Rev. Charles Sebert- “The Greatest Love”

What love could possibly surpass a mother's devotion? This powerful message explores the unfathomable depths of divine love against the backdrop of maternal sacrifice.

Through moving stories of mothers who gave their lives for their children—like the woman who wrapped her baby in her clothes during a Welsh blizzard or the mother who cushioned her daughter during a deadly plane crash—we glimpse the protective, sacrificial nature of maternal love. This love runs deep, embedded in our very DNA, carrying us in the womb for nine months, in arms for three years, and in hearts for a lifetime.

Yet God's love transcends even this powerful bond. As the designer of love itself, God could have created us without this emotion, leaving us functioning like robots or animals driven by instinct alone. Instead, He wove love into existence because it reflects His very nature. He displayed this love through creation, through preserving His Word (a divine love letter) across millennia, and ultimately through the sacrifice of His Son.

Romans 5:8 captures this extraordinary demonstration: "But God commended His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." While a mother might die for a beloved child, Christ died for us while we were still His enemies—an incomparable act of divine love.

Our response to this greatest of loves mirrors how we honor our mothers: through birth (spiritual rebirth), obedience to His commands, remaining in His house until spiritual maturity, worshipping Him openly, and defending His truth against the enemy's lies. This transformative love reaches beyond our understanding yet invites our complete participation.

Have you experienced this love that delivers from addiction, transforms lives, and brings lasting hope? Come to the altar today and surrender to the greatest love you'll ever know.

The Balance of Gray
Faith That Challenges. Conversations that Matter. Laughs included. Subscribe Now!

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Mother's Day Welcome
• 9:06 Elementary Children's Views on Mothers
• 14:42 Love of an Earthly Mother
• 18:16 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 19:04 (Cont.) Love of an Earthly Mother
• 25:47 The Greatest Love: Our Heavenly Father
• 35:28 God Designed, Displayed, and Demonstrated Love
• 43:41 How We Return God's Love
• 51:33 Altar Call and Worship Response

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

Hey everybody, this is Brother Jacob Bishop from Waynesville, ohio, coming to you on behalf of Holiness Preaching Online. Today we want to present to you another wonderful sermon from a great Pentecostal holiness preacher. So, wherever you are, sit back and prepare to be blessed by the Word of God. Thank you all, and may God keep you and bless you today.

Speaker 3: 0:42

It's so good to be in the Lord's house here on Mother's Day. We know it's hard when our pastor's not here, but for those of you that don't know, brother Mike Roberts is our pastor's pastor and we could put ourself in that shoes if our pastor was in that shape. We want to be there with him. So we know that our pastor has a great burden to be there. But we appreciate you coming to the house of the Lord, especially here on Mother's Day. And I will say, before we forget, the pastor had said that we will omit service tonight. There's a lot of people going with their families and then to give people more time to spend with their families, so we will not have service tonight. So what does that mean? We got to double up here this morning, right, amen, we got to double up here this morning. We got to have a good old service, a good old altar service. Some of you faces you know like what the world. But so good to be here, so good to see all of our visitors, every one of them. So good to see you, so good to see Logan here this morning. You know, after she had moved away and got married, I tried to talk Brother Rusty and Sister Christy into letting me join Hope's song. You know, I told them I could sing tenor. They just kind of you know, brother Rusty prayed about it. I guess he felt like it wasn't the Lord's will. But I was like I can sing tenor, tenor, 12 tenor. Ten or twelve miles down the road and they wouldn't let me sing tenor. So I waited a little while longer. I asked them. I said, well, I can sing baritone, I'll sing so bad, I can't baritone and I just I didn't even ask if I could sing soprano, I didn't even bother asking that. But so good to see each and every one of you in the Lord's house this morning. We just want to let the Lord help us here on Mother's Day, so thankful for everything that was already said, everything that Brother Ricky had to say and especially everything that our pastor's wife had to say. That was wonderful, wasn't it? I love every time Sister Chrissa gets up and talks. It's just absolutely amazing. I love it and enjoy every minute of it. But I appreciate all of our mothers here this morning. It's already been said, I wanted to read something before we get into the Word of God.

