SERIES TITLE
Tiana Spencer shares the message An Honest Mothers Day.
Tiana Spencer is a wife, mother of 3 girls, National Speaker and Bible Teacher. Having developed a passion for the scriptures at a young age, she has spent the past 20 years teaching, discipling and mentoring others to grow in it as well. She currently lives in Monrovia, CA. where she serves on the teaching team at Fellowship Church. She received her Biblical Studies degree from Biola University in Southern California and spends her time writing, discipling and teaching others how to live an intentional life that pursues God, His Word and everything else He died to give them
SERIES OVERVIEW
This is a day when we celebrate mothers. We honor them for how well they love us and show up for us. And that brings for some of us sweet feelings of love. But let’s be honest! Mother’s Day is not a happy celebration in every household. For many, our Iives and souls depend on us living in this tension of our earthy realities and our spiritual ones. We must live in the tension of I really want to have a child AND knowing that I still have purpose without one. Some of us must live in the tension of feeling robbed of the joys of growing up with a loving mother AND knowing that we still have purpose without having had one. Many of us live in the tension of losing someone so close that it hurts to breathe without them AND still knowing that God still has a purpose for us even though a loved one is gone.
SERMON TITLE
An Honest Mother’s Day
WARM UP
Begin with some conversation, checking in on how people are doing. You can talk about whatever you’d like, but here are a few potential questions to get the conversation going.
- What was one of the most significant impacts your mom had on you? (a value she instilled, a skill she helped you to develop, taking you to church, a quality she passed on to you, faith that she imparted, or provided a subject to discuss with a therapist, etc.…)
- While we come from all kinds of different homes, we recognize none of us had perfect family dynamics or perfect parents. However, in the spirit of Philippians 4:8, what was one good thing about your childhood?
DISCUSSion
- We learned from Tiana Spencer’s message that as followers of Jesus, we live life with one foot in the spiritual realm and one foot in the earthly realm. In the physical realm, we might have hardship, financial difficulties, family disputes, marriage challenges, etc. but in the midst of all our troubles, simultaneously, we can still have some very positive spiritual realities. Paul outlines those realities in Ephesians Chapter 1. How is the supply or the provision of our spiritual blessings described in Ephesians 1:3?
- What is the spiritual blessing described in Ephesians 1:4?
- What is the spiritual blessing Paul lists for us in Ephesians 1:5?
- God pre-determined, or decided ahead of time the nature of the relationship we would have with Him once we had been redeemed by what Jesus did on the cross for us. The word “adoption” literally means “to place one as a son”. The Greek word, the original language of our New Testament uses the word, “Huiothesia” a word which speaks of of our being placed in a position of a son or daughter who now possesses the same rights as the parent’s natural children. It means to formally and legally declare that someone who is not one’s own child is henceforth to be treated and cared for as one’s own child.” What does this mean your true spiritual identity is in Christ?
- We can appreciate the significance of this amazing spiritual blessing even more when we understand what our former identity and former relationship with God, prior to our coming to Jesus. Read about our former status prior to our adoption as sons and daughters of God in Ephesians 2:1-8. What was our former condition according to Ephesians 2:1?
- Before we started following Jesus, who were we actually following as we lived in disobedience to God? Read Ephesians 2:2.
- Because we lived lives of self-gratification, controlled by our sinful nature, what did Paul say we deserved? Read Ephesians 2:3.
- How was it possible for us to go from deserving that to being adopted as God’s very own sons and daughters? Read Ephesians 2:4-5
Application
- How much credit can we take for our restored relationship with God? See Ephesians 2:6-8.
- What can we do to express our gratitude for God’s mercy, kindness, and grace? See Ephesians 2:10.
- Who prepared this life of purpose for us, and when did He have our life’s purpose planned out for us? See Ephesians 2:10 in the Amplified Version.
- When your physical realm realities are full of aching and hardship, what are 3 spiritual realm realities that you can identify from our study in Ephesians 1 & 2 to help you have a more heavenly perspective of your situation and aching circumstances?
wrap up | prayer
Share prayer requests and spend time praying for each other.