Relish your children, relish your children.
And what relish means is take great joy in your children.
Be very thankful that God has blessed you with a child.
Don't look at it as a burden, but look at it as a blessing.
Take great joy in your children, relish your children.
Notice what it says in Titus 2 verse 3, the aged women likewise that they be in behavior
has become with holiness, not false accusers, not given much wine, teachers of good things.
Here in verse 3, it talks about the aged women being teachers of good things.
Now I want you to realize, I don't believe from the context that an aged woman is necessarily
referring to a set age.
I think it's referring to experience, because it's talking about being a mom.
It's talking about being a wife.
And look, if there was a lady that was, let's say, 35 years old, but she's been married
since she was 19, and she has four kids, and she's got one of her kids is a teenager.
Look, she's an aged woman by experience, even though nobody would say 35 is old, right?
And so she would be an aged woman by experience.
So what it's saying is that women with experience can actually teach the younger women, the
newer moms, the newer wives, some practical tips on being a mom or being a wife.
Now realize, that means if you are a single woman and you do not have children, should
you be giving advice to married women with children?
No.
But yet the people that give the most advice to women raising kids are single women with
no kids.
And this is a fact at every church.
It's a reality.
It's like it's amazing how people that have no experience think they're experts.
It's like, well, you know, let's remember that, you know, five years from now when you
do have kids, okay?
Because it's very easy to give advice on stuff, well, you should do this, well, you should
do that.
Well, it's easy to give advice.
It's a lot more difficult when you're actually in the situation.
And I'll tell you, there's nothing more insulting to a mom than a single lady who doesn't have
kids insulting you on how you're raising your kids when they don't have experience with
it.
This is something with new IFB type churches that people struggle with.
I've listened to 10 sermons from Pastor Jimenez on being a mom.
It's like, you're a 15 year old guy.
It's like, I don't care how many sermons you've heard.
If you don't have experience, then you know what?
You're just not going to know that much.
And here's the truth.
My wife has a better idea about being a mom than I do.
You say why?
I'm a guy.
I'm not a mom.
Maybe yesterday when we were on our way to Pampanga, they asked me a message, not from
our church, but they asked me about having a young child.
They asked for advice.
And this is what I said, let me ask my wife.
You say why?
Because I knew my wife would have the answer, and I wasn't really sure.
And when you're not sure, just don't give advice.
Because I might give the right advice, I might give the wrong advice.
And so my wife messaged me back, I just took a screenshot, just sent it to them, it's like,
there you go.
Because here's the thing, honestly, you know, I don't know what the best advice is when
your child has C-bone and they're a couple months old.
It's like my wife has a much better idea than me.
And look, aged women, women with experience, they know the answers to those questions.
A lot of the things as new moms, you're like, oh man, what am I going to do?
The aged women already have the answers.
That's the importance of a godly church.
So here's the thing, the aged women can give advice, but look, if you're not an aged woman,
if you don't have experience with it, and this is true in all areas, but look, if you
don't have experience, just do not give advice.
Even if you're right, it comes across as insulting, okay?
That's reality.
So the aged women, likewise, that they be in behavior has become with holiness, not
false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young
women.
And so what the Bible's showing here is if you are a godly lady, right, who has experience,
so I'm not saying just get advice from anybody from the world.
Brother Stuckey, I was so moved by your sermon, I went to YouTube and went to Oprah's YouTube
website and I was seeing what does Oprah Winfrey say about raising children.
Now I don't, does Oprah have children?
I have no idea.
Does she?
No?
Okay, but let's say she did have children.
Here's the thing, she might be an aged woman with experience, but is she someone who is
holy as verse three says, no.
Is she someone who's not a false accuser?
No.
I mean, she wouldn't meet the criteria of being a godly person.
So verse three is saying, hey, someone with experience who is godly.
You need both of those things, because many people have experience and they would say
the exact opposite.
Hey, Hillary Clinton raised a child.
Okay, go get advice from Hillary Clinton then.
It takes a village to raise a child, as she famously said.
Look, you don't want advice from people that are ungodly.
Someone with experience that is godly, okay?
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their
children.
You say, I'm a young woman.
It's like, why do I need advice?
I know what the Bible says.
Well, because the Bible says to get advice from aged women.
That's why.
I mean, if you know the Bible, well then you know that verse, right?
And so here's the thing, you say, why do I have to need to learn how to love my husband
and love my children?
Well, here's the thing.
It's very easy to be very excited on the wedding day or excited when the child is born.
But then what about over the next couple of weeks when you're learning all these new things,
you're like, I don't know how to do this.
I don't know how to do this.
Turn to John 16 really quickly.
John 16.
I mean, I mentioned it during the sermon here for the wedding and I talked about the joy.
And this is what it says in the Song of Solomon when you say your espousals, when you say
I do, when you get married, there's great joy, right?
But it's difficult to be married.
You're going to have disagreements.
You're going to have fights.
You're going to be dealing with emotions.
And then reality does set in and it's like, okay, I haven't got it all figured out yet.
Right?
And it's the same thing, not just with being married, but being a mom as well or a father.
But we're talking about moms here today.
John 16 verse 21.
I said earlier, Brother Franklin is like a prophet.
He mentioned in the group chat last night.
He quoted this verse.
I was like, man, it's already in the bulletin.
John 16 verse 21.
A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow because her hour is come.
During labor, it's usually not fun.
Okay.
I mean, I've heard of exceptions where ladies say they love pregnancy.
It's so much fun.
I don't know if they're lying or maybe it's just a really rare exception, but it's usually
not that way.
Usually it's like people are not happy to be pregnant.
It's like, oh, I'm looking forward to it again.
It was so much fun.
Usually that's not the way it is.
Okay.
And it says when she's in travail, hath sorrow because her hour is come.
But as soon as she is delivered of the child, as soon as she is delivered immediately, God,
immediately, once that child comes, what happens?
A smile comes across that mom's face.
I've been fortunate to be there for both of the births of our children.
