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So, I do want to say Happy Mother's Day to the mothers and I have prepared a sermon. If anyone's coming this afternoon, we are going to go through Jeremiah chapter 31, but this morning I will be preaching a sermon for the mothers. So, you're there in Proverbs 31 and look at verse number 28. Proverbs 31 and verse number 28, the Bible reads, her children arise up and call her blessed. The title for the sermon this morning is call her blessed. So, who is calling her blessed? Her children. Her children. And on this Mother's Day, my hope that if you have a mother, that you have contacted her or that you will contact her later today and that you will call her blessed. You would give her the honour and the respect because she is your mother. And so, we are going to be looking upon the blessing of motherhood today and why this is such an important topic, especially in light of today's society because our society today, as you know, we're living in strange days. We're living in a wicked environment and people do not have a respectful family. You know, people have lost respect of what it is to be a father, what it is to be a mother. You know, I recall, I don't know how many years ago now, but when it was about Father's Day, there was a desire to change Father's Day to the day called, they wanted to change the name of Father's Day to Special Persons Day. Special Persons Day because we don't want to, you know, upset the sodomites. We don't want to upset the LGBTs, so let's just special persons instead of Father's Day. You know, our society is trying to break what a family unit is supposed to be. You know, and the Bible taught us from the very beginning, you just start reading your Bible, you don't get very far, God tells us what a family looks like. That is a man who takes his wife and they are to be fruitful and multiply and this is, you know, the task that a woman has been given by God to bring forth children. And what a blessing it is to bring forth life. You know, men, we don't have that luxury. You know, we will never experience something that the woman was created to do. You know, God designed a woman to be a mother. You know, He's designed her body to be able to carry another child and to bring forth. What an amazing blessing, what an amazing opportunity to experience such a great reward from God. And so, we're going to move away from Proverbs 31, we will come back to Proverbs 31 later toward the end of this sermon. But can you please first turn to Genesis chapter 6, sorry, Genesis chapter 3. Turn to Genesis chapter number 3 for me and verse number 16. Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 16. So this Mother's Day, I do want to bring to your thoughts, you know, mothers and the honour of mothers because I want to uphold motherhood. You know, I don't want to be like this world and downplay motherhood and say, well, you just stay home and raise the kids. You know, why don't you do something greater with your life, you know, and go out there and work a job. No, you know, this is the greatest thing a woman can do. Okay, this is her task, this is her purpose, you know, to fall pregnant and have children. In Genesis chapter 3 verse number 16, we're looking at the events that took place when Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord. And we already know that before they sinned, God already gave instruction for them to multiply, to be fruitful and to multiply. God's plan for them was already to bring forth further generations, okay. And so I don't want you to walk away thinking that, you know, the curse that fell upon Eve was to have children. That wasn't the curse. She was already tasked to do that job. Look at verse number 16, it says, Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shall bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. And so we see what took place, not that there was going to be sorrow in bringing forth children, because there was always going to be a level of difficulty of bringing forth children, but what it says in verse number 16 here, it says, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. And so part of the curse is that bringing forth children today, in these days, ever since Adam and Eve sinned, would be much harder, would be a much harsher experience. It would be multiplied sorrows. That's why we call it labor, right, because it requires a lot of work, it requires a lot of effort. And, you know, when you see this, this is something that we can at least appreciate our mother's for. You know, even if you say, well, you know, my mother and I, we don't even talk anymore. You know, my mother, she's not a believer. My mother, she's a wicked woman, and she wants nothing to do with me. Well, one thing you can appreciate your mother for is to have gone through those great multiplied sorrows to give you life. I mean, that is a blessing that you've been given life through this process, and your mother was the one who experienced those multiplied sorrows to bring you into life. You're in the book of Genesis, please go to Genesis 35. Please go to Genesis 35, and look at verse number 16. Genesis 35, and verse number 16, please. I want to show you just how difficult it is to bring forth children here. In Genesis 35, verse number 16, this is the story of Rachel. You may remember that Rachel was having a hard time falling pregnant, okay? And when you look at verse number 16, this is the story of her giving birth to her second child, her second son. And in Genesis 35, 16, it says, and they journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little way to come to Ephra, and Rachel travailed, and she had hard, what, labour. Hard labour. That's what we still refer to, you know, this travail, these sorrows to bring forth children. We still call that labour. The Bible tells us here that she's experienced hard labour. And you know what? You know, for many women who have given birth, have gone through that process, many of them have experienced not just regular labour, which is hard in itself, which is multiplied sorrows in itself, but they can also be very hard labour, and a lot of women go through this experience, okay? Again, to bring forth life. Now how hard was her labour? Look at verse number 17. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, thou shalt have this son also. So they were concerned about the life of this child. You know, was this child going to survive, right? Verse number 18. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, for she died, that she called his name Benonai, but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephra, which is Bethlehem. So how hard was her labour? So hard that she passed away. So hard that she died. This is a risk. This is a real risk of any mother bringing forth children, okay? But you can see how going through this process, even though this is a task that God has created women for, unfortunately because of this curse, because of the consequences of sin, it puts this extra effort into ladies. And even today, you might say, well back then you see it was just a midwife. She wasn't in the top hospitals. She didn't have the top surgeons. She didn't have all the medical systems in the world. But you know what? Even today, even in a country like Australia, which has plenty of hospitals, they have plenty of trained doctors and physicians and what have you, even today, women in Australia pass away, they die from giving birth. You know, I had a look at the stats here, and in Australia, you know, things are much worse in other places in this world, but in Australia, there are seven deaths in women per 100,000 women that give birth. So every 100,000 women that give birth, there are seven women that die from that experience, that pass away from that labor, that hard labor of bringing forth children. You know, death is most often associated with the hemorrhaging of the blood. You know, quite often again, it's a significant, you know, push to bring forth that child. You know, there's a lot of complications that may take place. This is why it's good to have people like midwives like Rachel had, or other people that are just trained, you know, to deal with these difficult situations. But even then, even here in the Bible, we see something has gone wrong, you know, there is hard labor, and she has passed away. And even in a, you know, first world country, with free health care, as we consider, you know, with the hospitals, even in Australia, we have women passing away from giving birth. And so when we consider our mothers, and we want to honor our mothers, it's not just the hard labor to bring forth life, but they have risked their life to give us life. They have risked their life to give us life. Boy, I mean, you know, when you think about that, don't you think mothers are worth honoring? You know, it's a wonderful thing that there's one Sunday every year that our nation does something right once again, right? They stop and honor mothers. Thank you, mothers, you know, thank you, and I hope mothers today, you know, have a blessed Mother's Day. And I hope you realize that, you know, you have been given such a task, such an honor of bringing forth children. And you know what, I honor the mothers, not just my mother, but I honor all the mothers because I know what you had to go through to bring forth children. You know, I'm reminded, there was a time, it was the first time Kristina gave birth, so this was with Isabel, you know, and you know, you're new, you don't know what's going on necessarily, you're learning as things develop. And the biggest mistake that I made with Kristina was, you know, as a husband, I've seen her go through labor and travail and it's time for her to push that child out and, you know, I'm not interested in sort of looking at that, you know, let the midwife take care of that, you know. And I'm just there trying to support my wife and, you know, I kind of went close to her and she grabbed my arm. Okay, now if, you know my wife, she's not very big, all right, my wife's quite petite right and, you know, she grabbed my arm and boy, when she was going through those contractions, I was going through contractions as well, brethren. I could feel the strength in her hands and she was digging into my skin and I was in pain. I was like, whoa, how strong, like, you know, and here's the thing, like, I was actually really hurting but I didn't want to say anything to my wife because I'm trying to support her. I'm like, okay, honey, push, you know, all right, you know, breathe, breathe and I'm like, at the same time, you know, I started to realize, boy, this is so hard for her. Where did she find this strength? Because she's going through hard labor. You know, I learned that first time, you know, never to do that again. You know, if you're going to be a father for the first time, you know, support your wife but just stay a little bit away, you know, don't let her grab a hold of you because it's, you know, she won't let go, she won't let go and you will feel those contractions as well, you know, but it is very difficult, it is very challenging and can you also please now turn to the book of John, turn to John chapter 16. John chapter 16 and verse number 21. You know, I personally believe that even if you have a bad relationship with your mother, with your birth mother, even if you are not on speaking terms for whatever reason, we know that through life there are problems that arise, there are relationship breakdowns that happen. It always breaks my heart when I hear stories of people that are not even on speaking terms with their mother. You know, the reason I'm preaching this is if you're in that position, you know, I really want to challenge you to just say, you know what, I don't care if we're not on speaking terms, you know, I don't care if my mother has done something wrong to me and I'm struggling to forgive her, it's Mother's Day and she risked her life to bring her into my, to give me life, I'm going to pick up that phone and give her a call, you know, I'm going to send her a gift, I'm going to do something to acknowledge that she went through so much to give me life and look at John chapter 16 and verse number 21, these are the words of Jesus Christ, John chapter 16 and verse number 21. Jesus said, a woman when she is in travail have 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 that is a reality, again I've seen that with my wife, the struggles, you know, I don't know if I can do this honey, you know, she'll say to me, you know, the labor and as a supporting husband it's hard to see your wife struggling and you're worried what's going to happen, are there going to be complications and, you know, there's all those concerns and worries, but as soon as that baby is delivered and that baby is resting on her chest, you know, there's that joy, there's the rejoicing, you know, and it's almost like they completely forget what they have gone through, you know, and they're just thankful rejoicing that this child has been brought into the world. Again, you know, I've gone, I've been with my wife, you know, she's gone, you know, 10 times, we had twins, so we have 11 kids, but, you know, 10 times I've gone with my wife to the hospital, actually the one time, the most recent time, I didn't go with my wife because of COVID restrictions, I couldn't go and I had to watch the kids and all this kind of stuff and then there was one other time where, you know, I drove Christina to the hospital and she was like, she was almost giving birth, so we had to go to emergency and I sat her down in a wheelchair, some people came and I said, honey, I'm going to be five minutes, I'm going to quickly go park the car, right, and by the time I came back, and I was quick, by the time I came back, she already gave birth, she already gave birth in emergency, okay, so, I mean, I've been there pretty much every other time except two, all right, and I'm telling you, you know, with this, this truth of Jesus Christ, that, you know, it is so true, when I see my wife laboring and I'm sure husbands, you can sort of experience, you know, understand this as well, you know, you're worried for your wife, you're worried, you know, you're concerned, you know, is she able to do it and maybe you're even shedding some tears a little bit because, you know, it's so much work for your wife and again, as soon as that baby is born, she's rejoicing and it's like the men, we're still traumatised, like we're still like trying to recover, you know, from all that experience but the woman, she's rejoicing because that child has been brought into this