Alright, we're here in Exodus chapter 2 and this is the Mother's Day sermon and I'm going
to try to get done by 12.15 so we have time to eat lunch and go soul winning and get
everything done on time.
And obviously this sermon is geared toward moms, but you know what, obviously any time
the Word of God is open it applies to all of us.
We can all learn, we can all be edified.
I would certainly say as a father, most of these things you can apply to your life
as well and learn from them.
And we're going to be looking at the character of Pharaoh's daughter here today.
Now that might seem like an odd character to preach a Mother's Day sermon on.
Let me just say this, that in the past I've seen movies like the old Ten Commandments
with Charlton Heston and there's other movies out there with the life of Moses.
And I would say they make a lot of inaccuracies or they add a lot of stuff that's just
not mentioned in Exodus.
And generally Pharaoh's daughter is not really looked at very positively when you
see movies and stories about them.
Now when you're reading the book of Exodus, I don't really see anything bad about Pharaoh's
daughter.
She certainly depicts a very good mom in Exodus chapter 2, so we're going to learn
three lessons from the life of Pharaoh's daughter and how she was a mom to Moses.
And point number one is compassion.
One of the big things you need as a mom is to have compassion on your kids, and it's
something we see with Pharaoh's daughter toward Moses.
Notice what it says in verse 1.
And there went a man in the house of Levi and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
And a woman conceived and bare a son, and when she saw him that he was a goodly child,
she hid him three months.
And when she could not longer hide him, she took from an ark of bulrushes and dabbed
it with pitch and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the river's
brink.
Now the reason why they're hiding Moses is because there was a decree by the father
of Pharaoh's daughter, the decree by Pharaoh, to kill all the newborn sons.
And what takes place is when a child is born, at the beginning, they're not as loud.
Even when they cry, it's not going to be heard.
But at a certain point, the cries of kids get very loud, right?
We hear our neighbor's kids cry all the time, you know, in other houses.
I mean, it will go outside the house.
So at the point of three months, they realize we're not going to get away with
this.
They're going to realize we're hiding a baby, right?
And it says in verse number 4, And his sister stood afar off to wed what would be done
to him.
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself with 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.
This is Moses.
Moses is weeping, and she had compassion on him.
We see that Pharaoh's daughter has compassion on Moses.
Why does it say compassion?
Moses is helpless.
Moses is scared.
Moses cannot survive on his own.
I mean, he's just a baby, and even this great man that would one day be as a baby,
he was helpless, completely dependent upon somebody else for survival.
Go to 1 Kings chapter 8.
First Kings chapter 8.
When it comes to raising kids, one of the big things you need is compassion.
You say, why do you need compassion?
You know, if you're asking me that question, it's because you haven't raised children, right?
Because your kids are going to disobey you.
Your kids are going to do wrong.
Your kids are going to frustrate you and make you mad.
And when they make you mad, what you need to remember is compassion.
That is a requirement to being a good mom, and also to being a good father, is having
compassion upon your kids.
1 Kings chapter 8, verse 44.
If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 44.
If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send
them, and shalt pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward
the house that I have built for thy name, then hear thou in heaven their prayer and
their supplication, and maintain their cause.
If they sin against thee, for there is no man that sinneth not.
And it's referring to God's people sinning against God.
And I love the part in parentheses, for there is no man that sinneth not, right?
And when it comes to raising your kids, I mean, think of your kids in relation to
you as a mom.
I mean, if your kids sin against you, if they disobey, if they act makulit, because
there is no baby that never acts makulit.
The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, and not just in my children,
also in your children.
Every child is going to act up sometimes.
Every child is going to disobey mom and dad sometimes.
There is no child that sins not.
And thou be angry with them.
And of course, this is a natural reaction from a parent.
If their kids disobey, they get angry.
And thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them
away, captives, onto the land of the enemy, far and near.
Yet if they shall bethink themselves, where basically they realize that they did wrong,
and they're coming to you in an apology.
They want to change and say, I've done wrong.
They bethink themselves, in the land where they were carried captives, and repent and
make supplication unto thee, in the land of them that carried them captives, saying,
We have sinned, and have done perversely.
We have committed wickedness.
And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land
of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land,
which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house
which I have built for thy name.
Then hear thou their prayer, and their supplication in heaven, by dwelling place, and maintain
their cause.
And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions
where they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who
carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them.
Now this is referring to God's people sinning against God, and God offering forgiveness
and compassion when they come back and say, Hey, I'm sorry, I've done wrong.
But realize, this is the way that we ought to be with our children.
And your children are going to do you wrong.
They are going to disobey.
And when they come to you and say, Mom, I'm sorry, Dad, I'm sorry, forgive.
Have compassion.
Look, your kids are going to do wrong.
That's just the way it is.
But if they come back to you and say, Hey, I'm sorry, it's your obligation to
forgive them and show compassion.
Right?
Turn in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 49, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 49.
It's very easy for us to develop grudges or hold something against our kids when they've
done us wrong.
But the Bible says we need to forgive them.
And of course, this is true outside of raising your kids.
If anybody does you wrong and they come and say, I'm sorry, forgive.
But especially as you're raising your kids, if they have done you wrong, forgive.
Have compassion.
Right?
You know, my daughter, Krista Bell, she is very good at saying she's sorry when
she messes up.
She does her fair share of messing up.
And she's very good when she says she's sorry.
And she will often say this.
She's like, Mom, or she'll say, Dad, I'm so sorry, I'll never do this again.
