument. You know, we could use more instrumentalists. You know what? Praise God for mothers that are willing to cast a big vision for their children. But let me tell you something. Your children won't go far when you don't have a vision for them to go anywhere. If you look at pretty much every person that was great, their mother or their parents were basically putting them into the position to be great. People usually are not great on their own. It's very rare. Go backwards with chapter 22. And here's the last point. I'm just going to make it quickly. Just because you guys know this so well. Is not only is the mother of Zebedee's children selfless, not only is she spiritual, but you know what I really like about her? Is that she's steadfast. Hey, remember when Jesus Christ asked her, hey, do you realize what kind of baptism we're talking about here? We're talking about a fundamental Baptist, right? And she's like, we're able. She's steadfast. And look, to be one of the people that would sit at Jesus Christ's left or right hand, you have to be steadfast. Steadfast is the only opportunity for you to do that or to be that. Why? Because you have to be unmovable and always abounding. You're never going to give up. You're never going to stop. And you say, well, how can someone be steadfast? They need to be raised to be steadfast. Look at Proverbs 22 verse 6. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Notice, she's casting vision for her children. I guarantee her children were already great at that point, considering the fact that Jesus came and they just immediately left their father. They immediately went to serve Jesus. They immediately were going to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't care. Bam, Jesus. But then, even as adult children, as young men, the mom is saying, hey, I'm not done here. You're going all the way to the finish line. You're going all the way to the left hand or the right hand. And you know what? Just because children aren't in your house doesn't mean you can't still cast vision for their life. Let me say that again. Just because children aren't in the house doesn't mean mothers can't cast vision for their children. Praise God for the mothers that still are casting vision for their sons' lives, even when they're not even in the home, even when they've become men. Go to Acts chapter 12. Go to Acts chapter 12. Now, do you think it's an accident that two of the greatest disciples to ever live, James the Great and John the Beloved, are the children of the mother of Zebedee's children? No. Look, it wasn't an accident, folks. It wasn't just a coincidence here. And let me say something. This mother is a great example of a mother. And while there's only one mother of Zebedee's children and no one's perfect, we should all look at this as an ideal example of how mothers should be, but even your own mother. I guarantee she's doing things on this list. And you can still thank her and appreciate her for the things that she did and the way she raised you. Because guess what? You're saved and you're in this room. So your mom did something right. I guarantee she did some things right. Was she perfect? No, no one's perfect. And we don't know any of her flaws, so we just get to know all the great things about her. But there's a reason why James did what he did. Look at what it says in Acts chapter 12, verse number 2. And he killed James the brother of John with a sword. Notice she cast a vision for her son to sit at the left hand or the right hand. And it's like, well, do you know what you're asking? Yeah. And then what happens? He does exactly what his mother had cast the vision for. Exactly. Why? Because they're a steadfast family. And you know what? Wood to God, this church would be filled with steadfast mothers. Steadfast mothers that would be selfless, they would be spiritual, and they would be steadfast for their children. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for this great example that we have in the Bible. Thank you for giving us mothers. Such a wonderful role, such a wonderful gift that we all have. I pray that every single one of us would appreciate the mother we were given and that we'd also encourage the mothers in our lives to continue to realize the importance of their job, of their role in society, the impact that they can have, that they can be the motivating factor for men to do the greatest exploits, that we wouldn't have a James and a John without the mother of Zebedee's children. I pray that you would strengthen the hearts of all the women in this room, that they would realize the importance of being selfless, they would see the great need to be spiritual, and that they would see that being steadfast doesn't just affect them, but it can affect their whole family. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, for our last song, we'll go to song 119 till the storm passes over. 119 till the storm passes by, rather. 119 till the storm passes by. In the dark of the midnight am I off in my face while the storm howls above me and there's no hiding place in the crash of the thunder Precious Lord, hear my cry keep me safe till the storm passes by till the storm passes over till the thunder sounds the war till the clouds flow forever of the sky Holy fast, when we stand in the hallow of the hand keep me safe till the storm passes by Many times, safe to whisper there is no need to try for there's trouble and there's sorrow there's no hope, I am not but I know the power within me and tomorrow I'll rise when the storm's never gone in the sky till the storm passes over till the thunder sounds the war till the clouds flow forever of the sky Holy fast, when we stand in the hallow of the hand keep me safe till the storm passes by till the storm passes by When the long night has ended and the storms come along let me stand in my presence on that bright peaceful shore in that land where the temperance never comes, nor may I though it be when the storm passes by till the storm passes over till the thunder sounds the war till the clouds flow forever of the sky Holy fast, when we stand in the hallow of the hand keep me safe till the storm passes by Thank you very much. Thank you all. God bless.