world and the reason I wanted to read that passage to you is once again, if you have a mother who you are not connected with today, okay, I'm trying to challenge you to still reach out to her, still show her appreciation, still show her honour and understand when you were born, she rejoiced. When you were born, even after all the labour and hardship she has gone through, she paused and rejoiced and was thankful that you came into this world. So I think Mother's Day is a wonderful holiday, it's not really a holiday but a wonderful day to celebrate and to give honour to your mothers. All right, can you please now turn to, where can I get to turn to, can you turn to Galatians chapter 4, turn to Galatians chapter 4 for me please in your New Testament, Galatians chapter 4. You know, every time I think about Mother's Day, I also think about women who might be barren, women who are struggling to fall pregnant because one of the difficulties, you know, God's put it in each woman to one day desire to have children, right, and there are many mothers, especially in this day and age, you can probably think of many reasons why this might be the case but it's very difficult for some ladies to fall pregnant. We even have situations in the Bible where certain women were barren, you know, and they were struggling to fall pregnant but every time they eventually did fall pregnant. You know, every time, you know, it may have taken many, many years but they eventually did have children. And you know, before I married Christina, you know, she was told by the medical system that she would never be able to have children, that her body was just not, you know, that there was a, you know, I won't go into the detail but basically she would just not be able to have children, okay, and I remember my wife, Christina, before we were married, you know, I was dating her, my, you know, fiancé was just distraught, she was upset about it but me as a man, I was like, you know, as a young guy, I was like, who cares? You know, I'm kind of thinking, oh, well, what's the point of children, right, like, you know, if we don't have children, we get to enjoy each other and we get to, you know, we don't have so many things holding us back and that's how an immature man kind of thinks, right? And, but I realised, you know, for my wife, she was very distraught and, you know, the Lord used that, of course, for us to put our faith upon Him and He's blessed us, you know, He's blessed us and, you know, the thing about the medical system, they say so much, they say so much rubbish, right? And, you know, what, the Lord can step in and do anything, the Lord can do anything He desires, you know, and so, why am I bringing that up? Okay, because when we look at Isaiah, I'm going to read to you from Isaiah 54, you're in Galatians chapter 4 but I'm going to read to you from Isaiah 54 because every time we think about Mother's Day, there might be some mothers that are barren, there might be some mothers that are struggling to fall pregnant and they feel maybe a little inferior as a woman, okay? And you shouldn't feel that way if that's you, you know, I don't want to discourage any women that are struggling to fall pregnant but, I mean, Isaiah 54 verse 1, I'll just read it to you, it says, sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear. So the Bible's telling us, the Lord God is encouraging women that are barren, women that are unable to have children, women that have not been able to bear, okay? And the Lord's telling these women, sing, rejoice, be happy, it says, break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child, and then it says these interesting words, it says, for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife saith the Lord. What an interesting passage, that's Isaiah 54 verse 1 if you want to look it up later on, okay? But the Lord is saying to the barren woman who's not had children, who has not travailed in labor, hey, you sing and rejoice because you have more children than the woman who's the wife of her husband, her married wife. Say, what does that mean? Well, here's the thing about, you know, the barren woman, okay? Here's the thing about this situation, they can still bring forth children, okay? They can still bring forth children. Now, I want to show you this, can you go, you're in Galatians chapter 4, Galatians chapter 4 verse number 26, please. Galatians chapter 4 verse number 26. It reads, but Jerusalem, which is above, so this is not earthly Jerusalem, this is heavenly Jerusalem, okay? But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, now it's referring to what I read to you in Isaiah, for it is written, rejoice thou barren, that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, for the desolate have many more children than she which hath an husband. So what is this teaching us? This is teaching us that when we are saved, we know the term that we often use, we are born again. There is a spiritual birth that takes place, amen? And anyone that is born again, anyone that is saved, will make up eventually that Jerusalem, which is above, which is the mother of us all. And so what we understand from the Bible, yes, there is a physical birth, which we've all had, right? The birth of the flesh, but then there is also a spiritual birth. And you know what, brethren, every time you give someone the gospel and they call upon the Lord in faith for salvation, you have brought forth children. You have brought forth spiritual children into this kingdom that ultimately, whose mother will be that new Jerusalem. We know that new Jerusalem will descend when God creates the new heavens and the new earth. And so even men have the opportunity to bring forth children. But this is spiritual children, right? And so when we understand Isaiah 54 verse 1 about the barren woman, yes, she's struggling to bring forth children in the natural sense, but she can rejoice because she has more time, like she's not being held up in the house so much, she doesn't have as many children to take care of, but she has a greater opportunity to go out there, preach the gospel, and bring forth spiritual children and bring them into that new Jerusalem. You know, even other passages in the Bible, I'll just quickly read to you, in Philemon verse 10, Paul says, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, which I have begotten, that's like bringing forth, right, which I have begotten in my bonds. So Paul is saying Onesimus is someone that I begot, this is my son as it were, because while I was in bonds, while I was in prison, I gave this guy the gospel and he got saved. Okay, so Paul is able to rejoice that he has brought forth children, even though he was not a married man. He brought forth spiritual children. Also, in 3 John verse 4, just read it to you, it says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Now, John is not writing about his own physical children here. He's writing a letter to the believers and he's saying to these believers that he got saved, that he finds no greater joy than to hear that my children, no, they're not spiritual, they're not physical children, they're spiritual children that he has seen saved, that he rejoices when he hears that his children are walking in truth. And so that's the encouragement that we see from the Lord for the