Great Women and Mothers in Scripture - Part 2

Well, thank you again, Mark. Happy Sabbath, once again, brethren, and a very big thank you to the beautiful flowers in front of the podium. We also have some roses and lovely carnations in front of the piano, and those are for a very special reason that I'll mention near the end of the sermon today. Once again, I wish all of you a happy Sabbath.

In May of 2011, seven years ago now, I gave a sermon that was entitled, Great Women and Mothers in Scripture. And it was well received, but like on our UCG site, it's just buried between so many other excellent and fine sermons. It's one that I thought was, for me anyway, one of the most important sermons that I ever gave. And in it, I discussed the tremendous influence and examples of individuals like Miriam, and Deborah, and J.L., and Hoda the prophetess, Mary, the mother of Jesus, the deaconess, Phoebe, Lydia, the merchantwoman, who was also an entrepreneur, Timothy's mother and grandmother, and the influence that they had on his life. Well, with Mother's Day tomorrow, I'd like to give part two of that sermon. It took me a while, but I eventually do get to it. I'd like to give part two of that sermon. And this is a sermon on other powerful women's discussion scriptures. None of the women that I talked about in part one, I'd like to talk about an entirely different group of women today who have had a tremendous influence on church history, including the Old Covenant Church and the New Covenant Church. So I'd like to discuss these people who never receive enough attention or the appreciation that they deserve. I boldly proclaim that if it had not been for these people that I will discuss today, Israel would never have grown to become a great nation.

If it had not been for these people, the Church of God may not have even had a chance to thrive and grow throughout the ages. That is how significant their input and their influence is. The people I'm talking about today are the women and the mothers of the Bible. There are over 50 remarkable women mentioned in scriptures who left all of us a legacy of faith and of character and a legacy of commitment.

And like all remarkable people mentioned in the Bible, some had sterling character and some had some obvious flaws because they were human like each and every one of us are.

I only have the time today to mention a few, but I hope that you understand that I'm only touching the surface of the great qualities of many, many fine women that are discussed throughout the scriptures.

Tomorrow's Mother's Day, and I believe it is appropriate to consider some prominent examples of women in the scriptures who have had great influence in their families and among God's people and later even in God's Church.

So let's begin to take a look at some of them. We're going to begin with Ruth, if you'll turn to Ruth, Chapter 1, beginning in verse 1.

The book of Ruth itself is one of a group of scrolls called the Megaloth, and these are scrolls that are read for Jewish festivals.

It just so happens that Ruth is usually read on the Day of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks in the Jewish community.

But we're going to take a look at a very remarkable woman here who was not an Israelite. She was a foreigner. She was not of the original covenant, of the covenant people.

Ruth, Chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, says, Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, this was an unstable time, there were no kings in Israel, and you may remember, refrain in the book of Judges, each man did that which is right in his own heart. So it was time almost like the Wild West in some parts of Israel at this time.

And there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem Judea went to dwell in the country of Moab. Again, this was a non-Israelite country, very close to Bethlehem, I should say, very easy to get to. And he and his wife and his two sons, in the name of the man was Halimahlek, in the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mehlan and Chelan, they were Ephraimites of Bethlehem Judah.

And they went to the country of Moab, and they remained there. So because of a famine, there was very little food in Israel, in Bethlehem. They went and migrated to a non-Israelite country for survival. Verse 3, Then Elimahlek and Naomi's husband died, and she was left with her two sons. Now they took wives of the women of Moab. So the two sons, who were of Judean descent from Bethlehem, married foreign women, women from Moab. The name of one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth.

And they dwelt there about ten years. So that was the total length of time that they dwelt here in the land of Moab. So they were probably married to these women a shorter period of length in the ten years. Verse 5, and then both of the sons also died. So the woman survived, this is speaking of Naomi, she survived her two sons and her husband.

She arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread. So now there is easier to find food back in Judah than it is in Moab. So she's thinking of returning home. Therefore, she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-laws with her, and they went on their way to return to the land of Judah. So a quick recap here.

At the beginning of the book, Ruth is living at her home. She's a foreigner in Moab, a place and people that the Israelites considered godless and pagan. On top of that, she had lost her husband. She was a young widow. And she was living with a widowed mother-in-law in poverty. And she also apparently did not have any children. So she's childless, she has no husband. She's living in poverty. And now she's come back to live in a land in which she's probably receiving prejudice.

