Look at verse number 8 where the Bible read,
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.
For they shall be an ornament of grace under thy head, and chains about thy neck.
According to the Bible, we are to greatly take heed to the things that our parents instruct
us, to the things that they want to teach us, to what they've raised us to understand
to be true.
And the Bible overemphasizes the fact that we need to hearken unto our parents and that
we need to honor them and listen to what they have to teach us.
Flip over to chapter number 6 quickly.
Let's get some more verses from the Bible, because if God's going to give us just verse
after verse after verse, saying the exact same thing over and over and over, I think
it's important.
I think it must be something that we really need to get ingrained into our minds.
Look at Proverbs chapter 6 verse 20.
My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother.
Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
When thou goest, it shall lead thee, when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee, and when
thou wakest, it shall talk with thee.
What is the Bible saying?
It's saying whatever your parents teach you should be greatly infused into your mind.
It even teaches that you need to make sure that you don't forget the things that your
parents teach you.
You also need to not forsake the things that your mother has taught you.
The things that she taught you when you were young, hey, they're still good now too.
We need to continually walk in the ways in which our parents have instructed us, because
oftentimes much of the instruction our parents give us is just good advice.
It's great things, and in fact you could probably find a lot of biblical parallels to the advice
and instruction that parents give you.
Now go to Matthew chapter 15.
I found in the Bible the phrase, honor thy father and thy mother is found eight times
in your Bible.
God is just saying it over and over.
In Exodus chapter 20 the Bible says, honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may
be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
In Deuteronomy 5 verse 16 it says, honor thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God
hath commanded thee that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee and the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
So two times in the Old Testament the Bible reiterates, hey, one of the Ten Commandments
is to honor thy father and thy mother.
Look at Matthew 15 verse 4, for God commanded saying, honor thy father and mother.
And he that cursed his father and mother, let him die the death.
But ye say, whosoever shall say to his father, his mother, and his gift, by whatsoever thou
mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.
Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
So you see in the New Testament there is people trying to get out of honoring their father
and their mother.
And even today there's no difference.
Everybody has an excuse why they shouldn't be honoring their father and their mother.
Everybody has a good reason.
Everybody wants to dishonor their parents.
But according to the Bible it's a commandment of God to honor thy father and thy mother.
Go if you would to Ephesians chapter number 6.
The Bible says in Matthew 19, 19, honor thy father and thy mother and thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself.
Mark 7 10 for Moses said, honor thy father and thy mother and whoso cursed his father
and mother, let him die the death.
Mark 10 verse 19 says, thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not
steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and thy mother.
Most of us sitting here today would say murder is horrible.
You know what?
God also said you need to honor your father and your mother.
It's a commandment of God and he expects you to respect your parents.
He put them in your life on purpose.
You wouldn't be here without them and he says you need to give them honor and respect that's
due unto them.
Luke chapter 18 says, thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not
steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother.
This list again, adultery, horrible, killing, murder is horrible, stealing, wicked, lying,
everyone hates lying.
Also honor thy father and thy mother.
It's in the same category.
It's in the same comparison.
We ought to honor our fathers and our mothers.
Look at Ephesians 6 verse 1.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well
with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth.
You know, God is saying when you honor your father and your mother, you have a long life
and if we were to ask people, hey, do you want to live a short period of time or a long
period of time, everybody wants to live as long as humanly possible and according to
the Bible, the opposite is true.
When you don't honor your father and your mother, God will shorten your days.
God will make sure that you don't have the long prosperous life that you thought you
were going to have.
If you want to have a long life, children, you better honor your father and your mother
and notice it's not just father, it's mother too because she has the law according to Proverbs
chapter number 1 and you're not supposed to forsake the law of thy mother.
Whatever your mom says, yes, ma'am.
I'm going to do it every single time.
Go to Proverbs chapter 10 and go back.
We ought to obey our parents and I don't care if your parents are the ones that begat
you or not.
If they have a roof over your head and they're feeding you, they're your parents and you
ought to respect them and honor them every single time.
Whoever is taking care of you, you ought to say yes, sir and yes, ma'am and love them
and do everything that they tell you.
Obey in all things.
That's what God has commanded us to do, to obey our parents, not just the fathers but
also the mothers.
Proverbs chapter 10 verse 1, the Bible says, the Proverbs of Solomon, a wise son maketh
a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
There's nothing more frustrating than a child who will not obey, who you constantly instruct
over and over and over and you're punishing them and you're trying to get them to do the
thing that's right and they just won't do it.
They just refuse to do it.
They're just in constant rebellion to what you're teaching them.
It's frustrating.
According to the Bible, it's a heaviness upon the mother.
She's so stressed about it.
It's so awful.
It's so difficult and oftentimes when I think about this, it's real easy as a parent to
think of it like, yeah, man, my kids won't obey.
My kids, these kids, they're so ornery, they're so rebellious.
You got to realize that God is our father too and you got to wonder, is God looking
at you and thinking, hey, I keep trying to instruct this guy and he won't obey me.
He won't listen to my commandments.
He's not doing anything that I'm saying.
It's really frustrating and the same frustrations that you have with your own children, why
don't you internally think about, hey, how am I doing with God right now?
How am I doing with God's commandments?
Am I really obeying and being a good child unto him because you know what?
It makes God glad and pleased when we obey and do his commandments and he's very frustrated
and angry whenever we disobey, when we're in constant rebellion.
Just like your child, a child can just bring out so much rage and anger if you let them
because of their disobedience.
The same is with God.
Look at chapter 19.
Flip forward just a couple chapters.
Look at chapter 19.
Now having a mother sometimes, especially when you're young, you can take it for granted.
You can feel like, oh, my mom's always on my case and my mom's always getting on to
me and my mom's just trying to tell me what to do and, you know, I'm not interested.
And it can cause a rebellious child to want to push his parents away, but the Bible gives
a warning.
It says in Proverbs 19, 26, he that wasteth his father and chaseth away his mother is
a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach.
You're going to have a bad reputation when you chase your mom away.
You're going to bring a lot of shame unto yourself and your family when you're chasing
that mother away that's trying to take care of you, trying to guide you and instruct you.
Flip over to chapter 23.
Now most parents in this room, they're probably thinking, yeah, these kids need to listen
up.
Are you paying attention?
You know what?
I don't care who you are.
You still probably have most of the people in here probably still have a mother and if
you're older, it doesn't give you an excuse to now say, okay, whatever mom says, who cares?
I'm not interested.
I don't have to honor anymore.
Once I turned 18, I can press the off button.
That's not what the Bible says.
