A Mother’s Day Message Given By:
Pastor Stephen Galvano
Rochester Christian Church Ministries International
Today I want to speak about the Biblical Women’s Hall of Fame. I know many of you deserve to be there, but yet recognize that the Bible does not mention all the women. Some are nameless women. But yet they performed wonderfully in the Kingdom. That’s why the writer of Hebrews 11, when he could not put all the names down, wrote, “…and others.” You might be one of those that fit into the category, “and others.” The world might never know you, and the newspaper may never write anything about you. You may not be on television. You probably won’t write a book, but God put you on the list of “and others” whom the world was not worthy even to hear the names. But because of your labor of love and your testimonial for your children, you family and your community, today from my heart I want to honor all the mothers of RCCM, those who are here and those who are not here. I’m speaking on behalf the eldership. We love you mothers. Jesus loves you too.
The Bible in Isaiah 54:1: “‘Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not travailed with child! For more are the children of the barren than the children of the married woman,’ says the Lord.”
Let’s now look at II John 1: “To the elect Lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth.”
And lastly, let’s look at Proverbs 30:15-16: “The leech has two daughters crying Give and Give. There are three things that are never satisfied. Four never say, ‘It is enough.’ The grave, the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied with water—And the fire that never says, ‘It is enough.’”
Father, we thank you this morning for your presence. Thank you for your blessings. Let fire fall upon every one of us, I pray Oh God. Fulfill Your purpose in every mother here today, Oh God. Even those who feel, “What’s the use of living?” I pray, Oh God, today, that this will be a new day for them. They will be revived. There will be a rebirth in their spirit in the Name of Jesus. Grant to them, even when they feel barren, fruit for the Glory of God and their good, in Jesus’ Name.
All these Scriptures point to the “elect lady.” I like the New Testament teaching when the Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, addresses the church as the “elect lady.” I don’t know how you feel about yourself today, whether you are married or single, or single by choice, or not single by choice. God has a purpose for your life. And I want you to know that because God has a purpose for your life, you are not where you are because of any mistake. God has everything under His control. And God has spared you probably from some headaches and pain in your life. I’m speaking even today for some of you that are waiting for the right man to come into your life. It’s not your timing and God is saying to you, “Hold on. I have everything under control.” I believe it’s God’s will. Don’t run, and don’t push, and don’t make things happen. When we do try to make things happen, it will never work out. God knows exactly where you are. God knows your “Adam” in your life. When God gives you your “Adam”, you can count on that man to faithful until death.
Here we find in the Book of Proverbs a powerful teaching, and the teaching is this. It is not normal for a woman to be barren. And I believe that God is about to raise up an army from pure barrenness. God is about to raise up an army (and this includes men) from pure barrenness. There’s a Scripture in Song of Solomon 4:16 in which it says, “Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden…” When the Bible speaks of the north wind, it speaks of destruction. When the north wind blows, trust me, this is a tornado. And the north wind takes away everything except the foundation. And then it doesn’t stop there. Because after the north wind blows, he pauses for moment, and then, the south wind will blow upon my garden. That way whatever you have planted through my life will be able to grow. Some of us feel that God has sent the north wind. He has taken the superstructure above you, and only the foundation is left behind. A house that was given to our daughter church a few months ago burned this past week. I went to see it and found that is was burned to the ground. But the foundation is still there. A lot can be built upon that foundation.
Let me say as I begin this message, you might feel that the superstructure and all the rooms have been taken away from you. But you still have your foundation, and this second time around God will build the way He wants to build. Not the way you or me want to build. That’s why God sent the north wind. Don’t ever curse the north wind, because God sent the north wind. But I thank God that the answer is not that the north wind has come, but blow on my garden O south wind! The south wind is gentle. It brings heat and fruit. And church, I believe God is about to blow the south wind upon our lives. Praise God! God is about to do that.
