A Mother's Duty and Delight

Well, we've already Had several wonderful sermons, I guess you could call them, this morning, in the words of the hymns that we have sung. the focus upon homes and we We look forward to talking about that this morning and to. endeavoring to shape our homes according to God's eternal word. When Mother's Day rolls around, the question arises: how do we appropriately honor mothers? And in one sense, there's no way to do so appropriately enough, sufficiently enough.

But it is an appropriate thing to do, I'm confident. It's true that some churches ignore Mother's Day entirely because It is not found in the Bible. It's more of a secular holiday than a religious one, and I understand that sentiment. And for those who are careful to The order their Church worship strictly according to what is commanded. In Scripture, then I understand why they would not.

call any reference, call any attention to Mother's Day. Others, perhaps, give it passing reference, but continue to focus upon. The normal Agenda that they would have for worship in their churches, but most churches. We'll give Mother's Day serious attention. because it is a serious matter and it is a biblical matter.

even though there's no particular day in the Bible. that we are commanded to honor mothers. We do know that Motherhood is a divinely directed institution. That God has appointed it for the good of mankind. We know that the Bible contains instructions for how motherhood is to be conducted.

And it is important for us to focus upon those at times, whenever those times may be.

Now the question that I have raised reminds me a little bit about the question that comes up regarding Christmas. What do you do with Christmas? That's not found in the Bible either, but... You can't go wrong emphasizing the incarnation of Christ. Focusing on that can never be a bad thing, it can only be a wonderful and good thing.

And I think to a lesser degree, of course, the same thing is true when it comes to Mother's Day. And there's more in the Bible about mothers than Proverbs 31. That's a wonderful text, and we have looked at that in years gone by. There's more in the Bible about motherhood than God. Then Hannah and baby Samuel, though that also is a common text and is often referred to.

on Mother's Day. But there are many, many, many things in the Bible that pertain to motherhood, and we want to look at some of the others of them today. And today our sermon is entitled A Mother's Duty and Delight. And it is drawn from the primary text in Proverbs 22, 6. Train up a child in the way he should go.

And when he is old, he will not depart from it. It's a good reminder for all of us, not just for mothers, but we're going to. Going to examine this text primarily as it pertains to mothers and motherhood today. And so we are going to look first of all at a mother's purpose. Secondly, A mother's plan.

And thirdly, A mother's partnership. Shall we look at these one by one? A mother's purpose. We just read it, I think, in Proverbs 22:6, though this is not restricted to mothers, these instructions. train up a child in the way he should go.

And when he is old, he will not depart from it. Nevertheless, they do apply. In a very significant way to mothers and to God's purpose for mothers in the home. Proverbs 22, 6 is surely one of the best-known verses in all the book of Proverbs. And particularly if you take the verses in Proverbs that are directed to child training.

This is the best known of them all. And is the only one of seven verses, and there are really only seven verses that specifically apply to the training of children. Though in a sense the whole book of Proverbs applies to that and we'll see that in a moment. But I'm talking about verses that say something specific about parent-child training. And The other six all have to do with correction.

Several of them have to do Would not sparing the rod if you love your child. But this one is broader and more general than that. It does and certainly include correction in the training that we are to give our children. train up a child in the way he should go. But it's broader than simply correction and therefore is unusually helpful when we are considering this subject today.

So let's look at the text in these areas. First of all, the focus of the text, secondly, the activity, third, the goal, and fourth, The promise. First, the focus, and the focus, of course, is upon children. Train up a child. in the way he should go.

Train up a child. And it does not need to be said, but I'll say it anyway. that a child is what makes a woman a mother. That's pretty obvious, isn't it? But that's that's serious business.

Because when God grants a child, then the focus changes. Whatever the main focus of that woman was, Prior to that child coming into her life, Now, her main focus must be directed to that child. And though some Tried to ignore that in one way or another and to slough that off as if that's not really such a significant. Matter Number one, it's impossible to ignore. And number two, it would be wrong to ignore because God tells us that this is the new focus.

