Mother's Day at Faith
May 10, 2026 Service. Join us for worship with Faith Worship Arts, followed by a message from Joanna Reeves.
This Mother’s Day, we look at the story of a struggling widow in 1 Kings 17 who felt like she had nothing left to give. Single, discouraged, and surviving day to day, she believed her lack disqualified her from being used by God. But instead of avoiding her, God sent the prophet Elijah straight to her door. Through this powerful story, we’re reminded that your lack doesn’t push God away — it often pulls Him closer. Shame has a way of making us hide from God, convincing us we’re not enough, don’t have enough, or could never do enough. But God specializes in using what feels small, broken, and insufficient. What she called “only a handful,” God called enough for a miracle. This message is an encouragement to trust God in seasons of lack, stop minimizing what’s in your hands, and remember that your security is not found in your supply, but in the God who faithfully provides day after day.
Come on, let's put our hands together like this. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness, that you have been faithful, so we can praise you and testify of this together. Come on, let's sing, there's a light. ♪ There's a light that shines with hope and grace ♪ ♪ Fills the sky with new mercies each day ♪ ♪ We're alive, let your glory pour out, Jesus ♪ ♪ And there's a joy that overwhelms our souls ♪ ♪ Cause we know our God is in control, overflow ♪ ♪ Let your favor pour out, Jesus ♪ Come on, sing this with me. ♪ That this is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ We will rejoice and be glad in it ♪ ♪ This is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ This is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in it ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in it ♪ Hallelujah, come on, let's sing. ♪ That there's a joy that overwhelms our souls ♪ ♪ Cause we know our God is in control, overflow ♪ ♪ Let your favor pour out, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ This is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ And we will rejoice and be glad in it ♪ ♪ This is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in it ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in it ♪ Come on, how many of you are made new by Christ? So let's sing this with confidence that we'll leave behind. ♪ Oh, leave behind what happened yesterday ♪
♪ Cause today there's a new thing happening ♪ ♪ Leave behind what happened yesterday ♪ ♪ Cause today there's a good thing happening ♪ ♪ Leave behind what happened yesterday ♪ ♪ Cause today there's a new thing happening ♪ ♪ Leave behind what happened yesterday ♪ ♪ Cause today there's a good thing happening ♪ ♪ Leave behind what happened yesterday ♪ ♪ Cause today there's a new thing happening ♪ ♪ Leave behind what happened yesterday ♪ ♪ Cause today there's a good thing happening ♪ ♪ Sing, this is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ So we will rejoice and be glad in Him ♪ ♪ Cause this is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in Him ♪ ♪ This is the day the Lord has made ♪ ♪ We will rejoice and be glad in Him ♪ ♪ This is the day that the Lord has made ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in Him ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in Him ♪ ♪ We'll rejoice, we'll rejoice and be glad in Him ♪ ♪ Oh, lift up and shout a praise ♪ Hallelujah. Come on, if God's been good to you, you can give Him another hand of praise right here. We do have great reason to rejoice because our God has given us a brand new day, a brand new opportunity to accept and to experience His faithfulness, His love, His provision, His goodness. And so if you believe that He's here
and that He's giving all of these things to you, can you just lift your hands as we bless the Lord for being a faithful God, a good God, a God that we believe is here even now. Lord, we love you. We've gathered together in your name today. We believe that you are in our midst. And so, Lord, as you are here, declaring your faithfulness, declaring who you are to us, we sing this from our hearts to yours. We say, ♪ You are here ♪ You're moving in our midst ♪ And I worship you ♪ I worship you ♪ You are here ♪ You're working in this place ♪ And I worship you ♪ Yes, I worship you ♪ You are here ♪ Lord, you're moving in our midst So what do we do? ♪ I worship you ♪ I worship you ♪ You are here ♪ Lord, you're working in this place ♪ And I worship you Yes, I do. I worship you. As we worship you, we call you who you are. We say, Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are.
Call Him Waymaker, Oh, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You are here, you are here, touching every heart, and I worship you. Lord, I worship you. I worship you. For you are here, you are here, and you're healing every heart, and I worship you. God, we worship you. I worship you. We thank you for being a saving God, for you are here, turning lives around, and I worship you. I worship you. Oh, you've been so good. I worship you. You are here, you are here, and you're mending every heart, and I worship you. I worship you. You're near to the brokenhearted today, God, and we worship you because we know that you are the Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. You're Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. That is who you are. We declare it today, that is who you are. That is who you are. Always been, that is who you are. Faithful and true, that is who you are. That is who you are. Oh, God, we bless you for you are Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. It's who you've always been to your people, God. We declare it about you. We say, Waymaker, always making a way. Oh, you've always been good. My God, that is who you are. Sing from your testimony, say, Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Every day through mercies I see you, Lord. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Oh, I praise you, for that is who you are. People are thankful, because that is who you are. Finding God, that is who you are. Come on, one more time. If you've experienced His goodness, call Him Waymaker. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Who you've always been, who you always will be, Lord. Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. To you are, Lord. We've seen your goodness. We've seen you be a very present help in a time of trouble. We've seen you wipe our tears in the midnight hour. We've seen you be a friend that sticks closer than any brother. Come on, if He's been everything to you, if He's provided everything that you need, why don't you call Him this? Say, Jaira, Jaira, you are enough. He's got the provider. That's why we can respond, and I will be content in every circumstance because Jaira, you are enough.
