Instructions to Children (05/13/2001)

All we'd have to do that to that to make that early churches at a team 10 stringed instrument and we would have it

That's as close to the kind of music that the early church grew up on as you can find Now it's time for the preaching you see he moves.

He moves to the back row At least he didn't leave

Let's see everyone else follows him because you think he's had a sneak preview to the message Have you ever seen a mother's dictionary

It has interesting words in it like this definition for bottle feeding an

Opportunity for dad to get up at 2 a .m. Also and Drooling how teething babies wash their chins

I've never seen this dictionary before but I found it and I thought boy. This is this is so accurate

Family I see feedback the inevitable result when the baby doesn't appreciate the strained carrots

Family planning the art of spacing your children the proper distance apart to keep you on the edge of financial disaster

Full name what moms call their child when they're mad at them Grandparents the people who think your children are wonderful, even though they're sure you're not raising them, right?

Hearsay what toddlers do when anyone mutters a dirty word They hear them all

Independent how we want our children to be as long as they do everything we say

You can get that one Look at how what it's too late for your child to do by the time you scream it

Puddle a small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry shoes

Sterilize what you do to your first baby's pacifier by boiling it and to your last baby's pacifier by blowing on it

I See some moms laughing at that one Temper tantrums what you should keep to a minimum so as not to upset the children

Verbal able to whine with words Who done it none of the kids in this house

Whoops an Exclamation that translates roughly into get a sponge

And I like this one top bunk where you should never put a child wearing

Superman jammies. I Thought the moms might appreciate those

I know they've lived them Let's turn to Proverbs 31.

I Hope the Lord will allow us to learn some things Today that we haven't seen in this passage before And now

I'll say that the way brother Otis would want me to say it. I hope the Lord will teach us some things We haven't learned before That's the human viewpoint in the divine viewpoint all in one

While you're looking that up. Let me read something to you from the May 14th 2001 issue of National Review magazine

It says the results of a decade -long government -sponsored study of 1 ,300 children are in The more time kids spend in daycare the more likely they are to be aggressive and disobedient in kindergarten

The finding is true for boys and girls across all income levels and in all daycare arrangements

One of the researchers lamely concluded quote we don't understand why we got these findings unquote

But this news does not come out of the clear blue sky studies began showing the negative effects of non maternal care 15 years ago in 1986 professor

Jay Belsky Belsky then at Penn State Called the first year of life in particular a window of vulnerability and Recommended that a parent be the primary caregiver as a researcher on the latest report

He suggests that reducing the time in daycare would reduce the negative outcomes the quote mommy wars are bound to rage on despite the mounting evidence of daycares dangers and And Now even the government is admitting those statistics

Let's look at Proverbs 31 And I know many of you have read this and studied it and we studied recently on Wednesday nights

And I think most of the time that we view this as a passage of scripture that teaches women how they ought to be

The only problem with that it'd be quite frustrating if you've ever read this and you thought to yourself

This is what I ought to be It probably is but you say boy.

I'm falling short. And then you say where is the passage for men in this

Bible? That tells them things like this about how a man ought to be and I'll tell you the whole

Bible But there's probably not one as specific as this that's written for men

But what's interesting about it is this is not really a passage of scripture

That is supposed to be teaching women how they ought to be primarily It's interesting as you read this if you really study it carefully

What you'll find out is that this is a passage of scripture that was written by a man Who had been taught how to be a man by his mother at least with regard to certain?

Points of life that only the mom could teach or that the mom could teach best. Let me put it that way

So it's really a passage Written by a man a grown man

Thinking back about the things his mom had taught him about many issues of life And I want us to look at it from that perspective this morning

Let's pray father help us to hear your words today straight from your heart and mind straight to our hearts and minds

May you rebuke the enemy and send him away and that we might have total peace to think right and to learn properly and that may your

Holy Spirit teach us exactly the true sense of this passage and May we remember these things and apply them as we go out and we ask it in Jesus name.

