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Faith in Parenting (Heb 11:23)

Today, I'm going to talk about what it means to be a parent, a parent of faith and we're going to look at this story of an amazing family. This amazing family has three amazing kids. These kids grow up to be amazing people. They are world leaders, they are world-famous, they are spiritual giants and if I were to tell you their names, every one of you here probably would have heard of them.

The parents' names, however, are a little bit obscure. The parents' names are Amram and Jochebed. You say, “What? Amram and Jochebed. Who in the world are Amram and Jochebed?” You may not know the parents but you might know their children. The children's names are Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The Bible tells us about this family. In Numbers 26, this is where all the names come together:

The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister.
(Numbers 26:59 ESV)

Now, this family reminds me a little bit of Charles Spurgeon. Many of you would have heard about Charles Spurgeon, a pastor, a preacher in the UK, but very few of us would hear about John Spurgeon. I mean, who has heard of John Spurgeon? But you know what, Charles Spurgeon would not be Charles Spurgeon if not for John Spurgeon, his father. His father was a pastor, faithful pastor of a little church, but who also faithfully built into the life of Charles Spurgeon.

Today, this family must have done something right. Amram and Jochebed must have done something right to have three wonderful world changers, leaders, spiritual giants grow up in their home. So we're going to look at how they actually did it – some pointers and hints from Scripture.

We join their story in Exodus chapter 2, which we've read just now and at this point of time, Miriam, the oldest child is somewhere between 7 to 10 or 12 years old. We cannot be very sure, the Bible doesn't really say. She's probably around the age 7, 10, 12 and then her younger brother is Aaron, currently about 2 to 3 years old. That's all there is in the family – Amram, Jochebed, Miriam and Aaron. Then, they found out that Jochebed is pregnant with a third child. Usually, pregnancy is a happy occasion. People celebrate, cheer but for them, it might not be so straightforward because they were slaves in Egypt. They were a poor, despised, abused people and life is not easy, especially working for this Pharaoh, who is growing paranoid.

The Pharaoh is paranoid because he realizes that the Hebrew women are giving birth in huge numbers. They are especially fertile, as it were. They were giving birth one by one, and he was worried that one day, the Hebrews would outnumber the Egyptians. So he hatched this wicked ploy to kill all male babies. If you're a baby girl, they allow you to live. But if you're a baby boy, you will be slaughtered, you'll be killed.

So I can imagine the anxiety in Amram and Jochebed when the tummy gets bigger and bigger. They have no clue whether the one inside is a boy or a girl. They didn't have ultrasound scan last time, right? So, there must be a lot of anxious moments. Well, finally, it's the day she is about to deliver. Contractions came, the water bag broke, the head is crowning, the midwife is called and the baby is delivered. And most of the time, the midwife, when they hold the baby, would cheer and be excited and say, “It's a boy!” But this time, with a disappointed tone probably, she would say, “It's a boy. We would have to kill him.”

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But the Bible says something remarkable about this set of parents, Amram and Jochebed, because the author of the Book of Hebrews said:

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
(Hebrews 11:23 ESV)

So, here we have a description of the parents' faith. They did not surrender the child to Pharaoh's evil commands. So I like us to look at simply this family, Amram and Jochebed and their faith in parenting. I'm not an expert in parenting by any means. There are many things I'm very ignorant of, but I like to just share with you what I can learn from this passage itself.

1. Faith to perceive

First of all, I see that they have faith to perceive. They saw something in their child. They saw something special in their child and they obeyed God. You see the Bible says, they saw that the child was beautiful. Now, some of you here might be sniggering, “What do you mean they saw that the child is beautiful? Every parent looks at their child and say they are very beautiful.” I mean have you ever seen a parent deliver a child… mother delivered a child, the child is brought to her and she says, “Eee, so ugly.” No one ever says that.