Would you call him Jaira? Jaira, you are more than enough for me, God. Jaira, you are enough. And I will be content, and I will be content even through the storm, every circumstance, because I know that Jaira, you are enough. I don't want to forget how I feel right now on the mountaintop. I can see so clear what it's all about. Stay by my side when the sun goes down, because even then, I don't want to forget how I feel right now, knowing that you are Jaira, you are enough. Jaira, you are, you are enough. So, God, I will be content in every circumstance because I know you are Jaira, and you are enough. You're forever enough, always enough. You're more than enough, God. We declare, you're forever enough, always. Oh, God. I'm thankful. I'm already loved. I'm already chosen. I know who I am. I know what you've spoken. So when I'm going through, I'm already loved more than I could imagine. And that is enough. If you believe that, won't you say, I'm already loved. I'm already chosen by the King of kings. I know who I am. I know what you've spoken. I'm already loved, God, more than I could imagine. And I'm content, God. That is enough for me.
That is enough. This love is more than enough for you. Won't you say, I'm already loved. I'm already chosen. I know who I am. I know who I am. I'm a child of the King. But your word says, oh, God, I'm already loved more than I could imagine. Oh, and that is enough. That word over my life is enough. That is enough. I don't care what the storm looks like. I don't care what the lies are saying. That is enough. Oh, and His goodness is great over your life. Won't you declare, that is enough. Oh, Lord, we believe it. So we sing, shine bright. You are, you are enough. Jairus. You are, you are enough. Oh, and I will be content in every circumstance. Because I believe, Jairus, you are enough. And I will be content in every circumstance. Why can't we say that, church? Jairus, you are enough. If you believe He's more than enough for you, can you give Him praise right here? He's a good God who never fails and who is always good. And the church said, amen. Amen.
Well, God bless you, church. It's awesome to be worshiping with you here on this Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all our mothers in the house. God bless you guys. Praise God. It's going to be an awesome time in the presence of the Lord. Why don't you take a moment to greet somebody near you. Tell somebody hello. Bless them real good. And afterwards, we'll be right back to continue with service. God bless you. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The first step that we believe, it's the tithe. It's that step of obedience, following what scripture says to return our first tent back to God. That's called the tithe. And then once we've done that, we can go to that next step of generosity. And we call that kingdom builders around here. And through kingdom builders, through generosity here at Faith, there's over 1,300 missionaries that receive support because of Faith Church Orlando. Projects all around the world, projects locally and globally, they happen because of kingdom builders. So thank you. Let's be a generous church and continue to see the kingdom of God move forward.
So we're gonna pray and then we're gonna give. So would you pray with me? Lord, we just thank you so much for what you're doing here at this church. We pray you would do even more, God, as we trust you, as we lean on you, as we worship you in this moment with our giving. We know that you are the source of all things, God, and you provide and you sustain us. And Lord, as we give, we just pray for all of our kingdom builder missionaries and projects, Lord, that we could do even more this year. So Lord, we honor you, we worship you, and we give this to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God bless you as you give today. Well, hello, church family. I wanna invite you to stand to your feet as we go into another time of worship. How many of you know that our God is faithful and true? Amen. Well, would you lift up your hands to our God as a sign of gratitude? Thank you, Lord, that you are faithful. Thank you, Lord, that while we were still sinners, you loved us. We worship you and we testify of his goodness together. Thank you, Lord, that you are faithful. We that are faithful we worship you with our hearts.
We oughta worship you with our hearts. We dear men, we worship you with our hearts. Worship you with our hearts. You never left me without hope. You were good and you're good right now. Come on, can we sing that we've witnessed. I've witnessed your faithfulness. I've seen you bring life within. So I'll pour out my praise again. You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it. Your promise is never vain. I've got stories I've lived to tell. So I'll pour out my praise again. You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it. Yes, you are, Lord. We sing you left. You left the throne and chose the cross. Laid down your life to rescue us. The Savior then, the Savior now. Oh, but even then. But even then was not the end. You conquered hell so I could live. Resurrecting then, resurrecting now. Come on, can we praise Him and sing that then. Resurrecting then, resurrecting now. Oh! I've witnessed your faithfulness. I've seen you bring life within. So I'll pour out my praise again. You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it.
Your promise is never vain. I've got stories I've lived to tell. So I'll pour out my praise again. You're worthy, God, you're worthy of all of it. Oh! Come on, would you lift up praise and worship to our God? Thank you, Lord, that you are good. And we have a testimony that we've witnessed how you have moved in our own lives. So we can sing this with confidence. Thank you, Lord, that you are. You're good and I've witnessed it. ♪ You're strong, You're strong and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're constant, I've witnessed it and I'm comforted ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ You love and I've witnessed it, You healed us Lord ♪ ♪ You heal and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ Oh You save and I've witnessed it and I'm comforted ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ You're good and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're strong and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're constant, I've witnessed it and I'm comforted ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ You love and I've witnessed it, Yes Lord ♪ ♪ You heal and I've witnessed it, You saved me Father ♪ ♪ You're good and I've witnessed it and I'm comforted ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ I've witnessed Your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I've seen You breathe life within so I'll pour out my praise ♪ ♪ And then You're worthy, God You're worthy of all of it ♪
♪ Your promises never fail, I've got stories I live to tell ♪ ♪ So I'll pour out my praise again, You're worthy, God You're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ To the broken I'll witness it, to the hurting I'll witness it ♪ ♪ To the lost I will witness it, and I'll tell the story of it ♪ ♪ I'll tell them what I've witnessed, to my family I'll witness it ♪ ♪ To my city I'll witness it, to the nation I'll witness it ♪ ♪ And I'll tell them this, I'll tell them what I've witnessed ♪ Thank you Lord for who You are. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness, that we can forever praise your holy name. And the church of God says amen. Amen. Well, we're so glad that you're in church this morning. I want to invite you to take your seats. God bless you. Time to get up, baby. Come on. Up you get. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.
