Woman, Mother, Child of God

Thank you very much to all the calls. I shouldn't say, oh, I guess we've got some cousins. But anyway, I was going to say, I remember from the sound of the music, the family von Trapp. The family von Kahl singers, or...

I know I would mess that up if I tried to say that, but... I just want to say thank you for that. Which brings up a mind my wife reminded me that we've put out a sign-up list last week, that I think many of us were gone, but a sign-up for special music is on the information table. So we still need special music for June and July, and if you can perform and you'd like to perform, please feel free to claim one of those slots. Also, she made a clarification for ladies who would like to share a recipe. You can email those to Sue, and the email address is SueDunkle at Yahoo.com.

That's pretty easy if you get the name, and you can remember how to spell Dunkle, which is D-U-N-K-L-E dot com. Here, I thought I was special, that these microphones were both for me, but I should have known better. Well, Mr. Warren alluded in his prayer to open services today that once a year in May, people of the United States set aside a day to honor our mothers, those special people that brought us into the world.

Of course, there's more to being a mother than just giving birth. Those people that shape and form our lives, it is worthy of noting them. Now, there are people that just think of this as a hallmark holiday, and by that we mean an excuse to go out and buy cards, and the marketing is pretty good. But still, I think it's worth noting, and it occurred to me, I wonder how many people in the church have found some way to show that this is really a pagan holiday. This is one that I don't think has any false religious leanings. Mothers have been from the beginning of creation, as we're going to see.

Most of us see it as a good reminder to remember and thank those people who brought us into the world, who trained us, who gave us so much of themselves. And so since this is the season for that, I thought it's appropriate for us to look into God's word and consider some stories from there about women, and especially mothers. We can see some inspiring stories in Scripture and also some from the history of God's church.

And if you think about it, some of those stories, I think, might one day be part of Scripture. If we think the fact that the book of Acts ends abruptly and there's no amen to conclude it, it gives us the idea that perhaps God is intending to add to that book. Perhaps it'll one day be the longest book in the Bible, as it gives a thorough history of God's church from that fateful Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out right until the time of Christ's return.

Well, I don't know for sure about that, but I do know there we can find stories, inspiring stories of women and mothers throughout history. So if you're one of those who likes titles, and I'm sure Jim Caulf sitting in the sound booth likes titles, we can call this, Woman, Mother, Child of God.

That's a progression. You start off as a woman, or at least a female, but many aspire to become mothers, and are, and of course our ultimate goal is to become a child of God. Interestingly, the word mother or mothers in the King James Version appears almost 300 times in the Bible, which I don't know that there's a special significance, but it's worth noting that mother and mothers are such a part of life that it's everywhere. And within the pages of the Bible are the stories of women that God worked with in mighty ways. Now, we think of some right off the bat.

The first one I always think of is Sarah. She grew in faith right alongside Abraham. He was the father of the faithful. I've spoken on how I think it's appropriate that she should be called the mother of the faithful. She exercised great faith when she was nearly 100 years old and told, by the way, you're going to have a baby. But she was pretty happy about it. And of course, the stories of the other patriarchs' wives are important. Rebecca, Rachel, later on we've studied the story of Ruth.

But today I want to focus on some that don't come to mind, perhaps quite as readily. Although some of you women who are studying for the club next week, some of these women do come to mind, and I promise it's not my purpose to preempt any of that. Matter of fact, I was originally planning to give the sermon a week from now, where I was worried about you preempting me. Hopefully we'll compliment each other.

I might give you some food for thought in your study. But I want to look at the lives, especially of some of these women that might be considered as unsung heroines. So to begin with, let's turn to the start of the story, as we do with most stories in the book of Genesis. Let's start with the first mother, Eve. I know I've got Genesis in my Bible. It's the trick of finding it. Let's begin reading in Genesis 2, verse 21, because she was not only the first mother, but in one sense the mother of us all. Genesis 2, verse 21, we'll see the beginning of her story.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. And he, that is God, took one of his ribs, closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man. And Adam said, I always imagine Adam probably said, whoa, look at that. But after that, he said, now this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. And then, of course, I think what follows next is not Adam's quote, but God's commentary.

And we know Jesus Christ would later quote this when he said, therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they'll become one flesh. Eve was unique in the history of all mankind, and that she's the only woman who ever lived that didn't have a mother of her own.

We just read how she came to be. She didn't have a mother to explain a lot of things, and that's going to be important as we consider. But let's turn over a chapter to chapter 3 and verse 20. Chapter 3 and verse 20, Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living, or we could say, all living people. Eve in Hebrew could even be translated as life or life giver. And one of the reasons it intrigued me as I started to work on this, I thought, you know, I often think of Eve in the Garden of Eden.

You know, she's formed from Adam, she meets this serpent, makes the mistake of taking of that fruit, gives it to Adam, and, you know, we think of all that. And then I tend to not think about Eve. And yet she lived for some 900 years. Her story does not end there. Now, Josephus, the historian, his works aren't included in Scripture, but they can be a useful historical reference. Josephus said that Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 25 daughters over a span of 500 years.

I think even if we put all the shoemakers and calls together, they're not going to match 58 kids. Can you imagine? I think just one little boy has plenty of a handful. So Eve was unique also in the fact that what we understand, and the Bible doesn't specifically say this, but if she was the mother of all living, then it seems that God created her within her ovaries eggs with many different, with a great variety of genetic traits.

If she was the mother of all living, that includes people who were white, red, brown, yellow, black. And so she coped, and perhaps it didn't seem unusual. She was the first woman, so having children that come out looking different must have seemed normal to her. But if we continue reading the story, and I'm not going to read through all of it, we know what happens next.

As I said, we don't always think of Eve's role in this, but we know that they had a first son named Cain who would in time murder his brother. Now, we always focus on Cain's attitude and this and that, but just think of how devastating that must have been for Adam, and especially for Eve. You know, women love their children, and they want them to love each other.