Amen Starts off the words of King Lemuel the prophecy that his mother taught him

King Lemuel is a fairly Obscure person in the

Bible people don't know too much about him the rabbinical Commentators have more often than not concluded that this was

King Solomon others such as Grotius And other

Bible studies have Thought perhaps it was Hezekiah and that tells you that they don't know who this is

So we don't know who Lemuel is If I had to lean a certain direction

I'd probably lean towards the rabbinical commentators because who knows how far back that goes

But then sometimes their traditions are flat -out wrong. Anyway, so we really don't know if this is

Solomon or if it's And that was another word for that. He was called but I sort of doubted myself.

I I Think it's King Lemuel whoever this is But the thing that we do know about him is that he's writing this under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit But God is using his personality and his experiences and his his self

To pin this and he is sitting down as a grown man. Probably King Thinking back no telling how many years back to the times when his mother he was at his mother's knee

And this is where this came from Notice that it says the prophecy that his mother taught him.

This word prophecy is interesting here because a little bit Can be learned from looking at the

Hebrew word It is the Hebrew word ma saw and the most literal translation would be the burden

So look at it this way the words of King Lemuel the prophecy the burden

That his mother taught him so these are the things that burdened his mother's heart as he perhaps got to this place where some of our young people are

Arriving this season about to go out of the nest and it was a burden on the mother's heart

And these were the things that she taught this young man, and he's thinking back years later about what they meant in his life and so It goes on and it says what my son and What the son of my womb and what the son of my vows?

That's kind of an interesting sentence. Don't you think it's as if she's saying What else are you gonna do if you don't listen to me?

What else would the world have to offer to you? If you don't listen to the words of wisdom that I've learned from God And what might you come out to be if you don't heed what

I'm about to teach you But notice that it says the son of my womb, of course, we know what that means

But then she says the son of my vows This word is the Hebrew word nader which means a promise to God This woman had promised or made a vow to God that this young man would belong to God and that she would spend

Much if not most of her life to that end in Training this young man to follow the ways of God in giving this young man instruction, but from a heart of love and A heart that's more concerned about this young man than any other human being from that heart

He was taught these things the son of my vows The son that I have committed unto the

Lord How many of you moms today have committed your children to the Lord? Maybe when they were born maybe when they were little babes in your arms one day when you were alone with them

No one else was there and you prayed a little prayer and you said Lord take this child for your own

Well, this is how you feel and this is what this Godly mother is saying the son of my vows

Give not thy strength unto women nor thy ways to that which destroyeth

Kings It is not for Kings Oh Lemuel 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 she begins her instruction at this point in the first Point that she teaches this young man now

I don't think for a moment this was just one little time when she sat down said let me talk with you You're about to leave leave the house.

I have three words of wisdom for you. Here. They are da da da da Go in the grace of God These things were taught to this young man every day for the entire

Upbringing of his life up until the time when he left the home And I don't literally mean every day

But I mean in a sense every day not just through the mom's words But their actions as he observed her life and said does she and all children do this by the way

Is she measuring up to what she's telling me? God says to do is her life measuring up to what she says

God wants me to be someday and as this young man watched his mom. Apparently the answer was yes

But the first thing that she taught him was this give not thy strength unto women no ways

Nor that ways to that which destroys this word strength means virtue and valor

She teaches him Do not give your virtue and valor to any person

You can say to a woman here But if she had been raising a little girl instead of a little boy, she would say

Shook to a man to a young man She would say my daughter don't give your virtue to any young man

Don't give away that which causes you to be morally strong the entire rest of your life

To any person that's the very first thing that she taught this young man She taught him there is no person that is worth giving that up for and if they love you

They won't require you to give that up. By the way, I'm sure she threw that in she didn't I'll throw it in But that's what strength means

Give not thy strength unto another don't give your virtue your valor your moral

Fortitude to any person it belongs to you and it belongs to God and it can be used mightily in God's hands in your testimony

The whole rest of your life if you guard it now young people. This is a sermon that really is to you

Written by a mom a long time ago, but it's the same Instruction your own mom has been teaching you at home.

