Sermon Tone Analysis

TEXT: Proverbs 31:10

TOPIC: God’s Special Women

Bobby Earls, (Marie Franklin Funeral, 12/10/98)

I believe Marie Franklin was one of God’s special women.

The author of the book of Proverbs asks Who can find a virtuous woman?

for her price is far above rubies.

Throughout history God has always had a select few.

Men and women whose lives were lived so exemplary that they became models for others.

As I thought about Marie and the special women of God, I naturally thought of those whose lives are captured for us in the pages of the Scriptures .

We had a good start with Eve, the first woman, the mother of all living.

She was after all, the only perfect woman.

But that didn’t last long.

By the way, as I talk about God’s special women this afternoon, and include Marie as one of them, I fully understand there are no perfect women, or men, or people.

The Bible says, all have sinned, and that there is none righteous, no not one.

So you understand today as well as I that Marie was not perfect, but she was one of God’s select.

Sarai, who as Abraham’s wife became known as Sarah, mother of many nations, had to have been one of God’s special women.

Her husband, in an effort to save his own neck, on several occasions, denied that beautiful Sarah was his wife.

He also dragged her away from her family forcing her to live in tents much of their marriage in desert wanderings looking for some “pie-in-the-sky” fulfillment called the Promised Land.

Deborah was a Godly woman.

We often forget Deborah who was one of he Judges of the people of Israel.

We shouldn’t.

This strong woman was a leader spiritually, politically, and militarily.

Then there was sweet Hannah.

Hannah was a special woman of God because she knew how and where to get a hold of God.

We remember Hannah best praying at the feet of the High Priest Eli at the Temple.

She was pleading with God for a son.

A son she would name Samuel.

A son who would become the first Prophet, Priest and King figure of the O.T.

In the N.T. we begin with two very special women of God.

Mary, the earthly mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and Elizabeth, her cousin and mother of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist.

The Bible says Mary was highly favored of the Lord, and blessed among women.

And what about the special women who remained faithfully at the foot of the cross while all but one of the Lord’s disciples had run away.

Women like Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome.

I thought of Dorcas from the Book of Acts.

This woman of God was such a popular woman that we’re told that many mourned her death.

She had a reputation for being a generous, caring and giving woman.

Finally we have the reputations of Lois and Eunice, the godly grandmother and mother of Timothy.

Their faith so impacted the Apostle Paul that he writes about them to remind Timothy to hold to his faith first deposited to him through the godly examples of his mother and grandmother.

2 Timothy 1:3-7, 3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day,4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy,5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

As I said earlier, Marie Franklin was indeed one of God’s special women.

Her type is quickly diminishing.

Like Deborah, Marie had a strength of character and personality was not lost in old age or illness.

Hers was a generation that knew and lived the basic values that many are neglecting today.

She was a faithful and honorable wife.

Like Sarah, she was devoted to her husband Garvine Franklin for close to 60 years of wonderful marriage.

Therefore, she had a husband who safely trusts in her.

Like Hannah, or Eunice, she was a loving mother who understood the value of prayer and church attendance.

She raised her children in the nuture and admonition of the Lord.

Therefore, her children rise up and call her blessed.

And like Lois, Marie was a godly grandmother and great grandmother who set the course for her siblings to follow.

This is my challenge for her family:

1. REMEMBER THE FAITH OF THIS SPECIAL WOMAN OF GOD

2. EXAMINE YOUR OWN FAITH.

Is it a genuine faith that walks the talk?

Let a man examine himself to see if he be in the faith.

3. STIR UP YOUR GIFT OF FAITH.