(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Part of the chapter that I want to focus on is toward the beginning here in Nehemiah 6 where the Bible reads, Now it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah and Gisham the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I builded the wall, that I builded the wall, and there was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates, that Sanballat and Gisham sent them to be saying, Come, let's meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono, but they thought to do me mischief. And here's the part that I want to preach on in verse 3 here. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you? Now what I want to preach about is basically about Mother's Day and about being a mother, and you're probably wondering what this has to do with being a mother, but mothers do a great work. I mean, they have an important job, and it's critical, and in fact, if you go back to Genesis 3, you don't have to turn there, but in Genesis 3.20, the Bible reads, And Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. So the interesting thing about that is that the first woman who lived on this earth, her name was literally derived from the fact that she was a mother. It said her name was called Eve because she was the mother of all living. See, that's a very important role for women to play. It's an important job, and it's work. Obviously, being a mother is hard work, and today, many ladies will forego that work, that important work, to do something less important or to deal with something less important, and that's what we see here in Nehemiah. Nehemiah's doing a great work. He's doing the most important thing that could have possibly been done at that time. He's doing what God had commanded him to do. He's building this wall that was very important, and all kinds of people are trying to stop him and slow him down from that work. Now what motivated these people? If you look at the whole book of Nehemiah, what motivated these people was jealousy. It bothered them that someone was building something that had nothing to do with them and that the children of Israel were prospering and doing well, and they were jealous, and they want to keep them down and hold them down. And today, we see the same thing. They're going to be the critics of those who are doing what's right. Any time you're doing something great for God, any time you're doing a great work, there are going to be people who attack you. There are going to be people who criticize you. There are going to be people who poke fun at you. Earlier in the book of Nehemiah, they made fun of them and said, well, the wall that you're building, even if a fox goes up on it, it's going to fall over. They're making fun of it and trying to downplay it. They're trying everything. First, they tried to join them. If you can't beat them, join them. And Nehemiah said, no, we don't want you to help us. We're doing this ourselves. We don't need you here. Here, they're trying to distract them and tell them, oh, you need to come and meet with us and do this. Well, look what it says in verse 4. He said, they sent them to me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner. Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. Where it was written is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it. Well, if he says it, I guess it must be important. That thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king according to these words. And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, there's a king in Judah, and thou shalt be reported to the king according to these words. Come now, therefore, let us take counsel together. Then I said unto them, saying, there are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou famous them out of thine own heart. For they all made us afraid, saying, their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it not be done. Now, therefore, oh God, strengthen my hands. Now turn to the book of Proverbs, if you would. Turn to Proverbs chapter 1. You see, there are all kinds of distractions and people who would try to dissuade you from doing the most important job in your life, which is being a mother. People try to downplay this. I remember earlier in our life, one of my wife's relatives basically said unto her, you know, are you just going to stay home with the kids? You know, because she's just a housewife and a stay-at-home mom. Amen. They said, are you just going to stay home with the kids? I mean, you know, with all the education you've had, and you've been to college, and you have such talent, and they said, don't you want to, and this was in German, but I'm translating in English, don't you want to realize your full potential in your life? I mean, don't you want to realize your potential by having a career? But wait a minute, my wife is realizing her full potential. Amen. Of what God created her to do. And so many people listen to the naysayers and the gash moves of this world, you know, and tell them, oh, you need to do this, and you need to be here. And ladies ought to have the answer that Nehemiah had. Well, I'm doing a great work. I cannot come down. Sorry, can't work there. I'm doing a great work. Sorry, can't be there. Sorry, can't draw my kids out there. I'm doing a great work here, raising my children. That's what God created me to do. It's the most important thing, and I'm not going to let other things take me away from my most important job, which is being a mother. No downplay. That is the best job for a woman to have. Being a homemaker and a mother, according to the Bible. You know, I'd be more impressed if my daughters grow up and be a mother and a homemaker than if they're the CEO of some company somewhere or a lawyer somewhere or a politician somewhere, God forbid, or these other jobs that the world would exalt. Oh, it's a doctor, it's a lawyer. Hey, I'd rather have them do what God created them to do, which is to be a wife and a