Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul audio video. The old prophet Simeon told Mary as he spoke about her son Jesus, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also…” (Luke 2:35). Motherhood is much like this. A mother’s heart and soul are constantly pierced as she raises her children.
MOTHER’S DAY
By Pastor Delbert Young
MOTHERHOOD A SWORD THROUGH THY SOUL
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Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul – audio video notes
Sometimes being a mother is a soul-piercing experience. When a person loves like a mother loves they lay their heart and their soul out to be pierced. Imagine Mary, the mother of Jesus watching her firstborn son hanging on the cross and knowing he was a really good person she raised.
Is it relevant?
A message without relevance is irrelevant.
It is a frightening day when we live in a time when we are thankful that our children
get home from school alive.
Today I want you to turn your Bibles, if you will, to the book of St. Luke chapter 2. The message I will be preaching, sharing with you today is one I have titled, “Motherhood,
a sword through the soul.”
What I would like for you to do if you would, is to stand, and this will be among the very
last times I will have you stand, but everyone please stand. I would like for you to read
this in unison with me, beginning at verse 25, I know that we are a church that uses multiple translations, but we have it on the projector in the King James. So please read it either from your King James Version or from the Scriptures on the overhead.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
Luke 2:25-35 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Let’s pray.
Before you have a seat, here’s what I want you to do.
If your mother has passed away and is no longer with us. I want you to have a seat, but I want everyone else whose mother is still alive today, I want you to remain standing. Would you do that for me, please?
Let’s give our moms who are alive a big applause. Aren’t you glad for your mom?
Now, the opposite. If your mother has passed. Let’s honor them as well.
And thank the Lord we had them as long as we did. Thank you, mom. Be seated.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
As I began to pray and meditate about today’s message, I was led by the Holy Spirit to this passage. It’s always been a passage that has fascinated me. It’s always been one that sticks with you after you read it. From time to time I would go back to it, and the Lord would give me a little more insight and a little more understanding of what it was about.
This past week was one of those times the Lord took me back and began to minister this to me. I began to understand what the Holy Spirit would have me to share this wonderful Mother’s Day, this beautiful Mother’s Day.
You see, though, most of us are happy. It is a joyful Mother’s Day. However, there are many on the earth today who are not having a great Mother’s Day.
There are many today who are very sad in their soul as pierced, as it was, with the sword.
We are told here in the scriptures in Luke chapter 2, which we have just read, of an incident told of a time early in the life of Jesus when his parents, Joseph and Mary, brought him to the temple to be presented to the Lord. Next week we will present a baby to the Lord as a congregation. Amazingly, even the Lord Jesus was presented to the Lord.
Interestingly enough, he was presented in the temple which he will 30-plus years later say will be destroyed. Then come as the Son of man in AD 70 and destroy it.
He also was presented to the Lord by people belonging to a religious system which he would 30 years later condemn, and say your house is left to your desolate. These were the people presenting him to Father God, the Lord God. They were presenting him to a God which they really did not know. They knew him in theory, but they didn’t know him in reality.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
So often it’s that way today. So often it’s that way in our lives where we’re around people who really don’t know the Lord, even though they say they do. That’s the system of which you must be aware.
Interestingly at the same time as Father God was putting it upon Joseph’s and Mary’s hearts to bring the baby to the temple to be presented, he had put it upon the heart of an old prophet named Simeon to come to the temple. The Spirit of God told this old prophet, Simeon, if you’ll come you will see the consolation of Israel. If you will come, you will see my Christ. Of course, Simeon did come.
So at the same time Joseph and Mary ascend the steps coming into the temple, there stood Old Simeon right there. Now this would be the actual presenting of the baby to the Lord.
The old prophet took the baby from Mary and held him himself.
This reminds me of what John wrote in 1 John, he says, we beheld him, we handled the Lord of glory. Here was Simeon, the old wrinkled man, holding the Lord’s Christ, the consolation of Israel.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
Can you imagine how he would feel? Holding the creator of the universe. Holding the Lamb of God. Can you imagine holding Jesus Christ in your arms? The Bible says Simeon blessed God, He held Jesus, and blessed God. He said, thank you, Lord, you have done it.
