Follow: Guard - Week 2
Check out these resources gathered by our Resource Team!
RECOMMENDED BOOKS:
M Is for Mama: A Rebellion Against Mediocre Motherhood by Abbie Halberstadt
“As a daughter of Christ, you have been called to be more than an average mama. Attaining excellence doesn’t have to be unsettling but it will take committed focus and a desire to parent well according to God’s grace and for His glory. Mama, you are worthy of the awesome responsibility God has given you. Now it’s time to start believing you can live up to it.”
“Abbie Halberstadt, author of the bestselling M Is for Mama, shares scriptural wisdom and lessons learned from her own challenges as a mama of ten to help shift your perspective on the hardships of motherhood and of life, in general. When you begin to see struggles as a necessary part of God’s plan for your spiritual growth, you can discover supernatural peace and purpose, even when you’re down in the deepest trenches of motherhood.”
Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments by Emily A. Jensen & Laura Wifler
“Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler help you understand and apply the gospel to common issues moms face so you can connect your Sunday morning faith to the Monday morning tantrum.
Discover how closely the gospel connects with today’s motherhood. Join Emily and Laura as they walk through the redemptive story and reveal how the gospel applies to your everyday life, bringing hope, freedom, and joy in every area of motherhood.”
“A yearlong book of prayers to bring nightly hope and a sense of connection to mothers who feel alone, from the mother-daughter team behind the Midnight Mom Devotional Facebook page. Each night offers a different prayer for mommas in all circumstances of life. In the stillness and the night, take heart in knowing that women across the world are joining you in prayer and that God is listening and loving you right where you are.”
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES:
Risen Motherhood - Mine: Why Balancing Motherhood and Self is Not the Answer
“Gratitude and joy are possible, even with the laundry and the toddler tantrums and all the rest, when my life is founded in Christ’s beautiful sufficiency, not attempting to hold onto the fleeting mine.
Desiring God - Is Jael a Model Woman?
“An interesting and out-of-the-box article that discusses how Christian women think about figures like Deborah and Jael and if we should try to imitate them. The author asks, “Are we the sort of godly woman who overcomes her fears, keeps her wits about her, and acts with resourcefulness when called upon? How might we grow into that sort of godly woman?”
Desiring God - What Makes a Woman Strong : How God Prepared Deborah to Lead
“When we celebrate the strength of Deborah, we celebrate a woman who speaks and obeys God’s word — and who sings it with all her heart! Through her song Deborah bears witness to the ways God uses men and women to serve him — and every kind of serving requires great strength. Read those verses Deborah sings about Jael: talk about expertise, not only with a workman’s mallet and a tent peg, but with an inspired poet’s power to craft words that pierce the heart.”
Gospel Coalition - Women Who Foreshadow Christ
“Just as when we gaze at a cloudless night sky and our eyes see more and more stars the longer we look, so too pausing to gaze at the Old Testament reveals layer upon layer of messianic anticipation.
Jesus is longed for and predicted in diverse ways in the Old Testament. May the Spirit aid us in seeing them all, not least through the females who foreshadow Christ.”
RECOMMENDED VIDEOS:
Igniter Media - Mothers of the Bible
“Honor all of the mothers in your church this Mother’s Day by acknowledging that, even though their roles might not all look the same, each one plays an important role in the stories of generations to come, reflected in the long tradition of mothers of the Bible.”
Susan Hunt - The Christian Wife and Mother
From Ligonier Ministries: “We are called to be holy. But that call extends beyond our personal lives. God also has called families to be set apart…she discusses God’s call in our family lives, the role He has assigned to us, and the pernicious ways the world seeks to derail God’s ordained structure for the family.”
Tim Keller - Discovering the Gospel in Judges
“In the seventh episode of the Gospel in Life series "Discovering the Gospel in Every Book of the Bible", Tim Keller looks at the book of Judges. Each episode from this series will highlight themes that point to the Gospel and help you discover the overarching narrative of God’s Word in every book — Christ coming into the world to save us from our sins and reconcile us to God the Father.”