Actually, I'm not sure. Someone after the first service told me, “Actually, I felt my son was very ugly.” I don't know, but I guess most of us will say, “Oh, what a beautiful baby,” or if you bring your baby around after one month, and you bring to your friends and your friends see your child, has any of your friends or relatives say, “Eee, why your son so ugly?” No one has done that. Everybody sort of believes that the child is beautiful. So we look at this and we say, “Errr, I'm not sure what I can make out of this.” Well, the Bible is not very clear what it means for this child to be beautiful. But let me say this, this note is taken not only in Hebrews but also in Exodus where it first was recorded:

… when she saw that he was a fine child…
(Exodus 2:2 ESV)

Now, by the way, Moses is the one who wrote this... “I'm a fine child.” Huh huh, no, no, I don't think he was bragging about himself, I'm sure. He's writing under inspiration and so I want you to see that Hebrews records this, Exodus records this. Stephen, the first martyr in the Book of Acts also said this. Recorded by Luke, he said:

At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight.
(Acts 7:20 ESV)

So, having three mentions of this in the Bible means this must be something rather unique or special. I don't think it's just a physical difference, like he's very handsome or it's just something about it, but we don't know what, alright? The Bible doesn't clarify that further. John Calvin, on explaining this, essentially said the same thing. He said:

“The parents of Moses were not induced by his beauty to be touched with pity and save him as men are commonly affected, but there was some sort of mark of excellence to come, engraved on the boy which gave promise of something out of the ordinary for him.”

So something unique, extraordinary, something that the parents perceived as divine because they acted then out of faith. So, this perception was related to faith. They saw something in Moses. They saw God's hand, God's plan, God's purpose, God Himself in this child; they sense something unique there.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
(Psa 127:3 ESV)

I think we need to see something unique in our children, more than just our children. We need to see them as a heritage from the Lord, that children are a blessing from God, a gift from God, a reward from God, that God gave children to us, that they are not mistakes or accidents.

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It's probably easy for us, for most of us to say, “Yeah, I believe my child is a gift from God,” but it becomes a little bit difficult when your child is genetically diseased. It becomes a little difficult when your child is intellectually challenged. It becomes a little difficult when your child is handicapped from birth. It becomes difficult when there are disabilities that are very obvious. And when things like this happen, the world generally looks at the child and say, “The child is a mistake, it's an accident. There's nothing better for us to do than to abort the child.” So that's why we go for prenatal testing so that I know whether I should abort or not, because if there is disease, it's an accident, it's not from God.

But the eyes of faith looks at the child very differently. The people of faith see the children, and see not just the children but God in our children, see God's plan and purpose that God gave children to us and they are not accidents or mistakes for us to abort or to give away.

Many in our church struggle with such decisions. Should I go for amniocentesis? Should I go for genetic testing? The question they will ask themselves ultimately is, “What if they were diseased? What would you do? And I'm so proud of the parents here when they realize children, regardless of their health or their mental capacity, God gave them to us and He has a purpose and plan, we will not abort but we will raise them up the best we know how unto the glory of God – eyes of faith to see something the world doesn't see.

And so, I think when we going into parenting, we need to see beyond just the child, we need to see God's plan and purpose for our children. You may have a very difficult child today. You may want to give up hope on your child. If I remember, God is the one who gave your child to you, they are a reward, a blessing, a privilege, and it takes faith to parent them.

2. Faith to protect

Moses was raised because his parents had faith, faith to see something in him and not surrender him to Pharaoh. Secondly, they had faith not only to perceive, but also to protect. They actually risked their lives protecting the child. It's risky business, by the way.

You could imagine when a child is born; he will make lots of noise, right? And it is so loud, I mean, we all know it and in those days, there is no soundproofing in their rooms. Not to surrender the child to Pharaoh, if they are discovered, is tantamount to treason and they will be killed. They are risking their lives to protect this young one. But the Bible tells us they hid Moses by faith (Heb 11:23). They believed God and would not give up the child, whom they perceive as someone God has special purposes for, to Pharaoh.

If Amram and Jochebed had Facebook then, it will look something like this, I think. Amram and Jochebed, you can edit profile, lots of messages, two events I do not know what they are, giving birth and refusing… And this is their… what is on their mind, “We will not give up our child.” Pharaoh would say, “Hebrews, surrender your male child. It's my command,” but not for Amram and Jochebed even if it may cost them their lives. They've decided by faith to hide Moses.

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It reminds me today that I need faith to also protect my children. Now, as parents, we are very good at protecting children, especially mummies. Daddies are, like me, “bo-chap” – fall down, never mind; get in the rain, never mind. Mummies, very good at protecting, it's natural. We protect our children from rain, we protect our children from diseases, we protect our children from germs, they get lots of hand wipes, antiseptic, blah blah blah.

We protect them, rightfully so. But I think, here it teaches me that I need to protect my children spiritually as well, and I'm not talking about black magic or voodoo or stuff like that. I'm talking about protecting them spiritually from the lies and deception in the world today – how the devil uses the world to corrupt our minds and to lead us away from truth.

