Pastor Pua Palakiko & Pastor Stefanie Andweson
May 9, 2021 - W2119

“Mother’s Day Edition: Restoring the Family"

Pastor Pua?Kiele Palakiko & Pastor Stefanie Anderson

May 9, 2021 

PASTOR PUA:  Aloha and welcome, New Hope Oahu! Thank you for choosing to celebrate Mother's Day with us in the house of God, watching online, or serving in the church.  We are so grateful for you!  For the past hundred years, we've been celebrating Mother's Day--it all started when a lady named Anna Jarvis wanted to honor the sacrifices that mothers have made for their children.  So, in May 1908 she organized her first official Mother's Day celebration in Grafton, West Virginia.  Anna never married and had no children, but she knew the significance of honoring mothers.  As time went on, she realized that she despised this holiday, not that she wanted to get rid of celebrating mothers, but because Mother's Day had become a money?making machine and she wanted to make sure that mothers were actually celebrated! 

How great and thoughtful is our God in choosing women to be the incubator for making another life--He made us a part of the creation process!

Psalm 139:13-17 NIV says: "¹³ For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!"

King David is acknowledging God--the creation acknowledging the Creator! We should acknowledge God as the Great Creator for designing us with such infinite wisdom! Our God created us in His image! It means that God breathed into us His ha (His character and beauty) and subscribed His purpose through the family unit. God calls us to restore and heal the home-front because the family is a covenant community that God uses as a vehicle to change the world!  God desires that He is honored in our homes! 

PASTOR STEFANIE: Whether you are young or old, we are all children of God; and the greatest gift that we can give our parents is to... 

1. Honor Your Parents Because It's Tethered to Your Legacy 

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise) ³ so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."(Ephesians 6:1-3 NIV)

The first four of the Ten Commandments are about our relationship with God--following that is "Children, honor your father and mother."  Which side of the story do you want to be on--the one that obeys the Lord or one that disobeys? You must choose because your story is tethered to your legacy, meaning, how you treat your parents matters to God.  In an article, "A Dark Time in America," Dennis Prager says: "If you build a society where children honor their parents, your society will live long and survive; but in a society where children do not honor their parents, your society is doomed to self?destruction."  

How to Honor Your Parents  

•  Love your parents unconditionally.  As much as we had hurt and disobeyed our parents, they never once stopped loving us. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 NIV)
• Obey your parents. Don't let your love be based on a result; let it be based on obedience. ^"Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. (Colossians 3:20 NKJV)
•  Give Grace. Believe that your parents are doing everything they can to support you.  "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more." (Rom. 5:20 NIV)

Mother Theresa said:  "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family."  

If you have been raised like me, it may be difficult for you to honor your mom; and Mother's Day brings confusion, so you didn't even come to church and you're watching this online. Here are three things to encourage you: 

(1) It is never too late to have a happy childhood,

(2) It is never too late to be who you were meant to be, 

(3) It is never too late to bring healing into your family.  

"¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NIV)

God gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are meant to be restored first to God through Jesus Christ; then we're given the ministry of reconciliation to be at peace with our families! It is so important to have powerful impactful prayers in our homes. Abraham Lincoln said:  "I remember my mother's prayers, and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life." Here's a testimony of a mother's prayer and a son's example of honoring his mother.   

[Video]

KATHY:  It was April 19th, 2001, and Christian had invited his friends to our home for Bible study. After Bible study he asked if he could take his friends to the swimming pool to cool off.  Five minutes later, his friends called me and said, "Aunty, Christian had an accident!"  

CHRISTIAN:  I was running and slipped. My head went towards the ground; I tried to stop the fall by sticking out my left hand out and broke it--the fall shattered the left side of my skull! 

KATHY:  The doctor said the bone fragments were very close to his optic and hearing nerves and Christian could become paraplegic--but God spared him! He quit going to school and started to self?medicate and became angry with rage! It became too much for me and I had to kick him out of the house--and things went downhill. I prayed a lot, "God, please help me.  I don't know what to do.  I don't know how to help him."  I didn't know if God was hearing me, but time and again I would see God answer my prayers!

CHRISTIAN:  I got rebellious and started stealing and became part of a group that was into drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and skipping school. But one night in my room, God gave me a scripture, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." [Ephesians 6:1 NASB] The next minute, God put me in my mother's shoes, and I saw how the things that I said was upsetting her. At that moment, I asked my mom for forgiveness--and I've never done it again!