I know Second thing she said look at this in verse 3 not only does she say give not thy strength away

She says nor thy ways to that which destroy the Kings Now we have to understand that every child of God and the church age is a priest a believer priest and a king

So this certainly applies to all of our children. They're all growing up to be little kings and queens in a sense in God's kingdom

The priesthood of the believer comes into play here and the kingliness of the believer

We're being raised by our Father in heaven for a purpose on the other side and Much of what we go through here is to that end even the trouble and the things we perceive as bad

Really God intends them for good because they teach us to have the trait of an overcomer

Which is the trait that all of his children will have the day they first see Jesus face to face the first time they'll have

It by that time Well, she says this though she says nor thy ways to that which destroy it

This word ways in the Hebrew is direct which means a road which comes from a root word doll rock

Which means to walk? So she is telling her son Don't walk down the wrong path

Don't walk down the wrong road Make sure that your walk is right

And never allow your walk or your feet to take you down a path That would take you to the place

That would being bring destruction and this Hebrew word for destruction is fascinating to me because it's more call which means to erase

Now you think about it young people The mom is saying here. Don't ever let your feet take you to a place

Where being there would erase the things that I've taught you from your mind What an instruction

No wonder this young man turned out to be a worthy King So she tells him

Don't give your valor your innocence your moral fortitude away to any person and Don't walk down any path or road that would take you to a place where you would have

That which I've taught you about the Lord and his ways to be erased from your mind virtue valor moral strength

Walking down the right road then she gives a biblical example. Look at verses four and five She's going to give you an example of how this erasing can happen if you get on the wrong way

It is not for Kings Oh Lemuel 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 this really in the original

Shouts out a message that we might miss if we didn't study this on a little bit deeper level

But what is what she's doing is giving an example of going down the wrong way First of all, if a person becomes a drunkard

What happens that particular sin can cause him to forget things many other sins can do the same thing

So she's just using this as an example. It's a powerful example She says don't let anything make you to forget

God's laws. Don't go down a path That'll cause what I've taught you to be erased. This word forget is shock all which means to mislay something to misplace something

Don't ever go down a path young people. It would cause you to mislay the things of God To be oblivious to something from want of memory or attention

Did you know you can go down a road? That if you go far enough down that road, you'll forget the very things that you once knew

Don't let it happen It says Lest they drink and forget the law the word law here is an interesting

Hebrew word for law It's not the one that's used all the time But this particular one is called cock which means to engrave now think about this

It literally means it carries the meaning of the word of law God's law But it comes the Hebrew when he hears this word.

He pictures something It's a word picture and he pictures he pictures laws being cut in stone or metal tablets

In the times in which they used to live and so this is the law that has been cut into your heart

It's a law that's been a gray engraved upon your heart by your mother who taught you the things of God from the

Word of God And she says don't get involved with anything any path any people

Who would cause you to have this erased from your from your life in your mind? Don't go in any place around any people who would call or do any habit

That would cause you to forget the law and the law means that which was engraved on your hearts

Isn't it amazing to think that the world and the enemy has things so powerful that they can erase?

Something that's been engraved Have you ever thought about that? I mean you've got an eraser on one end of the pencil and it's pretty easy to erase the marks you make with the pencil

But how would you like to try to erase a mark made with a chisel with a pencil eraser? but it's amazing that this mother warns this young man that there are places you can go and Roads that you can go down and paths that you can take that can erase the very truth of God that I've engraved upon your heart

No mom wants to see that happen. If you want to break your mother's heart then make that happen If you want to take her to an early grave so to speak then make that happen

If you want her to be embarrassed when she walks down the streets of the city young people Then forget what she's engraving upon your hearts and then she says in this verse 5 lest they drink and forget the law and Pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted

This is kind of interesting to get into the meaning of this pervert is from a Hebrew word Which means to duplicate now if you understand that this really has a powerful message to all of us, but certainly to young people if it means to duplicate and When the word afflicted kind of carries the connotation of those who are down and out in A bad sense maybe because they're lazy or because they're the wrong kind of person or they're living the wrong kind of life

And so what she says when you understand that is lest they drink and forget that which is was engraven upon their hearts the laws of God and then duplicate the way of thinking of the lazy

Say a seed of Satan in this world What a powerful message

She is warning this young man that not only will the things of God be erased But in their place will be things which you will duplicate from the children of the devil

As you hang around them That's why the Bible says come out from among them and be ye separate sayeth the

Lord We have no fellowship with them. That's why this mother is teaching this to this young man

Well, what a great first point she gave you let's look see what the second point is

Verse 8 open thy mouth for the dumb and the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction

Well, she's teaching him now how to live with regard to others and First thing she says is plead the cause for those who cannot speak for themselves

It doesn't just mean those who literally are dumb in the sense of that They they don't have a tongue and they can't speak but it means there are many people in this world who in fact nearly the huge majority of people are sheep their followers and Sometimes they don't speak front for themselves.

And so what she's teaching this young man to be is a spiritual leader She's teaching him lead those who are too weak to even speak for themselves

Lead those who might go the wrong way if they didn't have your strong leadership She's teaching her son the opposite of bad peer pressure.

She's saying don't follow your peers lead them and Then she throws in this interesting phrase

All such as are appointed unto destruction this this is very fascinating to me, but this

Hebrew word Comes from a word that means surviving but what the

Jewish mind Understands that this means that we would miss is when they spoke of a person who was appointed unto destruction

That was their word for an orphan And that amazing Now, you know in their society things were tough.

I mean There was no Social Security There weren't any government helps for anybody

And when you didn't have either parent you were left alone in this world they just called you one that was appointed to destruction because your odds of making it and Becoming something were almost nil in that day in time

But this mom told this young man to be a spokesman for such people But isn't it interesting with when we read this in the light of the

National Review article that I just read you when we began They used to call people who weren't raised by a mom and dad those who were appointed to destruction

Today one of the greatest habits in our nation is to allow other people to raise our little children in daycare centers and This government study shows it doesn't matter without regard to the atmosphere in the daycare center

Doesn't matter if it's in a rich area where you got three attendants per child Or whether it's in a poor area where you've got one attendant for every ten children or five children or whatever the laws allow

That none of that mattered it was across the board that children that are raised by people other than mom and dad

Have a problem with obedience and authority in all of these different areas The old

Hebrew would have called them children appointed to destruction Is that amazing or what? And young people if you're in our church sitting here hearing me today, and if you're not raise your hand, but if you are

You are supposed to be a spokesman For these kinds of you're supposed to be a leader.

You don't understand this, but you're you are a generation being raised Predominantly by people other than the parents that means that the people that you work with the government leaders that you have in your life the

Managers of the stores the teachers the scientists the preachers many of them will have been raised in a daycare center

And they're gonna lack the wisdom of God But you have it and she says open your mouth for the dumb maybe that's

Kind of a pun intended But you're supposed to be a spiritual leader Now the second thing a little subdivision

I see under her second statement plead the cause of those who cannot speak in The orphans she goes on in verse 9 kind of along the same lines and she's she says open thy mouth

Judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and the needy So now she takes it to another level and she says, you know, there are those out there who are genuinely needy

It's not because they're lazy. It's not because they're evil. It's not because they're not living according to God's ways.

