The Mother Church

The Light Exposes Darkness

• Expressing gratitude for a place to take burdens and grief to God.
  • “Thank God for a place where I can take my burden. I can take my grief. I can take the things that I’ve messed up and done wrong.”
• Finding grace and mercy anywhere, not just in church.
  • “You can find grace you can find mercy for your soul today anywhere you’re at.”
• Thankfulness for the church and the Holy Spirit’s presence.
  • “Thank God the church doors were open that night. Thank God the lights were on. Thank God the saints had gathered. Thank God the Holy Spirit did what He said He would do.”
• Sharing personal testimony of being saved and transformed by Jesus.
  • “He changed my life. Made me a new creature. Brought me out of the darkness I was in. Set my feet on a solid rock.”
• Desire to lift up Christ to the world.
  • “If I live another year, another hundred years, I want to be able to lift up Christ to this world that they might see Him, that they might know there is a Redeemer.”
• Gratitude for earthly mothers who honored God and taught right from wrong.
  • “Thank God for every mother that has tried to stand, take a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ and live their life in the way…That honored God.”
• Acknowledging those without mothers and emphasizing the importance of a mother figure.

The Mother Church

• Finding a family in the church after being saved.
  • “I found a family the day I got saved.”
• Gratitude for the raising received, including discipline and instruction.
  • “I’m grateful for the raising I had. I don’t regret not being able to every whipping I caught, every instruction I caught, every meal I ate.”
• The church as a spiritual mother that cares for the soul.
  • “When I got saved, I got laid into a family that loves me worse than all. They care for my soul.”
• Reference to Hebrews 12:22, discussing the church of the firstborn written in heaven.
  • “You are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.”
• Emphasizing the need to be born again to be part of the true church.
  • “To get into that church I’m talking about this morning, the mother of us all, you’re going to have to come through Christ.”
• Importance of being part of the church.
  • “One of the things the Lord Jesus asked you and I to do was to be a part of the church.”
• Appreciation for prayer meetings and houses opened to the gospel.
  • Reference to a prayer meeting at Brother Wayne Black’s house with about 30 saints.
  • “We need more houses that are opened up to the gospel, that are opened up to a prayer meeting.”
• The church as everlasting and eternal, the church of the firstborn.
  • “Thank God to be a part of a church, a church, friends, that is everlasting and eternal, of the church of the firstborn, those whose names have been written in heaven.”
• The church nurtures and makes one of its own.
  • “She took me in automatically and made me one of her own. I was turned to the firstborn.”
• The church provides spiritual mentors, Sunday school teachers, and pastors.
  • “Every person that was in the house of God that night…they became my mama and they became my daddy…my spiritual mentors…my Sunday school teachers.”
• The church never leaves, even when the flesh resists.
  • “She ain’t never left me…There was a drawing in my soul that said this is your mother.”
• God as the only spiritual father, referencing Matthew 23.
  • “Call no man father on this earth…neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.”
• The church of the firstborn includes all believers, regardless of race.
  • “White, black. Don’t make no difference. If your name was written down in heaven, you’re a part of the firstborn.”
• The church cares for the soul.
  • “You’ve got a mother here and she cares for your soul.”
• The church of the firstborn can be found anywhere.
  • “Anywhere you go, you can find the church of the firstborn.”

The Church’s Love and Correction

• The church loves and supports its members.
  • Example of a brother checking in after feeling unwell.
  • “Had a brother sent me in yesterday…He said, just call me to see how you’re doing.”
• Being part of the family of God through being born again.
  • “If you’ve been born again you got put into the family of God and brother she’ll mother you if you’ll let her.”
• Looking forward to being in heaven together, where a spiritual mother is no longer needed.
  • “Today the church of God we’re going to be in heaven together one day where I won’t need a mother no more.”
• The church nurtures, feeds, and teaches.
  • “She nurtured me when I was a baby. She brought me into this world…And she fed me, kept me alive, kept me in court, kept teaching me day after day.”
• Decisions revolve around the church.
  • “Every decision we make revolves around this church, God. I don’t take a vacation if it gets in the way of this church.”
• The church helps, keeps, and delivers.
  • “He birthed me into something that could help me and to keep me and to deliver me.”
• The church corrects and guides.
  • “She wouldn’t be a good mother if she didn’t whoop me…She wouldn’t be a good mother if she didn’t tell me when I did wrong.”
• The church requires love and support for one another.
  • “The church of Jesus Christ is required to love one another, to help one another, to lift one another up.”
• The church can’t save, but it guides to Jesus Christ.
  • “The church can’t save you. That ain’t what saved me that day. When I got born again, it was Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost and the Word of God that paid my sin debt.”
• The church preaches the Gospel and never lets go.
  • “He put an old man behind this sacred tether. And He preached to me every Sunday, every Sunday morning, every Wednesday night. He preached me the Gospel and He never let go.”
• The church is a place dedicated to God.
  • Reference to the dedication of the church building in 1968.
  • “They dedicated this building to God. Ain’t nobody owns this building. This is God’s.”
• Joy in coming to the house of the Lord.
  • “It is a joy in my soul to come through them doors. I’m just like the song of David. I was glad when they said unto me let us go unto the house of the Lord.”
• The church is made up of imperfect but born-again individuals.
  • “Your pastor ain’t perfect…But I’ll tell you right now, we’re born again. And that makes us part of that good mother church.”
• The Holy Spirit corrects and guides.
  • “Thank God the Holy Spirit works that way.”
• Desire for truth and getting right with God.
  • “The people of God, here’s what they’ll desire. They’ll desire coming to the truth.”
• The Holy Ghost makes the church right.
  • “It ain’t the individuals. It’s the Holy Ghost.”
• God keeps His promise to never leave nor forsake those who repent.
  • “The Holy Ghost of God made a promise to never leave you nor forsake you.”
• Speculation about the rapture and who will be taken.
  • “Only those that are mothered by the church because they have been born of God into the church.”
• Invitation to be a member of His church.
  • “Are you a member of His church?”
• Brotherhood through being born again and sharing the same Father.
  • “I’ve been born again, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and I love Him with all my heart…He said, we brothers. I’ll tell you right now. You say, brothers, hey, we got the same Father.”
• The same Mother (the church) is present everywhere.
  • “We got the same Mother, Kevin…Whether you’re in North Welch County or you’re in Blount County, Tennessee, she’s a good mother today.”
• The Holy Spirit is working to make us what we need to be.
  • “The Holy Spirit is doing today. As the mother church, He’s working…to help us and to make us what we need to be.”

