Today is Mother's Day. We want to recognize the mothers that are here this morning. We have a bouquet of flowers for you and we're going to hand those out here in just a minute or two. But before we do that, if you take your Bibles and turn to Proverbs chapter number 6, Proverbs chapter Number six. And let's stand together for the reading of God's Word. I'm going to read verses 20, 21, and 22 of Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6 and verse number 20, my son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother, bind them continually about thine heart and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful this morning for the blessing of being in your house, to be able to fellowship together, to sing these songs together, to worship together. Father, I pray you'd help us this morning to worship you in spirit and in truth. Father, we thank you for the blessing of mothers. Father, we thank you for, Lord, energy, the tears, the heartache that they've experienced in life, what they've put into their children, whether they have an infant or whether their children are grown, they have grandchildren or great-grandchildren, we are grateful for the blessing of their lives. Father, I pray you bless them today. Father, we pray that you'd be honored and glorified through all that is done. I pray that we all would hear your word this morning, that your Holy Spirit would apply it personally to our hearts. And Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. This morning's message is a message not just to mothers, it's to anyone that has a mother. So if you fall into that category, this applies to you this morning as well. So don't tune out this morning for the message. And this passage of scripture that we're looking at speaks of thy father's commandment as well, really all the points that we deal with this morning. We could just change a few words as we did the song that we sang. And we could just change a few words and use this for a Father's Day message as well. The points apply equally to you and to me. And what a blessing it is to be able to celebrate our mothers. and be thankful for the mothers that we have. I know not every lady in here is a mother, whether God never blessed you with children at this point or not. We are thankful for all of our ladies, as was mentioned earlier in an earlier prayer. But we do want to recognize our mothers this morning, and I hope that the Word will be an encouragement to you. We read Proverbs 6, verses 20 through 22, If you look back to Proverbs 1, verses 8 and 9, it's another similar passage to that. A few things that are different in Proverbs 1, verses 8 and 9. Proverbs 1, verses 8 and 9. As you consider these two passages this morning, a lot of great instruction for us. I'll just give you a few definitions of some words in those passages. When it says, forsake not the law of thy mother, we'll touch on this as we go through the message. We're not to leave, we're not to cast off, we're not to reject or abandon the law of our mother. In law speaks of, it's the same word Torah, same word we get when we speak about God's law. It's the same word, it speaks of instruction, even customs that we might have in life, even our one's manner, how you do something, that is covered by that term Torah. And so our mothers have customs, they have direction, they lay down the law, but there's other things in life as far as their manner and their customs that they might instill in your life that we also are not to forsake. We're to bind them. That word bind means to tie together, but it also means to, it's often used in reference to people and nations when they bind themselves together like in a confederacy. And we're going to touch on that because there's interesting application for children and mothers. It speaks about our heart, we're to bind them upon our heart, speaking about our inner man, our will, our understanding. We're to tie them about our neck. That word neck is almost always used figuratively. You're not to go around like maybe some of the Jews did and write down the laws physically and put a necklace around your neck with a big sign with all the laws of your mother. That's not what it's telling you to do. It's figurative. Something that's considered beautiful, graceful, you put necklaces on. Ladies, do you have necklaces on this morning? You didn't do that because you wanted to come to church and look ugly. You put it on because it looks pretty. And it's an ornament that you put on your neck. the law of our mother does for us. When it speaks there that it shall be a chain about the neck is not talking like a dog chain tied to a stake in the ground, that it's going to bind you and keep you from doing things. It's a matter, it's an ornament that God has blessed you with. We see how important Mother's Day is around the world. Most majority of the nations celebrate Mother's Day in some form, not necessarily the second Sunday in May, though many nations have done that. It was originally an American holiday as far as the second Sunday in May. Other nations have adopted that as well. Others are on the first Sunday of May. I think Mexico has their Dia Las Madras on last Sunday, the first Sunday of May. Others have it in August. Some of them have it in November, different times of the year. But throughout the world, people understand the importance of mothers that shape the next generation. Charles Spurgeon, speaking about a praying mother, how important a Christian mother is, He said the fervent prayers of a righteous mother have saved more children than all the sermons ever preached. How important is it you pray for your children? Duncan Campbell said a mother's prayers are the secret resource of the home and the