Mothers Day: Built By Grace | Ps Joslyn Sundar

Good morning to everyone to our church

family here this morning. It is a joy

and privilege to stand before you on

this special day. And before I begin,

I'd like to acknowledge and honor our

lead pastors who you saw on the on the

video earlier on, pastors Miles and

Bonnie who have encouraged and entrusted

me to speak today. I thank them to for

their leadership this morning and

providing this platform to share what

God has placed on my heart. I also want

to share love to my family here this

morning, my husband and my children. Um,

thank you for allowing me to walk into

my motherhood capacity this morning.

Sometimes it has been good, the days

have been good and it also has come with

a bad and ugly days and um, I'm being

honest. Um, you are such a crucial part

of my motherhood and my journey and I

love you guys dearly. I also want to

remember my mom today. She would have

finished church now in Fiji and gone

home, but mom and dad would be home now.

But I remember her and some of the

things that I remember about my mom is

that she taught me to live by faith. She

also taught me to have a prayer life.

Everything goes before God in prayer.

And um I love the way that she has

honored God with her giving. And she has

always encouraged me to give into God's

house, give wherever I can, and be a

generous person.

So um I want to thank mom for that. I

also want to do a few thank yous here in

the church. We have got lots of women

pastors, leaders and volunteers who

serve so faithfully in this house. God

sees you. God values you and honors

everything that you bring to our church

community.

Yes. Why not? And then directly to all

the women and ladies in the house. To

every mother, every grandmother, every

expectant mom, every spiritual mother

and every nurturer in the room today, we

recognize a divine assignment.

Motherhood whether it is natural or

spiritual is one of the clearest

reflection clearest reflections of God's

heart. And it's God's heart in action.

And that's what I love about it. We also

acknowledge that this day carries many

emotions. Joy for some, but grief and

longing for the others. Now, God is not

distant from your pain. And I want to

encourage you that he's present right

there in it. So whether you're raising

children, covering others in prayer,

mentoring quietly, carrying love in a

season that may feel empty, heaven sees

you, heaven values you, and heaven

honors you.

So, I'm just going to start today with

um an introduction called The Jar of

Secrets. It is about a lady called Arena

Sandler. So, in the darkness of World

War II, a Polish social worker named

Arena Sandler, she risked her life and

smuggled 2,500

Jewish children out of the Warsaw

ghetto. She placed many of them after

she had smuggled them of course in con

convents and Catholic orphanages. She

utilized her position to not only

smuggle children but she wrote their

real and new names on strips of paper

and placed them inside jars burying them

under a tree so that their identities

wouldn't be lost and they will be

remembered and reunited with family and

their heritage later.

Ireina was building an arc of protection

for these children. She wasn't related

to them by blood at all. But we can all

agree that she was a mother to them all

by hope and by grace. Today we also sit

in a room full of women who like Arena

are bearing jars of prayer and

intercession for the next generation and

claiming their spiritual identity. And

we honor you for that.

Genesis 1:27 says that so God created

Genesis 1:27

mankind in his own image. In the image

of God he created them male and female

he created them. The scripture confirms

that you carry women a specific

reflection of God's heart and he

purposed you from the beginning of time

in his image for his calling. So whether

you are raising a family or protecting a

community, you are more precious than

rubies here in this house. Proverbs

Proverbs 31:10

31:10. Can you turn around and tell

somebody you're more precious than

rubies.

All right. My message today is titled

Built by Grace. Now before we look at um

what I'm going to speak about, we look

at four biblical blueprints.

I want to share the heart behind this

word. Often we focus on the to-do list

of womanhood, the chores, the

multitasking and many more things that

we think of doing as women. But the

heart of this sermon is not about what

we have to do, what we have to do this

week or what we are called to do all the

time by our titles, but it is your

design. Today, let's think about your

design. So you were intentional when you

were born and you were designed in the

image of God. So this is a realignment

of your value in not what you do today

but in whose you are. And God has built

you in a unique capacity to protect to

carry and to lead. So as we look at

these four blueprints today, let's ask

the Holy Spirit which one am I in this

season?