Motherhood a Sword Throug
The Bible says if you read the same passage from the Living Bible, the Living Translation, this old Simeon was always looking for the Messiah. He was always awaiting the Messiah.
This was interesting to me. You see, the Magi knew, right? The Magi knew it was time for the Messiah to come. The shepherds knew, Simeon knew, why didn’t the Pharisees know?
Why didn’t the religious system know what was going on? Jesus said, you can look into the sky and you can tell what the weather is going to do. Why can’t you discern what God is going to do?
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
There Simeon was and he said, you’ve done it. You have fulfilled the 70 weeks of Daniel.
Here he is, here is the Christ, the individual who will join both Jew and Gentile, who will be a light to the nations, who will bring the glory of Israel, and to all who will receive him, he will make happy, but to those who reject him, bad things will happen.
Simeon blessed the Lord, he handed the baby back to Mary. The Bible says he blessed them, he blessed Joseph and he blessed Mary.
And then he turned to Mary.
He said, yea, like a sword, your soul will be pierced. This is the part of the passage that has always fascinated me for a couple of reasons. The first reason is Joseph and Mary had no idea what he was talking about. It says there that they even marveled. They marveled at what Simeon was saying. They marveled at it. Then the thought came to me, or a question. If we as parents knew how the birthing of a child, a rearing of a child, would pierce our souls would we have the child?
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
I am convinced that there are parents who if they knew their child was going to be such a problem, that their child was going to pierce their soul in such a way, they would never have had that child. I am convinced of that.
The mothers at Columbine High School, mothers in Kosovo, mothers in Yugoslavia, if they
knew, would they have had their children? You see, Mary’s heart was pierced. We know what Simeon meant today. Joseph and Mary didn’t know then.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
The second thing that fascinates me and alerts my senses and my spirit about this is that it was directed at Mary.
Now, Joseph was standing right there. But who was the statement directed to? Mary. A sword will pierce thy heart, also. I thought about this. I suppose theologically it would have been because Joseph would not be around at the time of the crucifixion.
Now, why? We don’t know. We don’t know if he was older than Mary and therefore passed on. No, we don’t know why he wasn’t, but we know he wasn’t. But I am convinced there is something about a mother. A mother has an uncanny ability to know the very thoughts of her child and the very place where a child is.
My wife has this uncanny ability. It’s like, it’s weird. Our kids would be someplace and as far as I was concerned they were fine. One night we were in bed. I was asleep. Judy couldn’t sleep. She woke me up and she said, “Where do you think they are?
What do you think they’re doing?” I said well, they said they were going to be at a certain place. She said, “They’re not there. Something is wrong.” Sure enough, they weren’t there. Nothing was bad wrong. Mostly, they just were not where they told us they would be. Mothers are strange. It’s like they know. They just know. And their hearts are being pierced.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
The statement was directed at Mary and the Prophet said, a sword will pierce your heart.
So this week as I prepared and began to meditate on this, I wanted to bring this message because there are some pierced hearts, not only in America but in this world today.
Mothers of Kosovo. Mothers of Yugoslavia. And mothers who watch their children dig trash out of trash cans to eat. Mothers who can’t find their children. Mothers who have had their children assassinated in the school system. And mothers who have lost children in tornadoes this past week. Mothers who have had their hearts pierced as it were with a sword.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
So I prepared a little slide show, a little presentation I want to show you. It’s not to make us smart on current events. And, it’s to bring a relevant view to Mother’s Day. It’s to bring a time of compassion so we can reach out and pray for these people if nothing else. It will be a time where our minds will be stirred and we will understand the torment, the anxiety, and even the torture of a heart pierced with the sword.
The first one I want to show you is Columbine High School.
Remember that photo? Remember that picture? A boy named Patrick Ireland was shot twice in the head. He was dangling out of this window begging the SWAT team to rescue him. Inside the library where he’s hanging out, laid his fellow students, dead or dying. Can you imagine how his mother felt when she saw this on television? A soul pierced.
Another one is a funeral.