She returns with her mother-in-law to Judah. And she's probably, you know, getting some ugly looks and maybe some comments about her being a foreigner. So this isn't an easy place for her to live. And in verse 15, we see here, of course, that her mother-in-law gives Ruth and her sister-in-law the option to go back home. And we're going to pick it up here in verse 15. And she said, look, your sister-in-law has gone back to where people into her gods return after your sister-in-law. So she said, why don't you do what your sister-in-law did and go back home to Moab? That would be the easy thing to do.

You'll be among your people. You'll be among your native culture that you grew up in. Your gods are there. Everything that's home to you is there, not here. And Ruth said, in very powerful words, In treat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you, for wherever you go, I will go.

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people. And your God my God, and where you die, I will die. And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death, parts you and me. What a remarkable statement made by someone who is not even a native Israelite. Just as a sidebar that says another interesting note in history. In 1941, Britain was standing against Nazi Germany alone, and their back was against the wall. The United States wouldn't get into the war for years, but they needed to at least get some more materials from the United States in order to survive.

And Franklin Roosevelt sent a personal envoy in 1941 to Britain. His name was Hopkins. And he surveyed the situation. On the night before he was going to go back to the United States, he said to Winston Churchill, You know what I'm going to tell Franklin Roosevelt? I'm going to tell him that the United States needs to help Britain. He said, because, and your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God. He read from these very scriptures to Winston Churchill, and the gruffled Winston Churchill literally cried. Because he knew that Britain had, in a physical sense, a savior to help them during the Second World War.

So this is a very powerful scripture, and it even resonates in war history, even beyond the scriptures here. The emotional pain that Ruth must have been in was immense. But you know what? She didn't allow her past to hold her back. And that is a common refrain that is so important for God's people. Stop living in the past.

Stop looking into the past. Stop trying to hold on to the past. It is not productive. And she got it. She had decided she was not going backward. She was only going to go forward. She showed remarkable faith for a recent believer. She had only known about this God of Israel for probably less than ten years, because that's how long the two sons were there before they died. Yet she readily accepted Judah's culture and Judah's laws.

You see, she had faith that there was still a purpose for her life. She could have focused on the negative. My husband's dead. I've left my home. I live in poverty with this old widow lady. I have no children. She could have given up.

She could have said, there's no future for me. But she had faith that God had a future planned for her. She had faith to believe that God was who He said He was. She had faith to believe that He would somehow provide for her and Naomi. Her bravery and her faith and her obedience is an example to all of us, to all of God's people throughout the generations.

Her obedience resulted in a complete reversal of their life situation. In Moab, she was a widow. She was childless. She was poor. She was dwelling in a pagan culture. In time, because of her faith and her obedience, she became the wife of Boaz, a very prominent, respected community leader, a business owner. She became a mother.

She acquired wealth and comfort. And she was dwelling in a culture that at least recognized Yahweh, the God of Israel. And the lesson here is that God elevates common people, unpretentious people, from mediocre backgrounds, and is God who lifts them up and gives them good and wonderful things. The book of Ruth tells us the story of the faith of Naomi and Ruth.

It shows us that God intervenes in unique family situations. And God intervenes in our unique family situation. Whatever is going on, we need to continually pray about those troubles and problems. We need to do our part and make sure we're setting the right example, that our attitudes are right, that our behavior is exemplary, and then we need to ask God for his intervention.

And we need to be patient, just like Ruth demonstrated patience here.

Ruth was an ancestor of both King David and Jesus Christ. Her life shows that part of the very lineage of Jesus Christ was not Israelite.

Her faith foreshadowed the calling of the Gentiles as a result of preaching the gospel. That's what that represented.

Ruth was saved and blessed by grace, not because of her Israelite heritage. She didn't have Israelite heritage.

Her blessings, her relationship came because of her faith in God, not because of some DNA or some particular lineage that she had.

She was a remarkable example for the Church, throughout history, not just in the Old Testament, but even some great lessons for us to learn today by respecting and admiring her faith and her courage and her example.

Another individual I would like to talk about from the Old Testament before we get into some New Testament individuals is Esther.

She is the heron of the biblical book of Esther, whose Jewish name was Hadassah, which in Hebrew means a myrtle, like a myrtle tree.

And this occurred about 475 BC. If you'll turn to Esther 2 and verse 1, I'll give you a little bit of background.

