Mother's Day Weekend | Lori Wilhite

Man, that worship was so amazing. So good. It has my heart in the right spot for sure. I want to give a special shout out to anybody watching with our partnership with God Behind Bars and through the Pando app. Amen. That's right, man. We are so glad you're tuned in to this. Hey, if you want to follow along Pastor Lori's message today, you can go to the dashboard on our app. All of our teaching notes are on there where you can really just engage and stay invested in the message. Amen. And now I want you to give it up real big for our pastor, Lori Wilhite, as she brings us a special Mother's Day message of hope. Hello, hello, hello. Hey, really quickly, we want to give a huge thank you to all of our locations that are joining us and hanging out with us this weekend. Thank you for being here. And we want to give a special shout out to all of the moms, the adoptive moms, the stepmoms, the foster moms, the spiritual moms, the grandmoms, the aunties, and every single woman who pours her life into the life of a child. We thank you, we honor you, and we say happy Mother's Day to you.

So my husband, Judd, and I have reached the time in our lives where we now get to have the joy of some really special tests when we go and do our physicals annually. And a few years ago, we got to do the least fun of all the tests. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's a colonoscopy, you got it. And Judd and I decided, listen, if you are too young to have had a colonoscopy, God bless you, congratulations. You know, someday it's coming for you, enjoy it while you don't have to have it, but someday you got to do it, it's important, do it. But Judd and I decided that we were going to try to make this experience more enjoyable like that's possible. So we decided to schedule his and hers colonoscopies. You heard it right. We decided to have our colonoscopies at the same time. How romantic of us. But we thought, you know, this way we can starve together. We can prep together. We can travel to the appointment together and we can recover together. We will do everything together and it'll be so much more fun. It was a great idea until it wasn't. And the night before you have one of those tests,

you get to drink the worst Kool-Aid of your life. And to make the most of it, we poured our little drink into fancy glasses. We did a little cheers. We raced to see who could drink it the fastest. Judd started making jokes and then we waited and repeated. So it was fancy glasses, cheers, drink, jokes, wait, repeat. Fancy glasses, cheers, drink, jokes, wait, repeat. And everything was great until it wasn't. And then it really, really wasn't, if you know what I mean. And the next morning as we headed to our appointments, Judd went in first and then it was my turn to go in. Now, I do not have good veins on like a normal day, but on a day where I have no moisture left in my entire body, then they're horrible. And so I tried to warn the nurses and they were like, Lori, we do this all day, every day. We're amazing at it. We can find a vein, it's no problem. I was like, great. And it was great until it wasn't. And then in the next few minutes, they dug through both of my arms, both hands, both feet. And then they said, we've got one last resort. And I was like, well, let's get to it. And that last resort was a nurse. And she came in and she held my hand and she said, I'm not really supposed to do this, but I heard you're a pastor's wife. I said, I am.

And she goes, so am I. So we're about to beg Jesus to help me get this in you. And so we did, and he did. And so maybe, just maybe, our last resort should have been our first. And life is a lot like those colonoscopies. Parenting is a lot like that. Work life can be a lot like that. Like maybe you're rocking this family thing. Parenting is on point, your marriage is solid, your family is unified. It's great until it isn't. And it's one terrible choice or one heartbreaking conversation or one blowout argument, and you're just left trying to piece your family back together. Or maybe your kids are doing wonderfully in school and they're rolling along and they're happy and it's great until it isn't. And maybe they get overwhelmed and overstressed or they start. hanging out with the wrong kids, or they're dealing with friend drama in their life and they're not happy, they're hurting. Or maybe you've had a community of friends and they're supposed to be the people that lift you up and encourage you and cheer you on. And it is great until it isn't. And now you feel alone and abandoned.

Or maybe you're super excited about the purpose that God has planted on your heart and you're gearing up for it and you're ready to go and you're excited to take that hill. But now, instead of feeling purpose-filled, you're filled with self-doubt. Or maybe you're feeling strong and rested and you've got a lot of energy and a lot of pep to your step and it's great until it isn't. And then one day out of nowhere, you can't get out of bed. And you just feel like the lights have gone off in your life. Have you ever had a moment like that? It's great until it isn't. That's when we need that last resort that should have been our first the whole time. We need Jesus. We need Him moving. We need Him working. We need Him in our lives because God is great even when life isn't. God is great even when life isn't. So we're gonna take a look at arguably the best leader in the Bible outside of Jesus and His name is Moses. And we're gonna pop into Moses' life when he is in a moment like that. And it's great until it isn't kind of moment. And we're gonna see how the Lord leads him to lean on Him so that we can learn to lean on the Lord