It's because God has brought hard times into their life to help them grow

But he may have also brought them before your eyes to go now and help them out of those hard times

Young people you should always watch for situations like that But you need to be very careful Because you need to also understand it many many times when people appear to have needs if you gave them money

Or if you gave them help you wouldn't be helping them Because they're under the direct chastisement of God because they hadn't

Heard God's Word preached in 50 years hadn't set foot in a church in 20 years and and Could never give a thought to God and they're living according to the devil's ways and that's why they're that way

But there are a few according to this who are that waste because they're God's children and they're simply having hard times and you have

To have enough wisdom to discern the difference and it's very hard to do at a young age You get better at that as you get older Because you see a lot more

What's the word I'm looking for Counterfeits you see a lot of people who really

Are not the right people to be helping But you have to always have a heart the very heart that the

Lord Jesus Christ had Who would help those who are the right ones to be helping that takes a great degree of wisdom that you cannot have if you're

Not in the Word of God Now that brings us to the third admonition of this godly mother and we find it in verse 10 and following This might be one of the most important parts of what she taught her child

And I just put it this way find the right spouse Most people who study this passage starting with verse 10 think this is instruction from the

Lord about how a woman should live her life and how a mother should be and We call it the Proverbs 31 woman be the

Proverbs 31 woman Well ladies if you read this and you can be this my goodness

God's taken you through many things to get you the place where you can be this. This is an amazing amazing

Thing I think any woman who's read this and tried to hold her up herself up to this has been frustrated

Because it's almost superhuman Now think about that you certainly could never do this in the flesh, could you

I Mean, this is Jesus Christ described here Working in the life of a woman of God, but you know what the truth is.

This instruction is not given for you It's given for you to give your children now you think about a

Ma a mom teaching a young man who's about to leave the nest The third thing that she's teaching this young man is to find the right spouse and look how she describes this person now

This this young man probably never got married he probably you know, he's a king He's been done a great job because he did not have a wife or children to attend.

He totally tended his kingdom but the fact is moms if you have a daughter you tell them you describe the young man just like this and If you've got a son you describe now, here's who you need to look for Now see if you don't see that in this now, you probably never thought of it this way

I had until the Lord showed this to me this week But who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies

She's telling her son that The most important thing to find in a young woman is virtue

And if you can find a young woman like that is more valuable to you than any riches you'll ever come across in this world first of all, she says this woman and this can go the other way around if you're raising a daughter just The principles apply to the young man that she should be looking for But the first thought is faithfulness.

Look at verses 11 and 12 She says find a young woman who will be faithful that is more important to you that she be virtuous and faithful and that what she says is the truth and that she's not

Scheming and she's not lying and she's not a deceiver A young woman

Where it says the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her So that he shall have no need of spoil when he's away on a business trip.

He doesn't need to worry about what she's doing Look for a woman like that before you ever marry young men

She will do him good and not evil all the days of his life Look for a woman like that is the top priority now notice.

She hasn't mentioned beauty yet. She hasn't mentioned grace She hasn't mentioned social

Etiquette she hasn't mentioned that she has a rich daddy. She hasn't mentioned all the good stuff yet From a human viewpoint

What she mentioned was the most important thing first that she be a virtuous truthful trust deserving of trust a

Person who will do you good and not evil? That's the most important thing secondly verses 22 through 25 she needs to be industrious

Don't marry a lazy person Goes either way those these principles of work whether you're raising a daughter or a son just change some of the words around but keep the principles

She maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates.

That's you young man You know why you'll be known in the gates because you married someone who is so virtuous that she keeps the home so right

That you never have to worry about the home and the children very much and you can do your job and what God's gifted you

To do to its utmost and you become successful Because she is making you successful She is a true help meat, which was

God's design for the woman the help me You know what the woman's job is in this life

To make the man meet his purpose the best that he can because she is part of the man

She is his help meat. She's his helper in this life Her purpose is wrapped up in his purpose.

Not that she loses her identity Not that she doesn't have a purpose and gifts that God gives her but they're all wrapped up and causing the man to meet his purpose and be the best at Working with his gifts and in his areas of strength that he possibly can be no way a man can do that if the home is in disarray and so Look at this find one.