unseen foundation of the church. John Wesley said that a praying mother is worth more to a child than all the world's counselors and teachers. And Ian Bounds said that the mighty prayers of a humble mother can tear down strongholds and open the gates of heaven for her children. We can see throughout the Bible, the Bible is very clear on the importance of mothers and their influence. Even I was thinking of Genesis 28 when we have a reference to Jacob obeying his father and his mother. In Genesis 28, verse number seven, it references that. He was sent up to Paddan Aram. And you consider that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother. Consider how old was he there in Genesis 28. He wasn't a teenager. He wasn't in his 20s. He wasn't in his 30s. He wasn't in his 40s. He wasn't in his 50s. He wasn't in his 60s. He was 77 years old. Isaac was 137 years old, Rebecca was maybe around 115 years old. And yet it's pointed out, Jacob obeyed his father and his mother at 77 years old. Going through the books of Kings, we read time and again the phrase, his mother's name was. We have the king, we know who his father was, we know his works, but it points out 16 different times, 16 different mothers, that the only thing we know about them was that this was the mother of the king. Before he died, Jesus committed the care of his mother into John's hands. Timothy, his mother and his grandmother were commended for their unfeigned faith. In Proverbs 31, verse number 28, Concerning the virtuous woman, it says that her children arise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praiseth her. Throughout the Bible, again, we see the importance of mothers, and this morning in our passage, we consider the mother's influence, and the mother has, it's an effective influence. Bad mothers have an effective influence on their children. You want to have a godly influence, and as we go through the message this morning, the presupposition is that we're talking about godly mothers. We're talking about those whose instruction, whose purposes, whose laws that they lay down in their family, that it doesn't contradict God's word. If you're teaching your children contrary to the word of God, you'll still be an effective mother, but not in the right way. We want to have, We don't need mothers that are effective. How many mothers here were saved as an adult? And maybe you've already raised your children, or maybe they're partially raised or mostly raised, but you're saved as an adult. How many mothers in here? Okay, quite a few. And you can look back in your life and say, I only wish that I was saved earlier for those mothers that had grown children. at that time. I only wish I could have been saved early and been able to instill in them some of the things that I know now. And you may not have been the most godly mother that you desired to be at those times, but you can still be the mother that God desires you to be today. And the grandmother and the great-grandmother. One man wrote this, it is a very happy circumstance when the commandment of our father and the law of our mother are also the commandment of God and the law of the Lord. Happy are they who have a double force to draw them to the right, the bonds of nature and the cords of grace. Whenever we consider the instruction of our fathers, the law of our mothers, when we consider lost parents. I grew up with lost parents. I was saved before my parents were saved. I was saved at 13. They weren't saved until I was 16. And I'll go back over the things that I learned in those years of when they were lost. And there were a lot of ungodly things that I learned. There are also other things that weren't necessarily instilled as a Christian character, but a lot of godly principles that were instilled in me, not because they had thoughts of, they were trying to instill any Christian principles in me, but it was just things from the Bible, ways that they were brought up that they instilled in me, and I praise the Lord for those things. But we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 21, to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. And we're gonna be looking at what our parents have taught us, and there may be things that aren't right, You can discard those, you can set those aside, but hold fast that which is good. We consider, looking at verses 20 and 21, first of all this morning, the binding of a mother's influence. He says in verse number 20 of Proverbs 6, my son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck. This speaks of the responsibility that children have towards their mother. towards her teaching, towards her example and the responsibility that we have in that even as if you're grown, maybe your mother's gone, maybe she's been dead for years, maybe she's been dead for decades, there's still responsibility that you have because we see here a continuity in the instruction when it says bind them continually about thy neck. It speaks of a perpetuity in life. And I know in my own life there's things that my mother taught me that I still consider, I still refer to. I can look at my wife and see things that are evidences in her life of an influence from her mother. Good things that she has that, and I can look at us, maybe her sisters and say, they didn't get that. Maybe they got some other things. But there's here's one thing that that that one didn't get. But Cammie got it. And maybe some things that she didn't get that they got. But we are to glean those things. And it's a continual reminder in in our life. But this binds this responsibility that we have towards our mother. Joseph Benson said this, because of the infirmity of their sex or because, or and because they have not that dependence upon