Any of the labor was not fun.
But you know what?
Then all of a sudden the smile came across the face of my wife once that child was born.
And this verse is proven true.
And look, I'm sure it's the same way with the ladies in this room.
Once that child is born, it's like you're excited.
It's great.
As soon as she is delivered of the child, she remember no more the anguish for joy that
a man is born into the world.
And see what happens, joy overcomes because the anguish is gone.
However, the anguish will return as you're raising your children.
And then the joy is gone, right?
Then reality sets in because guess what?
As much as you're praying and excited to have a child, that does not fix all of your problems
in life.
Sometimes people have this idea.
If I was just married, I'd be happy.
And then you get married.
If I just had a child, I would be happy.
It's like, no, life is difficult at every stage, no matter who you are.
And the reality is that having a child is a great joy.
However, there's difficulties with being a mom.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter six, Deuteronomy six, Deuteronomy chapter six.
Now there are definitely difficulties with being a mom, but the more difficult something
is, the more of a sense of accomplishment when you've succeeded at what you've done.
Right?
And I'm going to give you kind of a secular, worldly example, but I don't play video games
now, but I did play video games growing up.
Some games are easy and some games are difficult.
Super Mario Brothers is a fun game.
It's not the most difficult game, though.
You can skip half the levels and you're already at the end if you know the cheat code and
stuff like that.
It's not the hardest game.
But then I think about games that are hard.
Did anyone ever play Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation or Nintendo?
Am I the only one who's worldly?
It's like the hardest game in the world.
It's like you die five seconds after the game starts, like 20 straight times, and you're
really angry, but you keep coming back for more.
But I'll tell you what, when you beat that game, which takes months of your life, you're
like, man, I accomplished something.
Or how about when you read the New Testament?
Is it hard to read the New Testament in January?
Yes, but man, the excitement you're going to have when you've accomplished it.
Being a mom is difficult, but that also means there's more joy on the other side if you
succeed at being a mom, okay?
Don't quit along the way.
So point number one is relishing your children.
And part of that is taking joy in your children while you are coaching your children.
And part of that coaching is through the Bible, through the word of God.
Deuteronomy 6, verse 6, and these words which I command thee to say shall be in thine heart,
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.
Diligently meaning with great effort and dedication, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in
thine house.
So here's the thing, let's say you're just sitting down to have lunch together or dinner
together, be ready to teach the word of God.
Perhaps your child will ask a question about the Bible, and here's what is not a good answer.
Well let me look up what Brother Stuckey said in a sermon about this six months ago.
You should already have the answer.
And if you never have the answers, they're going to stop asking you the questions.
You ought to know the answers already, ladies.
And this is true for the husbands as well, but we are talking about the moms here today.
When you're sitting in the house and your child asks a question, you need to know the
answer, right?
Like, I know we believe in the Trinity, but I'm confused about this verse.
You need to know how to explain that verse, which means the Bible reading challenge is
not just for men in January.
I mean, there's churches out there.
It's like a men's only serving God church, right?
Only the men go soul winning, the women.
Look, that's not the atmosphere I want at this church.
I want to have, you know, not just a men, a women, right?
No, I'm just kidding, right?
I don't want just the men serving God at this church.
I want the women serving God too.
And that's difficult.
And look, the reality is, you know, it's difficult to take your kids out soul winning.
It takes a lot of effort.
But you know what?
We need both the men and women on board with the things of God.
When you're sitting in your house, be ready to teach your children.
And when thou walkest by the way, what's an example of this?
Well, an example is, let's say you walk by someone who's drunk, who's acting like an
idiot.
When you're walking by the way, that's a teachable moment to explain why alcohol will destroy
your life.
When you're walking by the way and you see some dude dressed as a woman, hey, that's
a teachable moment to tell them what the Bible says about Genesis 19 and Judges 19.
And those teachable moments unfortunately come quite often in the Philippines.
When you're lying down, what does that mean?
Well, when you're resting and you want to relax, but your child has questions, be prepared
to teach the Word of God.
Or when you're rising up, you wake up in the morning, hey, be prepared to coach and teach
your children the Word of God.
And the number one thing to coach them about is the Bible.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm a woman in this room.
I've always dreamed of being a pastoral.
Well, hey, here's your opportunity to teach someone the Word of God.
Teach your children.
And I'll tell you what, if you can teach and train your children and they become soul winners,
that's a great accomplishment.
You can be responsible for training people to be future soul winners.
Don't look at this as, oh, it's such a burden.
You know, I wish I got to do this.
Consider it a blessing, not a burden.
It says in verse eight, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they
shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Now, when it says bind them as a sign upon thine hand, that does not mean you can get
a tattoo on your hand of the Word of God.
I don't think anyone would say that, but just as a side point.
But verse nine, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates.
And that's kind of indicating Bible verses just kind of throughout the house.
Maybe you have certain Bible verses that have touched your heart or will be helpful in certain
situations.
Maybe let's say you have a homeschooling area and you have a verse about, you know, teaching
or something like that, or a verse about Daniel, who was very educated at a young age.
Verses that will encourage you and encourage your family to serve God.
And it will be a reminder.
Maybe you have a spot in your house where you do your Bible reading.
It's good to have a set area where you do certain things.
And maybe above that couch you have, read therein all the days of thy life.
So when you're walking by, you're reminded, hey, I didn't do my Bible reading today.
It will motivate you and remind you to serve God.
Okay, go to Proverbs 29, Proverbs 29, Proverbs 29.
So part of that coaching with the Bible is simply just teaching the word of God when
you have the opportunities.
Now, I do believe if you end up being a homeschooling mom, or even if you're not, it's good to have
a time where you're actually teaching and training your children.
A Bible time where you're teaching the word of God.
Now obviously, depending on how old they are, that's going to affect how in-depth you go.
Like you're doing a really super in-depth Bible study on the oneness doctrine with a
three-year-old.
It's probably not the best option.
You can keep it short so they don't necessarily have the full attention span.