Glenn talked about good kings and bad kings. Well, at this time, there was a king who ruled Persia, King Asher Hyris, otherwise known as Exerxes. I'll refer to him as Exerxes.

And as you open the story of the book, he's having a celebration with his males and nobles and princes. He's having a festival, and there's a parallel festival going on with the women.

And after he says he's been consuming a lot of wine, he decides he wants to show off his wife to all of the noble men and the princes.

So he requests in her little festival with the women that she come and show off and parade herself in front of his nobles.

Now, some Jewish scholars say that he was requesting her to do this nude. The Scriptures don't particularly say that. It's possible.

But the way I think the best way to look at it is that he looked at Vashti as a trophy wife.

You know, people have trophy wives. That's a term we use commonly in the 21st century. Even some politicians have trophy wives. They are models or women that are considered extremely beautiful. And men marry them so that they can say, look, I've arrived. Look what I have. Look at the trophy that I have over here, this beautiful woman who was a former model or whatever. So that idea goes all the way back to ancient times. It's certainly not new.

And the king had a trophy wife and her name was Vashti. And he requested that she come and parade herself and demonstrate her beauty in front of the princes and nobles. And she said, no. And obviously that didn't go over too well. It was like any autocratic culture that was considered insensitive and disrespectful of the king. So now let's pick it up here, chapter 2 and verse 1. After these things, when the wrath of King Exerxes subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

So again, a little recap. The former queen Vashti had been disrespectful towards the king. He had been publicly humiliated in front of his nobles and princes. So she was fired. And an elaborate beauty, and I assume personality contest, was to be conducted to find a new queen. And these women were to prepare for a whole year in advance. So I don't know how many bubble baths you can take in a year, how many times you can have your nails painted in a year. But they prepared a whole year in advance before they went in front of the king's presence. Verse 7. And Mordecai had brought up Hadacha, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father or mother. And a young woman was lovely and beautiful. And when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So it was when the king's command and decree were heard. And when many young women were gathered at Shushan, the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken into the king's palace, into the care of Hegai, the custodian of all the women.

Now the key here is that Esther, of course, is Jewish. But they're hiding her identity. If they would have known her identity, she would not have been invited to even participate in this process. So they are hiding the fact that she is Jewish. There was a lot of anti-Semitism against the Jews in Persia. Remember, the Jews were a conquered people. Some of the Jews were living as slaves in Persia. So they were looked down upon. There was a lot of prejudice against them. Verse 16, so Esther was taken to the king and to his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tibet, the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight, more than all the virgins. So he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Ashti.

Then the king made a great feast, the feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants, and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of the king. So here, as we see further in the story, Esther is the story of a Jewish orphan girl raised by her uncle Mordecai in Persia. She becomes queen herself when Queen Vashti refused to appear to banquet, hosted by the king.

Esther did not reveal that she's Jewish, but her very life soon, and that of her people, is about to be in grave jeopardy. And this is when the character and the courage of this woman becomes evident to all of us. In time, an influential prime minister named Haman is personally offended by Mordecai. Mordecai refuses to bow to him and give him honor, and that really bothers his prime minister.

He doesn't like Jews anyway, so he decides to create a plot to kill all of the Jews in Persia, including Mordecai, who he is personally having gallows built publicly so he can hang Mordecai in public. So he's not a happy camper, this prime minister. Chapter 3, picking it up in verse 7, in the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus, this is five years, by the way, after Esther had been crowned queen, they cast per, that is, Lot before Haman to determine the day and the month. Now, this is a little cryptic, but what they were doing is they were using pagan lots to try to find the most advantageous time to kill the Jews, according to what the gods told them.

So they cast these lots to see what's the best day for us to kill all the Jews in Persia. That's what this statement's all about. Continuing, until it fell in the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, there is a certain people, obviously the Jews scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from all other peoples, who, of course, only worship one God.

They are the people of the law, the people of the book. Continuing, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. Verse 9, so if it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I, says the Prime Minister, will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work. So the Prime Minister says, this won't cost you a penny, king. I'll pay for it all. For my own money.

Continuing to bring it into the king's treasuries. So the king took the signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hamidatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, the money and the people are given to you. Do with them as seems good to you. That's exactly what the Prime Minister wanted to hear, because now he had the freedom. He had the king's permission to destroy all the Jews. However, there is one way to stop all of this.