an expectation from their mothers which they have from their fathers. And that's not true across the board, but often it is true that we're prone to kind of neglect our mother's advice and lean towards our father's advice. But it's interesting, and this was true in my life, it's true in my children's life, whenever I called home as an adult child, I called my mom. to talk to her. I call my dad as well sometimes, but I usually call my mom. When my kids call, who do they call? They call Cammie, normally. They don't call me. But oftentimes, it's not, there's different reasons for that, but as grown children, we often do slight our mother's advice. But we consider here the adoption that should be made. He said, forsake not the law of thy mother. Don't cast it off, don't cast it away. Don't just reject it. Again, prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. If there are things that aren't right, we are to set those things aside. But overall, we're not to just reject our mother's counsel or her law. We're not to just abandon it, quit it. We're also gonna mean to let fall. Sometimes you let something fall. It's not a purposeful rejection. It's not a purposeful abandonment, but it's just something that we're just not being careful about and some things fall through the cracks. Agrippina the Younger was the mother of Nero. And she played a critical role in getting him to the throne. And early in his reign, she tried to guide him, she tried to influence him. Not as a godly mother, she wasn't a godly mother, but she did try to guide him to the right. But he increasingly resented her control, rejected her advice, and eventually had her murdered, had her killed. And without her guidance, he went on to great acts of cruelty, debauchery. His leadership was very erratic. His reign became synonymous with tyranny. And he ultimately committed suicide when the empire was turning against him. John Newton rejected his mother's godly teaching. She died when he was young, but prayed for him and tried to guide him. But he rejected that as a young man, slipped into a life of rebellion, ultimately became a slave trader. But her words, he said that her words and her prayers haunted him. They haunted him. What happened eventually, that Those prayers of hers and her words eventually led him to repentance and salvation. We have the song Amazing Grace that we sing because of his life, but the influence of Newton's mother. We are to adopt the law of our mother. We are not to cast it away, not to forsake it, but rather adopt it, embrace it, welcome it, choose it, endorse it. Unless we can look into the word of God and find that it's unsound, that it's not scriptural, But if not, don't forsake, don't just cast it off. We also see the affiliation that should be made. He said, bind them continually upon thine heart, tie them about thy neck. That word bind, besides just meaning to tie together, to bind together, can mean to league together. When nations would form a league between themselves. That means to unite as princes or states in a contract of amity for mutual aid or defense. To unite or confederate as private persons for mutual aid. A league is an alliance, a confederacy between princes or states. It's a contract or a compact. It can be offensive or defensive or both. If it's offensive, It's not talking about being offensive like someone's doing bad things. It's offense and defense. If the league is offensive, when the contracting parties agree to unite and attack a common enemy. When it's defensive, they agree to act defending each other. And we consider two people that have gone into a league together, a confederacy together, it's for the purpose of maintaining friendship to promote their mutual interest. And understand when your mother lays down the law, lays down customs, lays down manners, it's for your interest, but it's also for her interest. You ought to understand that you need to bind that. Enter into a league with your mother. Understand that what she's telling me, it's for my good. It does good to me, but it also does good to her. You want a home, if you're still in the home as a child, you want your home to go smoothly. When your mother lays down the law, when your mother tells you to do something, Be in a league with her, understand by you obeying her and doing those things that your home will be a lot smoother. Things will go a lot better. It's not just for your interest, it's also for her interest. And what's that phrase, if mama's happy, everyone's happy. If mama's not happy, no one's happy. People use that phrase. It's true. You wanna make your mother happy, things will go a lot better for you. So enter into a league with her. When she lays down the law, say, you know what, I'm in confederate with my mother. When she lays these things down, I'm going to obey. I'm going to do those things because it's going to not only help me, but it's going to help her. It's going to be a blessing to her. Receive her help and commit to promote her interests. And notice these things. He speaks of the heart and the neck. One is inward, one is outward. You ought to be cultivating that inward possession and love of these laws, but also the outward practice of them. It's a heart issue, but it's also a heart issue that is to pour out in your life. Others ought to be able to see that. Just as an ornament about your neck, if you have a tie this morning, and you didn't put it on to look ugly, it's an ornament of sorts. and others see it. They notice it. And understand when you follow the law of your mother, the manners, the customs of your mother, you don't forsake them. They are an ornament about your neck. You're going to tie them there. Others ought to be able to see these things