mother. But it says in Proverbs, well, let's just go through a lot of scripture, the book of Proverbs. These scriptures ought to show you how important it is to be a mother. It says in chapter 1, verse 8, My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. So in the home, the mother is a lawgiver to her children. She lays down the law in that house. She rules over the children, and that's an important role. Go to Proverbs, chapter 6. Proverbs, chapter 6. It says in verse 20, My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bite them continually upon thy heart, and tie them about thy 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 the commandment is a lamp, and the law is life, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life, to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Go to chapter 10, verse 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, chapter 10, verse 1. A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Go to chapter 23. Proverbs 23, 23. The Bible reads, Buy the truth and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and ye that begetth a wise child shall have joy of him. My father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my way. Now, Mother's Day is the day we honor mothers, right? We give them a gift, we give them a call, we tell them that we love them, we tell them that we appreciate them. And one of the ways I want to do that this morning is by recognizing the great work that they're doing and how important their job is, and how important their role is. But here we see also that the rejoicing of a mother is when the child that she bore does right, when he follows God's laws, when he lives a good life and serves God. That is the rejoicing. It's like the Apostle John said in the book of 3 John, he said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Here it says, that's what's going to make mother be glad. That's what's going to make her rejoice. And you know, I think the nicest thing that you could do for your mother today is to be a righteous person yourself, and to be a godly Christian. That's what's going to make mom proud. You know, do the right thing, serve God, live for God and she'll be proud. Look at chapter 29 verse 15. It says in chapter 29 verse 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. You see, God puts a responsibility of parenting, not just on the father, but he puts a responsibility on the mother and says that there's going to be shame upon the mother of the child who's left to himself. The child whose mother does not spend time with him, does not spend time training him and teaching him and bringing him or her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Bible says a child left himself bringing his mother to shame. On that note, look at Proverbs 31 verse 1, just a few pages over. Proverbs 31, 1 says the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. Here we have a man who has taught the Bible by his mother. And this whole great chapter in the Bible is from the mouth of his mother that was taught to him. Being a mother is an important role of laying down the law, being the law giver, being the one who rules that house, being the one who teaches the Bible, teaches them. You say, well, I thought the man's the leader. Yes, the man is the leader, but guess what? The man is out of the home working most of the time. Therefore, he can't be the primary caregiver. The mother was designed as the primary caregiver. You know, the husband goes out and brings in the income, and obviously he has a role of teaching, training, spending time with his children. But the mother is the one that's there day in and day out. You know, the saying that has been said, the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. But the problem is today that instead of godly mothers rocking the cradles of this world, we have basically outsourced that so that we can do other things that are more important. And that's exactly what the EMI is talking about here. You know, I'm doing a great work. I cannot come down. And I believe that part of the downfall of the American society is the destruction of the family and the destruction of that mother being there, loving, caring for, ruling, laying down the law, disciplining, teaching, preaching the Bible, prophesying unto. Hey, that's what we're missing today. That's why so many children are going astray in many cases because they're being raised by someone other than their mother. And they ought to be raised by their father and mother, not raised by the government, not raised by a daycare, not raised by some school somewhere. Go to 1 Kings chapter 3. You see, there are people out there who believe that the government should raise their child. It's out there. You can go all the way back to thousands of years ago that Greek philosophers, like Plato, who said, take the children away from their parents and raise them by the state so that the state can have the power, so that the state can run smoothly and break apart the family. That's satanic. That's not of God. God ordained the family unity, the fathers and mothers. But there are people out there who go to universities and study Plato and study all this stuff, and there are people in our government today who think that the government is going to do a better job of raising the children than the parents, and so they want to keep getting them out of the home earlier. You know, it's not just first grade. It's kindergarten, and then it's K4 and K3, and then it's the early start and the end start. You know, get them raised by someone else. I believe that the best person to raise a child is their mother and their father. They say, wait a minute. I know so-and-so's a bad mother. You know, I don't think that so-and-so's a qualified mom. I don't think she's... You know, I think they'd be better off down at the happy bunny daycare or whatever, you know, because so-and-so's a bad mother. But hold on a second. Let's see if that jives with the