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But yes, Psalm 22, look at verse number 10. The Bible reads, I was cast upon thee from the womb, thou art my God from my mother's belly. The title of the sermon tonight is from my mother's belly, from my mother's belly or my mother's womb, if you want to put it that way. So we're continuing our series on the family. We spoke about the family institution. We've gone through what it means to be a man in general, what it means to be a woman in general. We've gone what it means to be a husband, what it means to be a wife, you know. And now we're, you know, on Father's Day, we went through what it means to be a father. Now we're looking at mothers. And as I'm going through this series, I realize, man, there's a lot of issues to cover because I've still got to cover raising children. I've still got to cover just marriage in general, you know, not really from a man's perspective or woman's perspective, just in general what marriage is, you know, raising your children and maybe even homeschooling, maybe throwing in a homeschooling sort of sermon in there and also one directed just to the kids, you know, children obey the Lord. I'm sorry, obey your parents is what I, obey the Lord as well. Okay. So there's a lot of different topics to cover as we cover through this series on the family. So yeah, so we're going to be looking at, you know, a baby from the mother's belly. What does that mean? Okay. Now keep your finger there. Please turn to Psalm 127. We're coming back to Psalm 22. Please turn to Psalm 127, Psalm 127 and let's look at verse three, Psalm 127 verse three. The first thing I want to stress, and I can't believe I have to stress this, but I have to stress this because the world has children upside down, okay? And even in your churches, even in your churches of believers of Christians don't know this verse, don't understand this verse. Let's have a look at it. Psalm 127 verse three, lo, what's lo? It's kind of like look, behold, pay attention, okay? This is important to know. It's been stressed in the Bible. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, okay? And the fruit of the womb is his reward, okay? This is the first thing that we need to understand. First point about being a mother is that children are a reward to you from God, okay? And children are a reward. It's an heritage. You know, it's the same idea of an inheritance, okay? God has given you an inheritance, you're his child, you've been born again and part of the reward that he wants to give you upon this earth is children, okay? And it's a reward. When do you earn rewards, okay? It's when you're doing well, okay? It's when, you know, the Lord looks down and has favor upon you and he wants to give you a reward, okay, for being a faithful servant, for being a faithful son of his or a faithful daughter of his and he gives you the fruit of the womb, okay? Now, this needs to be stressed because the world in general see children as a burden, don't they? Okay? And it is work. I'm not denying that. Having children is work but is it a burden? Is it a curse, you know? Is it something to look down on? You know, when I'm walking with Christina, we have our 10 kids with us, there's a mixed reaction. Some people think it's an amazing blessing and thank God for those people, they encourage us. And then there are others that think, man, you're cursed. You know, the others think, man, you need to buy a television or whatever, you know? And little do they know, we had television, we still had kids, all right, because that's normal. It's normal for a married couple, you know, for the wife to fall pregnant and have children. But I want you to understand, it's his reward, children, okay? Meaning that children are valuable in the eyes of God, okay? They might not be valuable in the eyes of the world, they're definitely not valuable in the eyes of Satan, okay? Because Satan has his agenda, all right? They're murdering how many babies every day? Was it 150 babies a day in Australia? I think it was 150 babies, you know, every day. Obviously the world and Satan's, you know, ministers and Satan's agents on this world hates children and wants to kill them in the mother's belly, okay? Because why? Why do you think they want to do that? Because the Bible says it's the fruit of the womb. It's a reward from God. And obviously whatever good comes from God, the devil's going to want to destroy it, okay? So the first thing you need to understand, if children are valuable in the eyes of God, they need to be valuable in your eyes. You know, you need to be able to look at your children and have great value, great appreciation, great honor in the reward that God has given you, okay? Meaning that you're going to look after this reward, aren't you? You're going to protect this award. You're not going to let anybody take that reward away from you. Now let's just take the Olympics for an example. Let's say you were training for the Olympics. Let's say Jason, for example, he's training for the marathon, all right? Let's say for some reason, you know, Jason, you know, practices and prepares himself for this marathon that's, you know, one mile marathon I think is your next goal. And let's say he wins it. Let's say he, you know, he comes first in the marathon and he wins it. And I don't know if they give you gold medals, but let's say you get a gold medal. Let's say you get a great reward. You know, you get a check, a reward for the hard work you've put in, you know, are you then going to take that reward after all that work, after all that preparation, after all that honor that's given to you, are you then going to give it to somebody else? Of course not, right? You work hard for something, you get rewarded for it, you're going to look after that reward, okay? You've worked hard for it. You're not just going to give it to somebody else. And yet, what do people want to do with their kids, all right? They want to give it to somebody else. You know, it's too much work to look after my kids. I'm going to send them to the, you know, daycare, I'm going to send them to the schools, I'm going to send them wherever else, you know, wherever else, even to the grandparents, you know, instead of me looking after my own kids. You know, it's wrong. God has given you children and we need to learn to value our children. That's point number one. Children are a reward from God. Now go back to Psalm 22 verse 9, Psalm 22 verse 9, Psalm 22 verse 9, the Bible reads, But thou art he that took me out of the womb, thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. Listen, children that are born in a Christian home, their God is already the God of the Bible. All right? They're going to hear me anyway. Okay? Look at verse number 10. I was cast upon thee from the womb, thou art my God from my mother's belly. Okay? You know why? It's because when ladies are coming to church and they're pregnant, babies can hear what's going on, right? If they come to church, they're going to hear the singing. You know, they come to church, they're going to hear the Bible reading, they're going to hear the preaching and hopefully at home, hopefully as a family, you have time where as a family, you're reading the Bible together and you're learning from the Bible and they're going to hear that as well. Okay? And so as soon as that baby's born, it's not going to know too much more, but hopefully the God of the Bible. Okay? But can you imagine if you're pregnant and you surround yourself with, you know, the world's TV programs and the world's music and the world's entertainment, then when that baby's born, you think that baby's going to be able to say, you're my God from my mother's belly? No. It's going to, that baby's going to think, wow, I'm a part of this world. I'm finally here. You know, I've been hearing all this stuff from the world and so you need to understand how important this