You don't have to make it five hours long.
I'm not saying making it like a church service, but just a time period where you're teaching
the word of God.
Okay?
Proverbs 29, verse 15.
Now another aspect of teaching and coaching is the aspect of spanking.
Proverbs 29, verse 15.
The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
See, the Bible says the rod and reproof, referring to spanking, they give wisdom to that child.
Don't deprive your children of wisdom, right?
When it's necessary to spank your children, they need that wisdom.
They need to know, hey, when mom and dad say no, they mean it.
You say, why?
Because if they never learn the word no when they're one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven years old, why do you think they're going to learn it when they're eight, nine,
10, 11, and 12?
Right?
They need to learn at a young age.
And look, spanking is part of raising kids.
Now I wish it wasn't.
I wish I never had to spank my children.
I wish that, you know what, they did everything perfectly, but you know what, they don't.
The other day my wife was out getting something at the store, and I was home, and I was
working in the one room, and every five minutes I go to the other room, and I go to the other
room, and they're both playing with the electrical outlet.
I don't know.
I saw my daughter touching the electrical outlet.
My son was playing with something.
And so here's the thing.
Often I'll give them a warning, but they both already knew that that was wrong.
So they just immediately got the spanking.
My daughter got the spanking.
My son got the spanking.
Now I hugged him afterwards.
I said, I love you.
Here's the thing, though.
They're deprived of the wisdom to realize the dangers of an electrical outlet.
And it's easy to say, well, I will never spank my child.
Look, if your child's doing something really dangerous, they're playing with a fan, and
you don't let them know, hey, this is wrong, you're foolish.
Because if they don't realize it's wrong, if they're not afraid to do that, then you
know what, they might end up really hurting themselves.
And so there is a time, an appropriate time for spanking, okay?
That will give them wisdom.
Go to Daniel 1.
Daniel 1.
The other thing is this, moms, don't be the sort of mom where you always get to be the
good parents.
And then your husband comes home and he does the spanking.
How's that fair to the husband, right?
The reality is, moms should be doing more spanking to the children than the fathers.
You say why?
Because they're usually around the children more.
And here's the reality, if you don't prove your authority by spanking your children,
they will start to take advantage of you, because foolishness is bound in the heart
of a child.
Now, both fathers and mothers need to spank their children, but moms don't have this attitude.
It's like, oh, I'm already watching them, my husband can do it.
That's not fair to the husband.
And here's the thing, if a child does something wrong at 2 p.m., and then you tell that two-year-old,
hey, when your father gets home at 8 p.m., you're going to get a spanking, they don't
even remember it.
It's like, what's the purpose of the spanking at 8 p.m. when they've already forgotten
it?
The purpose is they did something wrong and they know immediately, oh, when I do this
wrong, when I do this, hey, I'm going to get in trouble for it.
And here's the thing, if you don't do that as a parent, your kids could honestly end
up getting hurt by doing things.
Kids love fans, not just electrical outlets.
They're like, man, something's spinning, let me stick something in here.
It's like, look, kids do that.
You say, well, I'm just too nice to spank them.
Okay, well, I hope they don't lose a finger.
I mean, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just being honest.
A spanking doesn't injure a child.
But look, sticking your finger in a fan can injure it.
And look, your kids are going to do certain things that are dangerous and they don't necessarily
know it.
I mean, oftentimes, you know, you turn on an oven or a stove or something like that
and kids see a light, they're like, ooh, a light, a light, a light.
Guess what?
If you don't say anything to your kids, they're going to seriously burn themselves.
This is reality.
Okay.
You say, well, brother Stuckey, and I don't want to look, you did the same thing when
you were one year old.
You did the same thing when you were two year olds.
I've heard the stories of the things I did, right, you know, running and jumping over
stoves and stuff like that, look, all of us did the same thing thing when we were young.
And look, it is our job as parents to give those children wisdom.
And part of that is spanking.
Do it in a loving way.
Don't do it out of anger.
There's an appropriate place to do it, but it is still necessary from time to time.
Okay.
So part of it is coaching your children.
And another thing is just education in general when it comes to coaching your children.
And so this is not necessarily the word of God, but just everything in general.
Daniel 1 verse 3, and the kings beg unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should
bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king seed and of the princes.
Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning
in knowledge and understanding science.
And such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace in whom they might teach
the learning in the tongue of the Chaldeans.
Now we don't know exactly how old these children are, but we see they are very educated children.
Now look, I don't care how naturally intelligent you are when you're born.
If you never read books and you never educate yourself, you're not going to learn how to
do calculus, right?
These kids, they were obviously reading books at a young age, right?
I mean, isn't that pretty obvious?
The kids, the parents were obviously actually teaching and training their children.
And here's what's awesome about children.
Children like to learn.
Did you know that?
Children love to learn new things.
Now sometimes they get frustrated as they're learning the process.
We've gotten our son things with shapes and sometimes he can't figure it out and he gets
a little bit frustrated, but then he figures it out and you know what?
He likes it because he's learning.
Kids actually like to learn.
Don't destroy that love of learning by just shoving them in front of a computer all day
long.
You're destroying their ability to learn.
Now I understand some things can be educational and I understand at a younger age they're
not at the point where they're reading yet, but you know what?
You want them to learn how to read and be educated and be wise.
Now obviously you're not starting formal homeschooling when they're one or two years old, but you
can still teach them some things.
You can still try to educate them and give them responsibilities.
Don't just wait and say, well, I mean the world decided when they're five years old
that's when they learn.
It's like why not start teaching and training them as much as you can at a young age and
you slowly build upon that.
Okay?
Now go to Exodus chapter two, Exodus two, Exodus two, and look, obviously kids are different.
They don't all learn at the same level and that's okay because we're not comparing our
children, right?
I have no idea with my children if they're going to end up growing up and being super
intelligent or not, but you can, I'll tell you a large part of being intelligent is just
being educated, just that you've been taught, right?
