You can be seated.

You can be seated. I want to take this moment to say,

Happy Mother's Day

to all of the mothers and grandmothers

and spiritual mothers

who are in the room.

I think y'all can do better than that.

I want to take this moment to honor one of the greatest mothers I know personally,

Ms. Lena Claire Mitchell.

There's a great mom loving, caring, discerning, tapped into the discipleship of our children,

not just the raising of children, but the discipleship of our children.

And I want to honor my mom who's watching right now in North Carolina, Ms. Sharon Mitchell, the mighty woman of faith,

who believed God for a son when the doctor said she could have no children.

And I want to also honor just all of the mothers in our church and those who are pouring into people.

And before we jump into the proclamation of God's word, I do want to acknowledge that I know that today is not joyful for everybody.

That for some people today,

it is difficult, especially for those of you where there is an empty place at a table because your mom has passed away. Or for those of you who have a very difficult relationship with your mom,

or for those of you who was not raised with a mother she was absent. I want to acknowledge

that those feelings are present and our prayer is that the God of all comfort will minister to you

if you find yourself any place on that spectrum. If you are guests sitting in this room and the

overflow, we welcome you to 2819 where we are serious about the spread

of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples. And to all of our digital disciples who are watching

...