As I was mentioning just a moment ago, we live in a world where it is increasingly difficult to be a sick parent, particularly to be a successful mother. I've went and looking this week for current statistics on motherhood in our country. It's hard to find things that are up to date, but as we look at the world around us, we see things and we read things that are staggering. I know that in certain parts of our own city, that up to 90% of the children are being raised in homes by single mothers. And the culture and the world around us puts pressure on us in terms of materialism, in terms of the role of women in our society, in terms of expectations for families culturally and otherwise, which make it very, very hard to successfully raise children and to parent in our country. America, as a nation, has one of the highest divorce rates in the entire world. We have a record number of non-married couples living together in homes. We live in a world where the 1994 statistical abstract of the United States of America, which was the most recent I could find, it said that 60% of women, in between the ages of 30 and 44, when they have a baby, return to work within the next few months, 60% of women who are giving birth to children in our country, returning to the workplace. Many landers, and this is not scientific, I assure you, but landers ask folks to write her a number of years back and say, having had children, knowing what it's like, knowing how difficult it is, how many of you would have children again? 70% of those who responded to landers said, if I had to do over again, I wouldn't have kids. It's too tough. It's too much work. There are too many pressures. It's too costly. There are two man's that come with parenthood. My father is a great resource for me as well. I've mentioned Spurgeon and Voice. My dad's right up there with him in terms of giving me material, and my dad is very creative in the way he seeks out resources. It was about 20 years ago, he read an article in Parade magazine. Most of you can get your paper today, we'll find the Parade magazine insert. About 20 years ago, Parade did a feature cover article on Dr. Lyla Dinmark. At the time, 20 years ago, Dr. Dinmark, I forget how old she was, today Dr. Dinmark is 102 years old. Let me put it that way, and she is still practicing pediatric medicine. When my dad read this article, he said, here's a woman who must have insight into motherhood. My dad called Dr. Dinmark on the phone at her office, and when he called, she answered the phone. She spent time talking with my father about what it's like to be a mother, and what it means in our country for mothers to struggle and raising their children. And consequently, every year after that, my dad would call Dr. Dinmark during the week to find out her state of motherhood in America. After my dad called and got a message on the answer, he said, Dr. Dinmark is ill and is not seeing patients now, and that was all the message there was. And so my father assumed, well, Dr. Dinmark is 101 years old, she must be terminally ill and she must be ready to die. But for some reason this year, mother's day was rolling around, and just this week on Wednesday, my dad picked up the phone and called Dr. Dinmark's office. No answer. The message, no recording anything. He was quite certain that Dr. Dinmark had passed on, but for some reason, on Thursday of this week, he decided, I'm going to try one more time, dialed in Mark's number, and sure enough, there was the same reassuring voice, answering the phone, Dr. Dinmark was back at work in her pediatric office at the age of 102 years old. She told my father, she still works four days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, she practices medicine, she sees a full schedule of patients, she's one of the most popular doctors in Atlanta, mothers line up to have Dr. Dinmark see their children. So my dad asked her, Dr. Dinmark, what do you have to say to the mothers of Zion Presbyterian Church and consequently through my son Abbott Memorial this morning? She said, I would say to the mothers, cherish your children. You bring a child to the world, be a mother to that child, protect that child and nurture that child. She said, if I could tell the President of the United States that, I'd tell him that today, protect the children and watch out for the children. She said, we live in a society in a culture which neglects and marginalizes two groups of people. The little ones and the old ones. She says, the little ones, we shuffle off the daycare and the old ones, we shuffle off the nursing homes. She said, we need to return to the strong roots of family and to the role of motherhood that we have known in the past. The reality is, we live in a world that doesn't care very much for children. There are very few who see things the way that Dr. Dinmark does after having lived and worked with children for 102 years. We live in a world that will quickly abort children. We live in a world that will quickly toss them aside. The number of children around the world that are homeless is staggering. The number of children that are starving to death is beyond comprehension. Even in our own country where we don't see things like starving children on the street, children without love and protection in a home are rampant. I think the response that we as a church should make, we're here this morning on Mother's Day, but I want to talk to us as a church about what our response should be. To the children of our neighborhood into the world. I think I've shared this with you before, but there's a wonderful cemetery that surrounds the church where my father, ministers, and there's a tombstone that I particularly appreciate and it reads this way. Maria Ruth, the daughter of General S.H. and R. Williams, the wife of Barclay Martin, born in November 26, 1812, died November 27, 1861, a devoted wife and mother of five motherless children. She opens her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness. What wonderful appetite to have on your grave, a devoted wife and a mother to five motherless children who rose and called her blessed. As I think about those in the world without