in those seasons of our lives as well. So if you brought your Bible, we're gonna be in Exodus 6. But before we get in there, let me rewind a couple of chapters and I wanna kinda clue you in to what's going on in Moses' life. So God has shown up to Moses in a burning bush and He's spoken to Moses and He said, Moses, my people are in captivity. They're slaves in Egypt. And I need you to go back to Egypt and we're gonna set my people free. It sounds like a great purpose. But Moses spends the next two chapters of the Bible arguing with God. Surely you don't mean me. I don't know what to say. What if they don't believe me? I'm not good enough, God. It's in somebody else. But when Moses finally gets over himself, he decides he's going to obey God. He packs up his family. He moves all the way back to Egypt. And that's where he meets with some of the leaders of the Israelites. And he tells them exactly what God said. God's got a plan for you. He's gonna set you free.

He's gonna get you out of captivity. And the Bible says that the people believed Him and that they got on their knees and worshiped God. Everything was great until it wasn't. And then Moses walks in and meets Pharaoh. And he tells him, hey, you know what? God wants His people to go and worship Him. And Pharaoh says, really? Then you must think these people have too much time on their hands. So instead of letting them go, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna give them harder work and more labor and make their lives more miserable. So God's people who had just a few sentences earlier been worshiping Him and believed Him are now shaking their fists at Moses and saying, what have you done to us? You've made our lives harder. They're going to kill us. Moses had done everything God had asked him to do. And now everything is falling apart. Not only are the people not free, but now their lives are so much worse off than they were before he showed up. And you know, the life of obedience isn't about a life of ease. We can sometimes embrace this false theology that if we're doing what God asks us to do, our lives are gonna be easy and happy and things are gonna go smoothly in our lives.

But that's not always the case. Just because you're called doesn't mean it's easy. Just because you have a purpose doesn't mean it's pain-free. Just because you're doing everything that God has asked you to do doesn't mean it's all going to go as planned. Because sometimes God's call on our lives comes with some challenges and some hardships and days when it feels like everything is on fire. But it is still worth it to be inside the will of God because God always has a purpose, always has a plan. And when you're walking with Him, it may not be easy, but that means you're walking inside the purpose and plans of God. And I don't know about you, but that's where I wanna be. Even if it's hard, even if it hurts. So here's Moses, he is frustrated, he is discouraged. and he is exhausted, but he's about to find out that God is great even when life isn't. And if it was true for Moses, then it is certainly true for us today. So here's what the Bible says in Exodus 5. We're gonna pick it up in verse 22. Now, when we get to that red word, we're gonna yell it out because this is God's word. This is the Holy Scripture. We don't wanna just hear about it. We wanna interact with it and let it get from our minds

all the way down into our hearts. Are you ready? Here we go. Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested. Why? Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people and you have done nothing to rescue them. Have you ever had a why God moment in your life? A moment when you're like, God, where are you? What are you doing? Why aren't you acting in my life? That's exactly where Moses is. Listen, when we have those everything's great until it isn't moments, there's a few things we have to remember. It's the same three things Moses had to remember. Here's the first one. We have to remember God's promises. Remember his promises. So we're gonna pick it up in Exodus six, starting in verse two. And here's what it says. God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. Now, I want you to take those four little words, package them up, put them in your pocket because we're gonna come back to those later.

They're super important. I am the Lord. I appear to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty. I also established my covenant with them. A covenant is just a fancy word of saying a promise. I established my promise with them. So God is saying, hey, Moses, when you look at the past, I was already working. I know it doesn't feel like I'm working right now, but I was already working a long time ago. In fact, I appeared to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I established a relationship with them. And guess what, Moses? I established a relationship with you too before you ever existed. And you're gonna get to have a relationship with me that was so much better, so much closer than they experienced. I'm going to draw so close to you. And I established promises with those people, even then, that I am working on even now. So don't think I forgot my promises. And if I haven't forgotten them, you need to remember my promises too. When I was five years old, my parents joined our home church. It's Judd's home church too. And it was the first time outside of my parents that anybody told me about Jesus.

And in all of those little lessons at church, God started to teach me about himself. And then when I was in fifth grade at that same church, to the sounds of the organ playing, I walked down to the front and accepted Jesus as my leader and my forgiver. And I got baptized. And in that moment, God started to build a relationship with me. And then when I was in high school, my mom got diagnosed with cancer and I just didn't know how to handle that. I ignored it. I pretended it didn't exist. I couldn't handle it. And in all of that kind of, I don't dismissal, God still showed me that he is a healer. And then when I was in college, I was so tired of my spiritual life feeling like humdrum and routine and stale. And I realized that I could not ride the coattails of my parents' faith anymore. I had to own it for myself. And God started to move with this like sweet intimacy in my life that I had never had before. And then I married this really cute pastor. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was called to ministry. He wasn't so sure about me. I spent a long time wrestling with insecurity and doubt.

