A Faith Worth Passing On | Pastor Will Hawk | May 10th, 2026

We celebrate child dedications on Mother’s Day and name the joy and grief many people carry when they walk into church. We open 2 Timothy 1 to ask how we become like Daniel and raise kids with resilient faith while living in a world that pushes the other way. 
• child dedication as parents and church family making shared commitments 
• honoring mothers while making space for loss, infertility, and longing 
• the question of living in “Babylon” and pursuing faithful formation anyway 
• Timothy as a case study for sincere faith shaped over time 
• spiritual imbalance at home and why Scripture does not hide it 
• godly mentors and intergenerational relationships that keep faith alive 
• “plant trees you will not sit under” as a picture of long obedience 
• mothers and grandmothers as primary channels of faith formation 
• God using imperfect homes to form deeply faithful people 
• fanning spiritual gifts into flame and refusing cruise control Christianity 
• gifts growing in the church and being sent out into the world 

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Transcript

Welcome And Mother’s Day Moments

Will Hawk 0:47

Well, good morning, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Good morning, everybody. Let me be the first to say good morning, everybody. Check to the people in the back. Uh-oh. Will can't talk now. How are you guys today? Welcome to Mid Tree. My name is Thomas.

Will Hawk 1:03

Nobody will ever believe me that this thing was glitching. I had everything in the right place. So let me be the second to say good morning. What's up, dude?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

You got Mother's Day on lockdown? I uh I was told this morning I was helping with Mother Day dedication, and so I'm glad I wore something nice. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. The live stream will catch that.

Will Hawk 1:25

Yeah. I uh occasionally I'll dress up, usually for communion, Mother's Day. First Sunday of the month. Well, and I mean this. You and I are both fast and loose people. Uh, we're not big by nature on planning or thinking ahead. Life kind of comes to us. We take it as it comes in a good way. In a great way. We enjoy it. We're constantly wonderfully surprised by what God's doing around us. But recognizing that there are a lot of young adults in our congregation, young men adults, if you ever see me dress up, it's because you needed to remember something, and I am cueing that to you. It's oh, communion. I need to be right with God. That's right. Mother's Day. I have to get moved this thing out. So we did do a couple of things to help you out. Uh, there are a number of signs like this. I always hated these two.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I don't know what these are.

What Child Dedication Means Here

Will Hawk 2:18

Yeah. And uh you can stand sideways outside like Spider-Man. And that would be vertigo, but that's giving me vertigo. Um, and uh in the event that you're distant from your mom, you forgot, you just want to send a little special something, uh, we've got that lined up for you guys. And then, ladies, we'll remind you of this on your way out. But we do have a little gift for you, a little plant on the way out. Uh, and so uh, if you're celebrating Mother's Day, if you forgot a gift for your mother and you're gonna see her at lunch for Mother's Day, you can probably grab one of those as well and take them with you. That's right. All right, but the reason we are up here is because we are celebrating child dedications.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

That's right. We've got a number of folks both in this service and the next service. I think we have 11 total that have had children since the last dedication, which is it's something our congregation is very good at.

Will Hawk 3:10

That's right. All right, Thomas, I didn't tell you I was gonna get you to do this. Okay. In our understanding of theology and doctrine, what is a child dedication? Why is it important?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah, so this is not like some churches in their traditions may have like a baptism or something like that. This is not quite the way that they would understand that. We would see this as kind of simply the parents who will bring the children down, dedicating the child to walking in kind of the life of the church, kind of dedicating them to the people of the church, to the theology of the church, and it's also the church as a congregation, as members, not just us uh on stage, but everyone in the pews dedicating themselves to saying, we're gonna support these couples, we're gonna support these families, interesting marrying children, yeah, we're gonna serve in kids' ministry, teach them, disciple them, in and out, that's right, of kids' ministry. And we're just gonna wrap our arms around these couples and these families together.