Maybe somebody isn't the most naturally smart person ever, but if they're educated, they're
going to seem very smart, right?
Just by simply having knowledge about things.
Now the number one thing is the word of God, but you know, just everything in general in
life, everything is new to them.
Kids don't know anything from day, they don't know how to form sentences.
They don't know how to walk.
Everything is new to them and look, don't consider it a burden.
I've got to teach my children.
You should consider it a blessing that you get to teach your children and when they learn
something new, look at it and say, man, I can take great joy that my labor was not in
vain.
Okay?
Go to Exodus chapter two.
So one thing is coaching.
A large part of being a mom is not just coaching, but compassion, right?
And that kind of fits under loving your children.
Oh, I'm always going to be the compassionate mom.
I would never be upset at my child.
Okay, well, let's check in on you at two 30 in the morning when your child is screaming
and wakes up in the middle of the night.
We're going to see how compassionate you are when you're going off one hour of sleep.
You know, it's like, man, I got 15 minutes of sleep from like 10 45 to 11, 15 minutes
from 1 30 to 1 45 15 minutes.
Well, then we'll see how compassionate you really are, right?
When you're really exhausted.
Because look, you know what?
At times like that, it's very difficult.
Nobody likes going on little sleep, and that is part of being a mom.
There's going to be nights where you just don't sleep the best, but you need to have
compassion on your children.
Here's an example in Exodus two of having compassion.
Actually go to I did this yesterday too.
I should have added this.
Go to verse one.
Let me look there myself, and I want to show you something in Exodus chapter two.
This is the story of Moses being born, and let's look at it real quickly.
And at this time they were killing all of the Children, the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Exodus two verse one.
And there went a man of the house of Levi and took to wife, a daughter of Levi.
And the woman conceived and bear a son.
And when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hit him three months.
So she hides him for three months because she doesn't want her child to die.
And she loves her son, obviously.
Verse three.
And when she could not longer hide him, you say, Brother Stuckey, why could she not hide
him anymore?
Because Children cry, right?
See when a child is born, they cry, but not as loud.
And after three months, it gets to the point I can't hide him anymore.
Why?
Because it's going to be manifest.
We have a baby in here because they're going to cry out loud, okay?
You say, Brother Stuckey, when I was a baby, I never cried.
Well, baby Moses did, okay?
He's one of the greatest characters in the Bible.
And the mom said, You know what?
I just can't hide him anymore because he's too loud.
Now I'm sure it was pretty frustrating to them because they realized his life is in
the balance.
And I'm sure they said, Hey, you know, don't cry.
But you know what?
The baby cried.
You say, Brother Stuckey, man, I'm so tired.
My baby's always crying.
That's what babies do.
Babies cry.
Okay?
I thought everybody knew that.
But that's reality.
Babies cry.
And look, you know what?
They might not stop crying.
They stop crying, and then they start crying louder, right?
That's reality.
Babies cry.
Okay?
So what do you need to do as a mom?
Well, you need to love your children and have compassion and realize they're kids.
And this is part of being a mom, and this is part of growing up as babies.
Verse five.
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked
along by the riverside.
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 Hebrews children.
So here's a woman who's really born amongst the heathen, but she sees a young, innocent
baby, and she has compassion on that baby.
Shouldn't that be the natural reaction we have toward babies?
You think of these abortion doctors, and you think, what is wrong with them?
How could they kill a little innocent baby?
It's like compassion should be what we have towards children.
We should realize, you know what?
They're going to make mistakes.
And I realize there is a time for spanking, absolutely.
But usually when they're crying, it's not necessarily because they're doing something
wrong.
It's just they're a baby.
It's just part of life, and we need to have compassion on them in these situations, okay?
Go to Lamentations chapter four.
Lamentations four.
I mean, think about this honestly.
You that have babies or very young children, think about if you just left your children
alone for 24 hours.
Look, they might not even be alive when you get back if nobody's taking care of them.
I mean, can't you see how someone who could easily die and doesn't know how to do anything,
can't you see how they might be really scared quite often or panicked?
I mean, imagine if somebody left you in some very dangerous situation for 24 hours, and
it's dark and nobody's around, you'd probably be really afraid too.
You don't have a cell phone.
You're just locked in some area.
You'd probably be really afraid, and you wouldn't know if you're gonna survive or not.
Who knows what your reaction's gonna be?
Look, that's how children feel every day because literally, if mom and dad are not around...
I mean, literally, kids at a young age, they get afraid if the parents are in the other
room, but that's because they're completely dependent upon mom and dad.
It makes sense.
We're not dependent upon our parents for survival, right?
I mean, if you're an adult, you know how to do the basic things.
Babies don't.
They don't know how to change their diapers.
They don't know how to eat food.
You know what they know?
Why?
Right?
That's how you get attention from mom and dad.
That's all they know.
So look, we need to have compassion on them.
Now realize, I preach this, and it's a lot easier to preach than to do.
I'm not standing up here saying I never get upset at my kids, because I'll tell you what,
when it's two in the morning and they're crying, no, I'm not happy.
I'm not like, oh, I'm so joyous.
I get to be a dad and no, of course, you're gonna be tired and gonna be exhausted.
I get that.
But I'm just saying this is what the word of God says.
We need to have compassion on those children.
Lamentations four verse three.
Even the sea monsters draw out the breast.
They give suck to their young ones.
This is talking about breastfeeding and Lamentations four verse three in the Bible, saying sea monsters,
they breastfeed.
The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
Now why is the Bible mentioning the ostriches?
Go to Job 39.
What does that mean?
The ostriches in the wilderness?
Job 39.
Job chapter 39.
And I think it's amazing how you look at all these animals that are talked about in the
Bible, and they're kind of created to represent something for us to understand.
I mean, you see an ant moving around.
It's like a reminder every day.
I need to work hard.
Ostrich has an example.
Snakes have examples.
You know, all these different animals, they have certain examples of things that they're
good at or bad at, and it's like teaching us a biblical principle every time we see
those animals.
It's amazing.
Right?
