Mother's Day 2026: Two Crowds | Pastor Bryan Jarrett | Northplace Church

Hello, my name is Brian Jarrett, and my wife Haley and I have had the privilege of pastoring North Place Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for almost 20 years. We're one church that meets in multiple locations, even on multiple continents, and today you are one of those locations. The church is not about buildings, it is about people, and we have the privilege today of sharing the hope of the gospel with you right where you are. There is no way I can know exactly what you're going through or dealing with right now, but for almost 30 years I have preached about a God who I know, I am confident, knows you, your struggles, knows the very hairs on your head and the thoughts that you think before you think them, and He is passionately in love with you. And our prayer today is that in our time together you feel our love for you and His presence. And we pray that this time together gives you hope. It's always lit, it won't go out, it's always burning. You've given me joy, it's unspeakable joy. Undeniable, unexplainable, I've got the joy of the Lord. Let's sing it out, I've got a river. I've got a river that's flowing inside, it's full of life, it's ever growing. I've got a fire and it's always lit, it won't go out, it's always burning. I've got a river that's flowing inside, it's full of life, it's ever growing. I've got a fire and it's always lit, it won't go out, it's always burning. You've given me joy, it's unspeakable joy. Undeniable, unexplainable, I've got the joy of the Lord. Down in my heart, deep down in my soul. Uncontainable, it's untainable, I've got the joy of the Lord. He's got the joy of the Lord this morning. All my mothers in this place, let's sing it out, I've got the joy. I've got joy on the inside, it feels like fire, I can't keep it in. I keep praising in the midnight, the joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got joy on the inside, it feels like fire, I can't keep it in.

I keep praising in the midnight, the joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got joy on the inside, it feels like fire, I can't keep it in. I keep praising in the midnight, the joy of the Lord is my strength. I've got joy on the inside, it feels like fire, I can't keep it in. I keep praising in the midnight, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. And I've got a river that's flowing inside, it's full of life and it's ever growing. I've got a fire and it's always lit, it won't go out, it's always burning. You've given me joy, it's unspeakable joy. It's undeniable, unexplainable. I've got the joy of the Lord deep down in my heart. Deep down in my soul, it's untamable, uncontainable. It's untamable, I've got joy on the inside. It feels like fire, I can't keep it in. ♪ Praising in the midnight the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ I've got joy on the inside, tears like fire can't keep it in ♪ ♪ I keep praising in the midnight the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ Give the Lord some praise this morning. Well, good morning everybody and happy Mother's Day to all the incredible women in the room today. Today's important cause it's Mother's Day but it's also my mom's birthday. So I got a double whammy today and she is a woman who is worth honor and I'm so grateful because through her I learned the importance of prayer and how powerful prayer is.

I watched my mom wake up early in the mornings and go before the Lord on behalf of our family. And I believe today that this is an opportunity for us to do the same thing, to intercede for our families and to believe for God to step in. And so today what I wanna do is I wanna read from Psalm 91 to help us posture our hearts and believe for what God is gonna do. It says that he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. And you get to verse nine and it says, if you make the Most High your dwelling, even the Lord who is my refuge, then no harm will befall you. No disaster will come near your home for he will command his angels concerning you and guard you in all of your ways. They will lift you up in your hands so that no one can strike against you. Come on, can we make this a house of prayer today over our homes, over our families, over our community and over this church? Jesus, we thank you for who you are and for what it is that you can do. Come on, will you join us and sing? ♪ High into the atmosphere ♪

♪ Spirit of God, you're here ♪ ♪ You have all authority ♪ ♪ And I pray over my heart and mind ♪ ♪ Oh, I am healed by your stripes ♪ ♪ Your blood declares that I am free ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me, it must break ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I draw the permanent boundary line ♪ ♪ The enemy has no right to come near my family ♪ ♪ No sin could ever run to God's place ♪ ♪ No matter the circumstance, the cross has sealed my destiny ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me, it must break ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know all the power of fear and darkness in my soul ♪ ♪ Cause every key to every victory, I hold ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ And I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ When the enemy comes near on the doorframe of my heart ♪ ♪ It's the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ Come on, can you sing I will not? ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ When the enemy comes near on the doorframe of my life ♪

♪ It's the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus I pray ♪ ♪ I pray calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim everyone is born again to me ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know all the way over fear of darkness ♪ ♪ In my soul is every key to every victory ♪ ♪ Oh I know in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh we pray in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ We pray in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ We believe you can do the impossible ♪ ♪ Jesus come in high before me just like a child ♪ ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every heart and every mind ♪ ♪ Cause I know there is peace within your presence ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Till every dark addiction starts to break ♪ ♪ Declaring there is hope and there is freedom ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ Come on church, would you lift up that name?

♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over fear and all anxiety ♪ ♪ To every soul held captive by depression ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ Cause your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streets ♪ ♪ Jesus in the streets ♪ ♪ In the darkness over every enemy ♪ Come on, would you sing. ♪ Jesus for my heart, I'll speak the whole ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streams ♪ ♪ Jesus in the darkness over every enemy ♪ ♪ Jesus for my family, Jesus for my family ♪ ♪ I'll speak the holy name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is power, your name is healing, your name is love ♪ ♪ Your name is power, your name is love ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ The light will find you, your name is power, your name is love ♪ ♪ Your name is healing, your name is healing, your name is love ♪ ♪ Shine, break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ The light will find you, your name is power, your name is love ♪ ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪

♪ Power every heart and every mind ♪ ♪ Cause I know there is peace within your presence ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ Come on church, whatever heaviness you're carrying right now, would you speak the name of Jesus? Whatever miracle you need, would you begin to speak the name of Jesus? Over every darkness, over every anxiety, would we shout the name of Jesus in this place? For he is worthy and there is nothing impossible in the mighty name, come on, would you sing? ♪ Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the trees, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus in the darkness, over every enemy ♪ ♪ Jesus for my family, I'll speak the holy name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the trees ♪ ♪ Jesus in the darkness, over every enemy ♪ ♪ Jesus for my family, I'll speak the holy name, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Shout Jesus, shout Jesus, shout Jesus from the mountains ♪ ♪ Jesus in the trees, Jesus in the darkness, over every enemy ♪ ♪ Jesus for my family, I'll speak the holy name, Jesus. ♪ I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for the quiet sacrifices no one ever saw. The long nights that felt like they would never end. And the small details you never seemed to forget. You were always there. The loudest voice cheering me on and the steady presence I didn't even realize I needed. Even in the moments I pushed you away, you stayed patient, consistent, close. Thank you for believing in me,

even when I couldn't see it for myself. For reminding me who I was and who I'd become. I am who I am today because the way you chose to love me, again and again. And I may not say it enough, but I carry that love with me every day. So today, I just want to say thank you because there will never be another one like you. I am Fatima. I am the mother of Athena and Kyle. We are poor, but I love my family. You As Our campus families come together today. We wanted to introduce you to Fatima and Launch Club International. They are one of our Missions partners, our kingdom builders partners in multiple countries of the world. Fatima is from the Philippines. Launch Club International is a ministry that goes and works through the local church targeting at-risk children in the local schools of the villages where they serve, bringing them to the church for education, mentoring, true exploitation training to keep these kids from ending up being trafficked. They walk with them through discipleship and spiritual formation. The whole goal is upward lift economically and spiritually and strengthening families. And they walk with these kids from the time they get in the program as young elementary-aged children all the way through high school. The kids are not normally connected to the local church, but what happens as you saw as Fatima's children were being served at a local launch club, she got connected to the church that was serving her children and ended up getting baptized and coming to Christ and completely writing an entirely new narrative for her story. And we support these internationally, which is why Fatima wanted to send a Mother's Day thank you to all of us here at North Place Church. Now, why am I telling you that? Well, every year on Mother's Day, we used to always spend a lot of money, thousands of dollars, getting these little trinkets that we gave to moms