For example, the world will want to tell your kids that there is no God, and that there is the Big Bang that explains the whole world today. The world will tell you that there is no such thing as sexuality and sexuality is for us to decide, and that's the war today in truth. The world will present to our children many things that they can pursue, many idols that they can go for, whether it's the Singapore dream of money and power and prestige or others. The world is constantly trying to get at our children, whether it's through our iPads or television or even in the school system. It takes a good parent to shield, to protect our children from these unbiblical values.

But this hiding has a limit. I see it here because Moses could only be hidden for three months and after that, he has to be let go. The parents had to let him go and I think about how as parents, we may spend our whole lives imagining we are going to protect our children, shield them, build around them but you know, there comes a time where you cannot build around them anymore. You've got to let them go. You've got to let them go into the school. You've got to let them go into the society, into the workplace, into this world. And there's a day where you're going to die and you can't protect them anymore. What do you do? Unless your parenting is like this – forever you keep your child in a cage – ah okay, then you can protect them for life but it's not possible, right, folks?

3.  Faith to prepare

So we must see that yes, the parents of Moses had faith to protect but that alone is not enough. They also must have faith to prepare the children. What I mean by prepare is to build not just around the children but to build in the children, to prepare them in such a way, teach them in such a way that they will be ready one day to leave the home, and still stick and walk on the straight and narrow.

So we need to build within our children, and this is an amazing story where God gave the parents, Amram and Jochebed, in very difficult times the privilege and the opportunity to build into young Moses. You read the story. They knew that they could not hide Moses any longer, so was going to put him in a basket and say bye-bye, and see where God or fate would take this little boy (Ex 2:3). But Miriam did not give up. Interestingly, the older sister – seven, ten, twelve, I think she's probably at that age to be able to do all these things, she stood at the distance to just look at what's going to happen to Moses in the basket (Ex 2:4).

Timestamp 0:16:47.5

Providentially, the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. The young women walked beside her in the river and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it (Ex 2:5). She opened it and saw the child, and behold, the child or the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.” (Ex 2:6) Somehow she knew, maybe there is a mark somewhere; she knew this is one of the Hebrews.

Miriam must be a very good businesswoman in the future, I don't know. She seized upon this opportunity; she came to the Pharaoh's daughter and said, “Hey, this is a Hebrew baby. Shall I go and get a Hebrew nurse to take care of this child for you?” (Ex 2:7) Pharaoh's daughter said, “Sure, why not? Go, get one.” And so the girl went and of course called Jochebed, got mummy (Ex 2:8). Of course, she didn't say I'm going to get my mummy to take care of her own son. No, no, I think she probably didn't say much, but she just said I'm going to get a Hebrew woman.

And Jochebed came and Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” (Ex 2:9) Wah, this is amazing, this is “shiok” [expression of satisfaction in colloquial speak]. I'm going to protect this child, my father is not going to get his life and not only that, I'm going to pay you to take care of your own son. So I could imagine the excitement and delight in Jochebed. Yes! Miriam, great job! And now, I can spend time with young baby Moses.

The child grew older. We do not know how many years Jochebed had with Moses, but it came to a point where it was time for Moses to return to Pharaoh's daughter and now, he became her son. She named him Moses because she said; “I drew him out of the water”. (Ex 2:10) Now, this represents the silent years we do not know about Moses' life.

What happened to him at Amram and Jochebed's family we do not know, but I suggest to you that Jochebed did a fantastic job teaching Moses. I mean she only had a few years when a child is fumbling and playful, and so on and so forth, but she did a great job in Moses' life. Why, because when Moses turned 40 years old, after he was soaked in all Egyptian culture, practice, philosophy and religion, at 40 years old, when he had a choice to make, he decided to turn his back on Egypt and all the prestige and power, and pomp and the authority maybe to even become the next Pharaoh, and he chose to suffer affliction with the people of Israel.

Why would Moses do that? Would Egypt teach Moses to do that? No. Who told Moses that the real God is Jehovah? Who told Moses about the stories of promise of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? Who told Moses that God is promising them a heavenly city? Who told Moses about the garden, about sin and God and the promised Saviour? Who else but Amram and Jochebed? Many years ago, when maybe he was not even in primary school, he heard these stories from mummy, he heard these stories from daddy and when he was forty, he decided I will go where my God leads me – fantastic job by Amram and Jochebed.