demonstrated in your life. We consider next the beauty of a mother's influence. In verse number 21, The last phrase there says, and tie them about thy neck. In Proverbs one, verse number nine, it says, for they shall be an ornament of grace under thy head and chains about thy neck. This demonstrates the radiance that it bestows upon a life. The radiance that it bestows upon your life, the elegance that it gives, an ornament of grace. Speaking again, it was in reference to like a wreath or a crown that might be worn by someone. It was used as an adornment. Again, this is not in reference to like a dog collar chaining you somewhere. This was an ornament. It brought elegance to the person wearing these things. Oftentimes we'll use terms to describe maybe more so for a young man that maybe sticks too close to his mother. even as an adult that's out of the home, that's emotionally and maybe even practically still tied to his mother. Maybe some phrases are coming into your mind. Here's a young man that can't seem to act independently from what his mother would have him to do. He's still relying upon his mother's care, and so we'll have terms for that. Maybe some are popping in your head, some you don't want to say because This is how society looks upon things. They're not the nicest terms. We might use the term mama's boy. We might use the term that he's still tied to her apron strings, or they haven't been able to cut the umbilical cord yet, he's still attached to his mother, or he's his mother's darling. And we use those terms kind of derogatorily. But don't mistake that type of immaturity with listening to and embracing the teaching and training of your mother. It's unbecoming of a man to be tied to his mother's apron strings in that sort of a way. But following the instructions of your mother is something that brings beauty, it brings worth to your life. Mothers, don't take this as a justification. If you've got grown children, and you've laid down customs, you laid down manners in your house, and now as grown children with their families, guess what? They'll have their own manners and customs. If your manner was, I'll just give an example. Our family, we've enjoyed doing the brunches at Christmastime. We've enjoyed doing that over years. It's a lot of work, whether we'll do it this year or not. It's on the schedule whether we'll do it or not. I don't know, it's a lot of work. But let's say Courage and Cason and Mercy all got married and they're all here in this church and they had their families and come that Sunday, we call them up, or maybe the week before, we call them up and say, hey, this is what's going on, this is what we're making, what are you doing? You know what, they have every right to say, actually, we've got other plans. We've got things going on, and we're gonna enjoy being there for the brunch, but we can't help doing anything. We're just too busy. They could do that. Why? Because it's their house. And Kami couldn't throw a fit, saying, well, we've done this for decades. You can't just opt out. They can opt out, because it's a different household. Should there still be respect in those things? Certainly, but don't take this as an excuse to lay down the law in your grown children and their houses. We don't have that. We don't interfere with their marriage. We're to keep our nose out of their business. You can still give God the counsel. You can still encourage them to follow God's word, but let them make their own choice. Don't nag them because it's not what you want. That's just an extra point for you this morning. But when we follow the law of our mother, it does bring elegance to our life. It brings beauty to our life. We also see an elevation that it brings. When it speaks about chains about thy neck, it's not just in reference to maybe a pretty necklace, but turn back over to Genesis 41. We'll see oftentimes what this chain about the neck, what it signified. Many places throughout the Old Testament we see it here in Genesis, we see it in Daniel, we see it in Ezekiel as well. Genesis 41 and verse number 42 when Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh. In Genesis 41 verse 42 it says that Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand and arrayed him in the vestures of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. He put a gold chain about his neck. Same thing happened with Daniel in Daniel 5 verse 29. Then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. When a chain was put about someone's neck, it was a symbol of station, a symbol of authority, a symbol of position. that if you see someone wearing a particular necklace, it indicated where they're at in society. When the Lord was speaking of Israel in Ezekiel 16, and described very graphic terms, verses four through six, and then verse nine through 12 of that chapter, He said, as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut. So the picture here is of a newborn baby. You can get the picture here in your mind. Thy navel was not cut. So the picture here, here's the mother, she gives birth to the child, nothing's done with the child, the child's just picked up, book of cord, all that goes with it, just thrown out in the field. Let the coyotes get it. Let the birds come and eat it. Whatever, I'm just throwing it out. That's the picture here. Not a beautiful picture. In verse number six, he says, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. So, a pretty graphic picture. The navel was not cut, it was not washed in water, not salted, not swallowed, and I pity thee that was cast out in the open field, polluted in thine own blood. In verse number nine, he says, then washed I thee with water. He says, I anointed thee with oil. In verse number 10, I