Look at Proverbs 23, verse 22, hearken unto thy father that begat thee and despise not
thy mother when she is old.
Oh, but my mother is so old.
Yeah, she still deserves honor.
She still reserves respect.
Look at verse 23, by the truth and sell it not also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
The father of righteous shall greatly rejoice and he that begat the wise child shall have
joy of him.
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad and she that bear thee shall rejoice.
You know, there's nothing that gives parents more joy than seeing their children doing
that which is right, being a good child, walking in the ways of the Lord, doing good things.
That is the greatest joy that a mother can have and you know what?
Today is Mother's Day.
You could just send her a card.
You could send her flowers.
You could send her an expensive gift, but you know what she really wants?
You to be a good child.
More than anything, it's just obedience.
Just not being a horrible person, not being a horrible child.
There's so many parents today, they look at their grown children and they just have so
much shame and regret and they have so much heaviness because they look at the sins of
their child and they think, what did I do wrong?
And there's so much guilt and there's so much shame.
Hey, you want your parents to actually enjoy their being an elder or being older?
Be a good child.
Be a wise child.
Be one that continues not just as a child but even as an adult in the ways that they've
taught you.
Don't forsake the law of thy mother.
Don't forsake the things that they instructed you and taught you.
They have great wisdom and we should hearken unto it.
Go back to chapter 15.
In fact, if you disobey your parents, you're an idiot.
You're a fool.
You're stupid.
The Bible says in Proverbs 15 verse 20, a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish
man despiseth his mother.
The foolish person despises the mother that begat them.
I don't like her.
I don't want her around.
I don't want to hear anything.
He says, I just despise my mother.
It's a very foolish attitude according to the Bible.
Look at Proverbs 20 verse 20.
We're going to flip over.
We're looking at lots of Proverbs today, getting some wisdom.
Proverbs 20, 20, it's hindsight.
Whoso cursed his father and his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
Oh man, my mom, X, Y, and Z.
That's pretty scary to say whenever I read this verse.
Why are you cursing your parents?
Go to chapter 30 now.
Last place I want to look in Proverbs.
We're just kind of laying a foundation.
I think the Bible's pretty clear.
How many more verses do we need God to tell us?
You need to listen to your mom.
You need to obey your mom.
You need to do what your mom says.
You need to have respect under your mother.
And look, no parent is perfect today.
No parent gives perfect advice.
Not everything they do is 100%, but as a general rule and a general thumb, they're going to
give you good advice and in all things you should still give respect.
Even if you don't agree with their opinion, even if you don't like it, you can still honor
your parents and you can still do that which is godly and just say, yes sir, yes ma'am,
and just do it.
Now look, obviously with all authorities in our life, God is our final authority.
Whenever it comes to lining up with the Bible, I'm going to obey the Bible every single day,
period.
But you know what?
Anybody in my life that gives me advice outside this, I'm just going to say, yes sir, yes
ma'am.
I'm just going to do it.
And that's what the Bible teaches.
And you know what?
Parents have to give lots of instruction that maybe you can't necessarily find a perfect
verse on.
But you know what?
If it's not contradicting the Bible, you do it every time.
That's what God teaches.
That's what the word of God says.
You know, there's this attitude where people want to constantly rebel against their authority.
They want to constantly rebel against their father and their mother and the instructions
that they give them.
And this is a wicked attitude.
Look at Proverbs 30 verse 11.
There is a generation that cursed their father and doth not bless their mother.
What a shame today when people can have so much just anger, resentment, or bitterness
towards their parents, they can't even bless the mother that bare them.
They can't even bless the mother that did so many things to raise them and to teach
them and to train them and literally carry them in their womb for nine months.
And look, it's not fun.
I've heard about it.
You know, my wife, sometimes she says, do you ever feel envious that I carry the child
and you don't get to carry it?
And I say never.
Not even for a second.
She's like, yeah, but I get to feel him jumping and dancing and playing and I'm like, I can
just put my hand there and get the same experience.
I'm good.
You know?
But you know what?
I don't care who your mother is.
She did a lot for you, period.
So you ought to have some way to be able to bless your mother.
Say thank you, mom, for caring me and loving me and giving me a roof over my head and feeding
me.
I don't care what the food was.
You just say, thanks, mom.
Look at verse 12.
There's a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their
filthiness.
There's a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes.
And their eyelids are lifted up.
This is what you see in teenagers.
Their parents say something to them and what do they do?
Oh, mom.
My mom just doesn't know.
And they just eye widen.
Every time your parents give you instructions, you've got to, there's so many looks.
You can just tell the rebellious spirit inside the child just from them raising their eyes.
Just from widening their eyes.
And you just want to slap that face right off.
I'm telling you what.
We ought to think, hey, sometimes God might feel that way about us.
Hey, you read those commandments, oh, I got to go to church.
I got to read my Bible.
I got to sing praises on time.
I got to pray.
You know, God's just like, look at verse 14.
There's a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the
poor from off the earth and the needy from among men.
The horse leech hath two daughters crying, give, give.
There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not is enough.
The grave and the barren womb, the earth that is not filled with water, and it just keeps
raining, doesn't it?
And the fire that sayeth not, it is enough.
The eye that mocketh at his father and despises to obey his mother.
You know what, children?
When you say I don't want to obey mom, you're never going to be satisfied.
You're going to constantly want to be in rebellion.
It's a bad spirit.
It only feeds itself.
It only makes you want to rebel even more.
You got to squash that and say, you know what, I'm just going to obey now.
Whatever my mom and dad say, I'm just going to do it now.
Why?
Because I don't want God to kill me.
I don't want God to be displeased with me.
The God that saved me, the God that loved me, he told me to obey my father and my mother
and I'm going to do it because I love God.
And you know what, my parents do deserve that respect and that honor.
She birthed you.
She changed your diapers.
She fed you.
She raised you.
She loved you.
She deserves respect, love, and to be requited for all the work and effort that she did.
You know what, how you treat your parents, your children are going to pick up on and
they're going to be like, oh, that's how you treat your parents.
Every time they call me and then I hang up and I talk, you know, I curse them.
You know what, they're going to be like, oh, when my parents call me, guess what I do when
I hang up the phone?
I curse them.
And I talk bad about them.
And I don't want to see them.
And I complain about them.
And I bring out all their errors and issues.
Your children are going to be like, cool, I guess when parents aren't around, we just
talk crap on them.
We just say all manner of wickedness and do evil.
Hey, if you want your children to bless you and to love you, you know what you need to
do?
Love your parents.
Talk well of your parents.
Honor thy father and thy mother because maybe you're setting a horrible example and you
keep wondering, why are my kids not obeying me?
