By Faith

Good morning to you all and welcome to CCC.

I also want to thank each of you for your prayers and support. Last night was graduation at NEVC, a night that I didn’t know if it would come and when it was here didn’t know if it would go off without problems or issues

God is so good and last night was beautiful. A wonderful celebration of those seniors and their families.

It was also the last major hurdle between me and the finish line at NEVC. The kids get out of school this coming Thursday and I am done the next day.

Today is a very special day.

To our Mother’s out there Happy Mother’s Day.

To the young ladies who are yet to be mother’s....Happy Mother’s Day.

To those who can’t have or have lost children Happy Mother’s Day

This day just as with any holiday or time of celebration also has those who can’t celebrate. We remember you in our prayers this morning.

I pray that God has something for each of you here this morning, especially our Mothers

Lets Pray

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When I thought about what God wanted me to bring to you this morning I was unsure. I love my mommy and I am sure most all of you do as well. I love and respect my beautiful bride so much. I love and respect all of you as well so I want to bring something that is of worth.

I scoured Mother’s Day topics. I did research on the internet. I prayed. I really wrestled with what to bring this morning

Then God reminded me that His Word never returns void so I started to dig into God’s Word

The Bible has so many wonderful examples for mothers. What to do, what not to do, who to lean on, who to trust, how to make decisions, how to raise children....the list is limitless

As I read these things I thought my mom and my grandmas.

My mom’s mom was a devoted farmer’s wife who loved her family and LOVED Jesus. She was a true prayer warrior and part of why I am standing here today was Grandma Betty and her prayers.

As I thought about that a scripture came to mind that I felt was what God wanted me to focus on this morning.

Proverbs 22:6

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“Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

As I read that scripture my own life came to mind. I was raised right, in the church. I have said this before and will say it again I had a drug problem growing up....every time the church doors were open my mom grabbed me by the ear and drug me there.

I was saved at the age of 9 and was able to grow and develop surrounded by God’s Word and His people.

That was a blessing. Many here this morning can relate to that.

There are also those here who can’t. You might be the first person in your family to walk into a church. Praise God for that.

Here is one of the things I love about God. He truly is a chain breaker. He destroys strongholds in your life. He brings beauty from ashes.

No matter where you start the finish is the same. Cool Stuff

It doesn’t matter your background....what matters is your now and future

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Parents, Mothers, we have a God given responsibility to train up children.

Foundation is important.

Your foundation and my foundation must be Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him

When your foundation is Christ nothing else matters because you have found the Rock of Salvation and if you build upon and through Jesus you are secure!

One reason we are passionate about teaching the Word of God, especially to kids is this truth. It is so important to train children in the Word.

With Proverbs 22:6 on my mind I thought about an example of this in God’s Word and God led me to Jochebed, Moses’ mother

Moses was born Israelite when Isreal was in captivity in Egypt

Exodus 1:15-16

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“And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.”

This is the time Moses was born into.

A time when all Hebrew male babies were to be killed right after they were born

Sound familiar? There are extreme abortion bills being debated at the state and even federal level that would allow, encourage, even make it law to kill babies after birth. Murder

I Corinthians 10:13

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“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

No new temptation

The devil doesn’t change his tactics......he just counts on us forgetting his tactics and he counts on us believing his lies

You are all alone

No one else suffers with this

They will disown you if they find out

The world has never been this bad.....God must not be in control

Nope. All lies. No new temptation. No new tactics, repackaged maybe but nothing new

Back to this morning

Hebrew midwives were supposed to kill all Hebrew male babies upon birth. These midwives and Moses’ mother ignored the king’s orders

Acts 5:29

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“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

There are times when we, as true Christians, must put God before man and man’s law.

God calls us to be good citizens and obey government because God sets up kings and queens. God places people in positions of power, however those people are human and power can and usually does corrupt

That means that if man’s law goes against God’s law as a Christian you must follow God’s law regardless of the consequences for breaking man’s law.

God’s law always trumps man’s law

God’s expectations always trumps man’s expectations

God’s way always trumps man’s way

Moms

Dada

Grandmas

Grandpas

Sunday School teachers

Aunts

Uncles

Children’s church leaders

School teachers

Coaches

bankers

Wal-mart workers

city workers

all of us must stand upon and teach God’s Law!

Jesus also gave us an example of this

Matthew 12:11-12

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“And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.”

Jesus healed a man on sabbath day and the Pharisees lost their minds

He broke on of the religious laws

He put life ahead of man’s law

I mention all that to say this by faith Jochebed hid Moses for 3 months.