You see God is about to raise us up. He wants to produce in us what He wants us to be. The water, the grave, the barren womb, the fire—all these four say, “It is not enough.” Some of the greatest women in the Bible that God used were all barren. God takes the nothing and makes something right out of their nothingness. God can take barrenness, emptiness, void, disaster, north wind, and then He can send a holy wind and say, “It is My time now.” When the world might say, even when your family says, even when your bank says, “You are done; you are finished; your life is over”, God says, “No, honey, I’m sending the south wind, and the south wind will produce that which I want to produce.” And God today wants to produce in His church, not what we have built; not what we thought was God’s will, but His perfect will. God is saying, “I’m tired of your programs. I want to destroy the superstructure of every church. I want to send the north wind. That way, the south wind will blow in it.” Praise God. I thank God for that. You know, people feel sorry for me. But, don’t feel sorry for me. I’m in my prime and I’m so happy for what God has done in my life. He did send the north wind, but I tell you I’m enjoying this stage of my life. I’m enjoying the south wind! Praise God forever. The south wind is coming for everyone in this room. Only God, no man nor woman, no husband nor wife, no teacher nor pastor, no leadership, nobody, only God can bring fruitfulness out of barrenness. Praise Him!
The water, the water—how many of you have been to the Mississippi River? It flows and gathers water from everywhere. Have you been to South America? When we were there, we saw the Amazon. Big ships flow into this huge river, but the water never rises an inch. It is never satisfied. Many rivers flow into the Amazon River, but yet the river is never satisfied. It says, “Give me more water; give me more water!” I was blessed to spend some time at the Ganges River in India. What about the Nile in Africa? And how many lakes do we enjoy in our nation? Never once do you hear them say, “I’m satisfied.” Rather, they say, “Give me more; give me more.”
What about the fire? It burns and burns and burns forever, and never says, “I have too many houses; I have too many trees; I have too many forests.” The fire is never satisfied. And what about the hungry grave? Some of you need to go to Luxembourg in Belgium. How many precious American soldiers are there. You look at all the white crosses. There are thousands and thousands of graves. Not once has anyone heard, “Don’t give me any more of your sons or your daughters. I want more and more.” The graves are never satisfied.
And then there is the barren woman. The barren woman never says, “It is enough.” Some of you this morning might say, “We have no hope. We are barren. We have been dreaming and praying and waiting. We’re still empty. We still are barren.” When are we going to see the Hand of God upon our empty hearts? Our dreams and desires are not yet met. The barren womb is the most hopeless of all. You see, fire is a natural phenomenon. Fire happens. Water is a natural phenomenon. The grave also; people are appointed once to die. But the barren woman is unnatural. It’s not the will of God. Barren is not what God wants His people to be. We can put up with the fire; we can put up with the water; we can accept dying. But barrenness in a woman is not natural. Like a barren church—if the gospel is preached, you expect to bring forth children. It’s not normal or natural for a church to be barren. Yet, in the most unnatural situation, God can do the impossible. This morning you might be men and women, brothers and sisters, youth, young people, even children, you may be in a spiritually barren situation. Things are not working for you. Things are not happening the way you were told they would happen to you. Nothing is growing. Whatever you touch is not going anywhere. Prayers are not being answered. The harvest is not coming in. The more you give, it seems the more broke you are. And the more you pray for healing, the sicker you get. The more you pray for your family, none of them are coming to the cross. What is happening? But I promise you, and I believe with all my heart that when you get yourself in the perfect will of God with both feet in Christ (not one here and one there), and you walk a straight and narrow path with your mind renewed by the Word of God and walking in obedience to His Word, I promise you that whatever promise God has made you, regardless how barren you are physically or spiritual, God will intervene. God will intervene; He has to. This is God’s character. He will intervene. Praise God.
Every time God did something miraculous or impossible in bringing forth a son or a servant to do His work, He always used the impossible. If you search the Scriptures, you will find out that God always used the impossible. God takes a nobody from the ground, raises you up, puts a call upon your life, and the call is nurtured, prayed up, watered, hands laid upon you and the commitment is made. Before you know it, God, out of that nobody, does the impossible. In looking at the Scriptures when God was about to bring forth the son of the promise, He never used what was possible. Do you know what He used? He always used barrenness. He always used the impossible. He used the ridiculous. Why? Because God is a big show off. I’m not saying this sacrilegiously. God is God, and He wants all the glory and all the honor. The moment we say, “I did it,” God says, “I will take it away.” He uses that which is impossible. Praise the Name of the Lord!