So blueprint number one is called

protect your destiny. Um I'm going to

read Exodus 2. Now a man of the pride of

Levi mar 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. 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. If you haven't guessed

this woman by now, yes, she is the

mother of Moses and her name was Joabed.

So this woman, Joabed, the mother of

Moses, she refused to surrender baby

Moses to the fear and oppression

surrounding her generation. And the fear

and oppression was that every boy child

that was born to the Israelites was to

be killed. Pharaoh didn't want them to

grow in number or in strength.

So when I saw a hopeless situation, she

discerned the hand of God upon his life,

Moses's life in faith. Let's hear this

out. She carefully prepared a basket.

She waterproofed it like moms do very

carefully and act um covered it for

protection and released baby Moses into

the Nile, not as an act of abandonment,

but an act of radical trust in God's

sovereign power. She could have let her

her son be killed otherwise because

obviously there was no way out but she

chose to do it in another way. She chose

to protect her son.

Joabed understood that while she could

not control the river, she could entrust

her child to the God who controls the

current. Some of you are building a home

of prayer, a godly foundation, or you

are protecting a promise that God has

placed in your hands. It may feel feel a

bit hidden and unnoticed today, but what

you build in faith and obedience, God

will preserve. He'll position you and

he'll use it for your divine purpose.

Maybe you're a mom quietly having to

release your children to school each

day, not knowing what the day might be

for them. How about when the kids grow

up and they go to uni and you have no

control over what's going to happen from

the journey from the time they leave

home? What about when you don't have

direct control over them because they

have moved out of home and they have

grown up into the world. What about

finances being tight? As a woman,

sometimes you are the minister of

finance in your own home. So finances

could be tight. Work is demanding and

life is full. But every morning yet you

wake up, you are on your knees with your

Bible open. You pray over your children

by name. You speak life into your home.

You choose patience and perseverance

when you are exhausted. How about this?

You show up to church when it is easier

some days not to. So you are in this

moment weaving baskets of values,

prayer, and character around your

children, trusting that those internal

foundations will keep them afloat when

the currents are strong.

God doesn't stop the river here. He

anoints what you built in faith to

survive the river. Let's look at our

blueprint number two. It is watchful

Miriam. Not far from the from Moses's

household, this time we see Moses's

sister. His sister stood at a distance

to see what would happen to him in

Exodus 2:4. Isn't that really nice to

Exodus 2:4

see the sister's care about the little

brothers? And he she was right there.

And I also love the fact that mother and

daughter had had teamwork happening here

when they released baby Moses. So when

Joabed released the basket in faith,

Miriam remained nearby in the reeds with

vigilance. She stood at a distance and

she watched carefully over the child God

had marked for destiny. This was

actually divine positioning because God

used Miriam and her attentiveness to

protect, to preserve, and to help guide

the future deliverer of Israel into

Pharaoh's household. It was only this

week that I realized the part these two

women played for Moses to do what he was

called to do. So God had a divine

purpose for them. So Miriam teaches us

that faith is not only found in

releasing the promise but also in

remaining watchful over what God is

doing in our lives what he is unfolding.

So to the Miriams of this generation to

the single women volunteers youth

leaders mentors the spiritual sisters

you don't need a biological title today

to carry your spiritual responsibility.

So God has positioned many of you in the

reeds of this generation to watch over

the baskets of young lives, hidden

callings, and emerging destinies. Your

prayers, your discernment, your

encouragement, and check this one out,

your timely voice may become God's

preservation plan for someone else's

future. And I love the way that God

always allows us to look into somebody

else's future. Of course, he looks after

us, but he allows us to have those eyes

to care for others as well. Maybe you

are that young man or a young woman

serving at church or a youth, for

example, and you notice a boy or a girl,

maybe a girl who sits on the edge by

herself all the time. A boy that jokes

too much to hide what's really going on.

And you remember those names and those

hearts throughout the week. And you go

away and you pray when no one has asked

you to do that because you have seen

that through the reads and one night or

one day you sense the moment you put

that boy you call that boy or girl aside

and you talk to them and you pray over

them and remind them that you have been

on their hearts and you've been praying

for them and you know what in a good

scenario the girl gets connected the boy

gets connected they find support they

find faith and they find family. So

church never underestimate who watches

over what God has designed for

greatness.