For a woman. When she has a child, she now has a new major responsibility that she has never had before, and that responsibility is to be very involved. in the training of that child. And so the focus of this text is the child. And when a child is granted, a new responsibility begins.

and the needs of the child become the mother's primary concern. And many, of course, focus only upon the physical needs, the feeding, the health. The other physical clothing and other physical needs of the child. But Christian mothers know that although all of that is important, there's something that's even more important, and that is the training of the child. train up a child in the way he should go.

The focus of this text His children. The activity of this text is training. Train Up. a child in the way he should go. Train up.

The Hebrew word under that English word training, train up. means to dedicate. To set apart To hedge in. And all of those are important thoughts in this concept of training. First of all, training involves dedicating that child that is dedicating him to the Lord.

And that's what Hannah did in a very conspicuous way. That's one reason why. Uh the Hannah And Samuel c uh Account in scripture can be such a very helpful text to this whole issue of motherhood and children because. As you know, she prayed for the child and promised the Lord that if he would give her a child, she would dedicate that child to the Lord for as long as he lives. And she did that in a unique way by bringing that child to.

The tabernacle. and giving him to the high priest as a servant to be actually reared in that context. Quite an unusual event. but nevertheless a very conspicuous way of dedicating her child to the Lord. For most of us, that's not the way we do it.

In fact, for most of us, that would not be the proper way to do it. Because the Bible doesn't say here, turn your child over to the to the high priest or turn the child over to the church. Turn your child over to somebody else, but it says, and the word you is certainly implied, but it's very important: you train up a child. in the way he should go. You are to dedicate that child to the Lord.

That's the first step in training. You are Two Set apart that child for special attention.

Now, the other affairs of life that you have, though they don't stop, and it's not necessary, necessarily, it's not always necessary that whatever else you were pursuing in life comes to a screeching halt, though in some cases that may be necessary in order to carry this out. But one thing is sure, you can't carry on life exactly as it was before. In fact, you can't carry on life. Um Yeah. Generally, as it was before.

Now you've got a number one priority that exceeds all other priorities, and that is this child. That has your Attention. You can't escape that. And needs to be dedicated to the Lord and set apart for the purpose of bringing him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And that third concept in the term train.

means to hedge in. And this, of course, involves Corrective discipline. The foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Left to go his own way, he's not going to go the right way, is he? A child isn't going to just naturally Seek the Lord, naturally obey God's word.

In fact, if he isn't taught God's word, he won't know God's word, he won't obey God's word, but even if he is taught God's word, he is... Unregenerate heart, and his normal Adamic inclination is to go in another direction. And so a very important part of training is to hedge that child in, to narrow his path, to build walls around his life so that he will go in the right way. Uh while you have that kind of authority and control in his life, And then By God's grace, as you pray for that child, God will continue to keep him in that narrow way.

So the primary activity is to train. What is the goal? The goal of the training is to set him on the path of the way he should go. Train up a child in the way. He should go.

Now, that particular phrase has occasioned an awful lot of comment and study and inquiry because. It's not crystal clear what exactly that means, even in the English. And if I give you. The Hebrew that underlies it, you are going to scratch your head for sure. But literally that says Upon the mouth of his lips.

Train up a child upon the mouth of his lips in the way he should go. What does that mean? When it comes to that Hebrew phrase, on the mouth of his lips, I have no clue. But apparently, that is a Hebrew idiom that means something like: train him up in the way he should go. But again, what does that mean exactly?

Does that mean in the way he ought to go? That's the way we normally take it. Train up a child in the way that he ought to go. Train up a child in the way that we as Christians desire for him or her to go. Train up a child in the way that God's word directs him to go.

Train up a child in the way that he ought to go. And that probably, I really think that is the meaning. of the text, but Because of the ambiguity of the exact meaning.

