Happy Mother’s Day.... The influence of our moms, is foundational in our lives. We owe so much to our mothers. They were our first love. So much wisdom, we thought they knew everything. Many of us would say that our mothers taught us most of what’s good that we know in our lives. Mom’s have a logic all their own....For example, how many of you remember your mother telling you....., “If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can’t go to the store with me.” (you think) Our mothers taught us all about nutrition: “You better eat your carrots! You never see a bunny rabbit wearing eyeglasses do you?” (now that’s logic that just can’t be argued) Many of us remember our mothers teaching us all about taking care of our things: “What’s the matter with you? Were you born in a barn?” (No, I don’t actually remember being born) Our mothers taught us about justice: “One day you’re going to have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU. . then you’ll see what it’s like!” (I’m surprised I even wanted kids after that) And perhaps the most important thing our mothers taught us was the value of life and experience: “When you get to be my age, you will understand why I say the things I say to you.” (I guess I’m still not old enough, and I may never be THAT OLD....)
Today I want to speak about “Raising Eagles in a turkey World” The thing about turkeys, is that they’re always looking down at the ground, and scratching and pecking out a living. Though they have wings, they only fly in short spurts. Eagles on the other hand live in the high places, they rise up high in the heavens, so they can see for miles and miles. Turkeys live life as victims, Eagles live life as overcomers....Eagles and turkeys have a whole different perspective of life.
The Bible is filled with many stories of great mothers of faith. Mothers who believed and walked in God’s promises. Mothers who stood in faith for their families. Mothers who listened to what God had to say no matter what their situation in life.
The Bible is very clear that behind every great leader, there was a Godly mother of faith who rose above the worst circumstances. Abraham was known for his faith, and is called the father of the faith, but so was his wife Sarah, the mother of Isaac. They only had one son, when physically it was impossible, but this covenant child became heir to a chosen linageof covenant people.
Mary was certainly a mother of faith. She knew that her son Jesus was going to be a great influence in the earth one day. She probably couldn’t see all the steps ahead of her, but she believed in God’s promise that she would be “blessed among women”. She lived a holy life because generations depended on it.
Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, was a great mother of faith, too. In her old age, she was barren but She believed in a God of miracles. Most women wouldn’t know what to think, when their husband came home from church, and couldn’t speak, because he’d had a vision at church that day. And he couldn’t say a word, for the next nine months until John the Baptist was born. That would have shaken most women. But Elizabeth believed, and rejoiced, though she was barren, that she was going to have a special child who would be the forerunner of the Christ.
The Bible is filled with these stories of mothers of faith. And there are countless other mothers, down through the years, who kept their faith and raised their children, in the way God instructed them. Today we’re going to read an unusual story for Mother’s Day. But I think you’ll see why it’s important.
Exodus 2:1-10 ”Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and hid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Her daughter stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then Moses’ sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” Sothe woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
The story of Moses is so famous that we almost forget about the vitalpart that his mother played. Moses’ mother literally saved his life. If it wasn’t for her faith, and her love, and her willingness to risk everything, we would never have had the Ten Commandments. The people of Israel would never have returned to the God their ancestors knew.
If it wasn’t for Moses’ mom, there wouldn’t have been anyone to listen to the voice of God calling out of the burning bush. There wouldn’t have been anyone to stand up to Pharaoh, and force him to let the people go from slavery. Without Moses’ mother, they wouldn’t have made it past the border of Egypt. They wouldn’t have crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. They would not have reclaimed their promised land and fulfilled their destiny.
All those things depended on a mother’s faith. And probably she never dreamed about what her child would grow up to do. But all she neededto do is what she could do, and God would make up the difference. So if you feel like a basket case, this should give you a lot of hope and faith!
Moses was a slave. So was Moses’ father and Moses was born under slavery. For 400 years their people had been slaves of Egypt. But somewhere, a long time before, their people used to be free. And even though they had forgotten a lot of their religion during the years of slavery, Moses’ mother Jochabed still knew enough, to put God first, no matter what life handed her, not just when she was in trouble. At the time Moses was born, Pharaoh decided there were too many Hebrews in Egypt. Pharaoh was afraid his people were going to becomeoutnumbered because the Hebrew slaves were having so many babies..
