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Again, that is song number 75. I am bound for Godless land. I am bound for Godless land. Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for Godless land. Oh, who are extended, which shall turn eternal day? Where God the Son, Lord, where bad things are scattered by your way, I am bound for Godless land. I am bound for Godless land. Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for Godless land. Oh, children, please don't lose this friend, who each can't help but show joy. Sing this little song of pain and death, of the day before. I am bound for Godless land. I am bound for Godless land. Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for Godless land. Whom shall I reach that happy place to be forever blest? Whom shall I see my Father's face set with great flows of grace? I am bound for Godless land. I am bound for Godless land. Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for Godless land. If you could please open up your psalm. It puts the psalm number 208. We'll be singing the psalm number 208, Grace Greater Than All Our Sin. Again, that is psalm number 208. We'll be singing the psalm number 208. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Thank you. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise, praise, greater than all our sin. Sing this prayer like the sea is open. Thank you, the soul, for giving of us. Praise, praise, greater than Christ. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise, praise, greater than all our sin. All our sin, all our sin, all our sin. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise the Lord, morning and night. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise, praise, greater than all our sin. All right, well, it's great to see everybody out. Welcome back to Baptist Church, if you'd like a bulletin. Go ahead and slip up your hand when we brought to you. As always, we have our service times there in the upper left-hand side. We'll be back here this evening at 5.30 p.m. and again on Thursday at 7 as we get into Genesis number 19. So if there's ever a reason to come out on a midweek service, it's when those Genesis 19s, those Judges 19s pop up. And you know, it might be a long time before I ever preach on that subject. Again, you know how reluctant I am to touch on this sensitive topic. If you know what Genesis 19 is about, if you don't, well, that's a pretty good reason to come out on Thursday night. But we will be in Genesis 19, just kind of wetting the palette a little bit there. And then also below that, we have the soul winning times, the salvations, baptisms, both month and year, as well as the attendances. So the attendances here, that frequency table, that's for the year overall. So you can kind of examine that. We have the record attendances as well as the offerings for both the month and year. And then of course, over on the right-hand side, happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in attendance. And we got some chocolates we handed out for mothers. And also we had Mother's Day tea party yesterday. It sounded like that went great. So I will be preaching a Mother's Day sermon. I'm not that dumb to not preach the obligatory Mother's Day sermon. I actually like the Mother's Day sermon because it's kind of a softball. But it's an important sermon. I'm not saying it's not important. But if you can't get up and deliver a good Mother's Day sermon, what are you even doing? But anyway, happy Mother's Day to all of you. And also continue to pray for the expectant ladies, both in our church and up in Tempe. On the back, don't forget the Grand Canyon Soul Winning Marathon that's coming up at the end of next month. So it's right around the corner. If you'd like more details, come speak with me. I'm sure there'll be more as we get closer to the date that I'll include in the bulletin. But right now you can at least pencil in those dates. If you're feeling pretty solid and you want to just go ahead and sign up, you can do that as well. And we can always coordinate with other people. As far as taking the church van up there, I think me and my family would be going in our personal vehicle. But somebody who's insured here, if they're driving up there and want to use the church van and maybe kind of carpool some of the other members down here, that'd be great. Our plan is probably to, at least for my family, to leave Thursday evening and just get a hotel up there in Tempe, kind of get that first two hours, hour and a half out of the way. And that way we can just get up fresh in the morning, meet up with the Tempe group and kind of caravan out there. So that's definitely something that's available to everybody down here, anyone who wants to go. That's certainly an option if you just want to start out fresh on Friday morning and make that trip, too. That's a possibility. But I'll just give you some of the details there. But if you have any other questions about this trip, come see me. And I understand that we all have things coming up, but man, the Grand Canyon, if we can't get you out for small towns only with the Grand Canyon, I don't know what else we can do. Anyway, below that, also don't forget this Wednesday, Pastor Bruce Mejia is going to be preaching up in Tempe at the midweek service at 7 p.m. So again, me and my family are going up in our personal vehicle, but I think I've heard rumors that there's someone taking the church van up there. I don't know if Brother Adam is committed to that or not. Brother Adam, are you for sure going up this Wednesday? Yes. Okay, are you taking the church van? It is available. It is available, absolutely, yeah. So if you want a carpool with Brother Adam, I know he's headed up. You just heard him, right? I got a witness. So you can get with him and get up there and enjoy some of Pastor Mejia's preaching. Also, speaking of preaching and guest preachers, this is just kind of a heads up. It's still a little bit of the ways out, obviously, got a few more months, but the annual mega conference is taking place up in Tempe. So this is, I believe, the third annual mega conference that is going to take place July 14th through the 7th. Now, it's not a conference every day through those dates. It's really not, when you think about it, it's really not even a conference because all the preachers aren't even there at once. But that's what we call it, all right? It's mega. That's all that matters, right? But anyway, it is a series of guest preachers, basically, are going to be coming through. I don't know. I don't think it's been determined exactly who's coming and what dates. The closer we get, the more details I have. But just keep in mind that every Sunday and Wednesday through these dates, July 14th through August 7th, there will be a different guest preacher for both the Sunday and Wednesday services up in Tempe. So if you're familiar with how we do this, you already know what I'm talking about, but we basically, Pastor Anderson is out of town, and therefore, we're bringing in these guest preachers to fill the pulpit while he's out of town for those dates. So mark that, and obviously, I'll have a list of who's going to be, what preacher will be there when. The closer we get to that, I'll provide those details, but you might want to just kind of keep that in mind this summer. Below that, there is a small town soloing trip to Clifton with the Tempe group coming up again at the end of the month if you'd like to participate in that as well. That'll do it for announcements. Let's just go ahead and sing one more song before we get into preaching tonight or this morning. All right, if you could please open up your song voice to song number 146. We'll be singing the song number 146, a shelter in the time of storm. Again, that is song number 146. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land. Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A shelter in the time of storm. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land. Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A shelter in the time of storm. Oh, we, Jesus, only have us here, But we are not here, We are not here, We are not here, We are not here, We are not here, For we have us here, A shelter in the time of storm. For whenever we see this dayrock, A shelter in the time of storm. Oh, Jesus, is a rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land. Oh, Jesus, is a rock in a weary land, Oh, Jesus is the one with the weary man, the weary man, the weary man, the weary man. Oh, Jesus is the one with the weary man, the weary man, the weary man, the weary man. Exodus chapter 20, verse 1 of the Bible reads, And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, that shall have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto me any graven image, for you likely slay a thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water underneath. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, were jealous of them, visiting the iniquity of their fathers upon their children, as the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him yieldless, by taking his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, for six days shalt thou later do all thy work. For the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. To thou and thy son, for thy God are thy mansers, and for thy maids, for thy cattle, for thy strangers are within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and the rest of the seven day. Wherefore the Lord blessed us at, and hallowed them. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be longed upon the land, which the Lord thy God given thee. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not come at thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not come at thy neighbor's wife, nor his mancer, nor his maidsher, nor his ox, nor his axe, nor anything against thy neighbors. And all the people saw the thunder, and the lightning, and the noises of the trumpet, and the mountains of smoke. And when the people saw it, they were moved, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou of us, and you will hear. But let not God speak of us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Hear not, for God is come and proven, that is here, if it be before your face that they sinned out. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near, unto the thick darkness where God was. And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have taught you from heaven, that you shall not make it between gods of silver, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. And that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold, and that you shall make it between gods of gold. I think Mother's Day is kind of like the other holidays that we observe as Christians. We observe the birth of Christ to kind of remind us of His birth, and His life, and His sacrifice. We celebrate Thanksgiving to be reminded of the fact that we have many things to be thankful for. It's not like we just choose to acknowledge Christ's deity on Christmas. It's not like we just only choose to acknowledge the things that we have to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Mother's Day is just something that should be reminding us of why it's important to honor our parents, honor our mother year-round. Why? Because you only got one. You only get one, and that's rare enough. And if you happen to are fortunate enough, blessed enough to have a godly mother sitting in this room or some other church somewhere, you know, you have something that's truly worth a great deal, something that's truly rare. Now we're just going to kind of go through the Bible this morning and just look at some of these passages just as a reminder. And we'll do it chronologically, so hopefully I'm not going to have you beating yourself up too much. But if you would, go to Exodus 21. We'll look at a couple more verses. Again, we looked at the Ten Commandments, and right there, right in the middle, is honor thy father and mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So it's kind of an ominous commandment there, whereas if you don't do this, your days are not going to be long. And that could play out in one of several ways. The first one here is if you treat your parents poorly. There is punishment for that. God actually puts the death penalty on if we go too far in treating our parents poorly. Now parents don't get all excited about this. They back talk, and it's not stoning. It's not like that. But obviously this is dealing more with adult children because they're the ones that are capable of doing this. Look at Exodus 21, verse 15, and he that smiteth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. Now smite there is like smack, hit, strike. That's what it's talking about. He that smiteth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. If you smite your father, there's a good chance you're not even going to get out of the room. He'll probably just take care of it right then and there. I don't know. At least you're going to walk away with a limp. But this is saying here, obviously it's not saying that we're supposed to take matters into our own hands, but if somebody is guilty of this, of literally striking their parents, their father or their mother, they're to be put to death. I mean, what kind of person would strike their mother? Of all the people on the world that you're going to get angry with enough to actually physically assault your own mother? I mean, why would God put the death penalty on you? Because anyone who would do that is pretty low on the totem pole, in my opinion. They're probably a scumbag to begin with. This is probably the least of their problems. If you're such a sociopath that you're even willing to strike your own mother and treat her poorly, you know, good riddance is what I say. And it might shock us to hear that we might read sometimes these commandments that God gives and kind of scratch your head and say, really? It's hard for us to understand because we're good people. We like to honor our father and our mother. We're not back there cracking our knuckles thinking about how we're going to give Mom a black eyeliner. We're not going to let her have it. We can't sometimes wrap our head around this, but these people exist. These people are out there that will treat their parents this poorly. You know, I remember when I was a teenager and my mom came to me one time and said, just so you know. Now, I had done anything. I had not done anything to warrant this warning, OK? I don't want to cast myself in the wrong light. You know, I was going to be 15, 16, you know, and then it kind of dawns on Mom that, you know, I'm not, she can't just take me over her knee anymore, right? And she came to me and she said, just so you know, if you ever pushed me or shoved me or hit me in any way, you know, long story short, she basically said, I know people, right? And she wasn't kidding. You know, she was very specific. She was like, so-and-so will back me up. And so-and-so could have very easily taken care of, you know, moi, especially at that age. I was a twig, OK? Seriously, I was this height, but I was like 160 pounds or something like that. Like, I was a rail up until my early 20s, if you can believe that, right? And I was thinking, Mom, of course, you know, I was shocked that she would even bring this up. I'm like, that's never even entered my mind. I would never even think. I mean, yeah, of course, you know, I was a typical teenager. I'd get sassy or whatever and slam a door, get an attitude and, you know, that kind of thing. But it never even entered my mind that I would physically assault my mother. And she said, well, I'm just telling you because that's exactly what happened to her coworker. She worked with a lady whose teenage son was my age. I knew the guy. You know, I don't know that he like threw her around the house, but he like shoved her or hit her or something like, you know, tempers flared. He got a little physical with his mom, you know, and I just thought, you know, well, she felt, you know, well, I better warn my son. You know, it's just like, OK, so but my point is, you know, that it is out there. You know, sometimes we read these things and we wonder, like, why is this in the Bible? Because