What must it have been like to look and see what happened to Cain? But just think, when she was raising this children, she didn't have a mother to guide her along the way. She didn't have an older woman's influence to say, you know, Eve, really, you shouldn't let Cain get away with that right now, or you should correct him in a time like this.

And I guess most of us who have raised children realize how valuable it is to have an older person's influence, especially your own mother, to call upon to say, what do you think? How should I handle this? Eve had to learn all of her child-rearing skills on the job as she went. So it's hard to be too critical of her if she made some mistakes. And so it could be difficult. It's 6,000 years later, approximately. But I said we can envision the pictures we see in the children's Bible stories of Eve, and they always depict Adam and Eve, of course, strategically behind plants and animals until they develop clothes, then suddenly they're not hiding behind plants and animals anymore.

But Adam and Eve were more than just these pictures. They were real people. Eve was a real person who lived all that time, and she watched over decade after decade, hundreds of years, and she must have at times been fairly disappointed. And hopefully she had the joy that every parrot has. But remember what God said in the days before he brought the flood, when he chose Noah as the only person that found favor in his sight. The world was turned to evil. If God looked down with great disappointment, Eve probably looked on with great disappointment, too. And I wonder, then, could she have reached the end of her days without realizing how important she really was to God's plan?

She was that first step. If God wanted to bring many children into his family, many spiritual children, first there had to be physical children. That's the way he designed for it to happen. It had to start with a woman who would be a mother of all living. Now, whether she was disappointed or not, she played a vital important role and accomplished a lot. Just think, if she had 58 children while she was living, wait till she sees all the descendants that came afterward, tens of billions of people.

When she comes up in the resurrection, what will Mother's Day be like? I just thought, you know, because I used to give flowers to my grandmother, and perhaps if they were living, I would have done my great grandmother's, too. But, boy, if everybody does that with Eve, she's going to need a big place for all the flowers. Of course, I wanted to point that out. I think it's intriguing just to ponder. But I don't want to diminish the fact that whether you have 58 children or one, the role of mother is so important.

I don't want to take away from anyone. Or, of course, and some people never have that opportunity. That's not a black mark. But it is, you know, when you do have those children, what a job it is. Let's move on to another important mother. She played a pivotal and a vital role in God's plan, and yet we often don't even consider her name.

Because the names of her children and what they did have been so important, we tend to overlook the role of their mother. But we could find it in Exodus 6 if we were to look. Now, I'm going to turn to Exodus 2 where I want to read. But in Exodus 6, we learn that this woman's name was Jacobed, if I'm pronouncing it correctly. Jacobed. And she was married to a fella named Amram. When I read that, it's funny, it's not that I've never read it before, but I said, I like that.

Amram. If I'd have thought of that before Connor, Sue wouldn't have let me use it, but it does sound like a cool name, doesn't it? But Jacobed buried Amram, and they were the parents of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Interestingly, a bit of trivia. Jacobed was not only their mother, but also their great-aunt. Because she was the direct daughter of Levi, the patriarch. Jacob was her grandfather. Joseph, the one who was a prime minister of Israel, was her uncle.

Now, she must have been born late in Levi's life, because apparently it was appropriate for her to marry her nephew, or age appropriate. Nowadays, we don't advise aunts marrying their nephews, or any close relatives, but I think the genetics were a little bit different then. But let's pick up and read the story in Exodus 2, and consider how important her role really was. So we see this without having their names. It says, A man of the house of Levi, this was Amram, went and took as a wife a daughter of Levi. And we have to look later to see it wasn't just speaking daughter as in a descendant, but Levi's actual daughter.

And so the woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. Now, I wonder if Moses had been born a bit homely. Would the story have been different? Probably not.

But that made me stop and think. I didn't want to read through all of the first chapter, but part of the reason she hid him is because the Egyptians were getting concerned about how fast the Israelites were multiplying. And they said, they're going to fall in with our enemies and be our undoing. So Pharaoh made this order. Basically, keep the female children, but the male children, throw them in the river to drown. Well, Jacobed and apparently Amram didn't want to do that. They saw, this is a beautiful child, I'm not going to drown this baby. They hid him three months. But, in verse 3, when she could no longer hide him, she took an arc of bull rushes for him, dobbed it with asphalt and pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. And his sister stood afar off. We see Moses wasn't the first born. Apparently, he was the younger of the three. She stood afar off to know what would be done to him. And then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the riverside, and when she saw the arc among the reeds, she sent her maids to get it. When she opened it, she saw the child. Behold, the baby wept. And you know, when a newborn weeps, it's a little different than when he's three or four years old. They both get your attention, but she saw him weep, or he wept, and she had compassion on him. She said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. And I'm sure it crossed her mind. It's like, oh, I don't want to see him drown. And the sister came and said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go call a nurse for you from among the Hebrew women that she may nurse a child for you? Pharaoh's daughter, it must have had a lot of thoughts go through her mind, but we only have recorded one word. She said, go. Meaning, yes, I want to save this child alive.

So the maiden went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, that is to Jacobed, take this child away and nurse him for me, and I'll give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. We don't know exactly when that happened, but it must have been when he was finally weaned, and I'm going to discuss that a little bit later. But Pharaoh's daughter named him Moses, saying, because I drew him out of the water.

I think what a resourceful woman Jacobed was. It took courage to defy Pharaoh's order. I'm guessing when he said, throw your male babies in the river to drown, there must have been an oar. Do this oar, we'll throw you in the river to drown, or something like that. She was willing to risk her life. And then she built this little boat and floated it where she knew Pharaoh's daughter would be.

Must have taken a little research and scouting. Where does she go to do her bathing? Which isn't something you normally do with a royal family. And then she had the older sister keep watch and offered to find a nurse at just the right time so that Jacobed could get paid to take care of her own baby. That's not a bad deal if you can get it.

My guess is God must have inspired this. But still, she had to exercise some courage and faith to do it.

