The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

Happy Sabbath! Good to see all of you, and wonderful job for the special music there. Very fitting. I'm going to have to move this back a little bit, or I'm going to get tonsillitis. It's somehow your side, and you don't want that. You'll be looking with this eye over here and this eye over there. I'm sure that wouldn't look very good. We were unfortunately unable to go to the conference this year due to some different reasons. We had been able to go out the last, I think I missed twice in the last 22 years.

But we did have the opportunity to go over and see my wife's mother and father getting up in years in the fall of their life. Her dad is 90 years of age, and her mother is 82. Still very much alert, very good minds. But the whole body just doesn't cooperate anymore, does it, after a while. I think that that is mainly what they're battling with right now.

We certainly empathize with people who are going through trials and difficulties. Kenneth Neal, of course, going back east and finding not only being there for his brother's funeral, but having to do another one at the same time. It seems like when it rains, it pours in people's lives. We certainly do empathize with you as our brother and sister, if you're going through trials and going through difficulties in your life. We do pray for you, and pray God will raise you up and you'll be able to rejoin us if you're not able to be here at services, and also that God will heal you even if you are here and you're going through physical problems.

In 1865, William Ross Wallace wrote a poem that was first published under the title, What Rules the World? I'm not going to read the poem to you because the most memorable thing, in my opinion, about the poem was the title of it. Sometimes people write poems and they don't really say as much, I guess, as they could. This particular poem was first called What Rules the World? And later it was called one that you will easily recognize. The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.

And it was written to show motherhood as an important force of change in the world. It made me think when I was coming to think about what I was going to say, this Sabbath, to all of you. My mother, her name was Essie May Tuck. I don't know if I've ever told you that. But she was a blessing to nine children and one husband and countless people in her life. I remember every weekend around our house when I was growing up, it was a time for family dinners. It seemed like we were always eating. We had people from all over that would come, not only the family itself.

And it seems most of the time we had about 30 or so people on Sunday that would be there for dinner. And my mother, she was the one that did all the cooking. Generally, sometimes there would be some that would help her. But generally, she was the one that did all the cooking. And let me tell you, in those days, it was a different world than it is today. Usually, what was served was what was killed, whatever it was. And so you had to either pluck the chickens or you had to do all of that stuff.

And she did all of that herself. She took care of all that. And so she was a woman that had incredible fortitude. She was a woman that had incredible ability to oversee such a large family. I remember one time at Ambassador College, I guess I thought it was cute, went out and bought a Mother's Day card. And on the front of it, it said, and of course it was going to be said to my mother, on the front of it, it said, Would the greatest mother in the entire world please stand up?

And then inside, as you look inside, it said, Hey, Mom, while you're up, would you make me a sandwich? And I asked my wife coming over here if she remembered that card, and she did. So we knew each other when I sent that card. But she washed clothes. My mother was very diligent and doing those kinds of things.

And again, it wasn't like today. I mean, you put the clothes in the washer and you push a button. You know, sometimes you had to do it with your member. Many of you ladies will remember, if you're old, you're older. Let me say it that way. That you have the rub boards that you did it with. Now, thankfully, she didn't have to go down to the creek and do it. But it was not as easy as it is today to do these things. She prepared sack lunches for nine children going to school every day.

Can you imagine that? Taking care of that responsibility. And you know what? Also, the most fearful thing... Can you imagine how terrifying that was? You got six boys and three girls teaching them how to drive. She even had time. I don't know how she did. She had time to can food from the garden. She grew up in the height of the Depression. You know what? She knew how to make do with practically nothing.

If somebody could make stone soup, she probably could. And make it taste good. She taught all of us how to save and budget money. I think of all of the children in the family, you know, none of them are bad off. They've been able to be frugal and they've been able to budget their money and save it. You know what? She also corrected us when we were wrong. And she praised us when we did well. And my mother died 28 years ago and there's not a day I don't think about her. And I don't...it doesn't cross my mind about my mom. Trying to picture her in my mind is probably what many of you do.

And she was never a part of the church, by the way, but I do believe that when she comes up in the Second Resurrection, she is going to readily accept the truth and she's going to do a better job than ever I ever thought to do. In my calling. I was thinking back also that she wrote an article for her Sunday school. She went to the Free Will Baptist Church and she wrote stories every single week for many years for her Baptist Church.

