I usually don't do necessarily special message, but I just felt compelled to do a short Mother's Day message, and we'll get into some serious grubbing and fellowshiping.
But 28 years ago today, the woman who I say prayed me into the kingdom, I was there when she took her heavenly flight.
I had actually prayed and asked the Lord
I don't know that I had ever seen anybody die before
and I prayed and asked the Lord
Lord I want to be there
I want to be there when she flies away
when she gets her angel ride
and sure enough
that Sunday
Mother's Day
28 years ago
I got to sit down next to my grandma
and hold her hand and pray with her before
she took her last breath.
And she was the one who could preach.
And the only time she preached was to her grandkids.
And she had a preaching finger.
And it was pretty long, and she had a big hand too.
So if you didn't listen to the preaching finger,
you got the hand upside your head.
She taught us time travel, right?
She said, I'll knock you in the next week, boy.
But my grandma, when she disciplined you, you knew you was in trouble,
but when she loved you, she loved you so hard, it even hurt sometimes.
And then my mom, she passed away four years ago, the woman who taught me how to love.
She was one of the most loving human beings I'd ever met.
And so they had a very special place in my heart and were a huge impact.
And the Bible says some things about this, and it says,
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
That word heritage there means gift.
And all those gifts come from our mothers.
Psalm 128, verse 3 and 4 says,
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your heart
house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord. Fruitful vine. The fruit of the womb. It's a, it's a powerful thing, right?
I don't think we realize the power that mothers have. Mothers are the most powerful humans on the
face of the planet because without them, none of us would be here. I know we take that stuff for
granted, but it's a, it's, it's an incredible, incredible gift. And here's a few, here's a few
quotes on motherhood. I like this one. A mother's love is the fuel that enables a normal human
being to do the impossible. And anyone who's had a loving mother knows that. Some people have
had mothers, they don't know what that's like. Abraham Lincoln said,
all that I am or hope to be I owe to my mother. She died when he was nine years old.
His mother. A fellow by the name of Lance Conrad, he said this, I can imagine no heroism greater than motherhood.
Oh, if they could feel those labor pains before they ever got pregnant, would they do it?
But no heroism.
Mothers are heroes.
I mean, mothers will do things when their babies are in danger that are psychotic.
Right?
We get the whole mother bear thing from that, right?
My mom, I was between my sophomore and junior year high school, I got on this bull.
He was one of the meanest bulls in the western U.S.
In fact, they blackballed him in Arizona because he killed a guy.
His name was Rocket.
And at Mormon days in Kerry, Idaho, guess who I drew?
Rocket.
And here I am.
I'm scared to death, and he bucks me off and commences to pounce on me.
And he would pounce on you, and he would try to pin you to the ground.
He'd kneeled down on top of you.
And two guys had to grab my mother because she was climbing over the fence to come help her baby.
What would she have done?
I don't know.
Miss Mady matter, probably.
but there's a heart of a mother
it's like no other
Amy Schumer said this
sleep at this point is just a concept
something I'm looking forward to investigating
in the future
I remember those nights
where I was
my poor bride was up with those babies
sacrificing herself
the actress Jessica Lane said
the natural state of motherhood
is selflessness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the center of your universe.
You relinquish that position to your children. That's so true. It's so true.
What an incredible example of a servant is a mother. So I'm going to just read to you a prayer.
It was a prayer of praise from a mother. And many of you know the story of Hannah.
there in Samuel chapter 1 where she is just broken because she's barren, she can't have a child.
And in that culture, it was everything to have a child.
And especially to have a son.
Because many of the Jewish women's mindset was that they could be the one that would bear the Savior of the world.
Because they were so looking for this Messiah, this one who would come and rescue us.
And so Hannah is praying in the temple and she's despised by the Elkanah, her husband's other wife.
She gets tormented by her because she is very fruitful.
And she's in the tabernacle and she's broken.
And Eli thinks she's drunk because her lips are moving.
She's not saying anything.
She's praying to the Lord in her heart.
And he starts to chastise her.
And she goes, I'm not drunk.
I'm broken. I'm bearing my soul to the Lord.
And he realized he was wrong. And he says, okay, may it be unto you as you've requested.
And sure enough, she gets pregnant with Samuel. It's interesting.
Hannah's name means gracious.
Samuel means sent from God or asked of God. God granted her.
That request.
And so at the end of this, she makes a vow.
And she goes through with her bow and she does this praise.
We're going to read 11 verses here out of Samuel 1st Samuel chapter 2.
And it says, and Hannah prayed and said,
My heart rejoices in the Lord.
My horn is exalted in the Lord.
I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.
No one is holy like the Lord.