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My friends, maybe this is not as dramatic as it is for you, but do you realize that God has given you a tremendous privilege to spend the early years of your child's life with him? He's given it to you and it's so sad when I think of parents who say, “Oh, the early years of the child's life is okay. They are still very blur, let them grow up, go to childcare, someone else can take care of them, but I will focus on my career. And then, when my career is settled, when I have more money, when they are going to P1 [the time when children in Singapore go to a primary school at the age of seven], then I will invest more time. And when they are P6 [final year of primary school education], I will quit my job and spend all my time with them.”

You know what you're doing? You're saying, in effect, that their academics are of utmost priority, that's where you spend your time. But the first seven years, it's okay, let them just evolve. Not for them, Amram and Jochebed spent the first few years, I believe, teaching young Moses and they did a great, great job.

It is said that 85%, I always quote this, 85% of a child's character is formed before the age of seven. Vladimir Lenin of Soviet Union, he used to say, “Give me four years to teach a child and no one else will be able to remove the seeds that I have sown.” That's how confident he is about the impact and the deep imprint you can have in a young child's life.

So my friends, it is necessary for faith to build into our kids. By the way, this is not an option; this is a command from the Lord. The Bible says:

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
(Ephesians 6:4 ESV)

Now, just in case you may, as a wife, be so delighted, “See, your job.” Erm, not necessarily. This word in the Greek “patér” can be both fathers or parents, and I think it's appropriate to consider it also as parents. It's both father and mother's responsibility to raise our kids. But the point is this: It is the parents' responsibility; it is not MOE's responsibility [MOE refers to the Ministry of Education].

I know we have a very good education system set up here in Singapore, but it's not their responsibility to raise them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. And it is also not our children's ministries' response… or primary responsibility. Please don't go and look for Simon and say, “Ay, my child. Please take care, make sure they are godly men and women.” Now, Simon and the children ministry are going to do their best to help our parents teach our children biblical truths and the Gospel. Sure, they are going to do that but you know, they only have one to two hours a week. Parents, you have seven days a week and God has clearly given us this responsibility and privilege.

Let me ask you: How are you doing in teaching your children the way of the Lord? I'm a parent myself and I recognize how hard this can be. Every night, I try to read the Bible with my two boys and there're many, many nights where I wish I could say, “You know, daddy is tired. Kids, you are also tired, right? Go and sleep first lah.” Of course, my sons keep me accountable, especially the younger one, Matthias. “No, read Bible.” He reminds me to read the Bible and so, it is tiring, all right? After a long day, where you've many things in your mind, you wish sometimes you don't have to do it, but I remember I ought to do it because this is valuable imprinting in their hearts.

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And you know, when my kids are eight and three years old, reading the Bible with them, studying the Bible with them is sometimes “tor hwee” [to vomit blood literally in the Hokkien dialect], you know, like we cough blood because it's very frustrating. I can be talking about Jonah here with my son and then the other one will be shouting, “Lazarus, come out!” Why Lazarus come out? Jonah… now a fish, not a tomb, but he's talking about his own thing and then the other guy will ask me. I'm telling him now this story and he keeps asking me… And it's sometimes really “vomit blood”. Telling them the story, in the middle of it all, someone will go and grab a dinosaur, play with this, throw pillows… Wah you know, it happens all the time. It's a war zone sometimes when I teach the Bible but you know what, I realize that if I don't do that with my kids, they'll never learn things that they learnt.

For example, this week, with my son Shawn, we studied Daniel chapter 12. Wow, why Daniel 12, because he randomly opens to a page and say, “Daddy, read this for me.” So, usually when you randomly open the Bible, you'll open in the middle and the middle is always the prophets, right? So I'm really scared sometimes when he opens the Ezekiel and the Jeremiah, but this time, it's Daniel chapter 12 and he says, “Read this, dad, about some king. I want to know about the king.” And the king is actually the antichrist.

So this week we were talking about the antichrist. He asked me, “Where is he born? How does he look like? Is he handsome? Is he from China? Is it from my family line?” Wah, this kind of questions… Antichrist! I ask myself, “Would Sunday school ever talk about antichrist?” I very much doubt it. I asked Simon just now, “Is it in your curriculum?” He says, “No.”