Will Hawk 4:05

And one of the reasons it's very important for, well, number one, it's incredibly important to us to do because Christ sees children as arrows in the quiver. The concept is we raise them up, we get them straightened out, and then we send them out of our homes unto gospel kingdom purposes. But I love doing this on a Mother's Day for another reason, and that is I know for some of you in the room, this is a hard Sunday to go to church. It's a hard Sunday because you lost your mother, uh, maybe recently. It may be a hard Sunday because you have lost a child. You're longing to be a mother and struggling with infertility. This can be a very fun Sunday. Uh and moms, you have earned it. It is not an easy job. You need a day like this, but it can also be a very hard day. And here's what I love about the gospel. Uh, this will be the answer to a question in the sermon. But Paul, in closing out his letter to Romans, I think it's Romans chapter 16, verse 13, he says, and remember the mother of Rufus. She has been a mother to me. And the concept is those of us who are longing to have children, who are children have grown up and they live a long way off. Christian, you are sitting with people who God has called to be your spiritual family. And ladies, there is no shortage of mothering that needs to happen in this place. And so don't allow biology or the enemy to be the only voice that is speaking. Listen to the Spirit of God who is surrounding you with so many people for you to be able to use those gifts that God has tucked into you or has given you a desire for. And so we want to celebrate that as well. So, what we'll do, we're gonna call up a few families. You are welcome to clap. You are welcome uh to cheer them on. And then I'm gonna read a statement to them. I'm gonna read a statement to the congregation. Uh, little heads up, your appropriate response is we do. Uh if you slide in a uh-huh, we'll take it. Um, but we're looking for a we do on that. And uh then each child's gonna have a short little prayer as an excerpt of a longer prayer that has been written specifically for them that will be tucked into a Bible and theirs to keep.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

And I'll say uh for the applause and for the prayers, we've got six. So just know that's how many we've got. If you were gonna clap for 60 seconds, realize how long that's right. That's right. We don't have 12 that you're clapping for, only six. Fair enough. All right.

Vows For Parents And Church Family

Will Hawk 6:29

First one up is Troop Gray Fagan.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Next up, we've got Abel William Wallace.

Will Hawk 6:48

Hey, Elijah, was William Wallace tucked in? Did you see what you were doing there? Yeah, okay. He doesn't know where he is. Yeah. All right, next up we have Ledger Jet Newman.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

And we've got Hardister Conway Timothy Glenn Staudemeyer. Right, that's a strong name right there.

Praying Over Each Child

Will Hawk 7:17

And finally, we have Annalise Kate Vickers. Well, as everybody sort of lines up and gets ready to pray. Uh, parents, this is a statement that I'm gonna read for you guys. I'm watching Carrie click and click. It's okay. All right, Harry. Fair enough. Fathers and mothers, do you commit to love your child through struggle, sin, and difficulty, and to provide through God's Spirit a gospel-rich environment that at a young age they may respond to the gospel? Amen. Do you commit, Midtree Church family? Do you commit to support these parents and their marriages and provide for these children through God's Spirit, a church community where the grace of the gospel is on display? Amen. Tim, before you pray, an encouragement for us. We're gonna pray for three or four minutes here. As we do, would you take a moment and put your eyes on the children that are in front of you? It is a very rare opportunity for this many people to be praying over the life of an individual. And God takes this seriously. It matters to him. He has been looking forward to our prayers before these children were ever even conceived. And so let's not allow this to be a passive part of our service together. Lean in with your spirit and let's pray along together.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Let us pray. Our dear, kind and gracious Father in heaven, Lord, we thank thee for the gift of true grave vegans in our lives. And Lord, we dedicate him to you. We dedicate him to the church and to this congregation, Lord. Lord, we ask that please bless him at this time. Please bless him with strength and courage to be brought up in the gospel. Please give him the health. Please give him all the blessings that thou would have for him. And please bless both Ramsey, Drew, and Andy that they may be able to bring him up close to the gospel and be examples unto for him, Lord. And Lord, we thank thee again for all that thou hast given us, and we thank thee for him, especially. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Father God, we lift up Abel Wallace to you today in his life, and that he would take your word and your sacrifice as a binding covenant that guides him when life is good and it is easy to praise your name, and also when life is hard. That he would know and feel the lovingness of his father, riding his path, guiding his steps. God, we thank you for the true gift that Abel Wallace is.