Now, inside my head, I'm thinking, you're going to do this again.
But she's sincere.
She's saying she's sorry.
She feels bad about it.
She realizes she got in trouble.
When your kids come to you and say, I've done wrong, I'm sorry, forgive me, forgive.
Forgive.
I mean, of course, I don't remember to when I was three years old and four years old and
five years old.
But I'm sure there are many, many, many times when I was driving my parents crazy.
And I'm sure in the back of their heads they're just frustrated.
They get upset.
But, you know, my parents were very forgiving.
They're very compassionate.
Now, I got a lot more spankings than my sister because my sister read books all day
and I was into sports.
So I'd be in the living room bouncing a basketball back and forth.
And it's like, no playing with the basketball in the living room.
So then I'm kicking a soccer ball in the living room.
No kicking a soccer ball.
Then I'm throwing a football and catching it.
I mean, this is like a daily basis, right?
But they're very compassionate to me even though I disobeyed, even though I did wrong.
That's how we need to be as parents.
Isaiah 49, verse 15.
Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb?
Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
And the Bible's talking about a mom that's got a young child that is still nursing,
whether it be six months, a year and a half, or whatever.
And it's like a mom should be willing to have compassion on the son of her womb
or the daughter of her womb.
Her child that has done her wrong but is saying, I'm sorry, I've done wrong,
have compassion.
And look, this is something we can see from Pharaoh's daughter because she sees
Moses.
Moses is helpless.
Moses cannot save himself.
He can't do anything on his own.
And she has compassion on the inside of her.
And that is the way that you ought to be as a mom.
Go to Lamentations, chapter 3.
Lamentations, chapter 3.
Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 22.
In this very famous passage of scripture, we get our song, Great is Thy Faithfulness,
from these verses here in Lamentations, chapter 3.
Verse 22.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
We are not consumed because God is merciful.
God is longsuffering with us.
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.
Great is Thy faithfulness.
I mean, these are some of my favorite verses in the Bible
because there's times that you do wrong
and you go to bed maybe with a guilty conscience.
You say you're sorry, but you wake up
and you still feel horrible
because you haven't been doing what God said.
And here's the thing.
You can come to God in the morning
and pray to Him and say, God, I messed up.
I did wrong.
Please forgive me.
And if you're sincere in your heart, He will forgive you like that.
His compassions fail not.
Now, of course, there might be repercussions
depending on what you've done,
but His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.
So there's a reason why God gave us
a 24-hour day, a new day.
The sun rises, the sun sets,
because sometimes you just need a new day to start over.
Sometimes you've messed up
and it's kind of like you just cannot reset yourself during the day,
and you really need just that break
where you sleep it off.
You say, God, I messed up.
I feel horrible.
Please help me to do better today.
Go in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 13.
Now, when it comes to having compassion,
one way or one reason
that you should have compassion on your kids
is when your kids do wrong
and they say they're sorry.
They come back to you, they've messed up,
and you need to remember that you also were makkulit as a kid.
You also did a lot of things wrong.
Your parents were also long-suffering with you
and you need to be reminded of that.
But there's also another way that we need to have compassion
and really with Pharaoh's daughter,
she's not having compassion on Moses
because he did anything wrong.
I mean, he's a baby that's crying.
The baby's doing nothing wrong.
The baby's scared, right?
She's having compassion on Moses
because Moses is incapable.
He is helpless.
And one way we need to have compassion as parents
is when our kids are helpless.
And you say, what do you mean?
Here's what I mean.
If you were to say, you know, pastor,
I want you to jump and touch the ceiling,
that is not possible for me, right?
I can't jump and touch the ceiling.
Now, maybe there's a pro-basketball player in here.
Maybe they could. I cannot do that.
I could jump and jump and jump.
It would be impossible.
And so if somebody were to get mad at me
for not doing something that I cannot do,
that would be ridiculous, right?
But here's the reality.
As parents, we often get mad at our kids
for things they are not capable of doing.
You're tired.
You're frustrated.
You just throw the clothes at your kids.
A two-year-old might not be able to do that.
A three-year-old might not be able to do that.
I mean, wouldn't it be foolish to get mad at them
for something they're not capable of doing?
I mean, a child is helpless.
See, Pharaoh's daughter has compassion
on Moses because she sees Moses.
Moses can't dress himself.
Moses can't eat.
Moses can't do anything.
Moses can't walk.
And when we raise kids, we have to realize
our kids literally start at ground level zero.
They don't know how to talk.
They don't know how to walk.
They don't know how to feed themselves.
They don't know how to read.
They don't know how to change their diapers.
They don't know how to tuck themselves in at night.
I mean, there's certain things
they're just not capable of,
and I'm just admitting my faults one to another.
Sometimes I get so frustrated with my kids
when it's stuff they're not even capable of doing
or something extremely hard
for a young child to do.
And I'm just frustrated.
I'm tired, and I don't want to deal with it.
It's like, ah, just do this.
And it's kind of like, well, they're four years old.
They're not going to be able to do that.
And see, oftentimes as parents,
you know, I think we're very guilty of this
where we expect our kids to be able to do something,
but here's the thing.
My children are not in their 30s like me,
so they don't think like someone in their 30s.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 11,
when I was a child,
I spake as a child.
I understood as a child.
I thought as a child,
but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
See, the Bible says
that when you're young,
you think like a child thinks,
meaning children think differently than adults.
Or at least adults
should think differently
than when they were children.
Children speak
differently than adults.
The things that children
are interested in,
they talk about, very different than adults.
Children understand like children.