clothed thee with broidered work and shod thee with badger skins. I girded thee about with fine linen. I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments. I put braces upon thy hands and a chain on thy neck. What was it? This was a change of station. You were in a place of just degradation, humility, cast out, no one loved you. I loved you, I clothed you, and to show everyone else the station you had as my child, I put a gold chain about thy neck. The law of our mothers, the law of your mother, godly instruction, godly counsel will elevate you in life. Others won't necessarily see and say, oh, look, the law of his mother, but they're gonna see it demonstrated in your life. And it will elevate you. It will elevate you and it'll set you apart in your work. And you can see this. You see children of godly parents, whether they're 10, 12 years old, whether they're a teenager, or whether in their 20s or 30s and they're applying for a job. What do people see? Oftentimes you don't even have to apply for a job. They just look how you work. They just see what you do on a normal basis and say, you know what, I want that person working for me. I'm gonna go ask them if they need a job because look at their work ethic. Look at how they treat other people. Look at how kind they are in their words. What are all those things? That's the law of your mother coming out in your life. You've been trained, you've been brought up a certain way. Your children have been brought up a certain way. You've instilled principles in their life, and it comes out, and others see that, and it elevates them. Here's all these candidates. Well, here, this one stands out above the rest. Why? Well, because he's got the law of his mother. He had a necklace on there with a big sign. The law of the mother? No. But it came out in his life. It came out in her life. and they stand out above others. They look at their, whether it's their academic record or just how, again, how they treat others, how they respect their supervisors or their superiors in their work. They look at those things and they stand out. And those things are part of that law of the mother that's been instilled in you. It'll set you apart in your career. It'll set you apart as a spouse. bind them about thy neck, bind them upon your heart, tie them about thy neck. There is a blessing in that. It will elevate you, and there's a beauty in that. It's not something to be rejected just because it's from your mother. In verse number 22, we see the benefit of a mother's influence. In Proverbs 6, verse 22, the benefit of a mother's influence When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. It doesn't say here that it might lead you, it might keep you, or it might talk with you. It says it shall. These things are going to happen. Again, if you're a bad mother, you're instilling ungodly things in your life, that ungodly example, that ungodly teaching will lead them Keep them, talk with them, but not in the right way. This speaks of the reason for cherishing your mother's influence. But a warning for mothers, what are you teaching them? Are you guided by the word of God? Or are you guided by popular culture? What's the source of your guidance, the source of your instruction, the source of your counsel to your children? When Solomon wrote this, He knew the counsel. He knew his wife. He knew what was being taught, and he could say these things. He could say, when thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. When thou awakest, it shall talk to thee. He knew exactly what was being communicated to his son. He knew the source of wisdom. The benefit of a mother's influence, we see, it conducts, it leads, it guides. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When you're in the world, you're going through life, and you don't know which path to take. You don't know what turn to make. How often has it been the law of our mother, principles that she's instilled in our life where we say, you know what, I don't know exactly which is the best, but just remember some things that my mom taught me. I'm gonna choose this path. I'm gonna walk on this path because that lines up more with what I've learned from my mother, what she taught me from the Word of God, that lines up more. Maybe both paths are good choices. Which is the better choice? I'm gonna choose this path because of what my mother taught me. Your conduct. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. It will guide you. When you consider when it says the law of thy mother. Take this in two different contexts, the law that you lay down, the law that you lay down that will control your children, the manners that you lay down, the customs you instill in their life, but also what law controls you? What customs control you? What manners control your thoughts, your words, your actions? We consider the counsel that you give your children will help guide them, but what counsel do you take? What's the source of your counsel you get that you can convey to your children? Is it the word of God, is it your husband, or is it some worldly source? Because your counsel will guide them, but what's guiding you? Your conscience will guide them. You strive to instill in them a conscience that can be void of offense. Are you striving to have a conscience always void of offense in your own life? You try to help your children to have that. You don't want them to sear their conscience. You don't just allow them just to continue doing the wrong thing over and over and over again to sear their conscience. You strive to keep that out of their life. But what about your own conscience? Do your children look at your life and say, well, she does that. He does that for father. Your