She trusted God

She disobeyed pharaoh to do God’s will

You know the rest of the story, she puts Moses in a basket, really a small homemade boat, and sent Moses’ sister to watch and sends him towards pharaoh’s daughter

Pharaoh’s daughter finds Moses and takes him.

Now if I am honest I never really thought about the next part of the story, especially in regards to Train up a child in the way he should go.

I always thought of it as God’s blessing

God’s provision but never as a chance to train up a child

Moses’ sister says I know someone who can care for the child and pharaoh’s daughter says take the child and bring him back.

There was no formula in this day. Babies had to be fed by their mothers or another mother.

Again puts a big hole in gender confusion and all that nonsense happening around us.

Pharaoh’s daughter had no breast milk to feed the baby so she had to send him to be cared for until he was weaned.

God provided Moses’ mother to do that and to train him in the way he should go

Here is why I never really connected this in this time children were weaned anywhere between 18 months and 9 years old.

Now we don’t know exactly how old Moses was when he was returned to Pharaoh but it is safe to say that Jochebed had significant time with Moses

Why does all this matter?

1st Jochebed had to be grounded in her faith and relationship with God

She choose to honor God and defy pharaoh an act that could have gotten her killed

Today it is so important that Christians are grounded in their faith

Grounded in the Word of God

Grounded in their relationship with Christ Jesus

So important that you seek Christ daily

So important that our relationship with Jesus is our top priority

Many take that statement to mean that claiming to be a Christian is enough

Not true

Jesus says

He is the way

He is the truth

He is the life

No one comes to the Father except through Him

Pastor Josh God loves me so I don’t have to live and walk in His ways

John 14:15

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“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Mothers it is so important you love Jesus

You must keep His commandments if you love Him

You will teach your kids and grandkids and anyone around you so much if you will just love Jesus

Keep his commandments

Your walk matters

In Proverbs 22:6 train comes from a Hebrew word that means to train, dedicate, inaugurate

This is more than telling them a Bible story at bed time

More than saying prayers at meal and bed time

Those are great and should be done but train is more than those things

This is like the difference between a professional and amateur

Great professionals no matter what they are professional at are always training

always honing their craft

always preparing

always doing whatever makes them better at what they do

They are very intentional with their time and efforts

Train up a child

You need to be intentional with your time and efforts

You need to be reading the Bible together but train goes past that you need to be studying the Bible together

Memorizing scripture together

Talking about and evaluating how to apply God’s Word together

Pray together

Testify together

Train them

prepare them

teach them

satan does this by the way

social media

tic tok

music

movies

tv

school hallways

clothing stores

play grounds

concerts

ball fields

the lake

you name it he is there training kids in how to die and go to hell

satan trains them in his way are you training them in God’s way?

We have to assume Jochebed did that because I want to look at the rest of Moses’ story

Turn to

Hebrews 11:24-29

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“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.”

By faith......that means Moses had faith......where did Moses get this faith.....he had to be trained as a child....pharaoh and his daughter didnt do it…they couldn’t they were lost

Jochebed trained Moses

Look at the generations that were impacted because of her faith

The faith of a mother passed on to her son

Now Moses had to develop his own faith.....I am not saying that you can believe for your kids and that will save them....it wont

But train them up in God’s Word and faith will follow

By Faith

By faith you love Jesus and therefore keep His commandments

The only way to keep them is to know them

Are you meeting Jesus every morning by faith in your secret place?

If not what are you training them to do?

By faith are you choosing sacrifice over acceptance

sacrifice over comfort

God’s way over man’s ways

Moses could have lived like a worldly king

Riches beyond comprehension

power

women

you name it he had it at his fingertips

By faith he walked away choosing affliction with God’s people over than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season

This is a truth you must grasp if you are to train up a child.

So many times you and I get caught up in the pleasures of sin for a season

Sometimes sin seems enjoyable

Most of the time it just gives us a false sense of enjoyment or satisfaction

You run people down on facebook to make yourself feel better......that is the real reason.....your pride is hurt so you run someone else down to feel better about yourself

You share or like a post that you shouldn’t because it celebrates man’s ways, sin instead of God’s ways

Your language is full of curse words or hurtful words

As Christians the Bible tells us to not let any corrupt communication come out of our mouths but words that edify and encourage

You must make the same decision that Moses made if you are to train up a child

You must decide to walk away from the world and satan and walk in Christ

By faith

Mothers I truly pray you live by faith and train up your children

As I said earlier Jesus is a chain breaker

Maybe you haven’t been truly training your children in the way they should go.....give that to Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to start doing that in your life today. It is never too late to stop doing things your way and start doing things God’s way

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