Bible. Look at 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 16. It says... This is King Solomon, and he's been in doubt with this great wisdom by God, if you remember, because that's what he prayed for. It says in verse 16, Then came their two women that were harlots. Now, let me ask you this. Is that a godly woman? Is this a woman that's a righteous example? Is this a woman that you would look at and say, that is a fit mother? That's a right mother? Let me be honest. You'd say, no. I mean, do you think that a harlot is going to make a great parent? I mean, think about it. Does everybody know what a harlot is? Put up your head if you know what a harlot is. Okay, good. I don't want to explain it anyway. These two women are harlots. That's pretty low on the totem pole, okay? It says that these two women were harlots. They came under the king and stood before him in verse 17, and the one woman said, Oh my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was deliberate of a child with her in the house. Now, is this really God's plan for the family? Two harlots living together in a house with children? No. God's plan would be a father, a mother, a child, but this is the situation. And it says, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was deliberate of a child with her in the house, and it came to pass the third day that I was deliberate that this woman was deliberate also. So basically, these babies are born three days apart, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, save we two and that. Just the two of us and our two babies, they're the same. And this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it, and she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while my handmaid slept and laid in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son which I compared. So basically, the one lady's child dies. This is what the woman is claiming. One woman's child dies, and she swaps it with the living baby. So the other lady wakes up, and she's horrified to see that her child has died in the night, but then she takes a closer look and says, wait a minute, this isn't my son. This is her son. It's been switched. And the other woman said, verse 22, nay, but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, no, but the dead is thy son and the living is my son. Thus they speak for themselves. So they just argue about it. No, yours is dead. No, yours is dead. So Solomon has no way of knowing who's telling the truth. This is one person's word against another. They didn't have the DNA or whatever. So look what the king said. Then said the king, the one sayeth, this is my son that liveth, and thy son is dead. The other sayeth, hey, but thy son is the dead and my son is the living. So he's just boiling it down. It's pretty much this one person's word against another. And the king said, bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king says, divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other. That's pretty strange speaking. He basically is just acting angry and frustrated and says, you know, you just get to see her vigor by her brother. Okay, just cut it in half and split it. Next. Then spake the woman who's the living child wasn't the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son. And she said, oh, my lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. She's horrified, obviously, that this child's going to be divided. But the king said, divide the living child in two and half and split it in two But the other said, let it be neither mine nor mine, but divide it. Pretty strange, huh? Then the king answered and said, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. He was never planning on doing that. He was just basically testing them. And in no wise slay it, she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment was the king had judged and they feared the king. But they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment. Now, let's transport this story into 2011. They're at family court. They go down there with this problem. And basically, you know what happened today? They'd say, well, neither of you are fit parents. Let's adopt this child out. Let's put it into the system and let's get you a drug test and let's put the child in a happier home. But what did God's judgment say? Give her the child. Why? Why did he give her the child? Because she's the mother thereof. And see, guess who gave her that child originally? God. Every mother today who has a child, the Bible says that children are a gift from God. The Bible says, lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. So having a child is a blessing from God. So who are we to basically say that the woman who was given a child is not fit to raise that child? Then why did God give her that child if she's not fit to raise it? But you know, we in our own wisdom and our own understanding want to cast judgment on everyone else. And look, these are some women who are living a wicked life. But yet in the Bible here they were told, give it to her because she is the mother. But notice something about the one who is not the mother. Did she want to have the child? Well, hold on a second. She did want it. Yes. Because wait a minute. The woman whose son it was not, in order that she might have it. So did the one that was not the mother, did she want that child? She wanted it. Because she basically went through all this and stole it and stood in front of pretty much the most powerful man in the world and argued and bickered and lied. She lied to the face of the most powerful man in the world at that time. So she obviously wanted that baby, didn't she? But wait a minute. Did she have qualms about sacrificing it? Did she have an affection of not killing it? And look, let me just tell you. And this sermon may offend people, but you know what? I'm not the one. If you came here to this church this morning, just remember, I didn't come to you this morning. I didn't get in my car and drive