You know, obviously, animals like dogs and pigs are listed as vile things for reprobates
and sodomites.
It's like you look at some of the wicked, disgusting things they do.
It's like that's a reminder, right?
Animals are created, and they actually teach us things.
Ostrich is an animal that was created where, especially as moms, you can learn something
and be reminded of something.
Job 39 verse 13 gave us thou the goodly wings onto the peacocks or wings and feathers onto
the ostrich.
Now verse 14, referencing the ostrich, which leaveth her eggs in the earth and warmeth
them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them or that the wild beasts may
break them.
And the Bible's saying here about the ostrich.
The ostrich just kind of forgets about her young.
She has the children and just kind of forgets, and she doesn't really realize that somebody's
foot might crush her baby, right?
Or the wild beast might break and take those eggs and eat them, right, and eat those children.
Verse 16, she is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers.
And it's saying, you know, it's as if they're not even her children because she's not taking
care of them, right?
And then it says here in verse 16, her labor is in vain without fear.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm a mom, and I'm working really hard.
I'm sure you're putting in some labor, but so is the ostrich, according to verse 16.
But it says her labor is in vain, why?
She does not have the proper fear, the Bible says.
And because she doesn't have the proper fear, her labor, all the effort she's putting in,
it's like it's a waste because she's not doing things properly.
Now we realize the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
And the number one fear a mom should have is of the Lord and what the Bible says.
And there are fears out there, though, if you do not raise your children correctly,
there's a lot of dangers in this world.
Verse 17, because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
Now let me just mention real quickly some dangers with your children if we don't do our proper job.
Did you realize we live in a crazy world?
I mean, we live in a crazy world.
I mean, we live in a world where you can bomb a church,
and the person that's the villain is the preacher.
Explain that one to me.
Explain to me how my good friend, Pastor Bruce Mejia, his church got bombed by the sodomites,
but it's the fault of the preacher for instigating that.
Explain that to me.
And let me tell you something.
That is one of the big fears as a mom.
You ought to be afraid of the LGBT that wants to defile and molest your children.
And that's a fact.
It's all throughout the Bible.
Look, it's Genesis 19.
It's Judges 19.
And look, every time we see news stories, we get reminded.
How could anyone deny the reprobate doctrine?
I don't get that.
But look, that should be a real fear.
And here's the thing.
Don't think that, hey, if I drop off my kids here, they're going to be safe.
How do you know that?
Look, when I think of families at our church and I think of people at our church,
I love the people at our church.
I pray for the people at the church.
But at the same time, I'm not going to drop off my children to you without me being around.
And I don't know what's going on.
You say, why?
You never know.
And it's like if you don't have the proper fear.
Because look, I might be right 95 times out of 100.
But what about that one time?
19 times out of 20 is not good enough with your kids.
You could permanently destroy your kid's life.
Look, we need to take care of our own kids.
And there are dangers and there are fears out there.
Now, look, I was raised in public school and elementary school.
My parents pulled me out in elementary school and praise the Lord for that.
I was homeschooled starting in middle school.
Look, there are dangers at the public school system.
And let me just be logical here.
Let's say you're a bad person.
What kind of job are you going to want to take
if your goal in life inside of your head is to defile children?
Maybe work at a daycare.
Maybe work at a nursery.
Maybe work as a teacher with young kids.
You say, Brother Stuckey, that's extreme.
That's common sense.
This stuff happens all the time and places.
It's not just the Catholic Church.
We preach against the Catholic Church, but don't lie to yourself
because it's a dangerous thing if you lie to yourself in this area.
Look, you do not know how safe your children are, especially at a young age.
Now, realize when they turn 15, 16, 17, 18 years old,
they can start taking care of themselves.
But you know what?
A five-year-old is at the mercy of whoever they're in front of.
This is why I think it's crazy.
You got Baptist churches with these children's programs
and there's no supervision.
There's no alarm system.
There's no video to see what's going on.
And what we just trust, this guy to just watch these kids
and nothing bad is going to happen.
Are you insane?
Because the sort of person that's going to want to work there
is a sort of person that's probably a bad person, right?
There's this person in West Virginia.
I work with this guy and I gave the gospel to this guy.
And look, I don't know for a fact about this person,
whether he's a bad person or not.
I'm just giving you a story from my life.
And you know what?
I gave the gospel to this person who was a coworker.
He didn't get saved, but then he calls me up that night and said,
Hey, you know, I got saved.
I prayed.
I asked Jesus to save me.
I'm thinking, praise the Lord.
This guy starts coming to church from time to time,
but he never really stuck in church.
There's something different about him, right?
It's just one of those things where I was just like,
I don't know about this guy.
You know, I just never felt very easy about this guy.
And he started to get back in church
and then I hadn't talked to him for a long time.
And then he told me, yeah, when I was low on money,
he's like, you know, I ruined with a homosexual for a year.
He's like, there's nothing between us.
But, you know, I was trying to say, I'm just thinking, man,
this red flag went to what's after a red flag,
like two red flags or three or 20 red flags.
I was like, what in the world?
And he wanted to start coming to church.
And I was just like, you know, and he came to church one time.
He hadn't been in a while and everything like that.
And then he told me, he's like, man,
I want to start getting involved in the things I got.
He's like, I really want to start working with the Children's Ministry.
You know what I did?
I called up the pastor that night, and this is my convert.
He got baptized by that pastor.
I presumed he got saved.
Look, I hope he did, but I'm just saying,
I called the pastor and said, hey, I got to warn you.
I was like, I don't know about this guy.
And the pastor told me, he's like, I appreciate it so much.
And this is an old IFB church, but he's like, I appreciate it.
He's like, we're not letting that kid ever,
that guy ever set foot in the Children's Ministries.
You say, why?
Because there's kids lives that are at stake.
And you just do not know.
And it's hard for us to understand because our minds aren't defiled.
I mean, the last thing I would ever think about doing
was bombing a church.
Like, what in the world?
