A MOTHER’S DAY MEDITATION
TEXT: 1 Samuel 1:28-28 (vs. 27)
I.INTRODUCTION:
1. A number of years ago we had the privilege of moving to Fairmont WV to preach the gospel.
2. West Virginia is about as beautiful as any place on earth.
3. Some of our fondest memories of that area involved trips that took us down Rt. 250.
4. As you travel through the beautiful bright green hills, you pass through the little town of Grafton WV and then come to a fork in the road where there sets a quaint little church.
5. History records that a primary teacher, there at St Andrews Methodists church named Anna Jarvis had been teaching her deceased mother’s class for some time when on May 12, 1907, Miss Jarvis passed out carnations to her class in honor of her mother.
6. And thus Mother’s day was born.
7. The tole of the mother needs to be exalted to the high position God intended.
DISCUSSION:
I. At a time when radical feminist, Lesbians and others are belittling the role of the mother in society, we should remember men of wisdom have long recognized the importance role.
A. William Rice Wallace: "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."
B. De beaufort: "The future of society is in the hands of the mothers."
C. C. A. Stewart: "Men may build cities and railroads; they span rivers and tunnel mountains. But the mothers of men are the builders of civilization."
D. Henry Ward Beecher: "The mother’s heart is the child’s class room."
E. Lincoln: "All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
F. Anon.: "Mothers write on the hearts of their children what the world’s rough hand cannot erase."
II. How did Samuel get his start as a great man of God?
A. It all started with his mother’s prayers--"FOR THIS CHILD I PRAYED," (I Sam. 1:27).
1. Every child should be a product of prayer.
2. Every child should know the power of hearing his mother pray.
3. More than one child has been brought back to the Lord by the memory of his mother’s prayers.
4. It is unreasonable to expect God to bless our children if we don’t care enough for them to pray daily. (I Thess. 5:17.
B. It is also never too early to teach a child to pray.
1. Brooks child bowing before the meal. Marilyn’s Grandfather was baptized when he was well into his eighties.
C. She dressed him and took him to God while he was young. (2:18-24).
1. Some of my fondest memories center around getting ready for church.
D. She recognized God’s ownership of the child (2:28).
1. Our children are a heritage from the Lord.
III. In the New Testament, consider the young preacher Timothy.
A. He preached for the great Ephesian church (1 Tim. 1:3).
B. Paul looked to him as a source of comfort (2 Tim. 4:9).
C. Where id Timothy get his start?
1. "First in they grandmother Lois, and in thy mother," (2 Tim. 1:5).
IV. Some of our most cherished memories as adults revolve around Mother:
A. One who really cared for our happiness in life.
B. One who really cared for our soul.
C. One who always had time to listen to every heart ace.
D. The most unselfish person we knew.
E. She was a doctor in times of pain and illness.
F. A counselor to the heart broken.
G. The queen of the kitchen.
V. Exalt your mother by your actions not just your words.
A. Apply this principle to each of the following verses.
1 Samuel 1:20
So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."
1 Samuel 1:21
When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow,
1 Samuel 1:22
Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always."
1 Samuel 1:23
"Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her husband told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
1 Samuel 1:24
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.
1 Samuel 1:25
When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli,
1 Samuel 1:26
and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.
1 Samuel 1:27
I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.
1 Samuel 1:28
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.
1 Samuel 2:1
Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
1 Timothy 1:3
As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
2 Timothy 4:9
Do your best to come to me quickly,
2 Timothy 4:10
for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
2 Timothy 4:11
Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.
2 Timothy 4:13
When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
2 Timothy 1:5
I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
Proverbs 1:8
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Proverbs 10:1
The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.
Proverbs 15:20
A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
Proverbs 30:17
"The eye that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.
Proverbs 23:22
Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Proverbs 23:25
May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!
Proverbs 29:15
The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
Proverbs 31:1
The sayings of King Lemuel--an oracle his mother taught him:
Proverbs 30:11
"There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers;
VI. The story of the little girl and the rose.
