Mother's Day 2026 | David Vinyard

[0:00] Inspector Morning. Am I on? Perfect. I always feel a little bit like Inspector Gadget when I'm walking up here. I have everything but the helicopter hat, unfortunately.

[0:15] ! There we go. Good morning and happy Mother's Day to those celebrating. You know, you don't need to be a mom to celebrate. That's the beauty of Mother's Day.

[0:29] I think even more so those who are not mothers. We have reason for this day. But matter of fact, let's show of hands. Who's a mom in the room? Was, is, yeah.

[0:42] Not very high. It must have been a rough year. I wouldn't claim that. Show of hands for who's here because of a mother. All right. Good. Good. That's good. I wanted to see if anybody had checked out 30 seconds in. We're paying attention.

[1:00] There's only two people without a mother that I'm aware of. Adam and Eve. And I don't see either of them. So we're good. We've got, this is for all of us today. Whether you're a mom, whether you're not. Am I doing okay there? Am I good? Okay.

[1:13] Higher? Lower? That's good. Okay. George Herbert. And I forgot that I'm on the clicker here. George Herbert is an English writer and a scholar. I found this quote. I liked it a lot. It says, One good mother is worth a hundred school masters.

[1:31] That either says a lot about motherhood or a lot about the education system. I think it says a lot about mothers, though. And it actually reminded me of a story. Kevin Killeen, where's he at?

[1:45] In the back. He was asking me, he said, are we going to get any good mom stories today? And I said, I've got one. I'm saving some of the other ones for a future delivery. But I do have one. That quote kind of reminded me of something I was thinking about in my own life.

[2:00] And Teddy and I often talk about this in the speaker schedule. When you have a topical message, sometimes it just takes a lot to figure out what are we going to share today or what are we thinking about. But that quote reminded me of a story which reminded me of a message, so I thought I'd share it with you today.

[2:15] So I'm still buzzing. So the story actually begins when I was in eighth grade. Do we have any eighth graders in the room? Maybe one? I promise you, pal, your finer years are ahead of you.

[2:27] Eighth grade is not the time, right? I didn't peak in eighth grade. Some of you knew me then. I actually was looking for a picture. Then I stopped. I'm like, why am I doing that?

[2:39] Who wins in that scenario, right? Add some fuel to the shame flame. No. So I gave up that cause. But I was as green as it gets, right?

[2:50] Eighth grade me. I was transitioning to high school. I had much to learn. And despite that, one thing I was convinced of was my ability to type.

[3:01] And that's such an odd thing to say, right? What on earth? Through middle school, I was a very functional hunt and peck typer. Is that still a phrase people use or is that long gone?

[3:12] No? Okay. My dad and I were similar. I feel like dad and I both had that similar style. We were functional. We got through. We didn't really, you know, we're good. But I remember as I was transitioning to high school, I was looking at electives.

[3:26] I was thinking about what am I going to fill in my schedule with. My mom had made a pretty strong recommendation on, hey, you should take keyboarding, right? And I was like, no, I'm fast.

[3:39] I'm faster than all my friends. Why would I take keyboarding? It's not something I need, you know? And I'm looking at other options. This class was like first thing in the morning. I'm like, yeah, like that. You know, I wouldn't do that.

[3:52] But my mom insisted and she was very functional. Like when I had a paper due or something and I was behind, mom would type it. We'd work on it together. She would blitz through it, right? And so the recommendation stuck.

[4:03] I was like, you know what? I'll take this class. I'll do it. It's one semester. I had a buddy from basketball in that class. I think there was a girl I didn't mind sitting next to. So I was like, sold. I'm in. And in 2001, this keyboarding class was like, I wish I could describe to you the teacher.

[4:19] I mean, if you gave, you know, personality points to some and not to others, his was almost zero, right? It's like very bland. Which fits.

[4:30] You know, it is what it is. But deep down, I was like, I just, I don't need this class. I don't need to be here. You know, the key blinders thing and all the exercises. It just wasn't a highlight.

[4:42] Or so I thought, right? So this is a mom story because of the recommendation. Fast forward two decades later, since completing that class. Now there's my keyboarding picture.

[4:53] The story ends with a number, and I'll get to the point here in a second. But 78,000. Does anybody know what that number represents? It's so random. Close, actually.

