- We honor mom today
- It’s tough being a mother
Mrs. Monroe lives in Darlington, Maryland. She’s the mother of 8 children. And except for a few interesting experiences, she’s just like any other mother across America. One experience was so unique that John Haggai put it in his book: “How to Win Over Worry.”
She came home one afternoon from the grocery store and walking into the yard everything looked pretty much the same, though it was a little bit quieter than usual. Their were 5 children sitting around in a circle, exceedingly quiet, doing something, with something in the middle of the circle. As she came closer she saw that they were playing with 5 of the cutest skunks you can imagine.
She was instantly terrified and she said, “Run children, run! Each child grabbed a skunk and ran, in 5 different directions. She was beside herself and screamed louder, more frantically, with great gusto. It so scared the children that each one squeezed his skunk! As the writer put it, “Skunks don’t like to be squeezed!”
- It’s tough being a mother
- Getting a sleepy teen-age son up is tough
Mom No. 1: How do you get your sleepy-head son up in the morning?
Mom No. 2: I just put the cat on the bed.
Mom No. 1: How does that help?
Mom No. 2: The dog’s already there.
- Now that was easy
A Philosopher Once Complained, “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect for their elders. They love to chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, babble before company, gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”
- Socrates made that comment more than twenty-five hundred years ago.
Proverbs 30:11 (AV)
11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
Proverbs 30:17 (AV)
17 The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
Ep 6:2-3 Quoting
Exodus 20:12 (AV)
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
– Gives a 2 part promise – To Live well & have a prosperous life
- It comes abut with Honoring your father & Mother
- “Honor” = value, respect, esteem
- Ep 6:1 - Demonstrated by Obedience
- How does this come about?
- Ep. 6:4 - Last phrase “bring them up….. in the Lord”
- None of this can happen if you yourself do not Honor the Lord
- How have you demonstrated Honor, Value, & Conviction?
- Note the words Nurture & Admonition
- Nurture – idea of nourishing, training, care & protection
- Admonition – Instruction, Teaching, Discipline
Deuteronomy 4:9–10 (AV)
9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
Deuteronomy 6:4–7 (AV)
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
- Convictions are demonstrated through Attitude, & Action
A women was between flights in an airport. She went to a shop in the airport and bought a small package of cookies. Then she sat down and began reading a newspaper. Gradually, she became aware of a rustling noise from behind her paper. She was flabbergasted to see a neatly dressed man helping himself to her cookies. Not wanting to make a scene, she leaned over and took a cookie herself.
A minute or two passed and then came more rustling. He was helping himself to another cookie! By this time they had come to the end of the package, but she was so angry she did not dare allow herself to say anything. Then, as if to add insult to injury, the man broke the final cookie in two, pushed half across to her, ate the other half and left.
Still fuming some time later when her flight was announced, the woman opened her handbag to get her ticket. To her shocking embarrassment, there she found her pack of unopened cookies!
- Whoops! --- “Whose cookies are they?”
- That changes everything doesn’t it?
- From early on, “Whose cookies are they?” becomes very important to us.
- Bible is clear to whom the cookies belong too
Psalm 24:1 (NCV)
"The earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it— the world and all its people."
- Whose cookies are they?
- Everything! They are God’s cookies!
Psalm 127:3 (AV)
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
- We all have responsibility
Proverbs 22:6 (AV)
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
- Honoring is not easy, is not always fun but it glorifies God.
Colossians 3:20 (AV)
20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
- Convictions produce passion
- Passionate people change the world.
- Today we live life from one event to another
- Doing what is easy & convenient
- Conviction takes courage – A battle to live by that conviction
- If don’t have convictions, we’ll be Captivated By The Four Main Values Of Our Culture:
• Pleasure – “I want to feel good.”
• Possessions – “I want to have a lot of stuff.”
• Prestige – “I want other people to envy me.”
• Power – “I want to be in control.”
- Convictions Must Be Modeled.
- They are more “caught” than “taught.”
• What are my convictions?
• What role does Christ have in my life?
• Does my life model character?
• Am I shaped by training & instruction?
