Untitled Sermon (8)

Mother’s Day 2020

Out of the French Revolution came a story of a mother who wandered through the woods for three days with her two children, trying to survive on roots and leaves. On the third day, she heard some soldiers approaching and quickly hid herself and the children behind some bushes. The sergeant in charge noticed the movement, so he prodded the bushes to see what was stirring behind them. When he saw the starving woman and children, he had compassion on them, and immediately gave them a loaf of brown bread. The mother took the bread eagerly, broke it into two pieces and gave one piece to each of the two children. The sergeant noted, "She has kept none for herself." A soldier asked, "Is it because she is not hungry?" "No," the sergeant answered. "It is because she is a mother."

HANNA, THE PROFILE OF A GODLY WOMAN.

The highest calling that a woman will ever know is that of motherhood.

Hanna, her name describes her beauty, it means grace she is the picture of motherhood.

· Hanna was a woman who went against the status quo, she wasn’t concerned with what others thought of her, she would never contemplate abortion as a form of birth control, she never would have put a career before her children. All she ever wanted is to be a mother.

· There are wicked mothers; that would be those who sell their children into sin such as prostitution; there are mothers that abandon their children, mothers that even murder their children.

· This story doesn’t fit with 2015 in America. It doesn’t fit with millions of mothers killing their unborn children through abortion, it doesn’t fit with millions of divorces every year abandoning their children, and

· It doesn’t fit with millions of fatherless homes in America. It doesn’t fit with ¼ of all babies in America living with no home and no stability in their lives. It surely doesn’t fit with the millions of abused children living with abusive parents, verbally and physically.

All though it seems that the standard of motherhood has changed God’s view of the mother’s responsibility and role has not changed.

One of the greatest gifts that a woman can receive is that of being a mother. God chose a woman to be a mother to His only Son. He didn’t need to, He could have chosen other means to introduce His Son, and he could have just appeared like an angel. However God chose to us Mary to be His mother.

Hanna longed to be a mother and the Word of God gives us the account Hanna, the picture of what a Godly mother should be.

· She became a mother by grace

In fist Samuel she appears as a childless woman, then she becomes a mother to one of the greatest men who ever walked, Samuel and as we see the story unfold of Hannah and Samuel you see the profile of a Godly mother.

As the book opens it’s the period of the judges there is no King in Israel yet. It is a time when Israel is venerable to the philistines, it is a time when their religion has grown cold and what their nation needs is a great leader. With the death of Sampson the county was leaderless, it was divided, the priesthood was corrupt, and it was a time of great moral decay.

And here is the worse part

1 Samuel 3:1 (ESV)

1. …And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

· At this time God had removed his words from the people.

· What was needed was a great man, and God needed a great woman to deliver him to the world, lead and shape him into a great man.

So Samuel was a great work of God and he was the product of a Godly mother. She gave a gift that is the greatest gift a mother could ever give…a Godly child.

1 Samuel 1:1–20 (ESV)

1 There was a certain man of Ram-ath-aim, zo-phim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was El-kanah the son of Jero-ham, son of Eli hu, son of To hu, son of Zuph, an Ephra thite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

· Two wives Peninnah and Hanna, Hanna meaning grace. And we need to observe three things about Hanna.

1. The Right Husband Relationship

2. The Right Heavenly Relationship

3. The Right Home Relationship

1. The Right Husband Relationship- this is the most important relationship in a family.

· This was not a perfect relationship, El Kanah was a polygamist.

· You know she did not like that fact.

· His other wife had children by El Kanah and she did not.

· This was not part of God’s design for the family and it never has been.

One thing that was healthy in the relationship was their worship.

3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phi-ne-has, were priests of the LORD.

· She had a Godly husband with a relationship with God.

· The relationship between two parents should be surrounded by the right relationship with God

· Parents should be raising their children in church.

They shared the right relationship secondly they shared love:

4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb.

· Hanna was the one he loved; Peninnah was only there to bear children.

· He loved her

6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.

8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” 9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.

· Elkanah knew that this was hard on Hannah, he loved her.

· They had a Godly relationship.

2. SHE HAD THE RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

· She has a deep passion for the Lord

· She desperately wanted a child, not for herself but to give that child to God.

· She wanted to honor God.

· She wasn’t a mother who would be inconvenienced by a child, one who thinks a child is a burden.

10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.

3.SHE WAS A WOMAN OF PROMISE AND COMMITMENT.

11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

· “no razor shall touch his head” this is a Nazarene vole: this was a promise of consecration to the Lord

THE PROMISE

Numbers 6:3–6 (ESV)

3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. 5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. 6 “All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.

4. SHE WAS A WOMAN OF PRAYER : Hannah was in constant prayer, believing that God was hearing and He would answer.

12 As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.”

5.HANNAHN IS A WOMAN OF PURITY

15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”

17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.”

6. SHE WAS A WOMAN OF PATIENT FAITH.

18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. 19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the LORD.”

· Passion, Prayer, Promise, purity , patient

7. SHE WAS A WOMAN OF PRAISE

1 Samuel 2:1–2 (ESV)

1 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

Let Hannah be an example of a Godly woman in your life.

How does this apply to you?

· Are you a Godly mother?

· Are you preparing to be a Godly mother?

· Men are you building your children to seek Godly wives?

· If your mother is not Godly are you praying for her?