Sometimes it is considered to mean Train up a child in the way he is best suited for. In other words, to take into account the particular gifts and talents and strengths and weaknesses and the the things that are unique about that child. And if you have more than one child, as Many of you do, many of us have. you will recognize very readily that no two are alike. We have four daughters, and they're all different.

They all had different gifts and different talents and different inclinations and That became apparent very early in life, didn't it? And I'm confident that this is part of it. We need to take all of that into account, though I don't think that's primarily. what this text is teaching. But we do need to take that into account.

If you try to pour everyone very Uh Sternly and strictly into exactly the same mold, you're not going to get a good result. You need to realize that just this child has this. Characteristic, and this child has another inclination. This child has a A more tender heart and a greater desire to please others, and that can be a good thing, but that can be a bad thing. And so you need to take all of that into account.

The good part of that is that child will probably want to please its parents more readily. And others show the exact opposite. They show an inclination not to want to please their parents. And as I say, that can be a good thing or a bad thing. The child that seems to have a personality that wants to please their parents can also have the weakness of a personality that goes through life wanting to please others.

More than God, more than God's word, and that, of course, is a great weakness.

So you take all that into account when you see these things. In the life of your child, you take advantage of what are the strengths, and then you train them uniquely. to guard against the weaknesses that you recognize are there. They're there that's that's wise. That, however, I don't think is primarily what this text is talking about when it says, train up a child in the way he should go.

I think what it's saying is Train up a child. in the path of godly living. And In the course of that path, you do take into account, as I've already said, the unique characteristics of that child, and you'll certainly do a better job of training them up in the path that they should go. If you are aware of these things and incorporate all of that, into your training. It's kind of like when the Bible commands husbands to dwell with their wives in an understanding way.

Means to learn what your life is like. Your wife is like. Did I say life? What your wife is like. to understand her, to talk to her, to to draw her out, to understand her thoughts and And dwell with her in an understanding way, in a way that understands what you're.

wife is like. Again, if you try to pour every marriage situation into the same mold and you try to treat your wife the way Who knows? Your father treated his wife, your mother, and so forth, and they're different. That won't always work in every situation.

So you need to. get to know this mysterious and wonderful Creature that God has given you. Who is your wife? and dwell with her in an understanding way. And Children are similar in that regard.

You need to take this little Creature, this mysterious creature, this wonderful creature that God has given to you. and get to know it. And of course Getting to know it won't happen in the first month or the first year. It takes a while for many of these. aspects, these various aspects of the child to become clear.

But as they do, you wisely direct the child's training in a way that will take all of that into account. But what you're doing in every case is directing that child in a God-given path, in the way that he should go. according to the Word of God, and that's the goal. The focus is the child. The activity is to train the child.

And the goal is to train this child. in the proper path of godly living. You recall that text in Deuteronomy chapter 6? I'll begin reading it. Verse 5, everybody knows this verse.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Great.

Now what does that mean?

Well, it means a lot of things, but the very next verse tells you one of the important things it means. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart and You shall teach them diligently to your children. and shall talk of them when you sit in your house. When you walk by the way, When you lie down. And when you rise up, Loving the Lord.

the way that we're supposed to love him. Loving the Lord with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength means to Teach our children the word of God. Teach God's Word in your home. Don't Rely entirely upon the church to treat your children. They can help you greatly and will help you greatly if you employ that as one of your tools of training.

But this is your primary responsibility, and it begins in the home, and that training must take place in the home if it's going to be as effective as it can be, and we trust otherwise will be.

So the focus of our text is children. The activity of our text is Train them. our major responsibility. The goal of our text is to train them in a God-honoring way, the path of righteousness, the way that we would like to see them go. as those who know the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the promise of this text is, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And that has caused a great deal of perplexity and consternation. and thoughtfulness and in some cases Um discouragement. Because, again, it's not exactly clear what this. is telling us.

When he is old, he will not depart from it. What is the it? that he will not depart from. We can start with the easier part. When he is grown, when he is old, what does that mean?