is. I know it's hard for us to grasp because when we think of a newborn baby, we think that they don't know anything and yet the Bible tells us that their God can be the God of the Bible, can be the one true God if they're raised up in a Christian home. Okay? We're hearing these things from the mother's womb and you can see how God values that little child there. Okay? How God values the little baby. Okay? Turn to Psalm 139, Psalm 139 verse 12, Psalm 139 verse 12, Psalm 139 verse 12. The Bible reads, yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Now you see in a minute, this is speaking about being darkened or, you know, being hidden if you will, in the mother's womb. Look at verse number 13, for thou has possessed my rains and if you remember, we've not learned long ago what it means, what the rains mean, right? It means, hey, God has started to create this baby from the mother's womb. It says thou has covered me in my mother's womb. Did you know while you're in your mother's womb, the Lord has his hand upon that little child? The Lord is covering that little child. It's developing that little child. Okay? And again, think how wicked abortion is. Think how wicked to kill that little baby that God is developing and God is wanting to protect. I mean, we live in a wicked nation, honestly. It's going on every single day, all right? And I'll be honest, most days I don't even think about it, you know, but it's 150 babies in Australia being killed every day, let alone what's going on in the world, okay? Let alone what's going on with the, you know, birth control pills, you know, instant abortions going on during those times. So we're not even counting those numbers. But look at verse number 14. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. So the Psalmist says, look, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, okay? You know, pregnancy, the little baby developing and growing and developing its members and its arms and its face developing, all that is fearful and wonderful at the same time, okay? Science can't replicate this, okay? They can't just create life out of nothing, you know? They have to take the, you know, what God has provided, the egg and the seed, and only there can they make life in a laboratory and even then they fail most of the times, okay? It's a fearful and wonderful thing to be created in the mother's womb, you know? Verse 15, my substance, this is sort of talking about the fact that it's not fully developed. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance. You know, before you see that little baby in the ultrasound, before anyone can see that little development take place, God's eyes are already on that little baby, okay? God already sees his substance, yet being unperfect, what does that mean? Incomplete, okay? Baby's still developing. And in thy book, all my members were written. You know, God already knows, you know, how that baby's going to look. God already knows every number that's going to be on that baby's head. God already knows all how that baby's going to be, you know, his personality. God has already ordained that in his book. It says, in which continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them. So before I was fully developed, before any of these things, before my countenance developed, you already knew what I'm going to be like. You already know us from the very beginning, okay? We need to value pregnancy. We need to value little babies that are developing in the mother's womb. It's the reward of God, okay? And I'm going to quickly read to you from Psalm 113. You can turn there if you want since you're in Psalms. Psalm 113 verse 9, because it is not God's intention for women to be barren, okay? It is the intention of the world. It is the intention of many married couples, but it is not God's intention that women would be barren. Psalm 113 verse 9, it says, He maketh the barren woman to keep house, how? And to be a joyful mother of children, praise ye the Lord, okay? If you've been barren and you've fallen pregnant, and this happens to a lot of women, a lot of Christian women struggle to fall pregnant, okay? I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's just, you know, our bodies since creation are deteriorating or whether it's the kind of foods that we eat or the different chemicals that, you know, are in different products. You know, I definitely know birth control has a lot to blame for it, but there might be some other reasons, okay? But even then, God will help the barren woman to keep house. God wants the barren woman to fall pregnant, to have a role in the house, and be a joyful mother of children, okay? Not a burdened mother of children, not a depressed mother of children, not a stressed mother of children. He wants her to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord, okay? And so with your children, you ought to be able to turn to God and praise God for the great reward that is given in your life. Mothers, okay? Listen for mothers. There's a lot here that fathers can learn from as well, okay? Now, does anyone know what the average number of children per family is in Australia right now? Anybody? Yeah? Less than two. Well, it's almost two. It's 1.8. 1.8? You know, when I was in school, and I don't know if this was primary school or high school, I remember we went through this in one of the classes, and the average number of children was 2.5 at then, you know, that was a long ago. And back then, I was like, wow, that's so little compared to what previous generations would have, okay? 1.8 kids per family right now in Australia. Now, this is very unheard of. It's very unusual, okay? Now, we've grown up in this generation, okay? We're used to it. We're used to families having, you know, one, two, three kids, whatever, okay? We think that's normal, okay? And when you see a mother with eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve kids, that's abnormal, okay? But, you know, in other places in the world, not, you know, not the Western nations, okay, it's normal to have eight kids. It's normal to have nine, ten kids. You know, my parents, now, my mom, she only had two, you know, me and my brother, she only had two sons, okay? But she came from a family of, I think it was eight, and my dad came from a family of about eight or nine. I can't, right now, I'm not sure, okay? That was normal. And everyone was like that. I used to think, wow, that's amazing, that's so many kids, okay? Until I realized, hold on, just a few generations ago, that was absolutely normal. Sometimes I go around here with all my kids and people are saying, wow, yeah, you know, I grew up in a large family. I grew up in a large family of eight, nine, ten kids, you know? Or my parents, they had eight siblings or, you know, they had seven sisters and three brothers, and it was perfectly normal not that long ago. There's been a big shift, okay? Because back then, there was at least a fear of God. I'm not saying they were all saved and all Christian, but there was some fear of God and there was some appreciation of having children. You know, there was still this appreciation and this enjoyment, and they were still seen as a reward, okay? Now, here's what I think has taken place, okay? Because in my generation, everyone feels entitled, you know? Everyone feels the world owes them something. Just because I live, just because I exist, okay? And I'm thinking about this, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but I reckon television is at fault, honestly, okay, television. Because television really came into households around the 70s, the 80s, that kind of generation. There were TVs before that, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't like, you know, you didn't see one in every household, you know? In the 70s and 80s, every household started to buy television, it became affordable for the average family. Today, most houses