What Makes A Mom: Mother's Day 2026

Good morning church family! It’s so good to be together today. My name in Austin… and I feel the need to re-introduce myself because I’ve been on sabbatical for the last month. It has been a tremendous blessing that our family is so grateful for!

I want to let you know something up front — we’re going to press a brief “pause” on our Acts series this morning. I promise, we’ll get right back into it next week.

But today is Mother's Day & that’s a cause for celebration. My aim for today is to encourage and honor all women, challenge them to live into their God-given calling, and provoke the men in the room to deeply appreciate the women around them.

And there’s one other person I’d love to briefly honor before we dive in this morning. Our Senior Minister, Adam Woods, is not here this weekend because he is graduating with his Master’s Degree from Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO.

That’s a HUGE deal guys! Ozark is the second best Bible college in the country — only following Johnson University, of course.

In all seriousness, how appreciative are you for Adam and the way he leads our church family? I know just how hard Adam has worked to finish get this degree & I just wanted to honor him this morning. He fought me really hard on it, but GUESS WHO’S NOT HERE TO STOP ME????

Well done, Adam.

Alright, that’s enough yapping from me. Let’s pray before we dive into Scripture together this morning.

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When Adam told me I was preaching on Mother’s Day, my brain immediately started racing, thinking about all of the different texts that might be great options to preach from.

I thought about preaching from Proverbs 31 & talking about wives and mothers of the utmost character.

I thought about preaching on an Old Testament mother named Hannah (great name) praying a beautiful prayer over her son, Samuel.

I considered preaching on Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

I even considered preaching on Jael driving a tent peg through Sisera’s head in battle.

I eventually landed on, what is now, my favorite Mother’s Day passage.

Mother’s Day can be a kinda tricky day for people. For some, it’s a day of joy. For others, it carries very legitimate grief—longings that haven’t been fulfilled, complicated relationships, or people who are missed.

And I want you to know, wherever you land — I see you and this message is for you.

Our text for today comes from the Old Testament book of Exodus. If you’ve got a house Bible, you can go ahead and turn to page 48.

Before we can parachute into Exodus 1 & 2, I need to give you a bit of background.

We trace the history of God’s people back to a single man named Jacob. In Genesis 32, God appears to Jacob & gives him a new name - Israel. That’s why God’s people were called the Israelites. Israel wasn’t a place, but a person.

Israel had twelve sons, one of which is named Joseph. Joseph was the favorite son of Israel.

The other brothers didn’t take kindly to that fact, so they trapped their brother and sold him into slavery.

And you thought your siblings were toxic.

Joseph ends up alllllllll the way over in Egypt — where the Lord blesses him and he rises to a position of authority.

When an intense famine hits the region, people from all over came to Egypt to buy food that had been stockpiled under the leadership of Joseph.

And wouldn’t ya know, here come Joseph’s brothers.

Joseph takes the high road & he welcomes his family in. He sees to it that they’re well taken care of in this foreign land.

God’s people — the Israelites — settle into Egypt, where live their for generations. Which brings us to our text.

Look at this, starting in Exodus 1:8:

Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.

“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

Okay, so this is NOT a positive development for God’s people. A new regime comes to power & this dude could not care any less about Joseph. All he sees is a threat to his own power and authority.

So they hatch a plan to keep the Israelites tamped down. Look at verse 11: So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

Sounds brutal. But look at how the Israelites responded:

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; I love the Lord’s sense of humor! That’s amazing.

As you might imagine, the Egyptians don’t like this. Scripture tells us as much: So the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

And harsher labor wasn’t the extent of their plan this time:

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”

Okay, now things have gotten way more sinister. He’s now ordered the midwives to kill all Israelite boys.

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.

Pharaoh hears what they’ve done & doesn’t like it. Look at verse 18: Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

What an amazing response. “Yeah, Pharaoh, we tried (wink, wink). But these Hebrew women are quite literally ‘built different’ and pop out the babies before we can get there every single time. So weird, right Pharaoh?”