Yeah, come on. Thank you, thank you to all of our moms. Happy Mother's Day. Come on, let's clap one more time for all of our moms in the house this morning. All of our moms watching online. Man, we're just so excited you're here. Well, let me be, hopefully not the first, I'm sure I'm probably the 10th at this person time to tell you happy Mother's Day. We're so glad that you chose to join us this morning at Faith Church Orlando. And I just want to say too, right from the start of the service, that I know that a holiday, especially like Mother's Day, can just come with so many wide emotions, that there could be a variety of reasons that maybe this isn't a happy Mother's Day for you, maybe you're just still waiting and believing to become a mom, or maybe this is a first Mother's Day without your mom, or maybe there's a relationship that has gone on with one of your children that isn't going how you thought, and I just wanna let you know that like anything else, the house of God is the perfect place to just bring all of those emotions. So whether you're feeling discouraged and just grieving this morning, the house of God is the perfect place to find comfort, because we serve a God who is a comforter,
but if you're celebrating today and celebrating all that God's entrusted you with, we're so glad that you chose to do that here at Faith Church Orlando and worship God and just celebrate all that he's done in our lives. So happy Mother's Day, for whatever that means for you. I do wanna introduce myself. Some of you are like, I feel like we kind of know you, you do the Kingdom Builders videos sometimes, and sometimes you're on the announcements, and then maybe you've also seen me walking around here with Pastor Peter, because I am married to the one and only Pastor Peter Reeves, our favorite staff evangelist here at Faith, and so that's a joy. So maybe you've gotten, probably a long, long time ago when he first came, he probably showed pictures and introduced our family, so though I don't need to, it is Mother's Day, and any mom loves bragging on their babies and showing a picture of them. So it is Mother's Day, so I'm gonna show you a picture of our babies, yep, oh, there they are. So that is Macklin Nathaniel Reeves, who is still learning to open his eyes in photos, it's great, and then that's Charlie Grace Reeves, and they are the loves of my life, and they drive me crazy, they are terrible. So yeah, they are, don't be fooled, just because they are pastor's kids, they, you know, you know there's nine fruits of the Spirit,
I want you to know we're batting a zero right now, okay? So we collectively, individually, like we have none of the fruits of the Spirit going on in their lives right now, we're praying for them daily, that is a big reason why we will not, you will not be seeing Pastor Peter or I speak at the parent night coming up. Matter of fact, last service, my mom was sitting next to me in the front row, and during the announcement, she elbowed me, and she's like, you should go to that, you should go to the parent night, I was like, I know, thank you, I will be there in the front row, taking lots of notes, because yeah, they are pastor's kids, and thankfully, one thing that got going for them is I'm pretty sure, because we are pastors here, is the only reason why they have yet to gotten kicked out of Faith Christian Preschool. So I'm convinced that Macklin Nathaniel Reeves, he is, that is his mission, he's got one more year before he goes up to the academy, and he is trying very hard to make it into the Faith Church Orlando World Record Book, to be the first staff kid to ever get kicked out of daycare, and you know, it's not like he does anything too bad, he just likes to bite all of his friends, so you know, we're just working on that,
and one time I picked him up from school, and they were like, he bit six kids today before lunch, and I was like, I mean, did you try giving him a snack, like I don't, obviously he was hungry, but yeah, so at our amazing preschool, they have an app, and if you also have kids in preschool, either here or somewhere else, then you probably also have an app, and there's, the app is great if you have good kids, you know, then you can just be at work, and be like, oh, look at them, they're learning their colors, they're learning their numbers, they're eating mac and cheese, mine is more like incident report, incident report, incident report, you know, so I try to ignore that app as much as possible, I just like, turn the notifications off on that, so, but one of our top-hitting incident reports probably happened last year, when Macklin was still in the two-year-old class, and we got an incident report that came through, and this is how I knew it was gonna be a good incident report, because it started out with, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Reeves, I would first like to say that Macklin is a joy to have in class, and anytime a note like that from a teacher starts with how much your kid is a joy to have in class,
it's probably gonna be followed up with a lot of information of why your kid is in fact not a joy to have in class, and so, she went on to say, you know, today during playtime, somebody took a toy away from Macklin, and we encouraged him to use kind words and gentle hands, but he resorted to biting his friend on the back, and I was, so me and Pastor Peter wrote that, we're like, that's pretty aggressive, that's not just like, like I bite your arm, like, did he pin him down, maybe, I don't know, to bite him on the back, and so then, fast forward a few days, I'm here at the school, and our daughter Charlie is in ballet, and so we're up in the E-wing, and she's doing dance with Integrity Dance, and the moms a lot of times will sit in the hallways. And so I'm trying to be very pastoral and I'm just meeting all the other moms and pastor or parents and I met a new family and they were like, yeah, we're new to the church, we're new to the school, all of that. And I was like, oh, that's so great. Your daughter's in ballet with my daughter. Do you have any other kids? They're like, yeah, we have a two-year-old son. And I was like, oh, that's so fun. What class is he in?