There's a way to intervene. But it requires someone of incredible courage to risk their life. To lay down their life for their friends. And whoever does this, there's a pretty good chance that they're going to lose their life. Let's read about how this is possible and how Esther comes into this story beginning chapter 4 and verse 5. Then Esther called Hathrak one of the king's eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her. And she gave him a command concerning Mordecai to learn what and why this was.

She wanted to know what's all this about killing Jews? What's all this about? Mordecai's conflict with the Prime Minister? She's trying to get more information. So, Hathrak went out to Mordecai to the city square. He was in front of the king's gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him. And the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasury used to destroy the Jews. So he also gave him a copy of the written decree for the destruction which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go into the king and make supplication to him and plead before him for the people.

So Hathrak returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai. Then Esther spoke to Hathrak and gave him a command for Mordecai. Here's her message. All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know, she's saying, you know this too, that any man or woman who goes into the inner court of the king and who has not been called, he has but one law put all to death except the one whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live. She says, look, everybody knows this law. You don't go to the king unless you've been summoned.

And if you go to the king and you hadn't been summoned and you presume to take it upon yourself to take the time of the king, the law is that you will die. The only exception is if the king acknowledges your presence and calls you and tells you to come on in and holds out the golden scepter. And she continues, yet I myself have not been called to go into the king these thirty days.

So what does that mean? Well, she doesn't know. There hasn't even been a romantic interlude for thirty days, which is a long time. She doesn't know if the king is angry at her, if the king has grown tired of her and it's time to find a new trophy.

She has no idea what she's going on. All she knows is the king hasn't thought enough of her in the past thirty days to summon her even once. And that's a concern. Verse 12, so they told Mordecai Esther's words, and Mordecai told them to answer Esther, do not think in your heart that you will escape the king's palace any more than all the other Jews, for if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.

Then he says something that's positive, though. He says, yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

He's saying, Esther, don't underestimate yourself. Your whole life may have been but a mere preparation for this event, to prepare you to have the courage to go in there, unsummoned, and talk to the king. Everything in your life up to this point of time may have been predetermined for this event, for this action. Verse 15, then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, go gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, neither eat nor drink, for three days, night or day, my maids, and I will fast likewise, and so I will go to the king. I'll do it. It's risky. Could cost me my life. He hasn't even been interested in me for 30 days. I may not be good, but I'll do it. She says, and so I will go to the king, which is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. To how many of us would have had the courage in that situation to do what this woman did?

We need to realize how much courage here was required. She hasn't been, again, called to see the king in 30 days. He was narcissistic. He was selfish. He had already disposed of one queen because of his ego, Queen Vashti. There were plenty of beautiful virgin trophies yet to be picked and set on the mantle in the kingdom. So this was a tremendous risk for her to do. It took incredible courage. Esther, chapter 5, verse 1, now, it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house facing the entrance of the house.

And so it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court that she found favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. And the king said to her, What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half of the kingdom. So Esther answered, If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.

I'm not going to tell the rest of the story, but in a reversal of the roles, the moral of the story shows that the Jews end up being saved because of an idea that she has, the trap, the prime minister. And Haman ends up being hung in the very gallows that he built and he intended for Mordecai to be hung on. Mordecai ends up being promoted. Esther got the king to revoke the decree to destroy the Jews and to give the Jews the authority to kill any of their enemies who attacked them on that day.

So all of that because of the courage of one woman, a Jewish girl, an orphan, known as Esther. So what are some of the things we can learn about her? She was an outstanding example of serving others even under the most stressful circumstances. You hear the term court intrigue? Imagine all the tongues that were wagging about all the different things in that environment while she's trying to make this decision of the right time to go to the king, to talk to him about the situation.

She was a woman of principle who was willing to put the lives of others ahead of her own life. Think about this. She has it all. She's queen. She's living a life of comfort. She's got servants around her to take care of her very need. She's got everything she could possibly want. And she's risking giving all of that up to possibly die. She was willing to take a great personal risk for her life. Jesus Christ said in John chapter 15 and verse 13, greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life for his friends.

And she was willing to do that for people she had never even met. She was able to do that for a community who was living in Persia, most of whom the people she had never met, that frankly she was now isolated from by living in a palace. Esther teaches us that to be faithful to God also means to be faithful to love his people. You can't love God and then ignore his people.