[5:06] Close. I did take a typing test. You must be reading my outline here. In the eight years I've been with my present employer, because that's as far back as I could see in Outlook, I have sent 78,000 emails.

[5:20] Okay. Seems like a lot. Maybe, I don't know where you're at, right? That's not instant messages. That is not other communications. That's just outbound emails. Some of you guys are going to go home and check.

[5:31] I know it. I can see it. You're like, how many did I send? Now, I've had some great courses in high school and college. I took an English class to kind of change the way I think about structuring text.

[5:43] I had a logic and reason class with a guy who's now since passed. He was just fantastic, right? I've had some really good courses. No single class in my entire education endeavor has come close to the impact and return on investment of my mom's suggestion.

[6:01] Not even close. I was looking at the numbers. So, 80,000 almost in eight years. Thinking back to, like, when I first started working full-time in 2009, I think it's closer to, like, 250,000 in terms of just, like, outbound messages alone.

[6:17] Which is crazy, right? Like, crazy. And then you think about all the other forms of typing and all the minutes, like, the incremental gain that came from that one recommendation in school, right?

[6:29] Amy will laugh at me sometimes if she's driving on a road trip. I'll rest my eyes and, like, type out thoughts to a message. Like, just being able to use that, it seems really goofy. But, yeah, not a single class can I tie this back to that usurped the impact of my mom's advice, right?

[6:46] And I thought about that. But I did, Joe, my, I'm actually at 81 words per minute. That was my typing test I took. With a 97% accuracy, right? Not a world record.

[6:57] But not a bad, not a bad stat. And so all credit goes to the subtle encouragement of my mother, as it turns out. And I thought of that, I thought of the picture that creates for motherhood.

[7:11] And I just thought, man, isn't that a story of how God works through our mothers? And oftentimes when we don't really believe in it, oftentimes when we don't see the merit in it, oftentimes when we don't see what's going on or we just, God can use the faithful encouragement of a mother to do great things.

[7:30] Not that keyboarding for me is great things. But it did have that sort of impact. And so I was thinking about that. I was thinking about our message today and our text. And how neat a picture it is that oftentimes our first glimpse into the character of God is through our mothers and our parents.

[7:49] You know, the patience they have with us. The love that they demonstrate in our lives. The things that they do to build us up. Those are character traits of God communicated into our lives through our moms and through our dads.

[8:03] And so the topic for this morning, I know that was a long-winded intro. I appreciate you humor me. We're going to look at a few moms in scripture. We're going to look at a few of these women who had an experience in life where God used and rewarded and demonstrated their faith and their character and did some pretty neat things.

[8:23] So that's where we're going today. And much like my keyboarding class, the lessons in faith and providence came when you don't expect it. They arrived through a means that you wouldn't have thought.

[8:35] So that's what we're going to take a look at. Let me pray and we will dive in. God, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the impact that mothers have. Thank you for the encouragement through scripture that we're going to take a look at that you can do great things.

[8:49] You can use mothers. You can use their faith. You can really use any scenario in that you choose to use us and you choose to deliver your truth and exercise faith through these women.

[9:00] And so we say thank you for that and we're excited to see what you have this morning. Amen. All right. So our first example is from a mother named Jacobin.

[9:13] Anyone recognize that name? Not the most popular of names. In fact, it doesn't get reused much. You don't hear any baby Jacobins running around. But this is a mother whose faith would lead to great things.

[9:27] This is a mom whose boldness helped save her own child. Better known as the mother of Moses. From Exodus 2, verse 1 to 4, we read that a man from the house of Levi went and took his wife, a Levite woman.

[9:42] She conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that the child was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took, which by the way, three months to hide a newborn.

[9:55] Well done. When she could hide him no longer, she took him, I'm sorry, she took for him a basket, dobbed it with pitch, and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the riverbank.

[10:07] And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now you read something like that and you think, there's no way this is a model mother. You know, that is crazy. That isolation text is wild.

[10:20] Who would do that? But you might be familiar with the context of Exodus 2, right? She was living in a bit of a crazy time. Her people were in bondage.

[10:31] She was raising children during Israel's enslavement. And to make matters worse, Pharaoh made a decree that all the baby boys should be killed. So it's a terrible time to be a Jewish mother.

[10:42] Terrible. What a bad hand Jacobed was dealt. You could look at it that way, right? When you fast forward to Hebrews 11, look what it says.

[10:56] By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict. Whose faith is that?