And you wonder, well, what was Amram doing all this time? Well, we can get a hint if you turn to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, lists many people who did astounding things in the Bible. And this very story is referenced. Hebrews 11 and verse 23. Hebrews 11, 23.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents. Here it includes both of them. Earlier we just read about Jacobed's rule. When they saw he was a beautiful child, they were not afraid of the king's command.

But there's a reason. I think, okay, Amram was part of this.

But I'm confident Jacobed must have taken the lead. Because, men, you'll appreciate this. Imagine if you went to your wife when you had a newborn baby and said, okay, here's this plan. And then you describe what happened. I know mine will look at me and say, are you crazy? You're not going to float my baby in a boat out in the river?

You know what it's like when you even get near a swimming pool or something like that. So I'm sure Jacobed might have thought that, but I think God inspired her. And she had the courage and the trust to do this.

At one place in the book of Acts, Moses is described as being mighty in words and deeds. Mighty in words and deeds. Do you suppose he might have learned some of that from his mother? She was the one taking care of him during his formative years. Child psychologists, I believe, say that it's in our first three years that we mostly develop our character. And if she was nursing Moses, it probably wasn't until after that that he went to live in Pharaoh's palace. So she was there. And we can only speculate, but I'm guessing she maintained contact. Because when Moses was 40, he went out to see how the children of Israel were doing. He knew he was an Israelite. Later on, he knew who his brother and his sister were. So they must have maintained this contact. Perhaps his parents continued to provide instruction and guidance. Moses would exercise faith and courage like his mother had. We just read there in verse 23 of Jacob and she was not afraid of the king's command. It's interesting, the wording describing what Moses did is similar. Over in verse 27, by faith he that is Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.

Jacob wasn't afraid to defy the king to do what's right, and she passed that trade on to her son or taught it to him. Many of you might have heard there's an old proverb, which we don't hear much anymore, but that proverb says, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Well, Jacob was the hand that rocked Moses' cradle, and she probably had a hand in rocking the nation of Egypt when the time came, like it had never been done before. Let's leave that because we don't know anymore about what happened to Jacobed, but that alone, as I said, if you think of what her children did, it tells us a lot about her importance. Let's consider another mom who had a big influence, and that is a woman by the name of Hannah. I think she's also going to be considered next Sabbath. Her story is in the book of 1 Samuel and actually starts in the first chapter. Well, I should say, it almost consists there exclusively, the first couple chapters. We're only going to get a brief glimpse at her life, but like Jacobed, she had a formative influence on one of the leading characters in the history of ancient Israel. So let's go and read the beginning. Of course, it's funny, the first verse, I read this this morning, I said, I'm going to skip this and say, there was a certain man whose name was Elkanah, and there's a lot of his ancestors listed there. But if you go in verse 2, he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah. The name of the other, Panina. Panina had children, but Hannah had no children. Apparently, it wasn't for lack of trying. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. And also, the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, the priests of the Lord, were there. So it's interesting, this family worships God. They obey the command to go up to the tabernacle and they offer sacrifice. So we can see it's a God-fearing family, unlike some others in Israel. In verse 4, whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Panina, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. So Elkanah wasn't upset that Hannah didn't have children. Maybe he would have liked to have children, but he loved her anyways. But the other wife, Panina, says her rival provoked her severely to make her miserable. And I think, well, part of me says, I know it was part of the custom at the time, but part of me says, you take on two wives, you're asking for trouble. I'm glad we don't do that today. But Elkanah, her husband, perhaps he didn't understand it, was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord, the eternal, that she provoked her. Therefore, she wept. That is, Hannah wept and did not eat. Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons? He wanted to make it all better, but he couldn't. And that's the way it is. The husband sometimes is like, what's wrong with you? I'm doing everything I can. But she wanted to have children. I'm sure she appreciated it.

So she decides to do something that all of us are working to learn to do when we have a severe problem. And verse 9, it says, Hannah arose after they finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the eternal. And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the eternal, wept in anguish. She took her bitterness to God and wanted to leave it in his place. Now she makes a promise to him.

Then she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant but will give your maidservant a male child, then I'll give him to the eternal all the days of his life and no razor will come on his head. Now you might wonder what that has to do with it, but it's related to the Nazarite vow that I'm not going to explain more right today. And it happened, and of course she continued praying before the eternal, that Eli watched her mouth.

Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said, How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine from you. So he jumps to conclusions. What's wrong with you drunk woman?

Cut that out. Now she stood up for herself. Hannah answers, No, no, my Lord. I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the eternal. Don't consider your servant a wicked woman out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I've spoken until now. Eli understands he sees where he got it wrong, and he answers and says, Well, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you've asked of him.

Interesting. I don't know if he, I don't think God gave him the authority to just automatically make prayers come true, but he gave his endorsement. He was adding a prayer that God would grant her what she was asking. And she said, Let your maidservant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way, and her face was no longer sad.

That's interesting. I mentioned she did what we strive to do when we have a problem. Go to God, put it before him, and she was no longer sad. She had put it in God's hands and was able to rest comfortably after that. We don't get a lot of information, but I feel like when you have a problem, it's just bearing you down. But in this, her case, the weight was lifted.

She had done the wisest thing, and she was going to trust God to take care of it. And of course, we can go on from there. It says, They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Eternal, and returned and came to their home at Rhema. Elkanah knew Hanah's wife, and the Eternal remembered her. They had sexual relations, and it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son.

She called his name Samuel, saying, Because I've asked for him from the Eternal, the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Eternal the yearly sacrifice. So the process of time comes around, and it's time to go to offer a sacrifice, but Hannah did not go. And it's interesting, I wonder if she said, Elkanah, there's something I have to tell you about. You know, I went and prayed to God, and I sort of made this promise.