have four or five televisions in their house, probably one in every bedroom. And then you've got probably a computer in every bedroom, plus an iPad in every bedroom, and an iPhone in every bedroom, right? I mean, there are screens everywhere these days, okay? And since the introduction of television and television shows, yeah, you know, they get your attention with entertainment, but they would advertise, they would have to pay their networks with advertising, okay, with marketing. And when they start advertising, they want you to buy their products, okay? And this is something new, this is something new in our world. There was no such thing, really, as advertising in your house before, maybe on billboards or maybe on the sides of a shop, but not directly from television, okay? And of course, they come and they want to sell you something, they advertise, they tell you how important it is for you to have this product, they tell you how important it is for you to look after yourself, and you start creating a selfish generation. It's all about me, okay? It's no longer about others, it's not God first, then others, then me, it becomes all about me, okay? And then you go out and you buy those products, and it's all about you, okay? And then parents, one generation, all it takes is for them to have a couple of children, maybe one child, and one child is going to grow up selfish. I don't care if you have the best intentions, okay? I don't care if you're the best Christian parents, even with one child, I know, even if you don't try, they're going to grow up being selfish, because they don't have siblings to have to not compete against, but they don't have siblings that they have to share the attention of mom and dad, they don't have siblings that they have to share the attention from the grandparents, and from the uncles, and the relatives. It all becomes about me, and then having to go and purchase these products, and spending money on useless things, now you need to send your wife to work, okay? To afford just to live, to afford to buy a house, to afford to do anything. You got to send your wife out there, obviously mom can't be there to look after the kids, so it makes sense to have one or two or three kids, all right? And then those kids, because they grow up more selfish, they grow up, and they're like, I don't want to have kids, because I've learnt that it's all about me, and if I have a wife, and if I have kids, then I've got to give attention to my family, and I don't want to do that. I'd rather live till I'm 30, till I'm 40, maybe then I'll start looking for a wife, right? It's too late by then, you know, you're stuck in your ways, and no one wants you by then, because you're so stubborn, you know, it's easier to change when you're younger, and adopt a family when you're younger, you know? And so I truly believe this is what's happened, because it's really just the last one or two generations that this has changed, and I'm just seeing that we live in a selfish generation, it's all about me, it's all about me, and look, I'm probably not exempt from that, I probably think like that, you know, if I was born a few generations ago, maybe I wouldn't be the way I am, maybe I'm still influenced by this way of thinking as well, okay? So my point is, children are not appreciated these days, okay? Children are not appreciated, they're not seen as a reward from God, they're seen as a burden that it will take me away from fulfilling my own, you know, my own lusts, fulfilling my own desires, and my own selfish needs, my own selfish desires. And I mean, we've got more than previous generations ever had, you know, most women now have a washing machine and a dryer and, you know, a slow cooker and appliances to help them just get through life, and a few generations ago, it wasn't like that, you know, they had to do, they had to work hard, right? I think my mother-in-law, I think you had to go and wash clothes in the river or something, you know, that was what you had to do, okay? And we have all these appliances to look after our needs, but for some reason, we still can't have kids, right? And it's the devil's plan, it's the devil's plan to make our society and families and even Christian families lose the value of children, okay? So point number one, guys, mothers especially, if you're going to be a good mother, if you're going to be a good mother, the first thing you need to do is develop a value for your children. You must appreciate children as a reward, you see them as a reward, as something valuable given to you by God, okay? And if you don't have that value, you need to ask God to give you that value of children in your eyes, okay? And that's where you need to start. If you're going to be a good godly mother, you need to start appreciating the children that God has given you, okay? And I know some days are hard to appreciate them, okay? But overall, you know, learn to appreciate what God has given you. The second point, the second point, please turn to Proverbs 31, Proverbs 31. The next point I want to bring up about our mothers is that your husband has entrusted you with the children, okay? Your husband has entrusted you with the children, Proverbs 31 verse 10. We already went through the virtuous woman, but I just want to draw out this point here again. Proverbs 31 verse 10, who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rupees? Look at this, her heart, sorry, the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil, okay? If you're trying to work toward being that virtuous woman, yes, that covers being a wife, but it also covers being a mother, okay? You've got to understand that your husband wants to trust you with the responsibility that God has given you, okay? Your husband entrusts you with the children, okay? In the same way, ladies, as you entrust your husband to be the protector of the family, to be the provider of the home, to provide security, okay? You know, a wife should not be worried about having the necessities met. You should be saying, hey, that's my husband's responsibility, you know, he's taking care of that, I don't have to worry about that, I'll focus on what I need to worry about, okay? I'll focus on what the tasks that I have at hand. And the husband ought not to worry that the children aren't being raised properly, okay? Because the husband has trusted his wife to take care of that. Now, I'm not saying the husband should never step in and help out, and of course they've got responsibilities, we'll look at this later in another sermon, to raise the children as well. But you know, husbands, they're usually out at work, they're usually out for eight, nine, ten hours, you know, maybe more per day, so who's going to spend more time with the children, mum or dad? It's going to be the mothers, just naturally, right? It's going to be mothers that will spend more time with the children, and so husbands will entrust their wives to make sure the family's taken care of, to make sure the family's looked after, okay? Now, if you don't take this job seriously, of being a mother, I'm not so much talking about wives today, okay, being a wife, just as a mother, it's going to cause strain on your marriage. It's going to cause strain on your marriage, okay? When your husband sees that the kids aren't being looked after, when the husband sees that the kids aren't being taken care of, you know, when the husband sees that they're not, you know, being obedient to mum and dad, you know, it's going to cause strain in the marriage, okay? Just like, you know, if the husband is not out there providing for the wife, it's going to cause strain on the marriage, okay? God has given us our roles for a reason, okay? So we can have a strong marriage, so we can have strong fathers and strong mothers and a strong marriage, okay? These things are important, you need to understand that your husband has entrusted these kids into your