Leading The Way

Ron: My name is Ron and I'm calling from Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Youssef has been tremendous. He has just given me such encouragement through his messages, his absolute boldness and clarity to deliver the Gospel message.

Dr. Youssef, thank you so much for being so faithful to the cause of Christ and I am so thankful that I have committed myself in what way I can to support your ministry. You're a blessing. Your ministry of outreach does a tremendous job both domestic and abroad.

Thank you so much again how you have remained faithful in all the parts of the world that need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you so much, Dr. Youssef. May your ministry continue to be blessed, be emboldened with the power of the Holy Spirit, and I will continue to listen and be encouraged. God bless.

Guest (Male): Will you join Dr. Michael Youssef and Leading the Way in taking the truth of the Gospel across six continents and 28 languages? Learn ways that you can stand with them when you speak with a ministry representative at 866-626-4356. Or go online, ltw.org.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way, where you'll always hear him passionately proclaim uncompromising truth, standing firm on his lifelong commitment to God and His word.

So listen with me now, as Dr. Youssef shares practical biblical tools to help you face the life challenges of 2026 with a trusting spirit, as he begins today's Leading the Way audio.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Today, I have chosen an obscure mother whose impact upon the world has been felt for 3,600 years or more. Jochebed was the mother of Moses. Moses, who handed to humanity—not just to Israel, but to humanity—the Ten Commandments, which are the reflection of God’s own character. That’s what the Ten Commandments are. That’s why they hate them so much, because they reflect the character of God.

Moses, whom God used to deliver His people from the savagery and the slavery of Egypt. Moses, whose impact is still felt today thousands of years later. Moses was the product of the faith and the prayer of his mother, Jochebed. From the little we know about this great woman, we have to conclude that she represented all the positives in motherhood.

Jochebed was a role model for godly motherhood. Jochebed was a model for self-sacrificing moms. Jochebed is a role model of trusting in the living God right in the midst of the bleakest and the darkest of the most dangerous times in human history for God’s people.

It takes faith to bring up children in the ways of God. It takes prayer to bring up godly children. It takes commitment to the teaching and the instructing of children in the word of God that produces godly children. It takes intentional dedication to bring up children in the fear and nurture of the Lord. It takes a godly mom and a godly dad and godly grandparents to bring up godly children.

The reason Jochebed is a role model for parenting is because she teaches us all how to prioritize, protect, prepare, and provide for our children. But before I get to Jochebed, I need to give you a historical background. You see, Moses did not just come up in a vacuum. Everybody knows about Joseph and his technicolor coat and dreams and all that stuff that you see in the theaters. But Joseph was Moses’ ancestor.

You understand, he was sold by his wicked brothers into slavery in Egypt. But in spite of the tragedies and the false accusations and the injustice that he suffered in prison, Joseph’s faithfulness in honoring God was honored by God. He became the most powerful man in the superpower of the day in Egypt, only next after Pharaoh.

Then Joseph brought his father, Israel—Jacob and Israel is the same name; God changed Jacob’s name to Israel—he brought Israel, his father, and his brothers into the fruitful land to survive, literally to survive extinction. And the Bible makes it very clear that God blessed Egypt because of Joseph. But then the children of Israel remained in Egypt for 400 years, just as God told grandfather Abraham.

He told him, your descendants will go into slavery in Egypt for 400 years, but then I will bring them out. Just as God said, they were down there for 400 years, and during those 400 years they multiplied. The numbers go from a million to two million. Every successive Pharaoh that came and sat on the throne of Egypt treated the Israelites well out of gratitude for what Joseph did for the country, what Joseph did for the world, actually.

He did not only save them from starvation, he saved them from extinction. But about a hundred years before they will be delivered from Egypt, there was a Pharaoh who arose; he could not care less what Joseph did. He could not care less about history. Listen to Exodus 1:8: "There came a new Pharaoh, who did not know or did not value all that Joseph did for Egypt."

So what did he do? He issued a decree. He issued a decree: every male born to the Israelites be aborted at birth. In the midst of this bleak and dark environment, Moses is born. Jochebed, as the Epistle to the Hebrews said, by faith she would not give in to this terrible decree. She would not give in to this dictatorship decree.

She sensed in her spirit that the baby Moses will serve God’s purpose. This baby Moses is a gift from God. How could she destroy his life? And therefore, she trusted God and bucked the system, bucked the evil laws of the land. We thank God for the Jochebeds in this world. In the midst of darkness, there are so many Jochebeds today.

She sought and taught her son, Moses, the Word of God, the plan of God, and the promise of deliverance that was made to great-great-great-grandpa Abraham. Hebrews 11:23 again: "By faith, Moses' parents hid him for three months because they were afraid of the king’s edict." I want you to imagine what an incredibly radical faith that is.