Their brains are not fully
at the capacity to understand something
that a grown adult can understand.
It's not even possible.
They think like a child.
As adults, we think and speak
and understand differently
than children, right?
Well, we need to be reminded of this though
when we're raising our kids
because you cannot expect your child
that is five years old
or six years old to understand everything
like you would as a grown adult.
And many times we expect this
as parents, we expect them to get something
where it's like, they're not going to understand it
because they're a young child
and they literally need to learn everything.
My son, Zeph, I believe is very sharp.
He knows a lot of things.
He learns a lot from the sermons,
but sometimes he asks me questions
and it kind of puts me back
because I'm thinking, oh, we haven't taught you that yet.
Right? Because as a six-year-old,
there's still a lot of stuff that you're learning.
Right?
And so one way that we ought to have compassion
upon our kids is when they're helpless,
when they're not capable.
I'll give you an example.
When a person gets saved, they become a child of God.
Right?
And so they are a newborn spiritual child.
Right?
If somebody gets saved today
and they come to church next week,
do you expect them to have a perfect understanding
of the post-Trib rapture
and that the soul of Jesus went to hell
and all the mysteries found throughout the entire Bible
and that people need a soul winner to get saved
and all these things?
No!
Because they just got saved.
You wouldn't expect a newborn spiritual child
it's like, you're saved and you're dressed like that.
They just got saved a couple of days ago.
They have no idea what clothing standards are
according to the Bible or hair length
or anything like that.
It would be foolish for us to expect them
to fully understand everything
for five, ten, fifteen, twenty years
they're going to be able to understand.
They're not going to get it.
And so we need to have compassion upon our kids as well
and realize, hey, you know what?
They're young. They don't understand everything.
There's a lot of things they just don't know.
They have an experience.
They just don't understand it.
Go in your Bible to Exodus chapter 2.
Exodus 2.
See, a lot of times things seem very simple to us.
For example, you know, one of the common things
when you're raising kids
is you ask them to clean, right?
Because kids make a mess
and it's time to clean up.
Right? Well, here's the thing.
Sometimes they're cleaning things up
and they've got containers they've got to put things in.
They don't know how to open the container.
And the thing is, you're just looking at this mess
like, just clean it!
And it seems very simple, but then sometimes
it's like, well, you know what?
The thing is, we do things
you know, all the time and it becomes
second nature to us.
But if something's new to someone
they don't understand it.
I mean, if you were to show me
some new container that had kind of like
a complicated system, I'd be like, I don't know how to open this.
But after you've done it several times
it's very easy.
Well, sometimes, and I'm just using an example from my life,
you expect, you know, there's a container, there's all these things on the floor,
put it in the container, but they don't know how to open it.
And here's the thing,
it honestly would be foolish of me to get mad at my kids
when they're just not capable of doing it.
Because I didn't take the time,
or my wife didn't take the time to just show our kids,
hey, this is how you do it.
And the thing is, this sounds very easy to do,
we'll just take the time.
But as parents, you're tired, you're frustrated,
you're stressed, and you just hope they can figure it out on their own.
But we've got to realize, we've got to be compassionate
because sometimes our kids just don't know.
They haven't learned.
They haven't been taught.
I mean, things seem so basic.
I mean, things with our son Zeph, you know,
Zeph is very sharp, but, you know,
as he's learning, there's certain things where it's kind of like
when you first start writing,
it's very hard for children to hold the pencil and write.
And it seems very easy.
Just write straight lines, write a Z.
It seems easy because we've written a million times.
But that is actually not easy at all for a young child.
They really struggle with holding a pen or a pencil
because you just
learn it by nature.
Once you start doing it, it just becomes second nature.
It's kind of inside your head.
You don't even think about it.
I could close my eyes and write my signature
and not even really think about it.
But of course, if somebody's new at that,
they're not going to be able to do that.
So we need to have compassion like
Pharaoh's daughter showed compassion on Moses.
Pharaoh's daughter also shows courage
because at the end of the day,
it is her father that said,
hey, you know what, all the male babies are going to be put to death.
And I don't think
that she really had to worry about
being put to death, but who knows
in terms of there goes your inheritance
that's going to go to the other people or whatever,
other daughters or sons or whatever.
And so she has courage because
she stands up against what her father says
because what her father says
is something very wicked.
Now let me say this.
Children, you do not have the right to disobey your parents
unless they're asking you to do wrong.
Pharaoh's daughter does correctly
because she's being asked
to do something wrong.
I mean, she's sparing the life of an innocent child.
So she disobeys, and of course
there's nothing wrong with that.
But I would say to you kids,
it's like if your parents ask you to do something,
clean this room, fix this,
do whatever, just do what your parents say.
Obey father and mother.
Right?
Point number one, compassion point two, courage.
Verse number six,
And when she had opened it, she saw the child,
and behold, the babe wept,
the Hebrew's children.
Now, I believe she realizes
this is one of the Hebrew's children
because Hebrews look different than Egyptians
with their skin tone.
So I think right when she sees this child,
she says, this is not an Egyptian child,
this is a Hebrew.
Okay?
Go back to Exodus chapter 1.
Exodus 1.
There's actually quite a big debate
historically about the skin tone
of people in ancient Egypt,
and I feel like the most general consensus
is they were very diversely spread,
so there'd be parts of Egypt
where people had very dark complexion,
parts where they had very light complexion.
This is why when you see ancient pictures
of Egypt, what you're going to see
is they look very different from one another.