The Lord sees the faithfulness of Shiphrah and Puah. Here’s how he responds to them:

So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

But Pharaoh’s goal remained the same:

Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Once again, Pharaoh escalates the harsh treatment of God’s people, as he tries to deal with a foreign threat once and for all.

As we turn the page to Exodus 2, our focus shifts from Pharaoh’s home, to a quiet Israelite home across town. Look at verse 1:

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

I’ve read this passage dozens of times in my life… but I became a parent in the last few years, so I’m astounded that they were able to keep their son hidden for that long!

But, as their son gets older, they reach an impasse:

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

I can’t imagine what must have been going through her head in a moment like this. Her baby boy, whom she loves deeply, is put into a basket and left at the mercy of the Nile River currents.

But the story is far from over. Move to verse 5:

Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

Then his sister — remember, Scripture said she was ‘watching from a distance’, probably for a moment just like this — asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

Because Big Sis jumped into action, now Mom gets to nurse and care for her son… and gets paid to do so. That’s a pretty sweet gig!

But, as Scripture tells us, when the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

As someone who finds themselves in a church building on a Sunday morning, you might be familiar with who Moses is.

But maybe Moses is a new character for you, so allow me to jog our collective memory…

Moses grew up to be God’s chosen deliverer for his people. Moses, empowered by the Lord, led the entire nation of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

This life that made a HUGE impact was almost wiped out before he ever had a chance.

And here’s one thing I notice about this story right away:

When there is a threat to Israel’s sons, Israel’s daughters step up.

Pharaoh tried to wipe out Israel’s men, but Israel’s women were not going to let that happen on their watch.

I really think that you can learn a lot about a person based off of how they respond in times of trouble.

When I was in high school, I went to church with my mom to help her with decorations for VBS (which is something YOU should do around here btw).

My mom was using a box cutter to prep some decoration when the box cutter slipped and caught her calf. I’m not joking, blood shot out of her leg like a geyser.

Surely someone stepped in to help, right? Well, the only people around were me & my youth pastor, Jordan.

I buried my head in my hands in panic. Jordan, on the other hand, ran to get the first aid kit… and then proceeded to take five minutes to put on sterile gloves… All while my Mom calmly talked us through what needed to be done.

Not my best moment of acting under pressure, but I’ve grown, okay? But it makes me consider — when trouble stares us down, how do we respond?

In Exodus 1-2, we see these five women step up to protect those that have been entrusted to them.

It’s not just this one story from Exodus 1-2 where that is the case. I’ve seen women step up at every turn in my life. And I wonder if maybe that’s true for you too.

Because here’s something that I’ve learned to be true:

While not every woman is a Mom, many women play the role of Mom. Here’s what I mean:

I have an amazing Mom. She raised me SOOO well & I’d be lost without her. But she’s not the only woman who has made a profound impact on my life.

I could tell you story after story about the women who have spoken into my life at pivotal moments— Phyllis Hayward, Michelle Eaton, Nicole Scrivner, Nikki Killen, and Angel Magee, to name a few.

Motherhood is not a solo mission; it’s a shared calling.

Shared by birth moms, adopted moms, step-moms, foster moms, cool aunts, grandmas, big sisters, small group leaders, Sunday school teachers, coaches, mentors, teachers, and any other role that an amazing woman can fill.

I’m sure that many of you have stepped into that role… maybe in ways you don’t even realize.

As we reflect on the text from Exodus 1-2, I want to call out the five amazing women who play the role of “Mom” in Moses’s life.

It’s in Exodus 1–2 that we see the heartbeat of a Mom revealed: to protect, praise, preserve, and provide.

When I think about everyone’s favorite Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, we see that A MOM PROTECTS.

When faced with a command to carry out the genocide of Israelite boys, these two faithful midwives choose to protect life.

When confronted by the most powerful man in the world for their actions, they stand ‘ten toes down’ on their convictions.

Look, if you’ve ever spent time with a midwife, this will not surprise you. We had a midwife for both of our boys’ births and I would not mess with Marilee EVER. She scares me… in the best way possible.