SPEAKER_06 10:08

Father, we thank you for Alexis, for Kyle, Ledger, for this sweet and precious child. Thank you for the blessing that he is to this family, that you know him by name. We pray in agreement and ask that you would know that he would know your name that is above every name. We ask that you will give him the gift of salvation and fill him with your spirit at a very young age. Even now, Lord, give him eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of your word. We pray that he will know you as a bread of life that is able to sustain him and fill him in every way. May he grow into a strong, God-fearing man who loves your word. We ask that you will give him beautiful feet that fearlessly spreads the gospel wherever he goes. May he be led by you in the moment by moment and day by day. Make him strong, courageous, and steadfast in a world that opposes you. We ask all these things in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

Lord, you are an artist creating all of us in your image. You so intricately created Hartester Conway. We thank you for his beautiful smile, his eyes, and his warm and lovable personality that we can already see. We pray that he becomes aware of and heartbroken by his sin at a young age, and that you make him aware how desperately he needs you as his savior. Lord, we ask that just as we read in Daniel, that HC would grow up courageous, active, not passive, and unwilling to compromise on what your word says. We ask that just like Daniel, he would anchor himself in faith, rely solely on your power, not his, and surround himself with deep and meaningful friendships that would sharpen him for all his days and push him towards pure, true, and honorable things. We pray that as a church we come alongside the Stademeyer family through the easy and hard seasons and the celebratory and grieving moments that you have already ordained. Lord, use us, the members of Midry, to help love and care for HC and champion Becca and Gabe in their marriage. God, you are worthy of our praise and we praise you for creating Hardister Conway and giving us the true gift of knowing him. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 12:19

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the life of Annalise Kate Vickers. We thank you that from the beginning of time you formed her inward parts, you knit her together in her mother's womb. We praise you that she is fearfully and wonderfully made. We pray for her parents, Don and Ashley. We pray that Don would be just the dad that Annalise needs, and that he would lead and love her well and always point her towards her good heavenly father. We pray that Ashley would be Annalise's example of a Christ-like woman. You've already blessed and protected Annalise by giving her godly parents like Don and Ashley. Lord, please continue to strengthen their marriage as they seek to glorify you through their marriage. We thank you so much for her phenomenal siblings. You have blessed Annalise with three amazing gifts, Elena, Declan, and Eliza. She brings them so much joy. I pray that you would strengthen their relationships and that they would spur one another on towards love and good deeds. I pray that they would be the best of friends who delight and enjoy one another for a lifetime. We pray for sweet little Annalise. You've created her so beautifully with her bright eyes, curious personality, amazing red hair, and her sweet little voice. We pray that there is never a day that she doesn't know how much you love her and that you created her uniquely with a great purpose. We pray that from a very early age she would become aware of her sin and desperate need for a savior. We pray that she would submit her life to Christ and grow in her love and knowledge of the Lord and his word. We pray that you would give her a desire for your word and that it would light her path as she walks through life. Lord, we pray that as she walks this life, she would be a light to those around her and you would shine brightly through her. When she faces difficulty, and we know she will, we pray that she would rely on you and her church family. We pray that that she um that she would love you with all her heart, soul, and strength, as you say in your word. God, we you are worthy of our praise and we praise you for creating Annalise Kate Vickers. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Reading 2 Timothy And A Detour

Will Hawk 14:25

Amen. And Father, uh, as we take this moment, we are reminded that you tell us that you store up our prayers. And I would pray for each of these children that there would be this vast storehouse of prayers lifted up by moms and dads and grandmas and granddads, by siblings and friends, by brothers and sisters at church. Father, for each one of these kids, would there be a wealth of prayers that are lifted up? And as your word reminds us in Psalm 127 that children are a heritage and a reward, remind each of us today the gift of having children. For those of us who are tired or anxious or weary, for those of us who are longing, may we find all of those needs met in Christ. And would you lead us as a good heavenly Father? We thank you for every one of these children. May their path be attended to in every one of their steps. Write beautiful stories for them. And Father, we pray that your name would be above all in their lives. And it's in Christ's name we all pray, and all God's people said. Amen. Let's give these families and these kiddos one more big hand. All right, guys. Uh, if you would take one moment to say hello to the folks around you while everybody get settled, and Natalie is gonna tell you where we are reading from this morning.

