/* Notes from yesterday’s Mothers’ Day service */
When you keep the youth in good, nurturing yet strengthening environments and give them a measure of trust, you’re bound to be surprised. With that said I feel one of our backup singers did a good job, first in coming in strong at her assigned role singing the bridge, and surprisingly at the closing exhortation and prayer. Indeed, we declare with her: The Lord provide our Mothers with happiness. May our good Father continue to make them happy!
I set up a message which isn’t necessarily just for Mothers… but for all women.
And while the spotlight is going to be on all the women… I’m going to hold the men responsible today.
You’ll see.
Bear with me here. I already had things in mind to talk about but apparently, by God’s grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we received quite the revelation at our Men’s Fellowship just yesterday. It’ll be the framework for our messages for today and for at least 2 Sundays ahead.
It starts with what I’m calling the Tale Of Three Sisters.
We’re going back to the beginning – to Genesis, that is. We’re following the journey of God’s people before they were even called Israelites, and where it was Abraham who was the main character.
Actually, he wasn’t always Abraham. Let’s start things off in Genesis 12:
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. 12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
14 So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. 15 The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 20 So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had. Genesis 12:10-20
There are a couple of things for us to note here as we move along. First, note verse 17 where it is mentioned, the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. It could have been written that Pharaoh was plagued because an offense was made against Abram – no, He did what He did because of Sarai.
What this is telling me is that our God sees and values our women… And He clearly moves with them in His mind. Women, Mothers, and Mothers-to-be in the body of Christ are protected even from the strongest of men. We as men, husbands and fathers could only go as far – Abram schemed, and he even did it more for his protection than for Sarai – but we see here that the Lord is the One who moves against those who would take advantage of our women.
Also, the Lord could have plagued Abram or Sarai – no, it was not just Pharaoh but his house that was afflicted. Yes, even if he was clueless about Abram and Sarai being married, he was the one who was plagued. This tells me more about God’s protection upon women – it’s the offending male who suffers the consequences.
Let’s jump further down, to Genesis 20.
1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”
6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”Genesis 20:1-7
We’ve jumped chapters later, after God established a covenant with Abram and Sarai so they are now Abraham and Sarah… and we see here that the events of Genesis 12 happened again.
Men, whether it comes to us by plagues or dreams, know that in one way or the other, the Lord will let us know if we’re making the wrong moves against His daughters.
And while we have that in mind, let’s remind ourselves that He protects the women, not only for their sake, but for ours.
Let’s jump even further down, to Genesis 26.
6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” 8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”
10 And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” 11 So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.Genesis 26:6-12
Abraham died somewhere in the previous chapter, and leadership has been passed on to Isaac – and, apparently, so did his strategies to stay alive. And also apparently, the same Abimelech who wanted Sarah now wants Abraham’s son’s wife, Rebekah.
To start things off in this series, I thought it was timely for us to go through the story before the actual story. I thought that we would only be talking about Isaac and Rebekah, but I was reminded that the same cycle happened not just once, but two times before – but through all of it, we do not place emphasis on the mistakes of humanity, but on God’s faithfulness.
Mothers, and women of the body of Christ, daughters of the Most High – you are beautiful. In fact, so beautiful that men of high authority will be the ones to come to you. The Lord is faithful to guarantee this to all who trust in Him.
Through Christ’s finished work we are reminded of how you are so protected, that it is the God – the Lord Himself who comes against anyone who would try to take advantage of you.
It’s not just Mary, but you are all full of grace, and the Lord is with You.
Blessed are you, ladies of the body of Christ – among the women of the world, and blessed is He who is with You always – Jesus.
I declare today that in the name of Jesus, you are projected, and you are protected. Amen.
So I shared this and at least one man walked out immediately after the service, citing that he needed to get things done, but not without letting some of my team know that he might not be coming back – and I suspect it was because of this message.
I feel for the guy, but I just felt I said what I needed to say. Without going into much detail, things were going out of hand and people have started talking despite all of our efforts to protect the dignity of all involved… and I needed to take a stand.
I said what I needed to say. Christ is the Bridegroom and we are the Bride. So I claim that though I would do all I can to protect my house, it is my Savior who protects us, and it is our Savior who projects His everlasting love and grace with such power in and through us.
All for the unity of the Body, for the expansion of the Kingdom, and for the glory of His name.
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