a home, without a hope, without parents to care for them, I'm so grateful for the example my parents set for me. My wife and I have three adopted siblings between us and between my wife and I, we have seven adopted nieces and nephews and to have seen our siblings and our parents bring these children into their home and give them a nurturing and loving home has been a great testimony to us and a great example, but it's also an example to all of us in the church. It's an example for us to respond to the needs of children in our culture. We as a church need to take up the call of Christ for the children. We need to take up the call of Christ to assist mothers. We need to take up the call of Christ to care for the motherless and to show the love of Christ in every situation. If you want, if you will, to look for a moment at Mark chapter 10 and verses 13 through 16, the past is repeated in the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke, where the children come to Jesus. Let me read to you, Mark chapter 10, verses 13 through 16. People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. I share with you numerous times how profoundly important I think the opportunity is before us as a church to minister to the children of our neighborhood. I think that as we consider the future of added memorial Presbyterian church, it's out on the streets in the community around us, in the faces of little children. But quite often as adults, as busy people, as folks with agendas, we tend to overlook and pass by those who are not at eye level, those who society would deem less significant, less important than those who are older and more significant. Even in church planning, I think a lot of times the church, and I'm very grateful for the work of the church, in particular our denomination, focusing on ministry to children and working with children. But the reality is when we look at ministry quite often, we look at how to make it economically viable. When we begin to suggest and when we begin to think about programs, we think about ways we can reach people who have pocketbooks, who can make donations, who can sub-church and make it self-sufficient. It's in the church planning strategy to move into a community and target ten-year-olds. Their time usually doesn't pay the electric bill. But the reality is that Jesus throughout his ministry was always available and ready and anxious to minister to the children. He specifically says in the text before us today, do not hinder them from coming to me. He makes it very clear that it was a profound sin to hinder the children from coming to him. I think we can see that in a number of ways as we look at the text by describing the sin of hindering the children from coming to Christ. We see it in the disciples' action as they rebuked the people who were bringing little children to Jesus. There were those who desire to have the children come to Jesus for whatever reason. The text doesn't tell us if they were sick or if their parents just wanted to touch Jesus on their child or just a word of blessing or just an opportunity to see him. I can think of times in my life. My parents have taken me different places just in order for me to see someone. I had a wonderful experience that I remember when I was about my son Arnie's age. My parents had read to us the story of the hiding place, Cory Ten Boom's testimony of how God worked in and through her family and used them during World War II to hide Jews in their home and how she and her sister were put into a concentration camp and her sister died there and how she was eventually freed and came to America and I can remember my parents taking me to a meeting just wanting me to see this woman who we'd read about. Have her touch me and for me to experience being in the presence of this wonderful woman who was used, silly of God, who continues to be used of God. Just being there in her presence had a profound impact on me. Not that there was anything supernatural about it, but just being with her was an experience. And for these parents, perhaps that was all they wanted for their children, was to be in the presence of this man who everyone was talking about, who was impacting culture and society. And yet there were those who would hinder them from coming to Jesus. And we have to understand that perhaps the disciples were doing this because of their zeal and their passion for the ministry and for Jesus. We can imagine that they were thinking, Jesus has so much work to do. It is so busy, we can't take up time with these little kids. We've got things to do. There are people who are sick, there are people who need to be taught, there are Pharisees that need to be rebuked, there are messages to be given, there are places to go, things to do and people to see and we don't have time for these kids. They're passionate in their zeal for Christ, for his busy schedule and for his work, cause them to say, let's keep the kids away. How often do we do that in our lives? I confess as a father, I do it to my own children. Don't come in my office right now, I've got to finish right in this sermon. Don't bother me right now, I've got to get this done. Hurry, let's keep going here, let's do this, let's do that. My passion for other things, watching the baseball game, get out of my way. I've got to see the TV. My zeal and my passion in other areas can cause me to hinder my children from just having time with me. We do that individually and we do it as a church as well. We think about, what do we have to do to get about the work of the kingdom here? What do we have to do to get about the work of the church? How can we build a bigger congregation, how can we do these things? Let's press ahead. All around us are children, all around us are children who are ready and willing. Their parents are all running busy and don't have time to come and be a part of what we're doing. The children are there and they're anxious. They need not hinder them but we need to make the kingdom of God accessible. I think two a lot of times, we're like the disciples, perhaps the disciples were ignorant of the children's need. Again, I think if a parent had come with a