They have very different skin tones
depending on what part of the country,
probably because people kind of spread out
in different parts of ancient Egypt
and their skin tone, they just look differently.
But obviously when Pharaoh's daughter sees Moses,
she sees the Hebrew's children.
So obviously his skin tone was very different
than what she would have expected from the Egyptians.
Exodus 1 verse 15.
And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives,
of which the name of the one was Shipra
and the name of the other Puah,
and he said, when you do the office of a midwife
to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools,
if it be a son, then ye shall kill him,
but if it be a daughter,
then she shall live.
But the midwives feared God
and did not as the king of Egypt
save the men children alive.
And so Pharaoh commands
that the midwives put the male babies
to death right after they're born.
And the midwives disobey.
God blesses them. He builds them a house.
And what he's asking them to do
would be called infanticide
where you were to kill an infant
or more technically before the age of one month
it's called neonaticide
to murder a baby
right after they're born
in that first month.
And they disobey what Pharaoh says.
Now this might seem extreme to you,
but honestly neonaticide is actually
common in a lot of parts of the world
and specifically in two countries,
China and India.
You say, why is this so common in those countries?
Because they're both very wicked countries.
It's a large person.
Now part of it is because in India
because of the dowry system being upon
the woman's family instead of the man's family
there's a change there.
And of course in China they used to have the one child
policy and that was abolished like
15 years ago. They changed it to the two child
policy and now it's the three child
policy I believe. So they keep upping it
because it's not fixing the problem.
But here's the thing, especially in ancient China
in China today as well
there's this attitude
of basically the
sons taking care of their parents.
And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Kids should take care of their parents.
Well the idea would be if we have a daughter
and we're only allowed one child, she's not going to
be able to financially take care of us.
But what takes place is that the son
will take care of his own family
from my understanding not really his wife's
family as much. So if you're going to have a child
you want to have a male child because
financially you could be in trouble.
And so those are some of the reasons why
in India and China it's very common.
But millions upon millions of babies
have been killed in those two countries.
Even though they're the two biggest countries in
population, I think the statistics
were like 90 some percent
of neonaticide was committed in those countries,
India and China.
You say, well I mean India is a spiritual country.
What do you mean they're wicked?
Yeah, I mean when it's the wrong religion that makes them
wicked. And India is a very
very wicked country by any metric
you want to look at in terms
of sin.
But this is the commandment from Pharaoh,
I mean kill all the male babies.
Now go to Proverbs 13.
Proverbs 13.
So Pharaoh's daughter shows courage.
Now what are some areas we need courage
as parents in 2024
here in the Philippines?
One area you need courage
as a mom is
to spank your children.
Spank your children.
Notice what it says in Proverbs 13 verse
24.
Spareth his rod, hateth his son,
but he that loveth
him chasteneth him
betimes.
I mean if you're going to say that, well you know I have kids
and I never spank my kids
ever. According to the Bible you hate
your kids.
You say, well why would the Bible say you hate your kids?
You know why? It's a lot easier to
yell at your kids than actually
do what's right and admonish
them and then hug them and explain to them
what they did wrong. It's a lot
easier to yell at them.
I'm sure every one of us as parents has
done wrong before. We yelled at our kids
instead of actually doing things properly.
But the Bible says, hey you know what?
If you spare the rod,
a physical object used to spank
your children, it's because you hate your children.
You hate your son.
If you actually love your kids, you know what you're going to find?
You actually do discipline your kids. You actually spank
your children. Go in your Bible
to Proverbs 19.
You say, pastor why does it take
courage? Because people
criticize you if you say you spank
your kids.
They'll look down on you in the Philippines in
2024.
I mean in fact,
in 2023, legislation
to ban corporal punishment
against children has been proposed in the Philippines.
In 2023, under
the 19th Congress, House
Bills 8306
and House Bill 1269
were filed to penalize
individuals practicing corporal
punishment. Practicing
spanking. Practicing the
old fashioned method of using
the rod on the
child. So it takes
courage because if you're in public today
and your kids do wrong, you say,
hey, you better say you're sorry. You're going to
get a spanking. People are going to look at you
and criticize you.
I would never spank my kid.
And then they say that and then their five year old smacks
him in the face.
Well, I'm glad that you would never spank your child.
Unfortunately, your child is kind of spanking you.
But here's the thing. It doesn't matter what man says.
It doesn't matter the peer pressure.
What does the Bible say?
The Bible says to spank your kids.
You say, well, when do you
spank? You spank when your kids
disobey.
When they understand
and disobey. And look, you can
agree with me or not. You can
like it or lump it. I don't really care.
My kids all understood
before the age of 12 months
the word no.
You say, well, when did you start spanking?
Before the age of 12 months.
You know why? I don't want to have to
spank my kids when they're 12 years old.
You spank them
when they're young and guess what?
They learn obedience.
They learn to do right.
We spank our son
Zeph very rarely
now. I'm not saying he never
does wrong, but it's very rare
when he really, in our mind, really
deserves a spanking. You say, why?
Because when he was young, he got the rod.
For me, I just
use the hand. My wife will have
an object or whatever,
like a wooden spoon, where it's like
she pulls it out, and it's like, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'll never
do it again. Please forgive me.
I'm a hug. I said sorry.
Right?
Here's the thing. You know what? We need that
admonishment in order to
learn right and wrong.
Proverbs 19, verse 18,
Chasing thy son while there is hope, and let
not thy soul spare for his crying.
Let not thy soul spare for his crying,
because your kids are going to cry. They're going to fight
against it and say, no, I'm sorry.