conversation, your manner of life, you wanna help guide their conversation, you wanna help guide their manner of life. What do they see you practice in your life? What does your lifestyle teach? Do you spend more time on your phone or in shopping centers, seeking entertainment, enjoying the world, spent on earthly things, or is there a greater priority put upon things eternal? When those choices come up in your children's lives, don't underestimate the power of your example in their decision. How often have children chosen paths that we sit back and say, I sure wish that wasn't, I wish they weren't doing that in their life. We can look back on our own lives and we can say, I know where they got it from. I did that same thing. Here's something that happened in my life. Maybe it was just a short time in your life where you just drop the ball while you fail for a period of time, but that's the period of time your child says, Mom did that. She allowed this in her life. She did these things. How many in here grew up, and this would be the older, I would probably guess no, I would guess if you're in your, in your 20s, you probably didn't experience this, maybe in your 30s, but how many of you grew up watching, parents watching soap operas? A few. I remember growing up, maybe not people watching soap operas, but it was very popular. I think maybe it still is, I have no idea. But consider the entertainment that we allow ourselves to indulge in, Our children will see that and they'll follow those things, good or bad. Your consecration. When you lack wisdom, do you ask of God? James 1 verse five. You try to instill that in your children, but do your children see that in your own life? Your contrition. You try to help your child to deal with sin properly, to respond properly when they've done wrong. You strive to help them to understand the right path to take. But when they look at your life, when they see someone has harmed you, offended you, done something against you, how do they see you react? Are you giving them the right examples of that in their life when they need guidance and they think back to the law of their mother, not just what you taught them, but what you showed them? How will they respond? when they get into a hard situation where someone hurts them, someone offends them. They're in a church and things happen in churches. People say the wrong things, do the wrong things, and that happens in churches. The thing to do is not say, well, I'm done with church, I'm done with God, I'm just gonna leave here and go find something else. The thing is to deal with that. So you teach them how to deal with those things, but how do you deal with it? Because they're gonna look at that, they may remember what you've taught them, but they're gonna remember more how you acted, how you responded to things. So it conducts your example, your law, your manners, your customs. It will help guide them and help conduct them in life. It also helps conserve them. It says, when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. That word keep means to protect, to preserve, to guard. In this protection, when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. This is taking place when you're the most helpless. How many here last night, some of our men in here you're carrying, maybe when you were asleep last night, I doubt any of you were carrying last night when you were sleeping. Maybe next to your bed, you have a gun sitting next to your bed, but how many of you throughout the night as you were sleeping were thinking, my gun's right there, if anything happens, it's right there? You weren't thinking that. You probably don't even know last night I snuck into your house. I came into your room and I stood right over your bed watching you. You didn't even remember. You were pretty vulnerable then. Your gun did you no good as I was standing there. The times when we're most vulnerable, the times when we're in the greatest weakness, when we're defenseless, when we're off our guard, when thou sleepest it shall keep thee. How often have we been in a place where passively, because of what our mothers have instilled in our life, what she's instilled in our life has protected us from things that we didn't even realize were gonna harm us. We didn't even realize we were there that would bring a crisis in our life, but because of just following the law of our mother, it kept us from those certain paths. The young man in Proverbs 7, If he would have followed the law of his mother, if his mother taught him, listen, there's certain people in this world that you just don't wanna be around. In particular, don't go down at this corner because at that corner, this lady, there's this girl there and that girl there, and they mean no good in your life. They're rotten, stay away from, don't go there. Just stay away from those areas. Just stay away from this whole section of town. And the one that follows that doesn't even realize the dangers that they miss out on because they just naturally avoid that corner. They avoid that section of town. They avoid those lifestyles which this young man in Proverbs 7 decides to go that way and what does he find? He finds himself in deep trouble. How often have we just by following our mother's law, following her instruction, we have been kept out of harm's way when we didn't even know it. When adopting your lifestyle, your principles, your teachings, will it put them into a realm of wickedness, temptation, danger, or will it put them into a way of holiness, of blessing, of peace? It conserves us, it protects us, and then lastly, it communes with us. When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. We have a picture here of fellowship. The most important subjects in