They proceeded to tell me what class he was in. And I was like, oh, my son is in that class. And so then I'm like talking and I'm like, so how are you acclimating to faith in Orlando and the school and everything? And they're like, honestly, everything's been great so far. Like we love the teachers, we love the school. It is kind of crazy though, because just yesterday our son, he was bit on the back. And I was like, on the back? And he was like, the mom was like, yeah, on the back. And I was just like, my gosh, are parents even parenting these days? Like I don't, you know, so that was that. And so we're trying to build the kingdom of God. Mac is trying to scare people away from our church. And hopefully we're just, you know, slowly canceling that out one at a time. But yeah, so that's my family. That's why you could pray for me. That's a little bit about us. Are you ready to jump into God's word? Some of you were like, we thought you were never gonna get there. I just needed to get that off my chest. You know, I just needed you to know that you're hearing from somebody today that does not have it all together. As a matter of fact, we're actually gonna look at a mom in scripture this morning
who also does not have it all together. And I specifically picked this passage and believe that the Holy Spirit led me to this passage because I think sometimes on Mother's Day or maybe when I'm traveling and doing women's conferences, the temptation is always to make the main character or the text a woman in scripture who we would all maybe put on a pedestal, like somebody who we just feel like has it all together, is doing everything right. You know, let's all be more like a Mary, not a Martha. You know what I'm saying? Like, and so then, and then we all listen as moms and then we leave and we're like, okay, so I'm not doing so great, you know? And so I decided that this morning we would actually look at a passage of scripture that talks about a mom who doesn't even tell us what her name is, but the way that she responds to the situation she's in, and probably more importantly, the way that God responds to the situation she's in, I find so much encouragement this morning that I wanna share with all of us. So even if you're not a mom, don't tune me out, okay, for the next 30 minutes, I believe this word is for everybody. There might just be some extra special moments that really just speak to the moms of the house. First Kings 17, eight through 16 says this. Then the Lord said to Elijah,
go and live in the village of Zarephath near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you. So he went to Zarephath and as he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks and he asked her, would you please bring me a little water in a cup? As she was going to get it, he called to her, bring me a bite of bread too. But she said, I swear by the Lord your God that I don't have a single piece of bread in this house. And I only have a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal and then my son and I will die. But Elijah said to her, don't be afraid, go ahead and do just what you said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what's left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, there will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and crops to grow again. So she did, as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and olive oil, say enough. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers,
just as the Lord had promised through Elisha. I love this passage of scripture for a few reasons. I think my first favorite thing, like I just mentioned, is this is not a story about a mom who has it all together. No, in fact, this is about a mom who is on no means thriving in society where being a widow is very much looked down upon. She's already looked down upon because she's not married. She's a single mom. She's obviously in poverty. I mean, this is not somebody who I think me and you, if we were entrusted to write the Bible, would probably send a prophet to. I think if I was entrusted to write any part of the Bible, that I would be like, well, surely let's send Elijah the prophet. If he is going to go get cared for from somebody, I mean, surely let's go send him to the best of the best. Let's go send him to somebody that has it all together. But we see in scripture that the Lord does not send Elijah when he needs somebody to take care of him, to a woman who has it all together. Matter of fact, he sends Elijah to a single widowed mom in survival mode. And some of you might be like, how is that encouraging to me and you this morning? Oh, it's extremely encouraging to me because it shows me that your lack doesn't push God away. It actually pulls him closer. I think so many times we're conditioned to feel like
when we're in a state of lack, when we're in a state of not feeling like we are enough or we have enough, that we become wrapped up in this shame cycle of now feeling like because we're not good enough, we're disappointing the Lord. And so then we begin to distance ourself, right? Because if you're not careful, shame in your life will create space. And so it's important, church, that you recognize this morning that you are intentional about not getting wrapped up in shame, that it creates space between you and God. We see this in scripture, even right from the beginning. We see in Genesis chapter two, where it says that Adam and Eve were in the garden and before the fall had happened, before Eve had eaten from the tree, it says that Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were naked, but they felt no shame. But then after they sinned, just a few verses later, we read in Genesis chapter three, verses six through eight, when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked.
So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So they once were naked and felt no shame, but as soon as they sin, shame also entered into the picture, shame also entered into the world. And then as soon as God wanted to walk amongst them, they actually found themselves hiding from him. And when I look across, I spend time all across this nation, especially with women at women's conferences. And the number one thing that I see the enemy trying to do to this generation is to convince an entire generation of women that we are not enough, that you are not good enough, that you are not spiritual enough, that you don't pray enough, that you don't fast enough, right? And all of the spiritual things, I know this happens to me sometimes even before church really even starts. Like how many of you have ever gotten to a church service before and the pastor with the best of intentions, you know, will say something along the lines of like,
I hope you came into church today with your expectations high, right? Or I hope you came in ready for God to do something. Who's ever heard somebody say that before? And I know as a mom, sometimes in those situations, I was like, oh, I'm already failing. Like I was already supposed to be doing homework before I came into church with my expectations high because as a mom, I have to confess another sin to you from the stage about 50% of the time I come to church, it's for the childcare. They do a great job, guys. They really do. You can leave them there for more than one service. I don't know if you need that. I accidentally signed up for a guy's night one time because I saw free childcare on the screen. I didn't even know what the event was. Like, I'm just like free childcare. I'm gonna be there, right? Okay. So sometimes we're not even spiritual enough, but man, I'm so glad that we serve a God who says that he does exceedingly and abundantly above everything we could hope for, think or imagine. So I feel like that's even a word for somebody in this room today is you didn't come to church with expectation. Maybe you walked into this building today
just to check something off your list, to come with mom or to do the thing, or maybe you're a husband or a child or a parent and you came today and you didn't have any expectation. Man, I'm glad you're in the room because oftentimes when you're in the room, even when you have no plans to do anything, God has big plans ahead of time to meet you. But the enemy is so slick, even with our little Christian language in the best efforts to say, expect something from God, he'll already get into and feed our minds with see, you're not good enough. You're not spiritual enough, right? And this is why as women, we're also bombarded with the message left and right, that we're just never going to measure up in any capacity, that we're not skinny enough and that we don't work enough, but that we're not home enough. And we don't spend enough time with the kids, but we need to be making homemade sourdough bread. I don't know how to do both. Like, you know, like there's just constant battle of not enough. I'll tell you one way that the enemy's really just trying to make me feel not enough is in this season of parenting a preschooler. Do I have any parents of preschoolers in the house today? Okay, we'll have extra prayer for all of us after serve. The prayer team is available for us.
