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All right, beginning in verse number seven, the Bible reads, He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifted the needy out of the dunghill, that he may send him with princes, even with the princes of his people. He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise be to the Lord. The title of my sermon this morning is A Joyful Mother of Children. Of course, today is Mother's Day. And the first thing that jumped out at me about this passage is the fact that God is talking about, in verses seven and eight, taking someone who's poor out of the dust and lifting them out of the dunghill. Let's say a man who does not have great prospects. He's very poor. He's having a bad time in life. And the Bible's saying that God's able to lift him up. And to use the most extreme example, he takes someone out of the dunghill, someone out of complete poverty, and he brings them up to the level of being among princes, or royalty, or having great riches and power, and so forth. And then he compares that on the woman's end, because that's a man. Then when he uses a female example, he says he may get the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Notice, he didn't say, you know, he takes the woman and he puts her in a high level at a corporation, or he puts her in great political power, leading a nation. When God wants to use the most extreme example of success or prosperity in a woman's life, in a man's life, he used an extreme example of success or prosperity as being among princes in great men. But for a woman, the most extreme lofty example of success and prosperity is that she would be a joyful mother of children. And so that's what I want to preach about this morning, a joyful mother of children. Turn to John chapter 16, if you would. John chapter 16. While you're turning there, I'll read for you a few other scriptures. In Philippians 4, 4, the Bible reads, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Psalm 118, 24 reads, This is the day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And so the Bible is telling us that we're supposed to rejoice. It's a command for us to be joyful and to rejoice. The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no love. So it starts out by saying that one of the attributes of the Spirit-filled Christian is that they're a joyful person. And God commands us to rejoice and to have joy in our lives. And he talks about a joyful mother of children. Why? Because to a mother, her greatest joy in life is her children. Look if you would at John chapter 16, verse 20. The Bible reads, Barely, barely, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. So right there, he's talking to his disciples. He's talking to the 12 apostles, and he's explaining to them that right now, you see a lot of people in this world that are happy and rejoicing. And many of God's people are sad when he says, your sorrow is going to be turned into joy. In the end, you're going to be rejoicing. As he said in the Beatitudes, he said, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall rejoice. Okay, but here he says in verse 21, A woman, he uses this illustration, a woman when she is in travail or in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world, and ye now therefore have sorrow. But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and no man in your joy, no man take it from you. So here he uses the illustration of a woman being in labor. And obviously, being in labor is no fun. No woman is excited and happy and looking forward to going through labor. My wife always tells me how she dreads going into labor. This is going to be her seventh time going into labor. And it's not something that she looks forward to. It's a sorrowful time. It's an unhappy time. It's a sad time. There's weeping and lamenting involved in being in labor. But the Bible says that when that sorrow is ended, as soon as that child is born, it says she remembereth no more the anguish. And it's amazing. I've watched my wife give birth six times, and it's amazing how the change takes place. She's in all this pain and anguish and sorrow. She's crying. She's upset. And then as soon as the baby's born, just from one moment to the next, she's smiling. She's laughing. She's happy. She's rejoicing. And it's just this extreme change. And that's what God's referring to here. You see, having children is a joy in life. He said here that the joy is that a man is brought into the world. It should be a happy thing. Now, our society may not look at it that way in some ways. They look at a child as a burden. Sometimes they look at it as a punishment or something to be avoided. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says children are an inheritance of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. It's a blessing to have children. He says as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath this quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies of the gate. See, according to the Bible, having children is not only a blessing, but having children brings joy to your life. And so people who would avoid having children are basically shortchanging themselves on the joy that comes with having children. Now, go to 3 John, verse number 1, if you would. 