Mother's Day Flour
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
A six-year-old boy, separated from his mother in a supermarket, began to call frantically for “Martha! Martha! Martha!”
That was his mother’s name and she came running to him quickly. “But, honey,” she admonished, “you shouldn’t call me ‘Martha’, I’m ‘Mother’ to you.” “Yes, I know,” he answered, “but this store is full of mothers.”
Our world is full of mothers, but we have only one mother who is special. Should be. Must always be. There is no one like our mothers. And no one can take the place of our mothers.
ILL.- Someone wrote: You’ve Turned Into A Mom When:
- You automatically double-knot everything you tie.
- You find yourself humming the Barney song as you do the dishes.
- You hear a baby cry in the grocery store, and you start to gently sway back and forth, back and forth. However, your children are either at school or long gone!
- You actually start to like the smell of strained carrots mixed with applesauce.
- You spend a half hour searching for your sunglasses only to have your teenager say, "Mom, why don’t you wear the ones you pushed up on your head?"
- You are out for a nice romantic meal with your husband, enjoying some real adult conversation, when suddenly you realize that you’ve reached over and started to cut up his steak!
Things Our Mothers Taught Us
- My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
- My mother taught me about RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
- My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
- My mother taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that’s why."
- My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident."
- My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about."
- My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
- My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
- My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
- My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
- My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"
- My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do."
- My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home"
- My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"
- My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, the wind will change and you will stay like that."
- My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up."
- My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You act just like your father."
- My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"
- My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you’ll understand."
- My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. 17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” 22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
A Woman of God is virtuous.
A Woman of God is virtuous.
In the ancient middle east hospitality was a very big deal. If someone asks for a drink of water, it is rude, even an unspeakable act to refuse the person a drink. It would be shameful for this woman to refuse him a drink of water. She may be broke, she may be at the end of her rope, but she still has her dignity and she can perform this act of hospitality, so she heads for the water jar – but to give away her bread, that is another thing all together. Yet she is trapped by Elijah adding on a second request. Understand this second request is asking for her life commitment, for the request is asking for all she has.
10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
A Woman of God listens to the Word of God.
A Woman of God listens to the Word of God.
1 Kings 17:14 “14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ””
A Woman of God activates her faith.
A Woman of God activates her faith.
1 Kings 17:15 “15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.”
SHe did as she was told. She took a risk, she made a move, faith is action. We must move
A Woman of God learns to Let Go:
A Woman of God learns to Let Go:
18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” 22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
The woman lets go and the blessings come raining down. It is like the loves and fishes. The flour and the oil don’t run out. The handful, the limited inventory, the one thing that was between her and death – she let it go. The one thing. That tiny bit of faith expands, but there is more to it, for amazingly, she really doesn’t believe yet, I mean it is clear that she believes to some degree, but she doesn’t have a convicted belief.
10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, 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.
This WIDOW starts of as a woman who has a tiny sparkle of faith, a faith that is only enough to see her through one more meal and that is pretty much all she has. But you know what, that is enough. It is enough for God to change her world in a split second
Stop waiting for the details. Stop holding on to what you have. Stop holding on to that thing you have been holding on to – and let go.