it's out there. OK, and I've even seen like I remember there's some clip on one of these daytime, old daytime, like from the late 80s, early 90s talk shows like Donahue or whatever, where like there was footage of a young child actually slapping his mother across the base. He was just that as a child, he just become that insolent that he was willing to just slap his own mother. Right. So it is out there. Go to look at verse 17. And he that cursed his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. You know, puts, you know, just tells mom and dad, go to hell, curses them. You know, that's that's a very serious thing as well. And God puts the literally the death penalty on this. OK, go to Deuteronomy chapter number 21. Deuteronomy chapter 21. All the atheists in the room will know this one because they love to turn this turn to this verse. Leviticus chapter 20, verse 19. Nine, I'll read to you for everyone that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him. OK, and if you notice there, Exodus 21, verse 15 and verse 17, it's very close. Right. Those are some of striking them and cursing them, meaning we shouldn't even entertain the thought of of, I believe, getting physical with either one of our parents or fantasize or sit there and dream about or talk about beating up our parents or comparing ourselves physically. You know, and it's so stupid when you see a young man start to talk about how he can. You know, he's finally big enough. He's feeling his weenies enough to where he's saying, oh, I could take the old man now. Well, it's like, yeah, well, you know what? If I ran into my dad when we were both the same age, I could probably say the same thing. Maybe not. You know, he was a big guy, too. But it's like that's so stupid and juvenile to even think that way. And it appears to me that God really has some strong feelings about that. When we start people getting this attitude about smiting their parents, cursing their parents, God takes that very seriously. OK, that's not something we want to joke about or or or suggest even. OK, we want to stay as far away from that as possible. Deuteronomy 21, look at verse 18. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, meaning they've beaten him there, he's getting lectures. They're correcting him. They're beating him. They're trying to get him to do what he's supposed to do. After they have chased him, will not hearken unto them? Then his father, his mother shall his father and mother lay hold on him and bring him out to the elders of the city. Right. We're going to go down to the courthouse and unto the gate of his place. That was like the public place of concourse. That's where business was done to the in the gate where the elders were. And they shall say to the elders of this city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious and he will not obey our voice. This is a key part of this. He is a glutton and a drunkard. OK. This is how you know it's talking about adult children. OK. Because atheists will latch on and say, oh, the Bible says you should stone children. OK. Children are not capable of being glutton and drunkards. I mean, I know that they are. But I mean, what bizarre world are you living in where children are acting out like this? You know, if your kids like pounding the bottle, you know, your eight year olds throwing back the wild turkey at noon or something like that. You failed as a parent. OK. What it's talking about is even in spite of our best efforts as parents, you know, we raise a child that is just a glutton and a drunkard, just a lazy bum who doesn't want to get off his butt and get to get to work. You know, that's there's a punishment for that. And spoiler, it's death. OK, it's a stoning once again. Right. Because he's not he's dishonoring his parents. OK. This this I like that I call this passage the basement cleaner. Right. This is what this one would get a lot of guys, you know, get them to put down the video game controller, log off the Internet and go out into the real, you know, walk out into the light of day, you know, and go get a job. Right. If they knew like, hey, if I just live in my parents basement and, you know, be a bum, it could end in my death. They'd probably stop doing it. Right. But they're saying, hey, if he's a glutton, if he's a drunkard, you know, all the men in the city shall stone him with stones and say, how are we going to clean up the streets of America with all these all these all this riffraff hanging around? There you go. That's one approach. Right. I'm not holding my breath. You know, that's not I'm not going to go into public office and suggest that, you know, try to run on that platform. Right. At the very least, I think, you know, if you want to be more humane or whatever, we could we at least bring back the asylum system and start rounding them up and put them back on their feet? Because obviously, you know, not every single person is a result is out there on the streets today being a bum because of this. But I wonder how many are. I wonder how many of them are just rebellious, gluttonous drunkards, you know, who just love drugs and everything else. That that that's the life. That's what they've chosen to do. Anyway, I know it's more nuanced than that, but that situation, however, you know, the Bible does give a prescription for this specific instance where you have a young man who's being rebellious, who's resisting. He's treating his parents poorly. The Bible says in verse 21, all the men of the city shall stone him with stones that he died. So they shall put Eve away among from you and all Israel shall hear and fear. So this is one of those things. You know, if you did, you probably only have to do a handful of times before you got the message. You know, people always debate, you know, is the death penalty a deterrent? Well, the Bible says it is. The Bible says it is. I don't, you know, period. OK, case case closed. If you would go to Deuteronomy chapter number twenty seven, Deuteronomy chapter twenty seven. So you can see, you know, we're only a few books in to the Bible. And already God is just hammering this topic of, you know, making sure we honor our parents, obeying our parents to make sure we treat our parents well. You know, and that's what I want to remind us of on Mother's Day. Right. I don't I doubt anyone here is struggling necessarily with these things, but I'm just dry. I'm using it to drive home the point that, you know, how we treat our parents matters to God, you know, and not just in these big things. Right. Well, it's like, well, you know, I'm nice enough. You know, I'm not rebellious. I'm not a glutton. I'm not a drunkard. You know, I haven't cursed her. You know, I'm pretty good to my mom. I've never smacked her. You know, like we have obviously we have a higher bar than that, I hope, on how we treat our parents. And we should, you know, make sure that we appreciate our mothers specifically today for what they've done for us. You know, you only get one. How you treat your mother matters. It's very important. If you look there in Deuteronomy 27, look at verse 16. Cursed be he that saith light by his father or his mother, and all the people shall say, Amen. That's where you say, Amen. But anyway, this one has always kind of made me scratch my head a little bit. Right. And I kind of thought I knew what it was saying here. And then recently I've heard somebody else preach this and it kind of confirmed that I was on the right track. So I'm kind of comfortable now giving my opinion on this verse because it's kind of confusing there when it says, Cursed be he that saith light by his father and mother. Now, just because of the way we use, you know, that word seteth, like we think of like setting something down. Right. If I like I set something down. That's what we think. So that's kind of how we think of that word, at least me, or I believe that's kind of a common understanding. Right. So a lot of people think like, is this talking about putting a lantern by them or lighting a candle? Like what does it mean setting light by them? You know, cursed be anyone that turns the light on when your