3 John, this is the very end of the New Testament, right before Revelation. Those little short books of 1, 2, and 3 John. Go to 3 John. And again, we're talking about a joyful mother of children this morning. In 3 John, verse 1, the Bible reads, The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, to whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. And watch verse 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. And so there are many joys in life. There are many things that bring joy to our lives, but according to the Bible here, the thing that brought more joy to John's life than anything else was to hear that his children walked in truth. To raise up a godly child, a righteous child, brought him more joy than anything. Go back to Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23, right in the middle of the Bible, is the book of Psalms, and then the next book is Proverbs. Go to Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23, look at verse 22. The Bible reads, Harken, and that means basically to listen and obey. When you harken. Harken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Buy the truth and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begateth a wise child shall have joy of it. So you see how often having children is associated with joy and rejoicing? And he says, if it's a wise child, if it's a righteous child, look at verse 25. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. So four times there, he says they'll have joy, they'll rejoice, they'll be joyful, they'll be glad. When you have a child and that child grows up and is a righteous and a godly and a wise child, an obedient child, that is the greatest joy in life for a mother. That is the greatest calling for a woman in life. Maybe a man would desire to rise up and be among princes and to rise up in the business world or to rise up in whatever capacity, but the Bible says the greatest aspiration of a woman is to become a joyful mother of children. Those children would be raised up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and serve God. Now, go to Genesis chapter 26. Let me show you the other side of the coin. Genesis chapter 26, first book in the Bible, Genesis 26. You see, children are not always a joy. They don't always bring joy to their parents. And an example of that is Esau in the Bible. Now, Isaac and Rebekah had two children. They were twins, Jacob and Esau. And one of their children brought them joy, and the other child did not bring joy to their life. Let me show you what I mean in Genesis 26, 34. The Bible reads that Esau was 40 years old. So he's a grown man. He's no longer a kid. He's no longer living at home. It says that Esau was 40 years old, Genesis 26, 34, when he took to white Judith, the daughter of Beri the Hittite, and Bathshemat, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which were what? A grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. So Esau grew up, and he married these heathen women. His first mistake was marrying two women, okay? Well, he should have only married one, number one. But second of all, he married these heathen women. He shouldn't have been marrying these unsaved, unbelieving, ungodly, heathen women. And these women were a grief of mind unto his parents, Isaac and to Rebekah. Look at chapter 27, the next chapter, verse 46. Jacob was not yet married. And it came time for Jacob to get married. He was thinking about getting married. Look what his mother says in Genesis 27, 46. This is Jacob's mom. And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life. Basically, she's saying, I'm sick of being alive. That's a pretty extreme statement by someone who's not very happy. She said, I'm weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. And Hittites are daughters of Heth. That's the two wives of Esau. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the Lamb, what good shall my life do me? Now, is she pretty upset or what? I mean, she's depressed. She's upset. She's angry. She has a great sorrow and grief and grievance because of her child that grew up and did what she thought it not to do and did something that was wrong. And she was weary of life. She was depressed. She was upset about it. And so children can either bring great joy and great rejoicing to their mother, or they can break great sorrow and grief. You know, we've all heard of breaking your mother's heart and so forth. Now, go to Proverbs. There are a lot of scriptures in Proverbs on this subject. Go to Proverbs. And Proverbs talks a lot about this. Just as John said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. We already looked at one scripture. Go to Proverbs 10. We saw in Proverbs 23 that the Bible talked about a woman having great joy and gladness of a righteous child and a father being joyful and glad about a godly, righteous child. But look at Proverbs chapter 10. The Bible tells us something similar. It says in Proverbs 10, the Proverbs of Solomon, a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. You see how a foolish son, a child who grows up and acts a fool and disobeys his parents, can actually bring great sorrow and heaviness? And this heaviness, you