For there is none beside you, nor is there any rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly.
Let no arrogance come out of your mouth,
for the Lord is the God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty men are broken,
and those who stumbled are girded with strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.
The hungry have ceased to hunger.
Even baron has born seven.
The baron has born seven,
and she who has many children has become feeble.
The Lord kills and he makes alive.
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich.
He brings low and lifts up.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap
to set them among princes
and make them inherit the throne of glory
for the pillars of the earth are the lords
and he has set the world upon them
and he will guard the feet of his saints.
But the wicked shall be sited.
silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be
broken in pieces. From heaven he will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Then Elkanah went to his
house at Ramah, but God ministered, but the child, excuse me, ministered to the Lord before Eli
the priest. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Lord, thank you for these powerful
words from a woman who was impacted by your greatness, by the fact that you had control over her womb,
Lord, that you could bring life from her life. And so, Lord, Jesus, I pray that we would realize that
in our own lives, that you called all of us, Lord, that we might speak the life that is in your
word, Lord, and that it would truly transform us and those around us. We thank you for it,
in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. So,
So Hannah's prayer here, it's because it's from her sacrifice.
From her sacrifice, she prayed.
And when she asked the Lord for that baby, she made a vow.
And she vowed that she would give this baby back.
She exalts God for his strength in those first three verses.
Right.
And my heart rejoices in the Lord.
My horn is exalted in the Lord.
I smile at my enemies.
right she was not intimidated anymore this this god had had filled her cup this resembles mary's prayer
her song after uh she accepts the fact that she is going to bear the messiah and uh and so
god gives her strength right i smile at my enemies um my horn is exalted the horn is is that
symbol of power because in that culture if you got hit with a horn
from an ox or a ram it hurt that old saying you mess with the bull you get the
horn that's a real true saying and I know I think I got some guys out here that
actually took a horn or two hurts don't it it's one of them hurts don't it I
remember getting hit several times with horns and it is it's either a hurts
don't it or lights out one of the two for me a couple of
times it was lights out but but she she exalts God and she her sacrifice is the thing that seems
to give her strength we recoil from sacrifice no that's going to cost too much that hurts too
bad I'm not going to give this but she does and she's she's strengthened by it so her promise to
the Lord was listen I'll you give me this baby and as soon as he's waned I'll give him
back to you. Actually, she said, I will lend him to you for all of his days. And so as she does this,
she could have went into a corner and cried and may have, we don't know, but she starts singing this
song of praise to the Lord. She surrendered her child literally. Now, in that culture,
a little different than today, they would wean a child anywhere between three and seven years old.
And notice she didn't go to, if you read chapter one, she didn't go to church.
She didn't do nothing.
She poured her life into this little boy for those three to seven years.
And then when she brought him to the temple, she left him there.
How hard would that be?
I know I got some little ones within that age range.
And I'm thinking, I don't know if I could do that.
That's a huge sacrifice.
But that was her vow.
That was her vow.
You realize what Ecclesiastity says about vows in chapter 5 verses 4 and 5.
It says, when you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it.
For he has no pleasure in fools.
Pay what you have vowed.
Better to not bow than to vow and not pay.
You made vows to God, made promises.
I try not to make too many promises to God because I always break them.
Don't you?
But it's better to not vow at all than to vow and not pay.
And she had made that vow in 1st Samuel 11.
It says, when she made a vow, then she made a vow and said,
O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on my affliction for your maidservant
and remember me and not forget your maidservant,
but will give your maidservant a male child,
then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his.
life and no razor shall come upon his head. Not just what she going to give him to the Lord,
but she wanted a holy child. And many believe that he was, it was, that Samuel was a Nazarite
being the last judge and, and that he was a holy man. So basically she's saying this boy, this man
is yours. And she proved it, right? We say that a lot. Oh, I've given my kids to the Lord. Oh,
really? How many times we rescue our kids when they shouldn't be rescued? Right? Hebrews tells us that
Jesus learned obedience by the things that he suffered and our children are no different. They're going to
go through hard things. Don't rescue them. Help them through those things, but don't rescue them.
Let God be their keeper and their hope. This reminds me the story of John Newton. Have anybody ever heard
of John Newton, the guy that wrote Amazing Grace.
Incredible story.
And the story of John Newton, his mom died when he was six.
And before she died, she prayed that John would become a minister.
Well, he became anything but.
And that just goes to show you.
We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.
That's the important thing to remember.
Know that God holds tomorrow.
So over the next 33 years, it looked as though her prayer was nothing more than a pathetic plea
that made a mockery of her faith and trust in God.