to your house this morning. And I'm not saying this is my house. But I am saying that it's God's house and that I'm here to preach God's Word, not to preach what you like. When I come to your house, we'll talk about the things that you want to talk about. Okay? When we come to God's house, we're going to talk about the things that God talks about. And we're not going to trim the message, and we're not going to make it fit in with today's 2011 society and make it politically correct. This is not politically correct Baptist. This is Bible preaching. And let me tell you something. There are people who would love to take your children and take care of them for you and raise them for you, but they're not the mother and they don't love that child as much as the mother loves that child. They do not love your child as much as the child's own mother loves that child. You see, there was a physical connection here between this lady and her child. It's in her vowels yearned upon her son. I mean, there was just an affection there because this is a child that she had nursed and had slept in bed with and given birth to and gone through. I mean, there was a physical connection there that somebody who is a hired caregiver just can't provide. Go to John chapter 10. Go to John chapter 10. John chapter number 10. And the Bible reads in verse 11. In John 10 and 11, the Bible reads, I am the good shepherd. This is Jesus Christ speaking. The good shepherd is the light for the sheep, but he that is a hireling and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth, and the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. Now, think about business. This is basically a business illustration because sheep here represent basically property. Throughout the Bible, wealth is often measured in cattle, sheep, oxen. That was a form of wealth in those days. Well, imagine this. Let's say you walk into a business, right? And let's say you have a problem with that business and you want to correct the problem and you're trying to talk to them. And sometimes you'll be talking to somebody who's just kind of a paid employee. Maybe they're not even a manager. Maybe they're just kind of a bottom shelf, maybe they're just more of a minimum wage, just kind of an employee. And sometimes you'll tell them something like, hey, I'm not going to come back here to this business again. I'm not going to come to this restaurant again. I'm not going to come to this store again because I've been done wrong here. And sometimes they're just like, okay. So what? Who cares? And you might tell them, I'm going to tell everybody. I mean, who's ever been, you've never said that before. I'm going to tell everybody not to come here because of how you've done me dirty. And they'll say, so what? I don't care. Because guess what? They're going to get their whatever dollars per hour no matter how many customers come and go. But let's say you're dealing with the owner, okay? And you say, well, I'm never going to come back here again and I'm going to tell everybody in my church or I'm going to tell all my friends. That person might say, well, hey, wait, let's see if we can correct this or let's make this right. You know, that's why it reminds you you've probably said, let me see the manager. Because you want to talk to somebody who cares about your issue, not somebody who's just a hiring person. I mean, when you're the owner of that business, let's say a worker drops and spills stuff. Whoops, so what? And money's going down the drain or whatever at a business. They're breaking stuff. They're damaging stuff. But the owner is like, whoa, don't do that. Why? Because he has to pay for it to be lost to him. And God's using that example here of basically somebody who owns the sheep, okay? Not only is he the owner, he has a financial interest in those sheep, but also he has affection for those sheep because they belong like you would have for the family dog. You know, other people aren't going to care about your dog, but you care about your dog because it's your family pad and you have affection for it and you love that dog, okay? But it's the same thing here. He says if somebody's just hired to watch the sheep and a wolf's coming, he's just thinking to himself, I don't want to get attacked by this wolf. I'm out of here. I'm not taking chances with this wolf. And he just runs off. But the one who is the owner of the sheep and the one who loves the sheep, he's actually going to stay there and fight the battle, risk himself, risk it all to fight the wolf off. Now, Deas is using this illustration, of course, not about sheep, not about animals. He's basically explaining that basically he's the good shepherd and we are his sheep. He cares about us. He loves us. Not like a hireling, but like someone who is basically a shepherd, a good shepherd. Like, for example, the word pastor means shepherd. That's what the word pastor means. So let's say I'm the pastor of the church, right? I love the people in my church. I care about them, okay? I want to sacrifice for them and try to do everything I can for them. Okay, let's say I go and I'm just visiting another church somewhere and I'm just preaching in another church somewhere. Am I going to love those people the same way that I love, you know, my own sheep here that God is, you know, the flock, the Bible says, take heed of the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you an overseer. You know, the flock here, God's flock, God's inheritance here, God's house, he has put me over a certain portion of his flock here and that is important to me and I'm supposed to love the sheep and take care of them. But I'll just be honest with you, if I'm visiting somewhere else, I'm not going to feel that way about another church. You know, because it's not my church. You know, you come to this church and I hope you feel the same way about this church. I hope you would say Maple Road Baptist Church is my church and I love this church and the