Now, I know sometimes when you hear somebody talk about their mother, all of you have stories that you could stand up and you could talk about your mother. Probably, you know, we'd be in here for a couple of weeks telling stories about our mothers and our fathers. But all of us are indebted to our mothers and what they have done for us.

None of us would exist without our mothers. And of course, that goes without saying, right? None of us were born under a log. Sometimes, you know, my mother would joke about how you were born under a log.

But none of us were. We weren't born under a toadstool. Without mom, I would not be the person that I am. Now, you may not think that the person I am is not all that great. But I wouldn't be who I am without her. She was a major ways. As I really looked back and the things that she taught me, the things that she said, just to show the kind of humor that she was. When I went off to Ambassador College and I had packed everything, you know, she said, Jimmy?

And she called me Jimmy all my life. And she said, Jimmy, don't you think you ought to take the cat and some milk? And I said, what for, mom? She said, in case you want to shave, you know, you want to put the cream on your face and have the cat lick it off and that would take care of the shaving.

But that was her sense of humor. That was her way of thinking. I think I've told you this story about my mother saying that she told about the man who swam halfway across the ocean and thought it was too far and so he swam back to teach me to endure, to go on. Abraham Lincoln said this, he said, All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to my angel mother. Certainly true, probably, to many of us here, if not all of us here.

One of the things that I would like to talk to you about here in the sermon for the remainder of the time is on this topic today. I call this sermon, Motherhood, the Hand that Rocks the Cradle. But the purpose of it, brethren, is to show you and to talk to you about how mothers and wives have one of the greatest powers in the world.

And that is the power of influence. The power of influence. You have no idea how much of a power, ladies, you have. And even you young girls, as you're developing and growing up already, you're beginning to develop this great power that you have, that God has gifted to you. I want to give you some facts about mothers. Mothers in the United States. You know, Mother's Day is the busiest day in the world in the year for restaurants.

Everybody's taking their mothers to different restaurants. Also, there are more long-distance telephone calls made on Mother's Day than any other time in the year. Everybody, again, gets homesick and they call Mom. The Census Bureau says that 71% of America's women, ages 18 and above, are mothers.

71% have been children. Now, I don't know which ones are 0.7, but they're... I guess you get a three-quarters or close to three-quarters of a child sometimes. But anyway, 40% of the homes the mother is the breadwinner, with 63% of those homes where the mother is the breadwinner are single and taking care of children.

Remarkable, isn't it? How things are changing in America and, no doubt, in the world. Motherhood is not an easy proposition. Women, in fact, have to go to the superpower school to learn the traits of being a mother. I don't know. It must be a school that they don't tell us about men that they go to. Some of these young teenage girls are going off to these schools, and you don't know that they're going to the superpower school. They're learning things that we're not learning, fellas, that I guess allows them to think a little better than we do about the things that they need to think about and to consider if they're going to have a family.

I don't know where mothers learn these things, but it's pretty consistent in families. I would say in a group of this size of somewhere around 200 people or so, that all of us have heard these things that were growing up. If you keep that up, I'll give you something to cry about. You ever heard that before? How many of you have heard that before in your family when you're growing up? I know I did. You think you're going to keep crying, no? I'll give you something to cry about. Don't make me come over there. How many of you heard that? Am I in the right room here? You folks had mothers, right?

If someone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it too? How many of you have heard that? Okay. Most of you have heard that, didn't you? I don't know where that wisdom came from. If you fall down from that tree and break both legs, don't come running to me.

How many of you have ever heard that one? Okay. I know. I did. And you know, I don't know where it comes from. Maybe it's in the superpower school that mothers learn that look. You know, that look that can drop a child in 50 feet. I mean, you can read it. And he says, uh-oh, something really is bad here. And you know, they have a neck, somehow a neck, and maybe it's again in the superpower school. You must go guilty. I mean, you've got to do it because you felt so guilty.

You're moved to do it. Now, my mother was a wonderful woman. She never tried to live our lives for us. But if she said to me, Jimmy, I want to give you a little advice. But if I said no to her, I was going to get it anyway. She was going to give it to me and let me know what she thought. You know, how my mother, like I said earlier, was able to do all the things she did when we had all those people come to house for dinner, I will never know.