hands, let alone, I shouldn't have to say that God has entrusted these kids into your hands as well, okay? If you betray that trust, it will cause a strain on your marriage, okay? I just want to bring that to your attention, okay? If you don't raise your kids properly, if they're not being looked after, don't be surprised if your marriage starts falling apart, okay? And the husband might not even realize why he's stressed when he comes home. He might not even understand it, he might all be subconscious, okay? But because the house is not being looked after, the kids aren't being looked after, you know, husband's gone out to work and worked hard to provide for the family, then he comes home and he thinks things are falling apart in the house, especially around the children, it's going to cause him to maybe not want to be part of that family, all right? It might cause him to, you know, rather be away with his friends or be away and doing other things than being there with his family. It's going to cause strain, strain on the marriage, okay? That's point number two, the short one, but I just want you to understand that. Number three, point number three. Point number three, turn to First Timothy chapter two, please. First Timothy chapter two. Point number three, turn to First Timothy chapter two. First Timothy chapter two. And this is a really important one for mothers, okay? Really important point. The point is you are a mother first of all. I'm not talking about a wife right now, we're talking just motherhood, okay, because being a wife is important. But I'm just saying, with your children, your relationship with your children is that you are a mother first of all, okay? You're not their friend first of all, okay? You're not their homeschool teacher first of all. You're their mother first of all, okay? That's your role. That's your relationship with your children. Look at First Timothy chapter two verse 14. First Timothy chapter two verse 14. It says, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Now verse 15, a lot of people don't understand this, but it's straightforward if you understand verse 14, okay? The Bible's saying that women have an ability of being deceived a lot easier than a man, okay? And if you're deceived, you're going to be taken advantage of, you're going to be mocked, you know, the devil's going to have his way with you. And so to overcome this deception, look at verse 15. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing. Saved from what? Saved from her soul's salvation? No. She's going to be saved from being deceived, okay? She's going to be saved from being deceived in this world and being taken advantage of, okay? She's going to be saved from, you know, men, you know, using her and abusing her and all these kind of things. If she just gets married, you know, finds her husband and bears children, that's what's going to save her from being taken advantage of. That's what's going to save them from being deceived. Not withstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. You know what gets a woman grounded in life? What gives her stability? What gives her purpose? Is raising children, is having children. That's going to protect her from the evil one. That's going to protect her from Satan because she's exactly where God wants her to be, okay? She's in the middle of God's will for her life if she becomes a mother, okay? And in the right way, you know, finding her husband then having children, of course, okay? Now the reason I bring that up is because I want to show you how important it is for a woman to eventually become a mother, okay? It's going to protect her, okay? Just like Eve was deceived by Satan, you know, you being in your role, being a mother is going to protect you from the devil. Why? Because you're going to have the protection of your husband that's going to make sure that you're looked after, that you're provided for, that you're loved, okay? And of course, because you're in the middle of God's will, his blessings will be upon you, okay? His protection will be upon you and he'll make sure, hey, you're doing what I've asked from you. I'm going to step in and help you in your life, okay? But I want you to understand, okay, she shall be saved in childbearing. It's not saying that she shall be saved in being the homeschool teacher, okay? Or she should be saved by being best friends with her children or she shall be saved, you know, going out with her girlfriends for coffee. No, she'll be saved in childbearing, okay? Being a mother, this is important. Go to 2 Timothy now, 2 Timothy chapter 1. I'll tell you as you turn, I'll tell you what's so important about being a mother. Number one, you have authority, okay? Now before you have children, if you just get married and you don't have any children, you don't really have any authority, okay? Your husband is your head at that point, okay? But when you have children, you now have a position of authority, okay? You're in charge of those children. They ought to obey you. You also have the ability, which is innate in women, to nurture those children, to love and to raise and to nurture, protect those children, okay? Now look at 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 1. This is Paul writing to Timothy. Look what he says. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers, with pure conscience, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of the tears, that I may be filled with joy. Now look at this. Verse 5, he's writing to Timothy. Timothy is a pastor. He's not just a pastor. He's a very influential pastor, okay? And he goes around also when he was sent by Paul to go and visit other churches sometimes, okay? But look what it says here in verse number 5. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, Timothy was a very faithful Christian. Unfeigned. It was true. It was honest. Okay? He was a man of God. But look what it says here, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. He says, Timothy, you've got this great faith. It's unfeigned. It's honest and real. It's the real thing, Timothy, but I've seen that faith before. It's in your mother, and I've seen that in your grandmother. It's been passed down generation to generation, mother to her daughter, and then the daughter becomes a mother to her son, okay? Now, did you just think Timothy would ever become a pastor and a great man of God? Maybe not. Probably not. Okay? But you need to understand, mothers, your influence. You need to pass down the faith that you have in the Bible, the faith that you have in Jesus Christ. You need to raise your children to know and to love our Lord, our Lord God, okay? The Lord Jesus Christ. It's important. We see this. What made Timothy so special was his mother, okay? If his mother did not teach him, we're not going to be reading about Timothy, okay? You need to pass down your faith to your children. Now, I should have told you to keep a finger in. It doesn't matter. I'll just read it to you again. First Timothy 2.14, when it said, not withstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing. Remember that? And then it said this, and I think this is very important principles for a mother, okay? It said, if they continue, so it's not just childbearing that saves a woman, okay? If they continue in faith, that's one, and charity, two. With holiness, three. With sobriety, four. Faith. These are the things that you need to pass down to your children. Having children is one thing, but then you need to raise them in faith, charity, holiness, sobriety, okay? And what do we see in Timothy? His mother passed down the faith, okay? Now, mothers, you need to teach your kids the Bible, okay? Now, I believe it's Dad's responsibility as well, okay? But again, we spoke about the natural way of things. Moms should be home with their children. Obviously, she's going to spend more time with the kids, okay? And she has a