barren woman. You know, yes, you know, I truly believe that God, you know, even the barren woman will be able to bring forth children at some points. You know, just having that, you know, trust and reliance upon the Lord, being faithful to the Lord. And you know what, the greatest thing that this barren woman can do is just have children, but spiritual children. You know, she's got more time on her hands to get out there, give people the gospel and see them, you know, get saved and be able to say, these are my children, these are my spiritual children. And so we see how the Lord takes time to stop and think about the barren woman as well. And you know what, even the barren woman, as I said, can be a mother, okay, but a spiritual mother. Can you please turn to the book of Proverbs now, Proverbs chapter one and verse number eight. Proverbs chapter one and verse number eight. Proverbs chapter one and verse number eight. And again, our society looks down upon mothers, especially stay at home mothers, especially mothers that decide to stay home and raise their children. But you know what, the Lord, that is the design that the Lord has for a mother, okay. And again, you know, our world will think that you're inferior, they think you're some slave in the kitchen or something crazy, right? But there is great honor. And you have, as a mother who's raising children, you have a powerful impact on the next generation. You know, there's a reason why the world, there's a reason why the devil does not want mothers in the home raising their children because the devil wants your children. They don't want the mother influencing the child for the Lord and to raise a child, you know, to love the Lord and to love the Bible. There's nothing more the world wants. The devil wants us to remove godly influences, remove mum and dad from the equation so you can throw them into some public institution and they'll teach them whatever garbage they want. Proverbs chapter 1 verse number 8. Proverbs chapter 1 verse number 8, it says, my son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. You know, mothers, it's your job to teach your children to lay down the law, to lay down some rules around the house. And if you want a stable home, you want a consistent home, you better make sure that, you know, you talk, mums and dads, you talk together about the rules of the house and you guys stay consistent with your children, right? Like your children will learn when you're inconsistent. When they don't get the answer from mum, they're going to run to dad and try to get the answer. When they don't get the answer they want from dad, they're going to try to run to mum. But if you guys remain consistent, they're not going to be able to do that, okay? And they're going to learn whatever mum says goes and whatever dad says goes and that's it, you know? Look at, go to Proverbs chapter 6 and verse number 20. Proverbs chapter 6 and verse number 20. The Bible reads, my son, keep thy father's commandments, and again, and forsake not the law of thy mother, bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck. So, you know, for the children, for those who, you know, even if you have mothers that, you know, you're older and you don't have mothers, you know, the Bible's telling us here, you know, our parents have instructed us, they've given us good instruction. You know, they've had experience. You know, I remember growing up as a child, as a teenager, and I don't know if this is just my thought or something that was kind of just brought into, you know, our thinking, you know, as teenagers, I saw my parents as this funny daddy generation that just does not understand this generation. And then I want to talk to my parents, when they were young, they thought that about their generation. And I'm pretty confident if I ask my grandparents, when they were teenagers, they probably thought that about their parents, right? And so, you know, one day our kids are going to grow up, they're teenagers, I'm sure some of my teenage kids, they probably think, you know, my parents don't understand me, they're some other generation, right? But here's the thing, you know, that you need to understand, there's nothing new under the sun. You know, the challenges, the temptations, the frustrations that teenagers are going to go through, you know, your parents went through the same thing, and my parents went through the same thing, and their parents went through the same thing, right? And so what we see here in God's Word is that when our parents instruct us, when they give us commandments, when they give us laws, you need to understand it's because they've lived a life as well. They've gone through your experiences as well. It's not that they don't understand you, it's that they're trying to keep you from the mistakes that they've made themselves, or the mistakes that they've seen their generation make. And so instead of you making the same mistakes or making worse mistakes, hey, harken to the commandments of your parents, harken to the law of your mother, wear them about your neck, bind them continually upon thine heart, think about what my parents are teaching us because they love us, they're trying to instruct us, they're trying to keep us safe. Drop down to verse number 23, Proverbs 6. It says, for the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. So you can see here that mothers are, you know, you have an important part to play. Motherhood, raising children, it's so important. It's going to be a light to the feet, it's a lamp, it's instruction for your children. You know, please don't think that, you know, the only place my kids should get Bible teaching is bringing them to church. No, you should be teaching your children as well. Please don't think the only place that my children can get an education is in the schools. No, you can teach them real life applications. You know, I went to school, I don't know how many, I did year 7 twice, because I had to get into a Christian school and it was easier to get into a Christian school if I did year 7, alright. I mean, I've done so many years of school, you know, I walked away from school, I don't know anything about life. Like I know a lot about history, I know a lot about grammar, I know how to do some multiplications and some algebra, I was a pretty good student overall, okay. But really when it came to just life, like, alright, marriage, right, money, what's money? Like how do you deal with money? Work, you know, where do you start with work? I had nothing. You know, I went through all these years of education and honestly, I walk away and I was thinking, what was the point of all that? And then you have to learn afterwards how to put it all together, right. But, you know, when children have the opportunity to be raised by the parents, you know, parents are going to teach them great things. Parents are going to teach them how to change a tyre. Parents might teach them if you have the knowledge of these things, right, how to put together a computer or something. They're going to teach them how to manage your money. You know, maybe invest in these things and look at these options and think about these things, you know. They're going to teach them how to work hard and how to do the chores around the house and maybe get rewarded potentially, I