My mother fed 11 people every day. Every day is a mystery. But you know what? With nine children, nobody complained. Oh, you were having beans and potatoes again? I don't know how many times we had beans and potatoes when I was growing up. It was that way. It was the staple item to eat. Nobody died, as I recall. I guess if you did complain, it could get worse. You know, at that. Some of you may have heard of the comedian Buddy Hackett.

He said, my mother's menu consisted of two choices. Take it or leave it. And my mother's menu was much the same way. But, brethren, seriously, a mother has the power, a great power, of the influence. And my mother had six sons and three daughters who loved her and would have done anything for her.

I mentioned about Abraham Lincoln before. But President Lincoln said, no man is poor who has a godly mother. And Ronald Reagan made this statement. He says, no nation is ever greater than their mothers.

And so mothers are pretty important. Emerson made this statement, I think, very, very true. Men are what their mothers made them. Mothers have a great, great influence over their sons and their daughters. Interestingly, God purposely shows the contribution of the matriarchs in the Bible. What they did, God does not leave our mothers of the Old Testament out, or the New Testament for that matter. So we see stories about Sarah, good things that they do. We see Rachel, Ruth, Elizabeth, Abigail, Mary, of course, the mother of Jesus also. And all of these were used of God to prepare those who were going to give great service in the plan of God. Certainly with Mary, and God chose her. She was a very young girl from all we understand about it. And she gave birth to the Son of God. And she was used of God in that role. And also, the Bible goes out of its way to show us the wicked women as well. Going to the Old Testament, and you see a lot of information about that of women who did wickedly. And the Bible actually tells us this in the book of Proverbs, who can find a virtuous woman. And it talks about how that in fact her price, her value, is worth more than fine rubies. That she's very precious, not only in the sight of God, but to those that come in contact with her. Interestingly, a leading psychologist asked older career women what the most gratifying times of their life was. And almost instinctively, each one said, when my husband proposed to me, or when I held my first child in my lives, they did not say, well, it was this big business deal that I was involved with, or this big problem that I had to solve on the job, but it related to family and their lives.

Brother, marriage and motherhood are powerful drives in women which God has put there. He's instilled that in women. I know I've even talked to some women who I counseled with women who got married to a new church. And when I've counseled with them, I talk about children. And I've had some who say, oh, I don't want any children. No children. But what happens is when they get married, eventually that changes. The idea about it, and I know of at least one case where they had the beautiful little girl just as cute as a button. And of course, it wasn't wrong. There had to be another one that was coming on. But these were individuals that said they were going to have it in children. It's a powerful drive that is it.

So there is a story in the Bible about a woman that I did not mention as one of the matriarchs, but a very interesting story that is a major story, in fact, in the Old Testament about Hannah. I'm sure you have read about her. Hannah lived in a time of the Judges. It was a difficult time in Israel. It was a time of trouble and chaos. Remember, during the time of the Judges, they would have times where people would turn away from God, and they would fall into trouble, and he would send a judge.

Then once the judge got things set in order, eventually the people would again, after the judge was passed off the scene, they would turn away from God again, and God would have to send another judge. That was the climate of Israel during the time of the Judges. When Hannah lived, Eli was the judge at the time. As Eli began to get old, you remember the story about how he allowed his sons to begin to lead Israel. They began to do so in an unrighteous manner. In fact, when you read the book of Judges, the last verse characterizes the time that is described. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was white in his own eyes.

Imagine, that was chaos, wasn't it? But Hannah, brethren, was critical in God's process of changing that. You're very, very critical in that, and you'll understand as we get on into this story. Hannah was married to a man with two wives. One of the wives had a number of children. She had at least four children, maybe more, as a matter of fact. She basically provoked Hannah. She taught at Hannah because Hannah was childless. She was unable to provide her husband with children. Now, let's go over to 1 Samuel chapter 1, and down to verse 7 here.

I will sort of break into the story. I think I've given you enough preface on that. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. That is, the other wife did. Then, Al-Kana, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat?

And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sides? So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. And now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the eternal. And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord, the eternal, and wept in anguish. She desired very deeply to have a child. In verse 11, then she made a vow.

