So let me say again, Happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers, our grandmothers, our great grandmothers, our great great grandmothers that are in the room today. And I got a couple things I want to do on the front end, but let me start on the positive. So, husbands, right now, go to that church center app and register for our marriage conference. It is the greatest gift you could give to your wife on Mother's Day. So all you wives, you can elbow him now.

Go ahead and prompt. I'm so excited. I mean, I don't know any other setting where you're going to get to sit with doctors Les and Leslie Parrott and glean from their many, many years of psychology with marriage and this idea of better love and deepening, this idea of understanding the dialect of your spouse's love language. I'm so excited. It's October 25th again.

I want to remind you it is not on a Georgia football weekend. So there's no excuses. I don't know what Atlanta's doing. I didn't check into that. But I'm serious.

Like, go ahead and do that. And congratulations. I think the Dogs won the SEC baseball championship, but Tech has a greater record, so I'm just throwing that in there. It has not been determined yet. But also, guys, I looked at the app before I got up here.

We have over 350 kids registered for Bible school.

That's incredible. That's not a. Oh, wow, you got a bunch of kids. No. It's a lot of opportunity to share the gospel. But there may still be some of you that haven't signed your children up or you've got a neighbor that hasn't signed up.

Listen, guys, it is a great opportunity. Timothy shared a sketch of what this stage is going to look like. It's phenomenal. Y' all know they go all out. So.

And if you're still like, maybe there's something they need, go see Timothy and say, hey, do you need some help? I'm sure that they do sign up to do that. A little while ago, I talked about how mothers have blessed us. And guys, they are a light in our world. But I wanted to take a moment to shepherd us for a moment, because I also realize a couple of things in this room today, some of you in this room never had that opportunity to become a mother for whatever reason.

And that breaks my heart. And can I tell you, God sees you, he knows you, and he loves you. Some of you mothers in this room, you've lost a child, and that breaks my heart. Today Too. Some of you have lost your moms, recently lost your moms.

And so a day that is a celebration of moms, for some of you is actually a point of pain. And I just thought it would be appropriate for us to pray. And in fact, some of you in this room, your mom's abandoned you. They left the picture. They were not in your lives.

But aren't you grateful that we got have a God that's big enough to put someone in your life to make up that difference? Some of you had teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, leaders in church that stepped in. And maybe where your parents might have failed, God used them for some powerful things. So can we just pray a moment that God would soften and touch the hearts of those that today may actually be in pain on a day that is set aside for joy? Father, we love you.

And that's a heavy thought. What I just shared, it really came down heavy, but it's not meant to. Because, Lord, you know my heart, my heart today that there are those in this room that may be struggling because of one of those categories for that maybe that young lady who either because the way life worked out, just never got to become a mom, or there's something physically going on that's not allowing that. Lord, I know you can provide. I know that you can work things to your good.

And so, Lord, I pray that you would touch them today and salve the hurting of their heart. For those moms today that weep because they've lost children, God, I pray that you comfort them. For those ladies and guys in this room who have recently or maybe years ago lost their mom and it's still so fresh as if it was yesterday. God, I pray that you would give them peace that surpasses understanding. And for those in this room that maybe they didn't know their mom, maybe their mom left.

God, I'm so thankful that you've placed people in our lives to be the light that they should have been. But they did not. But you didn't leave them orphaned. And so, Lord, I pray that you give them assurance and confidence in celebration today that, God, you put people in their path. Lord, we love you and we thank you in Jesus name, Amen.

I designed the study today with one bottom line. If you've noticed in your study guides, there's a bottom line, there's some lines that you can take some notes and those names again, that I would love for you to take and put somewhere on your fridge in your Bible and be praying for these families as they are working to raise Their children. But I'm gonna go ahead and ask you to stand at Proverbs 6:20 Once you have it on your device or your Bible stand. I gave you one point, so I'd only be one hour today.