One of the ways that I just feel very inadequate as a preschool parent is it's very evident to me that I am not creative enough, okay? So if you're the parent of a preschooler or an elementary schooler, just go back a few years and remember how much your teachers hated you, I mean, loved you when they decided that what would be really fun is if at every holiday, when you're already drowning, okay, with your responsibilities at home, the teachers who say, you know. that I think this mom probably wants to do during this holiday break, I bet they wanna do a family fun project with their toddler who doesn't listen, right? Oh, we all know, okay? And so, so that's what happens. It's like, at the beginning of the year, we usually, I mean, we'll get a project like first day of school. I'm like, first day of school, and we gotta fill out the leg hole about me poster, you know, and we send it back, and we try hard because, you know, well, well, actually my theory is don't try hard too early in the year because then that teacher's gonna expect that all year. Do you know what I'm saying? So you gotta kind of throw them off a little bit in the beginning,
like make the all about me poster in September be like mid, you know, and then you could catch them off guard with the pumpkin project, okay? And they'll be like, oh, this mom does kind of care, you know, and so then, but then it goes back down because then you have to like disguise a turkey or make a turkey bag or something while you're also trying to prepare for all of your out of family to come in, you know, and you're cleaning the house and you're cooking the meals, and now you have to disguise a turkey. And then at Christmas time, they're like, you know, it'd be awesome if you guys all together just made a wreath. We just feel like that'd bring you together as a family. And I just need every preschool and elementary school teacher in here to know that nobody's having fun, okay? Nobody is having fun with your family fun projects. We're not having fun, and we're also not doing them as a family. We start as a family, and then we yell at our kids, and then we spank our kids, and we send them to their room, and then now it's midnight, and I'm up. Thank, I feel,
I feel seen, I feel seen. Thank you so much, okay. So Christmas, the wreaths are terrible, okay? So now by the time it's Valentine's Day, oh, this mom has nothing left in her tank, okay? Like, so, so this past Valentine's Day, you know, we got the little notification that I try to ignore, and was like, families, it's that time again. You know, they're like, grab your old cereal boxes or your shoe boxes and get together with your toddlers. They'll pease themselves and try to make a little fun Valentine's Day box for them to bring to school. I obviously forget. Now it's like February 12th. My kid's gonna be the only one without a Valentine's Day box. We don't have any of those boxes laying around the house, so we go down the street to the dollar store, and I decide to get him a plastic shoe box, like one of those little containers. I'm like, they didn't really specify. I mean, they did give eight pictures of examples, and none of them were Tupperware, but I just feel like maybe this is gonna be okay. So I got like the plastic shoe box, and I got little letter stickers, and I spelled his name on it, and then I let him decorate it
with like Mickey Mouse stickers, and we called it a day, and we brought it in. And I mean, Mac was delighted. Like, literally, he was walking into school that morning and said, man, Miss Sandy's gonna be so proud of me. And so, you know, and I was proud too until we hit the hallway where the tables are lined up, and you know, because it's not enough to just do it. Now we have to let all the other parents know who did it and who didn't, you know, which I think is really cool. And so we walked down the hallway, and there's a display of Valentine's Day boxes. I took a video. You guys wanna see? You guys wanna see the, okay, here it is, here it is. So, yep, okay, okay. Isabella, are you joking? What? We got a whole pony, okay? We got not just Gabby's dollhouse, nope, but Melissa's dollhouse, and then there's. Yeah. You guys are laughing harder than the other services. You're mean, okay? Yeah, every time I look at this picture, I find a new problem with it, you know? Like, I'm trying so hard to convince myself this was good, and then in the first service, I was like, looking down at it, and I was like, wow,
I really didn't even take off the price tag. Like, so, you know, so naturally, like any millennial covered in shame, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna just make this. We're just gonna go for it. We're just gonna put it on TikTok. Let's put it on the internet. Let's laugh. So I upload, like, the video, and it goes crazy, okay? There's like 400, 500,000 views on it. There's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of comments, and most of the comments are other moms who are also drowning like me, you know, just trying to throw me a bone. They're like, oh, mama, it was great. No, you did a great job, like, you know. Somebody even put, they were like, yeah, but just think, if all of those boxes were in a hurricane, only Max would make it, you know? I mean, like, I appreciate, I appreciate the love, okay? Like, they were trying really hard to make me feel good about myself. But then, you know, there's also those, like, nasty people on the internet, the internet trolls, who are all, you know, Isabella's mom, I guess. No, I said, I don't even know. If, if. If you just saw your kid's picture up there, I'm so sorry. I did not ask you for permission. And actually, if you are any of the parents in that picture,
please come let me know so I could pay you to do my kids' projects for the rest of the year. So I put the video on TikTok and there are some mean parents who go on there. And I mean, they start just ripping me to shreds. I mean, you would have thought I posted a video of me beating my kids. That is like the response the internet got me. They're like, wow, we just absolutely can't believe you wouldn't take the time for your child. People are like, if you don't have time for children, don't have them at all. I'm like, oh my gosh. Like people were, oh yeah, it was bad. And so there's hundreds of comments and I'm just, every time I'm reading them, you know, I'm like, I'm a pastor, I'm a pastor, I'm a pastor. Like I cannot get in internet fights right now. Like, is this not worth my time? Like I can't respond. So for like 98% of the comments, I listened to the Holy Spirit. And then there were two comments that I just, whoops, slipped. And so I just responded really fast. And the one was to a mom and she commented on my picture. Wow, dot, dot, dot, literally gave 0% effort. And I responded to her and I was like, nah, that was at least 15%.