parents are, you know, sitting in the living room trying to read or something. Right. You just walk in the bedroom in the middle of the night. Your parents are trying to sleep and you flip that light on. Cursed are you that you set light by your father. You know, it's like, no, that's not what it's saying. Right. But I believe the word set there is used in the term, in the way that we might think, like sit. Right. To set something, to put something in a position, to take place somewhere, to put ourselves in a position. Right. So I believe that's what it's referring to. You know, we would bring that medium of modern vernacular and say, cursed be he that sits lightly by his father and mother. Right. So it's kind of a poetic term. Right. You know, if we just kind of sit lightly by our parents, we don't give them the esteem that they're worthy of. We don't reverence them. We don't respect them. We set light by them. We treat them lightly, as if they're not to be taken seriously. Right. And there's a couple of verses that we could look at to kind of help back this up. Go to 1 Samuel, chapter number two, 1 Samuel chapter number two. I'll read to you from Deuteronomy 32, where the Bible says in verse 15, but Jeshurun, which is a term that was used referring to the people of Israel, Jeshurun lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. Right. So in Deuteronomy 2017, he said, cursed be he that seteth light by. Right. And God is kind of calling Israel out in Deuteronomy 21, because they've lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. So you can kind of see how these are related terms. Right. To set light by means to lightly esteem. Right. Verse Samuel, this will hopefully make it a little more clear. 1 Samuel chapter two, verse 30. Wherefore, the Lord God of Israel saith, I'm just going to jump ahead in the verse here. Them that honor me, I will honor. Right. Those that respect me, I will respect. And they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Right. So again, it's this idea of, you know, of not giving honor to whom honor is due. Does everyone kind of see where I'm coming from? Is that making sense? I don't want to belabor the point here any more than I need to. So you can kind of see how this idea of setting light by your father is not a you're steaming them lightly. You're set when you set lightly by them. Right. So we want to make sure that we take our parents seriously. You know, they pay excuse me, they play and they do pay. By the way, they play big time. They play. That's the Father's Day sermon right there. Dad pays. All right. But, you know, they play a very important role in our lives. Right. And at least they ought to. Right. And I get it. We're not all coming from the ideal background. We don't all have godly parents and things like that. But even in that instance, you know, we should honor our parents regardless of whether or not they're saved. You know, regardless of, you know, their situation. OK. And I kind of say that it's never been a problem here amongst us. But, you know, I have heard it from other people. They just want to write their parents off because, well, they're reprobate. You know, and sometimes I think people pull that reprobate trigger a little too easy. That's, you know, they kind of have a hair trigger to just call someone a reprobate, especially if they can kind of excuse themselves from having to obey their parents or honor their parents in some way, shape or form. Right. It's kind of like and we're gonna look at again, like in Mark seven, where we talked about, you know, the Pharisees were saying, hey, if you say it is Corban, that is a gift whatsoever thou art profited by me. Right. People kind of want to excuse themselves from having to honor their parents. Which is not, we should not be going through life looking for a way to kind of get out of having to honor our parents. No matter what kind of background they're coming from. Now look, if your parent genuinely is like undeniably a reprobate. You know, there's some kind of a pervert or whatever, you know, that I can. OK. All right. But you know what? I know it's getting bad out there, but I don't believe it's like I have a hard time believing a lot. So many people have reprobates as parents as they're kind of putting forth. Sometimes I think it's just kind of convenient. People get really zealous about the things of God. And, you know, if their parent doesn't want to hear the gospel, doesn't want to hear them, you know, have the gospel ran in their face for like the 12th time in a row by their young child. You know, let me just give some advice on that. You know, it's hard. Imagine your child coming to you and say, I'm going to explain the meaning of life to you. Right? You're supposed to be the one that's guiding and striking them through life. You know, it's like, you know, I appreciate, you know, you changing my diaper and wiping my nose and feeding me and clothing me and putting a house over my head. In return, I would like to explain the meaning of life to you. Right? That's, you know, and you say, well, that's their pride. I know, but that's the reality of it. They have people have pride. And, you know, that's why with our parents, you know, we have unsafe parents. You have to give that time. You have to kind of give them time to kind of come around, let God do all the convicting and the working on their heart. OK, and then, you know, they'll give you one day they will probably come to you and say, hey, I want to hear more about this. OK, but my point here is this morning is that, you know, we need to make sure no matter what background they're coming from to honor our parents. You know, honor, treat your mother well. You only have one mother. If you would go to Mark seven, let's look at it real quick. We were we were kind of already we'll be back in Proverbs later. We're going to go to Proverbs. So keep something in the Old Testament. I lied when I said it was going to be chronological. I didn't realize. But once we get into Proverbs, we'll be pretty straightforward from there. We'll be in Proverbs quite a bit. But again, I know we just preached this in Mark seven a couple of weeks ago, but he says in verse nine, and he said to them, full well, you reject the commandment of God. You may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, honor thy father and mother. And whoso curseth father and mother, let him die the death. Now, that's important. This is Jesus is quoting this, you know, and we just read this Exodus 21, verse 17. Whoso curseth mother and father, let him die the death. And he's quoting it in the context of what he's about to say next. Right. But ye say, if a man shall say to his father and mother, it is core ban, that is to say, a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. So Jesus is basically saying, if you kind of connect the dots here, that when we just excuse ourselves from honoring our parents, that we're actually cursing them. And obviously there is, back then, there was the real practical application of taking care of your your parents financially. When our parents get old and they're unable to work and provide for themselves, they ought to be received into our homes and taken care of. That's biblical. And I get that today things are a little different, that we have other options. People have retirement plans. They don't need to be taken care of necessarily in their old age. But if the need arises, you know, we as God's people should be willing to do that. We should be willing to take in our parents. And in fact, if we excuse ourselves from that. Right. It's kind of like we're cursing them. I mean, isn't you see how Jesus is using it there? I mean, he's quoting Exodus 21, verse 17. Whoso curseth his father and mother, let him die to death. But ye say, if a man shall say to his father and mother, it is Corban. And excuse himself from honoring his parents in that way. You know, it seems like they're disconnected, but the truth is, it's like, we don't honor our parents like we should. It's not, we're not just kind of in this neutral territory. Well, I'm not cursing them. I'm just not honoring