That means when he's grown. This is not saying he may depart from it a whole Lot of long ways and long time, but when he's old, he'll finally come back to it. But again, that depends on what it is. But Literally, this is saying when he is grown, when he is. Mature when he is an adult, when he is no longer under your.

Parental training, he will not depart from the training you have given him if you have trained him up. in the way he should go. If you trained him up, in this manner that is taught to us in this text.

So what is this text promising? Is this promising that if you train up a child in this way, that that will guarantee his salvation? Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Taken by some to mean he will not be unconverted, but That's not what it means, and it obviously can't be what it means because we've all observed. godly families who have Trained their children most carefully in the things of God, and yet.

have not seen their children come to Christ. Certainly not when they are first first enter adulthood and in some cases Not for a long, long time, and in some cases no evidence that they ever do. It's not a promise that your child will become a born-again Christian if you train them up correctly. That would be A happy promise if that were what was meant, but that is not what is meant. And scripture, other places, makes that very clear.

And that, of course, causes us to. to fall back upon The sovereignty of God. God has got to work. There's a part for us to do. There's an important part for us to do.

There's important training for us to do. But our training cannot save anyone. Our training cannot regenerate a lost sinner. Our training cannot create life. eternal life, spiritual life where there is none.

Only God can do that. God breathes life. Into the nostrils of Adam in the garden, and God breathes life into the soul. Every child is a soul that God has created afresh. You say, where do these Children come from.

Are they angels in heaven and then God brings them to earth as babies? No. They're not. They don't exist before they are conceived. in the womb But when they are, their soul, now that God has created a fresh creation of God.

But that's the first creation. That's the first birth, but as we know, Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born from above. It's not enough to be born. naturally, physically.

You must be born spiritually. And you Yourself can't control that any more than you can control. Control your first birth. How much responsibility did you have for being born the first time, for becoming a human being? Did you do that by your will?

Yeah. Did you How did that come about?

Well, that wasn't in your hands. That was something that God did. And It produced you. Yeah. You arrived because of it, but it wasn't anything that you contributed to it.

and likewise with the new birth. We are born in from above. In fact, Jesus went on, you remember, in John chapter 3, and talking to Nicodemus. With an analogy, an illustration. He says: the wind blows where it wills.

And you don't know where it's coming from or where it's going.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. The Spirit blows when and where he wills. And we can see the effects, we can see the results. When the wind blows, we see the trees moving. You're probably like we are many times in the morning before we've been outside.

We look through our Um French doors In our den out to see if the trees are moving, if the leaves are blowing, then we know if there's wind. And it's pretty evident when there is wind, but we didn't produce it. We can't tell. Exactly where it came from and where it's going. We certainly don't know how.

How it got there, we just know it's there. The evidence is there. But The production of it is certainly outside our control. The evidence of the new birth is there when when God brings that to pass and he must do it. And the evidence is very, very evident when God does that.

But we are dependent upon God for that. And so it's obvious that this text is not promising that if you will train your child in a certain way, that you will thereby guarantee his salvation. Nor is it necessarily, even to take a step backwards. From that. promise that erroneous concept of the promise.

but it's not even necessarily a promise of godly living. But there's something close to that, and I'll tell you what I think it is in a moment. But it's not saying that if you'll train up a child in a God-honoring path, that when he is grown, he will not depart from that path. Again, by observation, we know that's not true. And if we take this as a as an absolute promise in those those two ways.

Either one of those two ways. That what we end up doing is saying, if you're child isn't a Christian, then you didn't train him upright. If your child isn't walking the narrow path, then you failed miserably in your training. And that's just not necessarily true either. And many a very conscientious and God-fearing parent.

has poured their soul and heart into the training of their children. And our deeply burdened and disappointed because That training does not seem to have molded their life and to directed their path. And have has not created within them the spiritual life and interest for which they prayed and labored.

Well, if it doesn't mean those things, then what does it mean? I think it means this. Train up a child. In the way he should go, And The basic truths taught in childhood will never be erased. The child may push them back, but he can't ever get away from them.