And then over time, I started to rest in the promises of God. And not just that, that I started to step out into the purpose he had for my life. And then as I got busy, busy doing, doing, doing, doing, doing for God, I kind of got lazy about dwelling with God. And I found myself lost and depressed and felt like I couldn't move. God was so kind, and he was so patient, and he was so gentle, and he would draw me back into a relationship with him again. So today, when I hit those it was great until it wasn't kind of moments, I'll sit and think back about all the times God showed up in my life. From the times I was a little girl, to when I was an adult, to just yesterday, about how he is moving and working in my life all the time. I don't always see it, but I know it's happening. And can I just suggest that if you're at a hard time in your life right now, this could be something really good for you. It's just to sit down and write out all the times that God has been good to you. All the times that he has stepped in in your life. It might be big ways. It might be teeny, tiny, little ways that God showed up, but write them down and let them anchor you in the promises of God, because I promise you that if he was moving then, he can still move now.

So sit down and do that. And here's what the Bible says. The Bible tells us that the promises of God are yes. In Christ Jesus. All the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus. And here's what that means. When you feel alone or abandoned, you can remember that God promises you that he will always be with you. He draws near to those who draw near to him. When you mess up and you make mistakes and you feel unworthy of the love of God, you can remember that God promises that nothing, that means not one single thing can separate you from his love. When it seems like everything is crumbling around you, remember the promises of God. He promises to work everything for the good of those who are called according to his purpose. And when you can't shake off the regrets of the past, you can remember that God promises to make you a new creation. The old life is gone. The new one is here. And when you're consumed with fear and worry, you can remember that God has promised his peace if you trust him. And no matter what you face, no matter how hard things may seem, we can remember that God has promised

that we will have the ultimate victory through Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even when life isn't. So we remember his promises. The second thing is we remember his purpose. All right, let's look back at Exodus six and we're gonna pick it up in verse five. It says, you can be sure that I have the groans of the people of Israel and are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I'm well, what? Well aware. Well aware of my covenant to them. Therefore, say to the people of Israel, I am the Lord. They are those four words again. Put those in your pocket too. I am the Lord. The heartbreak of the Israelites, it wasn't surprising to God. He heard their cries. He was aware of them.

He saw them. He cared for them. He knew everything they were going through. And I think the words that God was speaking to the Israelites then are the same words he wants you to hear today, which is I hear you. And I see you. And just because you were discouraged does not mean that God isn't moving. And just because it feels like your work has taken two steps back, it doesn't mean that God is not working it out. Listen, God is with us. He hears us. You know, there are times when I have felt like my prayers are bouncing off the walls. But even then, God still hears. He hears you crying at night when you're stressed out and worried, and he hears your grief, even when you don't have words to put around it. And he sees you when you feel alone. He sees you when you're scared you're not gonna be able to pay the bills this month. He sees you even when you feel hurt. He hears you, and he knows you. He cares about you, and he cares enough to be right with you and knows everything was great

until it wasn't kind of moments, because he will see his purpose in your life to completion. In Philippians 1, 6, here's what Paul writes. He says, and I am certain that God. Who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns which means Every purpose that the Lord has for his people That's you That's your family. That's your children every purpose that he has for you. He will see through He will see it finished. He will make it happen because God is great Even when life isn't So the first thing we remember is his promises. The next thing we remember is his purpose and last We remember his plans Okay, who are my grammar police in the room the people who when you're on social media? You wish you had a red pen because you want to correct everybody's spelling They used y-o-u-r. They should have used y-o-u Apostrophe re you want to change it or you like send a text and an hour later you saw you misspelled a word So you text them again just so you can fix your grammar. Okay, raise your hands be proud about it. That's me, too All right. So this is a moment in the Bible for us I think it's for everyone but especially us because we're about to get super nerdy for a second. Are you ready? Okay, so in this whole section of Scripture One of the things that people sometimes don't notice is that God has been changing the verb tenses as he speaks Super nerdy. I warned you. Are you ready? So first he starts to say I appeared to your ancestors and I Established my promises with them. He's talking about things that happened in the past And Then he says I have heard and I am aware right now Today about what's going on and now God's about to change them again And he's about to point forward to the future and what God is doing is saying. Hey, I was working then I