people around me are important to me. This is the most important thing and this is the most important group to us because this is who we are. And that's why I've made a commitment that I do not, you know, I've been invited to preach at different, I never will preach at another church on a Sunday morning, Sunday night or Wednesday night. I'm not going to go do it and be a guest speaker somewhere because guess what? This is the most important place for me to be preaching. You know, oh, you can preach this big crowd. This is where I want to be preaching. You know, this is where the pastor was never there and he's gone literally half the time and he's preaching here, he's preaching there, he's preaching there. You know, that's all fine and dandy but you know what? I felt a little bit left out in the cold there because I wanted him to be there because I loved him. I wanted to hear his preaching and I felt like I was being shuffled off to somebody, somebody who was a hierarchy instead of the real guy, you know? And I've had guest speakers preach but I was here. You know, I sat here. I was here because we all wanted to listen to that guest speaker preach because it's important to me because it's my sheep. It's my church. It's not someone else's church. And you know, people always criticize me when I say my church. It's not your church. Well, is that my wife? I mean, are these my kids? I mean, it is so stupid. Is that my car? I mean, I'm not saying that I own it. I'm saying it's my church. I mean, this is what's so dumb. How many of you have ever said, come visit my church with me sometime? Hey, you want to come to my church? Oh, are you saying you own it? It's stupid. I'm not saying I own it. But it is my church. I mean, my hometown is Sacramento. I'm not saying I own the whole town. But Sacramento is my town. You know, now Tempe is my hometown. You know, this is my church. This is my area. You know, these are my friends. They're my personal slaves. No, I'm just saying they're my friends. It's a term of endearment, right, that it ought to be. You know, and I hope you don't just, you're not just kind of, you come, you attend Faithful Word Baptist. I hope you say, no, I, well, I attend over again. I hope you say, well, Faithful Word Baptist Church is my church. And that's not going to offend me at all if you say it's my church. If you, you know, if you say, because it is your church, you know. And we all know it's God's house, yada, yada, yada. You know, people love to strive about words and it's to no profit. But anyway, the bottom line is the hire thing is different. Does everybody get the concept? The true shepherd, the good shepherd who loves his sheep and cares about preserving them is a lot different than just somebody who's hired, hey, watch these sheep and I'll pay you this much. Well, they're going to go around. Well, guess what? Hiring somebody to watch your kids is not the same as watching your own kids. It's true. And I'm not trying to offend anybody, but it's true. Hiring someone to watch your children is not the same as raising your own children. Let me give you some examples. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. So is it mother's job to use the rod and reproof with her child? Let me read to you again. The rod and reproof give wisdom, same sentence, but a child left to himself on the other hand is saying, bringeth his mother to shame. So is it mom's job to reproof the children and to use the rod of correction to be translation spanking? And people will say the rod's not spanking. Well, it says beat him with the rod and she'll have to deliver his soul. That sounds like a spanking. And so the rod is something that the mother does. But let me ask you, when you hire someone to watch your child, do they use the rod on your child? Think about it. You know, and people will try to defend it. Oh, it's just as good and better because they're getting all this, you know, training and teaching and they're experts and they're professionals and they dip their hands in chlorine and bleach and ammonia and they're all sanitary and they teach them at ABCs and they're so good at handling children they wear the right apron. But hold on a second. Do they use the rod on your child? I mean, I'm not sure how comfortable I would be without everybody just beating my children. I mean, I'd probably be okay with other people spanking my children, but you know what? It's just not going to be the same. You know, I used to get, let me think, who spanked me when I was a girl? I definitely got spanked by both my parents a lot. Mom and Dad. I got spanked, they told me I got spanked more than any other child. They had the first two children and they thought, they used to, they had Ronnie and Clint are my two older siblings. They had those two children and they would look at people with bad kids and just, oh, these people just don't know what they're doing because their kids are really good, they're like, weenie it. And then they're like, and then we had Steve. Then we realized that maybe these other parents weren't doing everything wrong. Maybe it just happens that way sometimes. And so they spanked me a lot and I used to also get spanked by my older brother and sister. I used to taunt them, you're not allowed to spank me when Mom's home. Because when Mom wasn't home, spanking privileges went in and they would spank me. As soon as Mom and Dad were out of the house and I was being watched, because my brother and sister are a lot older than me, six years and nine years respectively. They used to spank me when my parents were not home. So my parents really wanted to make sure I got the rod a lot. So even when they're gone, they had somebody, a higher limit, to spank me when they were all over the house, brother and sister. They didn't do it out of love though. You know what I mean? But anyway, the bottom line is, today if you drop your child off at the daycare, and even today people drop their children off at Christmas school, a