Speaker 3: 2:52

Several elementary children, little, small children. They were asked questions about mothers, little elementary children, and this was their responses. The first question was why did God make mothers? There was three responses to this question by these elementary children. Why did God make mothers? The first one because she's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is. The second response was mostly to clean the house. The third response by these elementary children was to help us get out of there when we were getting born. Why did God make mother? So the second question was of what ingredients are mothers made? Of? This elementary kid One said of the same ingredients as me, just God used different or bigger parts. And the next response was they had to get their start from men's bones, but then I think they're mostly made of string and stuff. And the last question by these elementary the response by these elementary children when they were asked the question why did God give you your mother and not some other mom? The first response by this elementary kid was because we're related. The second response was God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me. Praise the Lord. We appreciate each and every one of our mothers here. This morning my mother's not here, but I certainly appreciate my mama, the love that she had for me. I certainly appreciate that.

Speaker 3: 4:23

I remember being a sinner, a teenager, a sinner, a young man, and hanging out with a bad group of people, some groups of people that were using drugs in a bad neighborhood, and I got stranded there and I had nobody to come get me. I was stranded. I ended up having to call my mama, as scared as I was. I was about to walk home and before I called my mama, I called my mama. She picked me up and she seen who I was hanging out with and she immediately, out of love, began to beat me in the head Because she seen I was hanging out with and thank God she did because I stopped hanging out with them. I didn't hang out with those dopeheads, no more. Thank God for the beating of the head, but that was true love, right there. I didn't realize it at the time. She was literally beating me in the head, pretty close to child abuse. But it was all out of love and I appreciate that. I appreciate you know my mother growing up we went to Baptist church and she had taught Sunday school and different things and growing up as a teenager and I would be getting into sin or do something bad, or my mama would catch me doing bad things and she would write Bible Scriptures. I had a bunk bed at the time with my brother and my bunk bed was at the bottom and she would write Bible Scriptures on index cards and she'd put it at the bottom of the top bunk bed. That way when I laid down at night I would see that Bible Scriptures and I got so convicted every time and it really had an effect within my life, those simple scriptures and those simple beatings of the heads. But we sure appreciate you here this morning. We're glad to be in the Lord's house.

Speaker 3: 5:51

Turn with us to John, chapter number three. John chapter number three, very A familiar chapter of the Bible, john chapter number 3. A lot of us can quote some of it. A lot of us know it and are familiar with it. But in case you don't know, we're going to read it together. John chapter number 3, verse number 14. If you'd like to stand John 3 and 14 through verse 17,.

Speaker 3: 6:23

The Bible says and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be what might be saved. Praise the Lord. Before you're seated, would you pray and lift up your hands and ask the Lord to help us and move and give us an altar? And I want to preach about the greatest love. Let's pray, dear heavenly father, we thank you so much for allowing us, god, to be in your house this morning, especially on this Mother's Day, Lord, but most of all, we need the power of the Holy Ghost to come by and to visit us. Lord, god, we need the visitation of your Spirit. God, lord, I'm nothing. Lord, god of heaven, I cannot preach without your help. Lord. God, I pray you'll minister to all of our visitors. Lord, minister, especially to our mothers. Lord, god, help us, lord, that there be any lost individual here in this place. God, I pray that you'll save. I pray that you'll give us an altar here this morning. O God, lord, have your way. God, we rebuke the plan of the devil, every distraction, every weariness. Lord, we rebuke it in the mighty name of the Son of God, and the church said Amen.

Speaker 3: 7:52

I want to talk to us about the greatest love. You know, the love of an earthly mother is absolutely amazing. It's incredible, isn't it? The love of a mother as Sister Crystal was talking about. It's just absolutely amazing. Us men, we could never understand the true love of a mother. We need to understand that the love of a mother is maternal and it is protective. There was a story years ago a mother, a woman. She was walking across the hills of southern Wales carrying her baby when she was overtaken by a mighty blizzard. When the storm subsided, her body was found beneath a mound of snow. Before she had died, however, she had wrapped her little baby up. She had taken off all of her outer clothing, all of her heavy winter clothing, and had wrapped it around her baby. When unwrapped, the baby boy Was found alive and well. Years later, that child, david Lloyd George, became the prime minister of Great Britain and one of the greatest statesmen in England. Isn't that amazing, the love of that mother, in that blizzard, in that freezing, cold blizzard, for her to sacrifice her life for the life of her baby boy, and then that baby boy became one of the greatest people in England. In England In 1987, northwest Airlines flight number 225 crashed just after takeoff, killing 155 people.