SPEAKER_06 16:34

All right, good morning, everybody, and happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful people out there. Um, to this morning we are going to turn to our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter one, which is on page nine ninety-five in the Pew Bibles. Please follow along as I read God's word.

Will Hawk 16:52

I asked Natalie to give me a moment while you are flipping into your Bibles. If you've been uh sort of following and going to church with us for a period of time, you know we are currently in the book of Daniel. All right, thank you. All right, good stuff. The problem is in Daniel and Chadrach, Meshach, and Abindigo, we have these incredible examples of people we would want to become like, and quite honestly, the the children we would want to raise, but there is zero on Daniel's mom and dad. You see the product, but you don't see the recipe that created it. And so for one week, we're gonna be deviating from Daniel and going to what scripture gives us in Timothy, who is very much like a Daniel, except we get to see the recipe. And so we're gonna take that one morning. I also just need to prepare you men. Um, because it's Mother's Day, we have um made the slides a little more feminine today. You're gonna be able to handle it. You're gonna make it through just fine. And I promise you, for Father's Day, I'm not gonna do anything for you. We're you're gonna get the exact same slide deck you normally would. But, ladies, we decided to make it a little special for you today.

SPEAKER_06 18:02

All right. To Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, as I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt in in that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well. For this reason, I am reminded, I remind you to fan into the flame the gift of God, which is in you through the through the laying of my hands. For God gave us his gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. This is the word of the Lord.