don't know, it depends on how parents do things, right. But things that children are not going to learn in schools and, you know, parents have this opportunity to give children a way of life and to teach them how to live a godly life. Mothers, you have been given such a great honour. Motherhood is such a great honour. You know, raising your children in the home is such a powerful responsibility. I'm telling you, it's so much better than going to work and working for some random stranger guy who only does it for the money, right, and he's not there and you're going to have to neglect your children, you know, to some other institution that doesn't love them the way you love them, that's not going to teach them, not going to train them the way that you're going to train them. You know, it's so important for mothers because, you know, I don't know if all fathers and mothers are like this but generally speaking I remember my father being someone who taught me more how to be a man. You know, the importance of, you know, just getting good grades and, you know, getting a good job and providing for yourself and making sure you have a future, that's the kind of things my dad would teach me but when it came to my mother she taught me something different. She taught me how to have a good character. She taught me how to, you know, love the Lord and to love the Bible. You know, my mother would tuck me into bed as a child and read me the Bible, you know, read me stories of the Bible before I could read the Bible myself, right. It's all about, you know, she taught me, you know, how to date or how to treat a woman, you know, when I'm dating a woman and I'm walking with her, which side to walk and which side and how to treat her. These are things I don't, you know, you don't know, you know, you go into these things, you know. My mother taught me, you know, make sure when you start dating you just, it's only a Christian woman, you know, a saved woman, make sure you date a saved woman. I kind of disobeyed that one. My wife was unsaved when I started dating her but she's my first convert. I got her saved, okay, before we got married, amen. But, you know, it's my mother who taught me, you know, stay away from alcohol, you know, don't touch those things, don't even look at those things. Those are things my mother taught me because my mother had an alcoholic aunt and she saw the damages that it caused the family and she doesn't want to see that, you know, for my mother it was more of a tender character building, you know, kind of training that only mothers can really inject and really for fathers we're more concerned about, hey, you know what, be manly, you know, be productive and get a job and provide for yourself and provide for your family and so, you know, generally speaking, you know, fathers and mothers just play a different role with the race and the instruction of a child. Can you please turn to Proverbs chapter 17 and verse number 25. Proverbs 17 and verse number 25. And I'm talking to the children here because you should honour your mother, okay. This is Mother's Day, you know. I don't want you to think of this day as a selfish day for yourselves or something. I want you to really focus on giving your mother appreciation because it says in Proverbs 17 verse 25, a foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her that bear him. You know, do you really want your life to be one of bitterness for your mother? You know what, if you don't, listen to your parents' instructions. If you're not productive, if you don't make something of your life, if you become foolish and live worldly and live ungodly and destroy your life, you will be bitterness to the same woman that brought you forth. You will be like bitterness to this woman who risked her life to give you life. Please think about your mothers, you know. It saddens me when I hear stories, as a pastor I hear stories from mothers, you know, whose children are just ungodly wicked, you know. And they carry that, I'm telling you, they carry that for the rest of their lives. They carry that for the rest of their lives. And I'm saying to the mothers, please instruct your children. You know, teach them. You know, guide them. You know, chastise them when they're wrong. Correct them. You know, we live in this snowflake generation. As soon as you say something negative, as soon as you give them negative feedback, they react and get all upset and harsh. I don't know what's happened to this generation. We need to teach our children to take on some negative feedback. You know, consider some criticism and consider, you know, this is something I need to change. Thank you for the negative criticism. I needed to hear that so I can make necessary change in my life. And you know what, we're raising a generation, not necessarily us, but the world is raising a generation where they cannot hear anything negative about themselves or they cannot be corrected, you know. And it's only, they can only receive a positive message. It's so harmful to our society. You know, the children that grow up and can take on some criticism and improve and grow, they're going to be the ones that are ultimately going to be successful. And I hope it's going to be the Christians. I hope it's the Christian generation that become ultra successful in this world. I'm not talking about money, but I'm talking about them being a shining light for the Lord God in this world. Can you please turn to Exodus chapter 2, Exodus chapter 2, Exodus chapter 2. Mothers, don't underestimate, don't underestimate your influence on your children, please. You play such an important role. You know, and when your teenagers are rolling their eyes at you, talking back at you sometimes, don't give up. Don't give up. Keep instructing your children. Keep instructing them, okay. We've all been teenagers. We've all rolled our eyes at our mothers. We've all done it, okay. We've all spoken back at our parents when we should not have, okay. That doesn't mean you think, oh, they don't need my instruction anymore. You know, they are who they are. They're still young children. They're still not adults, okay. But the reason I'm saying that is because I'm going to read to you from Psalm 22 verse 9 and I have read this Psalm just recently because of recent events. I'll just quickly read to you from Psalm 22, 9. You're in Exodus 22. The Bible says, But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God for my mother's belly. And this is the Psalm of David. This is King David. We know King David was a godly man. You know what, but he had the advantage of growing up in a Christian home. Not only growing up in a Christian home, he had the advantage that while he was in his mother's womb that he already heard about God. While he was in that womb, he was already hearing the words of God. He was already hearing preaching. He was already hearing singings of praises toward the Lord and King David was able to recognize the Lord God is his God even from the womb of his mother. And so even while that child is in the womb, mothers, you can have a godly influence on your children even at that point in time, okay. And look at Exodus chapter 2 and verse number 1. This is the story of Moses and you may recall that this was a time when the Israelites were in Egypt and they were multiplying