She made a promise to God. And she said, O eternal of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head. And so she made this vow to God that if God would give her a child, that she would give it back to God in service within the tabernacle.

Now let's go on down here to verse 22. Verse 22. Again, not to spend a lot of time on this topic here, but to give you sort of a thumbnail of it. And so it was, it came to pass in the process of time, verse 20, that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel.

So this is why Hannah is so important. She was the bearer of Samuel, saying, Because I have asked for him from the Lord. Now the man Elkanah in all his house went up to offer to the eternal, in the yearly sacrifice of his vow. And Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, Not until the child is weaned, then I will take him, that he may appear before the eternal, and remain there forever. So she held back, taking him up to give the child to the care of Eli there at the tabernacle.

But in her vow, again, she dedicated her child to God. How many of us think in that term when we have a child? That we have a daughter or a son, or that we think about that very thing of giving the child to God in service to God. I think, brethren, it's fundamental to God's people that we should have that attitude. Devoting our children to God. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be serving in the ministry.

It doesn't mean that they'll have that responsibility, but that we want their lives to be dedicated to God. Now, let's go to chapter 2 here. Hannah was a very great woman of faith in so many ways. She, of course, in her prayer shows that, as we see here in chapter 2 in verse 1.

And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices, Lord, I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. Again, think about the way we pray sometimes. And this is the prayer of Hannah. This is her relationship with God and how much of a faithful woman that she was. No one is holy like the Eternal, and there is none beside you, nor is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Eternal is the God of knowledge. And by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.

You can go on and read again her prayer. You see a woman again of incredible faith and conviction toward her God and her calling and her life. It was very much directed to God and His way of life. Let's go down to verse 9.

For by strength no man shall prevail. No, it's not by physical strength no one is going to prevail. You have to have God's strength that emboldens us and allows us to be stronger. The adversaries of the Eternal shall be broken to pieces. From heaven He will thunder against them. And the Eternal will judge the ends of the earth, and He will give strength to His King and exalt the horn of His anointed. God will be with those again that have His Spirit, that have been anointed. All of us, of course, have been anointed in one sense by the Holy Spirit that God has given to us. And God is with us, brethren, and working with us. And it says, now the sons of Eli were corrupt, and they did not know the Eternal. Verse 12 tells us here. So they didn't know God, but God was about ready to take care of the problem. And that was what Samuel was all about, and how valuable Hannah was in this story that I'm telling you here today. But down in verse 18, let's notice, and so it says, but Samuel ministered before the Eternal as a child wearing a linen ephod. And moreover, his mother used to make him a little robe and brought it to him year by year when she came up. She made this bit of clothing for him when she would come up. It would be presented to him, you know, this relationship that was there. In other words, between Hannah and her son. And Eli would bless Alkana and his wife and say, the Eternal give you descendants, this woman for the loan that you've given to the Eternal, that they would go to their own home. And the Eternal visited Hannah so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. I guess once it starts, it doesn't stop. Meanwhile, the child Samuel grew before the Eternal. But this robe, brethren, that was given to Samuel each year was a symbol of her true love for her son.

And it bonded her and him together. And Samuel turns out to be one of the greatest judges of all time in Israel. That's how important he was. He was an instrument of God that was used in a very powerful way to introduce kingship within Israel. So he had a great responsibility. But think about this. Without Hannah's wisdom, without her choices, none of that would have happened. I know we could say, well, you know, it could have happened another way. But, brethren, it didn't. Hannah made the right choices, the proper choices. She had the faith. And you know what? She had the influence that would affect Samuel in the right in a positive way. She had that influence there. I'm sure Eli was a great influence as well, as teachers often are. But no one forgets their mother. You know, the noted leadership guru, I'm sure all of you have heard of him, John Maxwell, written many books about leadership and how to lead. He wrote a book in 2001 called The Power of Influence. And this is what he says within the book. He says, leadership is influence. If people can increase their influence, they can lead more effectively. Now, that sounds like common sense. But sometimes people think authority is much more important. You've got to have that authority. You don't have that authority. You can't lead. Well, there's a certain amount of truth to that, but it's not the whole truth. Kenneth Blanchard, who wrote The One Minute Manager, goes back, of course, quite a few years here when that was written. He made the statement that the key to a successful leadership today is influence and not authority. It used to be in the Church of God, I think we emphasize, maybe sometimes overly so, authority. We spoke about authority all the time. But what is necessary within the Church, brethren, is not just authority, but influence. And that kind of power that can impact other people, brethren, comes in an entirely different way. Authority can come from above. And the authority the Church has comes from above. But influence has to come through God's Spirit and the hearts of men and women, impacting them so that they can influence other people by how they conduct their lives, by how they do. The example, of course, Mr. Resentous talked about is what we're talking about is influence here. And how to influence people in a right and proper way. How to present the gospel in our experiences with other people.