Now, I can because I know the culture. Even back then, when you think about it, people were living on top of each other. I mean, this is a densely populated area. They lived along that strip of the Nile because the rest was desert. Just think about three months of keeping the baby from crying lest the neighbor hear him, and protecting that baby for three months.

It’s a miracle. It’s quite a feat. The first thing I want to point to about godly mothers is they protect their children. Please listen to me. This is very different from smothering your children. Protecting is different from smothering. Protecting has an element of trusting God in that protection process. Smothering is trusting in yourself.

Jochebed weaved a basket—the baby Moses’ so-called Moses basket even to this day—and she placed it among the reeds in the waters of the River Nile. Totally trusting in God’s power to take care of him. She did her part. Now she believes with all her heart that God is going to do His part.

Growing up in Egypt, we were taught in school, almost recited on a regular basis, that the Nile is the life of Egypt. Without it, Egypt would be utter desolate desert. And yet—listen to me—yet some ancient Egyptian mothers, to them the Nile was not the source of life. It was a symbol of death.

You say, "How come?" Because some of these godless pagan mothers who worshipped the crocodile gods of the Nile, they literally threw their babies as a sacrifice to the gods of the Nile. Here is an absolute irony I don't want you to miss: the very symbol of dread and death on part of the pagan mothers have become the instrument of life for saving baby Moses.

She trusted in God even though she heard about Him second-hand. They didn't have a Bible. She heard about God through oral tradition. That's how the information was transmitted from generation to generation through oral tradition, by telling them the story and telling it again and again and again.

That's what we need to do in our homes: we tell the children the stories of God’s grace and God’s mercy and God’s intervention in our lives and say them again and again and again until they get so bored of it. But leave the rest to God. While ancient Egyptian mothers were sacrificing children to the Nile's god, Jochebed trusted God with her baby in the same Nile water.

Beloved, listen to me: trusting God with our children can turn the very source of death to be a source of life. This godly mother covered the basket with tar to protect him from the devouring evils. I know today so many godly parents are protecting their children from the deadly influence of the world, and I thank God for you.

Today, godly parents seal their children with the Word of God and with the Holy Spirit of God. Today, godly parents model for their children what it means to believe in God, to believe God and take Him at His word, to trust in God, to walk with God, to serve God, and to love God.

Not only that, but I know and you know how we hear and see literally on the news almost every night how godless parents are sacrificing their children to the gods of this world, whether it be money or fame or popularity or acceptance or getting along. Whatever gods they do, they are offering their children to these evil gods.

But godly moms daily weave baskets of the Word of God around their children, that the Word of God will dwell in them richly. Because I can tell you this: sooner or later, that Word of God is going to bring them back to God, no matter how many years they wander off. He'll bring them back. The Word of God, when it's given, will not come back empty.

When Jochebed and her older daughter Miriam placed that baby Moses basket in the reeds of the edge of the Nile, it wasn’t just haphazardly, "Let’s find a nice place to put him in there," or carelessly. They placed the basket in the very area where they knew that Pharaoh’s daughter comes with her maids every morning to bathe in the River Nile.

But that's not all. Moses’ older sister, Miriam, stood guard. She hid in the reeds, but she was watching, keeping an eye on that basket. And sure enough, right on schedule, Pharaoh’s daughter and her attendants, they come to that very spot that they have come to every single day to bathe.

And as they opened that basket and saw that beautiful baby, they fell in love with the baby. Who doesn't fall in love with babies? Miriam, who was standing guard nearby, as soon as she heard Pharaoh’s daughter gooing and gaaing over the baby, she jumped out of the reeds and said, "Want a nurse, anyone? I have a deal for you." What a coincidence. What luck.

Don't miss this, please. Jochebed got to nurse, train, disciple, and instruct her son, and she got paid for it. For eight years, Jochebed had the privilege of training her little boy. Most of you know those first eight years of life are the most formidable years because they form everything inside of us.

Scientists said it's like an iron that's engraving on a record; it's engraved and stays there. During those eight years, Jochebed taught Moses before he got adopted by Pharaoh as his grandson, before he got influenced by the evil and wicked environment and godless ideology of the palace. No doubt she taught him about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

No doubt she told him about the faithfulness of Joseph and the purity of Joseph in the house of Potiphar and then in the prison and then in the palace of Pharaoh. She no doubt told him about God’s plan to deliver His children out of Egypt, just as He promised Father Abraham.

If you understand the edict of this evil king Pharaoh, you'll understand that what he was doing is that he was killing two birds with one stone. Ordering for the Hebrew boys to be sacrificed, offered to the crocodile gods, he thought he would eliminate God’s people. I’m thankful to the Lord for moms and dads who are forever vigilant, protecting and instructing their children.