I'm going to head on to blueprint number

three and this is a woman that we all

know. This is the mother of Jesus is

Mary and this is titled Carry Your Yes.

Luke 138 Mary says I am the Lord's

servant. Mary answered May your word to

me be fulfilled and then the angel left

her. I love the fact that this word for

whatever emotion she would have been

going on with at that particular time,

she's very very um obedient to the to

God's word. So Mary was an ordinary

young girl and she yet chose heaven

chose her to carry Jesus into the world.

So through her obedience today, she

became a living tabernacle bearing

within her the promised Messiah. Her yes

to God was not convenient. If you think

about it, it required trust before

understanding. It required obedience

before certainty. And it required

courage in the face of misunderstanding

and sacrifice. Young girl just engaged,

you know, walking around the

neighborhood pregnant. Not a good look

for that time or not not a good look

ever really. I think

Mary teaches us that God often reveals

purpose progressively, calling us to

trust him before we see the full

picture. So in the same way, every

surrendered yes to God creates space for

his presence to move through our lives

into others. So when God places a

promise, assignment or calling within

you, he will also provide the strength,

favor, and sustaining power to carry it

to completion. And that's what we see in

Mary's life because your assignment and

your yesterday and all of us included

may not look spectacular at first. I

don't know what part of the assignment

looked spectacular to Mary. Being

pregnant before her marriage or uh

looking pregnant in front of Joseph

because she had just been engaged. So

your assignment today may look like

fostering a child, mentoring young

women, praying with a colleague,

standing for purity in a compromised

culture, remaining faithful when the

marriage is difficult. What about caring

for elderly parents or family members

that need special care and or refusing

to compromise your Christianity in the

workplaces? They're uncomfortable in the

beginning, but God takes us through the

journey. But every act of obedience

becomes a dwelling place for God's

presence. Mary was obedient. What did

she do? She carried Jesus physically in

her womb. And today, church, we carry

Christ spiritually into broken

environments.

Our blueprint number four is a feisty

one. I think of this woman. I think

feisty, bold, loud. Um, it is in Judges

45 and six. She held court under the

palm of Deborah between Rama and Beth in

the hill country of Ephraim. And the

Israelites went up to her to have their

disputes decided. She sent for Barack

son of Abnom from Kadesh Neptali and

said to him, "The Lord the God of Israel

commands you, God, take with you 10,000

men of Neptal and Zebulun and lead them

up to Mount Tab." Deborah rose in a time

of fear, compromise, and spiritual

instability. Yet God positioned her as

both a prophetus and a judge of Israel.

So if you go home and you read in

judges, you will see that Deborah was

the only female judge in all of Israel.

She was the only female appointed by

God. She was also the only female judge

and prophetess. There were other

propheticistes but she was the only who

had both titles. What I am trying to say

right now is that God back way back then

did not discriminate between men and

women. He called them accordingly how he

purposed for them. So today we also sit

here and we can say that God purposes

certain plans for my life and this was

for Deborah's. She carried wisdom. She

carried discernment and courage that

awakened a nation to action. Whole

nation under the palm tree. She was able

to release God's direction, calling

hesitant leaders to their divine

assignment and reminding them that the

Lord himself was going before them into

battle. Deborah's leadership marked by

obedience was marked by obedience to God

and the empowerment to others of others.

So ladies today or guys um your palm

tree may look like your boardroom,

classroom, ministry, workplace, home,

your community space where you need to

speak Christlike courage. Now godly

leadership does not simply manage

people. It calls them higher into faith,

courage and purpose. God is still

raising modern day geas in this world

today. Why? to carry his presence, to

speak with conviction and grace, to

awaken courage in those around them so

that others may step fully into the

calling God has placed upon their lives.

So when others stay silent, I call the

debris to speak truth with grace. When

staff are treated unfairly at work, I

call the debris to advocate for them.

When you are abandoned, I call the

debris to bring strength to yourself and

to your children. When others compromise

integrity for favor, I ask the debris to

simply refuse. God did not bring you

this far to retreat in fear. He calls us

to rise up. And he's saying to us today

is that you are way stronger than you

think.