He may not follow them, but they're always there. That is a wonderful promise, you see. You never know when the Spirit of God is going to call him up short. And Then he'll remember the scripture he married. He'll be memorized.

He'll remember the things that he was taught. He will remember. The word of God from the Bible that was taught him when he was young. He will remember godly parents who taught him and prayed for him. These things, though he may stray from them, and many do, he can never completely eradicate from his mind and heart.

They're there forever. That's a good promise. And that's one we can rest upon. Trade up a child. And the way he should go.

And he's never going to completely get away. from the things you taught him, And oh, what a blessing when God brings the truths he was taught in childhood into his present. situation, his present need. And he surrenders to the truth. That his parents carefully taught him.

in the home. All right, that's the text.

Now, let's consider the context, and by that I mean. Let's look at some of the things that we ought to be including in our child training. The text tells us to train them in the way they should go. But the question is what exactly should we teach them? And of course, we've already mentioned it.

We teach them God's Word, we teach them the Bible. The things that you have been commanded back to Deuteronomy. These are what you teach your children.

So, in a general way, we teach them the truth of God's Word.

Well because this Text. Is in the book of Proverbs, we might say the book of Proverbs would have some very special. application to what we do in child training. And because this particular text is in the 22nd chapter of the book of Proverbs, we might. just confine ourselves to what I read and you're hearing earlier.

And say, well, what does that portion of Proverbs, Proverbs 22, 1 through 16, tell us? about some of the things we should teach our children. And that's where I'm going to go today quickly. But I have, it'll have to be quickly because I have seven things that I picked out of this section. That are emphasized as things that we all need to learn, and we need to teach them to our children.

And what are they? Number one, Authority, submission to authority. Verse 15 says, Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but. The rod of correction. will drive it far from him.

As sellers Our children will naturally resist authority. All sinners naturally resist authority of all kinds, and ultimately, of course, the authority of God Almighty. Because all other God-ordained authorities flow from Him and derive their authority from Him.

So parental authority. comes from God. Church authority comes from God. Civil authority. comes from God.

And We have a naturally Independent rebellious streak that says We don't want nobody telling us what to do. That needs to be forcefully corrected. One of the most important things you can teach your child is to submit. Two. proper God-ordained authority.

If you can accomplish that in his training. Teach them to submit to your parental authority. We live in a day of Supposedly modern techniques that say, oh, that's. That's wrong. That's cruel.

No nobody should exercise authority over their children. Uh it it ought to be a a friendship relationship. Um Mothers should try to become their child's best friend. Fathers likewise should try to become their child's best friend. Don't lord your authority over them.

Don't you understand? This is just another of many of the lies of Satan that are the exact opposite of what God has said. This is not according to the wisdom. of God, this is according to the foolish wisdom, so-called wisdom, of man which is wrong. We can see so many things that are wrong, and this is one of them.

Children need To submit, to learn to submit to authority. And that starts in the home. Children who don't learn to submit to the authority of their parents aren't going to submit to the authority of teachers at school and aren't going to submit to the authority of the policemen. We've got People all over America today out on the streets raging against legitimate. Authority.

We will not. Obey policemen. We will not. Obey. Immigration officers.

We will not recognize borders in our country. We will not do this. We will not do that. If all of those children had been trained properly in the home with the rod of correction driving that rebellious spirit far from them, we'd have far few protests out on the streets of America today. A whole host of people, millions of people, who've never been.

Forcefully brought to submit to authority. But that's Job number one. That's job number one. If you can't do that, you really can't do much in these other areas. But if you will do that, then when your child is.

in a right relationship with their parents. As a child to a parent, as a learner to a teacher, as A Um Submitted one to a proper authority, when they're in that relationship, then you can teach them a lot of things. And so you can teach them, number two, some things about morality or good character. You'll notice verse 3, a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. But the simple pass on.

and are punished. They need to be taught that evil is deceitful, dangerous, and must be avoided. Does that mean if you teach them that, that they'll always do that? No, but if you teach them that, they may miss a lot of dangerous evil that otherwise they would get into. We need to teach them the painful consequences that attend sinful behavior.