Speaker 3: 9:17

Only one person survived, a four-year-old girl named Cecilia. When rescuers found her, they couldn't believe she was on the plane. They thought she had been a passenger in one of the nearby cars where the crash had taken place, but when they checked the passenger list, they found Cecilia's name. How did Cecilia survive this plane crash that killed 155 people in 1987? I'll tell you how. Because her mother that was sitting beside her as that plane began to crash, her mother unbuckled her own seat belt and she got down on her knees in the seat of her daughter and she began to wrap her and hold her with all of her tight and might. She began to hold her with everything she had. Oh and I believe the story did not say, but I believe she was praying, I believe she was crying out on God, because in a situation like that, a person that does not pray will pray, my friend oh, but she grabbed on to little Cecilia, her four-year-old daughter. Oh, and when that plane crashed, somehow amazing and no doubt it was the Lord, but somehow her body cushioned her from the impact and it allowed her to survive. Isn't that amazing church?

Speaker 3: 10:30

The mighty love of a mother. One of the greatest loves that are here on this earth is the love of a mother. It's greater than the love of a friend, oh, it's greater than the love of a co worker, it's greater than the love of an uncle or aunt. But the great love of a mother and we've set this day aside to celebrate a mother's love. But the love of a mother is amazing. The love of a mother is maternal. But not only is the love of a mother maternal, but the love of a mother is also internal. The love of a mother is something that's on the inside, it's not just external, but it's something that's planted deep down.

Speaker 3: 11:10

Do you know that after we die, forensic scientists, they can go and examine our bodies, even after you have decayed, even after all your flesh is gone? A forensic science scientist, they can examine your body and I know this because I was in forensic science class in high school but they can examine your bones and within our bones we have what is called mitochondrial DNA, and that mitochondrial DNA is passed through our mother's side. It is passed through us, through our mother, so they can go and examine a body. They can examine them bones. Oh, and many times the identity of a victim, the identity of someone who's been murdered, can be found out simply because of the mitochondrial DNA that is within their bones.

Speaker 3: 11:57

My friend, I want to tell you the love of a mother is internal. The love of a mother runs deep down to the bones because of mitochondrial DNA. Not only is the love of a mother internal because of mitochondrial DNA, the love of a mother is internal because they carry us within their wombs for nine months. What a long time to live inside someone. Many people say I don't believe that Jonah could have lived inside the well for three days, but yet we believe that a baby can live nine months in the womb of a mother. I want to tell you, god can do it, my friend, god has the power. But we see that the love of a mother is maternal and the love of a mother is also internal. It's only inside, it's not just external. But then the love of a mother is also eternal. Eternal Mothers carry us in their stomach for nine months, they carry us in their arms for 36 months and then they carry us in their hearts for a lifetime. Praise God, I said they carry us for nine months in their stomach, for 36 months in their arms and then for a lifetime in their hearts. Praise God, the love of a mother is maternal, the love of a mother is internal and the love of a mother is eternal.

Speaker 3: 13:14

Oh, princess Alice, she was the daughter of Queen Victoria. She had a little boy who became very sick with Black Differtia, which was a deadly respiratory infection. Doctors quarantined the boy and told the mother to stay away. She overheard, she tried to stay away from her little boy, but then, all of a sudden, she overheard the boy speaking to the nurse and said why doesn't my mommy ever come kiss me anymore? As he laid there in quarantine with this deadly contagious infection, he whispered to the nurse. He said why doesn't my mommy kiss me anymore? As he laid there in quarantine with this deadly contagious infection, he whispered to the nurse. He said why doesn't my mommy kiss me anymore? Oh, and needless to say, she ran in to the room where she was not supposed to go and she began to smother, smother her son with kisses. She began to cover her son with kisses and just a few days later both of them died.

Speaker 3: 14:10

Oh, I want to tell you the love of a mother is eternal. Oh, there's nothing that can separate us from a love of a mother. I remember growing up I'd done a lot of bad things, a lot of wicked things. I remember I skipped school a lot, oh, I'd act like I was going out to the bus, oh, but I'd really go sit out in the car and wait for mom and daddy to go to work, and then they'd go to work and I'd go back in, oh, and I'd get back into bed. I'd do that all the time. Oh, I'd skip school, oh, we'd sneak out during lunch and go, oh, and leave in someone's vehicle. Oh, I skipped school so much. My mama had to go to the truancy agency. They was about to put her in jail because I was missing school so much. She had to go to court. We had to pay a lot of court fines. Oh, but my mama, through it all, still loved me.

Speaker 3: 14:56

I want to tell you the love of a mother is eternal.

Speaker 3: 14:59

You can't separate a child from the love of a true mother.

Speaker 3: 15:04

Oh, it is eternal.