I. When you want a new son, you don’t go to the ground for it. The ground, the earth only has seed for weed or trees, or for fruit. But when it comes to life, the earth doesn’t have any seed for children. So when you and your wife want to have a child, you don’t go as God went. When God created Adam He said, “I want to show my creation that I do the impossible.” So He went in his backyard and used some ground and made a man in His image. God gave a son through an impossible situation. No one has ever done it since God did it. With all the science and technology, and all the smarts that we have in these last days, no one has ever been able to produce a man from the ground. But God wanted to show His creation. “I can do the impossible. I am God and I do whatever I please. I’m sovereign. Whatever I say, whatever I touch, you don’t have to understand it; but believe Me and receive it.” And from barren earth a son came forth. Praise the name of the Lord!
II. Then God decided to give the earth the Son of Promise, he did not go to Hollywood to choose the best looking lady. He did not use a movie star. He didn’t choose an Elizabeth Taylor, or a Gina Lollabridgida or a Sophia Loren. No, do you know where God went? He looked for a dried up, wrinkled up old woman whose body was a dead as a doorknob, and he chose Sarah. Glory to God! The impossible, the impossible – He used Sarah, and an old Abraham. Abraham might have been a man of faith, but he was not in his prime to produce a son. You know that! God said to them, “I am going to give you that which I promised out of that which is impossible, and because I am God, I can do whatever I wish.” So, God brings forth His promise of redemption through a barren woman, which was naturally impossible. And the son’s name was Isaac (which means laughter.) God does that. That’s our God. That’s our Jesus. That’s the Holy Spirit!
III. When God decided to give the earth it’s first prophet, he went and found the wife of Elkanah. Her name was Hannah. She went and laid her head at the altar. She lay there day in and day out. Day in and day out, a woman of intercession; a woman of prayer; a woman who wanted children. She lies there. Halleluiah! She lies there because she knows she is barren. Then this heavy, fat priest, (which I believe is the type of the overdone, religious system in our churches), who produced lazy, belligerent sons, comes to her and rebukes her and says, “What is the matter with you?” Why are you so angry and praying as though you deserve what you want?” Oh no, no! The Bible says, “The Kingdom of God suffers violence and only violent will take it by force.” A representative of the old religious system tells the woman of God, Hannah, “Don’t be drunk about your conviction. Go along with our religious system. You don’t have to have children. Enjoy your husband’s wives children. Be happy with second best. Be happy with God’s permissive will.” The same is being told to today’s intercessor. But Hannah says, “No, no, I want God’s perfect will for my life. I’m barren and I’m embarrassed. I want a son for myself. I want to give life. I want to birth something for God!” Halleluiah! And the prophet again said, “Come on Hannah, don’t be so overly zealous.” Do you get the point? Don’t be concerned about your barrenness. Hannah looks at him with respect. We need to look at the man of God with respect. And she says, “Sir, I don’t care what you tell me. I want sons, and I will never be satisfied until this barren womb brings forth a child. I will not be satisfied. I want a son.” The Bible says, out of the impossible, God put a seed in her through Elkanah in a miraculous way. In her old age, she conceived a child. And it was the prophet Samuel. The Bible says that for forty years, whenever he spoke, not a word of his prophecy fell to the ground. Every word he spoke came to pass because he was God’s son through a barren woman, to whom the world said, “You cannot do it; you cannot have children.” But she said to the Lord, “I want a son. I want a child.” Give the Lord praise!
