She wouldn't take no..for an answer!
Illus. WHAT MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME
My mother taught me RELIGION: When I spilled grape juice on the carpet, she instructed, "You better pray the stain will come out of the carpet."
My mother taught me LOGIC: From her decisive words, "Because I said so, that’s why."
My mother taught me FORESIGHT: she said, when your having a bad day someday...remember I told you there would be days like today
My mother taught me IRONY: "Keep laughing, and I’ll give you something to cry about."
My mother taught me about STAMINA: "You’ll sit there ’til all that spinach is finished."
My mother taught me about WEATHER: "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."
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 a wonderful Mom like you do!"
THANKS, MOM!
The most important thing a mother could ever do..is teach her children about Jesus
The persistent Mother
Matt 15:21-28 NKJ
21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
23 But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
The Pressures on our mothers today...are greater than ever. Its got to be one of the toughest jobs in the world.
And I think all ladies would agree with the statement..
"Once a mother, always a mother!" No matter how old your baby is..
And I know if my mother were still alive..even though I'm 50 yrs old..
I would still be the baby of my family.
No matter what advances take place with technology..there are still a lot of physical demands on all moms...
To be successful
A tidy house keeper
Raise perfect children
Cook like a chef
Always look beautiful
Be Martha Stewart and McGyver all at the same time,
And be able to handle whatever comes up and take care of it...
With a bobby pin, while wearing a smile!
Mothers, you ladies wear a lot of different hats!
Coming up with a salary cap...that compensates all those occupations,
I can only think of one word....Priceless!
The old saying still rings true today...
The hand that rocks the cradle..rules the world.
It has been said that no other force in the life of a child...
is as strong as the influence of a Godly mother.
Proverbs 22:6 NKJ
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
I know that to be true...
Because that's what my mother did!
Even when it wasn't the most popular thing to do...she did!
Even with five kids pleading not to go to church on Sunday nights...we went
Illus. A little boy forgot his lines in a S. S. presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it didn’t help. Her sons’ memory went blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, “I am the light of the world.” The boy’s face lit up and with great feeling and a loud and clear voice he said, “My mother is the light of the world.”
In the every day life today...the pressures are greater
than they have ever been...on all of our moms
The Mother in out text:
she had a daughter who was demon-possessed.
Cancer and sicknesses are hard to deal with..but at least they have names.
I can't even imagine how it would be to deal with your child...
If they were demon possessed...no matter what age they were!
But yet In verse 28 Jesus said “You have great faith.” In four words
He summed up...everything, if we never knew anything else about this women
The MSG says it like this... “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.
While we don't know much about this woman...here's what the bible tells us
She was a Canaanite woman, who came from the country north of Palestine—a country hostile to the Jews—and she had at least one child, and was willing to go the great lengths for this child!
but other than that, that’s all we know about her...We don’t even know her name!
All we know is that in the few minutes, that she spent with Jesus, He said to her, “You have great faith.” Only 4 words, but they were enough to enshrine her as one of the greatest mothers of all time!
And these 4 words tell us everything we need to know, because they were spoken by Jesus. Amen?
JESUS IS AN EXPERT ON FAITH.
The Bible tells us that He searched for it as a gem collector searches for fine jewels, and when He found it He was filled with joy.
He didn’t always find it in His disciples. There wasn't one of them..who heard the words "You have great faith.” In fact it was the opposite
Matthew 8:25-26 NKJ
25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
But yet...He said "you have great faith" to this nameless mother from outside the house of Israel!
What did this woman do to deserve such praise from God?
Let's look at the many things that she possessed...that showed her faith
She knew no fear, According to law, she had no right to be doing what she was doing, but she was doing it anyway!
Here was a mother who in her need was prepared to cross any obstacle to turn to Jesus for help.
What drove her to be so bold?
She was Desperate... She knew what she was doing, wasn't working...and she knew she couldn't waste any more time...pride was not going to stand in her way
She had tried everything she knew to do and everything she tried had failed.
Now she would seek help from Jesus, regardless of the cost.
She possessed a Mothers Love:
Love for her child. Love made her accept Jesus’ silence and yet still appeal to Him; love made her suffer all of the remarks from the disciples.
.
She saw compassion in Jesus...
She believed in His ability and willingness to help.
She saw in Jesus, the salvation to her daughters condition!
She saw hope, like the light at the end of a tunnel...and whatever it took, she was going to make it there!
She was Determined...she refused to leave, until she got what she had came for!
This mother refused to be put off or intimidated. She was not going to take criticism or silence as an answer...she was Persistent, with a Capitol P
She was there for one thing...nothing else mattered
I was talking to my sister this week..and she was telling me about her husband, he had been praying that his father would come to Jesus..for 45 yrs, and at 92 yrs of age, finally he accepted Jesus into his life....45 yrs.
Now that’s persistence! And God is faithful!
Washington Irving: “The love of a mother is never exhausted. It never changes—it never tires—it endures through all; in good repute, in bad repute, in the face of the world’s condemnation, a mother’s love still lives on.”
Even though this mother was so bold..it's interesting to note,
She Made No Claim that she deserved anything...
Or was worthy of anything that day
She relied on the GRACE and Mercy of Jesus and that's exactly what we should do everyday of our lives! Amen!
That's why He went to the cross..so you could do what this woman was doing!
When Jesus told her that it didn’t seem right to take bread from the children of Israel and throw it to the little dogs of the Gentiles,
she didn’t burst into tears and walk away. Instead, she gave Jesus an answer that got the response, she was looking for! Amen?
She said, “”True, Sir. I admit that I have no claim on You, but there must be some extra grace—some grace that I don’t deserve, and I’m appealing to You for that.”
No wonder Jesus replied, “Woman, you have great faith.”
No wonder from that moment her daughter was made whole.
It's no wonder were still talking about her today
Billy Graham once said, “Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask.” Have faith in the God of the dream; let’s ask God to bring the dream to completion. God’s answer is ready; it’s just waiting for our personal and persistent request.
There is nothing to big to ask God for, that He is not able to do
God is not a respect or of persons, He is still looking for men and women today
He can say the same thing He said to, the mother we talked about today
"You have great Faith"
She was willing to ask..
And not give up until she got he answer!
What are you asking God for today?
He's ready to reply and to respond to your need..
if you'll just step out in faith and ask Him!
Matthew 7:7-8 NKJ
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Let's pray
Special Thanks to Bruce Howell
