R1688 Incredible Women

God has an encouraging word for you and me today, through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton, as we head to the book of Exodus chapter 1.

Now the word incredible is used often in our day, but today Dr. Don Wilton chooses incredible women as his topic. We'll be headed to Exodus in just a moment to study God's encouraging word together, but Dr. Don wants me to let you know we are here to encourage you as well. We can do that on our website right now at www.tewonline.org, where you'll discover great resources, including the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don.

It's absolutely free, and you can sign up on our website right now, www.tewonline.org. Sign up today, and within the next 24 to 48 hours, you'll receive this word of encouragement in your email box every single day. Now, let's open God's Word with Dr. Don Wilton. I'm going to invite you today to do business with God. I'm not going to ask you today to do business with your church or with your affiliation.

I'm not going to come before you today and present to you the court of public opinion. I simply want to come and share with you the Word of the living God through the heart of two incredible women, and I invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Exodus in chapter 1. I'm going to begin reading at verse 6 of Exodus chapter 1 because something happened that began to change everything. The Bible says, Then Joseph died and all his brothers and all that generation, but the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly. They multiplied and they grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them. And then someone else got elected, rose to power.

Verse 8, the Bible says, Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of Israel are far too many, and they are too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply. And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh's store cities in Pithom and Rameses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of God. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves. And they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and all kinds of work in the field.

In all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shipra and the other one, Puah. He said, When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew woman and you see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him.

But if it is a daughter, she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them. But let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this?

And let the male children live. The midwives said to Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them. So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

But Pharaoh commanded all his people, every son that is born to the Hebrews, you shall cast into the Nile, but shall let every daughter live. This is a remarkable story. Just to help us understand this somewhat today and to bless us. First of all, let's consider their context. They were used so mightily of the Lord. So here are three things about their context about these two women, these two mothers, and the Bible tells us one of the blessings that came upon them as a result is that God blessed them, gave to them their own families and they were exceedingly blessed.

But three things here. First of all, they lived with past realities. They knew who they were, where they came from and what they stood for. You didn't have to go and explain to these ladies the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. They understood that, but they understood the reality of their circumstance. They knew the history, they knew how they had gotten there. They knew that they were under bondage, they were in slavery, but they also understood the story of Joseph, that God had brought Joseph and raised him up and through the influence of Joseph and his household, there was a measure of blessing that was brought upon these people even in their bondage, in their difficulty.

Well, the time came that that all changed. So the second thing is they feared present injustices because the Bible says Joseph died and all those who were part of the influence of his court, they moved on. This was a different day and age and there arose in Egypt a new Pharaoh and he looked around and what did he see? So they not only had to fear the present injustices, these people lived in perpetual fear. They were being brutalized. There's no telling what they were suffering from.

Historians tell us that literally thousands of Israelite slaves died every day just in construction and human life was very cheap and in the midst of that, these people living with the past realities of where they came from mixed in with the blessings that they had. They feared the present injustices and now they began to seriously tremble with future impossibilities. Why was the future impossible to them? Because they were God fearers, that's why. It was non-negotiable to them.

These two ladies trembled. They were afraid because of future impossibilities. They knew what they were facing. It was an impossible impasse to them as God fearers. So what was their challenge?

What was their challenge? Their challenge was governed by their fear of God. I love verse 17. If I were to recommend two verses for you to consider and to take home to write in your heart, it would be verse 17 and then verse 20. Verse 17, but the midwives feared God. The midwives feared God.

Do people look at us as believers and have to look no further than our fear of God? Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message from Dr. Don Wilton on Incredible Women. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here to encourage you personally anytime, both on the phone and on the website. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD, a great place to know that you can be prayed for anytime.

Even at 2 a.m. in the morning, Dr. Don says we need some 2 a.m. friends. We'd love to pray with you and for you, but it's also a conduit to powerful resources that will help you grow in your faith and strengthen your witness. As a matter of fact, if you visit us on our website right now, TEWONLINE.ORG, you'll discover this remarkable resource about what it is to be a powerful witness in the 21st century. You may have heard of Chuck Colson, a friend of Dr. Wilton's who is with Jesus now. But over the past 20 plus years, I've had the privilege of being in prisons, at least a dozen or more prisons every summer along with students and then another dozen or more students along with senior adults.