Grieving the Mother Church and Returning Home

• Grieving the church by making decisions without including her.
  • “We make decisions in our own little bubbles sometimes. We don’t include her.”
• The church always loves and wants members to get right with God.
  • “Everybody that’s a born again believer in this place, they absolutely, 100% want you to get right with God.”
• The church directs to Jesus for help.
  • Personal anecdote of being directed to Jesus by his mother when he was lost.
  • “She said, I can’t help you…you gotta come through Christ.”
• The church advises to go to Him with problems.
  • “You got a problem? Go to Him. That’s what the church says.”
• The Holy Ghost brings and keeps the church together.
  • “The Holy Ghost is what brings us together. And the Holy Ghost is what keeps us together.”
• The power of the church is the Holy Spirit of God.
  • “The power of the church, friend, is the Holy Spirit of God.”
• Confessing sins to be forgiven and cleansed.
  • “If we confess our sins, that He was faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”
• Loving fellow members and fixing issues by going to them.
  • “If you’ve got an arm against your brother, you’ve got to go to him.”
• The devil is a liar, and the truth makes him run.
  • “You know what I know about the devil? He’s a liar. You know what else I’ve learned? I’ve learned the truth makes him ruin.”
• The church is a precious place to be placed in, no longer an orphan.
  • “The church, the loving part of God, the general assembly of the firstborn…What a precious place to have been placed in. Hey, I’m not an orphan anymore.”
• The church provides love, nurturing, teaching, and attention.
  • “He put me in His church…He put me in that place where He knowed I’d get some love, some nurturing, some teaching, some attention.”
• The church has been a mentor since childhood.
  • “The church has been my mentor spiritually since I was nine years old.”
• Brotherhood and sisterhood through the same spiritual Father and Mother.
  • “We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren…we had the same mother we had the same father spiritually.”
• Following God’s word to make the devil leave.
  • “Let’s just take that old book and let’s open it up and let’s say, what does God say I ought to do right here? And then if we’ll do that, you know what the devil’s got to do? He’s got to leave.”
• Invitation to be part of the church.
  • “Let me ask you this morning, are you part of the church?”
• Being spiritually an orphan before being saved.
  • “Spiritually speaking, you know what it’s like to sleep in a box as an orphan…I was desperately lost in the name of the Savior.”
• Imperfection within the church and the importance of forgiveness.
  • “They all imperfect…We say things. We do things. Sometimes it’s not with no ill intent…I’ve never found in the church that if we’ll do it God’s way, then He’ll fix it.”
• Loving the brethren as a sign of loving God.
  • “John said, if you don’t love the brethren, he said, you don’t love God.”
• Appreciation for the church’s help, kindness, concerns, and reproof.
  • “I appreciate their help. I appreciate their kindness. I appreciate their concerns. I appreciate their reproof.”
• Begging a young man to come and listen to the church.
  • “I just begged him. I said, look, I said, I know you don’t know nothing about this…Just come and see if you’ll find something that maybe you know you’ll need.”
• The Holy Spirit may be telling you to do some work and follow the mother’s direction.
  • “Maybe the Spirit of God spoke to your heart and said you know what you probably have a little work to do won’t you go the mother tell you what to do.”
• Nothing is worth going to hell over.
  • “There ain’t nothing in this world worth going to hell over.”
• Dealing with the devil by taking issues to the Lord.
  • “That’s how you get rid of the devil is you take it to the Lord and you deal with it the way the Bible said to.”
• Thankfulness for the Holy Spirit keeping us to the end.
  • “Thank God for the mother spiritually that’s kept us. Gonna keep us all the way to the end.”
• Invitation to return to the mother church if estranged.
  • “Maybe you’re estranged from your mother. Maybe you just need to go back home.”
• The Spirit and the bride say come, referencing Revelations.
  • “The Spirit says come. Then he said and the bride says come. Let whosoever will come. Drink the water of life freely.”