greater opportunity to open the Word of God. If you don't have a hymn book, take your hymn book home. Sing the songs that are in there, and pray together. Read the Bible together, and teach your kids a little bit. Teach them something in the Bible. It doesn't have to be complicated. You don't have to preach an old sermon. Just read a verse and try to get them to memorize it. You know, all these things are going to increase the faith of the child, okay? Now, I truly believe, you know, if possible, fathers should do this, but I think primarily to the mothers, because usually Dad's gone to work, is, especially if you're a homeschooling mother, and I think most of the mothers in our church are homeschooling mothers, is before you start teaching your kids, okay, remember, you're a mother first, okay? Before you become the schoolteacher, your mum first, and you need to pass down his faith, you should spend time in the Word of God before you start school, okay? The Bible says in Proverbs 1-7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Now, obviously, we want our kids educated. We want them to have an understanding and knowledge. Before you pull out the math book and the English book and the science book, they need the fear of God, okay? They need the fear of God first, so that way they can get the knowledge, okay? If they get the knowledge of God, it's going to make them wiser, though, the Bible says, right? Fearing God's going to make you wiser, because God is there instructing your children along with the Holy Ghost if they're saved, indwelling in them, pointing them to the truth of God's Word. There's a lot of truth in mathematics and English and all these kind of things. There's a lot of good truth in these books, right? And so start with Bible study with your children. Take five minutes. Just start there before you even open the math book, okay? They're going to be, academically, they're going to do better just spending time in the Word of God first, okay? Teach your children to pray. Teach your children to pray for their daily provisions and their daily needs. One measure of knowing how good of a mother you are is how interested your children are about the Bible, how interested your children are about the things of God. If your children pray, if your children spend time without being forced to open the Word of God and read the Bible, that's one sure way to measure if you're doing well as a mother. That's one sure way, okay? You might say, well, my kids aren't interested. Well, teach them, okay? Maybe Timothy wasn't that interested as a little child, but his mother Eunice said, Timothy, sit down. We're going through the Word of God, all right? Sit down. We're going to read through the Scriptures. The next thing that was covered was not just faith but charity. Charity. What's charity? Love, okay? Charity is love, and I would say it's love in action, okay? It's one thing to say I love you. It's a totally different thing to show people that you love them by doing things for them, okay? Now, charity, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 8 verse 1, it says knowledge puffeth up, but charity edify it, okay? So obviously, we want to educate our kids. We want them to be educated. We want them to be knowledgeable. We want them to prepare, especially for our boys to get out there in the workforce one day and start providing for their own family in the future, okay? But if you only focus on knowledge, they're going to be puffed up, the Bible says, okay? They need charity to go with it. They need charity to go with it, and this comes from Mom. You need to teach your children to love, okay? You need to teach your children kindness. You need to teach your children to be self-sacrificing toward others. And again, this is the problem with families that have the 1.8 children, okay? Because as we said, they're going to grow up more spoiled, more selfish, okay? If they have a number of siblings, they're going to learn every day, okay? They're always going to have conflict, okay, over little things. I'm not saying they should be out there fighting, but they're going to have some conflicts. They're going to have some clash of interests, you know? And they're going to have to learn to put aside their own will and go along with a team, you know? Go along with their siblings. Make the siblings happy. You know, someone like older boys, kids, or even Isabelle, some of them earn a bit of pocket money, whereas the little ones don't, you know? And I encourage them, and sometimes they do it, and it gives me great joy when it happens when they take some of their own hard-earned money and they go and buy little gifts for the little brothers or sisters, you know, just their own hard-earned money. That's teaching them to love. It's teaching them to sacrifice, okay? But if they didn't have their little siblings, you know, they'd probably just spend it all on themselves, okay? So that's another great advantage of having more than one child is that they can learn to interact and learn to love their siblings, okay? And it's not always about me, you know? It's not always about me. It's much easier to teach charity and love when you have a household full of children, okay? It's much easier. I'm not saying it's impossible without it. I'm just saying it's much, much easier. The other thing was holiness, right? Remember that holiness? What's the other one? The Bible says, well, what is holiness? What does it mean to be holy? You know, the Bible's full of this word, holy, you know, the Holy Spirit. You know, we talk about the Holy Bible or, you know, the Sabbath was to be kept holy on Sabbath day. You know, the Bible's full of this word, holy, and it doesn't mean perfect, though the holiness of God is perfect, but it means separated, okay? It means set apart, okay? It's similar to the word sanctified, okay? It means to be set apart, and specifically in the Bible when something's holy, it's usually set apart for God, okay? It's set apart for God's service, for God's worship, so on and so forth, okay? So if you are to be a mother of children and you are to teach them holiness, what does that mean? You're setting them apart from what? From the world, okay? You're setting them apart from the way the world raises their children. You're separating them from the dangers and the influences of this world, you know, the pride of life and the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. You know, you're setting them apart for the Lord God. You want these to be children that honor and please the Lord. That's what holiness is as a mother, so you need to be thinking about who's going to raise your kids. Let me tell you now, and look, I know parents have put their kids in public schools and all that, so, you know, I'm not having a go at you, okay? Well, I don't know, you know, wear it if you're stupid, so, you know, but do you think if you put them into the world, into the public school system, do you think they're going to learn about the Lord there or do you think they're going to learn about the world? What's going to influence them there, right? Are they going to be influenced by great men in the Bible when they're in the public school or are they going to be peer pressured by their friends, you know? And my kids don't go to school, all right? My kids have never stepped in public school, but I've put them into the soccer here, okay? It's supposed to be the church's association of soccer, all right? And yet, they're always telling me, you know, the kids, they're saying awful things, they're saying dirty jokes, children that are 8, 9, 10 years old, dirty jokes, swearing, disrespectful to their parents, that's just soccer for a couple of hours. What if you're putting your kids in school for six hours every day for, how long do people put their kids in school for? Sixteen years, oh, what is that, I don't know, how long, 13 years, yeah, 13 years. What