and Pharaoh was not happy about that. He didn't like the Israelites multiplying and so he instructed for the parents to basically murder their children, to throw them into the river, okay, for them to drown. Well, Moses' mother, she couldn't do that. She couldn't do that with the child that she brought forth. Let's look at the story here in verse number 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi and took a wife, a daughter of Levi and the woman conceived and bare a son and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. So, you know, often when a baby is born, the first three months, they're pretty quiet. Like me, they'll cry a little bit but, you know, they sleep a lot and, you know, at that age, they really only need three things. They need food. They need a nappy change. They need to be burped maybe, alright. And so those first three months, it's just babies are very quiet, very easy to sort of manage, okay, in those first three months. And so she was able to hide him for this period of time but then as they grow, they become louder, they cry louder, right, things like that. And so she comes to a point where she cannot hide him any longer. And it says in verse number 3, and when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bull rushes and dobbed it with slime and with pitch and put the child therein and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink and his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river and her maidens walked along by the river's side and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child and behold, the babe wept and she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew's children. And said his sister, that's Moses' sister, to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, take this child away and nurse it for me and I will give thee thy wages and the woman took the child and nursed her. So Moses' mother gets Moses back and now she's getting paid by the government to raise that child. Okay? She's been instructed to nurse that child, to breastfeed that child, right? To raise that child. Obviously, Pharaoh's daughter was not in a position to be able to nurse the child. And verse number 10, and the child grew and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter and she became her son and she called his name Moses and she said because I drew him out of the water. And so Moses' mother, the only time, the only opportunity she had with Moses was during that nursing period. Okay? Now how long does a mother normally nurse? You know, it kind of depends but, you know, maybe it averages somewhere between one and a half to two and a half years roughly of a child's life. You know, a lot of mothers might nurse to about one year and then start giving that child solids but still be nursing on the side, right? And so if you consider how long did Moses' mother have with Moses, you know, it was only, let's say two years. You know, just average it out. Let's say she had two years with Moses as a little baby and then she had to go and give him to Pharaoh's daughter. Okay? And he grew up, you know, in the rich palaces, eating, you know, Egypt's food, you know, living, you know, a luxurious, you know, Egyptian life. She grew up there, you know, as the Pharaoh's daughter's son. And then what took place? Well, if you go to, drop down to verse number 11 in Exodus chapter 2, look at verse number 11, it says, And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out unto his brethren and looked on their burdens. So you can see here that Moses, he grows up in Pharaoh's house, he grows up in Egypt, but even after growing up, he's looking for his brethren. He's looking for God's people. But the only influence his mother had on him was two years, let's say. Okay? What would draw him to say, you know what? These are my brethren, not the Egyptians. What would draw him to do that? Well, I'm not going to go through the whole story, but he finds out that, you know, some of the Egyptians are beating his brethren. He comes in, you know, he tries to help and he ends up killing one of the Egyptians and then he ends up fleeing. He ends up fleeing Egypt. And, you know, if you watch some of the Exodus, like TV shows, they'll show that the reason Moses fled Egypt was because he had a fear of his life. Like, that's kind of what you see on the TV shows. I've seen some cartoons like this where Moses, you know, killed a man and so Pharaoh sought to kill him and so he ends up fleeing Egypt. I don't know if anyone's heard that before. Okay? But that's not why he left Egypt. It had nothing to do with it, actually. Okay? Because can you now turn to Hebrews chapter 11? Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 23. Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 23. The Bible tells us why he fled Egypt, why he left Egypt. It's in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 23. Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 23. The Bible reads, By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandments. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, look at this, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Why? Verse number 25. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. So Moses had the choice. Do I enjoy the pleasures of sin? Do I enjoy the pleasures of the world? And often Egypt reflects, you know, represents symbolically the world. He had that opportunity. Or do I identify myself as one of God's people, even if I have to suffer affliction for that? Boy, you put that choice to a lot of people. You know where they're going to go? Let's just enjoy the joys, you know, the pleasures of sin. That's what they're going to choose, okay? Let's choose sin. He said, no, I'm going to choose to be one of God's people. Where did that influence come from? He was raised as one of Pharaoh's grandsons. Where do you think that influence came from? It obviously came from his mother. She only had two years with her son. And somehow within those two years, she was able to influence her son for the Lord. That when he grew up, he knew, no, I am one of God's people, even if I have to suffer affliction to be called one of God's people. Verse number 26. Esteem in the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Look at this. By faith he forsook Egypt. So why did he run away from Egypt? Why did he forsake Egypt? Because he was fearing his life? No, the Bible tells us. Not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. So when Moses left Egypt, it wasn't that he was afraid of the king's wrath. He left Egypt because he was looking at the one who was invisible. He was looking at God. And he said, you know what, God, I want to serve you. I want to walk in your paths, even if it makes me suffer affliction. Even if I lose all the pleasures of this world, Lord, I'm going to follow your way. I'm going to follow what you have told your people to do. And he chose that godly righteous life over a worldly sinful life. And again, why? Two years, maybe, with his mother. And she was able to influence him at such a young age. You know, Moses is also able to say that the Lord God was his God from his mother's womb. Okay, so mothers, I'm just telling you, I'm showing you this because you have more influence than you probably even imagine. Okay, even those early