Y' all ain't laughing at that. Starting in verse number 20. My son, observe or guard the commandment of your Father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. Bind them continually on your heart. In other words, that is not something you stop doing.

And tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you. And when you wake, they will talk to you. That's my favorite line of this proverb.

For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is a light. And reproofs for discipline are a way of life. Father, as we dig into this passage today, speak to us. We need to hear you. Not me, not philosophy, not some online preacher, not someone's commentary.

We need to hear from you. Let your word sit in our heart. In Jesus name, amen. Ladies and gentlemen, we're called to be light in a dark world. Creation fascinates me that you can stare off into space in the black of night when there's a new moon, and in the midst of all that darkness, you can pick out the source of one small light.

And that when you're in a place that is illuminated, say, illuminated, when you're in a place that's illuminated, darkness has to flee that. Even in this room, I can look across and see shadows attempting to overcome the light, but it cannot dispel the light. Jesus said in John 8:12, I am the light, the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. Light illuminates.

Light reveals things. In fact, one of my favorite aspects of light is color. It's color. When there is no light, there is no color. The reason that you see that I have on blue and green is because the light waves come and I absorb.

My jacket is absorbing all the other colors except blue. When you look at a blue sky like we have today, you see blue because of the water vapor that's in the sky. I look out the back door through these glass. Through these glass doors, and I love the color of fresh leaves. Don't you like when spring comes?

Yeah. I love flowers. My nose does not. But I love the colors of the trees. It's the maples, when they begin to put out those red buds, and then it turns into those blossoms.

Or the poplars that, as they begin. And the leaves seem so tender. But the different shades of green, all because of light. How dull would our life be without light. And today God has placed people by the holy spirit of God in Jesus Christ to be light in your world.

Specifically your moms. Now I know I've already given the caveat. Some of you did not grow up with a God fearing mother. You grew up maybe with a mom that was distant. But God did not leave you orphaned.

And just because that happened in your life, I don't want it to diminish the command that says, my son, observe the commandment of your father. You may not have had a father in your life, but God is our father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. I believe this was Rehoboam to whom was being written. I don't, we don't know much. I mean Solomon had so many wives, he had a bunch of mother in laws too, about a thousand.

By the way. God did not command polygamy in the Bible. And every time polygamy was practiced, it went south. It started with Abraham, Jacob, David. And if you haven't read the Bible lately, at the end of Solomon's life he fell into idolatry.

Just put that one in your pocket, save it for another day. God instituted mothers and fathers. The institution of family tells us in Genesis 1, 26 and 27, God made man in his image according to his likeness, male and female, he created them. That's why we believe that marriage is between one man and one woman for life. When you get into Genesis chapter 2, 23 and 24, when Adam looks at Eve and says, this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, I'll call her woman.

For this reason a man will leave his father, mother, cling to his wife and the two become one flesh. The ideal context for a child to grow up in a God fearing environment. To know Christ with a father and a mother. Now that does not diminish. Some of you have had absolute tragedy in your life.

But I believe God makes up the difference. And because of that I don't want us to diminish. Because if you turn back all the way to chapter one in verse number seven, when Solomon begins to explain what are these nine chapters to his son, he says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Some of you grew up in a house and you started dating somebody and your mama said don't touch that.

And you didn't listen and you got in trouble. Mama wasn't as dumb as you thought she was. Y' all know moms have this impeccable ability to know when you lie. And they do have eyes on the back of their head. They see and and know everything.

So, kids, can I give you some advice today? Just don't lie. She already knows the moment that it comes out of your mouth, she knows you lied. And you're going to pay for it with weeping and gnashing of teeth if it be like it's not good. And today I want us to hear that since God's called us to be light, we need a model to know what the true light is.

Some of you have light in your life that's not the true light. And you need to change your light bulb. And some of you have light in your life, and it's not shining the right way. And the command today is that we do not ignore the light. We follow it.

That's the only bottom line I'm giving you today. Don't ignore the light. You need to make sure you're following the true light. And if you're not following the true light, you will be led astray. And if you're not following the light, you are not following in the wisdom that God intended for your life.

