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Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Honor Your Mother. Honor Your Mother. Today, of course, is Mother's Day, a day that we set aside to honor mothers, especially. But it's very important, biblically, for children to obey their parents, to honor their mother, to love their mother, and to treat their mother with respect. Now the Bible says here in Ephesians, Chapter 6, Verse 1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. So in the Ten Commandments, honor thy father and mother is not the first commandment in the list, but it's the first one that has a promise associated with it, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. So God is specifically telling you here that if you honor your father and mother, there's a special blessing associated with that. If you want it to go well with you, if you want things to go well in your life, and if you want to live long on the earth, you better honor your father and mother, because this is something that the Bible emphasizes. If you would, flip over to Matthew, Chapter 15. The Bible says in Colossians 3, 20, Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Back in Exodus 20, Verse 12, in the Ten Commandments, it said, Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Bible says in Exodus 21, 15, He that smiteth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. Verse 17, He that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. Look at Matthew 15, 1, Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said to them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition, you hypocrites. Well did his eyes prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and on earth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, but in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. So we see that the Pharisees obviously had a problem with elevating their own traditions above God's word. And really what it comes down to, in addition to adding to God's word, is that they had different priorities and their heart was in a different place than where God's heart wanted them to be. He said their heart is far from me. It's not just that they had misinterpreted some scripture, made up some silly rules, and neglected some other rules. It's not that they just made a mistake in interpreting the Bible. It's that they had a wrong heart. Their heart wasn't right. And one of the things that was wrong with their heart is that they clearly didn't love their parents. They clearly didn't honor their parents in their heart. They were more interested in going through a bunch of motions of washing their hands, washing cups, washing pots, and doing all this ritual. Hey, look at me. Look how spiritual I am. But let me explain something to you. If you don't honor your father and mother, you're not spiritual. People are so spiritual and they have such a great walk with God, quote, unquote, but it's amazing how they can't get along with their parents. They can't obey their parents. Let me explain something to you. Your parents are placed there by God. Your parents are ordained by God. That is someone that God has put in your life. And if you, especially if you're living at home as a child, growing up, you've got Christian parents and you have issues constantly with your mom and dad. You know who you actually have issues with is God. Your heart is far from God if your heart is far from your parents, because your parents are the representatives of God on earth to you when you're a child. The way that you feel about your dad eventually is going to be how you feel toward God the father. And so your parents are teaching you what it's like to have an authority over you, and that's an authority placed by God. And so he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him that he that loveth God love his brother also. And if you can't obey your parents, which you have seen, which are standing right in front of you saying, do this, do that, then how are you going to obey God whom you've not seen? So it's pretty easy sometimes for people to claim that they have so much honor and respect and fear and submission toward someone that's off in the distance. But when that person's standing right in front of them, then all of a sudden they're not obeying. Think about that now. Because if God said, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right, disobeying your parents equals disobeying God. The only exception to this would be if your parents are commanding you to directly violate scripture, which rarely happens. And in that case, you should try to bring your two authorities into line. And if you can't, then obviously we ought to obey God rather than men. But the vast majority of commands that your parents are giving you, 99% are not directly telling you to violate scripture. And obviously there comes a time when a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves unto his wife and he runs his own household and makes his own rules. And obviously once you're an adult and you marry a man, you know, obviously now he's your authority, not your dad anymore, but I'm talking about children that are under their parents' authority, they need to recognize the seriousness of this issue. I mean, have the scriptures that I've read to you so far shown you the seriousness, the gravity? Jesus thought it was important to bring this up. Jesus could have brought up any commandment, okay? Because do you think this is the only thing the Pharisees had wrong? The Pharisees