Well, how are you treating your parents?
Even in their, you know, old age?
Are you loving them?
Are you caring for them?
Are you doing good under them?
Because that example is going to be set for your children as well.
Like I said, what do you need to do?
Well, you need to love your mom today.
You need to appreciate your mom.
You need to tell her that she's a wonderful woman and you need to give her a hug if you
can, maybe over the phone.
And you know what?
Most importantly, you need to say yes, ma'am and do everything she says.
So this morning's sermon, it's lessons from my mother and you know, my mother, she doesn't,
she's not alive today, so I can't give her a hug.
I can't, you know, call her up, but you know what?
I can preach a whole sermon talking about all the laws that my mother gave me.
And you know what?
I have 30 lessons that my mother gave me this morning that I want to go through.
All right.
Look at verse 1 Peter chapter number 3.
What's number one thing that my mom taught me?
Yes ma'am, yes sir.
Every time.
You say, hey, is that from the Bible?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
Let me prove this to you, all right?
First Peter chapter 3, look at verse number 6.
Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters he are as long as you
do well and are not afraid with any amazement.
You know, the Bible teaches that a godly woman, she'll say yes sir to her husband.
And you know, Lord, maybe it's a little bit older word, but you know what Lord means sir.
You know what sir means?
Lord.
And you know what?
If you like the Lord, just say the Lord.
Yes Lord.
Your husband says something, you just say yes Lord every time.
It'll change your attitude.
Go to Matthew chapter 13.
Modern vernacular, yes sir.
We see the disciples, when they spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what they said
to him in modern vernacular?
Yes sir.
Let's read it.
Matthew 13 verse 51.
Jesus said to them, have you understood all these things?
They said to them, yea Lord.
You know what that is?
Yes sir.
Whenever his commander said something, they said yes sir.
And you know what?
It makes me sick today, how the generations today, these children, they're so disrespectful
to older people, to adults.
You give them an instruction, you tell them something, eh, whatever, I'll do it, okay.
Yes sir.
That's how it should be.
And that's what my parents taught me, and you know, no matter what adults spoke to me,
I said yes sir and yes ma'am every time.
I don't care who they are.
Even contemporary, yes sir.
Even my employee, yes sir.
Even my own wife, yes ma'am.
Why?
Because it's the right thing to do.
You know what?
I'm not going to forsake the law of my mother.
Even though she's not around to hear me say that, I'm going to say it every time.
And I'm going to teach my children to say it too.
Go if you would to Exodus chapter 28 and 1 Samuel 2, I want to look at two other places.
So we're going to look at a lot of different verses today, but the second thing that my
mother taught me was that you should dress nice.
And specifically, if you want to dress nice as a man, to wear a suit.
So you know what?
My mom, knowing that that was so important, she just went out and bought me a nice suit
that fit me so that I could wear it so that I could look like a godly young man.
So that I could be someone that's dressed well.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 18.
That Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
Moreover, his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year when
she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
You know, Hannah, she knew that her son was a priest, and according to Exodus 28, it was
a commandment of God for the priest to wear coats.
And you know what?
She took a lot of care, effort, and energy to dress her children well, and you know what?
She took special attention to the details of God's commandments, saying, you know what?
I'm going to teach you something, Samuel.
Every one of God's commandments are important, and I'm going to make sure you're following
them.
So you know what?
I'm going to help you dress like a godly young priest, like a godly young man.
And you know what?
In the New Testament, we're all priests and kings, made on God by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's read Revelation chapter 1.
Hey, that's a privilege.
It's the priesthood of the believer, and you know what?
I'm going to dress like a godly young man.
Why?
Because my mother told me I should.
Look at Exodus 28, verse 38.
God took a lot of care to the physical clothing of the priests, did he not?
And we see the mother, she took a lot of care unto her son's clothing.
And look, maybe you work on a job where a suit would not be appropriate attire.
Maybe you do like electrical work, or you do plumbing, or you do carpentry.
You know what?
You should still look good.
You should still wear the appropriate garments, and you should take care for what you're wearing.
You know, my mom, if I did not have a belt on, and I didn't have my pants pulled up,
I would get reamed.
And you know what she told me?
She would say, why do you got your pants hanging down?
Are you trying to be a fag?
She said, you know why people do that?
Because in the prison, guys sag their pants and let them know that they're open for business.
John, you're not a fag, pull your pants up.
And mom was right.
You know what?
If you got your pants hanging down, you look like a faggot.
Why don't you pull your pants up and be a man?
Put on a suit and dress godly.
Don't forsake the law of your mother.
Go to Luke chapter 6.
Dressed as effeminate, queer, faggoty clothing, it's garbage.
My mom knew better.
She taught me.
Luke chapter number 6, verse 35.
My third point, what did my mother teach me?
Lessons from my mother.
She taught me to be benevolent, to be kind.
My mother loved, you know, to help people.
She was a very generous and very liberal person.
And when she saw someone in need, she very often would try to go out of her way to help
them.
I can remember many instances where she would try to help any and all different types of
people that had an unfortunate situation.
Luke chapter 6, verse 35, the Bible says, but lovely your enemies and do good and lend
hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and you shall be children of the
highest for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
You know, sometimes it's easy to be kind unto good people, but you know what, according
to the Bible, God, he's kind to the unthankful and the evil even.
You know, he reigns on the just and the unjust.
He spared not his own son for the sins of the whole world.
His son died on the cross for everybody.
God so loved the world.
And we and God's example, we should even be kind and loving to the unthankful and to the
evil, to people that are wicked, fornicators, you know, people that do all kinds of manners
and drunks, people that are extortioners.
We should still be kind and loving towards these people, what the Bible teaches.
Go over to Luke chapter 14.
You know, we should be a benevolent person.
Now, obviously, the Bible teaches we should consider the cause of the poor.
I'm not saying to just give your money to wicked people on purpose, but we could still
be kind to them and love them and realize that, hey, we're all sinners.
We've all made mistakes.
We've all done things that are wrong.
And we should still have benevolence and kindness and love in our hearts to help those that
may never even say thanks to us.
We may never even see again.
We see the good Samaritan.
He doesn't know if he's going to see that guy again.
You know what?
He just helped him out anyways.
He just loved the person anyways.
Look at Luke chapter 14, my fourth point.
And look, this is not in any particular order.
This is just 30 lessons for my mother, all right?
The fourth one is we're not supposed to invite yourself over.
You know, you're not supposed to invite yourself to a party that you've not been invited to.
You're not supposed to invite yourself to lunch when you've not been invited.
You're not supposed to invite yourself over to your friend's house when they didn't call
you.