I don't know, wait till she sees that I'm gonna use the same box next year for Valentine's Day. Now that is 0%, okay? And then somebody else commented on there and they were like, wow, can you imagine growing up with a mom who just doesn't care about you enough to make a Valentine's Day box? And I just shot her a little love encouragement back and was like, wow, can you imagine growing up with a mom who thinks it's cool to shame other moms on the internet? And so, so that was nice. Yeah, so if you go look for the video later, don't do it now, thank you, thank you. Don't do it now, but if you go on later, you have to have self-control, okay? Don't come to my defense and start acting a fool on there because I also have videos on there of me preaching. So, okay, back to the scripture. Sorry, this is like half a message for you and half the therapy session for me right now. I hope you understand. I'm having a great Mother's Day. But from something as silly as being creative to being spiritual, right? The enemy is constantly trying to show us where our lack is, to show us where we're not measuring up, to show us where we could be doing better, which is why I'm so encouraged that when God needed somebody to take care of the prophet Elijah,
he says, no, I'm gonna show that when I need somebody to show up for me, I'm not just looking for somebody that has it all together all the time, that I can use people even in their lack, not just to show them that their lack doesn't push me away, but because I'm on a mission to tell people that you have more to offer than you think. You have more to offer than you think. And as I was piecing together this message for church this morning, I kind of even argued, dare I say, with the Holy Spirit a little bit on this point, because I was like, Jesus, I just told them that they didn't have to keep up with the world saying they're not doing enough, but then yet I feel you pushing me and urging me to share this message to them that you have more to offer than you think. And I was like, isn't that sending contradictory messages? Like either we've done enough or we need to be doing more for the Lord and we have more to offer him. And I so clearly heard in my heart, the Holy Spirit say this exactly for this church, Faith Orlando, that this is not a call to do more. It's a call to dream again. That when God is asking you in this season to say, hey, what little you feel like you have, give to me. He's not doing that to punish you. He's not doing it to deplete you.
He didn't ask the widow for all she had left so he could take all she had left. He asked for what she had so he could multiply it. And I just believe that there are some things on the inside of you in this room that the Lord is saying, if you will just give that to me, I know you're holding onto it for dear life because you think I already have so little. I already have such little time and such little resources and patience and dreams in this little bit that I have right now. You're also asking me for Lord and it can feel like a sacrifice. But what I've learned about the Lord is that often on the other side of him asking us to release something into his hands, on the other side of him asking us to move is often a miracle. And if we will just trust God when he's asking us to move, when he's asking us to give, when he's asking us to step out, even with what little we have, I believe that you are about to see a miracle happen in your life. You see, this widow would have never experienced the miracle unless she gave to Elisha first because again, I think most of us would have this story like mixed up. We would think that Elijah would come and say, oh, give me something to eat.
And when she would respond and say, oh, I only have this, I only have that, I don't have enough to feed you. Elijah in that moment could have been like, oh, bada bing, bada boom, I'm a prophet. Let's do the miracle now and then let's all feast, right? Because isn't that what we like to have? We're like, Lord, you go first, right? And we don't even realize that we kind of choke hold the Lord unintentionally sometimes, where the Lord is asking us for something and the Lord is asking us to do something and we kind of bring in this transactional way that we deal with other people into our relationship with the Lord. And the Lord will say, hey, I want you to start a small group. And you'll be like, okay, I'll start a small group when you give me a big enough house to have a small group in or the Lord will say, hey, I want you to start serving in the kids ministry. And you're like, I'll start serving in the kids ministry when I feel like I have enough time. Or the Lord is saying, hey, I want you to have another baby or I want you to become foster parents or I want you to become adoptive parents. And you're like, I'll do that when my kids behave. Like, you know, like there's all these things that the Lord is asking us to do for him.