Who is going to tell your children about the antichrist? I mean, is this fairy tale? If it's fairy tale, forget about it, don't talk about it but it's in the Bible, right? Antichrist. So Shawn, this is what it means. Shawn, let me ask you, “If today, we have to go through the tribulation, if today the antichrist is here and people will suffer for their faith, we may even die for their faith, Shawn, would you still believe in Jesus?” That's my question for him.

Matthias, whole day talk about Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh. His favourite stories in the entire Bible is Pharaoh and Lazarus. So, “Lazarus, come out!” comes out quite a few times. Then when we talk about Pharaoh, he will love it when I say Moses said, “Let my people go,” and Pharaoh said, “No.” He likes to show me that defiant “no” and then he turns the page and say one cane, two cane, three canes, four… and the ten plagues became canes, canes for Pharaoh to discipline, to teach him, to punish him.

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So Matthias, what do you learn? Disobedience is bad. What do you learn about “Lazarus, come out”? Don't know. It's just “Lazarus, come out”. Well, he learns many things as we go through the Bible and that is the joy with my kids. I hope I can do this for many years to come. Of course, I hope I will vomit less blood as they get older and as they appreciate the Scriptures more. I hope our discussions would be more engaging rather than “Lazarus, come out” and it will be fun and informative. But that's the joy. It's hard work but it's worth it.

And please, don't assume teaching kids is just at night opening the Bible; sit at the table and talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. No, I think teaching the Bible has to be more dynamic than that. The Jews realize this. They said:

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
(Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV)

And these words – this is the words of God through Moses, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. One of the reasons why parents are hesitant to engage their children in Bible studies, of course, maybe because you're tired, you're busy, another reason is because you're not versed in the Scriptures yourself. When you talk about the story of Jonah, you have no idea why Jonah refuses to go Nineveh. When your kid asks you, what is that worm and what is that plant about? You said, I don't know, maybe the worms there are very big. When you have no idea, you won't want to engage your children.

But the Lord tells us that we need to know His word and look at this, you need to teach them diligently. It is not easy. It is hard work but keep pressing on, teach them diligently. You say, “When? At night?” No, teach your children and talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise – basically, as you go about normal life.

Everywhere and every time is a teachable moment, is a teaching moment that you can seize upon. So teach them when you drive, teach them when you go to the hawker center and buy food, what food to buy, teach them the value of money and how money can be a dangerous idol, teach them how you are to relate with people, teach them about the importance of the Lord's Day.

And by the way, when you teach them, live what you teach as examples, because one of the things that can stumble your kid’s big time is when you say one thing and you do another thing. There's no consistency. You see, parenting demands your life. Teaching your kids is not just words, it's your walk, not talk alone and I think that's a tough part for us. But that's tremendous motivation for me to pursue holiness.

Imagine one day, your son when he's 12 or 13 asks you this question, “Dad, my friends are watching porn. Should I?” You tell him all the reasons you shouldn't and then he asks you this question, “Dad, do you?” How do you answer that? This is what it is. Raising children is hard work all the time and I pray you will diligently teach your kids walk in the way you should go.

I pray today that as Gospeliters, as people of God, we will set the right example even for something like the Lord's Day. I know Singapore is busy and there's a lot of studies for your kids. But if we say we need to worship God on the Lord's Day, He is important, we need to keep this day holy unto Him, but all you do is come church service and thereafter you rush for work, and you tell them go for your tuitions, study seven days a week, what kind of impression do you think your kids are going to have?

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Think about this, folks, we can shape the hearts of our children. God has given us the privilege. Do you know that to your kids, to a young child, the only god they know is you? In a sense, we are representatives of God and the way you live your life, the way you treat them, the way you teach them reflects a lot on who they believe God to be. So, do this well.

I'm sure many parents here are praying parents. You pray for your children, you pray for their salvation, you pray that they will know Jesus. I think you should do more than praying. You should teach and you should exemplify, and maybe that will be far more effective in helping your kids.

There was a tourist who went to a village one day and asked one of the elderly men there, “Sir, are there any great man born in this village?” The elderly man said, “No, no great man are born in this village, only babies.” And he's right, no one is born a great man – all babies, but they could be great if they have great parents to build into their lives.