That's not an appropriate thing to do.
That's not a good thing to do.
Look at Luke chapter 14 verse 10.
Now, in this story, what happens?
Well, the guy presumptuously goes and sits down right next to his friend, and the guy's
like, yeah, I don't want you to sit here.
I want him to sit here.
And then it gets real awkward.
And you know what?
When you start inviting yourself over, it can sometimes get real awkward.
Like, hey, oh, I heard you're having a Super Bowl party.
I'm going to bring the chips.
Yeah, you're not invited.
Oh, OK.
That's kind of awkward.
That's kind of weird.
Hey, I'm going to get in the front seat.
Oh, it's already full.
You know?
Hey, I want to go, you know, hang out at your house.
We're not going to be there.
But the lights might be on, and you might see some people in there.
Don't worry about it, all right?
It's not a good thing to invite yourself over or to esteem yourself in a situation
that you shouldn't be.
You should just wait and let people invite you to do things.
Now, I always tried to get around this, because I always wanted to hang out with my friends
on the weekends.
So I would call them, and I would say, hey, what are you doing this weekend?
And they'd be like, I don't know, nothing.
And I'd be like, that'd be cool if we could hang out maybe.
And they're like, yeah.
Yeah, too bad we can't hang out at my house, you know.
I got stuff going on.
Just waiting, like, hey, trying not to put the words in their mouth, right, just trying
to build a situation.
Don't do that either, all right?
You just let people invite you, or you invite them to do things.
And look, people try to be real clever and try to invite themselves.
It just makes other people feel uncomfortable and awkward.
Look, if someone wants you in their presence, they'll ask you, okay?
And you have not, because you asked not.
If you want someone in your presence, invite them over.
Give them an acknowledgment.
Say, hey, do you want to come over?
Look at Proverbs 25.
Here's another problem with constantly inviting yourself over.
Some people, they're too timid and shy to let you know that they don't want you there
at all.
So they won't say anything.
You'll constantly invite yourself over, and you'll constantly be in their presence, and
you'll constantly be harassing them.
But they're too afraid to say anything, and it'll end up causing the fact that they hate
you.
And then they despise you, and they talk bad about you behind their back, and they treat
you bad on purpose to try to get you to leave.
They're starting to turn the lights out and be like, well, we're going to get in bed,
so the door's open.
We're going to go in here.
They're trying to give you as many hints as possible.
They're like, oh, no problem.
I'm just going to sit here and finish this coke.
I got it.
Don't worry about it.
You're like, get out.
Look at Proverbs chapter number 25 verse 17.
Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.
You can overstay your welcome.
And look, let's just be honest.
When people are in your space that's not normal, it's an inconvenience.
No matter what you like the person, no matter what you think they're their friend or you
enjoy their presence, after a while it just becomes a burden.
So in order to just avoid that, you yourself need to figure out, hey, I've been here for
a while.
Time to get out.
Time to leave on a good note.
I just had a good joke.
I'm exiting the building, all right?
I'm going to leave whenever things are going well.
I'm not going to wait until they ask me to leave.
I'm just going to leave.
I came.
I went.
And then guess what?
They'll want you to come again.
You know, if it's such a great experience and you leave early, they'll think, well,
let's do that again.
If it wasn't that great of an experience and you overstayed your welcome, they're thinking,
I'm never inviting that guy over again.
I can't even get a word in edgewise.
I gave him 20 hints to leave and he still didn't get it.
And look, some people, they'll overstay their welcome to an extreme.
This is not a godly attribute.
My mom often told me, look, when you're a guest, realize you're an inconvenience and
do not overstay your welcome.
Go to Proverbs chapter 27.
So number six, lesson from my mother.
Now, I've heard some different interpretations for Proverbs 27, but I've always believed
it in this particular sense or I've always read this verse with this particular understanding.
And whether this verse is perfectly accurate to that or not, I still think it's a godly
principle.
But my mom always taught me not to intrude early in the morning.
So on a Saturday morning, if I wanted to hang out with a friend, I was not allowed to call
them before 10 a.m., period.
My mom would say, people like to sleep in, it's their day off, don't call them early
in the morning, it's frustrating.
They're going to get mad at you when you wake them up, when you intrude in their morning,
when you're constantly being a nuisance very early in the morning.
And in fact, I personally have taken this lesson from my mother, and I've seen it to
be true.
And so for soul winning, I never go soul winning before 10 a.m.
It's frustrating.
You knock on doors, they don't want to answer, they answer in their pajamas, they're like,
what's going on, I just woke up.
It's just frustrating on the people, and especially if you go to low income areas, it can be true
all the way to 12.
This guy's like, I just woke up, you're like, it's 12, buddy, it's noon, it's lunch.
Most people have already finished lunch, and you're just getting up.
But before 10 a.m., it's pretty universal, and look at what Proverbs 27 verse 14 says.
He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted
accursed to him.
Now, again, you could interpret this a few different ways, but I think it's true, look,
if I go and knock on my neighbor's door at 6 a.m., like, hey, buddy, let's go out, let's
go hang out, he's like, go away, I want to keep sleeping, you know, not interested.
Look, it could be a curse.
Even though you're excited to see him, you're going to hang out with him, it could be turned
into a curse.
Go to Romans chapter number 13, Romans chapter number 13.
You say, why do you not go swimming before 10 a.m., Pastor Shelley, because of my mom.
Number seven, my mom taught me that you should pay for all the wedding expenses that are
expected for your party.
So she would always buy a book, she would study, she would know exactly all the expenses
that the groom's side would have to pay for and the bride's side would have to pay for,
and she would pay for definitely everything that was expected for the one side, maybe
even extra.
But she was never going to go cheap.
She was never going to go just on the cheap side or not provide everything.
She was going to make sure she was over and above just to be that type of a person.
Look at Romans 13 verse 8 says, Owe no man anything but to love one another, for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
You know what?
We ought not go around owing people things.
Owing money, even to people you don't like, like the government.
I should still pay my taxes, I should still pay that speeding ticket, I should owe no
man anything.
I should be blameless, I should be above reproach, I shouldn't go around with a bad testimony,
just pay all the money that you owe, and look there's certain arrangements and things
that happen in your life where you have to pay the bill, and you know what?
Weddings are expensive sometimes.
Luckily at this church we'll give you a free wedding, you know, might not be the fanciest
thing you've ever seen, but we'll take care of it, but you know what?
Whatever it is that you're supposed to pay, you ought to pony up the bill, and my mom
always taught me this is very important, understand the situations that you're in and the circumstances
and make sure that people aren't going to be begrudging towards you.