So when I think of them, I think it’s clear that a Mom protects.

I spent some time hiking in Virginia recently. As we approached the trailhead, there were signs that warned that bears have been spotted in the area. And if you’ve ever spent time hiking, you know that, if you ever see a baby bear, get out of there ASAP. Because where there’s a baby bear, there’s sure to be a mama bear nearby. And if

mama thinks her baby is in danger, there’s nothing she won’t do to protect it.

It’s why there are stories of women lifting cars off of their kids or why aunts/big sisters are the scariest people to face in breakups.

Because a Mom Protects.

Then I think about Moses’s mom, Jochebed. While our hearts certainly felt a collective ache for her in this story, we don’t see her do a ton… but what she does do is so vital.

Look at what she proclaims over her son at the beginning of Exodus 2: “When she saw that he was a fine child…"

At first, we might think “DUH, of course every Mom thinks their child is amazing.”

But the context is deeper. The language used here is supposed to remind us of creation language from Genesis 1.

When God created something, he would proclaim it to be good. And when he created mankind in his image, it was VERY good.

That’s the same statement that Jochebed is echoing here. This thing that she’s played a role in creating is VERY GOOD - she knows Moses is no ordinary child.

Before Moses ever delivered Israel, before he ever parted a sea, before he ever heard the voice of God from a burning bush… his mother looked at him and declared that he was good.

Jochebed shows us that A MOM PRAISES.

She is quick to call out the good that she sees in her son. She lets him know it, even as an infant. She speaks life.

My wife, Hannah, is amazing at this. I don’t think a single day has gone by in the lives of our sons, Knox and Maverick, where she has not paused to praise and encourage them.

Are there days she didn’t feel like it? Days the boys were going insane and encouragement didn’t come easy? YUP.

But she’s quick to praise them and encourage them.

“Knox, you’re such a great big brother. Maverick, you’re so kind & smart.” She speaks life because that’s what a Mom does. A mom praises.

I haven’t forgotten Moses’s big sister, Miriam. When I think about Miriam, I think it’s clear that A MOM PRESERVES.

She watches her mom forced to do the unimaginable. But she is quick to act. She watches the basket float down the river and pounces when she sees an opportunity.

Because of Miriam, not only is Moses’s life preserved, but their family is preserved. Moses gets to spend those tender days of infancy with his family.

Miriam stepped in to guard the plan that God had already set into motion. She stayed close, watched carefully, and knew exactly when to jump into action.

When I think about the women in my life, I’ve got some preservation experts. If not for my wife, my mom, and my grandma, who would have organized holiday gatherings? Who would have made sure reconciliation happened? Who would have remembered birthdays or kept family traditions alive?

What might seem like small things are all careful and attentive ways that the women in my life have made sure family and relationships are preserved. And if not for them, where would I have ended up on the other side of brutal circumstances in life? In many ways, I am the result of their preservation.

Miriam preserved because that’s what a Mom does. A mom preserves. The final woman we see play the role of Mom in Moses’s life is Pharaoh’s Daughter.

Pharaoh’s daughter is moved with compassion for this baby. She knows right away where he’s come from. But she steps in to save him and provide for him a life that seemed impossible a few moments earlier.

In Pharaoh’s daughter, we see that A MOM PROVIDES.

This room is full of Moms who provide for those that have been entrusted to them. Whether it’s by working hard to provide financially, creating a safe home environment to grow up in, or simply being the last to eat at every single meal.

Pharaoh’s daughter provided Moses with a life beyond the cold waters of the Nile River. And his life was not one that lacked for anything. He was raised in royalty! She provided for him at every turn.

A mom provides & the Lord does the same.

And the common thread that I see in all of these women — Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam, and Pharaoh’s daughter — is that they all show great POISE and POWER.

To do what they did in the face of great danger takes some guts. It’s what they do because it’s who they are. They feared God more than Pharaoh.

That’s meaningful. That’s the difference between living safe and living faithful. A Mom protects, praises, preserves, and provides with great poise and power.

This is how we’ve often see women operate throughout history. And maybe these qualities move us so deeply, because they reflect God Himself.