If you love God, you must also love his people. Esther shows that God elevates people of common, unpretentious backgrounds as they prove faithful. And he blesses them much like he did Ruth. She came from a non-Israelite common background and in the end she was blessed tremendously because of her courage, her commitment, and her faith.

Here we see Esther, who was again a Jewish orphan girl, who comes from a very common background and is blessed in so many ways and ends up saving thousands, perhaps ten thousands, perhaps a hundred thousand lives through her courage and her faith. Now let's take a look at a couple of individuals from the New Testament. If you turn with me to Luke chapter 10 and verse 38, we're going to talk about Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and the sister of Lazarus, who of course was resurrected from the dead. We're not going to talk about Lazarus so much today as we're going to talk about Mary. Luke chapter 10 beginning in verse 38.

Now it happened as they went that they entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed her into her house and she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. This is a story of two sisters who are diametrically opposite. One is high-strung, anxious. Jesus can see that in her heart.

He can read the human heart. He can see that she's high-strung. She's anxious. She gets wrapped up in doing physical things. She has a deep sense of responsibility. And she's there just serving, serving, serving, serving, getting tired, getting frustrated. On the other hand is Mary. Mary is deeply interested in what Jesus Christ is actually saying.

It says that she sat at his feet and she heard his word. She's oblivious to the preparation of the meal or anything else going on because she is interested in the message. She's getting it. She's focused on what he has to say, not an obligation to physically provide him a meal. Now let's go to another account in the book of John. John 12 beginning in verse 1. Let's see what she does six days before the Passover, before he is crucified.

John 12 beginning in verse 1. Let's see another example of Mary. Mary and Martha are doing the same things here in the book of John as we saw earlier in the book of Luke. One is working, one is trying to prepare supper, and the other one is humbly listening. All ears. Listening to the Messiah. Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead, there he made him a supper and Martha served.

But Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenerd, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And a house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and he had the money box, and he used to take what was put in it.

Then Jesus said, Let her alone, for she has kept this for the day of my burial, for the poor you have with you always, but me you will not have always. I'm going to read again verse 7 from the New Century version. Jesus answered, Leave her alone, it is right for her to save this perfume for today, the day for me to be prepared for burial. Now anointing was usually done on the head, but in Mary's case, as an act of utter humility, she pours the costly perfume on his feet.

And this tender expression indicates her devotion to Jesus Christ and her willingness to serve him. Now, Spikenard was an expensive perfume grown from an herb that grows in northern India, only in northern India. So it was expensive because it had to be grown in northern India, and it probably had to go through a number of traders, middlemen, who all tacked on a price. It was so rare and so precious. And by the time it made it to the Middle East Galilee, it was very expensive, but obviously it was very fragrant and highly desired.

So she did that, and she assumed the place of a household slave that normally would have taken care of the feet of a visitor. And she just did it, the remarkable woman, her humility, her devotion to Jesus Christ. She played a primary role throughout the Scriptures, including the episode of Lazarus' resurrection from the dead in John 11. Mary and her sister were the ones who requested that Christ come quickly because Lazarus was very sick.

We just read in John 12, she was a follower of Jesus who was acquainted with his ultimate destiny. You see, because she had been listening to what he had to say, she knew that he would die soon, and she was symbolically preparing for his burial. Many of the other disciples afterward would never get the fact that Jesus Christ would die, no matter how many times he said that he would die, and the sheep would be scattered. And he'd said all of these things to get the point across to them that he would die, for many of them it never sunk in. It did for her. She got it. She understood his ultimate destiny. She understood that he must die and then be resurrected from the dead. This is in contrast to the selfishness and the hypocrisy of Judas, who was an actual disciple, and because he hadn't been listening, didn't understand that Jesus Christ had to die to fulfill God's will. And Mary purchased the perfume herself, showing that she placed the worship of God over just having material possessions. She put God first, whatever the cost, rather than things, rather than having stuff. For our final example today, let's take a look at another Mary, Mary Magdalene, if you'll turn with me to Luke chapter 8, beginning in verse 1. Mary Magdalene.