acknowledging moms, and then we started giving things to every lady. And honestly, it crept up to thousands and thousands of dollars to give you something to say, hey, we see you, we acknowledge you, and we want to do that. But we found a lot of those things, they didn't make it out of the building, or when they did, they left in the back seat of your car, or they were wound up in the trash. We know it was the thought that counts, but we also thought that dollar in your name could be used for something that does a lot more good after today. And so we started investing in the names of the women and moms on Mother's Day, into things that are making a difference in the lives of women and children around the world. And today, those thousands and thousands of dollars that would have normally be buying trinkets for you, a Mother's Day small, Mother's Day token, has been invested into Launch Clubs International, especially in the Philippines, to continue the work of what God is doing in lives like Fatima's and her children. And one of the coolest things, as we talk about spiritual family a lot here at North Place, you know, one of the visions that we have had in launching our Kingdom Builders program, where we're giving to neighborhoods and nations, everything that happens outside the walls of this church, we consider Kingdom Builders. One of the hearts that we have had is that as we raise up sons and daughters through our Kingdom Builders budget, it would grow to the point that we could send every junior and senior in our youth ministry on one paid missions trip somewhere in the globe, so they could experience what God is doing in other places of the world. What is cool is that our first time to ever be able to do that is going to be this summer. We're sending a group of juniors and seniors from our youth ministry to the Philippines to work in the Launch Club, where Fatima is being served and her kids. So it's all a full circle moment. And your generosity, your kindness, your heart for neighborhoods and nations of the world is what makes that happen. Thank you for your faithfulness in giving to this house. And moms, just know that Fatima and all of the ladies that are being served as moms and the kids in that program there are going to know that the gift that is being sent today is coming in the name and the honor of the women and mothers of North Place Church. Just thank you for your ongoing faithfulness that makes all that possible. The ways to give will be on your screen. If you brought a physical gift with you today, there are envelopes in the seat back pockets in front of you, and there are giving centers available when you leave the rooms today. Father, thank you for today and the opportunity to preach the gospel, expand the kingdom of God,

just by loving people and meeting practical. like is happening in the Philippines and so many other places of the world. I pray today that you're glorified, that the church is established, that women are encouraged, all of us are encouraged. Will you open our heart to your word today? In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Let me point you to what might be considered a really odd place for a Mother's Day sermon, but I believe the event that we're gonna look at with the life of Jesus in one way or another redresses a reality for all of us that are gathered here today, men, women, all of us. Luke 7, verse 11 says, soon afterward, Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and notice this, a large crowd followed him. A funeral possession was coming out as he was approaching the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow's only son. Now notice this, a large crowd from the village was with her, two different crowds. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. Don't cry, he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. Young man, he said, I tell you, get up. Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Now you can't miss the two very different large crowds that intersected with Jesus at the same moment in time. One of these crowds was jubilant and worshipful and celebratory. The other crowd was overwhelmed by grief. And I want you to let the scene kind of vividly play out in your head for a moment like a movie. There are two crowds that aren't aware of each other, and they're moving toward each other. One is coming out of the city, one is walking into the city. And in the space between them on an ordinary road outside a forgotten little town called Nain, something happens that nobody in either one of those crowds could have ever imagined. But before we get to what happens, I want you to sit with the idea that there were two crowds, because I think those same two crowds are listening to me right now. The first crowd was walking with Jesus. Luke refers to it as a large crowd, and it would have continued to get larger. It would have been a disciples that would have been with him, obviously, and a growing number of people that have seen him go from village to village, teaching with authority, healing the sick, turning water into wine, calming the storms. And in the few verses right before this one, he had healed the servant of a Roman centurion just by speaking the word. And so the crowd just keeps getting larger, following with Jesus.

And because of what he just did with the Roman centurion's servant, there's an energy in the crowd. There's an expectancy in the crowd. They're seeing things that they can explain and they want more. And if you and I had been in that crowd, we would have felt it too. There was an electricity of being so close to something so supernatural and so real. And with celebratory and honoring hearts, these people are in that crowd with Jesus. They feel like they are walking towards something. Picture the second crowd. They're coming the opposite direction. They're not going into the city. They're coming out of the city gate, headed to the burial grounds that are outside the city. And this crowd doesn't feel like it's walking toward anything at all. They feel like they're walking away from something. There's a young man on a stretcher being carried to his burial. And in the middle of that procession, surrounded by mourners and in that culture would have been surrounded by professional wailers and mourners, there is a woman. And the text tells us one devastating sentence about who she was. The young man who had died was a widow's only son.