God's desire is your obedience. Do you know that? But yet, in our sinful nature, in our fallen nature, we can't obey God the way that we should. So what did he do? He solved your problem.

He sent his son to pay the debt for the sins you committed. He gives us the Holy Spirit, and as the New Covenant promise, it causes us to obey his commands. It's his intention for you to obey. So when you get to this part of chapter six, verse 20, Solomon's actually addressing one problem. That's why he said commandment in the singular.

He's addressing adultery.

That one didn't feel about as heavy as praying earlier. Like he's talking about adultery, the breaking of the very institution that God created to bring children into this world. What was God's command? Multiply and rule over the earth.

What greater pain and problem is there in this world than when a relationship breaks? God didn't command polygamy. And God didn't command divorce either.

But yet it's a reality, isn't it? It's painful, but it breaks up lives. For those of you that are married, the greatest gift you can give to your children, first is your relationship with Jesus Christ, and secondly is your love for your spouse. Now you know why. Well, we want to do a marriage conference.

We want to strengthen marriages so that other Marriages will see those marriages and they'll get on fire to be a godly marriage so their kids will know God.

Guys, our kids. As I'll quote again in a little bit, Alistair Begg did a little clip where he talked about three great lies that are penetrating the minds of our kids. That there is no creator God, that there is no absolute truth, and everything is relative. Do you know why one third of our children struggle with an anxiety problem? Because there's no absolute truth.

And the very institution that they need to look to, their moms and dads aren't exhibiting that.

We got some work to do, don't we? So I want to dig into this text. How about I just skip that and I skip that and I skip that. Pick up with me in verse 20 because I want to give you four keys. I believe these are.

These are basics. All right, I'm giving you some very basic things about following the light. If you can get these four basics in, then the next four sermons that we preach is applications thereof of following the light, reflecting the light, being the light. But you've got to get these four things grounded. And these four things won't matter a hill of beans if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

If you have not come to Christ in repentive faith, repenting of your sins, and trusting Christ in the sacrifice he made for you and that he was raised again and that you have received him, have been born again, filled with the Spirit, then the four things I say today won't matter at all. It won't matter. Get it right first in the Gospel. And if you are knowing the one who said he is light but you don't follow him, what difference does it make? What difference is Christianity making in your life today?

If you say you know the light but you're not following the light, it might be why you too struggle with a little bit of anxiety in your life, a little bit of discouragement, a little bit of insecurity. So, first one here, verse number 20. If you want to write this down, follow the light by following living examples and maybe some dead ones too, because God has placed people in your life to help you know who God is and to know the Gospel. Don't forsake those examples. I mean, right now, some of you could probably think of the most instrumental person in your life and the difference that it made.

Can I share a personal story? It's not in my notes because this made me cry a few days ago. There was a suicide recently, and one of my Former students called me and he said, who do you have to talk to when you have problems?

And we talked for a little bit, but he was concerned for me.

Who do you have in your life that's concerned for you and who are you concerned about? Are you just living Christianity so you can check off boxes and say that I'm spiritual? Or are you really pouring into other people's lives and being a model? Some of you elderly people and older people in this room, this is what church has become to you. I'm going to show up and go to my group and go to worship.

When there are young couples in this church whose parents and grandparents are hundreds of miles away that would love you to come and take them under their wing. Go ahead. Like, if church isn't going to be different than any social club in the world, let's stop doing it. If we're going to do it, let's do it with excellence. And older men and older women pouring into younger men and younger women follow living examples.

Timothy, in second Timothy 1:5, Paul writes to Timothy says, for I'm mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And I'm sure it's in you as well. Why he observed the commandments, most likely of his mother. Did you hear Timothy's father being praised in that? Hey, dads, you are not less important than the mothers.

And as you go, your kids will go. Moms, you provide nurture, and dads, you provide security. And if you decide what church isn't just something I don't really have any time to do, it's affecting your kids. If you choose that church and following Christ isn't important, and in five years, your kids turn away from the faith. Don't be shocked.