I'm never going to do it again. Please, please,
please.
If you've already determined that you're going to
spank your kids, and you told them you're going to spank it,
and then you let them cry
their way out of it, guess what?
You're teaching them all they have to do is cry
their way out of it, and they're not going to get a spanking.
Good luck!
I hope
your kids will turn out right. I'm just saying
that if you don't discipline your kids, when I
look at the Bible with an open mind, and I don't
care what the world says, you know what the Bible
teaches me? I should spank my kids when they do
wrong. Why does it say
chasing thy son while there is hope? Because
you know what? You have the heart of
your kids when they're one year old, two
years old, three years old, four years old,
five years old. But you know what?
If you don't chase them when you
actually have their heart, and they're willing
to learn, guess what?
Good luck when they're 12, 13, 14,
15, 16, 17, 18 years old.
I mean,
honestly, if you don't do any spanking
ever with your kids until
I will never spank them until they're three years old.
They are going to be a very rebellious
three-year-old. By the age of
three, you've got a lot of
work on your hands.
I'm just being honest. With our kids,
once we hit three, once you get past the
terrible twos, it's kind of like, all right,
now it's like a lot easier.
Okay? We did the work.
We can start resting. They just don't act
up as much. You say, why? Because
they learn via
the punishment. And don't we
also learn this way in life?
If there's a punishment, it stops you from doing it.
Look, you have to understand, punishment
is a deterrent for crime.
Right.
Now, I'm not saying this should be the punishment,
but here's the thing. Let's say
the punishment for robbing
a Sorry
Sorry store
or a 7-Eleven. Let's say the punishment
was the death penalty. Nobody would ever
do it. Now, I'm not saying
that should be the punishment, because that's not God's system.
I'm using a point. If it's a strong
punishment, you're like, I'm not going to do that.
It's not worth the risk. I mean, I like Cobra
energy drink, but stealing a drink
for 25 pesos is not worth it.
Right? It's not worth
death. You're not going to do it
because of the fear of the punishment.
And guess what? That fear of the punishment
helps kids to be correct.
Go in your Bible to Proverbs 29.
Proverbs 29.
Now, obviously, you know, every
father and mother are different.
From my experience, what I've
seen, though,
moms really struggle with spanking
their kids sometimes.
It seems like
it's a much bigger struggle for moms
than fathers.
I remember when, you know,
a lot of people told this, you know,
relatives on both sides of her family,
and, you know, they said,
well, you know, you didn't have any problem
spanking your son, Zeph. Like, they told
this to me, but when your daughter's born,
it's like, and she looks at you and smiles,
you won't spank her. Honestly,
I didn't struggle.
You say, why is it
you didn't struggle? Because I know what the Bible
says.
I never, look, I never
have wanted to spank my kids. I don't like
spanking my kids. It's not fun,
but I'm like, this is what the Bible says. I've got to
do what the Bible says. I've got to do right
because otherwise they're going to turn out bad.
And I would just say, you know, as
moms, it's like, you
must put in the time and
effort to do this, especially because
as moms, you are around your
kids more than your husband, probably.
And here's the thing, if
a child does wrong to you
as the mom, it is unfair
to expect your husband to be
the one to discipline that child.
Are you trying to get the child to hate your
husband and love you? I mean, what's the
purpose of that? And
I'm very thankful. My wife and I are very much
on board with this. Both of us, we spank our
children when they do wrong and we explain
to them and, you know, tell them what they
did. And we
certainly notice a huge difference with our kids
that when you spank them, it helps them turn
out right. And I'll
be honest, you know, we know a lot of
other relatives that have kids and it's just
like, you know, I don't want to try to compare
my kids to their kids because everybody just
does their best and every situation
is different. But I see a huge
difference from kids that do not get the rod
versus kids that do
get the rod. It's not even
close. I mean, if your kids get a
discipline, guess what? It causes
them to do right. Now, of course,
there's nurture and admonition.
You need the balance. But I'm just saying
it's like if you don't provide admonition,
your kids are going to grow up and be spoiled
brats and be rebellious. It's
a fact. Well, I
can't believe you'd say that. Well,
I mean, you wouldn't be sensitive if your kids
were turning out right.
And it doesn't change what the Bible says.
Proverbs 29, verse
15, the rod of reproof give wisdom,
but a child left to himself, bringing his mother
to shame. When the wicked are multiplied,
transgression increases,
but the righteous shall see their fault.
Correct thy son, and he shall give thee
rest. He shall give delight onto
thy soul. The Bible says
your children can give you rest. They
can give you delight. You can look at your kids, and instead
of being bitter and mad,
you can look at your kids. They'll put a smile upon
your face. Why?
Because they're doing right. They're trying to make you happy.
They're good kids.
This does not come by accident,
though. It takes time
and effort. Go in your Bible to
2 Corinthians, chapter 6.
Now, let me give you my opinion,
and obviously my kids are young,
6 years old, 4 years old, and about to
turn 2 years old next Sunday.
But let me explain to you
that when
a person turns 18 years old,
and they rob a store,
they don't just get a spanking
upon their butt.
I used this story yesterday.
I've used it before.
Someone I knew in college,
my friend's friend, my friend who got me
saved, his brother, I should say,
his brother was really big.
He was this tall, very strong.
He was second in the state in wrestling, very
muscular.
One time, his mom spanked him when he was 12 years old.
She spanked him,
and he's like, ooh,
a little to the left.
Ooh,
a little to the right.
Ooh, that hit the spot.