Speaker 3: 15:05

It is maternal, it's internal and it's eternal. The mighty love of a mother. Isn't it amazing, the love of a mother. What an amazing, great love, but that's not the focus of my message here this morning. No doubt I wanted to talk about that and the Lord allowed me to talk about this on Mother's Day, but I want to talk about a love that is greater than the love of a mama. Oh, I want to talk about a love that cannot be compared. That cannot be compared against the love of a mother, my friend, and that is the love of a heavenly Father. We've seen the love of an earthly mother.

Speaker 3: 15:45

Now I want to talk about the love of a heavenly Father. Oh, the love of a heavenly mother. Now I want to talk about the love of a heavenly Father. Oh, the love of a heavenly Father is absolutely amazing. There's nothing like the love of God, I said. There's nothing like the love of a Father who would reach way down in a pit of sin and pull us out. Oh, I think about the wicked, sinful deeds that I've done before I got saved, oh, and I'm so thankful the Lord saved me from them and I don't glorify them, oh, but God really loved me to pull me out of those wicked things. I look now oh, I've been in church over ten years, oh, and I see people that do the same things that I used to do. Oh, and now it disgusts me. They'd do the same things that I used to do. Oh, and now it disgusts me. Oh, now it just I can't believe someone would do it. But then the Lord convinced my heart and says that's what you used to do. But I've been washed, I've been saved. The love of God came in my life, my friend, and it wants to come in your life. Oh, I said, the love of God is absolutely amazing. The love of God is absolutely amazing. The love of God is so powerful. We need to understand that. God designed love. God is the creator of love.

Speaker 3: 16:55

When someone creates something, they are the master at it. When someone makes something now, oh, you know, I had dreams in my mind. Oh, I told my wife. I said I'm going to invent something, oh, and I'm going to become a millionaire. Oh, I thought of an idea. Oh, I can tell you, because it's already invented.

Speaker 3: 17:12

I was sad. Oh, I, like you know, I paint a lot. Oh, I came up with a little invention. Oh, I'm going to make a paintbrush. Oh, it's got a tube. Oh, and then it's got a paint pump, this pumping paint. The whole thing. I ain't got to dip my brush, I can just keep on painting. Oh, I get so much more done. Oh, and then I researched it. Somebody already patented it, somebody already made it. Oh, I was so depressed, I was so sad I was going to make millions church. Oh, I would even give y'all a little bit of it. Oh, my invention. Oh, I was so depressed. Oh, I'm on invention. Oh, I was so depressed. Oh, the designer. The designer of something is the master of it.

Speaker 3: 17:51

We need to understand that God. He designed love. If it wasn't for God, we wouldn't know what love is. If it wasn't for God, we'd be void. We'd be in a world void of the emotion called love. But you need to understand God is the designer of love. He knows what love is. He is the greatest because he designed love. He could have easily omitted love. He could have easily left love out of creation. We'd be like animals with an animal instinct. We'd just be like robots. But God created love because God has the greatest love.

Speaker 3: 19:13

Not only did God design love, but God displayed love. First of all, we see that God displayed love by creating us. Could you imagine living in a world where we didn't exist. Could you imagine living where we don't live, where we don't have a soul? Just be at nothing, just think about that for a moment To not even exist. But, my friend, I want to tell you that God, he looked in the future. He's seen your soul, he's seen your emotions, he's seen your life, he's seen the glory that you can bring to Him. And he said I'm going to create so and so, oh, I'm going to make this one. Oh, I want to tell you, god displayed his love by creating us. The great love of God. He designed love, he displayed love. He created us. Not only that, not only did he display his love by creating us, but he displayed his love by giving us the Bible.

Speaker 3: 20:09

Oh, I remember being in school, oh, being a young kid, oh, and when we'd write letters. That was before texting. Oh, that was for all the social medias, oh, and all them crazy things. But we would do young people what is called writing letters. I know you, young people don't know. But a piece of paper it comes from a tree, oh, and they can print them out, a bunch of them At a time. That's them old things on them shelves with dust in them. It's a book, oh, it's made with paper, young people, oh. And anyways. Oh, you can go to what's called a post office, oh, and you can buy what's called a stamp, young people, oh. And you can actually write a letter. Oh, you can put your name and return address.

Speaker 3: 20:47

I forgot how to do it. I had to write one the other day, had to research how to write a letter, isn't that bad? Oh, we're living in a day of email, we're living in a day of technology, oh. But, young people, there used to be a thing called writing a letter, oh. And when we had a crush on somebody, oh, we'd write a love letter. We'd write him a letter, oh, we'd write him a valentine or whatever.