[11:09] You read this and it sounds like Moses, but not Moses' faith. Whose boldness was that? Who stood in the face of the king? It was his mother and his parents.

[11:23] I thought that was a neat example coming back around in the book of Hebrews. The faith of Jacobed, his mother, rather than surrender to fear and panic. She just trusted God with this outcome.

[11:37] What a testament. And, you know, an often overlooked mother in a time of chaos and fear and panic and all of that. And also, the next time you hear somebody kind of bash a little bit of basket weaving classes, just know, it could save lives, you know.

[11:55] And it's a neat first story of how God can use the faithful actions of a mom to bring about the exodus. You know, I was thinking about that, too. And it's not impossible that some of you in the room, some of us through times in our life, we could feel that same sort of powerlessness.

[12:11] You could feel overlooked. You could feel frustratingly subjected to the decrees around you, which is, I think, the text, what it says there. Maybe you're here as a mom and it's family pressure.

[12:22] Maybe it's financial strain. Maybe it's a million little things. Just juggling life at the same time. Jeff, I forget if he went downstairs, Jeff made a good comment of just, we just don't understand how most things get held together if it weren't for mom.

[12:37] And so I just want to say God sees you. He's made a history of the small, faithful acts of diligent women. And so be encouraged. Just take that and don't lose heart. Let's look at another example.

[12:49] You might know this name, the mother Hannah, one who persisted in her pain. Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel. She started out as incapable, right?

[13:01] She was barren, unable to be that which she became. I don't know why that sounds like a Kamala Harris quote, but it's... Even worse, she was humiliated in that suffering, right?

[13:18] She was provoked in her struggles. I was just reading that whole text again. The priest thought she was drunk and she was just crying out in sadness. Here was a woman who no one would have traded places with.

[13:30] Think about that. No one would have traded places with. Maybe you know that feeling. Maybe you've been in that camp where you're like, oh, just no one understands this. No one sees this.

[13:40] Kind of rotting in like this isolation. Look what it says in Hannah's example. I think I have this one here. It says, she was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.

[13:51] And she vowed, oh, Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me. Give to your servant a son and I will give him to the Lord and no razor shall touch his head. And what's neat is God answered.

[14:04] And Hannah became the mother of an example of trusting God through hard times. And committing that work to the Lord. It says later in Samuel, 1 Samuel 27, For this child I prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.

[14:21] Therefore I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives. He is lent to the Lord. I was thinking about that and what a neat character example for us to emulate or to understand this. That persistence through pain.

[14:34] And to the moms, you know, be the one who faithfully prays. Be the one who encourages. I'm sorry, endures. I've been the beneficiary of a mother who prays.

[14:45] I can tell you that. And what an encouragement it's been. I honestly, I have no idea how many things my mom has prayed for for me. Whatever the number I think it is, it's probably triple, right?

[14:55] You moms are not along. You know the drill. But in preparing this study, I just kept coming back to how motherhood really does reflect the character of God in so many ways.

[15:06] And what a neat picture. How many unseen blessings and benefits and support come from both. And we were talking about this in Sunday school a little bit. But the challenge is to think about that and to dwell on those things, right?

[15:20] And how often in a similar capacity, were it not for Mother's Day, how often I forget the benefits of mom. And how often I forget the benefits of God and my Savior and the things that have been done.

[15:32] My first tendency is often, and this is probably just a guy thing, to look at the problems, right? To digest what's broken. Amy knows this.

[15:43] If we ever start a conversation and I'm coming from one thing to the next and the first thing we talk about is a new problem, I don't transition well. I go right to emergency action planning, you know? And just this tendency to look right past the greatness, to just like blind eye the benefits and focus on the negatives.

[16:02] When we have a God who has saved us, secured us, stood us up and encouraged us through dying for our sins. Just a refreshing of that perspective, I think, on a daily basis is what I need.

[16:16] Well, let's keep going for the sake of time here. We've got another example of a mom. This one's cool because it comes in pairs. And my grandmother's here today, so it's fitting. But we have Lois and Eunice in 2 Timothy.

[16:27] Here is an example of mothers who shared the gospel. Paul acknowledges this in Timothy in his sincere faith. So he knows this.

[16:38] It's kind of a unique example that it stands alone in this way. But he recognizes Timothy in all the work he's doing in his faith and calls out where it came from and where it kind of originated.