And so now she has to explain, this son that we're going to have, or that we had, I promised that I would loan him to God. She said, Not until the child is weaned, then I'll take him up, that he may appear before the Eternal and remain forever. What does Elkanah say? He says, Do what seems best to you, wait until you've weaned him, only let the Eternal establish his word. This was a God-fearing family.

He trusted God as well, and he was willing to... I'd say he had this relationship with Hannah, where she made a promise and he was going to back it up. Which, actually, if you read in the Old Testament, he had the ability, he could have disavowed. Deuteronomy makes the statement that if a woman makes a vow, whenever either her father or husband first hears of it, he has the legal right to overturn it. Elkanah didn't do that.

He said, No, if you've made this promise to God and he's responded, I'm going to support it. Even though he probably loved his children, I don't think he wanted to be supported from them. And, of course, then the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her three bowls, an ephah, flour, a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Eternal at Shiloh.

The child was young. We don't know for sure how young. He couldn't have been a babe in arms. I've read accounts that say that, in that day nowadays, I remember when Connor started getting teeth, we said, It's time for weaning. It came a little bit later, but from what I've heard, it was often when children were three or four that they would finally be weaned. So he was a little boy, not a teenager, but not a babe in arms. And I wonder what Eli was thinking. Well, let's read the account. They slaughtered a bowl, brought the child to Eli, and she said, Oh, my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I'm the woman who stood here by you, praying to the Eternal.

Remember three or four years ago when you said, thought I was drunk? Guess what I was praying for when you said, The Lord, grant your petition. For this child I prayed, and the Eternal granted me my petition, which I asked for. Therefore, I have lent him to the Eternal. Pardon me. I guess when I think of that, I think of the times when I'm ready to give Connor to someone else, which are rare, but all of you with little children or who've had little children, which is just about everybody in the room, you've known what that's like. But you also know the times when you don't want to let them go.

But she knew this was going to be for the best. If God answered her prayer, she said, I've lent him to the Eternal. As long as he lives, he'll be lent to the Eternal. So they worshiped the Lord there. So this was something. I mean, she'd prayed for him. God answered her prayer. He was a special gift. But she was willing to take this special gift that she'd had for a time and then say, I'm going to give him to God for his service. And as we know, Eli's children, who should have served in the priesthood after him, and they did serve, but they didn't serve well.

The account shows that they were evil, wicked men. And eventually, God would allow them to be killed. And Samuel would fill the job that they should have been doing.

And if Hannah Hatton loaned him to God, if she had not brought him up. Now, if she was with him again during the formative years, teaching him to worship God in a way that the men who were supposed to be doing that should have, but didn't, who knows what would have happened to Israel.

So Hannah certainly played this pivotal role in preparing Israel to move from the time of the judges and the heir of the kings and give that solid foundation. There was one man who would stand firm for what was right when people around him were not. So her act had this huge impact. You know, great leaders stand firm, often because they were taught when they were young. I found Abraham Lincoln made an interesting quote. And we know Abraham Lincoln went through some pretty severe trials.

He said, Now, I don't think he meant his mother was... He meant not a spirit being, but his mother was that good. And he said, What is it that makes a woman work so hard for her children? It's certainly not for the pay. It's not for the prestige. It seems that God put the special love in a mother's heart.

A mother's love is pure and selfless. It's probably the closest thing to godly love that we can find on this planet. And I know Herbert Armstrong said that, I pick a number of times, I remember hearing him say it and reading it in his writing, that probably the closest thing to God's love that we can find on this planet is the love of a mother for a child. And I don't think women got that on their own. I want to give them credit, but I think God put that there.

In fact, most women, I think, they tend to be naturally caring and nurturing for their own children, but it's like, I've seen young mothers, they have this, like, a spider sense or radar for any little child that's in need. I've noticed that now that occasionally I go to playgrounds, and you'll see the mothers there, they're watching their own child, but if any of the little ones are in trouble or sad, the mothers notice, and the fathers will be, We don't know what's going on, but the mothers get it. As I said, I think God built that in. Now, and we could see a lot of stories in the Old Testament. I'll just mention a couple that I think highlight this special love without reading it, but... And mixed into the story of Elijah, the great prophet, in 1 Kings 17, as I said, I'm not going to turn there, but he's told after, you know, during the drought, for a time, he goes and hides out, and birds are bringing him food. When the book runs dry, God says, go to this widow. Go to this city, you'll find a widow, and what's the widow doing? She's preparing to make a last meal for her and her son, and she loves her son so much. So much so that when he dies, she appeals to Elijah, saying, you know, we expected we were going to die a long time ago. How can you do this? And God works through Elijah to bring that son back to life. We can only wonder, would he have done that if the love of the mother for the son wasn't so strong? There's a similar story in the life of Elijah's protégé, Elisha. Elisha received hospitality from a woman, you know, and she wasn't a widow, but she was a woman who, I'm not sure her husband was there, but she seemed to oversee the household. And, you know, she looked out for Elisha so much, I remember at one point he called his servant Gehazi, what are we going to do for this woman? Well, she doesn't have any children, and she's kind of old. He goes and tells her, well, you're going to have a son, and she does. And later on, though, the son, for some reason, gets sick and dies, what does she do? She knows where the power is, and she seeks Elisha to implore God's intervention. And that story, by the way, is in 2 Kings 4. But God answers that prayer, and he brings that son back to life.

But I wanted to point out that without reading them, the fact that those mothers loved their children so much, they were willing to put everything else on hold and implore God with great fervency, please give me my son.

And we can only wonder, if they had less faith, or if they had less love for their children, would God have done that?

Well, and we won't know the answer to that until we can ask God, sometimes sitting around a coffee table, when He'll answer. Let's move to the New Testament, to see some interesting stories there. And I think it's appropriate that we go to the first prominent mother there, that is the mother of Jesus Christ, Mary. I'm going to turn to the accountant Luke if you want to begin turning there.