Speaker 3: 21:10

But I want to tell you that the Bible is God's love letter unto us. Oh, I said, we've got 66 books Of a love letter that God wrote to us. He didn't have to give us the Bible. Do you know that the devil Tried to destroy the Bible? Oh, for thousands of years, the wicked catholic church Tried to destroy the Bible. Do you know that the devil tried to destroy the Bible? Oh, for thousands of years, the wicked Catholic church tried to destroy the Bible. You know that? The priest they said y'all can't have a Bible, only I can have a Bible, only the priest was allowed to have a Bible because they didn't want people reading it and realizing they was wrong and realizing they was sinning. Oh, but the Tried to destroy the Bible Throughout the years. That Catholic church destroyed Many of them. I forgot what version it was. It was Tyndale's version, I believe. Oh, they destroyed Till there wasn't nothing but two Versions left. I believe it was In that time frame. But I want to tell you God has preserved us a love letter. God has preserved us a love letter. Oh, glory to God.

Speaker 3: 22:06

You remember being a kid y'all elders before technology you'd get a love letter and you'd keep it in your drawer, in your dresser. Oh, you'd keep it. Oh, maybe you got it laminated. Oh, maybe you got it laminated to keep it. Oh, I remember being a little kid going in my parents' bedroom and looking around. Oh, I wasn't supposed to be doing that. Oh, I wasn't supposed to be going through their things. Oh, I wasn't supposed to be doing that. But my daddy would work on the shrimp boat and he'd write letters to my mama, love letters. I remember reading them when I was a kid, the love letters that he would write her. But God has given us a love letter and it's called his word.

Speaker 3: 22:47

The greatest love is the love of God. One man said I can summarize the whole Bible in three words. I can summarize the whole Bible in three words, something that takes a year to read. I can summarize the whole Bible in three words I love you. I want to tell you God's love is the greatest we see His love displayed, because he wrote us a love letter and he's preserved that love letter.

Speaker 3: 23:19

Imagine holding on to a love letter from your sweetheart for thousands of years, writing it on animal skins and then moving on through the printing press and getting it preserved, especially in the world of these crazy liberals who's trying to destroy everything. Can you imagine preserving a love letter for thousands of years? God did All for you, my friend, because God's love is amazing. Oh, that one man. Oh, what was his name? Oh, I can't remember. Oh, he tied a Bible to the tail of a donkey and had it drug through the streets. Oh, and they ceremoniously burned it. Oh, but after he died, oh, they purchased his house and it became the headquarters of printing Bibles.

Speaker 3: 24:02

Oh, in France, I believe it was. Oh, some of y'all brothers know what I'm talking about. But I want to tell you God has preserved His love letter Because His love is amazing. God designed love. God displayed love. He displayed His love by giving us a church. Oh, I want to tell you it's amazing. Oh, what God's done here. How God's given us a wonderful facility. Oh, how it all started from a little storefront. Oh, what God's done here. How God's given us a wonderful facility. Oh, how it all started from a little storefront. Oh, and now we have this wonderful facility. No, we don't boast, no, we don't brag, but it's all God's glory. We're so thankful that our Lord's helped us. Oh, it lets us know that God's love is displayed. It lets us know that God's working.

Speaker 3: 24:46

God gives us our necessities, he gives us everything we need. That is God displaying his love. Oh, he, he, uh. He keeps our gardens growing and he keeps our cows chunky. Praise God. He keeps us all having what we need. He keeps us having all of our food. He lets the vegetables grow year after year. Oh, and that's the fruit. Keep on growing. Oh, we don't just stop them. God can do it if he wants to. He can stop the tomatoes. Oh, I said he can stop the tomatoes, they'll look like them little bitty plums or something. They won't get no bigger. Oh, then they'll get even smaller, oh, they'll look like a red pea. Oh, he can keep them small, oh. But I'm telling you, god, lets them get big and grow so we can eat. God lets the cow I never understood how a cow gets so fat because he eats grass all day. I never understood that, oh. But I want to tell you, god keeps the cows growing and eating grass. God keeps them healthy and strong. It's God's love displayed unto us. God designed His love. God displayed His love and also God designed His love. God displayed His love and also God demonstrated His love.