Am working now and I will work into the future because I am the God who was and is and is to come So you don't have to fret about it you can trust that I have got it So we're gonna pick it up in verse 6 and every time we see this word I want you to not only read it, but I want you to think about that This is God speaking about something that has not happened yet, but promises of what he's going to deliver in the future Says therefore Say to the people of Israel. I am the Lord. That's the third time. He said it Anytime God put something on repeat in the Bible it is for us to pay attention to so we'll come back to it again Alright, I am the Lord. I I will free you from your oppression and Will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I Redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I Claim you as my own people and I be your God then you Will know that I am the Lord there. It is again for your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt I Bring you into the land. I swore to give to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. I Give it to you as your very own Possession God is saying don't think I'm done I'm still working. I have a lot to come in the future. Yeah, you've been super broken You've been captives you have been lost but I will set you free I will rescue you I will redeem you. I will bring you into my promises I will claim you I will be your God and I will do what I have said I will do my plan is about to come together for you and you're gonna be better off than you ever were before. So remember Remember my promises remember my purposes and trust that I will see my plan through Incredible words of God I've spent the last 25 plus years of my life on the craziest wildest roller coaster there is called motherhood and I adore my children. They're adults now 22 and 15, but when I think of them

Most of the time I don't think of them as adults. I think of them like this That's that's baby girl Emma three years old Not the woman you see up here leading worship and and hosting service. No, that's the one That lived in our home the little girl who would dig through her All of her costumes and she would spend a whole day in a princess crown and a white wedding dress. And I loved parenting her. It was great. Most of the time it was so great. And sometimes it wasn't, you know? There were snuggles, but there were also a lot of struggles. And there were bedtime stories, but there were also timeouts, and there were play days, but there were also ER visits, and there were days that we would lay in the grass and whisper to each other. But then there were days where I'd be kind of at the end of myself, and I'd yell at her. We had relaxing family vacations, but we also had stressful friend drama in her life. And you know, sometimes she would overcome these big challenges, and then sometimes she would just get overwhelmed by them. And she had seasons where she charged up new hills, and seasons where she just tripped down them. Days that we would dance in the kitchen together, and mornings when we would argue on the way to school. It was mostly great. And sometimes it just wasn't. And in the blink of an eye, we went from that wedding dress to this one. Our baby girl got married a week ago. To the love of her life. And every great moment and not-so-great moment of our mom and daughter journey has led us here.

The moment we got to see God's promises and His purpose and His plan all come together. And you know, when she was little, I just, I worried about her, I loved her so much. But God had promised that He loved her even more than me. And I would pray and pray and pray that God would guide her and direct her, but God was already planting His purpose in her heart. And I wanted to control every single detail of her little life, because I thought I knew best. But God was already writing out the plan for her life, and by golly if He didn't know better. And He isn't done yet. Now she gets to walk the life and the faith journey with this amazing man who loves Jesus so deeply, and He is absolutely crazy about her, and we're so thrilled about it. And listen, I hope and pray their lives are so great. But I think we all know sometimes it isn't. And I know every up and every down that God is great, even if life isn't. So now we're going to take those four little words and pull them back out of our pockets, because it's also how this section of Scripture ends. And we're going to look at Exodus 6, verse 8, and we're just going to read it together. You ready? One, two, three. I am the Lord. Say it one more time. I am the Lord. Four or five times God has said that in just a few verses, because I think He's shouting to His people. Do not worry. I am the Lord. I know things aren't working out like you thought, but I am the Lord. I know it's not going as smoothly as you wanted, but I am the Lord. So how do we know God's great when life isn't? He's the Lord.

And He is working and He is moving. He is personal, He is faithful, He is good. He is present, He is powerful. He is worthy, He is love. He is grace, He is mercy, He is mighty, He is holy. He is the Lord. So I want to end our time together a little differently today. If you are a parent or a grandparent or you're praying to the Lord, you can soon be — will you just stand up right now? Don't be scared. It's okay. Stand up. And then I just want you to take your hands like this, and I want you to picture your children, your grandchildren, your future kids. And then we're going to spend some time praying that He that is the Lord, the One who who worked then, who is working now, will work in their future as well. So if you're seated and you see somebody standing, will you just pray for their families too? All right, let's pray together. Jesus, you are so great. And we love our kids, God, but life is so hard. But right now, God, we just lift them to you. And we trust them to you, that you are the God who was, and is, and is to come, and that your promises will see fruition in their lives. And that you created them on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose, and that you will use them for a purpose. And God, we trust you

that even though we may not can see it now, God, that you have a plan. And we trust that you are working it out in their lives, even right now, God. And whatever fears we're carrying, whatever hurts we're carrying, whatever burdens we're carrying, God, for on the behalf of our children, I just pray, God, we're just gonna leave it at your feet. We're not gonna carry it anymore because we know you are perfectly capable of carrying them for us. We love you so much, amen, amen. All right, you can all stand and join us. We're gonna hand it over to our location pastors.