But I'll make the point that, of course, there's this image of Mary that's extant in the world, this legend, or the Mary who's depicted in all these Renaissance paintings, but do you suppose that's really what she was like? And those paintings were made by men who based the depiction on their mindset, and they were far from first century Palestine. The Bible is the only authoritative word we have on what Mary was like. And it really only gives us some brief glimpses. But it's interesting, those brief glimpses show she was something special. She was remarkable. And she put her life entirely in God's hands.

When he gave her an amazing and unique calling, if you imagine if someone said, by the way, you're going to raise the Son of God, on whom the fate of all humanity will hang, that He never sins. Now, you teach Him the right to live. I would be a little hesitant at that, but we won't see that in Mary.

So in that way, she was a lot like Jacobat and Hannah. She trusted God, she had faith, and she showed great courage. Now, when we first meet her, she was probably pretty young. We don't know, but it was not uncommon for young women to get married in their teen years. Can you imagine if she was, say, 17 when she was engaged to Joseph? Maybe before that time, she was raised up in this backwater town of Nazareth. And you can imagine her maybe talking to a friend and saying, boy, nothing exciting ever happens in Nazareth. I'd like to go somewhere exciting. And then an angel shows up.

We see in Luke chapter 1, actually, I should mention, she must have been somewhat well-educated, at least in the Scriptures, because she understood what the coming of the Messiah meant, and she seemed to have known about God's way, so she wasn't ignorant. She knew God's Word. And of course, this is following the fact that Gabriel had already appeared to John the Baptist's parents to let them know they were going to have a child.

So in the sixth month of that miraculous pregnancy, we see in Luke 1, 26, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man who was named Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one! The eternal is with you! Blessed are you among women! When she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. She was considering, what kind of greeting is this?

She told me I was highly favored among women. And the angel said to her, Don't be afraid, Mary! You found favor with God! Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son. You will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

And of his kingdom there will be no end. That's a lot to be said. You're going to have a son. He's going to inherit the throne of his father David. And Mary surely knew that she was the descendant of David. But of his kingdom will be no end.

He'll be great in all this. But in the back of her mind, there's one overwhelming question. How's this going to happen? I'm a virgin! And she said, How's this happen? I don't know a man. And then the angel really drops the bomb on her. The angel answered and said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, that holy one is to be born of you will be called the Son of God. Now, indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age. This is now the sixth month for her who is called barren.

With all that, what does Mary say? Now that the big question was answered, she says in verse 38, Mary said, Behold the made servant of the Lord, let it be according to your word. So she said, Okay, here I am. I'll do what God wants. I mean, he asked for something really big. Now, it's God asking, so it's hard to say no. And I'm reminded, I think when God asks us to do some big job, there's the inherent promise that He'll make us able to do it. But I'm not sure, you know, somebody had to tell me that once for me to even get that idea. Mary must have had some idea.

God is going to make this work. So she said, Okay, whatever he wants, I'll do. Now, Mary's older relative, Elizabeth, as we said, was already pregnant. So after Gabriel told her about that, Mary goes to visit her. The next part of the story I find interesting, there's these two miraculously pregnant women together. One of them is way past childbearing age. The other one's a virgin, and here they are both pregnant. Neither one of them should have been. And they're sharing a unique moment in history. Verse 41, This is an important statement on Mary's faith.

And then we can read Mary's response. Remember, this was a girl possibly in her teen years. And I'm speculating, but I doubt that she was 40 or 50 years old. She's a young woman, but what she says shows a great comprehension of God's way and is amazingly humble. She mentions herself briefly, but only in the sense of receiving God's blessing, and she glorifies God.

Many times I've passed over this in sermons, saying, well, if you read it, it's inspiring, but let's read it. Starting in verse 46, He has shown strength with His arm. He's scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He's put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He's filled the hungry with good things. And the rich He sent away empty. He's helped to serve in Israel in remembrance of His mercy. He spoke to our fathers to Abraham and his seed forever.

He spoke to Abraham and his seed forever. He spoke to Abraham and his seed forever. That's, as I said, something. And what Mary went through next we can speculate about. She had a pregnancy that must have sparked some rumors, considering she gave birth, I'm guessing, significantly less than nine months from the time she married Joseph.

But then again, maybe people didn't notice because she had to travel far away to give birth. They lived up in Nazareth, but she gave birth in Bethlehem, perhaps without any of her family or even friends there to help her. And not long after that, they had to flee for their lives to Egypt and all the while taking the special care of the most precious child that had ever been born. And she remained dedicated to that calling. Even when this child would start doing some unusual things, one of those we'll see in the second chapter, I'll just mention, of course, the account says that they went up yearly at the Passover time to worship.

And on one of those occasions, they head home, and Jesus was a responsible boy, I guess. So they trusted He's with the family, and they travel a day's journey, and they're looking around and saying, where's Jesus? Have you seen Jesus? No, I... Oh, He's not here! So they have to travel all the way back, and they search the city, and they find Him in the temple, of all things. Let's read in Luke 2, verse 48. When they saw Him, they were amazed.

His mother said to Him, Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your Father and I have sought You anxiously. And He said, just like a 12-year-old, Oh, what are You looking for Me for? Why did You seek Me? Didn't You know I must be about My Father's business? Well, they didn't understand the statement in which He spoke to them. They knew a lot of things, but I guess they hadn't grown to understand quite that.

But He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. So Jesus knew what the Fifth Commandment was about, to honor Your parents. He was subject to them. But His mother kept all these things in her heart. So all this and who knows what else Mary kept in her heart, and she watched Him grow and develop. We don't see a lot written about her life since that time. But she must have viewed the life of Jesus Christ.

Well, I shouldn't say she must have. We know she viewed it from a unique perspective. No one else knew Him and loved Him in quite the way she did. And if we think about the day He was crucified, that must have been perhaps the toughest and hardest day of her life. Because she was on hand to see it. And a mother's love for a child doesn't go away just because He's in his 30s or because you have this feeling or understanding that He's the Son of God.