Well they didn't pay for anything they were supposed to pay for.
They didn't do any of their part, they didn't do any of their job, you know what, we should
be above reproach and owe no man anything.
Go if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number 4.
Another lesson that my mother taught me, lesson number 8, is to be a good steward of all that
I possess.
Every single one of my possessions has been entrusted to me by God, and so therefore I
I should treat it with respect and honor and dignity and be a good steward of everything
given unto me.
All things, I don't care how trivial, I don't care how small, how insignificant, we should
take great care of everything that is given unto us.
We should not be a waster.
We should not be one that is not diligent with everything that is entrusted to us.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 1,
Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
Now I think a lot of people they'll learn this lesson from just being dirt poor.
You know a lot of people when they first get married they're often very poor and they're
struggling financially.
So just out of necessity they learn, you know what, we need to take care of everything that's
in our possession, we need to treat it with respect, we need to pinch every penny and
do well.
But you know it's a good lesson.
And I often find some of the worst people are people that have never experienced any
kind of poverty in their life.
They've never had a poor moment in their life so they're often a great waster, they're not
very diligent with the things that they have, they're not very trustworthy, they're not
very faithful.
Sometimes being poor for a little while in your life will help you understand, hey I
need to be a good steward of everything I possess.
And then when God sees people being faithful that have little, you know what, he'll give
them much.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Go to Matthew chapter number 4.
The Bible talks about a bishop, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not
self-willed, not soon angry, not given a wine, no striker, not given a filthy lucre.
You know the person that would be qualified to be a pastor would be one who's a great
steward.
You don't see them taking small trivial things and being like, ah who cares, no they're diligent
with everything.
They're a good steward in everything.
No matter how small the task, they're going to get it done on time, they're going to be
a great manager of every resource that's entrusted to them, because you know what,
he that is faithful and little is faithful and much.
And the guy that doesn't really care about the little, he's never going to care about
the much.
It's even going to be worse whenever he has much.
Well who could take care of all this stuff?
Well the guy that was faithful and little, he can.
Number 9, most important thing that my mom taught me from her opinion was this.
She said, I don't care what my children do in their lives.
I don't care what job they have, I don't care, you know, there's so many things in this life
that aren't that significant.
She said to her, the number one most important thing was for children to hear God, to hear
God's voice.
Now my mother, to be honest, she was charismatic, okay, so she meant this in a little bit different
way.
But you know what, it's still a true statement and it's still a biblical statement that it's
extremely important for people to hear the voice of God.
You say, where is it?
Right here.
Look at Matthew chapter 4 verse 4.
But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
You know what's the most important thing for us?
God's word.
It is the most foundational doctrine, it's the most important doctrine.
You say, I thought about salvation, well guess what, you can't get saved without God's word.
We can't do anything without Jesus Christ, we can't do anything without God's word, that's
why it frustrates me to every extent when people want to argue that the King James Bible
is not the perfect word of God.
So I'm saying, hey, if we don't have a perfect word of God, let's just throw our Bibles in
the trash and go home.
Because you know what, if we don't have a perfect Bible, how can I trust that I'm saved?
How can I trust anything?
You can't.
You know why we know we're saved?
Because this is God's word without error.
Because we can put all our faith and trust in John 3.16 and Romans 10, 9, and 10.
We have faith that comes to a what?
By the hearing of God's word.
Not by the wisdom of men, not by some corruptible seed, but by the incorruptible seed, the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
When Jesus Christ was tempted of Satan in Luke chapter number 4, it's the same story.
He was like, if thou be the son of God, command these stones to be made bread.
And he answered him and said, it is written that man should not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God.
Jesus Christ said, the words of God are more important than any physical food.
And we have to have physical food to live, but you know what's more important?
The word of God.
And my mom at least knew that hearing God's word was extremely important to our lives,
and that's going to carry with me until I die.
We need to have God's word.
We need to hear God's word.
It's super important.
Go to Philippians chapter number 2.
The tenth thing that my mother taught me, she told me that I would be a preacher one
day.
Now again, I don't think my mom, she had different ideas about some things in the Bible, I'll
just be honest.
But you know what, whether or not she really could, obviously I don't believe that she
could see in the future or anything like that, okay.
But you know what I could take from this?
She believed in me.
She had confidence in me.
She had a vision for my life.
She didn't look at me as just some, another kid.
Another burden.
No, she looked at me and said, you could be someone great, I believe that you're going
to be a preacher one day.
And she'd often tell me, there's going to be a lot of people that want to hear you preach
the word of God some day.
And I would think about it, I'd be like, I don't know what she's talking about, you know.
And honestly, most of my life, I didn't even seek that.
I wasn't seeking to be a preacher, I wasn't seeking to be a pastor, I was just working
the secular world, secular job.
But you know, it's always stuck with me in my mind.
I've always thought about it.
And I think what's important to learn here is that my mom realized I had great potential.
Look at Philippians chapter 2 verse 3.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem
other better than themselves.
You know, mothers should look at their children as great balls of potential.
You know what?
These children could do some great things in this world, and you should speak into their
lives and say, you know what, you could be a great person one day.
You could do great things for God one day.
You could be a great mother one day.
You could be a great woman of God, just speaking into them and believing in them and putting
time and effort and training into them.
You know, if you don't think your child could be anything special, it's going to be hard
to motivate yourself to spend as much time, effort, energy, and love and attention with
them.
But when you think this person's going to be great, I just know it.
I know my children are going to be great.
It's going to encourage and inspire you to constantly put time, effort, and energy into
that child.
Go to Romans chapter number eight.
Romans chapter number eight.
Eleventh lesson my mom taught me.
Well, I always got in trouble for talking.
Okay, I'll just be honest.
When I was younger, I got in trouble like every single day in school for talking too
much, okay?
But you know what?
My mom would say that she thought I had a gift.
I had a gift for speaking.
She would take something that was very negative, and she would turn it around into something
that was positive.
And now she did not reward my bad behavior, but she would reward my good behavior.
So they had like a stop sign at school, okay?
It was red, yellow, and green.
And my mom said, any day that you are in the green section at the end of the day, okay,
I'll buy you a Happy Meal.
So basically if you talked, you did something bad in school, you'd go to yellow immediately.
And then if you did a couple bad things, you'd go to red, and your parents would be notified
every single day where you're at.
99% of kids were on green every day, okay?
I got green maybe like five times a year, I'm just being honest.
So it was great motivation.
Like I got McDonald's very little, all right?
But I was real excited when I did, but you know, she took something that she saw was
negative in my life and wanted to use it for good and say, you know what, I think you have
a gift for speaking.