all sorts of ways, all sorts of authority, a companionship that we enjoy, maybe physically with our mothers and speaking with them and enjoying that kind of fellowship, but as we've, these laws have been instilled in our lives and we wake up in the morning and we can just enjoy the understanding of some things in life because our mother's put those into our life, and there's a fellowship with our mother that we enjoy throughout life, even though we're not with her. Even though we're not talking with her every morning, there's still a fellowship that we enjoy because of the things that's been put into our lives. This kind of fellowship here that's spoken of, when thou awakest it shall talk with thee. This isn't a harsh, you don't think of this kind of a scenario of harsh and grating tones between people that are speaking. You think of just maybe an honest plainness, a good fellowship. There may be reproof in things and discussing in this sort of a situation, but it's, it's done with a good heart. When we bind our mother's laws upon our hearts, when we follow them, we consider them in our life, we wake up in the morning, we may remember, maybe even things that have nothing to do with spiritual things, maybe it just has to do with your diet. And you're just eating something that you shouldn't be eating in the morning, and here it pops in your head, I know what mom would say about this. Or throughout the day, other things that have come up, well, maybe it's your mother's, maybe it's with your driving, you're driving on the road. I know my mom would say right now if she saw me going this fast. If she saw me driving like I'm doing now, I know what she would say. And those are lighthearted things. Think about the deep things in life that we learn from our mothers, the things that you can instill in your children that as they go through life, they'll just continually speak to them. They'll wake up in the morning and maybe without even consciously thinking about you, those principles will be there in their life. And they'll come up and they'll base their life upon those things. They'll order their day according to the manners that you laid down in their life. For those mothers in here whose children are gone and they're not in your house anymore, maybe you have grandchildren, great-grandchildren, you can still influence those lives. Not to the same degree, but your influence can still be there. If you have children in the home, how important it is that you lay down the customs, laws, manners in the lives of your children so that as they grow up, it'll continually be on their mind. It's gonna shape how they play out their day, how they schedule their day, how they respond to things. It will be something that they, as they attach onto those things and latch on and embrace it, it'll be something that will set them apart from the world around them. Their employers, others, their coworkers, they're gonna see there's something different about this person. And they won't necessarily say, well, it's because of what the mother taught them. But it will come out in their life and it'll be an ornament of grace about their neck. It'll be like a necklace that elevates them in society. A mother's influence, a godly mother's influence, how important it is. It is effective. It is effective. Your influence as a mother is effective. For good or bad, it is effective. You ought to desire for it to be effective in a godly way. To be effective in a way to bring honor and glory to the Lord, amen? We praise the Lord for godly mothers. Again, my mother wasn't saved until I was 16 years old. And so a lot of things that I could think back and think of a lot of bad examples, horrible examples that my parents set in my life. but I don't choose to sit and ponder those things. I can think back though as a lost person, as a lost child with lost parents, I can think back to the good things in life that they try to instill in me. Teaching me things, showing me things, being an example in the right way of certain things. I can look back and see how those things have shaped my life. I can look back and see bad things also that have shaped my life. bad habits I still do today, maybe ways of doing things or saying things that I shouldn't do, that I learned from my parents. But I praise the Lord that as we live in the Word of God, as we strive to be like Him, His grace is sufficient for us to overcome those deficiencies that I have as a parent now, to overcome those things that help me be who I need to be. God's grace is efficient for you, amen? He'll help you to be the mother you need to be. Even if you are now past the point where you think I can be an influence, your prayers, if nothing else, maybe your children, I don't know if this is the case with anyone in here where your children want nothing to do with you. Because you become a Christian maybe later in life and they want nothing to do with your influence in their life or their grandchildren's life. Guess what? Your influence can be the strongest influence in their life still through your prayers. They can't stop that. You're going to have the greatest influence in the life of your children as you pray for them. We talk of that. We speak about that. But do we really put it into practice? We talk about in regards to missions and missionaries. We can have an influence in Africa by praying here. We talk about that, but do we put it into effect? Mothers, you can have a great influence in your life. Those quotations I read at the beginning of the message, all about the prayers of mothers, how important those prayers are. You can have the greatest influence in the life of your children through your prayer life. Amen. Let's all stand together this morning.