.: The Allen Hunt Show : You're Reading an Allen Hunt Sermon on Six Things Every Mother Should Know : Where Real Life and Faith Come Together :.

6 Things Every Mother Should Know Pv. 3.5-6 Allen Hunt
Mount Pisgah 5/13/07 (with thanks to research from George Barna)
I. No matter how hard you try, cannot guarantee what your kids will do
Video of SarahAnn/Griffin in Christmas pageant at Chapel Hill
Virgin Mary and Angel Gabriel going at it
As Anita and I slid under the pews in embarrassment, inlaws and grandparent in laws howled with laughter, I realized no matter how hard you try, cannot fully control outcome

But there are some things about being a mother and a parent that Bible makes very plain
In fact, God describes Himself as a mother on a number of occasions
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you… (Isa. 66.13)

[God is]… like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. (Deut. 32.11)

God mothers us through His comfort
God mothers us by protecting His children
Notice that mother is a verb just as much as a noun – God works at being a mother
Mothering requires work, effort, and strength

God also gives very explicit instruction and authority to parents and moms
Because, a child’s moral and spiritual development begins at age 2, values are established by age 9, and greatest predictor for spiritual health as adult is spiritual health at age 12
Modern excuse “I want my child to make their own spiritual choices and decisions when they are grown” is akin to child abuse
If you fail to help your child make good moral and spiritual choices at an early age, you have failed at one of the key parts of parenting

1) Get your Priorities Straight
(Deut. 1.31; 6.4-9; 11.18-21; 21.18-19; Ps. 78.5-8; Mt. 16.26; Luke 8.39; Eph. 6.4)

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
These commandments I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road,
When you lie down and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deut 6.4-10)

Children learn their faith first from their parents and results are evident
John Bartkowski at MSU just published after studying 16,000 first graders
Children who come from homes that embrace faith as a family, perform better with their peers, have more self-control, and exhibit better, healthier behavior
Every mother should know, there is nothing more important than your child’s soul
It must be a priority – and God has placed that in your hands

2) Give it up - whatever it is
(Gen. 7-9; Ex. 27.21-30.30; Josh. 24.15; 1 Tim. 3.4-5)
A good mother will recognize that her child’s hopes and dreams take precedence
And that means that there are times for every parent when we give up some of our own possibilities for the sake of our children - sacrifice
Show me a completely self-absorbed, selfish parent – unwilling to sacrifice for their children – and I will show you an unhealthy child
If things on your plate are distracting you from the task at hand, give them up – whatever they are - nothing more important than rearing your child and health of their soul

Good example of that is cold grits
Willis Moore shared his memories of his grandmother who always ate cold grits
Cold grits are tough to eat even if your first name is Bubba and your sister is Pearlie Mae
Grandmother would cook a hot breakfast--fresh eggs, crisp bacon, country ham, homemade blackberry jelly, biscuits, and bowls of hot grits.
Grandfather would say the blessing.
While the family was eating breakfast, grandmother would read devotions to the family. Everyone joined in table conversation, often talking about what grandmother had read Only then, Willis remembers, did grandmother start to eat her breakfast.
Then grits were cold, but Grandmother had more significant matters on plate than grits
She was passing on a faith legacy. So much to teach and so little time.
Willis Moore's grandmother preferred her grits hot
But her priorities caused them to be cold

3) Be a Parenting Team
(1 Sam. 1.27-28; 3.1-10; Rom. 14.19; Eph. 4.11-13)
Parenting is not something you can do by yourself
Children need healthy adults around them – no one person can provide all a child needs
Challenging for single moms – I admire them immensely – some women in this church are nothing short of heroic in my eyes
And have to find creative ways to be a parenting team – partner with other believers, through children and student ministry here, through small groups, Scouts, etc..
So that child gets full-rounded experience from healthy adults

4) Earn the Right
(Deut. 6.1-9; Luke 6.40; 1 Tim. 3.4-5, 12)
Jesus: A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. (Luke 6.40)
Point is very simple, isn’t it?
Your child will most likely do what you do – moreso than what you say
If faith is a priority in your life, you will have earned the right to instill faith in your child
If you walk with God, your child will likely do the same

5) Provide Continuity
(Deut 6.7; 11.19; Prov. 22.6; 29.15)
Anyone who has ever visited our home has noticed – they are everywhere – books
Dr. Seuss books, novels, American girl books, Charlotte’s Web, I mean, everywhere
We taught our girls to read – by reading to them over and over again
Day in and day out – we loved to read and the girls developed that same love
Continuity true for reading, true for discipline

The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother. (Prov. 29.15)

Consistent disciple brings self-control and is an expression of love
Continuity
True for reading, true for discipline and true for faith
What you do consistently and diligently is what will stick
What you do occasionally and haphazardly will fall by the wayside
Remember again the foundational words of Deuteronomy – this is a process
Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road,
When you lie down and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deut 6.4-10)
Notice that these are things that occur over and over again
At home, on the road, lie down, get up, hands, foreheads, doors and gates
Walk with God, live with God, talk about God, share the love of God – all the time
If it is a hit or miss thing, hot one day and cold the next – the child will miss
Remember, mother is verb as much as noun – and consistency will make the difference

6) Lean on God - Heavily
(Isaiah 66; Proverbs 3.5-6; 1 Sam. 1.10-16; 2Sam. 12.16; Lam. 2.19)

Hannah had prayed for years that she and Elkanah might have a child
But the child never came
Once she was praying near the Temple, priest Eli noticed and thought she was drunk because she prayed in her heart and her lips were moving but he could hear no voice
She said, “I haven’t been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord”
Eli told her, “Go in peace and may the Lord grant you what you have asked of him.”
Soon after, “the Lord remembered her” and she conceived and gave birth to a son Samuel, which means “heard of God” because “I asked the Lord for him”
She told Elkanah, “After the child is weaned I will take him and present him to the Lord.”
Indeed she did, coming to Eli at the temple, and saying, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. SO NOW I GIVE HIM TO THE LORD. FOR HIS WHOLE LIFE HE WILL BE GIVEN OVER TO THE LORD.” (1 Sam. 1.26-28)

Let’s be honest – the task is too great for any one of us or any team
This task of raising godly children, healthy teens, and purposeful adults requires more than we have to offer
So we will ask for God’s help and our theme passage will be
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Pv. 3.5-6)

I give thanks for my mother – and I give thanks for the women in this room
May God bless you and your ministry of shaping lives of ones God has entrusted to you

A Mother’s Prayer
God, give me wisdom to see that today is my day with my children.
That there is no unimportant moment in their lives.
May I know no other career is as precious
No other task so rewarding,
No other task so urgent.
May I not defer it nor neglect it,
But by your Spirit accept it gladly, joyously, and by your grace realize
That the time is short and my time is now,
For children won’t wait! (Helen Young)