were wrong on a multitude of things. But yet when he wants to show their hypocrisy, when he wants to show what a phony they are, when he wants to show how far their heart is from God, he talks about how they disrespect and dishonor their parents. That's what he chose to bring up in Matthew 15. If you would flip over to Romans chapter one, Romans chapter number one. Also I want to point out to you 1 Timothy 5, 4, the Bible says, but if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents for that is good and acceptable before God. And there are a couple of things in that verse. The Bible talks about requiting your parents. You know what that means? That you owe your parents something. That means your parents, and especially your mother, we're going to emphasize this morning, she gave birth to you, she nursed you, she changed your diapers, she fed you, she cleaned up after you, she lay awake at night tossing and turning, worrying about you every time you did something stupid, she raised you and now you owe her something. Requite your parents, the Bible says, and I like how it says learn first to show piety at home. Boy, you're so pious at church. You're so pious washing your cups and pots. You're so pious until it comes to your home life, until it comes to your marriage, your family, your children. You better learn first to show piety at home and to requite your parents for that is good and acceptable before God. And the Bible also said if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents. This is a verse that kind of had a question mark in my mind for a long time. Daniel Rider actually cleared this up for me because the word nephew used to mean grandson. So if you look up the word nephew in the dictionary, it'll say there's an archaic definition of a grandson. So I ended up doing a ton of research on that. This is the only time nephews using the Bible. It's not what we think of as a nephew. It turns out it's actually a grandson because this never made sense to me that I was on the hook for my aunt and everything. It makes more sense that I'm on the hook for grandma. So anyway, that's just kind of a side note that the word nephew used to mean grandson hundreds and hundreds of years ago. So it's just a little bit of an archaic word there. So anyway, if any widow have children or nephews, what we would think of as grandchildren, grandsons, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents for that is good and acceptable before God. Look at Romans chapter one, verse 30. This is of course a litany of wicked sins and he says in this litany of wicked sins, backbiters verse 30 haters of God. I mean, these are some pretty bad things, right? Despiteful proud boasters, inventors of evil things. And then comes the coup de grace. They're disobedient to parents. And you know, a lot of people might think that's out of place on that list because we're bringing up all this extreme sin, but God doesn't like you to be disobedient to your parents. So when he's listing off all the things where he looks down from heaven and sees things that he doesn't like, disobedient to parents makes the list of being a big sin that bothers him that he is displeased with and grieved by. Another list of sins like that, and if you would flip over to Proverbs 23, but another big list of sins is where in second Timothy three, he talks about how in the last days, perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy folks. This is listed with some major sins. It's listed as an end times thing that people are going to become more and more disobedient to their parents in the end times. It sounds like we need to preach this in 2019. Like perilous times are going to come, and these are going to be the sins that characterize society before the second coming of Christ. Disobedience to parents. Bible says in Deuteronomy five 16, honor thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God has commanded thee that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Look at Proverbs 23, 22, hearken unto thy father that beget thee and despise not thy mother when she is old. Despise not thy mother when she is old. What does it mean to despise her? It means basically that you don't see the value in her anymore. Like when Esau despised his birthright, basically saying like, this isn't important. This doesn't matter, right? He's saying, don't feel that way about your mom when she's old, like, oh, she doesn't really matter anymore. She played an important role in my life when I was young, but now that she's old, she's a thing that I despise. It means that I don't put any value in it. She's not important to me. I'm not going to spend any time on it. I don't like it. I don't like talking to her. I don't like being around her. She doesn't matter. Folks, despise not thy mother when she is old. You need to continue to love your mother and respect your mother and honor your mother even when you're not living in her home, even when you're not living directly under her authority. Once you go out and you're doing your own thing and you're your own man, you know what, you should still esteem and respect and honor and love your mother. And you know what, if you haven't called your mom yet today, you should call your mom today after the service. Don't tell her that I told you to do it, okay? But anyway, you know, call your mom, tell your mom that you love her, express your appreciation, express your thanks. You say, well, that's just not how I am. Then change. That's just not my type of personality. Change. That's