And we pray that that will resume soon. But this prison ministry connected us with Chuck Colson years ago, and this partnership right now is represented in a wonderful resource. Here are the details on this very special resource that could help you grow in a powerful way as you are a witness for Jesus. Jesus Christ is the final authority. He is the only standard by which Christians should live their lives.

He's the only solution to everything that we face in life. As you give a gift of support to the encouraging word this month, you will receive the message. The final authority by Dr. Don Wilton, along with the bonus book, My Final Word, holding tight to the issues that matter most by Chuck Colson. These resources will equip you with the assurance and reliance and knowing the power of the God you serve. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today.

Now let's dive back into today's message, Incredible Women with Dr. Don Wilton. Do people look at us as believers and have to look no further than our fear of God? What does it mean they feared God? That word evokes a lot of things, doesn't it?

The picture you get is standing back, hiding. In a sense, there is a reality in that. Because God is the God of justice. His righteousness is, in fact, the invocation of his justice against all unrighteousness. And the Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom. Fearing God means that you know who God is.

He's the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And these two ladies, they feared God because they had seen him. They knew him. They trusted him. They took him at his word. They believed in him. And so they submitted to him. They feared God. This was their challenge.

Their challenge was governed by their relationship with God. I'm a Christian man. I love holidays. And I love good food. And I love football.

And I love going fishing. And I love my church. And I really love my wife. And I love my grandkids. And I love my own children. And I just love everything. And I just enjoy life. But I want you to know something, folks. The bottom line is that I fear God. I'm happy that you know a little bit about me. But what I do want you to know is that the Lord Jesus Christ is everything to me. And what he says is.

I don't need the government of the United States of America to tell me about the value of life or whether or not I have the right to choose. Because I fear God. I look at these two ladies and I'm in awe. Their challenge was governed by their fear of God. Their challenge was confronted by the question of the king. It was a confrontation. The king came to them, to these two ladies, to Shipra and to Puah and said, Ladies, here is what you will do.

That's a confrontation. An unrighteous world confronts the righteousness of God. But those who fear God are those who take their stand in the presence of a holy and a righteous God. They were confronted by the question of the king. But their challenge, thirdly, was carried by the God of all kings.

I love verse 19 and verse 20 because the Bible tells us in verse 20, so God dealt well with these midwives. Now he gave them the means to be able to get out of the direct question they were asked in their context. And this Pharaoh was so dumb he didn't understand childbirth anyway.

They gave the answer. God provided for them in their context. They just looked at Pharaoh and said, Listen, these Hebrew women you're talking about that are delivering children. You've got to understand you've turned them into slaves. They're out there. They're working in the fields.

They're carrying their laborers. They don't have time for all the paraphernalia and all the pampering of the royalty of your office, Pharaoh. These ladies begin to expect their little ones and they just birth them long before midwives can get them. Pharaoh looked at her and said, Oh, dummy. You know, God can turn the most powerful ruler into the biggest dummy you've ever seen. God can silence the greatest mouth.

He can overturn the longest legislation. God can reverse anything because he's God. And in this case, all he needed was two young ladies who knew who they were in the presence of a holy and a righteous God. So what do these women teach us?

May I suggest to you five things. This is what God has put in my heart to share with you. What do these two? This one called Beautiful and this other one called Mouth, Shipra and Puah.

We don't know if Puah was Miriam, but it's awfully likely that she was. Why did God use them? Why does God put them here in the Bible?

Why, why are they front and center in the story? You know, I do that all the time when I study the word of God, I'll come across something and I keep saying why? Why, why is that there? Why did God say that? Why is this necessary?

I'd much rather just jump over some things in the Bible. I mean, why mention them? Why call them by name? Why has he got to put this in?

Why is this event in? Why does it have to be included in Scripture? Why does he use these incredible women at the point of such a divide, at the point of life and death?

Why? Five things these women teach us. Number one, I think they really teach us what it means to fear God. At verse 17, it's so stark, but the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them.