But, you know, we're not like the reprobates whose minds are defiled.
And the things that they want in life, you know what,
are different than a normal person.
Okay, turn to Zachariah Chapter 8.
Zachariah 8.
Brother Stuckey, why do you always have to preach about that?
Well, I wouldn't have to preach about it if it wasn't always an issue in the news.
I don't understand how the world doesn't figure this out,
because it's the same stories all the time, right?
I remember, and I don't know,
maybe this will get us our YouTube account kicked off or whatever.
But I remember, like, there's this girl I had an argument with,
like, 15 years ago or whatever.
And I was telling her about, you know,
my belief in the reprobates and sodomites and everything like that.
And then she was arguing with me about it.
And she studied criminology.
So she studied, like, you know,
especially with murders and crime scenes and things like that.
And I told her something by faith and it turned out to be right.
I told her, I was like,
all of these serial killers are a bunch of homos,
like every single one of them.
And I just kind of said it, just not even thinking.
It just kind of took it by faith.
And then I looked it up afterwards.
And then all of a sudden she comes back a week later,
she's like, man, you're really right.
She's like, all of these serial killers are all like bisexual or homosexuals.
And I just took by faith knowing what the Bible says.
And you know what?
It's true.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a sodomite.
Do you know that?
I mean, most of those famous homos,
John Wayne Gacy, sodomites, right?
And it's funny what they do.
They say, well, you know, you can't call them a homo
because a homo is someone who's interested in someone of the same gender.
But when it's with a child, that doesn't count.
How does that not count?
Like, what in the world?
And look, I'm just trying to tell you, you know what?
There are dangers out there for your children,
and especially when they are really, really, really young.
And look, of course, we don't like to think about this stuff.
But the reality is it's out there.
You got to be very, very careful with your children.
And look, be very careful also with, well, I just trust them.
They're a church person.
You don't know.
Your children are too valuable to be 99.9% sure, right?
It's not worth the risk.
You need to have compassion and take care of those kids.
Lastly is care when it comes to coaching.
We're still on point number one, okay?
Zachariah chapter eight.
Don't worry.
It won't be too long.
Zachariah chapter eight.
Zachariah eight.
And in Zachariah chapter eight, verse four.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts.
There show yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem,
and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
Zachariah eight, verse five.
And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
And it says the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.
You say, what's your point?
Here's my purpose.
Obviously, this is an end times reference,
but what we're seeing here is this, that boys and girls, they like to play.
Now, this should be very obvious, but I want you to understand.
Kids want to play with mom and dad.
They want to play with you.
And it doesn't have to be an expensive thing.
You don't have to spend, man, I got to spend 10,000 pesos.
I can't afford it.
No, no, no.
It doesn't cost any money to throw a rubber ball against the wall.
But kids love it, right?
They love it.
Last night, my son finally really learned how to catch.
I was so excited and he was excited.
He learned how to catch and he's getting better, you know, instead of just like,
but I mean, he learned how to catch and he just wanted to throw for hours and hours and hours.
All they want to do is throw the ball because he learned how to catch.
He just wants to play with mom and dad.
It's like, I leave the room to do something and he's crying because he wants me back.
No, he wants to play, right?
This is children.
They want to play with mom and dad.
And as a mom, you need to have care toward your children.
You say, man, it's such a burden being with your kids.
Hey, the fun part is playing with the kids.
Don't forsake the fun part because you're tired.
It's like, man, I just change dirty diapers all the time.
Well, now you get a chance to see the smile on the face of your children.
Don't forsake that because you need to get on Facebook.
Need to get on your cell phone, right?
You need to get on Instagram for 20 minutes or whatever.
Now, I mean, that's the fun part, and that's what's going to keep you going.
Man, it's worth it seeing the smile across those kids face.
Go to Genesis 18.
Genesis 18.
Genesis chapter 18.
Here's the truth, though.
There are a lot of moms that are miserable.
They consider it a burden.
They're frustrated.
They don't want to be around their kids.
Oh, every day I've got to stay home with the kids.
Hey, how was your day yesterday?
Same as the day before all this.
My son did this.
My other son did this.
My daughter did this.
Just complain, complain, complain, complain.
You know why you're miserable?
It's because you're focused on yourself.
That's why you're miserable.
It's not because you didn't get that much sleep.
Now that can cause you to be a little bit cranky or whatever.
But the reason why you're miserable is because you're focused on yourself.
That is what makes you miserable in life.
When you don't focus on yourself, you know what you start realizing?
Hey, my life isn't that bad.
I mean, you say, how do you know that?
Look at celebrities.
Are they happy?
They're miserable.
Why?
Because everywhere they walk, everyone's like, man, it's so and so.
And everything is focused on themselves.
Wherever they go, they walk on water in people's eyes.
And everything is focused on themselves.
They just want more money and more this and more that.
They're 100% focused on themselves and they are miserable.
Why?
They're focused on themselves.
And if you would take the focus off yourself and put it on your children,
you'd see that there is joy in being a mom.
Instead of focusing on, man, I could have gotten one more hour of sleep.
Why don't you focus on the joys of being a mom?
Relish your children.
There's great joys in being a mom.
And the reason why you're miserable is simply because you're focused on yourself.
Say, Brother Stuckey, that's your opinion.
Why is it in John 13 that Jesus Christ said,
if you know these things, happier ye if you do them?
And the context is in washing the apostles feet in John 13,
signifying laying down your life and caring about other people more than yourself.
And Jesus says, you know what?
If you would focus on other people, you'll be happy if you do these things.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't know, I'm not happy.
That's because you're focused on yourself.
Do me a favor.
Go soul winning today.
Take up my challenge.
Go soul winning today and come back in a bad mood.
Good luck.
Because you know what soul winning is?
It's basically taking time out of your schedule to care about other people more than yourself.
Hey, I'm already on my way to heaven.
I don't need to do anything to get to heaven.
But why do we go soul winning?
Because we care about other people.
And when you care about other people, it gives you joy.