You have something to be said.
And it, you know, it was able to encourage me even though I was doing something that
wasn't the best.
Look at Romans chapter 8 verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.
You know, I think a lot of things in the Christian life that we look back in our past, we regret,
we look at with, you know, man, I wish I'd done something different.
But God can still use those experiences and things that we went through, the struggles
or the problems, and use them for good.
And you see a lot of people do bad things in the Old Testament, but then somehow God
turns it into a blessing.
You know, He did that for Abraham.
Abraham lies about his wife, and he goes into Egypt, and she almost commits adultery.
She almost ruins the fact that Isaac is the promised seed, you know, the picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
A lot of things riding on that.
And you know what?
At the end of the day, God ends up blessing Abraham and Pharaoh and Abimelech when He
does it, He does it twice, okay?
Both of them bless Abraham and give him great possessions even after that bad situation.
Go to Nehemiah chapter 13, there was an interesting phrase in that where it really made me think
of this situation.
But you know, from the school's perspective, I was a bad person because I would constantly
talk and I would constantly interrupt, but my mom's thinking, well, maybe this could
be used and turned into a blessing.
Take something that's negative and make it good.
Look at Nehemiah chapter number 13, look at verse number 2.
Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam
against them, that he should curse them.
Howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.
You know, Balaam, he was constantly trying to curse the children of Israel, but God kept
turning it into a blessing and blessed the children of Israel even through that curse.
You know, the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1, the Bible says,
Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.
The Apostle Paul said he was chief of sinners.
Now, no one would think that that's a good thing.
Hey, I was the worst sinner.
But you know what?
He says God still used it as a pattern to show, you know what?
Even the chief of sinners could still get saved and do great things for God.
It was still a great pattern, and it showed the longsuffering nature of God.
That God is not just some God up there that just says, hey, believe in me or go to hell.
Damn.
You know what?
He constantly is stretching forth his hands, he's constantly showing his love, he's constantly
giving people opportunity, and they just say no, no, no, no.
And even the Apostle Paul, who is chief of sinners, we see the longsuffering nature of
God that eventually he returned to that call.
He eventually got saved, and he eventually did great things for God.
So even something that's very negative, a mother could look at that and say, you know
what?
There's potential here to turn that into a blessing.
There's potential here to still encourage my children and help them understand their
mistakes could still be turned into something good in the future.
Go to Matthew chapter 5.
Now she didn't praise me in my mistakes.
She wasn't encouraging me and disobeying, but she said, hey, maybe we can temper that
gift and turn it into a good thing.
Use it for something good, whereas you're doing it something negative now.
You know what God did?
God took Paul's zeal that was not according to knowledge, and he turned it into a zeal
according to knowledge.
But you know what?
He looked at Paul's zeal, and he liked it.
And oftentimes we can have something and say, I'm using it poorly, but now I'm going to
use it godly.
Look at Matthew chapter 5, verse 23.
The 12th lesson my mom taught me was if I disobeyed at school, I got the harshest punishment
there and double at home.
Like I said, she did not reward me for disobeying, not for one second.
Matthew chapter 5, verse 23, the Bible says, therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar,
and there remembrance that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before
the altar, and go thy way.
First be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with them, lest at any
time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer,
and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost
farthing.
God says, look, if you don't reconcile with your brother, I'm going to make sure you pay
every single penny.
You better get it right.
You better forgive.
And you know what?
God does not take unforgiveness well, because he looks at you and he thinks, you know how
much I forgave you?
And you can't forgive your brother.
You can't reconcile with your brother.
You better go make sure you reconcile, because if you don't, I'm going to make sure you get
the harshest punishment possible.
You know what my mom would say?
Because whenever I went to school, you could actually get spanked.
You could actually get corporal punishment when I went to school.
And my mom says, I'm always signing up for that.
And you know what?
I tell them, give you the harshest punishment possible, and you know what?
Whenever you get home, you're getting double.
I was like, wow.
I thought my mom hated me.
I was like, why does she want me to be so punished?
You know what I knew?
It's because she loved me.
He that spareth his rod, hateth his son.
My mom wanted double for me.
Why?
Because she loved me.
Because she wanted to teach me I need to obey every authority in my life.
Go to Ephesians chapter number five.
13th thing my mother taught me is she taught me to be thankful.
Now I was not always thankful.
And look, all these things on my list, I'm still working on.
I still have to be constantly reminded of.
You know what?
She always taught me that I need to be thankful in every situation.
And there were many times where I would be a brat, where I'd be spoiled rotten.
And I remember one specific instance, I was, I can't remember, I was pretty young.
I was definitely under the age of 10.
My mom took me out bowling.
And we got to go bowling.
It was lots of fun.
And we played like a game or two.
But I just really wanted to play another game.
And I wasn't satisfied with the fact that we were going home.
I was just like, I just want to play another game.
And so we start leaving and I start throwing a fit and a pity party.
And I'm just saying, man, I just wanted to play one more game.
Why couldn't we just play one more game?
And my mom, she looked at me real sharp and she said, you know what?
You should have said thank you for the game that you did get to play.
And because you're not grateful and because you didn't say thanks, when dad gets home,
you're getting a beating.
And I was like, wow.
I should have said thanks whenever, you know, I got that, you know, that game.
It really changed things in my mind.
I started realizing I was a spoiled brat and I was not even, you know, being thankful.
My mom went out of her way to take money and go to a bowling alley and spend the time to
let me bowl.
I wasn't even thankful for any of it.
I'm just complaining and ungrateful for the things I didn't get.
And how many times do children and we often look at the things we didn't get and we're
not thankful for the things that we did get.
We're not thankful for what we've already been blessed with.
Look at Ephesians 5 verse 1.
Be therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling
savour, for fornication, all uncleanness, all covetousness.
Let it not be once named among you as become a saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking
nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
The Bible says we should be giving thanks.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God and
Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Timothy 2, 1 says, I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions
and giving of thanks be made for all men.
We should constantly be ones that are thankful.
We should be a church that's constantly giving thanks to all the things that we've been given
from everyone, not just God, but even your fellow man.
Someone does something nice for you, thank you sir.
They bless you with something, thank you sir.
They give you a compliment, thank you sir.
Whatever it is, we should be a very thankful people.
Yes sir, yes ma'am, and thank you.
May I have another, right?
Look at verse 23, you're in Ephesians 5, right?
Look at verse 23, fourth-teenth thing my mom taught me, Ephesians 5 verse 23.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he's
the savior of the body.
My mom taught me that the sole authority in her house was my dad, period.
The buck stops with him, whatever he says goes.