That's heavy, isn't it? Get a little sip of coffee that one, JT. That's our alma mater right there, brother. This thing's 12 years old, man. It's like, sure, if a bomb went off, this coffee cup still going to be around.

But if a bomb went off, who do you have? Who are you looking to? Oh, wait a minute. There's a second application that. Who are you looking to?

Guys, I've said this before, and I'll say it again. There's more teaching in the New Testament about false teachers than anything else. And some of you are listening to light that you should not be looking at. They're leading you astray. They're teaching you that your goal in life is self fulfillment.

No it's not. Your goal in life is to glorify God. And sometimes that comes at my suffering.

Who are you? Following the application there is. We need to commit to honor those who have led us. We need to honor our fathers, we need to honor our mothers. And today, you know, what if you have a broken relationship with your mom or your dad?

Bible says to be at peace with all men if you try and they don't receive it. You've done all you can do. But what if, just what if you prayed and prayed and prayed and God began to break down that wall and you were able to restore to your parents. What a great gift, right? What an awesome, great gift you could have being restored to your parents.

Number two, verse 21, it says, bind them continually on your heart and tie them around your neck. So we have these personal connections. But you know what? We need to follow the light by following personal prompts. Now what do I mean by that?

I mean that what is in my environment that's reminding me that I'm a God follower. We had some guests come over yesterday and one of them's kind of new to our circle of our kids friends. And one of them said, oh, you're a Star wars fan? Well, my dad is too. And he said, really?

And we said, well, just walk back there to the back room. And we waited and we heard him go, because there's Legos and all kinds of stuff in my back office. And he was like, pleasantly surprised. But there's also my devotional and my Bible and other things that remind me that I am a God follower. What's in your life that reminds you of that?

Or what's in your life that reminds you of other stuff? He says bind them continually. It's imperfect, it's not done. You've got to continually bind them around your neck. Why?

Around your neck to choke you. Many, many years ago, before Laura's mom died, they bought her a Mother's Day gift that had four charms on this necklace that represented her four grandchildren. They were their birthstones and it was precious to her. When she passed, one of the things that we left on her was that necklace. You know why?

Because she'd go around and people would see that necklace and she wore it proudly. Why? Because she was proud of her grandkids. You do the same thing. Like Micah has a chain that he wears on his necklace on his neck that was mine.

I don't know if he's proud that it's mine, but he just likes wearing it because he thinks he's cool. Cause you are cool, man. You are cool. I wore that when I was 16 years old. I mean, it's good gold because it's held up a long time.

But it's got a cross on it. Because we bind around our neck what we want people to see. You see, if you look at this verse, he's addressing the inside and the outside. Thank you, Fred. Inside out, brother.

The inside and the outside. In fact, if you'll back up to chapter three for just a moment, I want to show you something. Because you know Proverbs 3, 5, 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding.

But a lot of you don't know what verse three says. Verse three says, do not let kindness and truth leave you. Bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart. Why? Why do I need to write it on the tablet of my heart?

Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Out of the heart is the volition. It's where sin comes forth. That's why God gave you a new heart, put his spirit inside of you, and we're commanded. I mean, this stuff doesn't come in by osmosis.

Psalm 119:11 says, Your word, I have treasured, I have laid up, I have hidden in my heart that. That I may not sin against you. Why am I worried about sin? Because God's after my obedience. What I adorn in my heart is what comes out adorned around my neck.

The inside to the outside. So how's your heart today? What do you need to rearrange in your environment to remind you of the goodness of God and the call of God in your life to obedience? What is it? What do you need to.

Maybe you need to go home and readjust your shelves today. Number three, verse 22 says when you walk about, they the teachings and the commandment will guide you. If you go on through the rest of this chapter, that's really the issue. Because he doesn't want his son going to the harlot, going to the adulteress. When you walk, they will guide you.