not how my family is. I don't think she'd like it. It'll make her uncomfortable. She'll like it. Give me a break. Oh, well, we're just not that affectionate. Well, then you need to change. All right? And you need to show mom some love today. Show her some respect. Say, well, she's old. You know, I'm a grown man. Hey, despise not thy mother when she's old. All right? Still continue to esteem her, care about her, love her. Sometimes I cringe when I see people interacting with their mother. Even adults. I cringe when I see how they act with their mother. Their mother is so loving and kind to them and they're just like, they blow her off. You know what? Okay. Maybe you're in that phase when you're in junior high or something where, you know, you don't want your mom dropping you off at school and kissing you on the cheek as she drops you off or something in front of your friends. But come on, when you're an adult, when you're a grown man, do you still have to prove that when you're 21 years old, when you're, when you're 29 years old, when you're 39 years old, when you're 40 years old, you have to still prove, you know, Hey, I'm not a mama's boy here. You know, it's like, you know, get a little secure in your adulthood there, buddy. You're in your thirties now, right? Show mom some love. Amen. Flip back to, uh, Proverbs 15. So the Bible said in Proverbs 23, 22 hearken unto thy father that begat thee and despise not thy mother when she is old. Now, every word in the Bible matters. So when the Bible says hearken unto thy father that begat thee, you know what that's basically explaining? The reason that dad has the right to tell you what to do is because he's your dad because he begat you. He has the right to tell you what to do. All right. So mothers and fathers have automatic authority. It doesn't, it doesn't say, Hey, hearken unto your father. That's a great guy. Hearken unto your father. That treats you well. No, it's just hearken unto the guy that sired you hearken unto thy father that begat thee and despise not thy mother when she's old. Look at Proverbs 15, 20 a wise son make it a glad father, but a foolish man despiseth his mother. So we read a few verses on despising your mother, looking down on her, not thinking she matters, disliking her or whatever, but look at Proverbs 30. And we'll see a verse about despising to obey your mother and not just despising your mother, but despising to obey your mother. Again, this could be hating to obey your mother, not liking to obey your mother, or thinking it's not important to obey your mother, thinking it doesn't matter. It's something that does not appeal to you. Look if you would at Proverbs 30 verse 17, the eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles shall eat it. Now, you know, nobody wants to die in an open field and have their eyes picked out by birds, right? They want to be buried and have a nice funeral and things like that. They don't want their carcass to rot in an open field. I remember one time there was a band called The Doors in the 1960s, it's a wicked band. I remember watching one time a VHS tape of a Doors concert, you know, when I was a teenager. And the lead singer for The Doors, he'd be singing all these songs and he would often just improvise up there. Like he'd be singing and he'd all of a sudden just start changing the lyrics to the song and just start improvising, is one of the things he was known for. And when he would improvise, it was always the most wicked lyrics. He probably had some demon that was leading him to be so creative up there and to improvise because it would always be the most obscene, wicked lyrics that he would come out with when he's just up there improvising. And I remember one where the police came and dragged him off stage because he said things that were so obscene that back then it wasn't even legal to publicly talk about these type of obscenities. But he's up there and I remember he just starts improvising in a song and he says, I don't want to die in an automobile. I want to die in an open field. I want the ravens to pick out my eyes. And he starts singing about birds, picking out his... And this is the scripture that came to my mind and I hit stop on the VHS. I said, I don't think I should be watching this because at the time I knew this scripture from Proverbs 30 and I was like, this is scary what this guy is saying. You know, the Bible... And then he talks about hating his mother in the same exact song. He talked about hating his mother and father in the same song that he talks about the birds picking out his eyes. Folks, it's demonic is what it is. A lot of these musicians are straight demonic, okay? And he is one of them. And so it says, the eye that mocketh at his father and despise it to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagle shall eat it. Go back to Proverbs chapter one, the beginning of the book of Proverbs, chapter number one. While you're turning there, I'll read for you Leviticus 19 three, you shall fear every man, his mother and his father and keep my Sabbaths on the Lord your God. Oh, by the way, let me just say this. The eye that mocketh at his father. Let me emphasize again how every word of God is there for a reason. The Bible is very deep and every word matters. The eye that mocketh at his father and despise it to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagle shall eat it. How does the eye despise to obey? You know, because sometimes you might even do what you're told, but you give that look. You