She saw Him suffer in the way she'd never seen anyone suffer before. And the Gospel accounts say that she was there at the crucifixion site, seeing Him up there. And when the Roman soldier finally jabbed his spear in his side and it said, blood and water came out. Well, let's look at...we're still in Luke, Luke 2, verse 35. It's interesting. A prophet was there that saw Jesus and made a prophecy about Him.

In verse 34, Simon blessed them, said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, for a sign which will be spoken of. And to Mary, he says, yes, and a sword will pierce through your soul also. I think of that. When that spear went into Jesus' side, when He was up there on the stake or cross, it was probably like a sword going into her heart.

But she didn't lose faith. A few pages over in Acts, chapter 1, verse 13, the last mention we see of Mary will show her with the disciples, awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that fateful Pentecost. Acts 1, verse 13, in those days Peter stood up in the midst of... Well, let's read in verse... I don't want to... That's where I'm at. In verse 13, when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where we're staying Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, all these guys, the son of James. They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.

The women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. So Jesus' brothers, there's an account earlier that they didn't understand who he was or didn't believe. Now they did believe, and Mary was there with the disciples. She hadn't lost faith. She hadn't lost courage. Now, what did she do after that? The Bible doesn't tell us. Where did she go? How old was she? Where was she when she died? Those are... It's not something we need to know. If we needed to know, it would be in the Bible. But I'm curious.

What kind of life she lived? I'm looking forward to meeting her sometime and getting to ask those questions. I'll probably have to wait in a long line. I'm sure a lot of people want to know those things.

It's evident in Scripture, God takes special notice. Some of the things that especially we men might overlook, special details, He notices, and He's made some of them to be recorded in the Bible. And that indicates that He doesn't let them go unnoticed for any people. And I thought it's interesting that there are some special honors and privileges for the new church that He gave to women to fulfill. We read about how Elizabeth and Mary were the ones that an angel appeared to, to say, the Messiah is coming. Scholars were studying the Scriptures and trying to say, when is the Messiah going to come? Gabriel didn't go to any kings or priests, but to two women to tell them, the time is here. And of course, they would play an important role in that. And of course, I read about Simon making a prophecy, but when they went to the temple, also there was Anna the prophetess, a woman in her 80s who served God with fasting and prayers, and she was able to hold Jesus and understand who He was. Christ, before He was going to be crucified, allowed Mary of Bethany to anoint Him for His burial. None of the disciples, the men, got to do that. And then Mary Magdalene was the first to find the empty tomb to announce that He had risen from the grave. She was the first to see Jesus alive. As close as He was to John and to Peter, He reserved that special honor for a woman. What did He see in Mary Magdalene? Or what was her relationship? He must have loved her and respected her. He allowed that special honor to go to her. There are some interesting parallels, perhaps, in church history. The very first convert to what we call the truth, the way of life, in America in 1665 was a woman named Tracy Hubbard. She converted in Rhode Island, and then later her husband converted to Sabbath-keeping. And what we call the modern era of the church. Many of us are familiar with the writings and the work of Herbert W. Armstrong, but if you read his autobiography, his wife Loma was the one that came to the understanding. And actually, it was a woman, Mrs. Runcorn, who asked her to turn to some scriptures in the Bible to show her. Mr. Armstrong, the headstrong man, said, That can't be right! All these churches keep Sunday, and they can't be wrong. Loma was convinced early that God worked through her, and of course, He worked through Mr. Armstrong also. But it was a special honor, perhaps, for the woman to have the first.

Looking back to scriptures, let's note another woman in the New Testament who's given special note of honor. In 2 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy 1 and verse 5, Paul is writing to Timothy, and he says, I like that it's like, I know your grandmother and your mother have the faith. I think it's in you, too. Sort of comes across that way. So, that's a clear reference to a strong conviction in the family among the women. If you turn over to another page in chapter 3 of this book, 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15, Paul tells Timothy, Not hard to guess who taught Timothy the scriptures from childhood. His mother, Eunice, taught him, and so did his grandmother, Lois. In Acts, we see that his father was a Greek, and that seemed to indicate that his father wasn't converted, didn't believe the truth, or perhaps any of the Hebrew scripture. We don't even know if he was around or alive, but Timothy's mother taught him. There are some other women who were mighty in the scriptures. Let's look at Acts chapter 18. We'll see, actually, this isn't just a woman, this is a husband and wife team that I think is significant. Acts 18 and verse 26.

This is referring to when Apollos became a preacher of the truth, but it's interesting.

Who taught him the way more perfectly? In Acts 18 and verse 26, he, that is Apollos, began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. It was both Aquila and his wife Priscilla taught Apollos from the scriptures. And we see them referenced. We don't get a full story, but their names show up in scripture here and there several times. And they seem to have contributed a lot to the early church. Paul said they risked their lives for him. They're mentioned as being in Corinth, in Ephesus, in Rome. This is partly because we see that they were tent makers. They had that special, not special, I'm not sure, but it's a unique craft of being able to do that. And apparently that's a job you could pick up and do it in several cities. I don't think they were groupies just following the Apostle Paul. But he had the ability to tell them, hey, we need somebody in this city. And in Corinth, the church met in their house. Later in Rome, the church met in their house. And they must have had a good influence. But we never see it just mentioned Aquila. It's always Aquila and Priscilla. Now, I might be very straying a little bit because we don't know if they had children. But we would probably presume, usually in the Bible, unless we're told that someone is barren and couldn't have children, then they usually do. Which brings to mind another woman that was prominent in the early church. While we're in Acts, let's turn over to chapter 9. Acts 9 and verse 36. There's another woman known, interesting by two names. She's called Tabitha, but also her Greek name Dorkus. Acts 9 and verse 36 says, At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorkus. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did. I don't know what the men were doing in that area, but she was full of good works and charitable deeds. And I'm not saying this to put down the men, but she was noteworthy. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they'd washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lida was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to imploring him not to delay in coming. That reminded me, I referred earlier to Elisha's story, where the woman had her son die and immediately said, I've got to go get Elisha. Not because she knew it wasn't in the power of Elisha to raise her son. Just like these people knew it wasn't Peter, they knew God could and did miracles and worked through certain people. So they wanted to implore God to do something special for Tabitha. In verse 39, Peter arose and went with them. And when he'd come, they brought him to the upper room. All the widows stood by weeping and showing the tunics and the garments which Dorkas had made. So she served a lot of people. Peter put them all out, and he knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. I always see this as being kind of comical, because she opened her eyes, and what's Peter doing in my room? She sat right up and probably maybe a little alarmed. We're not supposed to be in a room alone together. But of course, maybe you had to explain to her, calm down. You were dead, but God just brought you back. He gave her his hand and lifted her up. And when he called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And this became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.