Don't miss the devastation of what that would have meant inside of her cultural context. She has already buried her husband. She is now burying her son, her only son. In this context of her ancient world, that meant she was feeling more than loss and grief. This was the end of her future. It meant economic ruin. There was no social safety net, no pension, no male covering to care for her as she grew old. So she's not just losing her child. She has lost everything. And there's a large crowd walking with her on the worst day of her life. Two crowds, one marked by hope and one marked by grief, one walking toward a future and one walking toward a grave. I felt led of the spirit today. And I have for some weeks now to speak to both crowds. Because Mother's Day inevitably draws people from both crowds to intersect like these two at the very same moment. Some of you came in today carrying gratitude. You're thinking about your mom and what she means to you. Maybe she's sitting next to you. Maybe you drove a long way to be with her and you're feeling the same emotions of the crowd that was following along with Jesus. There is joy and there is celebration and there is honor in your heart today. And there should be, because that's what today

is all about. But some of you came in today carrying grief. And for some of you, the grief is so heavy today, you're not here, you're watching online or will watch it later because you're completely avoiding this day because you couldn't make yourself come. And I understand that too. Today is hard. Maybe your mother is gone. Maybe you lost a child. Maybe you've been trying to have a child for years and every Mother's Day feels like that wound gets reopened in public. Maybe your relationship with your mother is complicated in ways that won't fit neatly on a Hallmark card. You're in the second crowd. And when you walked in this morning, it just feels like everybody else, but you seems to be in the first crowd. I just want you to know that Jesus was present in Luke 7 with both crowds. And He's present today for both crowds. I want you to notice what scripture says here. It says that the two crowds actually met, they joined up past each other on the road at the city gate. One going in and one was coming out. And Luke tells us exactly what Jesus does when these two crowds collide with each other. Verse 13 says, when the Lord saw her. That's the first thing Luke tells us

that Jesus does when the two crowds meet. He saw her. Now I know that sounds like a really insignificant detail, but in a crowd, in the noise of a funeral possession where there are people weeping and yes, professional mourners that was culturally a thing at that time. Jesus, in the middle of all that noise, He sees one woman. He doesn't see the spectacle. He doesn't see an event. He sees her. He sees her particular grief on her particular face on this particular day. I don't know what you, I just find this is one of the most comforting facts about Him. That you can be standing in the middle of the crowd surrounded by people feeling completely invisible in your grief and brokenness like some of us feel today, but Jesus sees you. This lady was not unknown to Him. She did not escape His notice. And you can't miss the way Luke describes what happens to Jesus when he sees this woman in her situation. He says, verse 13, when the Lord saw her, His heart overflowed with compassion. The Greek word here that Luke originally used to describe the depth of Jesus's compassion is sploknizomai. It's pronounced sploknizomai.

It just simply means to be moved with compassion from the deepest part of one's being. It's an intense gut level, emotional reaction. It's derived from the Greek word splochno, which means inward parts or bowels. It's considered the seat of deepest human feeling. And Luke choosing this word to describe the level of Jesus's emotion means there was more than sympathy here from a distance. It means something moved Him. Something inside Him responded to what was happening to her. He didn't just feel her pain in a way that observed it from the outside. He experienced her pain. This is a man that the prophet Isaiah told us would be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He is not unmoved by what he's seeing in her life. He's not unmoved by what he sees in your life. He never is. Now, before we move on, unpacking Luke 7, as we talk about the compassion of Jesus here, I have to take a slight detour for the sole purpose today of honoring women and mothers. I thought about leaving this out, but I wanna point it out today because this is something you're probably not gonna learn or hear unless you enroll in seminary. But I pointed out today to solely honor the women and the mothers in this room.

I want you to know how God feels about you. And I hope as you hear this, you see how valued you are by God as a woman, And as a mother, here's what's amazing to me. All through the scripture, when God explains what might be the most defining aspect of His character, His mercy and His compassion, He uses the imagery of motherhood. For example, three times in the book of Isaiah alone, God uses the compassion of mothers to describe the level of His divine compassion. God says in Isaiah 42, verse 14, for a long time, I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back, but now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp, and pant. And then a few chapters later, He says in Isaiah 49, can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has born? But even if that were possible, God says, I would not forget you. And then God says in chapter 66, as a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you. Throughout the book of Isaiah, there's this beautiful theological arc of God laboring, of God comforting, and God never forgetting. And He chooses maternal qualities of womanhood to reveal the depth of His divine compassion. And ladies, if it's not honoring enough that the creator of the universe picked you