IV. When God wanted to give the earth the manifestation, the power and the evidence of His mighty Holy Spirit, he did it through a barren woman. Leah gave her husband children every nine months. But there was Rachel saying, “God, Leah got it all!” Rachel, the beloved of Jacob, stood for motherhood. She stood for the promise for the children of Israel. The Bible says she was old, but before she died, God opened up her womb and gave her two children. The first one was Joseph. He was a type of the early church. He wore the coat of many colors representing the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit; representing the early church and the later church and the power of the Holy Ghost that would fall upon the church. Then right before Rachel dies, by a supernatural miracle, God gave her a second son. The Bible says that as she was delivering this son, she was dying. And the midwife that was helping to deliver the baby said, “Rachel, Rachel, a baby boy is born. What shall we call him? And she said, “Call him Ben-Oni, the son of my sorrow.” But as she pronounced these words, Jacob runs in and says, “Oh, honey, I loved you; I loved you from the beginning. I know I could not give you all the sons you wanted, but this son is not the son of sorrow, but rather the son of my blessing.” Glory to God! “Don’t call him Ben-Oni. Call him Benjamin which means son of my right hand.” He represents fruitfulness.
You may think that what is happening today in the church is a disaster. Look at the sin. Look at the people. They are cold or lukewarm. They are not testifying. They are not praying or giving. God is shaking His church. I’m glad about what is happening to the church today. God is about to raise up His virgin church, not just any church. God is about to build up, raise up and choose a virgin church. Oh God, I want to be one of them. Halleluiah! Why? Because those of us that really love God, out of our barrenness God can give us sons like Benjamin that will wake up the church. The type of church that God is about to raise up is not going to come from a Bible college. It will not come from a worldly church. It will not come from the world’s system, but will come from a church without spot or wrinkle. It’s coming from the perfect will of God. Men and women who are willing to deny themselves, take up their cross, hear God and follow the footsteps of the Master saying, “Lord, not my will by Your will be done, Oh God. I want to be your virgin church.” Give God praise. Glory to the Lamb of God! God in these last days is tired of dry religious services. He’s tired of people speaking words with nothing following it. But God is looking for a church that will stand like Peter who said, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give unto you in the name of Jesus. Rise up and walk.” Miracles, signs and wonders will happen. “God, give us a Benjamin!” Make us fruitful!
V. When God wanted to show the earth His miraculous strength, his mighty greatness and a mighty witness, and also to show the church, the world and the devil that God has the last word, He chose out of 750 women, a woman who whose name does not even appear in the Bible. You don’t have to have your name in the newspaper to be a good mother. You are the mother that God has called you to be. You keep it up. Pray, fast, love, give and God will choose you. God chose the wife of Manoah, and she had Samson from barrenness to show the enemy, the Philistines, that God’s power is greater than any man, principality or wicked demons. I’ve seen a wife, a woman, a sister, and a mother pray when the doctor said, “I cannot do anything for your son. The fever is over 105°, he’s burning; put him under cold water”; I’ve seen God answer that mother’s prayer when He would not even answer my prayer. God will answer a mother’s prayer when she whispers, “Jesus, Jesus.” And nobody will even know who she is. But God knows! Halleluiah. Nobody knew this wife of Manoah. But she bore Samson who is a type of God’s will. Listen mothers—your son or your daughter might go astray. They might go on drugs, alcohol, an immoral life or crimes, but if you pray you will have the last word. You will have the last word! This is the type of Samson. His mother knew he went down and down because of the prostitutes and harlots in his life. But when strength came back to him, he did more in one act than any other because of his mother’s prayers. This nameless lady, the wife of Manoah, the one whose name nobody knew, is in the Hall of Fame in God’s heaven. She tells the world, “World, you will not believe what God has told me to do, but I want you to know that God will have the last word.” Praise the name of the Lord!