I'm going to ask our muses to come up

quietly and take their places while I

keep talking. Um, in my conclusion, I'm

going to um call it pick up your

timberin. So, finally, we see Miriam

again now

years later after Moses had grown up in

Pharaoh's household and we know the

story and they crossed the Red Sea.

Miriam the prophetess

is seen once again in this picture.

After the Red Sea parted, she led the

women in a song of victory. She already

had the tambberine with her in the

desert. She expected God to move before

she saw it. Her worship shifted the

atmosphere from survivors to

worshippers. Let's think for a minute.

They have this Miriam has seen mom place

her baby brother in the water trusting

God to take care of what's going to

happen next. And at the same time, she's

seen the oppression the Israelites have

had in Egypt. And now she's part of the

story where they are walking through the

parted Red Sea and she's on the other

side. She's looking back at those years

that they have spent in oppression in um

Egypt and she picks up her instrument of

worship and praise before God and he she

leads all the women into a song. So

today in 2026, she is that woman that

does something bold. She worships with

freedom, hands raised before God, tears

flowing not for attention but because

she genuinely believes that God is

moving. She shifts the atmosphere around

her. My question to all of us today,

have you already packed your tambourine?

Because today, my challenge to all of us

is simple. Don't wait for your miracle

to start the melody.

Miriam carried her tambberine through

the dust and the heat of the desert

before the sea ever parted. Many of you

have been waiting for the allclear, to

be happy, to be at peace, or maybe to

serve. But God is saying, I have built

you for the desert desert and I have

built you for victory. All glory to God

for that. So for generations, women

across the world have faced inequity in

workplaces, unequal recognition in

sport, gender barriers in social

standings of often overlooked and

underpaid, underestimated or silenced.

Yet throughout scripture, we see

something that's totally opposite. God

consistently revealed a different

perspective. When society saw

limitation, God saw leadership. Where

our culture diminishes women sometimes,

God entrusted them with influence,

courage, prophecy, worship, and the

caring of his promises. So we are

reminded yet again, I'll give you a few

moments to look at this image behind me.

Joabed built and acted in faith. Miriam

boldly watched and worshiped. Later on,

Mary carried in trust and obedience, and

Deborah led a nation.

Heaven has never measured women by the

limitations of society, but by the

strength, faith, and purpose God has

placed within them. So if I if you think

about all the four women, there are

three things that I'm going to talk

about and it is like your call to

action. First of all, identify your

blueprint. If you look at the images,

are you building like Joabed? Are you

watching like Miriam? Are you saying yes

like Mary? Or are you arising like a

Deborah? Own that assignment today. How

about releasing the jar like Arena

Sandler in World War II? We need to bury

our worries in a jar of prayer and trust

that God is watching your garden. Stop

carrying the weight that already belongs

to the father.

Lift up your voice. If you feel stuck,

don't use more effort. Use your voice.

Pick up your tambberine or praise right

now in the middle of your uncertainty.

Start praising in the wilderness, in the

desert, and in the victory. I just want

to also say that all of us, men

included, you are not alone on your

journey. There are many examples of

Joabed, Mary, Miriam and Deborah right

here in our church. You only need to

look around and you will see women who

pray for the others. We see women that

show up in times of grief. They mentor

and walk in all councils counsel in all

walks of life rather. They sit and

listen when your marriage is tough. They

give you a hug to let you know that you

are not alone. They encourage you for

your calling and they will go to battle

on their knees for you. Could I ask

everyone to stand up together, please?

I'm going to read this blessing over

you. You may repeat in our hearts if you

like. I am chosen. I am called. I am

built by grace. What God has placed in

me will not be wasted. What I build in

faith, God will preserve. What I

release, God will carry. My voice has

power. My voice has purpose. I will not

stay silent. For I will rise up and

speak and I will make a melody. Let's

pray. May the Lord bless your hands as

you build arks. May he bless your voice

as you lead the song. and may he

strengthen your heart as you walk as a

daughter of the king. You are seen,

you're chosen, and you are precious in

Jesus name. Amen.