as the best example of His divine compassion, here's something even more fascinating. Rachamim is the Hebrew word for compassion or mercy, and it functions as the plural form of recham, which means womb. It connects the deep, emotional, nurturing love of a mother to what she has for her child with divine compassion. And it indicates that true compassion is active, protective, and deeply felt, rather than some kind of cold, detached action. Do you realize what that means? Every time the Old Testament says God is compassionate, every time it reaches for a word to try to describe the depth of His mercy, it uses language rooted in the Hebrew word for womb, which can only be possessed by a woman. Ladies, if you and your maternal qualities are what God chooses to describe His mercy and compassion, there is something incredibly affirming and honoring about that. And I hope you feel that today. Now, back to that Luke 7 passage. Jesus' heart is overflowing with compassion for her. And He says something to her, something that without context might seem insensitive or tone deaf. When the Lord saw her, His heart overflowed with compassion. Don't cry, He said. Don't cry. I mean, imagine a stranger walking up to you

in the worst moment of your life saying, don't cry. If you had no idea who He was or what He was about to do, you'd be furious. Of course you're gonna cry. But there's something in His voice, something in the way He says it that isn't a rebuke. This isn't a get it together or just be strong kind of don't cry. It's more like a promise or a hint of what He was about to do. He was saying, don't cry, not because her grief wasn't real, but because something was about to change and heal her grief. What does Jesus do next? Verse 14, then He walked over to the coffin and touched it and the bearer stopped. You need to be aware that in the religious culture of Jesus to touch a dead body or anything connected to it would have made you ceremonially unclean, which had a whole list of cumbersome consequences, but Jesus doesn't hesitate. He just walks straight into the funeral, touches the thing that everyone else would have tried to been ignoring, and He shows up and steps into the middle of her grief. Now that detail matters more than any of us might realize, especially for those of us that are grieving something today because Jesus is not the kind of Lord who stands at a safe distance from your pain and says kind things.

He walks toward it, He touches it, He steps in the middle of it, and He experiences all of that with you. He feels it, and then He speaks. Young man, He said, I tell you, get up. Then the dead boy set up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. That last sentence to me is incredible. And just sit with that for a moment. He gave him back to his mother. He didn't give the boy back to a crowd. He didn't give the boy back to the city. He didn't give the boy back to the family. He turned to the one woman that his heart had broken for, and He placed her son back in her heart. arms. You can tell this is a deeply personal moment for Jesus. The heart of God has been touched and all the power he's exerted in this moment, raising the dead, the whole miracle, the resurrection. Luke frames this entire resurrection of this young boy as simply God's gift to a mother. And notice something else remarkable here. Nobody asked him to do it. The woman didn't ask for this when the crowds passed by. Nobody came to Jesus on her behalf, like they did a few verses earlier for the centurion. They came on the, like, you got to help the centurion. They didn't do that. Nobody asked. There's no faith mentioned, no prayer, no request. He just saw her. And he was moved by her need and he acted. Grace, by definition, is always unsolicited. It's always more than we asked for. This miracle didn't happen because the woman's faith was strong enough, because Jesus's compassion was. Let me just speak to the two

crowds for a moment. If you came in here today to celebrate, to honor, to be grateful, this passage is for you. The women who have carried life, who have stayed up late, who have shown what it was to live hard and still be faithful, who have prayed when no one was watching, they reflect something real to us about the heart of God. Because the compassion that moved Jesus toward that widow, that same impulse lives in every mother who has ever looked at a child in pain and felt it as if it was her own pain. And the mercy of God, you know what it means? It means the mercy of God has this maternal shape to it. So when you honor the women who loved you into becoming who you are today, you are, in a real sense, honoring the nature of God being revealed by her. The women in my life have definitely revealed to me more of who God is. My mom, my grandmother, my sister interceded for me when I was a young addict. They loved me when I was unlovable, praying for me when I thought they were wasting their time because I wasn't sure there was anybody up there listening to what they were praying. I knew they were praying, I just didn't assume it was going to make a difference. And yet their compassion and prayer brought the compassion of God into my life, completely rewriting the story of my life. And it's been my wife and daughter whose compassion and grace in the later years of my life have revealed to me the love and the mercy and the compassion of God, often when I'm not showing up as the man that I'm supposed to be, or less of the man that I'm supposed to be. Yes, the mercy of God has a maternal shape to it, and we should forever be grateful for that. If you're in the second crowd today, I need you to hear this. Jesus doesn't stay on his side of the road. He doesn't let the two crowds pass each other and move on. He stops everything, he walks into the