years when you think this little child doesn't know much, listen, they're absorbing. You know, children, little children, their brains are like sponges. They're absorbing. They're learning language. They're learning faces. They're learning, you know, the environment. They're adjusting to time. When do we eat? And you know what, when they're hearing God's word, when they're hearing praises of God, they're absorbing that as well. Now please don't think little babies are not able to absorb God's word. They absorb it, okay? And it's going to sit there in their hearts and when they're old enough to make those decisions, those verses, those words are going to come back in their mind and that's going to help them make the right decisions in life. Do I live after the world or do I walk in the ways of God even if it means persecution? Can you please turn to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse number 1. So we know that the book of Timothy is a letter, is an epistle written from Paul the apostle to Timothy who was a pastor, who was a bishop, okay? And it says in verse number 1, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus to Timothy my dearly beloved son grace mercy and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve for my forefathers with pure conscience and without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy. And look at verse number 5. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, unfeigned means it's not fake. Paul says I can see this faith in you it is so true it is not fake and then it says this which dwells first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also. Look when Timothy when Paul thinks of Timothy as this young pastor right this young bishop he says man I can see your faith and I know where it comes from it comes from your mother and it comes from your grandmother Lois I know them. Right so what do we see there once again this godly man doing things of God being a pastor of a church because of the influence of his mother and also from his grandmother this was passed down in the generations now I don't believe that his mother knew his mother Eunice knew that when she gave birth that Timothy this Timothy that I just gave birth will one day be a great man of God I don't think she knew that he was one day going to be a pastor I don't think she knew that one day my son's name is going to be in the bible forever right the epistle of Timothy not just once but twice first Timothy and second Timothy right she doesn't know what the future holds but one thing she knows is that I need to instruct my child in the faith I need to teach him about the lord and as time developed he grew up to be this great man that even the apostle Paul was able to look at him and say man look at your true faith it is not one that is fake so you never know the influence we've seen the influence of mothers on king David when we looked at the psalm we looked at the influence of mothers with Moses we looked at the influence of mother here with Timothy you know and I thank God for my mother again she was the one that was reading me the bible you know trying to cause me to love God's word and without my mother I would not be a pastor today you know it was it was her faith she's the one you know and I'm just honoring my mother for a moment you know she's the one that gave me the gospel you know at four years old she gave me the gospel she told me that I needed to be saved be sure of heaven by believing on Jesus Christ and I called upon the lord then she took me to the church pastor and said can you just double check that he understands the gospel you know he double checked and said yes he understands and at four years old I got saved because of my mother okay and I don't remember all the conversations I don't remember exactly even how she gave me the gospel you know all I remember bits and pieces of her teaching me the bible and you know what I truly believe if it wasn't for that I would not be a pastor today I would not be that person you know I can see this in Timothy as well you know that he had the great influence of his mother and again I say this not just to honor my mother but I'm just saying to all the mothers here please think of your influence you might say well you know what I'm not I'm you know my children have grown up now and you know I'm not really a mother anymore I'm a grandmother well yeah grandmother Lois grandmothers also can have a great influence on the grandchildren so if you're not a mother anymore you shouldn't have grown up and now they're they've got their children well grandmothers how about you pass down your faith to your grandchildren as well how about you be a godly influence as well you know to your to your children that's what Timothy benefited from both mother and grandmother teaching him the words of god all right can you we're going to end on proverbs 31 we started on proverbs 31 can you please turn to proverbs 31 now proverbs 31 in verse number one proverbs 31 in verse number one so we're looking at the words of king lemuel which was probably solomon maybe a nickname for solomon potentially uh or it could be some other king it's sort of hard to know but proverbs 31 verse 1 it says the words of king lemuel the prophecy that his mother taught him this guy becomes a king guess who taught him guess who instructed him his mother and the mother's instruction was so good that god says yep we need to put that in the book of proverbs proverbs 31 these are the words of god we know this is the inspiration of god these are god's words spoken by a mother to her child who grew up to be the king what an amazing thing right now we're not going to go through all that but drop down to verse number 26 proverbs 31 verse number 26 it says she opened her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness so is there wisdom in the mouths of mothers absolutely mothers please you have a lot of wisdom teach your children okay teach your children please don't think there's wisdom in the school teachers they're just repeating what they got taught you have life experience you know you've gone through challenges you've gone through difficulties you've learned a lot god has allowed you to go through life so you can then teach those and pass down great wisdom to your children okay and not only did it say that she has wisdom but it says in her tongue is a law of kindness again i told you the difference between mom's instruction and dad's instruction right you know dad's kind of like more willing to just give a slap at the back of the head of a son or something right the mother's more gentle she's got that low kindness about her right she's more compassionate she's got she can reach her children at a different place than what you know dads can reach their children okay so use use the compassion that god has instilled in you as you train your children look at verse number 27 she looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness so what what is she doing she she's looking at the needs of her family she's training her children she's being there for the family she's not trying to just you know trying to satisfy the needs of some company okay that's just working for earthly profits now she says what does my family need i'm going to give them attention what do my children need i'm