give the dirty look, right, that mocks at your father like, oh, yeah, dad. The eye that mocks at his father, right, you give your parents that look like, yeah, dad, you're an idiot, I'm going to do it anyway because you told me to and because I have to, but come on, this is stupid. That's the eye that mocks at his father. The eye that despises to obey his mother is when mom says do this and you say yes and you go to do it, but you give the dirty look where you despise to obey your mother. It's not just the action. We need to have the heart that's right and the look that's right and not give the dirty look. I mean, how many parents in this world have said to their kids, wipe that look off your face, right? I mean, the sand which is by the seashore would be the number of times. It's innumerable how many parents have said that to their kid because children tend to do that, right? They have that eye that will sometimes mock at their father or despise to obey their mother. I forbid. I don't want the curses. I want it to be well with me. I want to live long on the earth, so I want to honor my father and mother. The Bible says in Proverbs 1.8, my son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. Notice it's not the suggestions of thy mother. Don't forsake the law of your mother, right? Mom lays down the law. Mom is the boss, okay, when it comes to the children. She makes the rules for the kids. They have to obey her. And it says that these laws, the instruction of the father, the law of thy mother, boy, it sounds like the mom's a little more strict in that family, right? Dad's giving instructions. Mom's giving law, you know. But anyway, they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. An ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. Now what does this mean, chains about thy neck? I remember when I was a kid reading the story of Daniel where he was promised that you get a gold chain. I pictured like a chain because the only chains I'd seen as a kid, you know, my dad didn't wear a gold chain, all right, because he was too manly for that, amen? But anyway, my dad did have like boats and motorcycles and stuff. And so we'd sometimes use chains, right? So I mean, I was picturing like these big links. You know what I'm talking about? Like that you would use chain when you're hooking up a trailer and there's like a couple of chains and stuff like that. So I remember just in my imagination just picturing Daniel just getting like this gold chain around his neck, like a big giant chain, you know, that's what I picture. You know, that's not the kind of chain that the Bible's talking about here. It's not a chain that's gonna weigh you down and drag you down. It's a chain that's a decoration, okay? So when the Bible says an ornament, what's an ornament? An ornament is something that you decorate with, right? So the Bible is saying that if you obey your parents, if you hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother, they shall be an ornament of grace under thy head and chains about thy neck. You know what it is? It is something that makes you look good. And you know the opposite of that means that you look bad when you're disrespectful to your parents. It looks bad. It's a bad testimony to other people. It looks bad. And you know what? If you think you're so cool in front of your friends, teenager, mouthing off to mom and dad actually makes you look stupid, okay? And if you would actually respect mom and dad and actually be, you know, submissive under your parents and treat them well, respect them, honor them, obey them, then that actually makes you look good. You know what makes you look mature? What's immature is mouthing off. Hey, I'm my own man, you know. I'm 14 or whatever. It's actually more mature. You actually look better. It's a better ornament. It's a better chain around your neck to basically... And what was the chain that was put around Daniel's neck? The chain that was put around his neck had to do with him being honored as the third ruler in the kingdom. He was basically made the third most important guy in government. So he has a gold chain around his neck, basically just showing wealth, nobility, showing authority, respect. You know what? Be respected. If you want people to look at you and have respect for you and treat you with respect and honor you, then you got to honor your mother and father and then people will honor you. Then you'll have the ornament of grace upon your head and you'll have the chains around your neck. Look at Proverbs chapter six, just a few pages to the right in your Bible, Proverbs chapter number six. The Bible reads in Proverbs six 20, my son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart. Tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. And when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life as opposed to the way of death. The way of death is when you don't listen to the commandment. It's when you don't listen to the law and it's when you don't listen to reproofs of instruction. Reproofs of instruction are when you're told that you're wrong and then someone also explains to you how to get it right. Here's where you're wrong and here's how to get it right. That is the reproof of instruction and that is the way of life. There are two paths you can take, the way of life and the way of death. The way of life is listening to people who reprove you, who give you the word of God, who show you what the Bible says, listening to your mom, listening to your dad. This is the way of life as opposed to the way of death. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. You're going to know what to do in life. You're going to know what decisions you shall make. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. That means it shall protect you, guard you. When you awake, when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. What does that mean, when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee? It's saying it's going to keep you company. See, very simple-minded people, they must always have a TV on. They must always have the radio on. They must always be chattering and gossiping with friends because of the fact that they're so simple-minded, their brain is so empty, so they have to constantly be filling that void all the time. Whereas wise people, intelligent people, they actually have a lot in their mind. They have a lot of scripture in their mind. They have a lot of things in their mind where they can actually sit and ponder things that they already know. They can meditate on God's word. They can meditate on just decisions or meditate on their family and friends and things like that. When you awake, it'll talk with you, meaning you wake up somewhere all by yourself, but you know what? You've got the commandment, you've got the law of God, you've got the teachings of your parents, you've got the word of God. You could literally just lay there in bed and basically you could quote some scripture and it'll talk with you. Amen? It'll actually talk with you. It'll continue to talk with you. How can these things talk to you when you awake unless you remember them? If you've never memorized any scripture and if everything that your parents taught you went in one ear and out the other, then how are you going to wake up and have it talk with you? When you wake up and these things are coming into your head, this is what dad said, this is what mom said, this is what the preacher said, this is what my pastor said, this is what my Christian friends told me that were expounding to me the word of God. Here's what I read in the Bible. Boy, there's a lot to think about there. You don't have to just, Oh, quick, you know, turn on the TV and listen to some obnoxious morning show. You don't need the obnoxious morning show. You can just be still and know that he is God and meditate on that for a while. So the Bible says in a verse number 23 for the commandment is a lamp and the laws light and reproofs of instruction or the way of life. Go to chapter 19 of Proverbs chapter number 19 we're going to look at several things in Proverbs here. Proverbs chapter number 19 verse 26 it says, he that wasted his father and chases the way his mother is a son that causes shame and bring it reproach. He that wasted his father, what does that mean to waste his father? You know, this is kind of a tough phrase, isn't it? Because I don't know in 2019 vernacular to waste somebody. It almost sounds like, you know, if you wasted somebody, I don't think that's what this means. You know, I think that this has to do with wasting his substance, wasting his goods. Okay. I think it has to do with financially or just with his, with his goods, with his property, wasting his father, I think has to do with wasting your father's goods and then chasing away your mother is like, you know, you're not taking care of mom. You inherit from dad. You inherit the money from dad. You inherit the property from dad and then you're like, see you mom, you know, and I'm just going to blow the money myself and not take care of mom. So I think this verse has to do with not caring for your mom when she's old, not honoring her and not to, no, I could be wrong about that, but that's the way I interpret that verse. I think that's what it's saying when it says he wastes his father and chases away his mother, right? He doesn't want her around. He's a burden, financial burden, whatever the burden, chase her away, waste dad's substance. I think that's what it means when it says waste thy father flip over. If you would, uh, chapter 20 verse 20 chapter 20 verse 20 says who so cursive his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Now your lamp going out, that means you died. Okay. That means your light lights out for you, buddy. Okay. Is what this is saying. You know, who so curse at this father, his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Chapter 23 verse 24 flip over to chapter 23 verse 24. The Bible says the father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice and he that beget the wise child shall have joy of him. Well, there's nothing better than to hear that your children walk in truth. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad and she that bear thee shall rejoice. But you know what? The bad son, the bad daughter is a heaviness to their mother, a continual heaviness, a load on their mind. Boy, we need to be a joy to our mother. And then look at chapter number 28 verse 24 chapter 28 verse 24. And this verse I think kind of ties in a little bit with he that wasted his father and chases the way his mother is a son that causes shame and bring it through approach. The Bible says who so Robert, his father or his mother and say it, it is no transgression. The same is the companion of a destroyer stealing from your parents. Here's what he's saying. You Rob your father and your mother. You say it's no transgression cause I'm their son. I'm their daughter. So I can just take money out of their wallet. I can just take food out of the fridge and just take away that