RECOMMENDED SERMONS:
Matt Chandler - The Good News for Mothers
“Motherhood is a reflection of the nature and character of God. The Accuser takes this truth and convinces moms that they should know everything, be everywhere at the same time, and carry the weight of the family’s world on their backs. But only God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. We can rest in Him when we meet our human limits. This is good news for mothers and for all of us. Only God is perfect.”
John Piper - Honoring the Biblical Call of Motherhood
“What I want to honor in this message is the biblical calling on a woman’s life to weave a fabric of family life out of commitment to a husband and his calling, and commitment to her children and their training, and commitment to Christ and his glory. In other words, I want to honor the biblical calling that makes marriage, motherhood, and home-management, in the context of radical Christian discipleship, the central, core, dominant commitments of a woman’s life.”
Charles Spurgeon - Sin Slain (Judges 4:22)
“I shall seek to bring to you that notable picture of the open door, and I shall stand at it and cry to those who are seeking the life of their sins—"Come hither, and I will show you the man whom ye seek; here he lies—dead; slain by the hammer and the nail; held not in the hand of a woman, but in the hand of the seed of the woman—the man Christ Jesus.”
RECOMMENDED PODCASTS:
Welcome to The Warehouse! Has a Sunday sermon ever left you running to Google with new theological questions? Have you ever wished that you could peer behind the curtain to see how the message comes together? That’s where we come in! Here at Cornerstone Church, we spend hours every week talking about the Bible. This is the place to learn about Scripture, dive into its context, and study the Bible’s cultural background. Come to the Warehouse–where we’ll extend the stuff you learn from the stage.
Bible Project - Women Who Slayed Dragons
“In today’s episode, we once again encounter a theme that’s becoming all too familiar: humans becoming chaos monsters. Jabin, king of Canaan, and Sisera, the commander of his army, are depicted as serpents in Judges 4, and the humans who overcome these two dragons are two women, Deborah and Jael. Join Tim and Jon as they explore the theme of the dragon in the scroll of Judges.”
Gospel Coalition - Literary Tools to Understand Deborah
“She lays out six basic questions to ask when studying Old Testament narrative, using Judges 4–5 as an example text. Since narrative and poetic texts can be easily misunderstood, we should relish Deborah’s story and allow her to speak from the text. Nielson pointed out that, like all other Scripture, the story is meant to point others to the greatness of the Lord, through both Deborah’s story and also her song. The six questions offer a framework for understanding a narrative text and mining it for every ounce of God-glorifying truth that may be uncovered.”
Spoken Gospel - Judges Introduction
“The Book of Judges narrates Israel's slow decay. Rather than driving out God's enemies, Israel becomes just like God's enemies. And Judges ends not with God's leadership of Israel but the people's whims and desires leading them to destruction. David and Seth talk about how the light of God's mercy shines brightest as the darkness of Judges increases and how Jesus is the only Judge and King who can free us from our downward spiral into destruction.”
Risen Motherhood - Full Podcast Collection
An amazing podcast that will leave you encouraged and uplifted. They talk about the realities of motherhood and ALWAYS bring it back to the truth of the gospel. “Help for Hard Conversations with Kids. Screen time, death, divorce, fear—find clear, practical talking points for these topics and more.”
M is for Mama - Full Podcast Collection
“In each episode, Abbie Halberstadt shares insights from her messy, maddening, and miraculous world of motherhood, mama life hacks, and plenty of encouragement for your own mama journey. Together, with God’s help (a lot of his help!), we’ll figure out this whole motherhood thing.” This is ANOTHER excellent resource for Christian mamas of all ages and types.
RECOMMENDED SONGS:
"Mamas" by Anne Wilson and Hillary Scott / "Praying Woman" by Anne Wilson /