The Big Question About Babylon

Timothy’s Story And Imbalanced Homes

Godly Mentors Who Plant Trees

Mothers Grandmothers And Hidden Faithfulness

Gifts Grow In Church Then Go Out

God’s Family And Closing Reflections

Will Hawk 18:54

Amen. Thank you, Natalie. All right, so we are gonna be looking for one week at 2 Timothy chapter 1. If you guys have my slides and can hit that button, I'd appreciate it. Becoming and raising a Daniel. Uh here is going to be our question for this morning. How do we become like Daniel while living in Babylon? Now, I know none of us live in Babylon. Babylon doesn't exist anymore. Babylon is a term in Scripture for living in a world that is opposed to the goodness of God. And so the question this morning is I I want to be thoughtful. If you are an adult, there are two things that I want you thinking about. What I want you to think about, if you're an adult with kids, is how can I have the faith that God wants me to have? So often we can start looking at our children and put so much energy and emphasis into the young men and the young women that we want them to become that we can neglect our own spiritual growth and development. And when we do that, it may seem like a loving, caring thing to put so much focus on them, but we have no model for them to see, no mentor for them to follow. So if you are an adult with grown kids or young kids, don't miss this. The big question is, how do we become like Daniel's? How do we become like Timothy's? And for those of you who have children, whether they are young, old, older, and have children of their own, is how would God still cause you to train someone like him? How do we become like Daniel and raise children like him while living in Babylon? That would be our question for the morning. Now, it begins by saying to Timothy, my beloved child. One of the first things that we see is that Paul begins by making it very obvious his love and his affection for this young man named Timothy. Now, Paul is not Timothy's dad. In fact, there is almost no note of Timothy's dad in all of Scripture. He's one of the most well-known young men who turns into a young man and does incredible things with his life, and we have no idea who his father is, except for one verse. And it's not a terribly positive one. And speaking of Timothy, we read that Paul came to Derby and to Lystra, and a disciple was there named Timothy. When Paul meets Timothy, he is already a disciple of Jesus Christ. Something has caused him in his life to see the claims of Christ as the most important thing, to where at a young age, he's probably a teenager, which is why I picked Timothy, same age as Daniel, when he is taken to Babylon. At this point, he's 18, 19 years old, and Timothy is met by Paul, and here's what we read: he is a disciple, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father. It doesn't say his father was a Greek. If it had just said his father was a Greek, the concept there would be, ah, they're both believing, they come from different cultures, they've sort of figured out how to navigate this in their marriage. But that word but causes us to believe that Timothy grew up in a home where his mom really loved the Lord, and his dad was not terribly interested in the things of Christ. Now, I point this out because Luke, in writing the book of Acts, intentionally. Highlights the spiritual imbalance in the home. Let me just hit pause. This is generally speaking a very uplifting sermon. It's fun. I'm going to make you talk back to me halfway through this thing. We're going to have a good time this morning. But I do want you to notice some very deep, real hard truths from 2,000 years ago that are still true today. Every single Sunday, moms or dads walk into this building recognizing that their home is in spiritual imbalance. Recognizing that one spouse more than the other, or one spouse in exclusion to the other, is pursuing Christ. And before we go one step further in trying to figure out how I can become like a Daniel, how can I train up a Timothy? I just want you to notice God's word is not scared to put on display that many of our homes are led by moms and dads who are not spiritually balanced. Timothy had an incredible mom, a Jewish woman who was a believer. You'll hear more about her in the moments ahead. But his father, he was a Greek, and yet he's already called a disciple, already respected by believers, already marked by a sincere faith. And so what we see in these pages is a mom who is trying to raise her child without a believing father. I'm going to give you three of these. But how do you become like a Daniel? How do you raise children like him while living in a world that is opposed? Number one, godly mentors. I feel like I've made this clear, but if I haven't, that means each of you need a godly mentor. And if you have children that you are raising, one of the wisest things you can do is be, but I would say go a step further and find a godly mentor. That is who Paul was to Timothy, and he took the job really seriously. Though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Paul writes to a church in Corinth. Anybody want to guess who delivered this letter to them for bonus points to the camp store? Paul couldn't deliver it. Who do you think brought this letter to him? Timothy brought it. I urge you. This is kind of a strong statement for a Christian to make. Paul, don't forget a little dash of humility here. Be imitators of me. As you have seen me, love the Lord, give my life for the Lord. Consider nothing greater than the goodness of Christ. When you have seen that in me, imitate it in yourself. This is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved same word and faithful child in the Lord. Paul