special treat or whatever that was theirs. I can just take things. I can take their goods. I folks, what does the Bible say? The Bible says that if you Rob your father or your mother and say it's no transgression, the same is the companion of a destroyer, right? So the Bible is saying you're wicked. You're a, you're like unto a destroyer. You have a lot in common with a destroyer, which is obviously not something that you want to be known as a destroyer. Okay. Somebody who destroys the one center who destroys much good. Hey, do not think that your parents' belongings just belong to you automatically, you know, robbing your father and mother take their money, take their things. It's wicked folks. And you know, even a child is known by his doings, whether it's work be pure and whether it be right. When God looks down and when he sees wicked, naughty children that Rob their parents disobey their parents, despise to obey their mother, you might think, oh, well, he's going to go soft on them because they're children. He'll back off on them because they're children. Let me tell you something. There are a lot of stories in the Bible where God comes down pretty hard on children. Sometimes they get tried as an adult folks. Think about it. I mean, what about those 42 children that were making fun of Elisha and two bears came out of the wilderness and ripped them up? Did God go soft that time? Folks, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And let me tell you something. Children can become super wicked, especially in 2019 America, where there's a program in place by the government fool system and by Hollywood and by the music industry that's geared toward getting them a degree in wickedness. By the time they even reach puberty, they could already be super wicked. I mean, they can already be so rotten and corrupt with just every single day being enrolled in Satan's program, whether it be through the media, whether it be through the school system, wicked friends, wicked influences, folks, wicked influences abound in 2019 and children who are left to themselves, the Bible says, will bring their mother to shame. Why? Because they're getting indoctrinated in wickedness on a daily basis. Instead of reading their Bible every day, instead of going to church three times a week, instead of going out soul winning and seeing people saved, boy, they're just getting just junk, junk, junk, junk, junk, and they can get super wicked even before they're even a teenager. And then when they become a teenager, they can become a full blown juvenile delinquent or criminal and God's going to come down on it, friend. God's not going to say, oh, well, you're young. Folks, there are children who are already a reprobate. They've already gone down that bobsled to hell. They've already gone down that Romans 1 path. I mean, look in the news about the horrible things that sometimes teenagers will do. Horrific things, things that I'm not even going to mention because it's a shame to even speak of those things which are done to them in secret, but folks, we're in a day where you're seeing news stories about 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 year old kids who are violent criminals. They're violent criminals. How did that happen? How did they get there? Folks, it has to do with their parents not raising them and you know where it all started with disobedience, their parents because you know when you start hating your parents, you know who you're actually going to start to hate, God. Now I just want to make one last point here. I just want to throw this in just because this is typically a question that I get asked whenever I preach a sermon like this inevitably someone asks me this question whether it's in person, somebody walks up to me and asks me this or somebody emails me this or somebody leaves a comment like this. You know, I always get asked the same question when I preach a sermon like this. You know, well, what if my mom's not saved or what if my mom is a rotten person? What if my mom is a drug addict and a derelict and a delinquent mother, right? I mean, I get asked that all the time. Well, let me say this, you know, God is going to bless those who honor their mother. So even if you're not doing it for mom's sake, do it for the Lord's sake. Just like you obey the boss that's a bad boss for the Lord's sake. Okay. Now the only exception to this would be if your mom is just literally a full-blown God-hating reprobate, just the complete worst possible scum reprobate which is obviously a super rare situation that your mom is actually for sure a full-blown reprobate. Okay. Then at that point, I still wouldn't dare curse my mom or smite my mom or anything. I would just get away from her at that point, you know. But that's a super-duper rare case, folks, okay. You know, if your mom is just the worst degenerate evil scum literal God-hating reprobate sodomite whatever, okay. But that's so rare, folks, okay. Then at that point, I would just stay away from her. But you know what? Let's say your mom is unsaved. Let's say she's a drunk. You know what? Honor your mother. Love your mother. And I'm reminded of a famous quote from Brother Jack Hyles where he said, Everyone knows something that I don't know. Therefore, all men are my teachers. Okay. If your mom is not a spiritual example for you, let's say she's living a really sinful life or whatever, and she can't be an example to you spiritually, I guarantee you there's something you can learn from your mom. There's something good