them. No, the Bible says you're actually cursing them. You're a curse to them. You're disrespecting them. Oh, you know what? I appreciate everything, but you're not important enough for me to take care of you in that way, or to honor you in your old age, or give you anything that you need. Right. To have that dismissive attitude towards our parents is actually, you know, something that God takes very seriously. Okay. Go to Ephesians chapter number six. Ephesians chapter number six. Refusing to honor your parents is to curse them. Right. It's a disrespect. And obviously Jesus is being really specific in Mark seven. He's talking about how they would suffer a man to know more to do ought for his father or mother. He was calling them out on the fact that they were just excusing themselves from any financial obligations that they had to their parents. To requite their parents. Right. As it says in First Timothy five. You know, obviously that's a real specific situation, but you know, let's make some practical application for maybe some of the younger children in the crowd. Okay. I'm not going to, you know, the concept, the principle there is children. Are you with me kids? All the kids with me? You know, I'm getting your attention because Ephesians six one is addressed to children. Okay. You know, it was to be read in the churches, meaning the children were in the church when it was read. Okay. You just heard me talking about how God takes not honoring your parents very seriously. Right. So no one's here is expecting that you children to start, you know, paying the bills. Right. So you're not really in danger of, you know, saying it is core band. Right. But, you know, the Bible does say you ought to obey your parents. And when you disobey your parents, you are dishonoring them. Okay. It's not you can't sit there and say, well, you know, it's not like I'm doing something bad. I'm just not doing what's good. Right. We always want it. People always want to have this like this demilitarized zone. Right. This green zone where it's like, well, I'm not I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do, but I'm not necessarily doing what I shouldn't do. It's like if you're not doing what you're supposed to do, you're disobeying. You're not honoring them. Okay. So I'm kind of taking that principle as heavy as that might be. Right. And kind of applying it to the children. Okay. Because it is Mother's Day. Right. So there's, you know, we're honoring mothers because they have children. Okay. Look at Ephesians six one. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. It's not the first commandment. It's the fifth. But it's the first one that has a promise. We read it right. That your days may be long upon the earth, as Paul says here, that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth. You want to live a long, happy. I'm not saying a life devoid of any suffering, but I'm saying you want to live a life that has the minimum amount of suffering. You want to live a life that's blessed of God. Children, you want to have a nice, long, healthy, fruitful life that you can look back on and have some sense of accomplishment and meaning from. Well, then you need to honor your parents. You need to do what you're being instructed to do. That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long upon the earth. Go to Proverbs chapter number one, Proverbs chapter number one. Paul repeats this, children, in Colossians number three. He says, Children, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing unto the Lord. You know, and this is important for children to keep in mind. OK, when you obey your parents, it pleases God. Well, I just I don't I don't really care if it pleases my mom or not. Well, what about the Lord? You know, well, I'll take the trash out, but I have an attitude about it. Well, you know, is that is that going to please God when you disobey or do things with an attitude? You know, who are you really worried about pleasing in this life? Look, you should want to please your parents. You know, if you please God by obeying your parents, you know, your days will be long upon the earth. They'll be well with you. But if you if you do things and what you're going to find is that if you if you do that, you're not only going to please God, you're actually going to please your parents and your life. It's going to go well with thee in the immediate here and now. Not only are you going to have a nice long life, but, you know, your parents are probably going to treat you better, too. You know, you're not going to have to get the talking to you're not going to have to get the spanking. You're not going to have to have the punishment that's doled out by their disobeying. You know, your parents will actually be a joy to be around because you're a joy to be around if you obey and do what's right. That's well pleasing unto the Lord. You know, obedience, basically what we're seeing this morning is that honoring our parents, honoring our mothers, obedience is something that's required year round. Right. It's not like let's just all be nice to our moms for one day, Mother's Day. Right. We'll just hand out some chocolate and smile and wish them Happy Mother's Day. We'll take them out for lunch this afternoon. And then, you know, at midnight it's over, baby. Right. No, it's a reminder. This is how it ought to be year round. We had to be treating our parents, our mothers well. You only get one. It pleases God and, you know, it spares you unnecessary suffering. And look, Proverbs just goes on and on about this. There's just dire warning, exhortation after exhortation about honoring your parents in the Book of Proverbs. You know, those of you that have taken up my advice to read a Proverb of the Day have probably noticed that how much it talks about your parents and how important it is. OK. Look at verse seven of Proverbs one, verse seven, it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. You know, if there's some young person out there, there's some kid out there who's despising the instruction that's being given out of God's word this morning. You know, you have no fear of God. And you have no knowledge. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. And God commands us to obey our parents. He says in verse eight, My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. And the chain isn't like, you know, like a like something just weighing you down, like it's restrictive. It's like a golden chain, like an ornament, like a big. Basically, what God is saying is if you obey your parents, you can get some bling. Right. Is that still a thing? Bling. Right. Right. Nothing. Nothing's going to go on with the grill. OK. Thank God for that. But, you know, you're going to have an ornament of grace into thy head. It's going to crown you. OK. And if you don't disobey, they're going to crown you. You're in a different way. Right. You're going to get one of these. Just kidding. Right. Never about the neck and shoulders, folks. Anyway, you know, but obeying your parents, you know, that's it's something that's going to not bring literal ornaments in their life, but you know what's going to it's going to make you a person that's respectable. It's going to bless you. You're going to be lifted up. Look at Proverbs chapter number six. Proverbs number six, chapter six. I'll begin reading in verse 20. My son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. You know, listen to what your parents are doing and what they're saying, what they're instructing you in. They're saying, hey, keep it's saying, keep thy father's commandment, forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thine neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For commandment is the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Reproofs of instruction. That's how a lot of instruction is given, especially to kids, right? Especially to children. There's a lot of being told no as a parent or as a child, right? Which means, you know, and that's kind of a whole nother sermon for the parents. Don't be one of these parents that never says no. No ought to be like high up