Many of us are wonderful parents when it comes to providing. You get a good job, you provide very well for your kids – wonderful food, lodging, school. You send them for ballet, piano, equestrian, swimming, calligraphy, calculus, algebra. Wah, you send until you pay a lot, you give a lot. That's wonderful, nothing wrong with that. You send them for holidays – go US, Europe, Tokyo. You expose them to many things – wonderful, nothing wrong with that. But let me ask you: Are you just spending money or are you spending time with your children? And are you spending time teaching them the Word of God, leading them in the way they should go?

What impressed me about Miriam and Aaron is that they… I don't think they have much tuition. Slaves, how to have tuition? I think they never even have PSLE [refers to primary school leaving examination in Singapore] nor swimming class or ballet class, but at the end of the day, what they had were parents who taught them the Scriptures and it was worth it.

I close with this illustration. Ian McLaren, a preacher, a pastor, once went to a lady's house, an elderly lady's place and she was doing her household chores and as they were talking, she began to cry, she began to weep. Ian asked this lady, “Why are you crying, ma'am?” And she said, “You know, I've always wanted to serve God. Since I was a young girl, I wanted to give my life to Jesus but I've done so little for Jesus.” “What do you do now?” She said, “Well, nothing very much. I cook three meals a day, I do the dishes, I take care of our children, I mop the floor, I do the laundry and I really wish I could do more,” and she began to cry even more.

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The pastor just simply smiled and then asked her, “Ma'am, how are your children?” “Well,” she said, “you know my kids, right? You know Mark, you ordained him. Mark is now in China. He's preaching.” “How about Luke?” By the way, her kids are called Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. “So how about Luke?” “Well pastor, don't you remember, you ordained him as well and you sent him to Africa? In fact, he just wrote back that at the preaching station he's in, they have seen a revival and they have a wonderful time serving God.” “How about Matthew?” “Well, Matthew is going to China to help his brother soon. He wants to help his brother. And by the way, since you asked about my kids, you know John, the youngest one? He's 19 and he recently told me that he wants to help his brother in Africa. But he told me, ‘Mom, don't you worry. I'll take care of you till you're called home to God before I join my brother there in Africa.'” Ian McLaren said, “Ma'am, when you get to heaven, I wish I have your mansion because I'm sure yours will be so close to the throne of God.”

Some of you are mothers who have sacrificed your careers. You couldn't do what you have always wanted to do because you have to stay home and raise kids. Maybe you have two monkeys at home, three monkeys at home. You tear your hair out and you wonder if this is worth it, what you have at the end of your life. Let me say this, if you teach your kids in the way they should go, in the fear and admonition of the Lord, your sacrifice is worth it all. Amram, Jochebed, unknown to many people today, I'm sure right now, deeply satisfied with the Lord's blessings on Miriam, Aaron and Moses. May you raise wonderful families for the glory of God. Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

There're many books on parenting today – how to teach them Mathematics, English, how to get them to be successful in this life. But very few people will tell you what parenting needs is faith – faith to see God's hand and plans and purposes in our children, faith to diligently protect them from the values and influences of this wicked world, faith to build into them and to teach them the way they should go, to show them the Gospel and to lead them to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, faith to diligently apply all that we have heard this morning. And there will be many nights when you don't feel like it, but faith is not primarily about feelings, right? Faith is having that confidence in God and His Word. Regardless of circumstances and consequences, we obey that we will nurture our children in the way of the Lord. Send them for classes, tuition, school, nothing wrong with that, but make sure more than anything else, they know God.

My friends, I want to say to you if you're here today for the first time, you may never have had a good father. You may be an orphan or your father may be irresponsible. I want to say to you that you can have a good father today, a good father in our Heavenly Father, Father who loves you so much that He gave His Only Son to die so that you may now be saved, forgiven and adopted into His family. And I pray today, you will come to this Heavenly Father who has done it all in order for you to be saved. Would you turn from your sin and believe in His promise of Jesus Christ, your Saviour. I pray that in our church and in your home, you will be godly parents raising godly families that there'll be true godliness in this church, in all families represented here. You know your kids are not just going to grow up randomly to be godly. You've got to work; you've got to build into them. May God help us.

Father, thank You for this Word. Bless it now to each and every heart, and once more I pray we would not just be hearers. Maybe some of us need to take active steps to diligently teach, some of us need active steps to repent of our sinful ways, some of us need to study the Bible so that we may be more equipped to help our children. Lord, help us then be the fathers, mothers You want us to be. May this Mother's Day truly be a time of self-soul searching to have this renewed awareness of the role You've called us to. We thank You and we pray all this now in Jesus' Name. Amen.

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