Vonda and Michael Scholes weep after a video tribute to their own son, Isaiah. He’s killed at Columbine. He was alone with 14 others. Fourteen students and one teacher were killed. You can look at Vonda Scholes’ face and see her soul is pierced. She’s not having a good Mother’s Day today. And there are the memorials. The memorials were placed for the 15 dead. It wasn’t just Miss Scholes, it wasn’t just Miss Ireland. All these moms lost children and a wife lost a husband. Their souls are pierced.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
Mary’s heart also will be pierced as the sword would go through it in piercing. Motherhood is a unique calling. Motherhood is a high calling. However, motherhood is a calling that is not without pain. Mothers, every mother, experience a pierced soul. You cannot raise a child without having your soul pierced in some dimension. Somewhere along the way, Mama, your soul is pierced because of your child.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
I pierced my mom’s soul many, many times. But you know what I’m so happy about? Do you know why we really honor mothers? We know why we’re having this day because they took the piercing and they endured it. They kept loving us. They kept raising us. And, they kept hurting, but they kept going on. Moms are special. There’s something uncanny about a mama. There’s something about her.
The Bible tells us of the unique relationship Jesus and Mary had. There was one event. They were at a wedding. Remember the wedding of Kaina or Galilee? Mary came to Jesus, her son. He said, hey, we’re at a wedding. What do you want me to do, woman? She told them, whatever he says, do it. She knew her son, and she knew her son would do what his mother asked him to do. There was this unique relationship between a child and a mother.
One time they had gotten word about how Jesus had gone crazy.
He had lost his mind they said. He was insane. Mama comes to see about him. Who is my mother, my father, my brothers? Is that putting his mother down? No, no, no, no, because of the cross.
At the cross, there was Mama with a pierced soul and all. But there’s mama. Mama’s with you through thick and thin. Mother’s with you in an uncanny way, even when she’s nowhere to be seen. She’s with you. You are never out of her mind. Her children are never out of the mind of the mother. The mother never totally has freedom in her soul from where her children are, and what her children are doing. She knows, even though it’s piercing her soul, even though it’s a sword going through her very soul She loves us. There is nobody like Mama.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
Kosovo refugees.
I have you a picture of a trash can with a young boy digging in the trash can as a refugee flees. A family is driven out of their home, out of their house. There’s a mother someplace watching her son dig through trash cans to survive. Does that wreck your heart?
Does that pierce your soul? Imagine how this mom would feel. She lost her home. She lost her country.
There’s a house in Belgrade, or there was a house. It’s not only the refugees who are suffering. It is also those in Belgrade and those in Yugoslavia. Those are still suffering, even this woman salvages what is left of her destroyed home after NATO hit it with a bomb.
As I mentioned earlier, not only did your soul cry out for the mothers and the families who had lost their children at that high school incident, but also for the murderers. Not only do we have to have a degree of compassion for the refugees, but also for the innocent people who will die in this war.
How about the tornadoes this past week?
The United States was ravished with tornadoes.
Seventy-six tornadoes touched down. This particular woman, Vanessa Nelson, surveys what’s left of her house. Can you see on her face and how her soul has been pierced? She’s lost it all. Fifty people died in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Tennessee.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
Next picture, please.
Chief Officer, David Gibbs of Ohio and Kevin Reichard of Wisconsin were the first U.S. servicemen to die in the six-week-old NATO air campaign as their Apache helicopter crashed in Albania. It’s not a good Mother’s Day for their mothers whose souls are pierced.
There are so many hurting hearts, so many souls pierced in rearing children. Mothers, we honor you today. We thank you today because you have suffered for your children. My mother went through a lot for me. I pierced her over and over and over, but she kept loving me. She kept giving to me. She kept nurturing me and training me. And mothers, you’re that way. You love your children. No matter how many times your soul is pierced,
so many times your heart is broken. You keep rearing your children. You keep loving them and tolerating the pain.
We could stop right now and talk about a song by Garth Brooks.