And we can't hammer it into their heads. We've got to somehow make it probable to them when they're asking. It is remarkable where you do have opportunities that come your way. You know, I went to a doctor one time, and this was during my difficulty of sickness.

I had told you the story about it, but I had talked to this particular doctor because he was treating me for something he thought I had. He thought I had colon cancer. And I think I told you he was about this tall. He's a Korean doctor up in the Bay Area. But anyway, he would come into the hospital room and I would talk to him. After I got out of the hospital, I went over to visit with him at his office. He was the one that told me after he examined me, he says, it's a miracle, he says, you don't have colon cancer. He told me that a couple of times. But we had talked many times in the hospital before. And after the second visit to the hospital, he began to open up to me. He was having marriage problems. And so he was asking me questions about his marriage. So that was an opportunity for me to basically talk about those things because he was open to it. That's what he wanted to do. And that's what we do with people when we have that open door that Mr. Rosentis was talking about. Where you have the opportunity to present something to people. And you can do that and be very beneficial to other people. But those opportunities do come, and sometimes they do not come again. So you have to avail yourself of them when they do. But as I mentioned, Kenneth Blanchard, author of the One Minute Manager, the key to successful leadership today is influence and not authority.

Motherhood is again the most powerful position of influence anybody can have. There is no one stronger than the mother in that position. Of course, we can add the father as well. And God has given the husband to be the head of the family. But I think that we should not be remiss in showing that a woman has a great power in that family as well. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11. Paul is talking about this very thing.

But in verse 1, here, in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Paul was trying to show how things should be in the church and these things he had received from Jesus Christ. He says, We live in a world that is trying to get rid of what the Bible tells us to do. It's trying to go the opposite way of what God commands us to do. But here Paul is saying we should stick with what God has taught us through the traditions of the church that are expressed in these very scriptures. Some people think that these scriptures are outmoded in this modern time.

And of course, Paul would beg to differ. Well, that the head of every man is Christ. And the head of woman, of course, in the marital relationship is man. And the head of Christ is God. This is what God has said within His Word. This is the tradition of the church as well, even in these modern times. That is what, again, the Bible says. Now, this scripture does not say, brethren, that a husband should lord it over his wife. You didn't read that there, did you? Did not say that in the scriptures we just read. It does not say that the wife does not have any say or power. No far from it.

The wife has a role in the family, and one of her roles, brethren, in the family and the marriage, is influencing her husband and her children as well. And she can be an influence of good and an influence of evil, and how she executes that role. Let's go to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, and we see this. 1 Peter 3, we're reading verse 1 here, going on down. It says, wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands. Don't have to be submissive to everybody else. You have to be submissive to your own husbands. That even if some do not obey the word, that they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives. So example is a very, very big part of being a Christian, of being a light, to even our own mates here. And when they observe your chaste conduct, accompanied by fear, do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on a fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. Here again, we're talking about what pleases God. Honoring our parents pleases God. Women doing these things pleases God. And this is what God wants us to understand. They're very precious. And it goes on to show how long involved in the lives of the people of God this tradition is. It says, women who trusted in God also adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him, Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good or are not afraid, you will terror. We're not fearful to submit yourself to your own husband. So we see again these things with the Bible. The power of influence. Influencing a mate, a husband, influencing children. Impacting children. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. That's the message. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Now we can have, as I mentioned, a righteous influence, or we can have righteous influence. So right now, as you're sitting there in church services, can you think of any who had unrighteous influence? Right off the top of your head. Who comes to mind? Right in the Garden of Eden. Do we not have Eve? That influence Adam in a very big way? So we learn right off the bat in the Bible, in the book of Genesis there, about Eve. How she influenced Adam to sin in the Garden. Now Adam should have known better. We could certainly say that. It says he was not deceived. He wasn't deceived, brethren, but he was influenced. He was influenced. It's like in the case of the demons, you know, when Lucifer rebelled, he influenced them. And right here in the Garden of Eden, Satan influenced the first two human beings to sin, to do that which was wrong. Now on the other hand, brethren, God influenced the righteous angels to do right, to live righteously. And of course, he was very affected with two-thirds of the angels. And Satan drew a third of the angels, it says, by his tail, since he was the dragon. And of course, there are other examples. How about Jezebel? Old Jezebel and King Ahab. You know, he was really kind of a noodle, wasn't he? King Ahab, a wet noodle, when it came to, I guess, allowing Jezebel to lead him around by the nose. Jezebel is a symbol for all time of a wicked wife whose influence misled her husband. And not only in her case, her husband, but all of Israel. Remember, Elijah had to contend with Jezebel, and Elijah was the one who was troubling Israel.