KATHY:  He just wept and apologized for being angry, and he's never raised his voice to me since then.  The power of prayer is way more than we even imagine--God actually hears us!  Just keep believing! God said, "Just thank me because I am in this.  I am working all things together for good because you love me, and I love you."  Our trials are not over yet, but this has been a precious journey--it's like a tapestry with many-colored threads.  Christian doesn't drive, so I drive him to his outreaches. A beautiful man of God--my son! I'm so proud of him in every way! 

CHRISTIAN:  We just reach out to people and give them food and ask, "May we pray with you guys," or tell them "Jesus loves you." Mom, your prayers and never giving up on me, made it possible for me to get through everything that I was going through.  I got to see your love and God's love.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom, I love you!  

[End Video]

PASTOR STEFANIE:  What an honor to share that bit of your life with us. I have watched Kathy over the years crying out for Christian, and today--see him! Sometimes, our families are the most difficult to love.  Some of you know that I am adopted; and when I was pregnant with my daughter Gracie, I thought it would be important for her to know her medical history as doctors always asked questions about the family history.  I also had a deep desire to know where I came from. I had a friend who found his son that he had given up for adoption and he gave me the name of a lady who could help me find my biological mom.

Within two weeks, I had the name, address, and phone number of my biological mother--it was like the great mystery of my life about to be solved--I was so excited!  The woman who helped me get the information said, "It's probably best to first write a letter to give her a heads up since it's been 26, 27 years." I made the letter light, sent a picture of my family, thanked her for bringing me into the world, would like my medical history and to meet her--and sent it off.  

I waited a long time, but one day the phone rang, and a very terse voice on the other end said, "Stephanie," in a very disapproving mom tone and said, "This is Jane."  Her name is not Jane, so be assured, she doesn't want to be found and doesn't want me talking about her. She said, "How dare you find me!  How dare you invade my privacy!" I was stunned--shocked, because I had watched Oprah on TV and everybody is hugging, kissing, crying, and happy to be together! 

I'm so grateful for my husband Ross--he is my rock! He was listening to the whole conversation, and he finally took the phone because she was literally blaming me for everything that had ever happened in her life--a long list! He finally just said, "Oh, hi.  You know, we didn't mean you any harm.  We didn't want to hurt you.  Stef just wanted to know how you were. But the whole time, all I've heard is you talk about yourself, and you never even asked her how she's doing."  And she hit the E above high C and said, "Don't you ever contact me again!  I never want to hear from you again!"  She hung up the phone--that was it!  The great mystery of my life had just been solved--but it was nothing like I expected it to be. 

But listen, I've past that huge painful rejection, and I have seen that our God is the God of reconciliation. The word "reconciliation" in Christianity means, "The end of the estrangement caused by original sin between God and humanity."   

2. Be Willing to Forgive Because It Is Tethered to Your Freedom and Future 

Ephesians 4:32 NKJV says: "...be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

The first step in the reconciliation process is to understand the power of forgiveness. Our God is truly the God of second chances! I see the generational consequences that came down my family line for not following God: the unwanted pregnancies, orphans, multiple marriages and divorces that led to abuse, addiction, and rejection. But God had other plans for me!  When I decided to follow Jesus, everything changed because my eyes were fixed on Him!  

Psychologists define forgiveness as a deliberate decision to release feelings of anger, resent, or vengeance towards someone who has hurt you.  When we hold on to unforgiveness, we're tethered to it--tied up in hostility, anger, and fear! 

It's never too late to bring healing into your family; our God truly is a God of second chances! He gave my dad a second chance at being a father to me; and He gave me a second chance to be a daughter to my dad!  I learned that it's never too late to be who you were meant to be and that my dad comes from a line of preachers, teachers, and professors!  The iniquities go to the third and fourth generation, but the blessings of God, to a thousand generations to those who love Him!  The preachers, teachers, professors in my lineage were praying for me--and here I am!  If you want to change the world, go home and love your family! 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

1.     What is the greatest gift that children can give their parents?

2.     What are three ways to honor our parents?

3.     What did Mother Theresa say about changing the world?

4.     What is the meaning of reconciliation to a Christian?