Speaker 3: 25:50

We've been studying in our Bible class and, if you've not been coming to Bible class, we've been studying about character Started in Genesis. But we see, after Cain slew Abel, or after he killed him, or God wanted to raise a righteous generation up through Abel, but Cain murdered his brother. But then God gave Adam and Eve another son named Seth, and then God raised up a godly lineage through Seth. Oh, my friend God, he demonstrated his love by preserving a godly seed, oh, and then we see that he dealt with Noah to build an ark. The world was so wicked, god was going to destroy the whole world. God was going to flood the whole world, but God dealt with Noah to build an ark because he was righteous, he was living right and for 120 years he patiently God patiently waited to judge the world for 120 years, oh, and then God saved him. We see the love of God demonstrated. Then we see God raising up Moses throughout Egypt. All the Hebrews were enslaved To the bondage of the Egyptians, but God raised up Moses Simply to deliver him. Raised up one man To help an entire nation. My friend, god's love has been displayed. Oh, sister Crystal talked about this morning. God raised up their mothers so God could raise them up to be here for this church. Think about how many times the Lord's helped us and it's all because of God's love, raised them up for us to be here.

Speaker 3: 27:20

Ain't you thankful for the demonstration of God's love? The demonstration of God's love, but the greatest demonstration of love. Romans 5 and 8. But God commended His love toward us and that, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us. 1 John 4 and 9. And this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son Into the world that we might live through Him.

Speaker 3: 27:59

Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And so we understand that God's love is greater than the love of a mother. No doubt the love of a mother is amazing in this world, but the love of God, my friend, is the greatest love. So what must we do? What must we do now that we know that God's love is so great? Well, what must we do when we know that our mother's love is so great?

Speaker 3: 28:32

What are ways that we show gratitude to our mother? The first thing is the first way we show gratitude, the first way we show thankfulness to our mothers is we're simply born to them. We become their child and through us, growing up, and they have to wipe our noses and they have to wipe our faces and they have to wipe other things for many years. They find pleasure in that, in raising us oh, and you know, just raising us and stuff. They find pleasure in that, oh, having a little baby in their arms, such pleasure. But I want to tell you, with God, we've got to be born unto him, we've got to become his child. When we're born unto our mother, oh, no doubt, we're instantly their child. Oh, because we're physically born to them. But if we want to be born to God, we've got to be born again, we've got to have a spiritual birth.

Speaker 3: 29:29

The Bible says, oh, in John, chapter number three, a very common portion of scripture. Jesus was talking to Nicodemus. Jesus answered and said unto him Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Nicodemus saith unto him how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

Speaker 3: 30:10

So we need to understand one thing To, first of all, show our thankfulness to God for loving us. We've got to be born unto Him Just like a baby. The first of all, show our thankfulness to God for loving us. We've got to be born unto Him Just like a baby. First of all, shows thanks to their mother by simply being born and growing up, when they get pleasure in watching that baby grow. We must be born unto God, my friend.

Speaker 3: 30:29

If you're in here and you're not born again, the Bible says you're on your way to hell. Oh an eternal judgment, my friend. You've oh an eternal judgment, my friend. You've got to be born again. You've got to be a child of the king. Oh, if there were different people. They were with their parents and they were trying to go into a certain business. Oh, and only one parent had a qualification to get in there, but the other parents couldn't get in there with their children. That's how it is with the lord. We've got to be a son, lord. We've got to be a son of God. We've got to be a daughter of God. You've got to get born again, my friend. You've got to be washed in the blood of Jesus. If we want to give our thanks unto the Lord, we've got to be born again.

Speaker 3: 31:10

The second thing what must we do to give our love back to God? Well, what must we do to give our love back to our mother? The first thing. The second thing Is we must obey our mothers. Oh, when a child really loves their mother, they will obey their mother. When a child really loves them, they'll do all the commandments that that parent has given unto them. And I want to tell you that the Bible says, talking about the things of God, jesus said If ye love me, keep my commandments. And then he said he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. So if we want to show the love back to God that he has shown unto us, first of all we've got to be born again, then we've got to keep His commandments. We've got to live according to the Word of God. Be born again, keep His commandments, oh. And then the third thing we want to show our love back to God.

Speaker 3: 32:10

A child shows their love back to their mother by being raised in their home. As we're children, we are raised by our parents until we get married and we get old enough and we move out and we start our own homes. Oh, a child, during that time of being raised within the home, brings joy to a mother. Oh. And then it all passes by. They say so quickly oh. And then it's sad and depressing. They say, oh, but I want to tell you, if we want to give the love back to God, if we want to give the love back to God, we got to be raised here in his house. We got to stay in his house. Just like a child stays in the home of their parent until the age of maturity, when they get married and when they start their own home, so must we stay in our father's house to the age of maturity. But how many of you realize that the age of maturity is only going to come by two things it's only going to come by the rapture of the church or it's going to come when we die. So that means we got to stay in the house of God till it comes and gets us. That's how we show our love back to the Father. A child shows it back to their parent by being raised in that home until they're old enough. But we've got to show our love back to God by being in His house, by being embedded in His house. Oh, glory to God. I'm almost done here.