And the prophets of Baal. So he had to deal with them at that time.

So Jezebel, again, is a symbol of unrighteous influence. And God punished her for that. Over in 1 Kings 21, you have the story, basically, of one particular example of where she showed her unrighteous influence. Remember the story here. I won't take the time to read it, but Ahab saw this vineyard he wanted that belonged to Naboth. And he wanted to buy it, first of all, from Naboth. And he refused to sell it to him because he wanted to give it to his family.

He wanted it to be for his family. But Ahab wanted this vineyard sold badly. And he was sort of downcast. And his wife said, you know, why are you downcast, Ahab?

And, you know, she found out, of course, that he wanted this vineyard, and Naboth would not sell it to him.

And she said, for crying out loud, you know, Ahab, you are the king! You can do anything you want! That was her mentality. Now, you know this story in the plot about what happened. She came up with two people that testified against Naboth. And as a result, Naboth was stoned to death. And so Ahab took possession of the vineyard that was there. And the story ends this way, though. God made a prophecy against Ahab and Jezebel.

And he said, basically, I'm going to wipe your entire family out. Now, that's a pretty potent prophecy, isn't it? I'm going to do away with all of your family, every last one of them. And in the story, it talks about how that Ahab was really hit hard by this, apparently not Jezebel, though. But as it turned out, God also prophesied that Jezebel's blood would be licked up by animals.

And in the story here in 1 Kings 21, in the case of Ahab, he repented in dust and ashes. And God did not, again, do what He had said He was going to do with Ahab. But again, Jezebel is a symbol of unrighteous influence. How about others, can you think about in the Bible?

How about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5? Remember the story about they sold the property and they held back part of the price, and she, that Ananias came in and lied to Peter. And the story in the account of how that because he had lied to the Holy Spirit, that Ananias dropped dead right there in front of Peter and the rest. And then his wife came in and she told the same lie and the same thing happens to her. But think about the fact that Sapphira could have influenced her husband to do the right thing, but she went along with the plot, whatever the plot was. We don't really have the full story with it. But she could have influenced her husband to do the the honorable thing, but by going along with it, he did that which was dishonorable, and she also did the same thing and paid the consequences. There are other negative examples of wrong influence, which scream to us, brethren, in the Bible. But of course, we want a wife. We want a mother whose influence is good, whose wholesome and righteousness. How about examples in the Bible where you have righteous influence? What comes to mind? What comes to your mind about that? Who influenced in a very big way? I mean, say, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people because of her influence. How about Esther? You got a whole book. It's about righteous influence. In the case of Esther, she influenced her husband, a Hazaros, who was the king of Persia, and she saved her entire people, the people of Israel, from the evil plot of Haman to kill all the Jews of the Persian body. Again, the whole book of Esther is about how her righteousness in her calling, the fast that occurred, and her influence over the king changed the decree and turned it around. And of course, in the historian account Haman ends up getting hanged himself on the own gallows he intended to use. And so the trapper becomes the one that is trapped, as very often happens. But we see the great and righteous influence of Esther. How about another example that comes to your mind? How about Timothy's mother? Let's go to the New Testament. How about Timothy's mother and his grandmother? Let's go to 2 Timothy 1. Maybe there was a time when Timothy was being a little more timid than he should be. And here in verse 5, here Paul says to Timothy, When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. You see, this influence that was there, Paul was persuaded. It came from his mother and his grandmother that was in Timothy. There are four races that remind you to syrup the gift of God which is in you through the laying of my hands. For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. And so here that influence, a good influence that was there for Timothy. And when Paul was talking to Timothy in chapter 3 in verse 14 through 15, he talked about a time when evil men and seduces would wax worse and worse. But he told Timothy, remember the things that you have learned from your youth. And of course the scriptures have been taught him. Who did that? It was his mother and his grandmother who were very diligent to teach him those things. So God wants us, brethren, to be that type of an influence. And mothers and wives have that power, that responsibility. Even a righteous woman sometimes can have negative influences. Can you think of any examples in the Bible that a righteous woman had negative influence?