He makes the decisions, he's the one in charge, he makes the money, just everything.
Dad is the man.
And you know what, who taught me that?
My mom.
You know who should teach their children that the person's in charge?
The mother.
You know how kids get confused?
Because the mother's constantly struggling for the power.
The mother's constantly questioning who's in control and who's the power of the head
of the household.
You know, when the mother's in complete subjection to the dad, the children are going to follow
like suit.
When the mother's in rebellion unto the father, the children will be in rebellion to the father.
It starts with the mother.
And my mother was in complete subjection to my father.
She was very obedient unto my father, even when she didn't agree, even in many cases
where she did not like it and even detested what he was saying, she still did it.
And I didn't often know, she wasn't telling me this, I found out later or realized later
there was many things that she was very upset with that happened in the household, but you
know what, she was very obedient.
And whatever the dad said, we did.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter 5, and whenever you know the dad's the head of the household,
when it comes to responsibility, comes the fact that the father's the sole provider.
You know what, my mom often taught me this as well.
She would constantly tell me, she'd say, you know what, I'm not responsible for the bills.
I'm not responsible for the house payment.
I'm not responsible for putting food on the table.
That's your father.
I'm not going to have that pressure, and you know what, sometimes it made me feel weird
about that situation.
I'm thinking, why would my mom not want to help out?
Why would my mom not want to share that burden?
You know what, it's godly for the husband to be the sole provider of the house.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8.
But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied
the faith and is worse than an infidel.
The man of the house is to be the man of the house.
You say you want all that responsibility, hey, guess what, you've got to pay the bill
too.
And he who pays the bills makes the rules.
You say, hey, I want people to respect me in my household, well, pay all the bills.
It's hard to have respect for the guy that won't pay anything.
That's just a lazy slob.
You see, constantly women, they don't have respect for their husbands.
You know why?
Because they have to pay the bills.
If you say, honey, I got it, she can have a lot more respect for you when you're taking
care of her.
You know, I see people that have bad marriages, and the wife's constantly saying, man, maybe
I should just get a job.
And it's like, look, your wife doesn't want to get a job.
She's just frustrated with you not paying the bills.
She's frustrated with that horrible place you got her shacked up into.
All the cockroaches and the fact that she doesn't have any money to do anything.
She's just so frustrated.
You take care of her, you provide for her, she'll have respect for you.
She'll love you.
She'll treat you well whenever you pay that bill.
My mother taught me this.
Go to Proverbs chapter 9.
The 16th thing my mother taught me is she taught me how to cook.
She said, I thought that was for women.
Hey, I think it's for everybody.
I can show you lots of examples of godly men cooking.
Hey, Jesus Christ cooked fish.
Abraham cooked.
How many other godly guys do you want to show me?
All the priests, you know what they did constantly every day?
They cooked offerings, and they ate the offerings.
And look, obviously I believe that the wife should be the one that's putting
food on the table, but you know what?
It's okay for dad to put some steaks on the grill, you know what I mean?
It's okay for the dad to get home and put a burger on the grill and
fire up the charcoal grill.
You know, that's my domain, all right?
I'll light it up, I'll put the sacrifice on there, and
I'll sacrifice to eat it, you know.
Sounds great.
I wasn't afraid of cooking.
And you know what, if you're married to a woman who's gonna constantly give birth
to your children, there's gonna be a time where you gotta step in and
be the B team and roll in and put some food on the table every once in a while.
So you might as well know how to do it.
Might as well be good at it.
You know, we're supposed to do everything with all our might.
So you know what, I don't want to be bad at anything.
I want to be great at everything.
I want to do everything with all my strength.
Look at Proverbs 9, verse 1.
Wisdom hath builded her house.
She hath hewn out her seven pillars.
She hath killed her beasts.
She hath mingled her wine.
She hath also furnished her table.
She hath sent forth her maidens.
She cries upon the highest places of the city.
Whoso is simple, let him turn and hither.
As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, come, eat of my bread.
And drink of the wine which I have mingled.
The wise woman, she's constantly preparing food for the table.
And you know what, she's gonna teach her children how to cook.
How to be a great person to provide and put food on the table.
Not just the daughters, but even the sons.
Look at Proverbs chapter 31, skip over a couple chapters.
The 17th thing my mother taught me, she taught me how to keep a bank account, a savings and
a checking account.
She took me to the bank.
She gave me the money to open the account.
She showed me how you write checks.
She told me everything how to be diligent with money.
Look at Proverbs 31, verse 16.
She consider the field and buyeth it.
With the fruit of her hand, she planteth a vineyard.
So you know, this wise woman, she's considering the field.
She doesn't just buy stuff.
She's good with money.
She's wise with money.
And you know what, mothers can be wise with money.
Now for sake of time, I'm gonna have to speed up because I want to get through this list,
but I'm not gonna have you turn to every place.
But the 18th thing my mother taught me is she taught me how to shop and find good deals.
You know, she'd take me out, we'd look, we'd use coupons, we would compare prices, we would
look at hey, is this a good buy, is this thing in season.
She taught me how to shop.
You know, some people don't know how to shop well.
They just, they waste money, they buy bad goods.
You know, they would teach me how to buy what kind of fruit.
You can buy a lot of bad fruit, you can buy a lot of bad produce, a lot of bad products.
Checking the date, making sure that it's not expired, checking all kinds of different things.
There's a lot of skill to shopping.
We ought not downgrade our wives and be like, oh, she just shops.
Shopping is a great skill.
And in fact, people pay a lot of money just to have people shop for them.
Number 19th thing my wife taught me, she taught me to find a good wife.
The Bible says, who shall find the wife, find her the good thing and obtain a favor
of the Lord.
You know, one of the most important things that my mother taught me about finding a wife
is that she would be a good mother.
Whatever woman I was looking to would be a good mother.
And you know what, that's the one attribute that I knew my wife was going to be great
at and it's confirmed every day.
And I thank God that she instilled in me, you know what's more important than looking
like a whore?
Being a good mother and looking like a hoochie mama.
You know, that's what the young guys are chasing after.
Those women are terrible mothers.
Let me just help you out.
There's two harlots in the Bible.
One lays over a child and kills it.
And you know what, these whores and these hoochie mamas, they're ready to abort your
child.
And you know what, in America today, the man doesn't even have a say.
You could knock up some whore and she could just kill your child.
What a horrible thing.
Why don't you find a woman that actually loves children and marry her?
Find a good wife.
She taught me to go to church.
You know, we're not supposed to forsake assembling ourselves together.
My mom would not forsake church.
No matter where we're at, no matter what's going on, we're going to church.