Actually, Mary of Magdala, which was a village. And we'll talk about in a few minutes what it was. Luke chapter 8, beginning in verse 1. Now it came to pass afterward that he went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him. And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, which again is of Magdala, that was her hometown, out of whom had come seven demons. And Joanna, the wife of Joanna, and Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided him from their substance. So she's a believer. She's not just a believer. She is providing from her own resources, her emotional resources, her financial resources, so that Jesus Christ can even have a ministry, so that he can afford to conduct his ministry. Now Magdala was an important agricultural, a fishing and a trade center in ancient Galilee. And because she was from that city, she was known as Mary Magdala, in which we call in English, Mary Magdalene. She was a devoted and loyal follower in spite of constant danger. Her faith, her commitment, is an inspiration, should be an inspiration to all of us.

When John was imprisoned, Jesus took up his ministry primarily in Herod's territory in Galilee, which was perceived by Herod not only as a challenge to his authority, but a threat to Herod's kingship. Despite the risk, Mary Magdalene was committed to the ministry of Jesus Christ. She didn't care if there was risk. She didn't care if she was a female in a male-dominated society.

She didn't care if she could be arrested. She was a witness of his crucifixion, it says in Mark chapter 15 and verse 40. She was a witness of his burial, it says in Mark chapter 15 and verse 47. She was a witness to the empty tomb, it says in Mark chapter 16 and verse 18.

And if all of that wasn't enough, she was a witness of his resurrection, Mark chapter 16 and verse 9. So this remarkable woman who provided from her own substance to finance the ministry of Jesus Christ was always there, always in the center of action, always contributing.

What a remarkable, incredible example for each and every one of us. Brother, the historical leadership and godly examples of women in the Old Testament and the New Testament Church has made all the difference in the world. As I said earlier, as I began the sermon today, there are many other fabulous examples of godly women in the Scriptures. There are over 50. Between these two sermons, I've maybe touched upon 10.

Some of them include Zipporah and Abigail and Rachel and Dorcas and Priscilla, Elizabeth. It would be easy to give a part three and even a part four to the sermon sometime in the future.

The example that women have set for us in the Scriptures is remarkable.

It is a testament of faith, loyalty, of commitment, of self-sacrifice, both for ancient Israel and for the Church of God.

Our final Scripture today, if you'll turn there with me to Galatians chapter 3 and verse 26. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 26.

This is a Scripture that many people just don't get, and I hope to explain it in a way today that we do get it.

Galatians chapter 3 and verse 26. Paul writes here, For you are all sons of God. Now he means in a spiritual sense. In a spiritual sense, a son is the one who inherits everything, the one who's given ultra-blessings, the one who is dearest to the parents.

And that's true in many human cultures throughout history. But he means this in a spiritual sense. We are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, because what's more important than being Jew or Greek physically is being a son of God. There is neither slave nor free.

What's more important than either having your freedom or being a slave is being spiritually a son of God. There is neither male nor female, aside from what our physical genders are that we've been given since birth.

The most important thing is that spiritually we are a son of God. He continues, For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. So being an heir of eternal life, being an heir, a member of the family of God, being immortal, serving with Jesus Christ throughout all eternity, being part of the kingdom and the family of God, has nothing to do with you being a Jew or a Greek. It has nothing to do with whether you were free or a slave. It has nothing to do with whether you were a male or a female, because we are all one in Jesus Christ. And that makes us spiritually the sons of God. We are all part of the family of God. In God's eyes, we have equal salvation, in spite of our physical differences. Yes, we're physically still Jewish or Gentile, free or slave, male or female, wealthy or poor. Some of us are light-skinned, dark-skinned, tall or short, slender or portly. Our physical differences remain, and this includes different gender roles and responsibilities that we've been given in this physical lifetime.

But in Christ, there are no inferiors due to physical differences. Spiritually, we are all equal and full family members of the family of God. Tomorrow's Mother's Day, and it's an appropriate day to honor mothers and wives and all women for what they have contributed to our culture, but more importantly, what they have contributed to God's Church. God's Church of the Old Testament and God's Church of the New Testament. We have a gift that we'd like everyone to take today. Every mom, every woman, every wife, we have a rose for you, a single red rose that we would like to offer you as a gift as you leave today after fellowship. And to all the moms and women in the congregation, I say thank you for your example of nurturing. Thank you for your example of faith. Thank you for your commitment to the Church of God and to all of your brothers and sisters in Christ right here today. Thank you for your spiritual strength and for the way that you've led and helped us to understand your commitment to God in a unique and gracious way. Thank you for all of those things. Because, as Paul said, we are all one in Jesus Christ.