on the frequency use, right? Like how often you're using that word. You know, that should probably be in a mother's vocabulary, pretty strong, right? Maybe get some synonyms, you know, get a thesaurus out. How else can you say no? No, nope, nada, uh-uh, negative, right? I had a friend, his dad was in the Air Force, negative, you know, does not comply, right? Affirmative, that's what we always heard at his house. Negative, right? Look, there should be a lot of that, right? Negative, no, you can't, don't, stop, you know. Those, and children might not like that, eh, they might say no. But you know, those reproofs are the instructions to life. No, you can't go out and play in the street. No, you can't stay out in the past dark. You gotta come in when the lights come on or whatever, right? No, you have to share. No, you can't be selfish. No, you have to do what I tell you. No, you have things to do. No, you have to do your schoolwork. No, these are reproofs because children, if we just left them to themselves, I mean, it would be pandemonium, it would be mayhem. You know, the place would get burned to the ground, right? Things would not get done. The people would go uneducated. People would fill up on junk food, right? So you children, you know, when you're being told no, understand that you're being given wisdom and instruction on how to live a life that's gonna be blessed, right? The commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction on the way of life. Therefore, forsake not the law of thy mother. You know, she has rules and restrictions, you know, she should embrace those things, see the wisdom in them and apply them to your life. You know, and even as an adult, you should say, hey, take the things that you learned from your parents, the things that were instilled in you and continue with them. Don't be one of those people that's just like counting down on the clock until you're 18, just marking off the days until you can just go out and do whatever you want, blow everybody off and just burn your bridges, right? That's how you end up out there, folks. You know, that's how you end up out on the street. That's the case for a lot of these people, I'm sure. You know, don't do that. You know, we need to keep these commandments and not forsake the law of our mother, okay? We need to bind them continually upon our heart. Take the things that you're being instructed in as a child and weave them into the fabric of your being, who you are. It makes up who you are. And look, if you do that, it's going to be a blessing to you. If you would, go over to Proverbs chapter number 19. I'll hurry up here for sake of time. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter number 10, a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. It says it again in Proverbs 15 that a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish man despiseth his mother. You know, you're a fool if you grow up and you despise your mother, okay? Because you only get one, right? And no matter what shortcomings our mothers may have had, you know, if they loved us and they cared for us to any degree, you know, they are worthy of being honored and respected. How about for just the mere fact that they went through childbirth? How about just the mere fact that they put their bodies through, you know, nine months of pregnancy, which I've been told is not fun, okay? And they went through, you know, childbirth, which is, you know, absent of our advanced medical system is, and even in some instances, I don't want to scare anybody, you know, it's kind of harrowing, okay? It's a very serious thing, obviously, right? Praise God, we live in a time and a place where, you know, where if complications arise, they're typically dealt with and everything turns out fine. You know, the vast majority of the time, okay? Wasn't always the case. So how about, you know, how about honoring your mother for that? Well, my mom, you know, she wasn't a Christian, she didn't read the Bible, she didn't go to church, you know, she didn't teach me all these things. Well, did she bring you into this world? Then honor your mother. Call your mom today. Shame on you if you're not going to call your mom on Mother's Day. You know, I get it, some of our mothers have passed on, we can't do that. And we think fondly of our mothers, you know, and reflect on them. And maybe we could just offer up a prayer to God and say thank you for our mothers. But if your mother is living and breathing and walking around this earth, you should thank her. Well, you know, I don't get along this and that. Well, you could call her up and say, hey, thanks for giving birth to me. It might come out of the blue a little bit, you know, but she'd probably appreciate it, right? But don't be a person that despises your mother. Don't be a person that is foolish. You know, that person is a fool. That person is a heaviness to his mother. And I've known people like this. I've known people where I saw them, you know, that they were handed everything. I mean, they grew up in a godly Christian home. You know, they had this picturesque, you know, home with horses out in the countryside. They're homeschooled. You know, their siblings are all learning to play instruments and they're all very intelligent. They're going on to, you know, earn degrees and everything like that. You know, they're very privileged. And, you know, I'm not saying that they're, you know, some aristocracy. They're living, you know, some affluent life. Well, you know, they had good godly parents who took them to church and cared about them and invested in them and sacrificed them. And I had this one friend who just despised them for this. And I remember just thinking, like, dude, you're a fool. You know, and I even know for a fact that he was a heaviness to his mother. I saw the toll that it took on his mom. And she even told me in one instance, you know, I just spent so much time praying for him. I'm wearing my knees out praying for this kid. And he's just out there running wild. You know, he forsook the law, forsook the instruction of his mother. You know, out there having illegitimate children, bastard children. Let's bring it back, that term. You know, let's put the shame on that, that there ought to be, okay? So people don't go out and do it. Having bastard children, you know, getting all tatted up, drinking, partying, sleeping around. You know, that guy's a fool. Anyone else who does likewise, a fool. And you're a heaviness to your parents. What a waste. It's shameful. And why would anyone do that? Well, because they listened to the wrong crowd. Look at Proverbs 19, verse 26. He that wasteth the father and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach. Like, man, I don't think you should be talking about that guy. Well, first of all, he doesn't even live in this state. None of you know him, okay? And he might not even be alive at this point, for all I know. The life he was living, who knows, right? But, you know, hey, you say that's a reproach. Well, exactly. Exactly. That's what the Bible says is gonna happen if you chase away your mother and you waste your father. If you just blow off your parents, blow off everything they tried to teach you as children, whether they're Christians or not, the things they're trying to teach you, just blah, whatever. You know, and just waste them and chase them away. You know, you're gonna just be somebody, you know, you're gonna be a sermon illustration one day. You're just gonna be like, yeah, I knew a guy once, and man, he's a fool. You're gonna be a reproach. You know, the parents that have rebellious children, you know, they don't get together at the family reunion. You know, someone walks up and says, how's so-and-so? And they're just like, oh, man. Let's not even talk about it, right? Don't even want to bring you up. I mean, how would you feel? My parents are even embarrassed to talk about me. What's going on? Well, you know, he's been in and out of jail. You know, he's unemployed. You know, or he's in his mid-20s and going nowhere fast. You know, they're just like, you know, let's talk about somebody else. You know, let's talk about politics. Something like that, right? It's a reproach. They don't want to talk about me. Is that what we want for our lives? You children, is that what you want to be at the family reunion? A byword? A warning to your other cousins and siblings? Don't turn out like so-and-so. Well, you know what, then? Don't waste your father. And don't chase away your mother. They're the only ones who get. And look at verse 27. Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. You know, there's a lot of instruction out there that's going to teach you to err from the words of knowledge, to teach you to err, right, to commit error, to depart from the words of knowledge. There's a lot of people out there that are trying to influence you, young people, to get you to write off your father, to waste your mother, to chase them away, and to go out and live a life like a fool, and to become a reproach. And I'll tell you what, if there's some young person in this room, some child, who had godly parents that attended this church and grew up, and when they turned 18 just forsook the church, forsook the things of God, and just went out and lived some party lifestyle and became a reproach, you won't be the first, and you won't be the last. Like, that's not an anomaly. That happens. And every time, I'll tell you what's consistent, it's shameful. And no one says, you know, mentions that person's name, you know, with a smile on their face. You know, several names are going through my mind right now. People you don't know, okay, people that did exactly that, grew up in godly Christian homes, you know, and then they're, you know, they turn 18, they go out in the world, and they just, you know, they're just all about the raves and the parties and the bonfires and knocking people up and living that lifestyle. Why? Because they're listening to instruction that has caused them to err. You know, that music you're listening to that you think nobody else knows about, you're sneaking in, the hip hop culture, the rock music, whatever's out there, you know, I'm sure there's nothing new. It's all the same thing, only the names have changed. They're all teaching the same thing, rebel, party, live a lascivious life, just go out and be a fornicator and a drunkard. They're all teaching the same thing. It's the same message they were preaching in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s, the 2010s, and the 2020s that we're in today. It's just a different look, right? Instead of hairspray bands, right? It's a bunch of, at least, I don't know, you don't spend a bunch of dudes in tight leather and makeup, you know, teaching you to go out and, you know, walk into the jungle or whatever, you know, living on a prayer or something, teaching some ungodly music back then. Now it's like, you know, some guy with his pants halfway down his butt, you know, with, you know, diamonds on his teeth or something, teaching you to go out and be a sodomite, you little Nas or whatever you're listening to, wicked as hell. That whole culture, that's instruction, you know what they're trying to do? They're trying to instruct you to commit error, to err from what your parents are trying to teach you, from what your preacher is trying to tell you. Hey, obey God, honor your parents, take this instruction you're receiving, these reproofs, they are the instructions of life, bind them about in thine heart, you know, it'll bring an ornament of grace upon your head and chains about thine neck. Oh yeah, everyone's having a real good time in their early 20s, living it up in that party lifestyle, then you see them in their late 20s, early 30s, and their life's a wreck. You know, it doesn't turn out so hot then, you know, it's a different story at that point, and then that party lifestyle doesn't, you know, look so good. Why don't you just spare yourself the suffering and listen to your parents, listen to the instruction you've been giving, honor your mother. You know, you only get one, there's very few influences in the world today that are trying to teach you to live for God, last I checked. I know I gotta hurry up here. If you would, go to Proverbs 29, Proverbs 29. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, I'll read from Proverbs 20-20. 20-20, get 20-20 vision on your parents here, okay? Whoso cursteth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Like, what does it mean by that? Like, his lamp is just, you know, lighting somewhere that doesn't make any difference? Or is that his lamp is like put out, like it's snuffed out in obscure darkness? You're basically just saying you're just gonna be out and completely wandering in the dark with no guide, no one to lead you where you need to be. I think that's the picture, it's painting there. You curse your father, you curse your mother, you waste them, you disobey, you disregard. You know what, you're gonna wander through life like someone who's just stumbling in the dark. And last thing, you know, I checked, stumbling around the dark's no fun. You ever trip over something in the dark, stub your toes, slam your foot out? Just kidding. You slam yourself, your foot against something because the light's out, you know, it causes pain. You break something, you're bruised, you're battered. You know, spiritually, that's what your life will be, children. If you just curse your parents, disregard them, you don't take fast, hold this instruction, you don't obey, you don't honor them, you know, mark it down. You know, you can sit there and go, eh, whatever, the preacher, you're supposed to say that, yeah, typical, whatever. You know, mark it down, you heard it. Mother's Day, 2024, you were warned that if you do this, you're gonna go out and wander and obscure darkness in life, spiritually speaking. And Satan's just gonna have his way with you. It's true. Proverbs 23, I don't know where I had you go, but you went to Proverbs 30? 29, I'll read to you from 23, verse 22. Hark unto thy father that beget thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Buy the truth and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding, for the father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that beget the wise child shall have joy with him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. You know, children, whether they wanna admit it or not, they need approval. You know, especially boys, they need to be told, good job, well done, right? They need to be lifted up and feel like they accomplished something. Well, hey, you know, if you live for God, if you buy the truth and sell it not, if you take fast hold of wisdom and instruction and understanding, you know, in time, that's exactly what you're gonna hear from your parents when they're older. You know, then your name and your name or then your name at the family reunion or the gathering or whatever is gonna be something, they're not gonna be, they can't wait to talk about you. People are gonna get sick of it. Like they're gonna send out the Christmas letters, there'll be whole paragraphs about you and everything you're doing and how well you're doing and all this and that, all these wonderful things that you're doing and how proud they're gonna be of you. You know, they're gonna open up the letter and just pictures are gonna fall out. You know, they're children with their children and their spouses and, you know, that's a source of joy to a parent. You know, you're gonna be, make your mother and father glad and they shall rejoice over you. Man, what a wonderful thing. What a great thing. You know, but parents have their part to do in this too. Okay, you can't just drag him to church and let, you know, say, well, maybe preacher will get after him. Straighten him out. You know, you have, parents, you have work to do too. You know, you obviously pay a pretty big role in how your children turn out. Look at Proverbs 29, verse 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom. How are you gonna, why isn't your child up? Through the rod and reproof. Through the rod, like a physical spanking, right? The Bible says beating, right? Thou shalt beat and thou shalt not spare for their