And if we're not careful, we will just get into this war with the Lord where we're like, well, when you do this, then I'll do this, right? But when we look at the widow of Zarephath, she doesn't wait for the miracle to happen. She just steps out in obedience and trust with what little she has and says, hey, this is not a lot, but nonetheless, if this is what you're asking for, then this is what I'm gonna give to you. And whatever it is, even right now, that the Holy Spirit is dropping in your heart that you know he's calling you to, I wanna take the burden off of that. He's not asking you, mom, to step into another season so he could take from you. He's asking you to do something because it's really been a dream that's been in your heart for a long time that you've allowed the enemy to convince you you don't have enough resources, time, ability to do. And God is saying, hey, this Mother's Day, it's okay to dream again. Sometimes, moms, we get caught in the cycle of, well, I'm just a mom, and mothering takes all of me, and I get that. Me and Pastor Peter used to say we wanted six kids, and then we had our two, and I'm like, how about one? You know?
Like, we all have dreams and things, but I say it all the time. I mean, probably too much to a fault. People are like, do you guys want a third kid? I'm like, no, I actually want one. Do you want the other one? Like, I, because, you know, I love them, but even me, I speak over ourselves all the time. I'm like, oh, I just have so much. Like, I could never do that. I could never have another. I could never do this. I could never, and sometimes we don't even realize that we're doing the work of the enemy for him by speaking that kind of stuff over ourselves. I could never start that ministry. I could never write that book. I could never serve. Some of the men in this room, I feel like God has called you to start businesses or do a career change, and you're so busy looking at what you don't have that you've forgotten who you do. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
And if God is calling you to give him a dream or to give up something to him, he doesn't take, he multiplies. He takes a small shepherd boy and one stone and he kills a giant. He takes five fishes and two loaves and then multiplies it till there's exceedingly and abundantly above. He asked the Israelites in Joshua, when it's time for them to enter into the promised land, wouldn't it have been so fun if they could have just walked through, but what was standing in between them was the Jordan River. And the people of God in the past had already seen them, the Lord part the Red Sea, but in the Red Sea, the Lord parted the waters and then they walked. So I'm sure that the Israelite people in Joshua chapter three were expecting the same thing. Okay, Lord, you're asking me to do this. It is a promise. I, okay, I know it. I know this is what you're asking me to do, but look at all this in the middle. Look at all this lack. Look at all this only. And I love that in Joshua chapter three, the Lord does the same miracle in a different way than he does with the Red Sea,
because the Red Sea, Moses held up his staff and the waters parted and they walked through. But in Joshua chapter three, it says that the water didn't start rolling back until the priest stepped into the water, which means sometimes the miracle you're waiting on is on the other side of your obedience, is on the other side of your trust, is on the other side of your faith, is to just step into what God has asked you to do. She didn't realize that the bread was gonna keep coming until she started actually making it for Elijah. So moms, there are some of you in this room and you know the Lord is calling you to do something or to be something. And maybe it's as big as starting a ministry or it's something like having another baby that you just keep saying you can't handle, but it's been a dream. And can I just tell you, you have more to offer than you think with him on your side. And that if God is asking you to do it, and if God has put the dream inside of you and it's a God thing, then God is going to give you all that you need, but you gotta get your eyes off of your only and onto him. This is how the enemy wants us walking around life. Only have this, only have this, just in a poverty mindset, in a poverty spirit. Can't possibly do this, not good enough to do this,
not talented enough to do this. But when we're looking at our hands, we forget whose hands we're in. And God all throughout scripture has been trying to teach us a constant story of saying, hey, my people are gonna look different because they're not gonna find their security in their supply. I want them to find their security in the supplier. This is why. We see the way that he tested the Israelites in the Old Testament was he said, Hey, I'm going to rain down manna from heaven every single day, but you're not to gather a manna for the next day just for this day, because he's trying to teach us that the world, Oh, they get their sense of peace and security by looking at their supply, by checking their bank account, by looking at their investments, by checking their stock. Moms, you know that feeling when you come home from Costco and you're just like, I could feed an army for a month. You know what I mean? Like you just feel on top of the world when you have like 20 rolls of toilet paper in your thing, you know, like, you're just like, I'm not going to run out because you know, it feels good to our flesh to just kind of keep opening the pantry. But here's the thing that we have to notice is when Elijah did the miracle for her, it wasn't that all of a sudden Elijah said, problem solved. I just did a Costco pickup order for 10 gallons of olive oil and a hundred pounds of flour. It's all going to be here in the morning and I got you the ongoing subscription. So it'll keep coming. Right? Because if he had done that, then the widow would have found her security in the supply.