John followed his father to see and eventually became a worker of a slave trade,
and his heart was cold and hard in his life profane.
I think it was Newton himself said that he littered the Atlantic Ocean,
the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean with the bodies of slaves.
That's how brutal this guy was.
He spiraled downward out of control until like the prodigal son,
he was hungry and destitute.
He became the servant of a slave trader who brutally abused him
and made him the slave of his mistress on one of the plantation islands in Sierra Leone, Africa.
He finally escaped and was rescued by a sea captain who had known his father
and John again returned to the slave trade.
On the night of March 20th, 1748, a terrific storm came upon his ship while they were at sea as if God's wrath was blowing out of his mouth.
And it continued into the following day.
Newton was summoned to the helm where he had time to reflect.
He realized the wickedness of his sins and felt they were too great and too many to be forgiven.
His journal records records the deliverance from the storm that day as well as his spiritual
deliverance on March 21st, 1748. God saved John Newton. He later wrote, this is a day much to be
remembered by me, and I have never suffered it to pass wholly unnoticed since the year 1748. On that day,
the Lord sent from on high and delivered me out of deep waters. It was another 16 years before the
final prayer of John Newton's mother was answered. In 1764, at the age of 39, John became
a new life began his new life as a minister in the church of england he took it took 33 years
for the answer to come right i'm telling you moms grandmas your prayers are the literal hounds of heaven right
i mean they wouldn't leave me alone i had barb mark bar bite marks all over my butt
until I gave my heart to Jesus.
The hounds of heaven, the prayers of my grandmother's,
not just my grandma Brown, but my grandma Jones as well.
And she didn't pray for us much until she got cancer
and returned to her roots of knowing who Jesus was.
And she opened her Bible every morning and she would pray for me and my cousins.
My grandma Brown, she was laser focused because all she had was one child, my dad, and us four grandkids.
And that's who she spent her time praying for with those five people.
And oh, man, she's got all kinds of preachers.
Her husband was a preacher.
My dad preached in the prisons.
My little brother became a preacher.
And here I am.
I'm stuck.
Not only did she pray, but her mother prayed.
Her mother, my great-grandmother, prayed for us when we were in utero.
We didn't have a chance, right?
Listen, don't give your kids and grandkids a chance.
Right?
Just pray and pray and pray.
I've got a whole new respect for prayer after listening to a guy by the name of Jen
Jim Woolford.
You'll have to look up his testimony.
He's incredible testimony.
Jim, they called him Diamond Jim.
He was a Canadian international airplane pilot
that overdosed on some pharmaceutical drugs
kind of unknowingly and died for 11 hours, was dead.
And he had this vision of heaven.
And he says these three angels approached him.
And he said, one was a warring angel.
One was his guardian angel.
The other one, listen to this.
The other one was the scribe angel.
They keep really good records in heaven, just saying.
Read Revelation 21.
You'll know what I'm talking about.
And so he's walking along and he says all of a sudden in front of them,
there's a horizon, but it's not spherical like ours is.
It's just straight.
But he says there were these six incredible beans of light going up.
into the throne room and he asked the angels he goes what is that and they said well
that's that's the prayers of your family his wife had called five family members
there were six there were six beams of light shooting up into the throne room
and and she had called his wife was a believer she had called five family members
and they were sitting in her living room praying
don't let your light go out right keep that thing going that's why paul says pray without ceasing
it was it was a power thoughtful thought i thought oh my gosh that's incredible pray pray pray
so hannah is is so bold with her with her her her her her her
prayer here where it says verses four and five it says the blows of the mighty men are broken the
and those who stumble are girded with strength those who are full have hired themselves out for bread
and the hungry have ceased to hunger even the baron has born seven and she who has many children
has become feeble she realizes god takes things and turns it on its head what we think is success
may not be success.
This diamond gem.
They called him diamond gym because everything he touched
just turned to gold.
But he says,
he says, I was empty.
I was shallow.
I had no substance to my life.
But she realizes, listen,
the Lord is powerful man.
He can knock the bow out of the hands of warriors.
He can make those who are fruitful feeble.
He can make those who are rich,
hungry. What are you rich in? Something we have to answer. The older I get, the more apparent
it is, is riches aren't my bank account. That thing's all over the place. You usually has
zero on the very first number. But to be rich in faith. And she had this faith. And she had this
this incredible faith and we we look at Samuel's life being a product of his mother
Hannah he resembles the New Testament version of Timothy where it's Paul speaks of
Timothy's mother and grandmother in 2nd Timothy 1 5 he says when I call to remember it's the genuine
faith that is in you which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother
Eunice and I am persuaded is in you also.
When you look back in your life, who do you have that you kind of make the connection?
