Mothers Day, Sunday May 10, 2009
Lion of Judah Worship Center
Five Mothers and the Sons whose Lives Impacted.

Today is the day set aside for recognition of the service of mothers to humanity. If a child does well in life; his/her mother is lauded. If on the other hand he/she is a renegade, disobedient to parents, disrespectful to authorities etc, guess who gets the blame. You guessed correct, his/her mother.

Today we are looking at the lives of five women who are in the annals of history,not because they ruled empires, but because of the sons they molded.

The first is Sarah(Sarai) Gen. 11:29, 17:9, 18:15; Heb. 11:11; 1 Peter 3:5-6
Sarah's son is Issac(Laughter); the son of promise. They waited almost twenty-five years for his birth.

Hannah's persistence at the throne of grace resulted in the birth of Samuel. He was the first prophet of Israel, and the last Judge. He anointed both Saul and David as kings over the nation; started a school for the prophets when the people rejected his rule over them as judge. I Samuel 1:1-2:10, read her psalm aloud!

Bathsheba: II Samuel 11:3, 12:20; I Kings 1:11-31, When she discovered she was going to have a child her world started reeling as a tilt-a-whirl at the circus. They thought everything was neatly covered, but God...

Hatshepsut: daughter of Thutmose I Pharoah of Egypt: found a Hebrew baby floating among the reeds, she rescued him and raised him to rule the nation.

Mary: The mother of Jesus, a fifteen year old girl who had to tell her parents she was carrying a child, but it was the Holy Ghost who had impregnated her. Use your imagination to guess how that went over.

What do we learn from these women? From Sarah we learn perseverance in Faith; Sarah and Rahab are the only two women in the Faith hall of Fame. When god speaks and you know it's God and not the anchovy pizza, you can take it to the bank, if you trust and doubt not in your heart.

From Hannah we learn perseverance in prayer, she did not pray, "Lord if it be thy will" she did not call all the Rabbis, the prayer council, the Sanhedrin etc. She poured out her heart before God with such intensity Eli though she was drunk, but God!!!

Bathsheba: We can rise above our pasts, and be God's women/men of power, faith, and dedication. Bathsheba's transgression with the king could have had devastating effects, it warranted stoning, if the truth was discovered. Can you imagine the fear, of course you can! We all have those moments in our lives when we believe it's over for us spiritually, but God!! The first nine chapters of Proverbs were the ones David and Bathsheba taught little Solomon. She is the author of Proverbs 31. King Lemuel was a pet name for Solomon.

Hatshepsut: the daughter of a king, not just any king, but the Pharoah of Egypt, but her mother was a concubine, and the Pharoah had to be the son of the main wife. Her dad educated her, and married her to her inept brother whom she poisoned after two years. When she found the Hebrew baby, she saw an opportunity not to let history repeat itself completely because she as the main wife bore a daughter. A designing woman used by God to insure that young Moses survived. Who is going to question the daughter of Pharoah, if she wants to raise a Hebrew child, daddy is going t find a way for it to happen for her. She is the only woman in the valley of the Kings . She ruled for two years when Moses fled the country, waiting for his return.

Mary: Submitted to the will of God for her life without reservation; even though she did not fully understand everything she was there, when the crowd got rowdy, and He was not taking time to eat, sleep etc. she took her other sons and went to rescue Him, when he went to the cross, she stood close by, and when the Holy Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost she was there. Finally understanding what God had accomplished through her, in her and for humanity.

We don't always understand all the nuances of god's working in our lives; but like these women we can transcend above our weaknesses, our failures and our fears to walk triumphantly in the redemption of Jesus for us. God has raised us up for this season, for this time. Men find your places in the lives of Elkanah, Abraham, Joseph, Thutmose I and David , a man after God's own heart.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Rev.E.C. Dowdy pastor
Lion of Judah Worship Center