She would have just kept going back and being like, look at all this oil. I'm okay. Look at all this flour. I'm okay. But what it actually says in verse 16 is that the containers never ran empty. There was always enough. It doesn't even say that Elijah gave her extra containers. The container that she had for oil and the container that she had for flour, miraculously, every morning when she woke up, there was enough. And I just want to encourage somebody in this room, especially a mom, that as you keep showing up, he will keep showing up. Don't let the enemy tell you that you're not going to make it through this next season, that you're already too exhausted for tomorrow, that you can't handle what's coming up next. God has always been in the business of his miracles, not always being excessive, it not always being that I'm going to give you everything you need today for forever. What our God does is he gives us enough today for today. And then we go to sleep and we have peace, not because we have an excess of supply, but because we're connected to the supplier. And so we can sleep at night going, if he gave me enough yesterday, if he gave me enough last month, then he gave me enough today. Then he's going to give me enough tomorrow. So you don't have to worry that God is always going to be there. What he's given us is enough, not because of anything we do, but because of everything that he is. Can we stand all across this room this morning? I want to read to you one last passage of scripture. That is my absolute favorite passage of scripture in the Bible. It's found in Matthew chapter six, and you've probably heard this said a few times,
but I want to read it to you out of the message version. Because I feel like the way that it's said here just perfectly encapsulates everything that I feel like is on God's heart for this church and this house this morning. Matthew chapter six, starting at verse 25, says this, if you decide for God, living a life of God worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than the birds. Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion. Do you think it makes that much of a difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The 10 best dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside of them. Church, if God gives such appearance, such attention to the appearance of wildflowers, most of which are never even seen, don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. So steep your life in God reality, God initiative, God provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now and don't get worked up
about what may or may not happen tomorrow, for God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Church, we serve Jehovah Jireh, our provider, and he's provided for us in the past and he's providing for us now and he will continue to provide for us in the future. So we don't have to worry and we don't have to try to earn anything from him. We are already loved. We are already chosen by him. We are his kids. I'm laughing at you. I'm laughing at you. does not push him away you have more to offer than you think and what you call I'm laughing at you. I'm laughing at you. I'm laughing at you. I'm laughing at you. only God calls enough. So this morning I've asked a band to lead us in that song again and I would love if we could just lift our hands all across this place and declare the truth of God's Word that you are already loved and chosen I know what you've spoken I'm already loved more than I could imagine and that is enough I'm already loved already chosen I'm already chosen and I know who I am I know who I am I know what you've spoken I'm already loved
more than I could imagine and that is enough Can I ask all the moms to come down front? If you're a mom, if you're a grandmom, if you're stepping in as a mom role right now maybe you're an auntie stepping in or a friend, foster mom, adoptive mom I'm even going to ask those of you who are believing that maybe this year you'll become a mom and that's a desire of your heart, I'm going to include you in this moment Come on, let's pack these altars full, we got lots of mamas in the house today Then I'm going to pray over in a moment I've asked them to sing this song one more time and moms, I just need us to sing sometimes the best way to combat the lies of the enemy is just to declare the truth of God's Word is to just say I know who I am and I know what's true and I know that one of the biggest lies of the enemy that he would love for you to believe is that your kids would be better off if they had a different mom and I just want to let you know right now that you are handpicked and chosen to be your baby's mom grandmom, auntie, titi, whatever role God has given you to take care and show who Jesus is to the children in your life He has uniquely designed you He has picked you He knew your flaws, He knows your lack, He knows where you don't measure up and He didn't pick you because He thought you were perfect or He thought you were going to be perfect so you can't let Him down, right? He literally said, you're not enough, but I'm enough and so if we can just keep mothering and caring and loving our babies through the filter of God through His grace, through His strength, through His Holy Spirit it is going to be enough your babies are going to thrive, your kids are going to succeed I call every wayward child home right now in the name of Jesus every broken relationship between a parent and a child
every child that was raised in the house of God but is wandering I call them home right now in the name of Jesus because they have a praying mom who is reflective of who you are so before I pray over you moms, can we just sing this one last time? can we lift our hands and just declare the truth of God's word over our own hearts? that we are enough because He is in us we thank you, Jehovah Jireh that is enough I'm already loved I'm already chosen I know who I am I know what You've spoken I'm already loved more than I can imagine and that is enough Jireh, Jireh You are enough Jireh, Jireh You are enough and I will be content in every circumstance Jireh, Jireh You are enough Come on, last time, let's just lift Him up. We love you, Jesus. You're our provider. You are in us in every season. I don't have to work. Because you are who you say you are. Jesus, I thank you that you're enough.
Lord, we are not perfect moms. We fall short all the time. Matter of fact, every person in this room falls short of your glory over and over and over again, which is why you sent your son Jesus to come, because you knew we wouldn't be enough. You knew we wouldn't have enough and we wouldn't have what it takes. And so Lord, you came so you could be enough for us. So Lord, I just pray over every area of lack that is felt at this altar. Lord, every mom that came in with just a heaviness on their shoulders, whether it's because they feel like they're not enough or they're not doing enough or there's a situation that they're facing that's just out of their control that they don't know what to do anymore. Lord, I pray that in this moment, you would just lift off heaviness. Lord, you would lift off shame. You would lift off worry off of your daughters in this house that we would know that, Lord, you may not be providing the way that we thought, but we can count on you that you have been faithful and that if you were faithful yesterday and faithful today, that you'll be faithful with all of our tomorrows. So we trust you and we can walk with a lightness and we can walk with a peace and a joy that only comes from your Holy Spirit,
knowing that we are your daughters and that we are in the palm of your hands. Lord, I bless every mother, every family that's represented in this room today. May we walk in peace and wholeness and healing in the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray. Amen, amen, and amen. You glad you came to church today on this Mother's Day? So am I. Pastor David is gonna come close us now. We love you guys. Church, can we thank Joanna for that message today? What a powerful word for everybody in the room. Amen. Well, before we leave today, if you came in here and you gave your life to the Lord or wanna accept Jesus in a moment, our prayer team will come forward. You can also scan the QR code. We'd love to connect with you and send you some more resources. Moms, we love you. We have a gift on the way out for you. So God bless you. Everybody have a great week. We'll see you next week and make sure moms grab your gift on the way out. God bless. If you're joining us online, we're so excited that you worship with us today.
We hope that if you're ever in town, ever in Orlando or in the region, that you could come and worship with us. We hope you have a great Mother's Day as well. God bless you and we'll see you next week.
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