You know how significant that is? Honor the Lord your God. What question is God asking you today? To what extent people do we know and fear and trust the Lord Jesus? Who are we known as? Do we quote often and say my church says or do we say my God says? Do we ever use the term well in my opinion? I think so because I find myself saying that every day.

Well, in my opinion. What do these women teach us? To fear God, love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.

It's beautiful. You know, I look back today personally in my own family and I see my beautiful Karen Ann and I think about all the days, all the fun, all the travel all over the world and one thing I know about my wife, the mother of my children, it seems to me that everything she ever did or said about me or about the children came out of her fear of God. There was more times in our life that I can tell you that had it been left up to me, that's the direction we would have gone.

But Karen feared God and what he determined meant it was this way, not that way. Second thing these women perhaps teach us is to value life. I'm not so sure that this is a story about civil disobedience. This is a story about the value of life. I've often said to myself, well what if Moses had been killed according to the command of Pharaoh? Then one thinks about how God took that little one and translated into Moses life to become this incredible leader. It brought such great credit to the heart of this God whom they feared with all their heart, soul and mind. What do these women teach us? They teach us to do the right thing. There was no compromise with them and this is very radical. They didn't try and find an alternative.

This was black and white to them. No, we don't and we will not do that. I think they teach us what it means to do the right thing. Mothers are like that, aren't they? Many of you guys will identify with me how many times our mothers, if they could have just seen the light and done it the way we thought it should be done.

No. Listen, when I got married I came out of a home with only boys. Did you know there's even a right way to sit at the table and eat properly? There are a lot of right things to do.

I learned the hard way very quickly, but I'm so glad that I did. But when it comes to the things of God, there's some things that you need to do right now. Do what is right in the eyes of God. Number four, I think that these women teach us to stand strong, to stand strong.

Despite the opposition, in their case, despite the threat of death, despite all of these things. I pray for our young people today especially. I pray for our world, I pray for you and I pray for me. I pray for the church, I pray for us, I pray for our school, our school boards. I pray for so many of our godly elected officials. Friends, we've got some incredible men and women serving in our state legislature and in Washington that are God-fearers, they're doing the right thing and they're standing strong. I'm so grateful, grateful even in our own city for incredible ministries like the Carolina Pregnancy Center, for churches like ours.

It's the time. We the people of God, what do these women teach us? To fear God, to value life, to do the right thing, to stand strong but there's one more and I just put this down. To follow hard after God. There are all kinds of scripts that we could have written about these ladies but they followed hard after God, didn't they?

And I love verse 20, so God dealt will with the midwives. My friend, God wants to bless you. Knowing the Lord Jesus personally, it's not about being a member of a church. It's not about all the things that we put, it's a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. What powerful preaching and teaching from Dr. Don Wilton today. It's our prayer that you've heard not just the wonderful South African brogue of Dr. Wilton, but you've heard the voice of God through the servant of God, through the word of God. God is using this broadcast to let you know that he loves you and he has a plan for your life.

It's a good plan and it's an opportunity for you to not only have this purpose here on earth today, but also to have a place in heaven with him forever. If you would like to give your life to Jesus Christ, to turn your life around, I would love to lead you in a simple prayer. You can repeat after me or just say me to God as we pray together. Lord, we know that our sin has separated us from you and so we turn our back on our sin. Lord, we take our hands off the wheel and ask you to guide us and direct us, Lord. Jesus, we believe you are the son of God. We believe you died on the cross, were buried and raised from the grave, and Lord, we want that new life in you. Show us, Jesus, how to follow you. Thank you, Lord, that you give us this new beginning, even if we have been a part of your family and straightaway. Thank you, Lord, for welcoming us home. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. If you've prayed along with us today, perhaps in your heart or even out loud, you need to know that God knows your heart. And we would love to rejoice in that decision, and Dr. Wilton has some free resources he wants you to have so call us and let us know about your decision to give your life to Christ for the first time or rededicate your life to Jesus. You call us at 866-899-WORD and we'll send these information pieces right out to you. Again, our phone number is 866-899-9673. You can meet us on our website, tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org or just write to Dr. Wilton. He loves to get those emails letting us know how God is using the ministry in your life. His email is don at tewonline.org. That's don at tewonline.org. We would love to hear from you, to encourage you. We believe the best is yet to be.