looked at Timothy, zero biology between them and said, That's my kid. This is in the faith my son. When I went to church on Sundays, there was something about Timothy that stood out to me. If you serve in kids' ministry, you probably feel that. If you're a teacher, you probably feel this. We're not allowed to say that we have favorites. But sometimes you have favorites. And what blows me away is when the person that God has just placed on your heart in a unique way isn't the easy kid. It's easy when the easy kid who cleans up the paints in the art class is your favorite. Of course they would be. But when the kid who takes the mixed paint and pours it down another kid's shirt, when you're like, I don't know why I love this kid. I just love this kid. Why do I love every mom? It's like, no, I get it. I don't know why I love this kid. It's just like, knit. I feel like that's what Timothy was to Paul. He just, for lack of a better term, took a shine to him. The Lord had knit in him a desire for a child who is not his own, and he ran with it. Men in the room, grandfathers in the room, young men unmarried in the room, open up your heart for this reality. It is biblical. For you to find someone younger, it doesn't even have to make sense. And allow the Lord to give you a heart for them to where they become beloved. Ladies, I would give you the same advice, but I feel like you do this so much more naturally. He would go on in Philippians and talk about Timothy. You know Timothy's proven worth. How as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel. Which brings us to an incredible reality that if I have said something heavy for you, now please allow me to tell you something that I think is incredibly encouraging in the Word of God. God often utilizes imperfect homes to form deeply faithful people. And I didn't do the research on this, but if you just allowed Will to shoot from the hip as somebody who has spent a fair bit of time in God's Word, I would actually change this and I would say usually. I think deeply faithful people typically come from non-nuclear perfect families. Now, I always want to be cautious when I say that because I never want to give license for people to be like, we're trying way too hard to have a good marriage. You know, we're gonna ruin these kids. We're gonna have such a good marriage, we're gonna love each other so well, they're gonna have no hardships in the spirit, they're gonna go off to college and they're gonna be boring believers. I'm not advocating for that. Life is hard enough as it is. Be a great husband, be a great wife, be a great father, be a great mother, but know this. If you pick up your Bible and you start in Genesis and you read through to Revelation, most of the families you read are gonna be jacked up. Most of the people that you look at in Scripture as the high watermark of faith or courage or sacrifice, a life that you want to be known for when you enter into eternity. Most of those deeply faithful people come from radically imperfect homes. And I tell you that to give you a breath of fresh air, to be able to have an argument that gets a little too heated, or to have a situation, or be navigating divorce or separation or brokenness or loss of life, and not feel like your children are at a disadvantage. The Holy Spirit loves stepping into those families. By the way, he often does it through the church. He often does it through Paul's looking for Timothy's. And guys, Paul legit trained up, Timothy. I just want to show this to you. This is Timothy's young adult life and Paul's influence over it. Thomas, I don't know if you're looking for more young adult leaders. I'm about to do the best job I can to give them to you. The number one predictor of faith continuing in young people, it's either number one or number two. I can't remember. Do you want to? I'm not going to do guessing. That wouldn't be fun. There's too many varied answers. It's when intergenerational believers have been in the life of that child. And I say that because most of us kind of want to pod up with our own age group. You know, the teenagers just want to hang out with the teenagers. They don't want the older teens don't want to hang out with the middle schoolers because they're a bunch of doofuses. The college students are like, I'm finally glad to be done with that. The young adults are like, I'm glad to be done with that. You get a kid and you're like, I'm glad to be done with that. And we just sort of step forward and we keep looking at what's next, forgetting what was behind, not realizing you will do more for your own soul, looking back and pouring in than you probably will trying to receive from what is ahead of you. How did Paul train up a Timothy? When Timothy was 19, he went and ministered to Paul with Paul in Philippi. That's where you get the book of Philippians. By the time he turned 20, he was with him in Athens. At 21, Timothy goes to Thessalonica to encourage new believers, which means by the time he turned 21, this is what his adulting party looked like. Bud, you got this. I'm not going with you this time. You go shepherd those people and tell them how good and great God has been. You've got this without me. By the time he's 24, he works with Paul in Ephesus for three years. By the time he's 25, he has become a courier of grace. And Paul sends him with letters and instructions to broken congregations. As a 26-year-old, this is my favorite. As a 26-year-old, he and Paul hang out together and write Romans. Probably one of the deepest theological books in the entire Bible. I just hit pause. What is the average 26-year-old doing? I'm guessing Call of Duty, New Drop. I don't know. Ladies, I don't know what y'all do. Um social