Sunday May 10, 2009 – Good and faithful Rick opened the morning worship service with Luke 6:31:

Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

He spoke of forgiveness and our need to be ready to forgive others.  Whether it is your fault or not be ready to be the first to forgive.

He introduced our celebration of “Mother’s Day” asking his audience to think about their mothers and the need they may have to ask them for forgiveness.  He closed by leading the boys in a prayer of forgiveness.

Lyndee led the boys in singing “Now is the Time to Worship” and “Here I am to Worship”.  After she invited a Pegasus resident, Justin, to read Psalms 150:

Praise the Lord!   Praise God in his sanctuary;  praise him in his mighty heaven!
 2 Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!
 3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp!
 4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!
 5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
 6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

And 1 Corinthians 2:9-10:

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit.

For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.

She continued the singing part of the worship services singing “Psalms 100” and her version of “Take Me Home”.

Wade led us in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to feel the room with his presence.

Chris, one of the Pegasus boys, played the piano leading the audience in singing “He Raised Me Up”.

Our speaker for this Mother’s Day was C.J.  He opened asking the boys how many know their mother’s favorite color, her favorite scripture, food, etc; and then asked who your mother’s favorite child is?   He spoke of his mother and how she was a reflection of what God is to him now.  How his mother always wanted the very best for him.

He asked the boys how many felt their mother had abandoned them because they were at Pegasus.  I was amazed at how many boys raised their hand.  He encouraged those who raised their hand to recognized that the love of God far surpasses a mother’s love.

Speaking again of what Mother’s are he turned to 2 Kings 4:8-37:

 One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.

9 She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”

11 One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.” When she appeared, 13 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’”

“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”

14 Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”

Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”

15 “Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway, 16 “Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!”

“No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”

17 But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.

18 One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters. 19 Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”

His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”

20 So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died. 21 She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there. 22 She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”

23 “Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.”

But she said, “It will be all right.”

24 So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down unless I tell you to.”

25 As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming. 26 Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child?’”

“Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”

27 But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the Lord has not told me what it is.”

28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up’?”

29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to travel; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.”

30 But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.

31 Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”

32 When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed. 33 He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he lay down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again! 35 Elisha got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!

36 Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the child’s mother!” he said. And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!” 37 She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.

He spoke of how their mother’s hurt for them and every time they goof up and stubbornly refused to follow the Pegasus program they not only hurt themselves but they hurt their mother.  It was C.J.’s mother who taught him the Word of God and he was sure many or the boys had like mothers and they were treating her like she was dirt, ignoring her wise instructions just like they were now ignoring the staff.  God has blest you by sending you to Pegasus versus TYC and you need to recognized that and get with the program.  God has given you every opportunity to change but you want to do things your way which is why you ended up here.

He reminded the boys of the Ten Commandments and their responsibility to obey and then told a heart warming story about how his mother provided he and his brother a brand new pair of shoes to participate in Track and Field day illustrating how God will provide what we need at the time we need it.  You all have to go through Pegasus to get where He wants you to be so get off your plan for your life and get on God’s plan. 

You are God’s pride and joy … you are who Christ died for … you can be something worthwhile if you believe that.   All it takes is the faith of the Shunem woman. 

He closed by asking the boys who need to get a right relationship with God and their parents to raise their hand.  Half his audience raised their hands as he prayed for them.

Ken closed by having Jeremy recite the 23rd Psalm and reading a “Mother’s Day” poem about a little girl and her mother.