going to give them instruction i'm going to pass down the wisdom look at verse number 28 her children arise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her by the way men husbands you know what you need to stop and look at this you need to praise your wife from time to time you stay and and call her blessed as well hey children you need to stop that sometimes and stop and say mom you know mom's been working hard you know she's stressed around the house she's got all these chores to do all these things she's raising us she's cooking for us she's doing all these things i need to stop and call her blessed i need to stop and say mom thank you for all the work that you've done but it's not just the children it's the husbands as well you know this is how you know she needs to hear those words of encouragement you know if she doesn't hear that you know she's thanked she doesn't feel appreciated you know she's not being honored she's going to become discouraged in her role okay look at verse number 29 how does the husband praise her in verse number 29 he says many daughters have done virtuously but thou excelest them all so husbands you might say yeah you know what there's a lot of good godly women in church but you know what honey you're the best you excel them all you're the best you know all you know all of our wives should be the best wife okay so from from the husband perspective okay yeah great there's a lot of godly great women and you know there's a lot of you know women that have served serving this church and and doing great things but you know my wife is the best okay and you as a husband you should be saying to your wife she's the best okay you excel them all and you know what this is easy for kids you know i've seen what the kids have written in the mother's day card today and they'll say some things like you're the best mom in the world yeah they understand they understand this this teaching right you know yes there's a lot of great mothers in this world but mom you're the best mom okay you are the best and that's you know children that's how you ought to be treating your mothers especially on mother's day and not just on mother's day but especially on mother's day you are the best look at verse drop down to verse number 30 favor is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman that fearth the lord she shall be praised look at verse number 31 give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates i think this is really important you know this is why i like mother's day you know and i know the shops are trying to make a profit i know i know all that okay i know i know the flowers you go and buy and now triples the price like if you're buying mother mother's day flower they're going to put up the price you know free time because they know they're going to get a lot of business we understand there's a business out there okay but look at verse number 31 again give her the fruits of her hands you know what our wives or the mothers they need to be rewarded for what they do you know for men we go out and work a job right and then we take home the paycheck we're rewarded as it is right we get our paycheck whatever it is every week every fortnight every month you know we get that you know we get that reward but many times there are mothers that work literally 24 7 right if a child is crying in the middle of night she'll get up there and she'll talk to that child or whatever right they're working 24 7 there's a lot of mothers that go working without having any fruit of her hands and what mother's day gives us the opportunity to do is say you know what i don't care how expensive these flowers are i don't care how expensive these box of chocolates are you know i don't care expensive how how you know the cards have become or whatever whatever whatever thought you know you may have this is a great opportunity to say you know what i'm going to bring forth some fruits of the hands of the work that she has done for the family i'm going to honor and respect my mother i don't care what it's going to cost me right now but you know what she deserves to have this fruit of her hands and that's what i love about mother's day because it kind of forces us to think about it for just at least one day a year and say you know what uh mom you deserve this gift you deserve to be honored you deserve to be praised it's important for us to do this man you know especially it's important to you know sometimes maybe i don't know if your wife likes flowers you know sometimes just just buy the flowers you know we know that they're going to die in a few days and we just it's kind of a waste of money and maybe would have been better going to those bills over there you know from time to time just say you know what i need to give her the fruit of her hands you know whatever that might be you know what i'm going to take my wife out on dates we're going to leave the kids with mom and dad with grandparents or something i'm going to make it feel special today i'm going to take her out you know what even though it'd be cheaper to just you know eat at home right it'd be cheaper to just get a microwave dish you know uh no you know what i'm going to take it to a nice restaurant i'm going to make it feel special i'm going to make her feel honored because she deserves to be praised she deserves to have the fruit of her hands you know given to her by you know the children but also by her husband and so brethren in conclusion in conclusion call her blessed your mother you know i don't know if your mother is saved or unsaved call her blessed i don't know whether you want to speak in terms of your mother or not call her blessed this mother's day you know if you're not seeing your mother pick up that phone and give her a call you know send her a gift whatever it is you know make her understand that you appreciate that you know that she was willing to give up her life in childbearing she was willing to have her sorrows multiplied in order to give you life that when you were born she rejoiced she praised she was so happy to see this child come into this world there was that time when that took place and the mothers deserve it you know um you know she's put on 14 she put on 14 kilograms to give birth to you all right she's got the stretch marks she's got the effects on her body to give birth to you you know what even if she's an ungodly wicked woman she still deserves honor for going through that to give you birth you know so mothers you know i hope you understand that you're worthy of respect your aunt you're worthy of honor you're you're worthy of the blessings and you are important in the eyes of god who cares what this word has to say our motherhood you're better off being a career woman raising kids oh come on listen forget the world they don't know the things of god they don't know the things that satisfy and give great joy it's the we learn those things from god's word you know he has wired us to be people that want to be within families he's put his wired women to desire to bring forth children but don't forget mothers if you are a barren woman and you're unable to give bring forth physical children you still have the great blessing the rejoicing the ability to be more effective in your soul ministry and bring forth spiritual children okay so let's pray