grief, he touches the thing everyone else was trying to avoid, and he speaks into the silence. And I don't know what your grief is today. Maybe it's a painful relationship with a mother that nobody's ever willing to talk about on Mother's Day, but it's real. Maybe you're carrying a deep grief because you lost a child. Maybe you're carrying the ache of an empty womb that's haunted you quietly for years and days like today feel like they were designed to make it worse. I don't want you to just know this, I want you to feel this. He sees you in a room full of the first crowd where people are celebrating. He sees you in the second. He's not confused about which crowd you're in. He's not going to tell you to pretend you're somewhere you're not. He's walking to you, like right now. He's approaching you with the comfort of his Spirit. And I want you to see how the crowds together responded after the miracle. Verse 16, they were all filled with awe, all of them, both crowds, and they praised God. A great prophet has appeared among us, they said. God has come to help his people. They didn't just say a miracle happened, they said God has come to visit his people. That's what happens when Jesus walks in. It just doesn't fix the person or the situation, it reframes everything. It reminds us that the God who created our world has not abandoned it. He entered it. He walks with us in our joys and in our pains. He walks into our funerals. He touches our or grief, he speaks life into the silence of our lives. That's the God that we come to worship on a Mother's Day like this, when there are two very different crowds that are gathered in the same place at the same moment.

To the crowd walking in joy, celebrate today. Honor women who carried you and continue to sustain you. Let your gratitude be loud and specific. They deserve it. To the crowd walking in grief, you were seen. You were not visible. The same Jesus who turned around on a road in Galilee because he could not pass one grieving woman without stopping, he has stopped to notice you. He's still in the business of walking into the worst moments of people's lives and redeeming their pain and restoring their brokenness. And I debated on whether I should say this or not, but I don't get this opportunity to be this honest. So on this Mother's Day, ladies, I wanna say something to you collectively as a group, something that is very personal to me as a man and a pastor at a deeply heart level. I've been reading a lot of research lately about the church engagement trends. There's been some pretty incredible surveys that have recently been done, conducted research, and a lot of it's encouraging. Young people are returning to church and engaging faith at much higher percentages than older people right now. And that's a massive flip from past. And it's a huge sign of spiritual awakening that is happening in the next generations. That's encouraging. There's also incredible data pointing toward

the growing spiritual interest of men and their re-engagement in the church. And that too is a reversal of past trends. But there's another reversal of past trends that is deeply concerning. Women are disengaging from the church in alarming numbers. And it grieves me deeply because for so long, grandma and mama were the spiritual backbone of the church. It concerns me for future generations. There's some things in the research that hint to maybe some of the reasons why. I have some of my opinions. And between personal opinion and some of the research, I think there are some pretty clear indications of why women are walking away. Among them, there would be the rampant failures of spiritual leaders, the way the institutional church has mishandled accusations of abuse, and the way many churches continue to limit women's abilities to walk out their calling. And while I can't fix all the systemic issues in the American church, I wanna make something very clear to the ladies that are a part of this spiritual family. We want you here. We need you here. I can't imagine this place without you, your insight, your intercession, the sacrifices that you have made for decades

and continue to make for this church body. And I can promise you here, we affirm what God has called women to do in the mission of the church. A couple of years ago, the Lord challenged me to read more books written by women writers, brilliant women, to open my heart to their perspective. I have. And I've gained perspectives on so many things I would have never seen without learning from a female voice. Matter of fact, I'm in the middle of reading a book right now by a brilliant female theologian. I just picked the book up. I saw her lecture and I thought, this lady is brilliant. I wonder if she's written anything and she has written several things. And so I grabbed her book, the most recent one that was released this month, not knowing that the book was written for women. So I'm getting into the book. You ever been in a hurry to go to the bathroom at a restaurant and you walk into the women's bathroom and you're like trying to get out before anybody sees you're in the wrong bathroom. That's kind of the way I feel reading this book. Like I just went in the wrong bathroom.