Look, I believe our church is one of the most joyous churches in the world.
You say, why?
Because we go soul winning because we focus on other people.
And look, if you're a mom that's miserable, it's because you're focused on yourself.
And those might be harsh words, but they are still true nonetheless.
That's reality.
And that's what the Bible teaches.
Genesis 18, point number one, relish your children.
Brother Stuckey, how long is this sermon going to be?
I don't know.
Point two, redeem your time.
Redeem your time.
You say, Brother Stuckey, didn't you say that last week?
That's a big part of being both a father and a mom.
Is don't sit around and waste time on things that don't matter.
But it is more important for a mom to redeem her time than a father.
And I'll explain why.
Genesis 18, verse one.
And the Lord appeared onto him in the plains of Mamre.
And he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.
And he lifted up his eyes and looked.
And lo, three men stood by him.
And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward
the ground.
Here's Abraham.
And then all of a sudden he sees basically, you know, a couple of angels and then the
Lord in the Old Testament appearing to him.
Okay, verse three.
And said, My Lord, if now I found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from
thy servant.
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under
the tree.
And I will fetch a morsel of bread and come for ye your hearts after they shall pass on.
For therefore are ye come to your servant.
And they said, So do as thou hast said.
Notice verse six.
And Abraham hastened into the tent onto Sarah and said, Make ready quickly three measures
of fine meal needed and make cakes upon the hearth.
Now, Sarah is not married at this point.
But what I want to show you is this.
In this story, something unexpected comes up where she has to put aside everything else
she is doing to focus on this one task, right?
She has to put aside everything she's doing to focus on this one task.
And you know what?
That is exactly what being a mom is.
Because you never know when things are going to come up.
Look, you do not know when you're going to have to change a diaper.
It's like, well, I'm just going to get my kids on a schedule at this time and this time
and this time.
Okay, once you have that first child, it's like, okay, it's really hard to do.
You don't know when you're going to have to clean a diaper, right?
You don't know when you're going to have to feed your kids.
Kids start crying and you don't necessarily know why.
And you're trying to figure it out.
You don't know when your kids are going to make a mistake or make a mess.
You don't know when your kids are going to need spanking.
You don't know when your kids are getting tired and need to go to sleep.
You don't know when you're doing anything as a mom.
It's like, try to write your schedule as a mom the day before that day happens.
It's going to be so off what reality is.
It's like, I plan to feed the kids at this time and put them to sleep at this time.
You have no idea.
Is that not true?
You have no idea when things are going to go wrong.
Here's my point.
Don't waste your free time early in the day when you have it on things that don't matter.
And then all of a sudden later on you have no time to get things done that you need to get done.
Man, I'm a mom and I never have time to read my Bible.
It's probably because you're wasting your time when you do have it.
And I get it.
All of a sudden four hours go by and over the course of four hours there was no time
because kids were crying and there were problems.
Here's the thing.
Don't waste those 15 minutes in the morning to get on Facebook.
Use that time.
And if you have free time at the end of the day, then you can do those things.
You need to figure out what are your priorities in a day.
And whatever's at the top of that list, do it first.
Now, I hope that is spending time with God.
Do it first because you don't know if you're going to be able to do it last.
But you know what?
If you do it first every single day and seven days go by and you say,
man, over the course of these seven days, I read the Bible every day in the morning
and did my prayer time, but here's the thing.
I wasn't able to get on Facebook to pay attention to everything that's going on
out in five out of the seven days.
Who cares?
You still got done what you needed to get done.
And you're probably going to be happier.
It's like, man, I haven't been on Facebook in three days.
Why am I so happy?
It's like, because you're not wasting your time on things that don't matter.
And you're investing your time in your kids and that will bring you joy.
Don't waste your free time when you have it because you do not know when you're going
to get it back.
Okay, go to Genesis 21.
Genesis 21.
Redeem your time.
And look, it might be that your Bible reading, you got to take 10 minutes here and five minutes
there.
It might be that you don't get to sit down for 45 straight minutes like your husband
might get to sit down.
But what I'm saying is just don't waste that free time that you have because you probably
spend plenty of time on your cell phone.
I didn't have a chance to read my Bible.
Well, download the Bible on your cell phone.
If you got to hold on to that cell phone, it's like attached to me.
I can't get rid of it.
Well, download the Bible on your cell phone.
Do what you got to do.
But don't tell me you don't have free time because 99% of the time.
Now, look, I understand there's extreme circumstances.
Maybe your child is really sick and you really need to be there to provide compassion and
care pretty much 24 7.
I understand those days come up, but that's not the normal day.
Even if we are very busy, there's usually time.
It's just not necessarily a set block of time.
It might be a little bit here and there.
Redeem your time.
Don't waste it.
Number one, relish your children.
Number two, redeem your time.
Number three, restrain your emotions.
Restrain or control your emotions.
Now, there's many examples you could probably use in the Bible.
But we're going to Genesis 21 because it's really close to the story we just looked at.
Genesis 21 verse 14.
I'm going to show you an example.
Genesis 21 verse 14 with the story of Hagar.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread in a bottle of water and gave it
on to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child and sent her away.
And she departed and wondered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
Now, in verse 15, she's very emotional.
She's worried about the life of her child, and she cast her child under one of the shrubs.
Right?
The water's gone.
She's like, we're going to die.
And she just kind of loses control of emotions and just kind of gives up.
Look, I believe Hagar obviously loved her son.
I believe she cared for her son.
I'm not saying she was a bad mom, but here's what I'm saying.
You cannot let your emotions get the best of you and just give up.
It's like, man, it's just so hard raising these kids.
I'm just going to give up, and I'm going to shove them in front of the computer, and I'm
just going to take a nap for four hours.
You can't do that as a mom.
You've got to restrain and control your emotions.
Your kids are counting on you.
And realize this.
You know what?
There were moms 50, 60 years ago, and they didn't have social media to give in front
of their kids, and they found a way to get it done.
In fact, probably for most of us that are adults, our parents probably raised us without
any social media, and guess what?