“I could have missed the pain, but I’d of had to miss the dance.” Mothers we are so thankful for you. I am so thankful for my mama. Because of mothers, there are soldiers that can go to foreign nations and attempt to maintain peace. Because of mothers, because of you, and many like you, we stand tall. We are reared well. We are taught the things of God. Yes, we love you. We appreciate you. As long as there is time, there will be moms with pierced souls.
Christ was crucified and there was his mother watching on as her son, her first-born son, was assassinated and murdered by a religious system that was supposed to love people. There she was watching her son die being able to do nothing about it. Her son said, “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.” She was there with him to the end. Mothers, you are with your children from the beginning. You bring them in and if you could, you’d be there when they go out. You love them.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
Your mother loves you. And if she could, she’d be with you right now. As long as there is time, there are moms. As long as there are moms, there will be pierced souls. Your hearts will be broken, but because of you, the world is a better place. Because of you, the world is a better place. Because of you life goes on.
Yes, Mary. Your soul was pierced, but look what you gave to the world. Yes, Mary. Your soul was pierced as it was with a sword, but look what you gave creation. Yes, Mama. I know I pierced your soul, but look what you gave the Kingdom of God. Yes, Judy. Your soul has been pierced and will be pierced. Look what you’ve given me. Look what you’ve given society.
Moms everywhere.
Yeah, your soul is pierced. Yes, it hurts, but because of you, the world is a great place to be. Because of you in the United States of America, this is the greatest nation in the whole world. Because of you. It’s because of moms. Because they stick with their children and they’re always there, it’s a fantastic life. We love our moms.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
I want to close out with a poem. It’s not really a poem. It’s more of a writing. Lance got this on the internet and sent it to his mom and I read it. I like to read it. This is for all the mothers of Kosovo who fled the night and can’t find their children. This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they’ll never see and mothers who took those babies and made them homes. It’s for all the mothers of the victims of the Colorado shooting and for the mothers of the murderers. It’s for the mothers of the survivors and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror hugging their child who made it home from school safely.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
What makes a good mother anyway?
Is it patience?
Compassion?
The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt all at the same time.
Or is it a heart?
Is it the ache you feel when you watch your child disappear down the street going to school
alone for the very first time?
The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread from bed to crib to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?
The need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a school
shooting, a fire, a car accident, a baby dying? I think so.
This is for all the mothers who mess up.
Who yell at their kids in the grocery store and snap at them when the tired two
year-old wants an ice cream before dinner.
This is for all mothers whose heads turn automatically when in a crowd.
A little voice who calls mom even though they know their own child is at home.
This is for mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children’s graves.
This is for mothers whose children have gone astray and who can’t find the words to reach them.
And this is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation and mature mothers learning to let go.
For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers single mothers and married mothers this is for you all so hang in their mom. Happy Mother’s Day.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
I’ll close with this picture.
It’s a Kosovo family who got to come to America as refugees. The next day after they arrived in America a baby was born an automatic citizen of the United States of America.
Moms I know it hurts but moms is it not worth it? Who knows what this baby will be? They’re thinking of naming him America. Who knows what little America will be? Who would have known what the little baby Jesus would have been? The religious system didn’t recognize him. Simeon did. The Magi did. Who would have known how Eve’s heart would have been pierced as Cain killed Abel? Who would have known how Hannah would feel once she was able to bring birth for Samuel and Samuel became a prophet. And, who knows what your child will be?
The Lord knows because you’re able and built to establish and handle a pierced soul. Your world will be a better place because of you. We love you moms and we applaud you and we thank you. Thank you mom.
This is my last thought.
Moms, love your children while you can. They won’t always be children one day they’ll be adults. Hug them every day they go to school. Hug them every day they come home. And hug them when they drive off in the automobile. Hug them when they come back from that automobile drive. Hug them when you leave and hug them when you come back. Teach your children to kiss you.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul
I’ve told you before.
My son… How old are you? 31. He still never comes to my home and leaves without kissing me and his mother. Love your children. They may not be here tomorrow. Children love your mom. She may not be here tomorrow.
Motherhood a Sword through thy Soul audio video
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Hannah, Profile of a Godly Mother – Mother’s Day sermon video audio notes
Mothers of Jesus – Mother’s Day sermon notes
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