VI. When God decided to bring forth upon the face of the earth redemption, he will choose one who will be the forerunner of the Messiah. He will be the voice of our Redeemer, who will bring the high places low. He will bring the low places high. Halleluiah. He will make the crooked way straight. He will build bridges in the wilderness where no man could go, and he was able to be the forerunner. God would choose an old lady, the wife of a pastor, the wife of a minister who stood with her husband in the temple serving God. My heart goes out for pastors. They labor; they pray; they believe. Sometimes what they speak over people never comes to them. Here we find a couple serving God, and the wife was barren. But God said, “Honey, I want to choose you. You are going to bring forth a John the Baptist. He will be the announcer; he will be the one who will go forth announcing the way of My Beloved Son, the Redeemer of the world.” Elizabeth stood on the doorsteps of the temple, praying day and night. She wanted to have a child, but yet was never desperate. She prayed, “Here I am, Oh God. I’m barren; I don’t want to be barren, but Your will be done.” God always hears these types of prayers. Praise the name of the Lord!
Lastly, when God decided to bring forth Jesus, he would use the most impossible way. If you are barren, there could be a miracle. You have a husband that will help you somehow! But God would use the most impossible. The only time in the universe from the time of creation, to the end of the ages, he would use a virgin to bring forth the Messiah. You say, “But why would God use a virgin?” Mary was an average young lady, and she loved God. She had a good mother and father, and she was taught the Bible, the Old Testament. And I believe Mary, as a young girl, would walk the town and see a blind man. She would say, “Oh God, this man is blind. What can I do for him? If I had an extra pair of eyes, I would give him my eyes.” “What about this man who cannot walk. He has no legs. I wish I could give him my legs.” Or she would see a man who was hearing impaired, could not hear or speak, and she would say, “I wish I could give him my ears or my mouth.” Then one day the angel appears, “Mary, Mary, I’m not going to give you double eyes or double feet, I’m going to give you a Jesus! But not out of a man, I’m going to give you Jesus supernaturally. The whole world will call you blessed.” Halleluiah. Glory to God!
God, give us Jesus! Give us Jesus! Thank you, Father. God is looking for another woman. But it is not someone condensed in one body. It’s not in one member, but in the whole body. The reason we do the World Ministry Conference is to build the body of believers, because I believe God is about to give the world a woman, but not any woman. God is about to give the world a virgin church. God is looking for that virgin church in these last days. He will use the foolish and the unlearned. He will use the humble and the meek, because this type of church will come not from the worldly religious system. It will not come from a religious organization. It will not come from the new age movement or from Washington. It will not come from Albany or anywhere in Mecca or Springfield, Missouri, but this church will be men and women who have been broken before God. They will say, “God, God, I’m barren! I want You. I want You to fill me.” Praise the name of the Lord!
This virgin church that God is about to give the world, will come out of the dust and the ashes, out of absolute barrenness. Who will say, “God, I am barren? Lord, I’m so empty. Father, go ahead and take me as I am. Barren. Void. Hurting. Rejected. Lonely. Make me the way You want me to be God. Take my simple foundation and use me as I am. I don’t have to have a degree. I don’t have to have whatever it takes. Lord, take my heart and use me as your virgin church.” No wonder the prophet prophesied for all men and women, “Sing O barren, Sing O barren.” Sing O barren, that more may be God’s children. Sing. Sing unto the Lord. Halleluiah! Father, we are Your church. It might not be big in the sight of the world. It might not be powerful. It might not be the richest or the most famous. But Lord, we are barren. We come to You, only to You, the One who can out of barrenness bring forth fruitfulness. We open ourselves up to You. Take our barren way of life and put in us Your seed. Receive God’s seed right now, only God’s seed. God says, “I know all about you. Become barren and I will fill you. Become barren and I will give you what you need. Become barren and I will give you the Samson’s; I will give you the Samuel’s; I will give you the John the Baptist’s. I will give you all that you need. Become barren.”
We are grateful to all you mothers. Don’t you ever think for a moment that your present condition determines your future condition. That’s a lie. Remember that. In your present condition God is saying, “Honey, I’m still working on you, and out of your barrenness, I will conceive in you, and I will give you the Joseph and the Benjamin and the Moses and the Joshua, and the Jesus that you need.” Give glory and praise to God! Halleluiah!
Pastor Stephen Galvano
Rochester Christian Church Ministries International
www.rccm.org