do you expect your kids to come out with, okay? Are they going to be set apart? Are they going to be holy and wanting to just please the Lord? Of course not. They've just spent 13 years every day for six hours learning the ways of the world, okay? Learning the ways of the world. This is why I think I'm going to preach in homeschooling, you know? I kind of said to myself, I'm probably never going to preach in homeschooling, but I'm just seeing this world just get worse, just worse, and the schools which are supposed to teach them something good is teaching them wickedness, you know, the most evil and filthy things, you know, that I wouldn't even, you know, things that on television once upon a time would be on late at night so kids couldn't watch it. Now they're in schools being taught these dirty things. It's crazy, you know? Kids need to be separated, and you might think, okay, yeah, you know what? I'm going to pull my kids out of school, and I'm going to raise them in my house. Yeah, but how do you entertain your kids? You know, is the television on? You know, are they on YouTube? Are they on their iPads? I mean, look, you can't, look, if you raise your kids with television screens or computer screens they're going to be influenced just like they were in school, okay? The same influences are there, okay? The same dirty jokes are on there, except now it's available in the click of a button. They might even have more access to filthy things if you bring them up, you know, with computers. Now I'm not against using technology, and I'm not against, you know, using the internet, you know, finding good teachers that can train your kids through the internet. I'm not against that, but just be mindful parents. You know, if you're going to homeschool your kids, you want them holy. You want them set apart. You don't want them to be put in front of a teacher that's, you know, teaching them, you know, the world system, the wickedness of the world, or blaspheming the name of God. You want to be mindful as to, you know, what's influencing your children's minds, okay? What about the clothes your kids wear? Now I feel like a hypocrite, but, you know, I grew up reading comics. You know, the Superman and the Batman and all that kind of stuff, Spiderman, and now it's like a lot of the movies, in our age now, in a lot of the movies in the cinemas are full of these characters, okay? And superheroes, a lot of these people, these superheroes are kind of like God men, okay? They're almost like this, they're almost like gods, okay? And how do you dress your kids, you know? Are they wearing, you know, clothing with Spiderman and Superman? Is that being holy? Is that being holy? You know, are they wearing skinny jeans? You know, are your boys looking like girls now? You know, are you getting boys, you know, their haircuts to look effeminate? You know, that's what the hairdressers want to do. You know, they ask me, how do you want your kids haircut? I'm like, just number two around the sides and number four on top, you know? Just don't make it fancy, don't make it effeminate, just do a normal haircut, please, for my kids. You know, how do your children look, how do they dress? You know, do they have posters of celebrities on their walls? You know, do they have clothing of celebrities on, you know, on their shirts? If they're coming to church like that, with that kind of clothing, they're going to influence the other kids in the church. Their parents are trying to set apart and be holy, and if they see, you know, their friends in church dressing like the world, then we're failing as a church, because church ought to be a refuge away from the world, okay? Mothers, you have a real responsibility, not just raising your kids, not just teaching them the Bible, not just teaching them how to be charitable, but teach them to be holy, you know? Tell them about the world so they can flee from the world, okay? Teach them about the dangers of the world so that when they are being tempted by the world, at least they've been taught something, and they can put it into practice and call upon God to help them. You know, mom and dad, you're not always going to be there for them, but while you are, help them out, okay? And point their eyes to the Lord God. And the last thing was sobriety. Now, being sober is being serious, you know, being sober is being serious. You guys can turn to Proverbs 31, please, or are you there already? Maybe not. Proverbs 31, seriousness, now, look, I'm all for kids being kids, honestly. I want my kids to enjoy their childhood. I want them to play. I want them to enjoy each other, because there's going to come a time when they're growing up and they're married and they may never even see the siblings, you know? You know, my brother's in America, you know, I only get to see him every few years, whatever, you know? And I love him dearly, you know? I wish I could see him more often. So let your children enjoy being kids. Let them play and have fun, all those kinds of things, but they must also learn that life is not just lollies, you know, and games and video games and playing all the time. They need to understand that life is serious as well, okay? They need to understand that God has a purpose for them in this life. They need to understand that there are souls going to hell and God wants this new generation to rise up and be servants of his and doing greater works than what their parents did. That's what I want for my kids. I know that's what God wants for my kids, okay? And it's serious. Life is serious. It's not just fun. It's not just, you know, games. And there's a time for that. There's a time for that, okay? But look at Proverbs 31, verse 1. Proverbs 31, verse 1. And we've already covered some of this, but I just want to now talk about mothers, you know? It says the words of King Lemuel. Now, a lot of people believe King Lemuel is Solomon. I believe that as well. The prophecy that his mother taught him. Now, King Solomon is the wisest man, right, in the Bible. God gave him great wisdom. And yet part of that wisdom was things that his mother taught him, okay? Mothers, you're not, you know, you're valuable. God upholds motherhood. God loves mothers, okay? And he wants mothers to pass their knowledge and wisdom to their children. And look, his mother, Bathsheba, she made a big mistake. She messed up her life, right? She went and committed adultery with King David, and then King David caused her husband, Uriah, to be put to death, okay? She messed up big time. Now, I don't know how much of a say she had in that situation, but it takes two to tango, as they say. I've never tangoed, so I don't know, but apparently it takes two, right? And so, look, Bathsheba's not completely innocent in what happened, okay, with King David's great sin, okay? She has great shame, you know? In fact, throughout the Bible, she's been shamed for what she's done, and so is King David. It takes great sin in the eyes of God, okay? And yet, even her, a disgraced woman, was able to love her son Solomon so much and pass down some wisdom that God holds true to hold in the canon of scripture. It's not just the wisdom of mom, but it's the wisdom of God that was being passed down, okay? Look at verse two. What my son, and what the son of my womb, and what the son of my vows. Look what she teaches him. Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. And as we'll soon see, that which destroys kings is alcohol, okay? So here comes mom and says, look, son, I need to warn you of two things. Alcohol is going to destroy you, and women, okay? And moms, it's your job to teach your boys about women, how to respect women, you know, how to find a good wife, okay? Teach them to find one woman, a believer, marry her, and not waste his life committing fornication and having bastard children all over the place, okay? It's mom's job to pass this down. It's dad's job as well. I'm not saying, but dad's, you know, it's not your job, I'm just saying, hey, we've seen the Bible. Mothers are doing this, okay? Mothers are doing this. Verse number four, it is not for kings of Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Now remember, we talked about sobriety, okay? Now alcohol obviously will make you drunk, will make you lose soberness, but more important than that, more important than just the physical harm, she's saying to him, you're going to forget the law, you're going to forget the law of God. It's going to make you stupid, Solomon, you know? You're meant to be a wise king and if you get into alcohol and you get drunk and you destroy, you know, you fry your brain, you're going to be foolish and you're going to forget the ways of God. Verse six, give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, okay? And wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. So what's the flip side of this? Solomon, if you drink, okay, you're going to forget things. You're going to become forgetful. It's going to hurt your mind, you know? It's for those that are ready to perish. You drink, Solomon, you're going to perish. You're going to destroy yourself as a king, okay? Verse eight, open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. That's what alcohol is going to do to you is destroy you. Why is this important? Open thy mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy, okay? So mum, you know, mum Bathsheba goes to little Solomon teaching these things, right? And he remembers these things, records them in the word of God, and we find out it's actually God's teaching. It's God's wisdom. It's canonizing scripture, you know? Alcohol consumption will destroy your mind, okay? It will destroy your mind. It will affect your memory. It will destroy your life, and it will give you poor judgment in life. And as a king, he needed to have the best judgment in all the nation of Israel, okay? And as a pastor, I'm not to be given to wine because I need to pass judgment in the church, okay? We need to teach our children just how damaging alcohol is and to teach them to avoid it. And then verse number 10, who can find a virtuous woman, this is what we read, for a price as far above rubies. Son, I'm not just teaching you about the dangers of alcohol. I'm teaching you to find a good woman, to find the right wife, you know, to be a man of one wife, and don't destroy your life in that way as well. Unfortunately, later on in Solomon's life, we really messed up in this area, but we see the teaching that came from mom, okay? And I just want to raise that to you because Bathsheba is a woman with questionable past, a great sin, right? And you might think, oh, you know, I've done big, I've made mistakes in the past, and, you know, am I suited to be a mother? Am I suited to pass on wisdom? You know, you might have made some serious mistakes in your past. You might have a terrible past, but still, God can use any mother, any mother, to pass down wisdom to their children. Pass it down. They're not going to learn it without you teaching them that, okay? And before I move on, because I totally missed the point, and I just want to quickly mention it, okay? Do I think mothers should be friends to the children? Of course. I think it's a wonderful thing if you can develop a friendship with your children. You know, should mothers be homeschool teachers? Absolutely. I'm all for that. You know, educating your kids on all those kinds of things. And I'm going back to my previous point, sorry, but I just forgot this thing, you know? But your role is first as mom, okay? Mom has the authority, and mom wants to raise and nurture the children, okay? Once you have that settled, then add the homeschooling mom on top of that, okay? Then add being a friend to your children, okay? Because if you start with a friend mentality, I want them to be my friends, and I don't want them to get upset with me, then you're going to lose the authority in the house. They're going to be the ones running you around. They're going to be the ones commanding you. You're going to be basing your whole life around your children, rather than your children being a blessing to you and a help to you, okay? And if you focus all your attention on being the homeschooling mom, that's all you do, you know? It's like, oh, we've got to get through, you know, this entire day's worth of work. Then you're going to fall behind on just being mom. You know, your kids are going to grow up thinking, this teacher, you know, this teacher, where's the nurture, where's the love, you know, where's these instructive things, these internal instructive things that God has asked from mom to pass down, they're going to just think of you as that instructional teacher, okay? And if you're so concerned to get through your days of work, which, you know, you should, it's important to get through as much work as you can, but then other places, other things in the house will fall behind, okay? The cooking, the food, the things mom needs to do. If you're so focused on the education, you're going to forget to be mom. Mom comes first. Do mom's responsibilities first, then add these other things to your life, okay? I just want to, that was just one point that I forgot, but I think it's very important. The last thing I want to say, the last thing I want to say, point number four, is don't become envious of other mothers. Moms don't become envious of other mothers. Listen to Galatians chapter five, Galatians chapter five. I see this a lot with mothers that they like, they maybe not like, but they compare themselves to other mothers a lot, or they compare their families to other families, okay? I don't see it so much in men, I'm not saying men don't do this, but I would say more often than not, it's the moms that do this, okay? It's not wise. It's not a wise thing to do. Galatians chapter five verse 19, Galatians chapter five verse 19, the Bible reads, now the works of the flesh are manifest. Now just, are the works of the flesh, are they going to be good things or bad things? They're going to be bad things, they're going to be sinful things, right? The works of the flesh. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, I mean, we're already starting bad, right? Uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, I mean, look, these are major sins, right? Hatred, variance, emulations, I'll stop there, emulations, okay? Now mothers, when you're having problems in your household, when you're struggling with certain things, first of all, it's normal, that's life. Life is not a bed of roses, it's normal, okay? And we go through difficulties so we can learn to gain experience and to do better things. Life is a bit of trial and error, this is just how it is, okay? The worst thing to do is to look at some other mother, maybe in the church or even online, some other family, and go, man, look how messed up my family is. I need to emulate, I need to copy what this other family is doing. They look successful, they look happy, they look like they've got it all together, maybe I need to watch this family and adopt what they're doing into my family. That's emulation, that's you trying to emulate somebody else. Now let me tell you what the truth is, the truth is every family is different, okay? Every family is different. I know most, you know, generally speaking, there's a mom and dad and children, but that's where the similarities end because mom and dad are different, okay? And your children, you have, every family has a different number of children, okay? And every child is different in personality to the other child, you know? Most of my kids are about a year and a half apart from one another, not every family has that separation. Some families have a six-year difference or, you know, a two-year difference or whatever, you know? So think about all the variables in what a family is, if you're trying