When you sleep, they will watch over you. And when you awake, they will talk to you. That encompasses 24 hours right there. You realize that because you are either about asleep or waking up.

Follow the light by following structure. Some of you don't plan to succeed in your spiritual life. You just let it happen. But what this is telling me is that when I walk up, I need to be concerned about it. When I'm walking around, I need to be concerned about it.

When I wake up, I need to listen when I sleep. It doesn't switch off.

Most of us. How did your mom wake you up when you were growing up? Laura being the sweet person that she is, she would go in, sing things like this Little light of mine. Oh, precious one, you wake up. I go in and take a snowball, little fake snowball, and smack him in the face.

Get up. My dad, who is a much larger man than I am, you didn't want him to wake you up. He would snowball roll you. You woke up because you couldn't breathe. I mean, I've never been a big man, but when I was a teenager, 120 pounds, ringing, wet your 200 plus dad come and lay on you.

You're like, you waking up. Yes. That's all you could get out. That's why I love that last verse. It says, when you awake, they will talk to you.

Oh, no, no, no. I don't know that you're getting as excited about that one as I am. The word of God wants to have a conversation with you. The word of God wants to have a relationship with you. The word of God wants to commune with you the first thing in the morning.

Some of you, you wake up and you speak like a caveman.

Good morning.

I helped Micah with his present to Laura. I got a T shirt for Laura. It says, mama, mother, mom, bruh.

Because if you are a 14 or 15 year old teenager, I don't know that you have three words in your vocabulary than an uh, and, hmm, uh, that's about it. And especially if you're not a morning person, somebody wakes up and you're just like trying to get them to talk. Gosh, listen, he said that this, this, this truth and this guidance it provides the way it gives you guidance. It's not just about getting from here to there. It's the path that you take.

I mean, the Israelites wandered for 40 years because they followed God and it was judgment, but they followed him. Guys, are you following the Lord step by step or is your way more perfect? Are you outrunning the Lord and going, ah, this is the way God wants me to go, he'll catch up with me. Like, how are you walking? And then it says it watches over you.

If one out of three teenagers today have an anxiety disorder, they need something with security, not this wishy washy subjective truth that's being preached today. They need something foundational, something that they know when they wake up, it's going to be speaking to them. So here's my application. Commit to a strategy. What is your strategy?

To learn the truths of God. Do you have one? Because if you don't have one, you will fail. And here's the absolute guarantee, parents.

It does say, train up a child and they won't depart. And that's not a guarantee. Some of you know kids that grew up in church and they walked away from the Lord. But I will guarantee you, if you don't, they won't. Your strategy, parents, is affecting the strategy.

Your kids see your disciplines is affecting the disciplines of your children. It makes a difference. Last one, last verse. For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is a light. And reproofs for discipline are the way of life.

Here's the fourth. Follow the light by following the source. Some of you today need to unscrew the bulb you have and put in a new bulb. Our garage door light's been on the fritz lately. Every time I go out there, it's kind of flashing, and that kind of bothers me.

So I tried to change it yesterday, and it didn't work. I had to get a new bulb. Some of you, you're looking at the wrong light. It's time to change the bulb. And some of you, you've got the light in the wrong room.

Some of you know decorating real well. And you know, if you put the light in a specific place, it works best for a room. But wait a minute. Jesus kind of said, don't take a light and hide it under a bushel. There, you got it.

We'll let Crosby handle that text next week. You don't hide it. You light it, you show it, you reveal it. And these three revelations. The.

The commandment is a lamp. It's a tool for seeing detail. The teaching is a light. It means to illuminate that which needs to be known. And it's also reproof.

Some of you need to take a black light and you need to shine it on your life, because what's in your life is not what God wants. And black lights are supposed to reveal what's not good. Those are those three things. The light, the light, and the way of life. The commandment, the teaching, and.

And reproof. As I mentioned, Alistair Begg recently, he said there are three lies that are penetrating the next generation. There's no creator God, there's no absolute morality, and there's no universal truth. We need the spirit of God through the word of God to teach us, change us, and transform us. It needs to be a lamp.