But it's so good. The insight is so relevant. Even though she's directing it to women, I just kept reading it. Just yesterday as I was reading the book, my heart just was overcome with grief thinking about the future of the church. If women keep disengaging with it at the rate they are, I don't want to imagine that future. Let me say one time to all of you ladies here, not just because it's Mother's Day, but every day, we honor you. we want you and this spiritual family can't live without you. To close our time together, let me give you a couple key pieces of direction kind of for response. If you're in the celebratory crowd today, I mean, go have an incredible time with your family, celebrate, honor. On your way out, there'll be a little extra time today for you to just take advantage of what's in the lobby. Ladies, if you didn't get the coffee that's there for you for free, it's a gift. If you haven't had a chance to have a family moment at one of the photo ops, do that, hang out, connect, celebrate. But if for some reason you find yourself in the second crowd today and there's grief in your heart for one reason or another, we're doing something unique

across all of our campus family. We have a special grief care area that we've set up and we've done this a few Mother's Days off and on through the years and it's been really meaningful. We have a cross set up and we wanna create a space for the flowering of the cross. If you've never done that, let me just explain to you. I think they have an image they're gonna put up of what the finished product looks like. It doesn't start out that way. It starts out with just a bare cross. By the end of the day, that's kind of what it looks like. You take a flower, this is spring, it signifies life. You approach the cross, which was a symbol of death and suffering, and you weave the stem of the flower into the cross. And what you're doing is you're saying, God, I invite you into this space, invite you into this space in my life. I invite you into this situation, this thing that I'm carrying today. I'm not gonna ignore it, I'm inviting you into it. And here at the Sac State campus today, there is a sign over to my left, you can access the area we have designated for that. You can also access it from the lobby. It's in our multipurpose or dream team area. We have prayer team members there to serve. Like it can be private, just take this moment

and invite God into that space. At our other campuses, I think these are at the rear of every one of our campus locations there for you just to have a moment before you leave. And can I say one more thing? In 36 years of public preaching ministry this year, probably the number one request I have had of people coming to me in those 36 years is moms and grandmas asking me to pray for their children that are away from God. I have a wall of pictures and names in my office because I've committed to pray for kids that are away from God, whether they're 60 year old kids or they're 16, and people have given me those photos. They're on my wall. I pray over them all the time. And the majority of those images have been given to me by moms and grandmas, because it's what moms want. They want their kids serving Jesus. And so let me just say this today. If you're here honoring mom in church today, and this is normally not a part of your pattern or your routine, if at all, her prayers are manifesting in your life and you sense God pursuing her, at least tell her that. The greatest Mother's Day gift you would ever give your mom, your grandma, or a spiritual mother is say, God's dealing with my heart. Don't quit praying. Keep praying for me.

But even better thing you could do is pray this prayer. I'm about to pray with you and surrender your heart to Jesus today and tell her if she's here, text her if she's not. Mom, grandma, I surrendered my heart to Jesus today. Be the greatest Mother's Day gift she's ever received. So Lord, I pause today. I believe there's been enough of your word preached, enough of your spirit present that you can convict us of our sin. And you can draw us into a saving relationship with Jesus. And I ask right now that you would do what only the spirit can do. You would draw. And if there's anybody under the sound of my voice today that needs to surrender their heart to you, right where they sit, they would say, Jesus, forgive me. Cleanse my heart, come into my life. I confess today that I can't make it without you both now and for eternity. I want you to be my Lord and my Savior. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. And I give it all to you in Jesus' name. Lord, I pray that that moment, simple as it is, is a significant moment that starts. a new journey in somebody's life. For this whole room today, Lord, I pray you bless them and keep them, that you make your face shine down upon them, that you're gracious to them,

that you turn your countenance their direction, and you give them peace. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, friends, I just wanted to spend a second with you at the end of this message today and just encourage you. If in some way you've made a spiritual decision, maybe you've given your life to Christ today, you've recently given your life to Christ, you wanna talk to somebody about giving your life to Christ, our team would love to help you. We're on the Pando app and have several ministries into various prisons because God has called us to you. We have a heart for forgotten people and forgotten places, and that means we serve widows and we serve orphans and we serve special needs kids, and God has given us a heart for men and women in the prison system because I believe Jesus died for you. He has a plan and a purpose for your life, and we wanna help you know that and discover that. There is an address on the screen that you can communicate with us. We have a team of people that would love to hear from you, especially if you've made a decision to follow Jesus so that we can resource you and point you to tools that can help you grow. Just know that we're praying over you and we're genuinely honored that you've taken time to watch our channel and these messages from North Place Church.