Now look at verse 5. Thorns. and snares. are in the way of the perverse. He who guards his soul will be far from them.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse. Perverse. actions, perverse living. Brings earthly consequences, thorns, Described here as thorns and snares, thorns and traps, thorns and And um Harmful. things and You listen to the wisdom of the world, for example, in the area of Sexual morality, and this is much broader than that.

But the air of sexual morality, it's It's just fun, it's just recreation, there's nothing wrong with it. We don't hear as much talk these days about the. Incredible proliferation, spread of venereal disease, but it is more rampant in America today than ever. I think I don't know. But I think probably the majority of Adults Wind up.

with a venereal disease, and it may be It may be attended to medically so that it doesn't become. a life-threatening issue, but it's always going to be a thorn.

Now, folks, you're doing your children a favor in more than one way. You're certainly doing them a favor in their relationship with God and to His Word, but you're doing them a favor in relationship to their own well-being and health when you teach them. and hedged them up in a narrow way. and teach them the importance of obeying God's rules, God's commandments for morality. save themselves for marriage.

and involve themselves sexually with only one person, their marriage partner. And oh, what a host. Not just V D, what a host of problems that's going to avoid. Every Immoral relationship has its own relationship baggage that never really. completely goes away.

Like that. Probably the only one of, if not the only, country music song of of any words that I can remember. But this one was so. memorable, I do remember it. All my exes live in Texas, that's why I make my home in Tennessee.

We laugh. But it's no laughing matter. All those relationships and You try to get away from them, you can't really completely get away from them, but it's May be helpful if you can get as far away from them as Texas to Tennessee.

so that they're not knocking on your door every day, but Those relationships are going to be with you. For the rest of your life. Learn The consequences of sinful behavior. And learn teach your children to avoid that. Oh, so many things.

I'm not going to have time for them all. We need to teach our children industry. Verse 13: the lazy man says, There's a lion outside, I shall be slain in the street. That is, he says, He's always got some reason, some excuse, why he can't work. There might be a lion in the street.

Now, nobody's seen a lion around here for 50 years, but you never know, can't take that chance.

So I'm not going to go outside and do any work. Always some some justification for sloth. We've got to teach our children industry. Excuses for work come easily. Diligence requires a lot of intentionality.

But what a blessing when. Parents teach their children the value of and the discipline of Honest work, hard labor. In many cases, it's easier to do that task yourself than to take the time to teach your child to do it. That takes patience, that takes longer. But when you accomplish that, you've accomplished more than somebody who can help you.

With the chores around the house, which Can be a real blessing once you've got them trained. But you've done something for them, their character. Their future. You've taught them the biblical value of hard work. You've taught them what has sometimes been called the Puritan or the Protestant work ethic.

That's valuable, that's important, that's one of the things you ought to be teaching them. Another area is finances and money, and there are actually one, two, three, four, five verses in this passage of 16 verses. that deal in one way or another with money. It must be a pretty important subject and it is. Verse 1 says A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.

Loving favor rather than silver and gold. In other words, Money is not the most important thing. A good reputation is more valuable than money. But we do need to learn how to handle money. God blesses generous giving.

Verse 9. He who has a generous eye will be blessed. For he gives of his bread to the poor. One of the best ways to increase your Wealth It is to be generous in giving it away. Whatever God has blessed you with, give a good, generous portion away.

That makes no sense to the world. That makes no sense to the banker. That makes no sense to the accountant. But it doesn't depend upon the banker or the accountant. It depends upon Almighty God, who is able to do that.

He can take little and stretch it so that it becomes a whole lot more. And he can take much and cause it to blow away so that it becomes a whole lot less. Saw him. Uh It's on him. Riches are granted to those who are honorable and godly, verse 4.