Pharaoh told the midwives, who delivered the babies, that they were to kill all the male children the very moment they were born. That’s what abortion is doing now. Moses and all of his generation were supposed to be killed. That was Pharaoh’s law. But it says that the midwives all believed in God. They stood up against Pharaoh’s abortion policies, no matter what the cost. Pharaoh asked, “What are all these Hebrew babies still doing around here? I commanded that they be killed...The midwives in order to save the babies, said, “Oh, sir! These Hebrew women, they’re so strong, they give birth before we can even get there!” So it says God blessed the midwives, and gave them children of their own. Moses may have started out as a basket case, but He achieved great things and he was able to reach his God given destiny....so there’s hope for you. I hear the Holy Spirit saying, that God always has a waythat will get you out of every situation that tries to destroy you! Resist the devil and he must flee from you. It just may be, that God is doing in a way you hadn’t thought of yet!!!
The little baby basket, was sealed with tar, so it was messy, sticky, and ugly.... Listen God will take messy stuff, that may not be pretty, but it will still bring you forth, preserve your life and take you where God intends for you. He will take what Satan meant for evil and turn it for Good.... The tar that was a symbol of their bondage, became the substance that brought freedom and safety. My God will tuck you into the eye of the storm, when destruction is all around, for they shall be in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Him..... Godly moms know that stuff, they know what the eye of the storm looks like cause they’ve been there.
It was a dangerous thing to put a basket with your baby in it, on the Nile river, because we know that there were crocodiles in the river as well as Pharaoh’s soldiers who were going everywhere, killing babies. There will always be crocodiles and dream killers, trying to prevent the blessings of God from coming our way, and interfering with our destiny, if we give in to them. I have heard it said that the enemy of the best in our lives is not always obvious, but often it is disguised as what looks good, feels good, and it’s comfortable, and satisfies the flesh.
If we are willing to take a stand, God always has an instrument He can use in the most unusual places. Who would have thought that the very daughter of the one who ordered all babies to be slaughtered, would be the one that brought salvation to this family....He makes a way where there is no way!! Who would have thought that the cross, an instrument of death, would become the means of our salvation.
The Bible tells us that the King of Babylon, that threw the 3 Hebrewboys in the furnace, ended up becoming their defender when he saw the 4th man in the furnace (may the 4th man be with you) The Lord can make you fireproof!.... God used Joseph’s traitor brothers to sell Joseph to Potiphar who made Him a slave, and then He used two fellow prisoners, to get Joseph to the King, in order to fulfill his destiny....Joseph said, what was meant for evil against me, God intended for good....
The King who ordered Daniel to be thrown in the lion’s den, became a believer when he saw that Daniel using the lions as pillows to sleep on, and when he was spared, he was promoted to a high position in the kingdom...and the Pharaoh became a believer in the Lord Jehovah! He said Daniel’s God is my God.
It was their moms, in each case that nurtured in them, a reverence for God and faithfulness to God. It was their moms who exampled it in front of them, 7 days a week....in the good times and the bad times.
When God intends to bless you, You’re going to get blessed! Not only did Moses’ mom save him, but she got paid to nurse and care for her own son, right under the nose of Pharaoh! Because of this Godly woman of faith, the sentence of *death that Moses was born under, was turned into a sentence of life and blessing instead. In the murder’s own house, she was able to give Godly training to her son. Moses became the adopted grandson of Pharaoh himself!! NOW THAT’S MY GOD! And a mom was at the center of it all! Nothing is ever really lost, until even a mother can’t find it!!!
Listen to what God said to Jeremiah.....Jeremiah 31:28 “I the Lord, will now watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD. 29“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’
In Jesus name, I break the generational curse off of your family. I break the cycle of death that has been on your linage. You are beginning a new stream, and it stops right here, right now, with you... No more, no more, no further shall it go. It is broken and can go no further!
Mothers never know what the outcome of their love and care is going to be. But God has called each and every Mom to oversee the giftings and callings of each child so they can grow up to be profitable to God’skingdom and live a life of service to Him.