that she has to teach you. Maybe she can teach you how to cook or something, you know. Or maybe she can teach you something. But try to learn from your parents. Love your parents. Honor your parents. And look, folks, you know, that's a super-rare situation anyway because you know what? Most people that are in church right now here, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but if I ask for a raise of hands, hey, who has Christian parents in here? Guess what? Most hands are going to go up. Hey, my parents are saved. My parents are Christians. And whatever. And look, nobody's parents are going to be perfect. But you know what? You've got to love your parents. Honor your parents. They don't deserve it. Well, does Christ deserve it? Do it for Christ's sake. You don't understand. My mom's a jerk. You know what? You need to love your mom. You need to honor your mom. And you need to get that bitterness out of your heart. And you need to forgive your mom right now for all the bad things she did. Forgive her and start over and push the reset button and call her up and say, I love you, mom. Thank you for everything. And you say, well, what do I thank her for? I guarantee you there's something to thank her for. I don't care how bad you think your mom is. I guarantee you there's something that you could thank her for and say, hey, thank you for, you know, feeding me, changing my... Somebody changed your diaper, right? Somebody gave birth to you. And then somebody said, oh, what about children who don't have a mother? Everybody has a mother. Or else, where did you come from? How did you get here? You got here somehow, then you have or had a mother that you came from. You know, if your mom's already passed away, then honor her memory. Honor her legacy. Right? Respect the memory of her, okay? Everybody has a mother. In fact, I even heard before the service today that some people are not celebrating Mother's Day because they don't want to offend people. You know, because not everybody has a mother. Yes, they do. Or not everybody is a mother. It's like, okay, well, so what, though? Not everybody's a father. Not everyone's a veteran, you know? Not everyone died in a foreign war. Can we not do Memorial Day? You know? Thankfully, I've never heard the people come out and say it's pagan because it's fertility or something. I probably just gave people a stupid idea. It's going to be a whole new movement. All the flat earthers and bozos are going to start saying that Mother's Day is a wicked holiday or something. You know, but they say, oh, now they just call it Appreciation Day. Or they'll appreciate women who have a dog and say she's a dog mother. Or they'll appreciate, you know, the office mother. I didn't even know what that was. I had to look that up. What is an office mother? Oh, it's a woman at the office who kind of like acts like your mom or something. What? Folks, let's not degrade moms by making it all about some dog owner or some marm at the office or whatever, folks. You know, we need to make it about the real moms, amen? Amen. You know, you say, well, I'm offended because I don't have any kids. Well, you know what? Maybe you'll have kids in the future and then you'll be glad for this day. And you know what? You say, I don't have any kids. Well, what about your mom? Then make it about her. Is everything about you today? It's about your mom, right? Think about your mom. Honor your mom. Respect your mom. You know, I don't celebrate Mother's Day for myself because I'm not a mother, okay? But I do call my mom and show her some love. Hey, I do show my wife respect, the ladies of the church here by preaching a sermon about mothers and giving mothers their proper role. And you know what? John the Baptist ministry was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. That's the last thing in the Old Testament. The whole Old Testament, whole giant Old Testament, right? And you're going through all those books and Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi, the last thing he says is he's going to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. So how is he going to prepare the way for Jesus? How is John the Baptist going to prepare the way for Jesus? How is John the Baptist going to make his past straight and be that voice crying in the wilderness? How is he going to get people ready to accept Christ? He's going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. That's what the Bible says in Malachi chapter 4. And you know what that tells me is that respecting my parents prepares me to respect God. Obeying my parents prepares me to obey God. Loving my parents prepares me to love God. Honoring my parents prepares me to honor God. That's what the Bible says. So it's important that you honor your mother. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you so much for our mothers that you've given us, Lord. And I know that some mothers are better than others. I know that they're not all created equal, Lord. But Lord, thank you for all the mothers who've worked hard and Lord, even a mother that was delinquent, Lord, you know, typically mothers have still gone through a lot of suffering for their children. They've loved their children, cried over their children, worked for their children. Lord, help us make today a special day for mom. Lord, I pray that every child will be obedient to their mother today, would be extra respectful, kind, thoughtful, loving, and would give honor to whom honor is due, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.