And A light, a reproof. Are you committed to letting the light change you? I know you hear that a lot, but I'm asking you, do you have people to follow? Do you have things in your environment to remind you? Do you have a plan?

Because the plan of God is your transformation. Is it yours? Is it yours? No. There is no perfect examples in our life.

I wish there were. Somebody in this room is the best mom ever.

Somebody in this room is the worst mom ever. Who determines that? You know what I'd rather do is lean on the grace of God. Remember that last week, that whole in my weakness he's made strong kind of thing that applies to our parenting. I had a friend of mine tell me he told his daughter, you'll spend the rest of your life undoing the mistakes I made parenting you.

And I thought, he's a pretty good parent. Well, I've said the same thing to my children. But you know, what it teaches is grace. Parents, some of you need to give yourself grace. You've worked hard and your kids didn't turn out exactly the way that they should have.

Let the grace of God heal your heart. Some of you kids, your parents abandoned you, deserted you and abused you. Can you give them great grace to know Here's a win win situation. Either emulate the faith of your parents and know Christ, or find Christ and emulate faith to your parents. It's a win win either way, no matter what life brings you.

Follow living examples, follow personal reminders, follow daily structure, follow the true source, and in doing so, you'll follow the light. Let me close with this story. There's a pastor that I caught a snippet of his message and he was talking about his mom. When he was a young child, his mom contracted polio. She almost lost her life.

He describes how she went in and out multiple times, spent weeks in the hospital.

They were excited when she came home, but she came home crippled and wheelchair bound, strapped to a seat because she couldn't stay in the chair. A few weeks later, their pastor came to visit, but it wasn't a good visit. The pastor came in and sat down with his family and told them that the church had decided that they didn't need to come back to church anymore because they were afraid that the other people might catch polio. Sounds familiar, don't it?

And she's like, what can I do? And she asks in faith, like, would you pray that God would. Would give me something to do? And this pastor added, added a little more salt to the wound and said, lady, you don't understand. God's finished with you.

Next time you see one of your pastors in this church, thank them for being loving shepherds, by the way, because you'll not hear that from our voice, by the way. The young man who was the pastor was sitting over in the corner, and he had five reasons why he needed to get up and talk to that pastor. He said he wanted to deck him out, and his mom said, no, it's okay. It's all right.

We won't go back to church. Years passed, and a new pastor showed up in town who was starting a new church. And he goes on to say how this pastor heard about them and he showed up and he said, hey, I just heard about your situation and I just wanted to come by and ask, how can I pray for you? And this mom who struggled and was riddled with disease, looked at this pastor and said, would you pray that God would give me something to do?

Folks, God's not done with you. Don't lay down your life when you hit retirement till you take your last breath. God has something for you. And here's this young mom riddled with polio. And that pastor didn't pray.

God bless the butterflies and the trees. That pastor laid prostate on the floor of that living room and said, God, give this woman something to do. She was being a light to her children at that moment. This pastor was being alike to those children at that moment. And she got up, he got up and said, hey, I got this crazy idea.

I've got some kids and you've got some kids. And we started this new church. Would you come teach Sunday school for them?

And she said, absolutely. Wheeling into that church in that wheelchair, strapped to her seat, that young pastor, that pastor said, my mom taught us to as if we were 2000, because God granted the request for her to continue being a light even though the world said no. Folks, today, what kind of light is shining in your life? Is it the light of Jesus? And how is it shining?

If you can shine the light in suffering, you can shine the light anywhere. What do you need to do in your life? Who do you need to model? What kind of plan do you need to put in place? What do you need to change in your environment that you will show that Jesus Christ is the only source of light in your life?

Father, speak to us now. God, you know how and what people need to do, what decisions they need to make, what their next step is. God. As we dig into this series over the next few weeks, God, show us how not just to be a light, but to let it shine boldly and brightly. In Jesus name, amen.