child on a stretcher that day, the disciples probably would have made a path and said, right this way, right to Jesus. We see this tangible need and Jesus meeting this tangible need will be great PR for the kingdom. Boy, if people see this child who's laying, get up and walk, folks are going to hear about it in the kingdom of God will advance. But they ignored the greater need of these children, just to be in the presence of Christ, just to experience a touch from Jesus, just to hear the good news of God's love for them. That's their profound need and the disciples were overlooking that, and that's what we do a lot of times. If there's a particular need, if a child needs a prescription or if a child needs to be taught to read or for child needs this or that needs clothing, we might be ready to address it. But how often are we ready to just sit with a child as an adult expressing love to them and being the love of Christ to them? We have to be aware of the needs of the children. A lot of times we're like the disciples, perhaps they just doubted their children's capacity to receive all that Christ had to offer them that day. A lot of times we really downplay what the children can stand and what they can receive and what they will experience. And we think we don't want to take time to do that because those kids just won't understand or they won't appreciate all that's happening here. And so we're not going to waste our time with that. We're going to go on with other things that are more important. And we neglect to realize that children oftentimes have insight in understanding that goes far beyond their years. Perhaps the disciples that day in hindering the children to come to Christ just for value of a child. In that culture and that time children were very much like women. They were marginalized. They weren't considered that important. Wasn't until they became adults that they were given a level of importance in society. And quite often that is true for us as well, it's true in our society. And when we look at children that way, when we neglect to see them as individuals created in the image of God, we marginalize them and we are guilty of hindering them from coming to Christ. I think the result of all of this is that quite often we don't expect to anticipate the conversion of children. You know, we think, well, we can teach in some good Bible stories right now. We can get to an environment where they'll be around people who will influence them in a good way. And perhaps later on, they'll come to really understand some of the things that they're hearing. The reality is children are ready and susceptible, ready to receive the gospel of Christ. They can understand and they can grasp it. And we need to have faith for these children that they will come to know Christ and that they will have their lives changed, that they will turn and believe that they'll understand the nature of their own hearts and their sin and that they will respond to the gospel. You see, when Jesus saw this sin and the disciples, when he saw the hindering of the children, the text tells us that he was indignant. He was indignant. He was upset because it was something that was contrary to his own spirit. Every time we see Christ in the gospels encountering children, his heart is full of love for them, his heart reaches out to them, his heart responds to them. And so when his disciples did this, it was contrary to the nature of Christ. But it was also a wrong that was done to the people who were bringing the children. The mothers who desired for their children to be there were being slided by the actions of the disciples. Then themselves were being slided by what was done that day. And Jesus himself was slided because of the actions of the disciples. And the disciples should have known better because what they were doing was specifically contrary to the teaching of the Lord Jesus. We go back to Matthew's gospel and Matthew chapter 18. We read at that time that disciples came to Jesus and asked who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now this is before the incident that we're reading about here. The disciples are asking you a question about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is seeking to teach him about life in the kingdom of God and he says in the text Matthew 18-2, he called a little child and had him stand among them and he said, I tell you the truth. Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. Jesus in his teaching had shown to the disciples that his heart, his passion was for the children and also that it was the children who modeled for us the way to come to the kingdom of God. That if we're to receive the gifts that God has for us, if we're to come to faith and understanding in Christ, we have to come in the simple fashion of the child. This morning I would ask you, how are you coming to Christ? Are you coming on the basis of your theological understanding and all that you have come to acquire in terms of biblical knowledge that has made you contemplate and understand the truth of the gospel? God works in that way but God Jesus is saying we have to come simply believing in faith in a simple way like a child. We have to come in a genuine way like a child to come sincerely like a child. I was thinking about Friday night, I took my family, my brother and his family were here and we took them to an Orioles game and we sat in front of some Boston Red Sox fans that night who were rather loud in their expression of enthusiasm for the Red Sox and for their great pitcher Pedro Martinez from my two youngest sons, Carpenter and Shepherd, were indignant at these people coming to our ballpark and cheering for this other team in our home and the whole night, those two little boys pestered those guys, the Red Sox stink. The Orioles are the greatest, Pedro stinks, Cal ripped into the greatest and you know what they were passionate about it, they were sincere about it, they were genuine about it, their little hearts were full of pride for their team and they were not allowed anyone to say anything against them, it didn't matter that the Orioles had struck out 15 times and the Red Sox were