That's industrious Her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land

She maketh fine linen and selleth it and delivereth girdles into the merchant strength and honor our clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come

The next trait that she should have is that she should be wise and kind look at verses 26 through 29

She openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness You don't want a wife young man.

That's gonna bite you You don't want one that's gonna give you a patch and nip at you

And bite you with her words and hurt your heart with her words. You don't need a wife like that And young ladies if you marry you don't need a husband like that You don't need a marriage where you're arguing if you argue a lot

Look at it this way when you start courting If you have arguments a lot, that's a bad sign

Don't do it and no reason for it now you don't have disagreements later on when you're married you're living together

You'll have disagreements, but you know what you won't let the Sun go down on them, right? That it

Yeah But you should not ever have a marriage or relationship where every day there's a yipping going on and a nipping

That's just not godly. It's ungodly. It's uncalled for and there's has nothing to do with what

God pictured in marriage You know what God chose marriage to picture What it symbolizes spiritually salvation

Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is the bride and they don't yip at each other and nip at each other and argue and bite and devour

If you do that, you've destroyed a type The last great type

I remember being destroyed was the time when Moses Smoked the rock the second time and God never let him set foot in the promised land for it because he destroyed a type

Because what he taught by doing that was that Jesus is crucified and your sins are forgiven and then when you sin again, you have to recrucify and God did not do it that way and when

Moses taught the type the wrong way by Smiting the rock the second time. What was he supposed to do by the way?

Speak to it. You see when you get born again, you're saved forever And when you go out and sin, you can't get saved again

You cannot recrucify Jesus because his death was sufficient to take away your sins

All you do is you speak with him and you say Lord I I sinned and I want you to forgive me cleanse me

Let me start over new today Moses didn't do it that way He smoked the rock again Which pictured recrucifying

Christ and God rebuked him and he never got to set foot in the promised land that he'd lived his whole life thinking about Now ladies and gentlemen, what if you destroy a type?

I think about that young people. What if you get married someday and The way you act in your marriage

Creates a false picture of salvation it creates a false picture of the relationship

Jesus has with his bride the church and So you argue a lot you you have problems you treat each other despitefully and without kindness

Do you think you might be destroying a type right in front of the whole world One of the most beautiful pictures of how it is that you get saved

You know if you ever want to witness and explain to somebody that you know, how did you get saved? What what must

I do to be saved best thing you can do is show them the type of a good marriage And it'll work but anyway

She says here that make sure that she is kind That when she opens her mouth wisdom comes out two things come out of their wisdom and kindness

Look for that kind of person in your marriage. She looketh well to the ways of her household

She eateth not the bread of idleness. She's not lazy her children arise up and call her blessed.

She's a good mother Her husband also praises her my daughters have done virtuously, but thou exceleth them all

Can you see the mother? Can you see the mother's heart? I want you to pick the best one Only the best for my son

That's all all mom's thing and that's good And the fourth thing

Is that the fear of the Lord is more important than favor and beauty when you're picking up a spouse

If it's a young man, you need to understand that if this young woman fears God You better take that over beauty and favor now beauty and favor doesn't hurt anything

But it's not the most important it doesn't come first The first thing is that if she

I'll tell you this if she doesn't fear the Lord Did you know that once you leave the nest the only thing that keeps you from sin is?

a real fear of God a Daily fear of what God will do if you sin

What will be brought to your life? What are the repercussions? What is the sowing and reaping that God has set up in your life if you do that sin and young man?

let me tell you something when you're off on a business trip and your wife's home by herself and The milkman comes by to bring milk

You better have a wife that fears God Because you're not gonna be there to watch over her every minute of every day and with all the things we have today

I mean, it's amazing email, you know email can be used as one of the most destructive evil

Instruments of Satan in the world. I know I personally know of Marriages, I know of one marriage where the husband goes in there at night gets on the email and emails other women

Gets on the internet finds new friends. Oh, they're just friends Yeah, was it that way on the playground when we were kids?