say, what does heaviness mean? That's not really a word that we use today, but the Bible uses heaviness a lot. It talks about Jesus being very heavy when he's in the Garden of Gethsemane and he's weeping. We use the word depression. Well, think about what it means to depress something. It means to push down on it, right? And what does heaviness do? It pushes down on things. It's the force of gravity. So this word heaviness would basically be an old word for being depressed, for being sad, for being melancholy. The Bible says here that a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. And so let me ask you this, on Mother's Day today, are you a heaviness to your mother? Are you depressing your mother today, or are you a joy and rejoicing to your mother? You know, it's great to wish your mother a happy Mother's Day, and I think that's a great thing to do and to tell mom that you love her. And I'm thankful that my mom is in the service today. And through a course of events, she was able to visit and I was able to have my mother with me in church today, which is a blessing to me. You know, and you know, you can buy the gifts and that's a great thing to do. And to give the flowers and the candies and the dinners and all those types of things. But you know what? I think that the greatest joy you could bring to your mother is by being the kind of person that you're supposed to be. That's probably what will make you the happiest. If you are an ungodly person, and then you throw your mom a bone on Mother's Day by giving her a gift, you know, I don't think that would mean nearly as much to her as you being a wise child, an obedient child, a righteous child, a godly child. I think that your mother probably has no greater joy than to hear that her children walk in truth. And when she hears that, it probably brings her more joy than anything else. Just as a wayward child, a prodigal child, is going to bring sorrow and grief. Are you a grievance to your mother today or are you a joy to your mother? That's what you ought to ask yourself. And I think you should tell mom that you love her and buy her gifts and so forth. But you ought to really ask yourself, am I making my mother glad with my lifestyle? Am I walking in the truth? Am I righteous? Am I godly? Am I obedient to the commands and laws that my mother taught me when I was growing up? Go to Proverbs 17, 25. Proverbs 17, verse 25. The Bible says, a foolish son is a grief to his father. And watch this, and bitterness to her that bear it. Now, haven't you heard so many times parents talk about their child and they use the word sweet? You know, you look at a baby and you say, isn't he so sweet? What a little sweetheart. I know I say that all the time about my children, right? But there's nothing sweet about a child who grows up and disobeys their parents. It becomes bitter. Now, when you have young children, you know, they're all sweet. You know, and it's a blessing to have children. And that's why I can't understand when I see parents with young children who walk around with a gloomy face all the time. And they're sad and down all the time. You know, rejoice in the Lord. The Bible says, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. This is the day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. In everything, give thanks for this the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning. You know, be joyful, be happy, because in many ways, these are the best years of your life. When you're raising those young children and you're enjoying those little sweethearts and those sweet faces, you know, be happy about it. Be joyful, be thankful for it. It's a blessing. But, you know, it's really important that you invest the time in your children so that they'll grow up and be a righteous child and a godly child, a wise child that'll make you glad. Because that's what's gonna bring the greatest joy. And today, you know, you say, well, I'm not a mother. Yeah, but everybody in here has a mother. And so you ought to think about how you are treating your mother and how happy your mother is when she hears the reports of your life right now. Are you making her happy or are you making her grieved and in heaviness? Go to Proverbs chapter 1, back at the beginning of the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter number 1. And I honestly think that the reason that so few people today want to have children, because let's face it, your average people, your average person today in America is not excited about having children. They say, I want to wait to have children. I want to wait as long as possible because, you know, then life's over. I want to go out and backpacking and all, you know, do everything. And I'm gonna wait as long as I can to have children. And your average person today wants to wait until they're older to have children. And then even then, they only want to have one, maybe two children. I think the average in America is like 2.3 or 2.2. What's the average? 