winning five to nothing up until the very last out Carpenter was saying the Orioles are going to come back in with a gazillion to five, he had faith he believed, he was passionate for his team and that's the kind of faith that we need to have, we need to be anticipating that God's going to do a great work around us all the time, we need to be passionate in our defense of Christ, when others around us would speak ill of the kingdom of God or of the church or of the Lord Jesus, we need to be excited in our defense of him and of Christ, we need to be bold, I mean I felt somewhat the same way as those guys but I wasn't going to turn around saying anything to those guys, I'd be embarrassed, I don't want to look silly, but aren't we like that as adults, isn't that how we are? I don't really like those people, but I'd be embarrassed if I turned around and said anything to him because I'm too sophisticated, I'm too intelligent and I've got my act together, that's why Jesus said you've got to humble yourself, you can't come to the kingdom of God in a simple way, full of passion for Christ, full of excitement for him, genuinely believing that he is the one that saves you, not on the merit of anything in and of yourself, but only on the merit of what he did for you on the cross, you need to come to the kingdom of God, like a little child, and Jesus is challenging us in the text today to be about the work of the kingdom of God, and a big part of that kingdom of work is bringing the children to Christ. So on this Mother's Day morning, I would challenge us as a people, as a church, to consider how we, as God's people, as adults, as agents for the kingdom of God, can be about the work of bringing children to Christ. We look around our neighborhood, we see the devastation of broken homes, we see the devastation of sin on every hand. Someone was saying to me there night, how can you guys have driving movies during the summer and expect kids to come? It's going to be dark, not until 9.30 at night. How are you? I said, man, if you live in Highland Town more than a week, I said, the ice cream truck comes by 11.30 at night, and it's surrounded by kids. Why? Because they don't have any parents who are making sure they're where they should be. They don't have parents who are watching over and loving them. They have parents who are willing to maybe give them a five-dollar bill and say, get out of my hair. How do we as a church respond to that? How do we as a church reach those children who need the love of Christ? We have to have the faith, we have to have the sight, the vision of Jesus for the kingdom of God that gets down on the level of a child who embraces them in our arms and brings them to the glorious gospel of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would encourage you today, first of all, in your own heart, to receive the kingdom of God like a child, receive it simply, receive it genuinely, receive it passionately, and be like my boys, excited to rebut anyone who would speak ill of the kingdom of God, stand up for what you believe, be passionate about what Christ has done for you by going to the cross and paying the penalty that you deserve to pay. And then in response to that, look at the community around us in the mission field that God has given us in the children of our neighborhood and let's be about the work of the kingdom and bringing the children to him. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, when we look at our neighborhood and our city and the world around us, we indeed see that the fields are white for harvest. And we would pray that you would send forth laborers into the harvest. I would ask Father God that you would begin in my home with my family, that the children that you are bringing to our home continually would be invited to the kingdom party, that they would experience the life abundantly that is ours in Christ. Father, that you would begin with us as we coach a little league team and T-ball team that the children that you brought into our midst would see the love of Christ in our lives and that they would be encouraged to come to the kingdom party. I pray for every member of this congregation that as they consider their neighbors around them and the children that are in our neighborhood, that they would respond with the same love of Christ to the children of his day and that we would be about the harvest work of your kingdom in the lives of children. Stir up within us a passion and a boldness and a simple faith to respond against to the kingdom agenda that is set before us. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. A stand in respond by singing our closing song, the words are printed in your bulletin, a Christian home. Let's stand together and sing. We want to honor all of the women here today. If you're a daughter or a mother, we have a flower for you as you leave and we want to again wish you a happy Mother's Day and extend God's blessing to you from our church family. Let's close together in prayer. Heavenly Father, once again we thank you for the gifts of life. We thank you that you have called us, your children, and that you have loved us unconditionally and that you have kept us in the number of your hand. We pray that as we go forth in this place today, we would be full of gratitude for the life that is ours, for the mothers that you have given us, Father, for our mothers are not saved. We would ask that today would be a day of salvation for them that you would draw them to yourself that they might know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. We also pray, Heavenly Father, as we leave this place, that as we encounter the children of our neighborhood, as our community, that you would cause us to be the love of Christ to them, that we would point them to the kingdom of God, that we would share with them the love that we have received from Christ. We ask that you would do a mighty work in our community through the lives of the children of our neighborhood. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And now may the love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and abide with you both now and forevermore. Amen.