You just want guys did you just want to be friends with the girl? Raise your hand if that's what you wanted

And it's just not the way it is in the real world But that's what they'll say every time and the wife, you know get on there and just well my husband just he doesn't have an ear

Here, you know, I need to talk I need to be open and open up and let it all out and he just won't sit and listen

He's so busy. She'll find a friend on the internet Tell you what

If the person that you marry does not already have a healthy fear of God don't marry him

Find somebody that does you're not gonna be guaranteed. You can teach them that later.

I They've been very successful at changing any other adult Only God can do that.

So find one that fears God favor is deceitful and beauty is vain

But a woman that feareth God She shall be praised Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates

So that's what we find here. We see this godly mother giving instruction to her children She teaches first avoid people who will steal your virtue and valor from you

Avoid pathways who will lead you down a place where even that which has been engraved in your heart will be erased and where you then will be tempted to duplicate those who are lazy and evil and Secondly, she teaches to plead the cause of those who cannot speak for themselves be a spiritual leader in a world of spiritual weaklings

Because that's what you're growing up in You know, I was thinking about this when

Paul was playing this morning Some somebody said, you know, he he's taking up the slack for two or three people today

Thing what he's got three arms, you know like that But I started thinking about all the young people in our church

I'll bet you I'm not a betting man. I'm a Baptist. But anyway I'll bet you

This might be true I mean it might not because I know that God has little pockets of people everywhere in this world that are his

I mean We should never think we're the only ones but I might be

The only pastor in this nation today Now I'll leave out some of the other nations Third world places where there's trouble and trial and where the people of God are so incredibly godly

I'll leave them out because I know we'd have some there but in this country I might be the only pastor who can stand here this morning and I ran every child through my mind every single child in this church and in our school

I Don't know of a one that's a bad apple We have the most incredible young people in this church and Russ was mentioning things.

Well, I take for granted. Do we ever think it do you realize I mean those of us? Who've taught in the school for years?

There's never been a year that we didn't have something I mean You guys that have been involved, you know, we've had the devil bring in People that just annihilated other people and destroy

And you know what? We have we have a group of young people in this church right now that are godly and they fear

God And I can't name a one that doesn't is that amazing? Now we'll see what happens next fall

But the devil would have to bring one in I think That's incredible and We thank

God for that, but let me tell you something, you know why that's so because the mothers I'm looking at in this room

And the dads and the Bible teachers and this word

And the precious Holy Spirit It's unusual

You won't find it I'm the luckiest pastor in the world

So she says plead the cause of those who are too dumb To know the right thing and thirdly she says choose the right spouse

One who fears God more than anything else. Let's stand and have prayer together Father we thank you for your word.

We thank you for how you give us as parents the power to teach our children truth that we know is solid as a rock

Truth that will take them through all the years of their lives and someday they will be old and looking back thinking of what we taught them thinking how wise we were and We were wise because we taught them the

Word of God, but that's where the wisdom came from Lord may you make each mother in this congregation be one that their son would think of or their daughter would think of in old age and think back of the words of Wisdom that you taught the principles that you instilled in their hearts.

Yes engraved in their hearts Father may you make each mom that way and father work in the hearts of us dads to realize we must be the spiritual strength

Undergirding the entire home and spiritual leaders But help us to never take for granted the teaching that God does through the moms through our wives may we undergird and continually pray for our wives because The forces of hell are coming after them to cause them to go astray

May we pray for our children because the forces of hell Would tear them and rip them from our home and take them down that pathway that would cause them to have things

Erased from their minds that are good Fathers all the weight of that Responsibility is upon our shoulders

Woe be to us if one night slips by that we don't pray for each child and for our

Sweet wives as they sleep Guard us and protect us and father we ask you to bless our meal together and we ask it in Jesus name.