young child in a Christmas school, and they'll say, well they spanked at that school. Well look, I went to Christmas schools where they spanked and you got to spank them like once a year. Who's been to a Christmas school where they offer spankings? Put it up your head. One, two, three. Okay, who got spanked at that Christmas school? How many times? I got spanked once, and guess what? It did not hurt as bad as when dad did it. When dad pulled out the sailboat rod, it was worse than that little wooden paddle. That was more of a humiliation you got at the Christmas school when you got that pad on the fanny with that wooden paddle. But I'm just here to tell you that nobody does it like mom. Nobody can spank you like mom. Nobody can spank you like dad. And nobody can recruit you and rebuke you like mom and dad. And they do it out of love. They don't do it because they hate you, they do it because they love you. The Bible says he that loveth him chaseth him betimes. Says he that spareth his rod hated his son, but he that loveth him chaseth him. Mom loves you, that's why she spanks you. Dad loves you, that's why he spanks you. And you're not going to get that by paying for it. You can't just hire somebody. Spank might love them and spank them. Spank them while you love them. It's not going to work. It's probably illegal. Seriously, I think it's probably in Arizona it's illegal to even hire somebody to spank you. You got to do it yourself. It's one of those things. And so the bottom line is, go to Matthew chapter number six if you would. Now think about some of the jobs that a mother does. First of all, we've seen some jobs that she teaches, she trains. You know, I thank God for my wife who does a Bible time with the children where she reads the Bible to them and she even expounds it to them and they read the Bible together. Frankly, I'm gone a lot. Because these days it's tough to make it on one income. But it's a burden that's worth bearing. And so I'm gone a lot, just working, and when I'm there I spend a ton of time with my kids and my wife. But let's just face it, we're out at work. We're out paying the bills and we leave our wife home with that important job of being the mother. And we know that it's her job to also teach the Bible. Obviously they're getting it Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, but they need to be getting it daily from mom. Morning, noon, and night from mother. The training, the teaching, the reviews. It's also mom's job to spank. That's straight out of the Bible, Proverbs 29 and 15. Not just, well, when dad gets home, you know, when the dad gets home and it's like, you know, you want to greet your family, you want to greet your wife and children. And instead it's like, okay, he gets eight spankings, he gets six, you know, basically she puts a mark on their hand for each spanking, you know. Okay, five. You know, that's not the first thing I want to do when I get home. You need to spank all these people. And plus, the key to discipline, and you know, this is a scriptural concept in Ecclesiastes, it talks about, you know, judgment coming swiftly upon sin. And the problem is, if they disobey at 9 a.m., dad comes home at 5.30 and he's supposed to spank them? They don't even remember, you know, it's like, what was this for? You see what I'm saying? And so you can't just, and I don't know, mothers sometimes will shy away from it, just try to put it all off on dad. No, it's both parents. And look, I'm not just making this up, it's straight out of Proverbs 29, 15. It says that mother needs to recruit, and mother needs to use that rod. So we saw that it's her job to teach the Bible, to spend time with them, not to leave them to themselves, to train them, to teach them, to read to them, and so forth. But it's also her job to feed and clothe, right? We're not going to turn there to take time, but Proverbs 31 talks about how she feeds her household, she clothes her household, she rises early and makes meat and makes breakfast and makes food, whatever. You know, she clothes, she feeds, that's a lot of work, you know, to do all that. But there's more to it than that. Look at Matthew chapter 26, or Matthew chapter 6 that is. I like to point out this verse. It says in verse number 25, Therefore I say unto you, take those off for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall bring, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. This is the phrase I want to focus on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? So isn't there more to life than just being fed and clothed? Now, God does tell us, hey, having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Because aren't those the two necessary needs of our life? Basically to survive today, we need food and we need raiment. Those are the two things that we're gonna die without. You know, if we don't have raiment, we're gonna freeze or burn up or get a sunburn or whatever. You know, even people that are homeless, you know, they have to have some kind of a coat or some kind of a clothing that they can shove through something. Those are our two physical needs that God has saved. And if we have those two things, we ought to be content, as long as we have food and raiment. And God says, don't worry about it. Take no thought for it. You know, the fouls in the air, the lilies in the field, God's saying, I'm gonna provide you with food and clothing. I'm gonna provide your needs. But he says, wait a minute, isn't life more than that, though? And when he says that life is more than that, what is he talking about? Look at verse 33. But see ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. You see, those are our two physical needs, food and raiment, but there's a greater spiritual need than just food and raiment, than just food and clothing. There's more to life than just I'm fed, I'm clothed, I live another day. No, we need to serve God. See, first the kingdom of God, preach the kingdom of God, study the Bible, pray