[16:51] If you know anything about Timothy, you know his father was Greek. Probably not a believer. But it was the faith of his mother and grandmother who shaped one of the most significant church leaders in the New Testament.

[17:05] Timothy knew Scripture from childhood. He was raised up in the ways of God. I bet you there's a pretty good amount of us in this room that have heard the gospel from our moms. Pretty good. Pretty high. How many of us have been impacted through the loving intentions of Scripture shared with us through our parents?

[17:25] Yeah? I think it's worth recognizing that. Remembering that. Just giving thanks to God and to our moms for that impact in our life. Their example, these two here in 2 Timothy, remind us that the greatest inheritance a mother can leave is not financial.

[17:45] It's spiritual. And a faith that gets passed down in the home. I think that's so important, right? Abraham Lincoln said, you might have seen this quote before, said, I remembered my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.

[17:57] They have clung to me all my life. It's a pretty, pretty bold statement, you know, for a guy that was high profile, who had so many people impact, deemed as highly intelligent, deemed as highly useful in history, just that it was his mother's prayers that have stuck with him.

[18:14] That's pretty crazy. But it's a reminder to us, as parents and grandparents, let's not outsource the spiritual function in our kids. what happens at home, the time we have with them, the opportunities you have as grandparents even.

[18:33] Scripturally, we have an example of how that played a huge impact in someone's life. Maybe it's worth hearing that again, right? Let's go one more. We're on time here, so we're good.

[18:45] One more mother example, and then we'll pivot here to the end. How about Mary, the mother of Jesus? Now, I understand around the world, and historically, there has been a tendency to over-elevate Mary as a person.

[19:01] There has been the risk of bringing Mary into this deistic, or God figure, in a way, right? Or her, deemed as perfect.

[19:11] And that's not something I would agree with. I don't think many of you agree with that either. But, not being someone divine, scripture teaches that Mary was simply a young Hebrew woman. She was unmarried, probably the age of some of the young ladies here at church, you know?

[19:27] And yet, she was visited by an angel with news that would upend her entire life. And you guys know how that story goes. But in Luke, it says, she responds to that news with this, I am the Lord's servant.

[19:39] May it be done to me according to your word. Now, I don't like surprises. Never have. So, that response strikes me.

[19:53] Because this wasn't a society where teenage pregnancy was kind of accepted, or normalized, or, you know, like it is today. It's much different than it is today. She could have been killed for this.

[20:05] Certainly could have been cast out. Changed the course of life. She did not have the answer, right? Mary did not have the same Bible that we read from, historically. She had the promise, and this indication from God, through the messenger.

[20:21] And she says, I'm the Lord's servant. May it be done. She was willing. Luke 2, later, I think I have this, no I don't, says she treasured these things quietly, carrying the weight in her heart, right?

[20:35] Of raising the Son of God. And I thought that example was impactful, because, I'm sure the moms in the room will relate to this. In Mary's example, faithfully following God, oftentimes calls for a willingness, long before you know the full picture.

[20:57] It calls for a faith. It calls for a surrender, far before you know what's coming down, right? And I think of that, through Mary's example, I think mom said this years ago, it's just, I don't remember how old I was, or how old mom was, but the idea of like, I had to give you guys up to God a long time ago.

[21:16] Do you remember, it was probably teenage years, when we first started driving, that had to be it. But just this concept of, I have to just trust that God has it, you know?

[21:30] And I love that example, and I love the example in the lives of Mary, as it says, I've got this reference verse from Isaiah 46, it says, I make known the end from the beginning, from the ancient times, what is to come.

[21:41] I say my purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. And you've heard that phrase, right? You've heard it said, I'm sorry, I lost my place here. We don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.

[21:56] I think that's so good to hear, and be reminded of. And just to see this example, of a mom who trusted, who was willing, who was ready to be subjected to things that she had no control over, right?

[22:12] Isaiah 66, 13 says, as a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you. What a neat example, simile of the character of God, as revealed through our understanding in life of our mothers.

[22:29] And you know, some of these things might be obvious. These examples are not that far out there. You know, we're not cutting through the edge of doctrine or anything wild with this. It's just the idea that I think we forget some of these basic things.

[22:44] I forget some of these basic things. And just a reminder of how God works, and how he establishes things, and what a good example our mothers can be. And even if that's not the case, even if your relationship with your mother is a little strained, or maybe it's not what you'd like it to be, I feel like the encouragement here and what God has communicated is that there's all sorts of broken scenarios in Scripture.

