“Thank God for Mothers”

  1. Introduction
  2. It’s a day that stimulates our senses.
    1. Touch - ____________________________
    2. Taste - ____________________________
    3. Smell - ____________________________
    4. Hearing - __________________________
    5. Sight - ____________________________
  3. Mothers Remind Us of Endearing Qualities.
    1. Love
    2. Acceptance
    3. Forgiveness
    4. Discipline
    5. Strength in tenderness and humility.
    6. Sacrifice
    7. Laughter
    8. Time
  4. God’s Examples of A Mother’s Love
    1. Hagar
      Genesis 21:14–21

      14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.

      15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.’ And as she sat there nearby, she [a] began to sob.

      17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

      19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

      20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 

      Footnotes:
      Genesis 21:16 Hebrew; Septuagint the child

    2. Moses’ Mother
      Exodus 2:1–10

      The Birth of Moses

      1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 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. 3 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 put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

      5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6 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.

      7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

      8 “Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, [a] saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

      Footnotes:
      Exodus 2:10 Moses sounds like the Hebrew for draw out.

    3. Hannah
      I Samuel 1:21–28

      Hannah Dedicates Samuel

      21 When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”

      23 “Do what seems best to you,” Elkanah her husband told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his [a] word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

      24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, [b] an ephah [c] of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. 25 When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. 27 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

      Footnotes:
      1 Samuel 1:23 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac your
      1 Samuel 1:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac; Masoretic Text with three bulls
      1 Samuel 1:24 That is, probably about 3/5 bushel (about 22 liters)

  5. Conclusion
    1. It’s a day to honor mothers!
    2. It’s a time to remember mothers!
    3. It’s time to thank God for mothers!