1.9, I hope not. Is it really? Wow, 1.9. See, I haven't even gotten the recent statistics because I always heard it was 2.3, 2.4. And I know in Europe today, in many places, it's less than one child is the average. That means a lot of women are having zero children. And it's not because they can't have children. It's because they don't want to have children. Now, I can understand, listen to me now, I can understand why people would not want to have children. If their children are a grief unto them, or if they see the children around them being a grief unto them, and bitterness and heaviness unto them, I can understand why they wouldn't want to have all that sorrow, all that headache. Because look, when you don't have God's Word guiding you, when you don't have the Bible as your guide, when you're not bringing out your children in the nurture and happiness of the Lord, and you're not disciplining them properly as the Bible teaches, your children are gonna be a bitterness and a heaviness unto you. I mean, take it to the bank. The Bible clearly says in Proverbs 29, 15, you don't have to turn there. The rod and reproof give wisdom. The rod is talking about a spanking with the rod. And reproof is talking about telling your children that they're wrong, correcting them, telling them that they need to change. And you see, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child that's left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. And so a child that's not raised according to godly principles is for sure going to bring shame and embarrassment and bitterness and heaviness and sorrow. And you can see why people would forego having children when they see the sorrow and heaviness and bitterness that children can cause. And that's why it's so important to understand that we as believers, we're supposed to be different. We as Christians are supposed to live a different life. We're supposed to live by these principles. We're supposed to delight in having children and rejoice because we're supposed to be bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We're supposed to be bringing them to church, letting them hear godly preaching. And I'm not saying that godly people don't sometimes have a wayward child and have children that do things that are wrong. You know, for example, if you look at Jesse. Jesse was a godly and righteous man. He raised his children well. Now, I don't think anybody would disagree that he raised David well. Did he not raise a godly man when he raised David? David, who slew Goliath with a sling and a stone? David, who was the sweet psalmist of Israel? David, who was a man after God's own heart? David, who was a man who God loved and who God liked and who God chose to be king over his people Israel? Now, when David was an older man, you know, I don't know exactly how old he was, but when he was old and well established in his kingdom and that power and riches had begun to go to his head, you remember that awful sin that he committed? Where he committed adultery with Bathsheba? Now, would you blame... Are you going to blame that on Jesse? You can't blame that on Jesse. I mean, that was his choice. He chose... In general, he was a godly man. He was a man after God's own heart. He was a righteous man because he was raised right. That doesn't mean he's never going to make a mistake. Look, my parents raised me right. I'm living a godly life. I'm not perfect, but I'm living a life in God's will. Does that mean that I'm somehow immune to going out and committing a bad sin? No, I better take heed lest I fall. The Bible says, let him that think that he stand, take heed lest he fall. I better be careful and beware and keep myself away from temptation and pray that I be led not into temptation and read my Bible and go to church and sing praises to God and obey every command that I can in the Bible and just try to do right. And if I go out and do some sin, it's not my parents' fault. When I'm 30 years old and I go out and sin, I can't say, well, that's my parents' fault. No, it's my fault. But here's the thing, though. In general, when you raise your children right in general, they're going to live right. They're going to bring you more joy than they bring you grief. Not to say they're not going to make a mistake, not to say they're not going to sin, and I pray to God that they don't. And obviously, it's a heaviness and a bitterness when they do make stupid decisions. But in general, your children are going to bring you joy and gladness, and they're going to live a righteous life because the Bible promises to train up a child in the way he should go. And when he's old, he'll not depart from it. And so I thank God for that promise. And that makes me want to have children. And that makes my wife think that children are a blessing and a joy and want to be a joyful mother of children because children bring more joy and happiness. And honestly, that's brought me a lot of happiness in my life is my children. That's a big part of happiness in my life is my children. I guarantee if you talk to anyone in a nursing home today, you know what they're going to want to tell you about? Their children and their grandchildren. That's their joy. That's what brings them gladness. And so children can be a blessing, but you know what? When they had one child, and that child has more piercings than if they fell out of a fishing tackle box, and when that child is living with their partner, and when that child is disrespectful and tells