to God, win souls to Jesus Christ, go to church, sing the hymns, praise God. This is what our life should be about. And so just because you've hired somebody to provide the physical need of food and clothing, and the typical business that you're gonna hire to do that, that's what they're gonna provide, food and clothing. They're gonna make sure that they're diapered, they're gonna make sure that they're clothed, they're gonna make sure that they're fed, they're gonna make sure that they're clean, but wait a minute, there's more to parenting than just putting a roof over their head, feeding them, and clothing them. There's the spiritual aspect, the loving aspect, the training, the nurturing, the caring for your children, and it's a big job. Often I've had bosses at work who ask me to have my wife do this and my wife to do that. You know, basically my boss would talk, hey, just have your wife do this and that. You know, some job that's gonna take a few hours or something. And I would repeatedly tell them, you know, I said, you know what, my wife has enough to do. I'll do that. If it needs to be done, let me do it or find someone else to do it, but I'm not gonna sit there and have my wife doing all this because let's face it, my wife works more than a full-time job. And you know, if you really apply yourself to being a mother and really apply yourself to being a wife, it's a full-time job. I mean, every once in a while, I kind of dabble in it. Like this morning is Mother's Day, so I get up and I, you know, I'm gonna make the breakfast and everything. You know, it's a lot of work. I mean, just, you know, especially when you have a lot of kids and you gotta get out all these plates and you gotta cook all this food and you're trying to cook like three different foods at the same time. You know, you got the bacon over here. You got the eggs over here. You got the toast over here. You got the orange juice over here. You know, you're trying to juggle it all and get all that, it's a big job. Then you gotta clean it all up and then you gotta do the dishes and all the time the kids are, what are they doing? So you gotta like watch the kids while you're doing, you know, while you're cooking. And then you gotta teach them how to read. Who here has taught a child to read? It's a hard job, isn't it? And a lot of people, that's why they will hire somebody to do that because it is the most frustrating, time-consuming, maybe your kids just picked it right up, but it's work. I mean, it's hard work. But it's really, really important to start them out reading because then they can read on their own and then they're learning a lot on their own. But man, it's a lot of work to sit there and just go, ah. A says ah as in apple. You know, I says is in Indian. You go through all that and you go every letter and then they can't combine it. You know, the word is can't. Cuh, ah, nuh. No. And I say it together. Can. And it's a lot of hard work of teaching and training and educating your children. And it's a lot of work to keep the place cleaned up after them. It's a lot of work to keep an eye and supervise, to feed them, to clothe them, to train them, to teach them. And it's get up early and stay up late and it's pretty much work all around. That's where it comes down to. And let me tell you something. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. That's why people don't have kids today. That's why the latter-day saints, you know, the Mormons out of Mesa, that's why they have ten kids while fundamental Baptists, you know, won't refuse to have children. You know, and look, and by the way, this is faithful word Baptist Church. Welcome to the place that tells you the truth. God didn't invent birth control. God didn't invent birth control. God didn't invent birth control. God didn't invent all these devices and pills and all this stuff. It was invented by wicked people like Margaret Sanger from Planned Parenthood. And today, we just let enough time go by and all the world's trash from the early part of the 1900s is today Christian culture as the landmark is moved. What was considered obscene, what was considered wicked and sinful 75 years ago, today is what's considered conservative. Wow! You're a radical Christian. You're one of these really, you know, old-fashioned because you're living like the worldly, ungodly people lived 75 years ago. And I'm here to tell you, there's a reason why families refuse to have children because it's a lot of work because it's hard work being a mother. That's why they don't want to have children. And that's why they let all the Muslims and the Mormons and all the false religions of this world have all the children and raise them and teach them everything that's false. Well, God's people are too busy doing some other work and they need to say, wait a minute, sorry, can't come down. I'm doing a great work here raising my family. This is important. This is a priority. Amen. And some people even think, well, if I have too many children, I can't serve God, go soul winning is my thing. You know what? If soul winning is stopping you from having children, maybe you just need to tone down your soul winning. Say, oh, what are you talking about? Because you know what? I'm raising a whole slew of soul winners back there that are going to win all kinds of souls. Oh, I'm too busy to raise my children. I'm too busy to have children. I'm going to go out and get the world saved. Hey, I'm only one person. But if I can multiply myself by six, by ten, by whatever number, you know what? I'm going to get more done for God. And I'll be obedient to God. Imagine that. Instead of leaning on my own understanding and say, well, I have a better idea. I'm going to go to Walgreens and go to the druggist and get drugs and get tools and get accoutrements so that I can just do it my way, so that I can come down and get gas bag or gas moo or whatever. Gas moo will stop criticizing me. And people are going to criticize you ladies and tell