She always took me to church.
I was always in church.
And you know what, it's never been a question for me as an adult if I'm going to church.
My only question was where.
And you know what, we would drive very far to go to churches.
We went to bad churches, let me just be honest, okay?
But they always went to the church that they thought was the best one in the area.
And even in fact, when we lived here, we would drive 40 minutes to go to church.
We lived in Keller, and we'd go to church in North Dallas.
Because you know what, they just thought that was the best church in the area, so they drove
us to it.
And we would drive.
I've never been close to church.
I've always driven very far for church.
Because my parents would just say, we're going to go to the best church possible.
Whatever's the best church in our area, we're going to be there, and we're going to be faithful
to church.
The 21st thing my mother taught me is the importance of etiquette.
Now etiquette's not a word found in your Bible, but this is found good manners.
Good conversation.
You know, we're supposed to have good behavior.
Here's some etiquette.
I'm going to teach you quickly, okay?
That you need to hold silverware the proper way, not like a barbarian, okay?
You need to say please and thank you every time.
Young men, you need to open the doors for the ladies.
You need to have discretion in your conversations and not utter everything that comes to your
mind.
You need to write a thank you note for all the gifts that you receive.
If you're a guest, do not bring uninvited guests, okay?
Do not pick your nose.
Do not pass gas in public, okay?
Do not spit out food at the table.
Do not smack or chew with your mouth open.
You know what?
You need to cover your mouth when you sneeze and you cough.
You need to not embarrass your spouse in public.
That's very inappropriate.
You need to compliment a host's home when you enter.
You compliment their home when you enter their home.
You need to look people in the eye when speaking to them.
You need to not interrupt when people are talking.
I see so many people that just constantly interrupt in a conversation.
It's just bad manners.
It's a bad conversation.
Don't hog every conversation either.
My mother is teaching me all these things why so I can have good manners so people can
look at me and be pleased with me.
You know what?
Don't wipe your hands on your clothes, children.
Use a napkin, all right?
The 22nd thing my mother taught me was how to play the piano and she took me to get lessons.
The Bible talks about playing skillfully with loud noise.
The 23rd thing my mother taught me was to be a good host.
You know, in Judges, the guy who's bringing in the sojourners, he says, let all thy wants
fall upon me.
You know, a good host says, everything here is yours.
Just take whatever you need.
You know what?
She also taught me how to be a good guest.
You know, a good guest, her rule of thumb was if you're staying with somebody for like,
you know, a couple days or something, you should always take your host out to dinner.
And look, you say, how do those two things work?
You go over and above what you're supposed to do every single time.
If you're the host, everything's covered by me.
If you're the guest, you try to take the host out for dinner.
You know, the Bible says, a man's gift maketh room for him.
I like this guy.
He takes me out to a nice dinner.
He's a good guest.
He doesn't keep his foot in the door.
He withdraws his foot.
The 25th thing my mother taught me was to be clean and how to be clean and how to clean.
Now, I should have listened to some of those a little bit better, I'll be honest.
But, you know, First Timothy 5 says that, you know, the women are supposed to guide
the house and women should be great at cleaning and be able to instruct their children how
to clean.
She taught me how to do laundry and iron.
Again, I need to listen a little bit better on those.
All right?
But the Proverbs 31 woman, you see, she takes great detail to clothing.
Her husband is known in the gates.
The 27th thing my mother taught me was how to have fun.
Have fun.
You know, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3 that we're supposed to enjoy the good of
all his labor.
It is the gift of God.
You know, God didn't create us to just be robots.
He created food and this earth to enjoy it.
People are like, hey, I want to go to the beach.
Great.
I want to enjoy a good meal.
Great.
I want to go on a picnic.
I want to go to the park.
I want to have fun.
We should have some fun in our lives.
You know, my mom taught me how to have fun.
Sometimes she would rent the convertible, you know, when we got on a trip.
She'd take me to the beach.
She'd teach me how to play games.
I mean, my family, we played every game.
You name it.
We played it.
You know, we'd play all kinds of games.
She taught me just how to enjoy life and to just have fun and have fellowship with other
people.
You know, go out to dinner.
One time she just rented a limo for all her family to just go out to dinner.
She just liked to have fun and she was good at having fun.
The 28th thing my mother taught me is she knew how to make people feel special.
You know what she would do?
She would take every single grandchild out individually to buy all their Christmas gifts
and she'd buy them a special meal, whatever meal they liked.
You know, she would make waffles for all of us and then she had food coloring and she'd
be like, what color waffle do you want?
And she'd make each waffle a different color for every single child because she just wanted
everyone to feel special and to feel loved.
You know, the Bible says, preferring one another, rejoice with them that do rejoice, weep with
them that weep, matching emotion, loving each person.
My mother taught me how to share.
The Bible says to give every man that asketh of you.
You know, that sharing is a good attribute.
It's one that's often, you know, not taught very well and with many families only having
one child or two, they don't often have to share.
If you have your mini son and your mini daughter, they have their own stuff, they don't share.
You know, sharing is a great attribute and you know how kids often learn how to share
well?
Having lots of siblings.
You have lots of siblings.
It's just, hey, we got to share here, you know, sharing meals, sharing space, sharing
clothes, sharing just everything.
They're constantly learning how to share and you know what, it's making them great people.
You know how bad people are?
People that don't know how to share.
Selfish people.
The last thing my mother taught me, go to Ephesians 6, the last one we'll look at.
I wanted to end early but we're ending about on time, all right?
But there's just so many good things that my mother has taught me that I wanted to give
you.
And look, I have a Bible verse for every single one of them.
Why?
Because my mother taught me lots of great things.
And you know what, I bet if you were to make a list, you could find lots of great things
that your mother taught you.
The Bible says to forsake not the law of thy mother.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1.
Children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well
with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth.
No parent is perfect but you know what?
I bet your parent did a lot of good things for you.
No matter what your mom did for you, she bare you.
She carried you.
Period.
That's the only way you got here.
That's not another way to get here.
And you know what?
You can still praise your mother for that.
You can still love your mother for that.
And the good things that your mother taught you do not forsake.
Take the lessons from your mother and carry them with you to the grave and teach your
children the same lessons.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you father so much for mothers.
Thank you for giving us these special women who do such a thankless job that never ends.
I pray that all the mothers in this room would realize the importance they have in this world.
The importance they have for their children.
And I pray that all of us would realize the importance of mothers so that we could give
them the honor and respect due unto them.
That we could requite them.
That we could always appreciate all the love and care and attention they give us.
And that we could pour that same love and affection into others that our mothers have
given us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.