But it's interesting, this effect she had on people. As I said, we don't know for sure if she had children. We don't know how old she was, but dealing with the widows there, I suspect, maybe she was a woman whose children were grown and had left home, but she just still had that nurturing and giving spirit, so she turned it to everyone in the church, whoever she could serve. She'd done that for her children and would continue to do it for the children of God as much as possible.

And as I said, that's just one of many accounts of women who played important roles. Another one that we'll see in...well, we could see in the book of Acts, I'm not going to turn there, but there was Mary, the mother of John Mark. John Mark is often just shortened to Mark.

He's the one who wrote the Gospel account of Mark, presumably from the memory of Peter. He was Peter's disciple of Peter as he got older. And we see that come up in the story of Peter. In Acts 12, remember, Peter's in prison. And I know I've referred to this story and read it several times in Scripture. He's in prison thinking he's going to be martyred because James had just been, but an angel comes in and saves Peter. Makes the chains fall off, leads him through these doors that open up. Peter's presuming he's seeing a vision, but next thing he knows, he's standing on the street alone.

Oh, I am saved! And where does he go? The house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. And there's a crowd of people there praying for him. This Mary must have been quite a figure. Her house was a place where people gathered. So she played a very important role in the Jerusalem congregation. What about Martha and Mary of Bethany? Two sisters who had a close relationship with Jesus Christ. If you're like me, you always wonder, how old were they? When I read the accounts, I always think of them as being young women.

But we don't know. They might have been old enough to be Christ's parents. Same as Mary's mother. I always wonder, though, if they were younger, did they go on from there to marry and have children? I don't know, but it's interesting. They had a very special relationship. And I'm looking forward to learning the rest of their story. Boy, I could be doing a commercial for Paul Harvey in this.

Now you know the rest of the story. I want to pause. There might be a number of women here listening and reviewing these accounts of these women of faith and courage and stories of women that God has worked with. And knowing how powerfully God works in the minds and lives of women, I think, well, how come we have to wait for a man to come up here and explain this to us? It's not a doctrine that Planck was coming up to to expound.

But of course, the obvious answer is that God gave certain roles to men and other certain roles to women. And 1 Corinthians 14 is a place where he explains women don't teach in the church, but men do. Not to say that women aren't capable or intelligent enough to do it. Certainly they are. But I would point out that I try to notice them, not always as well as I should, but I grew up in a household at one point dominated by women.

I shared my parents separated when I was young. And I remember at one point this dawning on me. I was living in a house with my mother, my grandmother, my older sister. I was looking around saying, well, I'm the only guy around here. But it helped me to notice women do things and think about some things differently than men. And when I look at the way my mother, what she had to do to raise my sister and I, she had to fulfill some of the roles normally taken by men and at the same time still be a mother.

And although she's not here to hear it, I guess since Mother's Day is tomorrow, I'll express an appreciation. I'm kind of happy with the job she did. But I've also seen the way it goes in families that were put together, the way God designed it with the mother and father together. And boy, that works really well. And I'm so pleased when I see that. And Genesis 1.27 is where it says, God created man in his own image, male and female.

He created them. That's important. Eve was not created in the image of Adam. She might have been created from his rib, but she was created in God's image. And both of them had the image and likeness of God. So, although we say God the Father because the male is the head of the household, it's important to realize that as Jesus said about angels, they don't aren't married or given in marriage. God the Father... Well, I shouldn't... I was going to say, He doesn't have genitalia, but I haven't seen. I don't know.

But He's God. He's not a man or a woman. He's God. Which I take it to mean men and women are both in His image. So, the traits that are in women, or the traits that are more predominant in women, are God's traits. And the traits that are more predominant in men are God's traits.

You know, we're both in His image, and when a man and a woman come together in marriage, that's when they're most in the image of God. I know I've said this before, but to me, I think it's important to realize God made it that way, and women are in God's image. They're not second best to men, but we have different roles that are important.

And I appreciate that tenderness, that willingness to sacrifice for children, to love them and nurture them. That comes from God. And God allowed women to have the privilege of having that characteristic that is His characteristic in a way that men sometimes have to learn from women. I want to share another story of a young woman who demonstrated great courage and concern for a child.

This is from history, and I didn't come across it in my historical study. It's actually from a publication of the United Church of God. One of our ministers kept it and showed it to me, and I wanted to share it. This is from, if you remember, back in the late 90s, we had a publication called New Beginnings.

And later, that was supplanted by the United News. But in November 17, 1997, there was an article called The Courage of Her Convictions. And it told the story of a young woman who lived in the Netherlands, which we sometimes call Holland, in the 1500s. Now, she was part of a religious movement called the Anabaptist. Anabaptist means, well, literally means against baptism, but they weren't against baptism. They didn't practice infant baptism. And of course, the Catholics taught infant baptism, and so they thought these guys were heretics. Now, we don't know for sure that she was a part of God's true church, but we also could be called Anabaptist. We don't believe in infant baptism. So it's possible that this woman whose letter we're going to read might have been part of God's church.