How about Sarah? It starts right with Abraham. You think that Abraham would have gone into Hagar if Sarah had not encouraged it? I don't think he would have. I don't believe that he would have done that. She could have been an influence to not be that kind of thing.

So even a righteous woman must be careful not to jump ahead of God. In that case, she thought she was fulfilling what the will of God was. Brethren, Proverbs 31 says this about the virtuous woman. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. The woman opens her mouth with wisdom. How do we, brethren, have righteous influence in our lives on other people? Number one, we need to gain knowledge before we speak.

Gain knowledge of the fundamental truths of God. Know God's Word. And know how God works. So we're going to have righteous influence. We need to know God. We need to know His Word. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15 says, Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. God's people need to know the truth. A good place to begin is to start with the fundamental truths. Even the United Churches has published a booklet on that particular topic. Number two, learn the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

There are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. God wants us to learn how to use in our lives. And they enrich our lives. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those are things that a woman of influence will have and know how to use in her life. Number three, know what agape love is.

Know what agape love is. We learned in the church there are three Greek words for love. There is philia and eros. Eros, a love between a man and his wife. Philia, brotherly love. Love among people. And of course agape love is a different kind of love. It's agape love. And what is agape love, anyway? I think the clearest way I know how to define godly love is this. God loved you while you were sinner. That's the kind of love that godly love is. While we were sinners, God loved us. That's godly love. Number four. Number four, pray and ask for wisdom.

You know, Jesus said, ask and you shall receive. Knock and it shall be open. You want it, you have to ask for it. It's as simple as that. There are three parts to wisdom. Number one, knowledge. Knowledge. You've got to have knowledge. Why don't we go to school, right? Sometimes we don't get the knowledge that we need. Often times the young people have knowledge.

Have a lot of knowledge. They have more knowledge than sometimes we do. There are some other things they lack, though, and they'll get it. They'll receive it as time goes on. Number two part of wisdom is understanding. Understanding the knowledge that you have, that you received. Jesus often asks people, he says, have you not read? He asks, in fact, sometimes those who were supposed to know these things, have you not read? You need to go back and reread what it said there in the book.

Jesus was saying to them, basically, have you not read? Or do you know what I have said to you? Do you know what I've said to you? You have to have an understanding of the things that we read and we study. Number three part of wisdom is using and applying it then correctly. It is an art, rather. The Proverbs say to us, Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. Yes, and all you're getting, get understanding. But wisdom, though, is the principal end game, as it were, that we gain. And you know, the Bible tells us in James 1, verse 5, it says, ask it.

You know, for wisdom, and God will give it to us liberally. He will really give it to us. And point number five, brethren, is set the example for others, especially your own family. Especially your own family. We already read this, that we are the light of the world. And Jesus said, let your light shine before men. Let it shine before your husband and your children and your wife. Men and women, brethren, husband and wife in a marriage are the lots of the family.

They should be the bedrock of the family. So, brethren, here today on this special day, a buffet afterwards to honor our mothers. Just to remind you, mothers and wives have an important role in marriage and family to serve as pillars of society now. And they will have a very important role in the world tomorrow. And any great man or woman, brethren, has their mother to thank. For truly the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. So let's remember to use and apply the power of influence.