to copy another family, I'll tell you right now, it's not going to work for you, okay? Now I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with asking for advice, hey, how do you do this, how do you do that, and maybe thinking, hey, maybe I can adopt. But never think that you can just take the way a family does something, put it into your home, I promise you now it's going to be worse. Your home is going to be worse because it's not tailored to your family, okay? And moms, this is where your role comes in, okay? You need to tailor the way you run the household, the way you keep house, to your family, to your children, to their personalities. I've got twins and they're so different, okay? They grew up in the same house, they've got the same mom and dad, yet they have different interests, they have different personalities, you know, they have different likes of food. And you'd think if anyone was similar, they'd be twins. So how do you think you can take some else's family plan and apply that to your life and think it's going to work? I'm not saying, nothing wrong with getting ideas, okay? And maybe trialing some other things that other families do. I'm just saying, don't think, you know, the family that has it all together, the family that's all smiles at church and has it all together, I promise you during the week there's still tears. There's still trials, there's still problems, okay? There's no perfect family, so don't try to emulate some other family, okay? And don't think another family ought to be more like your family, or if they were just more like us. It's not your problem, it's not your family. You worry about your own family, you worry about your own kids, okay? Now I'll give you one example of this, just a funny story, but it's a funny story but it's a reality, okay? In one of our previous churches, Jonathan was 18 months old. And we don't talk about training our kids until they're about three years old. Maybe a lot of people think that's late. The reason we wait until they're about three is because they're old enough to learn quickly and not make a lot of accidents. You start really early, yeah, you'll get them off nappies earlier, but you'll also have a lot of accidents and you'll have to deal with that. So we'd rather stay a little bit later, make sure they're a little bit wiser and they can sit on the toilet a lot easier kind of thing. So anyway, Jonathan was 18 months old, so obviously he wasn't toilet trained. And my wife, Christina, was talking to another lady in the church, and then another lady overheard the conversation, okay? And she overheard that Jonathan was toilet trained, okay? She started to panic because she had a child about the same age, maybe a little bit older, and he wasn't toilet trained. By the way, Christina never said that, okay? It was a misunderstanding of what was being discussed, just a third party listening in, you know, how the other family's doing, you know? Oh, they toilet trained, you know, he's 18 months and he's toilet trained? Some 18 months don't even walk yet, anyway, they think he's toilet trained. And so she's stressed out, and I'm saying she was stressed out trying to get her little son to be toilet trained, okay? We didn't know about this. And then one day we had him over, you know, and then they saw, you know, that Jonathan got a nappy change. And she's like, I thought Jonathan was toilet trained, you know, I heard you say he was toilet trained. Christina's like, no, what are you talking about? She's like, I've been trying, you know, all these weeks and all these months to toilet train my son, and it was just, you know, a stressful thing, and just a, you know, I've been so stressed about it, and it's been messy, and there's been accidents everywhere. But she was angry at Christina. Why? Because she was trying to emulate, and it wasn't even something that was true, okay? It's going to destroy your family when you try to be like another family, okay? Every family is different, all the children are different, please don't think you're going to find these magic ingredients of family and apply it to your life, okay? God has given us a lot in his word, okay? He doesn't give us every little bit of detail, he expects you to tailor what's in the word of God, which is right, and tailor it to your family, okay? I'm going to read to you from Ecclesiastes 4, 4, Ecclesiastes 4, 4. It says this, again, I considered all travail and every right work that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. So there's a man doing good work, okay, and he's been envied by his neighbor. His neighbor envies this other person because they're doing good work. Then he says this is also vanity and vexation of spirit, okay? This woman envied Christina for something that wasn't even right, wasn't even true, and it caused vexation in her spirit, okay? Now this is how it comes out, okay? This is how this vexation of spirit comes out is you're going to have your nasty women, your nasty mothers go to another mother and beware of this, okay? And if you're this way, then you need to control it as well, beware of this. If you want to destroy a church, this is my tip on how to destroy a church, okay? One mother walks up to another mother and says, oh, you know, your child's not walking yet? You know, your child's 13 months old and he's still not walking? And my child walked when he was nine months old. How do you think the other mother's going to feel? Like what are you doing? Are you putting down my children, you know? The other mother walks up and says, you know, oh, you know, my son's younger than yours and he's taller than your child. What do you think they're trying to do? Do you think they're trying to edify their brethren or are they trying to puff themselves up, okay? And when they start doing this, I'll tell you why, it's because there's some insecurity in their life. There's something in their own lives that they're not happy about and in order to make them happy, they need to pull down other mothers or other families in the church, okay? Be mindful of this. If you want to destroy a church, and I've seen ladies destroy churches, okay, I've seen ladies fight and destroy churches and cause splits and cause, you know, divisions in churches because of this kind of nasty talk, okay? And you know, they'll say it with you with a smile, they'll say it with a smile, you know? And they'll put down your family, they'll put down your husband, they'll put down your children, you know, and don't retaliate in the same way, okay? Don't retaliate in the same way if that happens. It usually means that they're troubled, it usually means that they're struggling with some problem. But don't become envious of other mothers, okay? God has given you your husband to be your support, to be your provider, to be the one that you can turn to for help, okay, and he's given you your children to nurture, to love, to raise, to give you purpose. Not some other family, your own family, okay? And so, mothers in conclusion, I just want to say, children are a reward from God, okay? Don't forget that. If you can value your children, you're going to be a better mother. If you don't value your children, you're not going to care, you're not going to care how they're raised, right? Number two, your husband has entrusted you with that responsibility to raise your kids. Husbands should be out working, providing, okay? And they've entrusted you with that responsibility. If you're not fulfilling that role, it's going to cause division, or sorry, it's going to cause strain, strain on your marriage. Number three, you are a mother first of all. No matter what other roles you take on in the house, okay, you are a mother first. That must come first. And number four, don't envy other mothers and families. It's just going to destroy your own home. It's going to cause vexation in your spirit. Please don't do that. All right, let's pray.