We do know that eventually, well, eventually she'll have that opportunity. So in the story, she gave birth to a daughter in 1573. At the time that she was already scheduled to be executed for her religious beliefs. So there was great persecution. She was scheduled to die because she wouldn't recant her beliefs. So she wrote a letter. Actually, her husband had already been killed. She was allowed to live long enough to give birth, so they wouldn't kill the child, too, and then she would be executed.

So from a jail cell in Antwerp, she wrote this letter before eventually being burned at the stake.

It says, We were permitted to live together only half a year, after which we were both apprehended because we sought the salvation of our souls. Be not ashamed of us. It is the way which the prophets and the apostles went. Your dear father demonstrated with his blood that it is the genuine truth. And I also hope to attempt to attest the same with my blood, though flesh and blood must remain on the post and on the stake, while knowing that we shall meet hereafter. Hence, my dear Jannekin, that was the name of the little girl, do not accustom your mouth to filthy talk nor to ugly lies, and run not in the street as other bad children do. Rather take up a book, learn to seek there that which concerns your salvation. And now, Jannekin, my dear lamb, who are yet very little and young, I leave you this letter, together with a gold rial, which I had with me in prison. And this I leave you for a perpetual adieu, and for a testament. Read it when you have understanding, and keep it, as long as you live, in remembrance of me and your father. Be not ashamed to confess our faith, since it is the true evangelical faith, another than which shall never be found. That's the story of a mother's love. She was about to die in a horrible way, at the hands of men who thought they would be doing God a service by killing her. But rather than focus on herself or right very much of an apology or a defense, she was focused on answering the questions this little girl would have when she was older. And she wanted to give her encouragement and wise advice, providing for her daughter's needs. As I said earlier, a mother's love never ends. You know, it doesn't have constraints. And that reminds me of one more mother and woman that I want to consider. And this is a little bit different, but I think we'll readily see the connection and the symbolism. We see this mother in the book of Revelation in chapter 12. Revelation 12. Of course, Revelation is a book full of symbolism, and we'll see here a woman who's about to become a mother. And it is symbolic, but I think not one we're unfamiliar with. Revelation 12.1. Now a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven above. A heaven, behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the ground. And the dragon stood before the woman, who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

Now, over the many years since this was written, scholars, especially secular scholars, have had a lot of theories over who this woman is. Some have said, well, this must be Israel. Or, given that the male child is obviously Jesus Christ, some have said, well, this is a portrayal of Mary. Well, if we consider that there are dual prophecies and sometimes triple prophecies, those might not be entirely incorrect.

But we understand, especially from what we'll read earlier, that this woman and mother pictures God's church. This is God's church. And the Bible, you know, several times refers to churches as women. And in 2 John, John refers to the church as the elect lady and her children. We know Jesus Christ as the God of the Old Testament pictured himself as being married to Israel. And Israel then being his wife, but that marriage was broken, of course.

Now Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and he's preparing his bride, the church. So that woman, which we often refer to as spiritual Israel, that woman will become the bride of Christ and have a mind to obey. In Revelation 12, we see that woman and mother. This chapter gives us an idea. It's showing us in proxy of what would happen to that mother through the ages and also probably at the end time. I think it's interesting, though, since symbolically this woman and mother portrays the church and all of us make up the church, it makes me as a guy feel a little better, because I can look and say, Mother's Day, well, I get to be part of a mother, too, but maybe that's stretching it a little.

I don't think anybody's going to send me a card for that. But this does apply to all of us. It's important to all of us. After Jesus Christ became the first of the firstfruits, the woman, the mother, would endure a great trial. Let's read in verse 6. The woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there.

One thousand two hundred and sixty days. We believe this picture is the true church hiding on the fringe of civilization for over a thousand years, applying the day for a year principle. It would be a thousand two hundred and sixty years of persecution and staying hidden to survive. We can pick up her story again later in verse 13. In verse 13 it says, Some people, as I said, secular scholars especially, think this is just a restatement of what we read earlier about the woman hiding for over a thousand years.

But there's also the discussion, and it seems likely that this is not a restatement, but looking at what's going to happen in the end time when the church flees for a literal three and a half years for protection. And we often use the term place of safety. I'm not going to get into that discussion today. I believe that God will protect his people. But I mostly want to focus on the fact that God chose to symbolize the church as a woman and as a mother.

Because probably only a mother could demonstrate the type of love and sacrifice that God makes for us and does through his church. God uses the agency of his church, and the church then acts somewhat as our spiritual mother, leading us to God's way and nurturing us and helping us to grow. And even though there's persecution and there's difficult times in the church, the end result will be worth it.

I'm going to make a reference. I think it appears more than one time, but I know in John 16, Jesus mentioned the comparison. He said, a woman, when she's in labor, has great anguish. But then, when the child is born, she has this joy and forgets about the anguish because the child is born into the world. And so it will be for the church. We have periods of anguish and difficulty, whether from outside persecution or our own arguments and division, but all that's going to be a distant memory when many children are born to God and part of his family.

How much greater a joy than any physical mother has. And I'd like to see that as sort of bookends from Eve's crucial role in engendering human physical life by being the wife of the first Adam to now the crucial role played by this woman of Revelation 12 to engender spiritual life as the wife of the second Adam. In both cases, God uses women to complete his great plan for mankind. So the women who we've looked at today, they were considered faithful in fulfilling their important role, whatever the role was that God gave them.

And they went through times of suffering and heartache, but they demonstrated love, faith, courage. Sometimes they worked quietly in the background, and there are probably many more who did the same that we don't note. And we can be sure there will be many more. And as I said, if the book of Acts is extended, it could be through the centuries around the world. God's work through women and mothers to accomplish great things. Sometimes it's good for us to stop and think about that, to appreciate...

Of course, we appreciate the men, too. I'm not down on any of you or on myself about that. But it's a wonderful thing to think that God has a special place in his plan and in his heart for the women and mothers. And so we celebrate all of you today.