And he's basically
joking, and the mom started laughing.
She's like, you just wait until your father gets home.
Right? But here's what
I want you to understand.
Honestly, a spanking doesn't affect
a 12-year-old.
It doesn't.
It affects a 3-year-old.
A lot of children do not understand
long-term consequences.
Because they think as a child.
Older people do.
And the spanking,
look, if somebody robs a story,
you know what they would love to have?
Just a spanking upon the butt.
It does nothing.
Here's the reality. If you have to provide
major corporal punishment
to your kids when they're that age,
you messed up.
I can't believe you'd say that.
Because the Bible says they'll give you rest
if you do it correctly.
And the thing is, if you're giving
the nurture and admonition at a young age,
guess what takes place? It's going to be less
and less as time goes on.
That's the way
that God intended it. That's the way it should be.
I'm just saying for me personally,
I know that with my parents,
they stopped spanking me when I was,
I don't know, maybe 10 or 11 years old,
but quite honestly, it's just like, number one,
I didn't really disobey my parents much
because I was afraid, I had respect,
and my parents were very loving,
they were great parents, but also because
it doesn't really affect a 10 year old.
You know what really hurt me when I was like
10 or 11? I remember I talked back
to my dad one time, and my dad
was my soccer coach for a rec league,
and my dad suspended me for a week.
And then my friends were saying like,
why aren't you playing? I was allowed to be on the sidelines.
I was like, I talked back to my dad.
And then of course,
to them they're thinking, that's it?
Because their parents aren't strict.
And they talk back to their parents all the time.
But not with my parents.
And it's like, you know what that taught me?
I'm not going to talk back to my parents anymore.
I'm just trying to say, when you think about this
logically, number one,
when you reach the age of adulthood,
they will not give you a very minor little
spank on the butt if you do wrong.
You're going to have a major long-term consequence.
Logically, as your kids get older,
if you're dealing with problems,
you should really start switching to something
that's a long-term punishment,
because that's the way the world will be like to them.
But the good news is that if you do a good job,
you're going to be spanking your kids less and less.
I say these things
not to state that I know for sure
my kids are going to turn out right,
because I cannot say that. My kids are young.
I haven't run that race.
But I am saying that is the way that it will work
if you do it correctly.
So one area you need to have courage
is with spanking. Why?
Because people look down on you for spanking your kids.
It takes time. It takes effort.
Another thing is with
separation in standards,
because when you look at the trash
that's on the TV and computers today,
you really have to be strict
with your kids
to avoid all that garbage.
And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6,
verse 17,
The Bible says to be separate.
We teach the doctrine of separation.
And look, in today's world,
the world is filled full of garbage
in their entertainment,
movies, TV shows, and music.
And yeah, you know, we as parents,
we ought to be very strict with our kids.
Now, of course, every parent is going to draw the line
but if you just let your kids watch whatever they want
without any supervision,
well, good luck.
Because what's going to take place
is your boys,
when they reach a young age,
are going to be addicted to pornography.
That's what's going to take place.
I mean, if you're just,
as an adult, if you're just on YouTube
or Google or whatever, there's so much trash
that pops up.
And if you just let your kids do whatever
and just let the television
raise your kids,
here's the problem with that.
The television wasn't created by God.
It's not like this is God's system.
You know what?
Hollywood is a system of God to teach morals.
That's not the way it works.
And if you let the movies and the TV shows
train your kids, guess what?
They're going to have the philosophies of the world.
Just common sense is what's going to take place.
Turn to Exodus 2.
Exodus 2.
Why is it that it takes courage?
Because all of your relatives
will criticize you for having standards
for your kids.
Because your kids will complain,
well, you know, so and so
lets their kids do this.
And yeah, as a parent,
I hear that sometimes for my kids,
like, well, you know what?
They're not your father.
They're not your mother.
You ought to be thankful you have a mom and a dad
and actually spend time with you
and actually teach you right and wrong.
When I was a kid, I was not allowed to watch MTV.
Every other kid,
that was the big music television,
that was the big channel.
You say, why? Because MTV is filled full of trash.
And my parents knew the music of the world is trash.
I wasn't allowed to watch the movies other kids watch.
I wasn't allowed to watch the other TV shows.
You say, wow, man, being really strict,
it really messes you up.
Really? Because last I checked,
I've never smoked a cigarette.
I'm drunk like everybody else that goes to college.
Seems like it worked out for me.
You say, why? Because of the fact
if you provide nurture and admonition,
your kids will turn out right.
That's what the Bible says.
You train your children the way they should go.
When they are old, they will not depart from it.
And of course, this is something as parents,
we've got to take by faith
because we don't see the end finished product.
As a parent, though,
if you're not lying to yourself,
you can see whether things are going
well or poorly.
And if you're seeing things go
very poorly,
and your explanation is,
oh, they're just tired.
So every single week,
your kids are just tired.
That is why they're the kids
that are always acting up and other kids aren't.
No, you're just making excuses,
and you're going to ruin the lives of your kids.
That's a fact.
Exodus 2.
And one other way, with courage,
and everyone in the room have made the decision
that when their kids are of age,
they're going to have their kids homeschooled.
They say, I'm not going to let my kids
in the public school, and I understand
not everyone's in that situation,
but of course, in today's world,
I'm afraid of something horrible
happening to my kids
if they have no supervision
in a public school system.
But it's also the brainwashing
that occurs in the public fool system.
It's just a fact.
If you take your kids away from the main public school
and do either a Christian school or homeschooling
or some sort of private school or whatever,
guess what?