mom, I hate you, and when that child goes out and lives a sinful, wicked, ungodly life, that'll bring the parents shame. And they probably don't even want to talk about that child. They wouldn't want to think about that child. What a tragedy. You know, the Bible says, Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And you know, I think of my ancestor or my grandparent that is alive the longest, which is my grandma who lives down in Tucson. She's 90 years old and in great health. And you know what? She has always been very reverential and respectful toward her parents, always. She always had good things to say about her parents, and she was always a blessing to her parents. And I asked her one time, I said, you know, what's the secret to being 90 years old and being in great health? And she said, well, you know, I eat oatmeal for breakfast and oatmeal for dinner every day. That's the secret, you know. And every time I see my grandma, she's eating either, like, In-N-Out Burger, Subway. I mean, there were times when she used to, like, substitute a chocolate cake for lunch. Isn't that what it was? She just would skip lunch and just eat a chocolate cake chip sandwich, right? So she ate a lot, you know. She can say what she wants about the oatmeal for breakfast and oatmeal for dinner, and then just, whatever I want for lunch, you know. But honestly, I don't think that's why she's still alive. I think it's because she honored her father and mother. I think it's because she lived a godly life. I think it's because she obeyed the Bible in many ways. And that caused her to live long and that it would be well with her on the earth. You know, that's the truth. The Bible says that's the first commandment, listen to me, with promise. Let that sink down into your ears. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise. He says, You have a promise associated with this commandment, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. He said, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. He said, There's a promise associated with it. God's going to bless you if you honor your father and mother. So we ought to be very respectful to our father and mother. And we're focusing on the mothers today, because it's Mother's Day. We ought to respect them. We ought to be thankful to them, and we ought to strive to live our life in a godly, righteous way that would make Mom proud and not make Mom disappointed and ashamed of her children. What attraction would it be on Mother's Day if Mom is ashamed and disappointed of her children? She ought to be rejoicing. And you know what? That's our job, to rejoice Mom today and to treat her right, to honor her, to respect her, to love her, and most importantly, to live a life that would make her proud and that would make her happy and that would bring her joy and not be a revisit to her. That's the most important thing right there. Now, if you would, turn to Proverbs. Where were you in Proverbs? One. Go to Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6, verse 20 says this, My son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. And so that right there is showing us that we should not reject and discard the good things that our mothers taught us. We should walk in those things and not forsake them. Look at chapter 20, I'm sorry, verse, chapter 15, verse 20. Chapter 15, verse 20. The Bible reads, A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish man despiseth his mother. Now, the word despise, it's a very complex word. It doesn't just mean, you know, if you wanted to really boil it down and just give a really simple definition of despise, you could probably just say hate. You know, I, you know, oh, I despise broccoli. I despise a certain type of music. That would be probably the simplest definition. But if you really study the Bible and look up every time the word despise is used, it kind of means something different than that. It definitely has that definition of something that you don't like or that you hate. But if you really look at every time the word despise is used, it really means that you have disdain for something or you don't really appreciate or respect it as you should and therefore you don't like it. If you like a definition, I'm trying to just explain it from all my years of Bible reading and just seeing the word despise over and over again in the Bible and despiteful. It seems to be a word that conveys the meaning of, you know what, because I don't appreciate or have respect for her, therefore I don't have the love that I should have for her. I have disdain for her. I don't want anything to do with her. I don't respect her. That's the way disdain or despite or despise works. And you see, many people don't stop and realize what their mother went through to bear them. You know, honestly, every woman who gives birth is literally risking her life when she gives birth. And you know, sometimes we throw that term out there a little bit too, you know, frequently. Like we say, oh yeah, these police officers, they're risking their life every day. And you know, their wife doesn't know whether they're gonna come home again at night. But if you look at the statistics, it's one of the safer jobs, you know. Who here is an