They probably just worked harder than this generation.
They didn't have these modern conveniences oftentimes, and they found a way to get it
done.
So don't tell me, oh, it's so hard.
I can't do this.
You know what?
There are moms that used to have eight children, all the clothes done by hand, no modern conveniences,
and you know what?
They found a way to get it done.
It's not that it's impossible.
It's like, you've got to just decide what's important.
And unfortunately, the cell phone and the computer is very important to a lot of people
in today's world.
And it's like, why?
I don't know.
But that's the world we live in.
And let me say this.
You don't want to get your kids addicted to social media at a young age, because that
might just pass on to them forever.
Now, I'm not saying it's a sin to let your kids watch something on YouTube.
I'm not saying something the Bible doesn't say.
I'm just saying you don't want to get your kids addicted to this stuff, right?
There's a lot of kids that grow up just addicted to video games, and you know what?
That's going to be tough to break one day.
I know people that failed out of college because of video games.
And I'm just thinking, what in the world?
You know, I had a friend of mine in college, you know, and as freshmen, his first calculus
test, he got a 99%.
Didn't study for 99%.
Really smart guy, right?
He failed out of college because what happened is he got his sleep cycle reversed because
he was playing video games throughout the night.
And then he was always, oh, man, I slept through my classes again.
It's like, I'll just have to start them again next semester.
Right?
Well, I guess that's what happens when your uncle gives you an inheritance of $50,000
at a young age.
Just like I talked about last week, right?
Kids just don't know how to deal with it.
Right?
I should have remembered that story for that sermon, right?
But this woman, she basically cast her child under one of the shrubs.
Notice verse 16.
And she went and sat her down over against him, a good way off, as it were, a bow shot,
for she said, Let me not see the death of the child.
And she sat over against him and lift up her voice and wept.
She's basically giving up.
Verse 17.
And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called the Hagar out of heaven
and said unto her, What aleth thee, Hagar?
Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation.
And this is already a promise of God that this is going to take place, but he's reiterating
this.
Verse 19.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.
And she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink.
So it's like her eyes were closed off to the solution.
It's like, Oh, actually, there's a well of water right over there.
And she gave up, and the answer was right there if she didn't give up.
And I just kind of wonder how many moms are giving up right before the answer is right
there.
It's like, man, if you just put in 15 extra minutes, then maybe the solution will be there.
But they're giving up when the solution is right there.
God opens her eyes like, Oh, man, there's a well of water.
She doesn't even need to be crying.
She just kind of gives up a little too early.
Look, that's a sermon in of itself.
So many examples that you could use with that story.
But I want you to realize, moms, you need to restrain and control your emotions.
And here's a mom who loves her son.
There's no question.
I'm not saying she's a bad mom.
She loves her son, but she cannot control her emotions.
She doesn't restrain her emotions, and then she's failing at being a mom in that instance
because she does not control her emotions.
You need to learn to control and restrain your emotions.
Your kids do something wrong.
You need to have compassion on them.
I'm not saying never to spank them.
Okay, obviously, we believe in practice spanking in our house.
You guys know that.
But you need to have compassion when your kids make mistakes.
Okay, point number one, relish your children.
Point two, redeem your time.
Point three, restrain your emotions.
We're not going to look at any more places, but point four, relay to your husbands.
You say relay to your husbands.
What do you mean by that, brother?
Here's what I mean by that.
Let's say your husband is gone all day working, and you're at home with the kids.
You kind of have a couple options of what you tell your husband, because there's probably
some moms who, they send 20 text messages to their husband throughout the day, and it's
like, look at this mess your son made.
Look at what your daughter did.
I didn't get any sleep.
Our daughter's crying.
Our son's doing this.
He did this.
And you're just complaining and complaining.
Boy, your husband's going to be excited to come home.
Let me tell you something.
Man, I can't wait to come home.
It's like you're going to cause him to not want to come home.
Is that your goal?
Why not send him and relay good things to him?
Send a text message about something good their child did.
Show a picture.
Hey, look at your daughter walking.
Show a video of something good that the kids did.
You know what it's going to do?
It's going to cause that husband to say, man, I want to come home.
I want to spend time with my kids.
Don't relay bad information to your husbands all day long.
Relay good information.
Unless your goal is to temporarily feel better by complaining.
And you get to feel better for 30 seconds.
Good job.
And you're going to be miserable your entire day because of that.
If you would relay good information,
what it would cause is your husband would be excited to come home
and spend time with his kids.
Look, use modern technology to your advantage.
Right?
I mean, you can relay good information.
It's going to make your husband excited.
But if you're always just complaining, he's not even going to want to come home.
And he's not going to want to spend time with his kids.
He's not going to want to spend time with you.
And you're going to make it hard for him to be a good father because
you're focusing on yourself and complaining about all the difficulties.
Look, I'm not saying being a mom is easy,
and I'm not saying I fully understand this because obviously I'm not a mom.
But I'm just showing you what the Bible says.
And I'll tell you what.
The answer to a lot of our problems in life is just simply work hard.
Work hard.
And don't consider it a burden.
Oh, I've got to be a mom.
I mean, you know what?
If you bring that sort of attitude and say things like that,
you know how much that could hurt a young child's life
if they hear the mom complain about it's so miserable for being a mom.
It's like, man, you're going to cause your child to cry and say,
man, why doesn't my mom want to spend time with me?
Right?
You know, don't consider being a mom as a burden.
Consider it as being a blessing.
And yes, it takes a lot of hard work, but you know what?
There's more accomplishment in the end when you succeed at it.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today.
And I ask you to help all of the moms and even young ladies
who are not yet moms in our church,
help them to apply this to their lives and work and try and strive
to be the best moms they can and help all of us as men and husbands
and fathers to be supportive of our wives and try to help them
and encourage them and not to criticize them.
Help us to labor together as husbands and wives,
as moms and fathers to raise our children for the glory of God.
We pray these things in Jesus name.
Amen.