Your relatives will criticize you.
It's like, well, all of us have our kids
in the public school,
and it takes courage to not care
about what other people think
and just do what's right.
And you have to realize that, you know what,
as a father or as a mother,
God gave you those kids.
God did not give those kids
to your brothers or sisters
or your parents or your aunts and uncles.
No, God gave them to you.
It doesn't matter
what your other relatives think
about how you raise your kids.
It matters how you decide to raise your kids.
As a husband and as a wife,
you make that decision as one flesh
and don't care what other people are doing.
Because if you raise your kids
like the world's raising,
your kids are going to turn out bad.
It just is what it is.
By the way, you know,
I'm preaching towards the ladies.
I mean, the ladies can't say amen
if they agree with the sermon.
You guys, you need to back me up.
It's like, well, I'm afraid.
I mean, if I'm the only one saying amen,
my wife's going to know.
I like that point or whatever, right?
Number one,
you need to have compassion
upon your kids.
Number two, you need courage.
Honestly, there's a lot of ways
to learn things.
But you need to realize those kids are given to you
and do what's correct regardless of what people think.
But number three, you need to show care
toward your kids. Exodus 2, verse 7.
Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,
Shall I go and call to thee a nurse
of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse a child for thee?
Pharaoh's daughter said to her,
Go, and the maid went and called the child's mother.
Pharaoh's daughter said to her,
Take this child away and nurse it for me,
and I will give thee thy wages.
The women took the child and nursed it.
She called her son, and she called his name Moses,
and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
And so Pharaoh's daughter is not biologically
the mother of Moses,
but the Bible refers to Moses being her son
because if you raise a child
as your own,
then you are the mom or the dad to that child,
according to the Bible.
There's many verses that teach that.
But when you're raising your kids, what are you doing?
You're showing care
because it takes time.
It takes effort.
Pharaoh's daughter...
Go to 1 Timothy 5.
Pharaoh's daughter...
I think every indication is she's a pretty good woman.
There's one verse in the Bible that we're not going to turn to for the sake of time
where it says,
Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
It doesn't say Pharaoh's daughter was wicked or anything.
It's just the fact that Pharaoh's daughter is with Egypt.
Now, I think if you think through the book of Exodus,
because if you remember,
later on in the book of Exodus,
Moses knows who Aaron is.
Correct?
Obviously, he's already met Aaron
past when he was a baby.
And I think the most common sense way
to look at this is that
because Moses goes back to his parents
to be nursed,
and then Pharaoh's daughter is going to raise a child,
I think Pharaoh's daughter allowed Moses,
the actual parents of Moses, to have a relationship with him.
Obviously, Moses had to get saved at some point.
Somebody gave him the gospel.
He already knows who Aaron is.
And so obviously, he knew who his family was.
So I don't think Pharaoh's daughter
just kept him completely away from his physical family.
I think they got to see him from time to time.
I think that makes the most sense.
But I'm just saying there's nothing that would indicate
Pharaoh's daughter was wicked.
Now, I understand. I wish the Ten Commandments
a long time ago, too, with Charlton Heston.
And they make Pharaoh's daughter out to be
like a bad woman or whatever.
Says she had compassion.
She didn't have to take care of the child.
She raised the child. She cares for the child.
I don't see anything that would say she's a bad woman.
Regardless, she shows care to raise the child.
And notice what it says in 1 Timothy 5, verse 14.
I will, therefore, that the younger women marry,
bear children, guide the house, give none occasion
the adversary to speak reproachfully.
The number one thing that you can have a goal as
as a young woman is to be a godly mom.
And here's the thing.
The Bible says to guide the house.
You think of a housewife or a keeper at home,
a homekeeper, whatever.
And I think that we've done a disservice
to this idea when we try to bring this down
to cooking and cleaning.
Well, you've got to guide the house.
Cook and clean.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in one of our most
famous verses on salvation, believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and all thy house.
The word house is not referring to the floor
or the lamp or the light bulbs only.
But it also includes the people inside of the house.
Correct?
When it's coming to guiding the house,
is cooking important?
Sure.
Is cleaning important?
Sure.
You know what that is?
It's a very small percentage of what's actually
important inside that house.
You know what matters inside your house?
The kids.
That's what matters.
You say, well, I've done my job as a mom
because it's clean and I cook the food
and you spend no time with your kids
and don't train them and know you didn't do
it because the number one part about guiding
the house is guiding your children.
And as a husband, don't have this, look,
if there's a day where you know what,
you're busy, your wife's busy,
she doesn't have time, everything's a mess,
you know what, cook your own food
and don't worry about it.
Care that your wife spends time
and does what she needs to with the kids.
I mean, if your kids are really sick
and they need attention of your wife,
don't expect your wife to do the cooking.
You should have learned how to crack an egg
and cook when you were young also, okay?
It's like, well, that's a woman's job.
Well, I'm sorry, but I learned how to cook.
I mean, I was home schooled, starting middle school,
but I learned in middle school, okay?
It's just like, look, as a guy, just eat whatever.
If you can open up a can, just eat whatever's inside.
Eat the corn, canned corn or whatever, right?
You know how to use a microwave, right?
We need to realize, and look, this is true for moms,
but as husbands, we need to realize
that the most important part of your wife
taking care of the home are the kids
inside of the house.
By far the most important thing.
And as moms, don't think you've done your job
just because you did the cleaning.
No, no, no, the kids are the most important part.
It is your job to teach the kids.