Oh, them reading their Bible influenced me.
Their prayer life, when they prayed, it was overwhelming when they prayed.
And so Hannah has this incredible faith.
She has an incredible prayer life.
The powerful God does what he wants to do.
And she realizes that.
Verse 6, the Lord kills and he makes alive.
Here she's quoting Deuteronomy, chapter 32.
She knew God's word.
The Lord kills and he makes alive.
He brings down to the grave and he brings up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich.
He brings low and lifts up.
He raises the poor from the dust.
He lifts the beggar from the ash heap.
He set them among them the princes and make them inherit the throne.
of glory for the pillars of the earth are the lords and he has set the world upon them recognizing
God's creative power all of that God raises up one and takes down another man do you want to be
successful walk with God because if he wants you to be successful you're going to be successful
If God wants you to scramble your whole life and scrape, just keep walking with him.
He'll see you through it.
Because you see both, right?
When you look at humanity, you see both.
I see people that struggle their whole life, you know, with health problems and financial problems.
And it's just one trouble after another.
And then they die.
What's that all about?
I bet they sure are glad to get to heaven, right?
Because their labor is over.
The struggle is no more.
And that's promised in the Bible that it's just going to be tough.
This life is just tough.
Last of all, she acknowledges God's protective hand in verse 9,
and he will guard the feet of his saints,
but the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
For by strength no man shall prevail.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces.
From heaven he will thunder against them.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.
God's goddess.
God had her, even though it was hard.
Her life was hard.
She recognized that he had guarded her, the feet of his saints.
And by strength, no man will prevail.
We prevail because God wants us to.
Or not.
Verse 10 is a powerful verse to me.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces from heaven.
He will thunder against him.
Listen, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king.
Many believe this is a messianic reference,
that this is referring to Jesus who would come.
This is before Moses, folks.
Samuel is the last judge.
But Samuel anointed the two kings of Israel,
the first two kings of Israel.
He anointed Saul and he anointed David.
When he anointed David as king of Israel,
he was in a Samuel, the son of Hannah,
was establishing a throne that was going to be a forever throne,
and was going to be occupied by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Right?
She prophesied that.
He will give strength to his king, and he will exalt the horn of his anointed.
This mama produced a spiritual dynamo, right?
This mama, this Hannah.
and she had totally surrendered herself to the Lord.
She resented totally surrendered herself knowing that she could do nothing about it.
And I tell people all the time,
it is amazing how often God puts us in those positions where all we can do is trust him.
She made her request known,
Lord, if it's your will, give me a son, and I'll give him back to you.
I believe Samuel was a great man because he had a magnificent mother.
And I don't think, you say, well, I don't got no kids or grandkids to pray for.
No, but you've got kids to pray for.
There's all kinds of kids to pray for.
I went to a rodeo Bible camp five years ago, and I've been.
been going ever since. Three years ago, I wrote down all the names of those kids at that camp.
There were like 35 names. And I occasionally go through their names. I can pray for them.
Right. I can pray that God gets a hold of them. And because God's not a respecter of persons.
Now, I'm bent towards praying for my grandkids. But God hears the prayers all the same.
Whether it's my grandkids who I'm very affectionate towards or kids that I don't even know that well.
God hears.
So pray.
I think some takeaways.
I said earlier, Hannah's name means gracious.
Samuel names means asked of God.
He was asked of God.
And God used his life mightily.
I don't know that we see there was no more powerful man.
between Moses and I said he was before Moses so he was after Moses excuse me before Moses between
Moses and David there was no more powerful man than Samuel he was he was the dude he
wasn't a priest but he was a prophet because he was from the tribe of Ephraim but he was
powerful because his mother his mother asked for him and he literally came from God so
some takeaways from Hannah's life real quick as we close.
Number one, she vowed and paid.
She vowed and paid.
Don't vow if you're not willing to pay.
Because it might cost you.
It might cost you some of the things you want to do in life.
You never know.
I remember I vowed.
One of the main vows I said to the Lord when I got saved
just, Lord, no matter what I want to serve you.
No matter what, I want to serve you.
And I didn't know what that meant.
I didn't know if he was going to ship me off to Africa.
I didn't know what if I was going to go into the slums of one of the inner cities in America.
I didn't know.
I was going to go out into the brush and be a cowboy preacher.
I didn't know.
But I said, no matter what, I want to serve you.
Even if I fall, because I had read that scripture in Proverbs, right?
the righteous fall seven times and get back up again, because I knew I was going to fall.
But make some kind of a commitment, because Jesus said, you can't be mine unless you give it all, right?
So she vowed and she paid.
Secondly, she was willing to sacrifice.