Parents who are forever weaving baskets of the Word of God to cradle their children. Godly moms and godly dads guarding the hearts and the minds of their children by the power of the Word of God. Don't ever underestimate the power of the Word of God. Please listen. There are crocodiles everywhere today.

There are crocodiles everywhere—in the waters of the schools, on campuses, in social clubs, and yes, on the internet. There are crocodiles. And that is why guarding them from the crocodiles of woke-ism, of transgenderism, of racism, and of sexual confusion is what godly moms and dads are doing today.

Now here's a fact. Please listen carefully, and this is an important one for those of us who are parents of adult children. In many ways, we cannot keep our children forever from the River Niles of this world. But we can remind them of God’s plan for their life, of God’s love for them, of God’s purpose for their life, of God’s waiting for their repentance and turning to Him.

Of God’s blessing that awaits them when they repent and turn to the Lord and obey His Word. Remind them that being different from the evil surroundings is good. Reminding them that being different from their evil peers should be worn as a badge of honor. In the Bible, Pharaoh is a type of Satan.

And like Satan, Pharaoh was trying to wear people down, God’s people. And just as what's happening today: they're trying to wear godly parents down. Like Satan, they're trying to eliminate God’s people. They silence them and then they want to eliminate them altogether. And that is why again and again and again God warns His people not to go back to Egypt.

Because Egypt and Pharaoh is the place where the backsliders go in rebellion against God, because there they are away from godly parents, from godly people, and from godly influence. Hear me right: loving moms who have sacrificed so much for their children’s priority, protection, provision for their children are modeling no one less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Christ, who gave His life up on that old rugged cross so that everyone who would come to Him repenting of their sin, believing in Him, receiving Him as their only Savior and Lord can receive His forgiveness and eternal life with Him forever in heaven. That’s why He came.

There may be someone here today who never comprehended the enormity of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Someone who may have had their mothers pray for them, interceded for them, whether the mothers are living still or gone to be with the Lord. They prayed for them, but they’re still in the far country.

They’re still wandering away. They’re still swimming with the crocodiles of the world’s water today. Today can be the day in which you turn your life to Christ. Don’t miss the opportunity. For you to turn to Christ is the greatest decision you could make in life. Turn to the God of your parents and the God of your grandparents.

Like Jochebed, your mom may have had everything going against her—the culture, the laws, the government, the whole system. And yet she diligently protected, prepared, and prayed for you. You know that. Today, you can surrender your life to Christ. Don’t put it off. In the end, she did what all of us with adult children must do, and that is trust God with our children.

But I must testify to the strength and the ability of letting go better than me is my wife. That’s her strength, and I thank God for it. A million years ago—it feels like a million years ago—we dropped our first in college. But I remember after we dropped her off and we're driving back and I lost it completely.

I lost it completely. It was out of control. I had to pull off the road. And my wonderful strong wife said to me, "Pull yourself together. Stop being a sissy." But in all seriousness, God’s plan for our children is beyond us. God’s plan for our children is for them to be salt and light.

God’s plan for our children is for them to be ambassadors of the King themselves. That’s God’s plan for our children. Listen to me: had Jochebed not prepared to release her son into Pharaoh’s court, the course of history would have been written differently. I know God is sovereign, but still, in His sovereign plan, He used Jochebed’s willingness to release her son to the protecting hand of God, even in the pagan palace of Pharaoh.

God’s plan for saving His people would have been totally different. But thank God for Moses’ mother. Let me ask you this: are you cooperating with God’s plan? Or are you dragging your heels and wanting your own plan instead? Listen to me: had God the Father not given up His God the Son, you and I would never have experienced salvation, forgiveness of sin, joy and peace here and now, and eternal life with Him in heaven.

If it were not for Jesus’ willingness to leave the Father’s glory, we would have been still enslaved to sin today. The most important part is the following. Listen carefully, I'm coming to the end. What are you doing in carrying your mother’s legacy? What are you doing for God to perpetuate your mother’s mission?

What are you doing for God to impact your world for Christ? Moses fulfilled his mother’s mission. What about you? What about you?

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining listeners across six continents for Leading the Way with pastor and international Bible teacher Dr. Michael Youssef, heard worldwide in 28 of the world's most spoken and understood languages. If you'd like to hear more content from Dr. Youssef about living a life of trust in God, you can stream messages at ltw.org.

You can listen, you can watch with your Leading the Way mobile app. You can ask your smart speaker to play Leading the Way. And of course, you can subscribe to Leading the Way's podcast. You'll always find Dr. Youssef's content to be encouraging and challenging. The website again to get more details is ltw.org.

If Leading the Way has impacted your life in a special way, Dr. Youssef would love to hear about it. Call our special testimony line at 877-941-7934. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.