God protects His children. He’s got a long track record of that.

God praises and speaks encouragement over His people. At Jesus’s baptism, the Father declared, "This is my Son, whom I love."

God preserves. Again and again throughout Scripture, when it looked like all hope was lost, God faithfully preserved His people and His promises.

And God provides. From manna in the wilderness to salvation through Jesus, our God is a provider.

Women of the Crossing, by responding faithfully to the calling that the Lord has placed on your life —to invest in those who share your DNA & those who don’t — you’re reflecting the character of God to a world in desperate need of him.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

So men — yeah that’s right, you’re not off the hook today — you need to be quick to acknowledge and praise the women that the Lord has surrounded you with.

Think about the gratitude that Moses must have felt for all of the amazing women who stepped up to protect and save him when he was his most vulnerable!

It shouldn’t take a government ordered genocide for you to step up and heap generous amounts of honor onto the women in your life — wives, mothers, sisters, aunts, and more.

I want to pause and acknowledge an elephant in the room.

Maybe your mom wasn’t great at these things, so this stings a bit. Maybe this has re opened wounds that you didn’t know were there or you didn’t know existed.

I hear you. And I’m with you.

I want to remind you that motherhood is not a solo mission. So just because your mom fell short in some or all of these ways, I know that the Lord has placed other women in your life to pick up and carry the role when it was being neglected.

In the midst of very real hurt from unmet expectations of your mother, I pray you’re able to recognize and give thanks for the women that the Lord put in your life to step in the gap.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ It’s my prayer that TODAY every woman walks out encouraged and empowered.

Encouraged by the things that others — namely the Lord — see in you. And empowered to pursue this calling on your life with everything you’ve got.

Because this calling —to protect, to praise, to preserve, to provide… It’s not a small thing. It’s not a “back burner” issue. It’s God-given, it’s divine.

In Genesis 2, the Lord sees Adam and makes a powerful claim that we all know to be true: “It is not good for man to be alone.”

And so he made woman to be a suitable helper for man — The Hebrew word, ‘ezer'.

Not a second class citizen, but a companion, a champion, a partner — a title that the Lord later applies to himself.

Your calling is to be an ezer — a partner in the work that the Lord is doing — in your home, with your people.

That’s why Andy Stanley says,

“Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something you do… but someone you raise.”

So don’t underestimate it. It’s a big deal!

Whether or not you ever raise children, your calling to help raise those in your orbit is sacred and significant.

Because the life you’re protecting… the voice you’re speaking into… the person you’re shaping right now… it’s Kingdom work.

Motherhood truly is Kingdom work.

And every time you step into that high calling, you are reflecting the very heart of God. Let’s pray.

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We’re going to move into a time of Communion. If you didn’t grab a cup on your way in, you can find them on the servers in the back of the room. If you’re joining us online, now would be a good time to grab what you need.

Names are important. When we were naming our boys, we took careful attention to the meanings of their names

Our oldest son is Knox. He just turned four this week. His name gives the image of a hilltop, communicates something being steady & unmoving. That’s been my prayer for him over the course of his life.

Our youngest son is Maverick. He turned two a few weeks ago. His name means “the one who does not conform”. So Romans 12:2 has been our prayer over his life.

In our text for this morning, we see another baby boy receive a meaningful name. We’re told that the name Moses means “I drew him out of the water”… which is literally what happened to him.

Communion is a time, each week, when I’m reminded of my own baptism. Which made me wonder… is that the nickname that the Lord has given each of us?

“I drew him out of the water. I drew her out of the water.”

I was one way, but then the Lord stepped in to save me. My baptism is the moment I was united with Him completely. And he drew me up out of that water, raised to walk in newness of life.

From what I hear, that’s been happening around here a lot lately. Check this out. [BAPTISM VIDEO]

I think we’ve got a lot of Moseses walking around here.

And what a beautiful nickname that is. He drew us out of the water.

Psalm 40 says:

He picked me up & he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

May that be our response this morning.

Let’s take Communion together.