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. And debt is a serious snare, verse 7. The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. America runs on credit, doesn't it? Americans live on credit.

If you could learn to get rid of those Credit card debts. Never pay another Fee, never pay any more credit card interest. What a difference that would make in your financial well-being. If you can get rid of a car payment, What a difference that will make in your financial well-being. If you can get your mortgage paid off and be content to just have your mortgage paid off and That doesn't mean you have to go buy a bigger house and start a new mortgage all over again.

If you can learn these things so that you're not. living in debt, not dependent upon debt, it will make a huge difference. Yesterday at the funeral meal in our fellowship hall. There was another local pastor there and I hadn't talked to him for years and we got to chatting about about things and The matter of our church finances and buildings came up, and I said, Well, When we built our first building, this one, When we were done We were strapped. We we borrowed and It was a real stretch, and I remember feeling the pinch of that stretch.

And I said, by God's grace, we're not going to do that again.

So when it came time to build the second building, the Fellowship Hall, we didn't build it until we had The cash to build it. We didn't have quite enough, so we didn't finish the kitchen. It took us another year or so to. Get the rest of the money to put the cabinets and the appliances and so forth in the kitchen. Um cash on the barrel.

Hmm, that worked better. It worked so much better. Didn't tie up our finances one bit. And I could go on from there. This building over here that.

We built in the early 90s. We borrowed a teeny little bit and paid it off in a year. And then since then we've never borrowed again. Never. And sometimes People look at our balance sheet and they say, wow, you've got a lot, you should give it all away.

Well, we give a lot away, we give about a third of our money away. to missions. Yeah. But we also live by the principle of of saving So that we can build saving, so that we can cover. Expenses that So many churches can't ever seem to cover.

And it's it's just simple. Finances. The very thing that we're learning here in Proverbs: debt is not a good thing. I'm not. One that says it's always a sinful thing.

But it's not a good thing. Debt freedness is a good thing. It's a blessed thing to be debt-free. And that's what we should be striving for. One reason we have a large amount in our building fund right now It's because our goal is to uh be able to build a Family Life Center, a gymnasium and the facilities that goes with that.

Debt-free. And it's going to cost well over $2 million. Nobody can raise that kind of money. You'll have to borrow. Yeah.

Hang around and see what happens. I think we can do it without borrowing. We're saving now. and appreciate all those who give to the building fund which also helps pay for maintenance expenses which are Larger than we can budget in our general fund budget. And seems like the older our buildings get, the more of that we have.

So we may have $40,000 or $50,000 a year. in maintenance expenses. Um HVAC units and and new roofs and so forth and so on. But Um it's there. We can The money's already been collected.

It's already been set aside. We can do that without coming to you. Every few weeks, and saying, Help, we're in a crisis. You've got to dig down deep and give more. We're in trouble, we've got to have help here for this.

unexpected thing that came up, you should be planning for. unexpected things. As an individual, you ought to have A rainy day fund. And as a church, you ought to have a rated day fund, and that's just good finances because. Death is a negative thing.

And Freedom from debt is a positive thing. And your finances will be so much more comfortable You could give two people with the same income, I've seen this over and over the years. In fact, some people that have a a really large income. Um Maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars a year income. You say, wow, if I had that.

I wouldn't have any debt.

Well, they do. Didn't keep them from having debt. They're still over their heads in debt and always strapped and can't seem to make it. And here's this person over here with with not 25% of the income they have.

So they're not. on Easy Street, but they're not cramped, they're fine. They they don't They have enough money to pay for their needs, and they have some set aside for emergencies, and that's the way to live. Borrower is the servant of the lender.

Sometimes you have. too much month at the end of the money.

Sometimes you have too much sermon at the end of the time. We'll stop right there. Shall we pray? Father, help us with these matters to train our children in the way they should go and to call upon you for the promises that you have given. Teach us, O Lord, your ways.

And show us your paths, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.