The very thing that was the most precious to her, she gave to God.
What have you given?
I know a lot of times I'm kind of like the farmer that had the twin calves, right?
He was so blessed that he had twin calves.
He gave one to the Lord.
And he came in one evening and his wife said he was downtrodden and his wife said,
what's the matter?
And he goes, the Lord's calf's sick.
But he didn't designate which one he had given to the Lord.
right just the sick one oh that must be the lords that's how some people sacrifice that's how some
people give no give your very best the firstborn was his she recognized that she was willing to
sacrifice thirdly she worships she worships god for who his greatness have you have you come to know
how big your god is he's so big we
our little pea finite brains can't get wrapped around it.
It's almost frustrating to try to.
I was listening to an interview.
Great interview by a guy named Sasses.
He's last name as a senator, Diane, of pancreatic cancer.
And a strong believer in the Lord Jesus.
And they were asking him about his cancer and his diagnosis.
It's terminal.
You're not going to live.
He's, I think, 53.
And he's been trying these different drugs.
And he finally said, he said,
so the interviewer says,
you believe God has a plan in all this?
He said, well, absolutely.
He says, you realize there are no maverick molecules in the universe.
Do you get it?
No maverick molecules in the universe.
In other words, God's in control of every molecule.
every single molecule.
So God's not surprised.
She worshipped God.
And lastly, fourthly, she prayed.
Hannah prayed.
She knew where her bread was buttered.
She prayed.
What an incredible, incredible life.
Several messages on Hannah's life.
she's called the magnificent mother.
Prayed for a child,
vowed to give that child back to God,
sacrifice that child back to God.
I think that we would do well
to follow her lead.
Remember,
Paul said pray without ceasing.
Right?
Living life
that is so bright, people can't help but see who it is that you worship.
Pray with me, would you?
Father, we thank you.
Thank you for faithfulness, Lord.
You've given us mothers as an example of faithfulness.
I've never seen anything like it.
And so I aspire to be that kind of a faithfulness.
servant. And I pray that we as your people, Lord, would be yielded. Lord, whatever you call us to do
in these last days, Lord, as crazy as life gets, pray that you would have your way with us.
That we would be people who are willing to make a vow, whether it be to you or in marriage
or to the children you give us for a lifetime. Lord, help us to make those vows, realizing that
we can't make a vow without there being a sacrifice.
sacrifice, Lord, that realizing that nothing goes unnoticed, as you encourage us to not grow weary
in doing well, Lord, that we would worship you because we know that there's nothing we can give
that you can't replace a hundredfold. And Lord, give us a passion, a passion for your word and
prayer to seek your face, that you would direct our steps.
Surely we plan out our way, but you direct our steps.
May we give you that freedom in our lives.
We pray it in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus.
Amen.
Let's all stand, shall we?
Hey, if you, you're here today and you're just thinking, you know what?
I need to get right with God.
I've just been kind of on the fringes.
I've been just kind of going through the motions.
There's a prayer tent right back here.
It's the blue top prayer tent.
Go and have them pray with you.
Get right with the Lord.
It's a simple prayer, a simple prayer of faith.
And also, we're going to eat now after we pray.
And the moms and the ladies all get to go first, guys.
Okay?
I know you're hungry, but the moms and the ladies all get to go first.
And so ladies, you are dismissed to go eat.
I'm going to pray over the food as you go.
And then guys, we can sit and let our bellies grumble a little bit.
Lord, thank you for these guys.
Pray that you bless them.
Lord, bless this food and this fellowship, Lord,
as we celebrate our moms this day.
And we just praise you.
Thank you for that incredible gift, Lord, that we so often take for granted.
Bless them, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus.
Amen. And then I'm going to do a song that I almost do every Mother's Day so you guys can sit and listen.
Then she took him up and held her to her breast.
And he sure was glad to get what Mama offered.
Then he went to sleep and put his fears to rest.
It didn't seem to matter what he needed.
He could always count on Mama to supply.
And regardless of the sleep she might be losing,
He always found a twinkle in her eye.
There ought to be a hall of fame for me.
Mama's creation's most unique and precious pearl.
Heaven help us always to remember
that the hand of rocks the cradle rules Lord.
She taught him all the attributes.
tributes of greatness that she knew we couldn't learn away from home by the time
she wore the cover off her Bible her hair was gray and her little man was gone
There ought to be a Hall of Fame for Mama's
creation's most unique and precious pearl.
And heaven help us always to remember
that the hand that rocks the cradle rules of world.
Heaven help us always to remember that the hand the rocks are crows a cranes o'erose o'er.
Thank you.
Probably that was awesome.