electrician? Yeah, okay, we got an electrician in the front row. He just joined the ranks. And then of course your husband's an electrician. You know, that's in the top 10 most dangerous, sorry, you know. It's in the most, it's in the top 10 most dangerous jobs. I think it's even in the top five or six, okay. Police officer doesn't even factor in. Most of the time that they die is in a car accident because you know what's a really dangerous job? A truck driver. Who's ever been a professional truck driver? I know you have, Gary. That is one of the top most dangerous jobs. You know, so sometimes we throw that out there about things that aren't really as dangerous as, you know, oh man, they don't even know whether they're, well truck drivers don't know whether they're coming home. Electricians don't know whether they're coming home at night. You know, none of us, none of us knows what the day's gonna bring forth. But you know what, mothers though, honestly, they really are risking their life when they get birth. I mean, it is a dangerous thing. Throughout history, many women have died during childhood. And I know we have all the modern technology today, but even with modern technology though, it happens. Dude, look at the statistics. There are fatalities involved. But even with that aside, the risking your life factor, what about the fact of just the pain, the nausea, and it's not just the birth. I mean, mothers, to give birth to a child, first of all, a mother has to go through morning sickness. And everybody goes through it in varying degrees. Some ladies go through it worse than others. My wife gets it pretty bad, but there are others who get it even worse. And others who don't get it so bad. But morning sickness, nausea, and you know, there's every time, and I'm trying not to be graphic here, but every time I ever lose my lunch, so to speak, every time I think, wow, man, I feel really bad for my wife. I'm thankful for what she goes through to give birth because honestly, it's no fun tossing your cookies. You know, it isn't fun, right? I mean, it's horrible, it's painful. It's not something I'm trying to, you know, not use for as the kids are going to go around repeating all day, you know. You know, I'll use the Bible to vomit. You know, it's not fun. It's a horrible experience. And my wife, literally, I mean, when she has morning sickness, it's throughout the day. I mean, it's just again and again and again and again. And you know, she goes through all that pain and suffering of morning sickness and nausea and feeling sick through her stomach and not being able to eat, not being able to drink. Every little smell bothers her and she goes through all that and then just lugging it around. I mean, just, you know, and it's not, it's not carried in a balanced way. I mean, it's right there in the front. You know, it's like you got this big weight. I mean, to try it out, fill a backpack with weights and strap it to the front of you and then walk around like that. You know, strap on 30 or 40, what's the average weight that a woman gains, 30 pounds? No, it isn't. That's a lie. 40. What is it? 40. About 40? Yeah, that sounds about right. It's about 30, 40 pounds. I mean, don't they say if you gain less than 20, that's unhealthy? I think it's like a range. Like, you're supposed to gain about 20 to 40. That's like a healthy range. You know, you're not technically supposed to, you know, everybody's different. It doesn't matter. You know, just eat what you crave. But anyway, you got this, just imagine strapping a backpack with 30-some pounds and walking around like that. And I mean, it's not easy. So they got to go through all that work. Then they go through the excruciating pain of childbirth, which most people will agree is one of the most painful things that women go through. It's very painful. They go through the excruciating pain of childbirth, you know, and then they change, you know, thousands of diapers and they, and I mean, you'll get that child that just terrorizes you in the middle of the night sometimes. Some of our children haven't done this, but some of them, they'll just scream. And I remember, sorry Miriam, but Miriam was the one who terrorized us as a baby more than any of our children. But see how sweet she is now. But she used to do this thing where she would just, in the middle of the night, just scream, okay? And this was the only thing that would make her happy. If you held her and walked, she was happy. So basically, you're just doing this all night. You start around like this. Hey, if you stop, you're still holding her, bounce her, ah! Okay, you got to keep walking. I mean, if you just stop. And I remember, we would just, you'd be there and you'd try to kind of just lean against the wall and kind of go to sleep and just, ah. I mean, you got to walk, walk. It's horrible, you know. Me and my wife would take turns with it. Now some of our children, they would just nurse and fall back to sleep and we slept like a baby. But on that one and a few others, you know, we'd be up all night taking turns, just walking, walking, walking, walking. You're so tired, you're bumping into stuff and you're walking around, you're carrying a baby. It's a lot of work. And it costs a lot of