Speaker 3: 33:39

Another way we show love back to our mothers is we honor them and we cherish them, just like this day here, on Mother's Day. But a way that we show our love back to God is by worshiping Him, by honoring Him, by thanking Him. Oh, if we never told our mothers, oh, never told them thank you or anything, they wouldn't know they were thankful. It's the same way with God. We've got to learn to lift our hands up. We've got to learn to lift our voice up. We've got to stop being so quiet, but we've got to praise the Lord. We've got to verbally thank Him. We've got to verbally praise Him. Glory to God. And the last thing we show our love. We show that we love our mother by defending our mother.

Speaker 3: 34:25

When I was in middle school, you didn't talk about my mama, you didn't talk about nobody else's mama. Those was fighting words. When you wanted to defend somebody, if you was a bully or something, you walked up to them and say yo, mama, woo, hoo, hoo. All of class would stop. Sometimes a teacher would sit there and watch. I'm talking about Alba, middle School. Sometimes a teacher would watch. Sometimes they'd throw you up against the locker when you was fighting and then get on top of you like a police officer. But we don't talk, no more about that. But anyways, we defend our mothers. When someone you talk about my mama, oh, you could talk about my friend. Oh, you could even talk about my girlfriend. Oh, you could talk about my cousin. You could talk about my homeboy, that's what we called him. You could talk about whoever. You could talk about the teacher, I ain't worried about him, oh, it don't matter. But you don't talk about my mama, you don't do that. Those was fighting words. Oh, those was fighting words. We would defend that.

Speaker 3: 35:34

I remember being in sixth grade. Oh, I said something I'd messed with a boy I was being a bully, I guess and I'd said something about his mama. Oh, and he pushed me and we ended up fighting in math class and got suspended. Oh, because I said something about his mama. But I want to tell you we show our love back to our mama by defending them. And I want to tell you we show our love back to God by defending His truth.

Speaker 3: 36:00

Oh, when the devil comes, when he says God don't love you, we've got to defend that. When the devil comes and says the pastor don't love you, the pastor's wife don't love you. They're mean, they're always telling you wrong. We've got to defend that and say, devil, they love me. We've got to defend that and say, devil, they love me, they're telling me the truth. We've got to defend, just like we would defend our mother. We show our love back to God by defending him, by defending his truth. We've got to defend All the things of God.

Speaker 3: 36:30

The devil says oh, the Lord don't love you. Stand with me all over the house. The devil says come to the music please. The devil says God don't love you. The devil says You've gone too far or whatever the case may be. You've got to learn to defend against that. You've got to learn to defend against the faith. Defend in your mind, against the levels of the devil, the lies of the devil, just like someone would lie about your mother, just like someone would talk about your mama, but then you would defend my friend. You've got to be born again, my friend, if you're in here and this is a serious moment right now, all jokes aside but if you're in here, my friend, and you're lost and your heart's not right with God. I know this is Mother's Day, but I believe there's nothing better than your mother would like to see than for you to pray it all and surrender it all in an altar. If you're not familiar with what an altar call is. We have an altar call at the end of the preaching. It's a time to pray. It's a time to make a decision.

Speaker 3: 37:46

We generally come up front, we kneel down before the Lord and we begin to pray. Everybody's going to come up front, we kneel down before the Lord and we begin to pray. Everybody's going to come and pray. The whole church is going to come and pray, whoever wants to. But before I invite everybody, I want to invite somebody in here.

Speaker 3: 38:03

You're not born again. Maybe you've backslidden on the Lord. Maybe you knew the presence of God. Maybe you give your heart to the Lord once. But you've turned away.

Speaker 3: 38:13

My friend, I want to invite you to the love of God I preached about. The love of God is greater than the love of a mother. If you knew your mother and you had a mother that loved you, imagine the love of God, how much greater it is than that. But, my friend, the Lord wants to save you. You've got to be born again. You've got to be washed in the blood of Jesus. It's not that hard, my friend. All you've got to do is surrender. All you've got to do is come to an altar. You say, why do I have to come to an altar.