media, maybe? I I don't I'm sorry, should have done more research. Paul's writing Romans with Timothy. By 31, he hangs out with Paul when he's in prison, even though Paul gets mocked for it and his faith gets questioned because of it. And then by the age of 32, Paul has continued to pour into him. And about 12 years later, he says, Timothy, it's time for you to do this thing. And he becomes the pastor in Ephesus. How do we become like a Daniel? How do we train up Timothy's while living in a world that wants neither of those two things to happen? Godly mentors. Be one and find one. This is what God's word would call us to. I was doing a commencement speech for our impact students who typically sit over here. They've made some room for y'all. How many of you have never sat on this side of the sanctuary before by show of hands? I'm just curious. What? Really? Maybe it's next service. It's next service. Chris, okay. I was doing a commencement speech, and uh when I was younger, a lot of you guys know my story. Um, I I I had to go and find godly mentors. I came from a pretty imperfect, imbalanced home. My mom was a very difficult person. I'm kidding. I love you, mom. Wait, it's not my mom. Um and so Bill Harrison was a guy uh who I'd gone to church with since I was in Itty Bitty. And when I got married, I said, uh, Bill, will you go hang out at Chick-fil-A with me and a couple of friends? Just tell me what it is to be a man, to be a husband, to be a father. And he did that for like years, weekly, and just sat and shared. And as I was getting ready to do this commencement speech, I called Bill and I was like, brother, we hadn't hung out in two decades. I have not been asking you for advice, but I can only give these students the wealth of my 43 years. Here's my question, Bill. What would you tell me now that you didn't even know to tell me then? What have you picked up in your 50s and in your 60s? And he said, Well, that's pretty easy. He said, Go plant trees that you will not sit under. It's so thick and robust. What was Paul doing with Timothy? He was planting a tree he was never gonna sit under. The churches that he sends Timothy to to become pastors of, Paul's not gonna visit. He isn't gonna hear the sermons that Timothy wrote because of the years they spent writing Romans together or talking about God's goodness in prison. He's not gonna get that podcast. Nobody's gonna text him Timothy's sermon. He's planting a tree he will never be able to sit under, but he'll watch the fruit when he gets to eternity. This is what it means to have a godly mentor. Now, Paul may have been like a father, but he wasn't Timothy's first influence. No, Timothy's first influence came somewhere else. I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother. Shout out for the grandmas in the room. Your job's incredibly important, and your mother, Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you today. I want to get some Mother's Day squeezes out of scripture, and so here we go. Timothy not only had a mentor, he had a mom and a really great one. He had a grandmother and a really great one. I've got a quiz for you, one of two. Uh, you don't need to answer this out loud, just answer the people sitting next to you. What is similar about all four of these people in Scripture? Whenever I do this, I always want to take a moment and say, if you are new to the church and you do not get the answer, that is okay. We are so glad that you are here. This is not the place to prove that you have all the answers. It's the place to show up and realize the one who does. So, what is similar about the woman who anointed Jesus at Bethany, the boy with the five loaves and the two fish, Pharaoh's daughter, and the widow who fed Elijah? I'm gonna give you five seconds to think, and then I'm gonna give you five seconds to share. All right, five seconds to share. It's okay. This is tough. I can tell from your eyebrows, nobody knows the answer. It's so quiet. I'm gonna give you a much easier one in a minute. All right, here's the answer. We don't know any of their names. We have no clue who they are. They're major players in scripture. By the way, there's a lot of momming coming out of this. Uh, the boy with the five loaves and the two fish, you gotta love that that guy has a long line in heaven. That boy didn't pack his lunch. You think he packed his lunch? His mom put that in and gets zero credit in scripture for it. This boy was just so willing to give up his bread and his fish. It was fish. The boy is probably like, I was hoping for a snack pack. I was gonna trade anyway. This works out. Pharaoh's daughter, no clue what her name is. The widow who fed Elijah, no clue. But when it comes to Timothy, you want to know who his mom is? You're gonna be able to find her in heaven. You want to know who his grandmother is? You're gonna be able to find her in heaven. God makes as a massive deal the spiritual, maternal care that produced this Timothy. So while we want to become like Daniels and train up young Timothy, we do need to find godly mentors. Please notice I started outside of the family, not in it. It would have been easier to start with a godly family and then go to godly mentors. But because it tends to be the exception and not the rule, all of us need to be looking at number one first, recognizing that we are insufficient to do all of the things that God has called us to do for our own soul as well as for our children. So Timothy's father may have been an unbeliever, but his mother and grandmother were amazing. Their faith sincere, lived out, on display, irrefutable. They make the book. For 25 or 30 years, my mom has had a nickname. And her nickname has been Just Like Jesus Judy. Okay? Y'all don't