It's your job to teach them the Bible
and to teach them everything,
brushing their teeth, clothes, whatever,
learning how to read, just all of those things.
That's your responsibility, and teach them to be godly.
Go in your Bible to Titus chapter 2.
We'll close up in Titus 2.
Titus 2.
And I did not make it by 1215.
I'm going to be a little bit over.
A reminder, right after the last song,
ladies, I mean, moms, come up here.
Picture without the kids,
and then picture with the kids, moms, right?
We are going to be more short on time here today.
And Titus chapter 2.
Notice what the Bible says in Titus 2, verse 3.
The age of women likewise that the being behavior
is become of holiness, not false accusers,
not given of much wine, teachers of good things,
that they may teach the young women
to be sober, to love their husbands,
to love their children, to be discreet,
chase keepers at home, good obedient to their own husbands,
that the word of God be not blaspheme.
You say, well, why would I have to learn
how to love my husband?
You're not married yet, are you? Right?
Us guys, let me just help you out with how men work.
We can lose our temper. Right?
Guys are not always the most lovable guys.
We don't get our sleep. We're in a bad mood.
It's just the way it is.
The Bible says, hey, teach young women
to love their husbands, to love their children.
Well, why would I need to love my children?
Isn't there that automatic love that I have?
Yeah, when they're born, there's that automatic attachment,
but when it's three in the morning,
and your child is crying,
yeah, you need to learn how to love your children.
You say, why? Because throughout the Bible,
love is never just a feeling.
For God so loved the world that He gave.
There's always action associated with love.
Now, a feeling is part of love.
Don't misunderstand me.
But there's always action associated with it.
And yeah, you know what?
It takes something to learn for young people to realize,
hey, I need to learn to love my husband and love my children.
No, it doesn't just come automatic.
And so guess what?
When a husband and a wife get married,
they are both in the learning process.
Let me help you out.
Nobody when they first get married
is going to be a great husband or a great wife.
No, you have to actually learn.
You have to be willing to say, hey, I'm going to learn
and get better at this because you know what?
It seems very easy,
and it really seems easy until you do it.
And I'll tell you what.
Raising kids, it's not easy.
I mean, because your kids are going to mess up.
They're going to do wrong.
They're going to make you mad.
They're going to need you.
I mean, your kids get sick,
and they're not sleeping through the night.
Guess what?
Mom's not sleeping through the night either.
And so it takes effort and learning and compassion
and courage and care to raise your kids
and to love them properly.
And the Bible said in verse 5,
to be a keeper at home.
Once again, being a keeper at home,
it's like I don't see anything in these verses
that mention the floors or the lamps.
What I see in these verses,
I see the husband and the children
mentioned in verse 4 and 5.
So when I think of being a keeper at home,
you know what the number one thing about keeping the home?
Taking care of the family.
And look, let me just say this.
As guys, because this is kind of a popular joke
that goes out there.
Look, as guys, it's not funny when we make being a mom
a joke about cooking and cleaning,
as if that's what being a mom is.
It's not a funny joke.
You say, why?
Because the kids are far more important.
And don't try to bring down the role
as if it's, aye, aye, you're cooking clean,
as if it's, no, actually, taking care of your kids,
you can't put a value upon that.
I'll tell you what.
If you make the decision,
if you're a one working family,
you know what?
You're going to be sacrificing money in your family.
But here's the thing.
I don't want my kids to be up to just rolling the dice
and hoping it ends on an even number.
It's like, no, you know what?
I want to put in the best effort possible.
And look, even if it only increased it from a 20%
to a 25% chance of turning out right,
that 5% would be worth all the money in the world.
But here's the thing.
I don't think it's 20 to 25.
I think it's, if you don't put in the time
with your kids, it's very low.
And if you do put in your time with your kids,
it's very high.
They're going to turn out correctly.
And look, I preached this sermon about compassion
and courage and care.
And of course, I'm mainly preaching to moms.
And this is not meant to preach to you
to say you're a horrible mom or anything like that.
Whenever the word of God comes out,
there does need to be a little bit like,
hey, let's do better.
But yeah, it's a difficult job.
I'm not sitting here saying that it's easy,
and I'm not saying I can fully relate to it
because I'm not a mom.
Men are wired differently than women.
And I understand there are frustrations
that are involved.
It's not easy.
It's not easy being a father.
It's not easy being a husband.
It's not easy being a wife or a mom.
There's no reason to compare the different roles.
God made us differently.
But yeah, it is a very difficult job.
But I'll tell you what.
There's no job that is more valuable.
It's like, you know, as a lady, you know what,
to be a godly mom that raises kids that grow up
and love the Lord, you can look back on what you accomplished
and say, you know what, all the sleepless nights,
all the frustration, all the hobbies I had to give up,
all the dreams I had to give up,
it was all worth it.
We didn't look at the verse,
but right after it talks about spanking your kids,
it's like where there is no vision, the people perish.
Instead of having a vision for all your dreams in your life,
why not have a vision for how you want your kids to turn out?
And it's worth every single effort that you put in
to raise your kids to the best of your ability.
Let's close with a prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today
and ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives.
You know, specifically the moms that are in this room,
God, we ask you to help all the moms in this room
to love their kids and to put in the time and effort.
And we ask you to help them do a great job
and not to lose their patience and not to get discouraged.
Obviously it's very difficult, God,
but help all the parents in this room put in their best effort, God.
And we ask you to help the kids in our church to grow up
and to be soul winners and get saved and be soul winners
and to love you and serve you, God.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.