crying. Obviously, we're not talking about like a violent pummeling of your child. Okay. We're talking about spanking your children with, you know, and I recommend you do it with an implement. Let's get down to the brass tacks. Let's get into the bottom line. Let's get practical this morning. If you parents are not spanking your children, you're going to fail as parents. I don't know how else to more plainly say that. Lecturing, talking to, pleading with, negotiating, it's not gonna work. You say, well, I don't know. Well, that's what the Bible says. Like, I'm sorry to have, I'm sorry to have, you know, countered your understanding of parenthood with the Bible this morning, but this is what the Bible says. You know, and the Bible says that the rod and reproof, you can't be all one or the other. Like, a lot of parents just want to be a lot of reproof. Just a lot of lecturing, a lot of talking to, just a lot of nagging. You know, kids go deaf to that. They do. And then they get married and become husbands. I'm just kidding. And they just turn, you know, it's that Charlie Brown, and they go, I know, I know. And they're just waiting for you to get done so they can go back to doing whatever they were doing. But, you know, if you want to clear their ears out a little bit and freshen things up, help them pay attention, you know, that's where the rod comes in. That's when the paddle comes out. You know, that's when the stir stick from Home Depot comes out. That's when the little ruler, the little plastic cooking spoon comes out. You know, and that really deserves its whole sermon. And I have preached sermons on it, and others have. And if you're lacking in this area, parents, you need to go listen to those sermons and implement them. You need to implement the sermons about implements. Okay? Implements of instruction. It needs to be there. Right? Because foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction will drive it far from him. Not the lecture, not the taking away of the tablet, not the early bedtime, the rod of instruction. That's what's going to drive it out of their foolish heart. Go to Proverbs 30 and we'll close. Proverbs chapter number 30. So you can see it's, you know, God takes how we treat our parents very seriously. You know, it's a really big deal to God that children honor and respect and obey their parents. Right? And even we as adult children, it's important how we treat our parents. God takes that very seriously as well. You know, we don't want to become cold-hearted to our parents or write them off or tell them to figure things out on their own. If they have a need, they should be taken care of. Okay? Let me give you one more stern warning to the young people, the children. Proverbs verse 30, verse 17, the eye that mocketh at his father and despise it to obey his mother. The ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles shall eat it. Man, I just love the Bible. What a picture it paints, right? You know, if you obey your parents, it's going to spare you from unnecessary suffering. If you bind these things about your neck, if you take fast hold of instruction, if you buy the truth and sell it not, you know, if you say, I'm going to obey, I'm going to do what I'm told, you know, it's going to not only give you an ornament of grace, but it's going to keep you out of dangerous situations. It's going to keep you from a wasted life, right? I mean, the ravens of the valley are going to pick out the eye that mocks his father and mother, right? Oh, whatever. You know, I don't need to wear a helmet. I can hike on my own. I don't need to bring any GPS. Like, I even get correct about this one still, right? I can go out there and just take chances. It's like, well, you know, you might find yourself at the bottom of a ravine that way. No one knows where you ended up. The bird knows, the raven knows where you are. You know, pick, pick, pick, pick. Just having a little meal. Because we just, we mock, you know. And obviously, you know, this is, you know, an illustration, right? I mean, it could be like that spiritually. You know, the fouls of the air, the prints of the power of the air, right? A feather could pick out your eye, spiritually speaking, if you want to mock your parents and you want to just disregard what they have to say. You know, spiritually, you're going to end up just being another carcass for Satan to feed on. Now, I want to end with a poem. Okay, on Mother's Day. I got a Mother's Day poem, right? Out of the two poems I've probably read my entire life, this is one of, this is my favorite, okay? But this is a poem by a guy named George Cooper who wrote some hymns and other things in the late 19th century, but I always think about this one on Mother's Day. You know, and the title of the sermon was Only One Mother. So your whole time, you're sitting there with bated breath. Where does that title come from? It actually comes from this poem, okay? And I thought it was applicable because, you know, we don't, again, the thrust of the message this morning is don't waste your mother. You only have one mother. Treat your mother well. And you know, you only have that mother for so long. You know, once she's gone, she's gone. That's it. You only get one chance at that. So make sure you treat your mother well. And not just on Mother's Day, right? You know, let this sermon sink down into your ears and keep this in your mind throughout the year. Whenever we find ourselves taking our mother for granted, or how about husbands? You know, if you kind of start taking your wife for granted, you know, you need to be reminded of this. You know, that's the mother of your children. It's the only one they have, okay? Not the Bible, but this poem reads, hundreds of stars in the pretty sky, hundreds of shells on the shore together, hundreds of birds that go singing by, hundreds of lambs in the sunny weather, hundreds of dew drops to greet the dawn, hundreds of bees in the purple clover, hundreds of butterflies on the lawn, but only one mother, the wide world over. I just love that poem. I just love that poem. There's all these beautiful things in the world, there's all these wonderful things that are just, they just abound, there's so, in multitude. Like, that's kind of what he's doing there. He's talking about nature and how it's just, you know, just so abundantly rich and beautiful. Well, you know, a mother also is a very beautiful thing, but the difference is you only get one. There's only one of them in your life. There's only one person that's gonna hold that dear, precious title of mother in your life. So make sure you treat her well, make sure you respect her and obey her, make sure you love her on this Mother's Day and every day throughout the year. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for our mothers, Lord, that are here and those that have passed on. Lord, thank you for their instruction to whatever degree we received it, whatever instruction we got, Lord, from them. I pray you'd help us to appreciate it. And Lord, hope us to love our mothers, love our wives as we ought to. And Lord, help us to be blessed by you in this life by honoring them and by cherishing them, Lord, through obeying their instruction and also by gaining your favor and by treating them well. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed. Please open up your song books to song number 44. We'll be singing song number 44, Lord of the World, Until Jesus Comes. Again, that is song number 44. Sing it out. When the first glory has come We'll be loved, we'll feel loved We'll cast our flag high on her body When the first glory has come We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll cast our flag high on her body When the first glory has come We'll be loved, we'll feel loved We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes We'll learn, till Jesus comes 2020 The steps shall go on Within a winter's chilly night In this hot air falling We'll learn, till Jesus comes Till Jesus' bloods will burn. Till Jesus' bloods will burn. Till Jesus' bloods will burn. Till Jesus' bloods will burn. Till Jesus' bloods will burn. Till Jesus' bloods will burn.