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”......folks send their dogs to training school to learn appropriate behavior....I’m wondering if we should have those same schools required for this entire population, that needs to knowwhat appropriate behavior actually is.... (But then, I’m just ranting) There is a Moses of purpose and destiny in every child that is born to every mother. (speaking of training) People tell me that they don’t want to force their children to come to church. But if you take them to church, and when they are old enough, they decide to not go anymore, that’s on them, not you, they will answer to God. But if you don’t obey God and don’t take them to church where they can hear the gospel, when they are older and don’t go, it’s on you, and you will give account to God! I tried everything to get out of going to church.... I heard that if you put a copper penny under your tongue and it would give you a fever. I put the penny under my tongue and my mom, just said, we’ll get you to church and get you healed.... (then I felt terrible, that I was faking it with God.....as if He didn’t know already!!)
2 Timothy 1:5 “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that was found first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well”. (Mom’s, you go ahead and be contagious with Godliness).....
Proverbs 29:15 “Applying discipline and correction produces wisdom, but a child that is undisciplined brings shame to his mother”.
I’m sure that Jochabed and Amram, Moses dad, had no idea what Moses was going to do when he grew up. The best thing they had to hope for, was that their little boy would simply be alive. The second bestthing they had to hope for, was that he was going to be like them, a slave. That’s what all the other Hebrew children grew up to be. But we believe that God has made some promises to every mom! Ephesians 3:20 “For He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
Moms, it’s not easy, and most of the time you feel you’re moving upstream against the current, and there is always something happening to derail your plans, But your calling is to raise eagles in a world filled with turkeys. And to believe that God’s plans for them, are greater than all the plans that are against them! Yes, greater is He that is for us than He that is against us!
Jochabed prayed for Moses, even before he was born, and she prayed every day for him. She prayed for him to survive and thrive and be safe – that’s a prayer that all parents can understand. But She also prayed for him to be free....How many children grow up and do well in the world but they’re not free! There are many kinds of slavery. Slavery to ignorance. Slavery to materialism. Slavery to addiction. Slavery to low expectations. Slavery of not believing change can happen. There’s also slavery to wrong ideas. Slavery is the opposite of free.
Faith is one of the greatest gifts we can ever pass on to our children. Maybe we can’t leave them that much money. Maybe we can’t leave them a business worth a couple of million dollars. But will we pass on to our children our faith? Will they know the God who leads people to be all they were meant to be, the God who blesses people, the God who lifts people up and shows them grace and mercy? Will our children know THAT GOD!!! When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He was certainly addressing moms when He said “Loose him and let him go” or “Loose him to be all he can be”
Will they trust God, and walk with God, every day? Will they have, not just the same faith that we have, but will they have even greater faith?
Remember, we’re not just raising kids. We’re raising eagles. Are we praying and believing for our children to rise even higher than we everdid? For they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint!!!
Jochabed’s child overcame the odds. Every circumstance, every algorithm said that he would be a slave like them. But through the faith she had instilled, her child beat all the odds, and grew up to be a deliverer of his people. He grew up to be the instrument of miracles. He showed God’s power, in ways people had never seen before. He grew up to confront Pharaoh, his adoptive grandfather, who was the most powerful ruler in the world at that time. He stood before him and said “Let my people go” And He became the voice of God to his generation.Oh, yes, this mom, nurtured, and groomed an eagle in the midst of turkeys! You mom’s will have to stand as a modern deliverer and against all the odds say “Let my children go”....
TURKEYS SEE THE PROBLEM... EAGLES SEE THE PROMISE!TURKEYS SEE WHAT CAN’T BE DONE.... EAGLES SEE WHAT GOD CAN DO! TURKEYS SEE THE BAD NEWS. EAGLES SEE THAT THE GOOD NEWS IS, THAT THE BAD NEWS IS NOT THE FINAL NEWS!
Being a Mother, is truly one of the greatest ministries any person can have. We don’t give it nearly enough honor and respect. We can never repay all that our moms have done for us. Thank God for mothers who will not settle for less, than children that are filled with hope, rich in love, flowing in the Holy Spirit, walking in the power of God, and leading others in the same. One of the greatest privileges in life is to care for those who have invested so much care into us. Proverbs 31:28-29 “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
Congregational prayer......Let’s gather around our moms today and bless them as we pray God’s power and presence on their lives and ministry....