you, well, you're not reaching your full potential because you're a mother. You need to have the career. You need to go ahead and get your education. You need to do this and that. You know what? I say they need to get an education in this book. Amen. And tell Gas Cow or whatever his name is, you know, to mind their own business. And they said it to him five times. And he just kept saying, and it says, I answer them the same way every time. You know, people are going to bug you. People are going to give you bad times. People are going to criticize you. And they'll criticize this church because of this preaching. But you know what? It's God's word. And we need to understand that being a mother is your most important job, ladies. And I salute my wife today. And I salute every mother in the room. And I just pray that you'll understand the sermon this morning and say, you know what? The most important thing I do is not going out and, you know, working a job or getting some degree or something. You know, to do the important thing that God created you to do, which is to be a mother. And maybe God hasn't given you children. Well, you know what? You're in a different situation then, you know? Because God chooses who to give children to. And He opens and closes the womb. That's very biblical. And you may not even be married at this time. Or you may have just not had children. Or you may be past the age of having children. But the bottom line is, if God has given you children, that is going to be your big job right there. That's what I believe. And I know that that's what eats up my wife. I know that's what eats up my wife's time. Most of her time is spent on the children. But you know what? That's as it should be. That's the way it should be. Children should be raised by their mother. That's what the Bible says. And dads should be there, too. And, you know, we could preach another sermon on dads. I guess that's in June sometime or whatever. Anyway, I hope you'll take it to heart this morning and say, you know what? I'm going to love my mom. I'm going to rise up and bless her and thank her. And, you know, you ought to call Mom today and thank her. I already got that call. I didn't care this morning. So my wife was all over me saying, you need to call her right now. Because I usually call her later today. It's not that I'm not going to call her. I just call her a little later. But she said, you need to call her right now, first thing in the morning. I called my mom, and I told my mom that I loved her and I thanked her. And you know what? I love my mom, and I'm very thankful. My mom is the one who won me in the Lord. She's the one who gave me the gospel and got me saved as a small child. And my mother taught me many great things. My mother used the rod on me thousands of times. And, you know, my mother really taught me a lot and was a good mother. And you know what? Nobody's perfect. And I don't want you to be, if you're a mother today, you're like, oh, man, you know, don't be down on yourself again. You know, it's a tough job. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. But just decide today, hey, this is an important calling. This is my important job. These children are my life's work. And don't let anybody try to tell you, oh, you're only a household. Oh, you just stay home with the kids. Is that all? It must be nice to have all that time. That's what my wife was in. My wife was in, was it Staples? My wife was in Staples this week, and she was getting something copied or whatever. She said Staples gave something copied. And this lady is like moving at a snail's pace. She walks over to the printer and just kind of, you know, watches it and just kind of, you know, it took her like 20 minutes to do a really basic job. And then she said to my wife, you know, man, it must be nice to just stay home with the kids and just have all that time. You could just, you know, it's like, you're the one who looks like you've got a lot of time. You know, I mean, there are ladies who sit in a reception desk that, I mean, like, I don't know what it is. My sister seems to always have, we had to censor this from the internet or anything. My younger sister always has these jobs where she has a lot of spare time. And I remember she had a job where she actually worked for the state of California. And I mean, she had nothing to do. She'd go around saying, is there anything I can help you with? And people are like, no, we're just as bored as you are. And she would sit there and be on the internet. She's playing video games. She's on the phone. She's just doing everything but working. Let's face it, being a mother can be a more physical job than clocking in somewhere, than standing at a register or sitting at a desk. I mean, being a mother is multitasking. It's a hard job. It's hard work. You've got to deal with hazmat. You've got to deal with all kinds of, you know, emergencies and cooking. I mean, you're doing a lot of jobs. And so don't let people look down on you. Be proud of you. Take pride in you. It used to be a badge of honor. Today it's thought of as, oh, you're just a mother. But you know what? It ought to be a badge. Yeah, just a stay-at-home mother, stay-at-home wife, stay-at-home housewife. You know, that's a great calling right there. And so God bless all of our mothers today. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God, and for the wisdom. Sometimes the wisdom flies in the face of the world who would tell us that, you know, take children away from bad parents and don't spank the children and, you know, get them the head start so they can get ahead by, you know, paying somebody to do it. And Father, help us to just put aside all that stuff and just really get into our Bibles and read and put away preconceived ideas. Help us just to get your word and your wisdom. And Father, help my wife and I to impart that wisdom onto our children and those that we love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.