[23:09] There are all sorts of weird happenstance. And God sees you. God knows that circumstance. And God has given his son, sacrificed his son to redeem your life and to give you a hope and a comfort.

[23:23] So don't be discouraged in any circumstance of that. As we look to wrap this up here, you know I may give this trend up in 2027, but I'm going to keep it going for now.

[23:35] Teddy's waiting for it. I threw this message in the AI generators that I've used. Yep. AI generators. Got to take advantage of AI when it's here.

[23:47] The pictures are getting better, I do feel like. Like the representation, this one's not even, they didn't get much wrong. It just grabbed all of them, right? All of these women. AI generated this. I thought it turned out pretty well.

[23:59] And you know somewhere there's a Renaissance painter and it's just like bawling. Like just, I just can't stand this anymore. I would have taken them a year and here we go. But there's our grouping.

[24:12] And you notice, there's one in the middle we didn't talk about. It's part of the conclusion here as I wrap this up. It's a challenge. Actually, if the musicians want to pop on up when you get a chance, it's probably that time.

[24:25] There's a challenge to the mothers in the room. The dudes are thinking, be careful, Vineyard, you know. This is their day. Don't sink us, right?

[24:36] I got you. For the mothers, the challenge is this. Keep grinding. I mean that.

[24:46] Keep grinding. Continue the often thankless effort. Most of you have heard of the Proverbs 31 woman. There's a lot of application there. We're not going to go into it.

[24:58] But my favorite verse in the whole stretch is this verse 25 to 26. It says, she is clothed with strength and dignity and she can laugh at the days to come.

[25:10] She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue. That middle phrase is what I want to just call out here as we close as a challenge to the mother. She can laugh at the days to come. I think I see it in my own life.

[25:26] I see it in just society in general. But for women and mothers and also for men, there is this temptation to worry. There is this appeal to fall into this response to things.

[25:42] The days to come are uncertain. The days to come might seem daunting. The days to come might be full of risk like they were for the mother of Moses. The days to come might require ridicule like they did for Hannah.

[25:55] The days to come might require sacrifice like they did for Mary. They might bring pain. Watching the world hate and torture and kill her son.

[26:07] But for the virtuous woman who grinds, who just hangs in there day after day, living with strength and dignity, for the mother who keeps her hope and confidence in the God who saves, she can laugh at the days to come.

[26:19] She can laugh at the days to come. That's a crazy concept. But it is there. It's a biblical encouragement. It's kind of my prayer for you.

[26:30] It's my prayer for me too. And just for all of us thinking about this Mother's Day. Be thankful for your mothers. I don't know, it doesn't have to be said, but I'll say it anyway. Be thankful for the work they put in, for the things they've endured that we have no idea of.

[26:44] Not only the biological mothers, but the extended mothers, the grandmothers, those that have stepped in and filled that role in so many ways for their tireless efforts and for watching us move from newborns, quickly past eighth grade, you know, onto the rest of life.

[27:02] And to the moms, I'll just close with this and say, know that God sees and rewards your faithful activity, your faithful living and your service. Continue the grind, right?

[27:14] Endure with hope in God that you might laugh at the days to come. Let's close in prayer and then we have some flowers to give out to the moms while we sing this last song. God, thank you for this morning.

[27:27] Thank you that, as Jeff started off sharing, that you've established a family, that you've built this configuration of our lives together, that we have husband and wife, sister and mother and grandparents and all of that, Lord.

[27:42] It's a great thing. I heard a quote that stayed with me for the last several months. Is that isolation breeds distortion. And I think that as you've created life, as you've brought families together and church groups, you've really given us so many tools to avoid that circumstance.

[28:01] And I'm grateful for that today, God. I'm thankful for my own mother and grandmothers. I'm thankful for their faith, their prayers, their encouragement, their recommendations, and just the heavy impact they've had on my life, God.

[28:15] I thank you in general for the moms in the room who have stayed up late, who have put time in, who have taken personal blows just to keep things going.

[28:27] And God, I just pray that you would strengthen them today, all the moms, all the ladies here, that you would encourage them and that we would just have a very grateful day on their behalf, God. So we pray these things in Jesus' name.

[28:38] Amen. Thank you.