money, you know. And it starts out, they're just, you know, eating scraps off the plate. They're just, you know, first they're just breastfeeding. That doesn't cost anything. And you just got to feed Mom more, you know. She's eating for two. But then, they go from just eating little scraps and a little bit here and there, a little bite of mashed potatoes to where they're eating a whole pizza each, you know. They're eating it with a subway and my kids are putting away, you know, footlongs each, okay. I'm not kidding. Solomon and Isaac both put away an entire footlong. And they're nodding their heads in agreement. And so, it gets to where the amount of food and then you got to buy a bigger vehicle. We have an eight passenger van right now, right. Well, guess what? Our ninth family member's on the way, okay. So, you know, it gets to where you need big vehicles, you need a bigger house, you need clothes and food. And, you know, parents go through a lot for their children, don't they? Yeah. And then children just grow up and they're a teenager. It's, eh, I don't care what Mom and Dad say. I mean, if you put it in that perspective, though, doesn't it seem just horrible that children would treat their parents that way? Amen. And eat disrespect with their parents. And, you know, when I was a teenager, I got, you know, I was disrespectful to my parents at times. But you know what? And once I got in a church that was similar to this church and started preaching on these type of things, you know, I got my mind right and I started being more respectful to my parents and obedient to my parents. Because God's word is clear. And I talked about it the other night. The verse that really made an impact on me was in Proverbs 30 where the Bible says that I that mocketh at his father and despise him to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles shall eat it. And I remember reading Romans 1 with that list of horrendous sins of just the most vile reprobates and it lists all their sins and one of them is disobedient to parents. And I looked at that and said, well, if that's in the list with all these vile sins, it must be pretty bad. And you can see why God gets angry when God sees children that are hateful and disrespectful to their parents and mouthing off to their parents when their parents have done so much for them and their parents have gone through so much. And look, I didn't go through everything to raise children, and my wife didn't go through everything to raise our children so that they could be aggrieved to us. So that they could grieve us and so that they could be bitter to us. Why would we do that? Why would we go through all this sacrifice and the pain and the trouble so that our children could be a grief of mine? No, we did it so that we could have joy of them. We did it so we could rejoice so that they would bring happiness and joy to our lives. And obviously, God tells us to do it. But that's because He wants it. He doesn't want to hold us back from that joy. But we ought to be taking this very seriously. And every child and teenager, especially in the room, those that live with their parents, ought to really take this to heart and say, you know what? I need to not grieve my mother. And not just one day a year. Not just, oh, well, today's Mother's Day, so I'm going to go smoke crack tomorrow. I'm going to go out and do all this stupid stuff tomorrow. You ought to decide right now, hey, I'm going to bring joy to my mother. I brought her pain throughout the pregnancy. I brought her pain and suffering in labor. I brought her pain and sleep deprivation. I brought her nausea. Now, my wife never gets nauseous changing diapers, but I'm a dad that changes diapers also when I'm around. And man alive, I mean, I get nauseous. I don't know if women have this built-in thing where they can just handle it. But I start going like... You know what I mean? When I do the dirty diapers, I start... No, I can't handle it. But I do it anyway. And you better bring me joy someday. Make me happy. Make me proud. Bring me sweetness, not bitterness. Think about that on this Mother's Day. That's the most important thing, is are you bringing joy to your mother? I guarantee you that, you know, yes, she loves the phone call. Yes, she loves the gift. She loves the sweet thoughts and the card. But I guarantee you that probably what she loves the most is just to know that her children are walking true. And probably what grieves her the most is that prodigal child or that wayward child that's not doing what they're supposed to do. And so let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your Word, dear God. We thank you for your promises, especially the promise that says that if we will honor our parents that our days will be gone and that they will be well with us. Help us to live our lives in such a way that we honor our parents. Help us to also honor our parents verbally through the things that we say. Let us be respectful to them. And also help us to honor them with our substance if they're old and need to be taken care of and don't have anything. Help us to be there to pay their bills and basically take care of them when they're old. And we love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.