Speaker 3: 38:45

Preacher, when you walk up in front of everybody, it's not to show off, it's not to let everybody see, but it's to let God see. You show God that you mean business when you step out of your seat, even if you've got to crawl over a few people, when you step out and you come to an altar, that is an act of obedience, my friend. That is really showing God you're serious, even if you don't like being in front of people. My friend, god will reward you if you'll step out right now, my friend, or if the Lord's dealing with your heart and you want to get saved and you want Jesus in your heart and you want to be born again and you want your sins to be forgiven. Would you come right now, my friend? We want to give you a chance to pray before everybody comes. Why don't you step out right now, my friend? Oh, and come to the altar and kneel down before the Lord. We'll help you pray. Oh, I don't have to be embarrassing. Oh, my friend, while there's time, oh, while there's time, if you want to give your life unto the Lord here on this Mother's Day, oh, would you come to an altar? Oh, I'm going to give you a few more moments, my friend.

Speaker 3: 39:49

Salvation is so important. You may not understand a lot of things. You may not understand a lot of things about church and about the Bible. You don't have to understand a lot of things right now. All you've got to understand is you need to have your heart right with God. If you'll surrender your life to God in this altar, he'll work everything out.

Speaker 3: 40:07

When I first got saved, when I first started coming to this church hear me, my friend, oh, I didn't know about all this holiness stuff. Oh, I didn't know about all this shouting and running and stuff. Oh, but I'm telling you, god got a hold of my heart here. He delivered me from drugs. Oh, I ain't smoked a cigarette or done drugs in over ten years, all because of the Lord helping me. And the Lord used this church, my friend. I went to other churches. It couldn't help me. I kept going the same way. I couldn't quit my doping and smoking. Oh, but I came where the real presence of God is. It helped me. I want to tell you, my friend, the Lord's here and the Lord's moving All of your misunderstandings and all of your confusions that you don't know. Push them aside and come to Jesus.

Speaker 3: 40:55

In the Bible there was crowds of people. They would go through the crowds, push them away, just to get to Jesus. Here this morning, there's not a physical crowd in the aisles blocking you, but there is a mental crowd in your mind. There is a mental crowd that's blocking you. Will you push through the crowd, my friend, to meet with Jesus? Will you step out and come to the Lord right now, before we get everyone to pray? Will you take a step of obedience?

Speaker 3: 41:25

You want to get saved. You want to give your life to the Lord and come to this altar before I move on and before the whole church prays, you want to give your heart to the Lord. Let's come around church Everybody. Let's gather around these altars and pray, my friend. It's still not too late, even while you're at your pew or wherever. Surrender your heart to the Lord. He loves you. The love of God is great, my friend, and he wants to help you. He wants to move in your life, but that's based on how bad do you want it? That's based on how bad you want God in your life.

Speaker 2: 42:07

Let's pray church with all of our heart. When I was searching, he sought me out, gave me answers, took away my doubt. When I was struggling to find my place, I heard the sweetest song sent to me from the throne, a song of love and grace. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do, I do, I do. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do. Oh, yes, I do. I do. Oh, yes, I do. When I was searching, he saw me out, gave me answers, took away my doubt. When I was struggling to find my place, I heard the sweetest song send me to from the throne, a song of love and grace. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do, I do. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do. Oh, yes, I do. When I was searching, he sought me out, gave me answers, took away my doubt. When I was struggling to find my way, I heard Send to me from the throne a song of love and grace. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do, I do. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do. Oh, yes, I do. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do, I do. Oh, if anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do. Oh, yes, I do. Oh, yes, I do. He came and broke the chains of sin and death, and hell Said that I could use His name to defend myself. His power is my constant source of help. If anybody knows about, I do, I do. Oh. If anybody knows about the power of Jesus, I do. Oh, yes, I do, I do.

Speaker 2: 47:03

Oh, if anybody knows about the grace of Jesus, I do. Oh, yes, I do. Oh, yes, I do. When I was searching, he sought me out, gave me answers, took away my doubt when I was struggling. Gave me answers, took away my doubt when I was struggling to find my way, I heard the sweetest song Sent to me from the throne, a song of love and grace. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do, I do. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do. Oh, yes, I do. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do, I do, I do. If anybody knows about the love of Jesus, I do.

Speaker 4: 49:19

Oh, yes, I do. This is Pastor Phillip Steele from Pentecostal Lighthouse in Pekin, illinois, and one of the contributing members of the HPO team. We're so glad that you joined us today. We pray that you've been blessed, encouraged and uplifted through this message. May you continue to walk victoriously in the hope of his calling. God bless.