need to know that. I'm not trying to propagate that. Mom, I love you. Happy Mother's Day. My nickname is Will. Do you realize how crazy that is to me? I preach every single Sunday, went to school and dropped out to become a pastor. And my mom is known as just like Jesus Judy, and I'm called Will. And I love that. I love it because it puts on display how massively important the role of spiritual formation in the home is. It's godly mentors, it's godly family. Now, I gave you a hard quiz, so I'm gonna give you one that's a little bit easier. We're gonna play a little game called Name That Kid. All right. I'm gonna leave these up. I'm giving you the mom on the left. I want you to give me the kid on the right. You're not gonna say it out loud. You can just tell the person next to you. Hannah had a child, and that child's name was just tell the person next to you if you happen to get it. All right. One, two, three. That would be Samuel. Very good. Where's my wife? Karen Ann, are you in here? Are you doing a job? Yep, you got it wrong last night, and I didn't tell you because I wanted you to get it wrong today. She said Simeon. Okay, that would be Samuel. Elizabeth. I tried to make this one easy using the blanks, so if you didn't get one, you might get this one. Elizabeth's son was anybody? John the Baptist. Jacobed's a bit tougher, but I gave you a little bit of a hint. Starts with an M. Jacobet's kid's name is. All right, and then Naomi's a little bit, the the bottom two I had some fun with. Um, Naomi, I I'm including who became her daughter because her husband passed away, then her son passed away, then her son passed away. And so Naomi's daughter in love in the spirit would be, okay, but I want you to see something really, really cool. Now I'm gonna switch it and I'm gonna give you the kid. Can anybody tell me Paul's mom's name? No one knows. I mean, Jesus knows, Paul knows, but no one through the word of God would know. We have no idea. Why do you think it is? Paul might have seen this young man Timothy being raised by a mom, neglected potentially, if not spiritually, by a father, and feel like God has called me to step in. And I'm gonna step into this kid's life, and just because he's 19 or 20 or 21 and he's figured out his career, I'm not taking my foot off the gas. I'm hanging with this kid for as long as I can hang with this kid, and 12 years later, I'm gonna turn him into a pastor. I'm gonna turn him into somebody that for thousands of years people would look up to. Why do you think that is? But in Romans, we do get to know who Paul's mom spiritually is. I will buy the book, biblical book of choice. If anyone can tell me what that, and you're not on staff, what is in that blank? Does anybody know? Mother of okay, I heard Rufus. Who said Rufus first? All right, Doc, I got you. You pick out your book, I'm gonna get it for you. We don't even know her name. All we know, I told you when I was doing the baby dedication, this was gonna come up. Y'all were not paying attention, all right? In Romans chapter 16, verse 13, Paul writes, he finishes the guys, watch this, come together. He finishes the magnum opus of his writing. And when he does, who's sitting next to him? Who's with who's with him when he's writing Romans? I taught you this. Timothy. And he's sitting next to Timothy, and he finishes the letter, and he says, Remember the mother of Rufus. She has been a mom to me. Ladies in the room, whether you have 12 kids or one kid, or your kid is grown, or you're longing for one, Paul needed somebody like you. He needed somebody to step into his own life. And it was a woman. It was a woman who saw him and cared for him because God often utilizes imperfect homes to form deeply faithful people. But do you know what's amazing about this? What's amazing is when it comes to Hannah and Elizabeth, these two kids, Samuel and John the Baptist, are two of the children in Scripture who are held with the loosest hands. Samuel's mom literally walks to the church whenever he is weaned. In that day and age, it was probably three or four, okay? She takes her three or four-year-old, goes to church, and hands her baby to the priest and says, I have been barren for so long. I promised the Lord, if he gave me a kid, I would give it right back to him. And in both of these ladies, we see women who had longed for children and sometimes given up on it. And when God gives it to them, you would think they would hold so tightly. That kid would be helicopter parented, they would not be allowed to play football or any contact sport. They get to play, I don't know, tennis. That's it. That's all you can do. Pickleball, if they're lucky. No, these moms who had the most reason to hold tight release their children to the Lord because he's the one who gave them. When you look at Jacobed, she lost her kid when he was months old. They were going through Egypt, killing all the children. She puts him in a basket and pushes him into the water and says, Okay, Lord, I'm trusting you. Eventually she's brought into Pharaoh's home. But listen to me, she watches her child get raised by someone else, by a different family, with a different culture and different values. And this woman who watched her influence over her child dissipate into nothingness creates one of the most influential men in all of Scripture. Do you see this? Naomi, who had lost everything husband dead, son dead, son dead, hopes dead, future dead in that culture. She had been gifted separation after separation. And what does God give her and her spiritual child, Ruth? Union. I'm not going anywhere, Naomi. Where you go, I'm going. Your people will be my people. Your God is going to be my God. What I want you to realize when you look at these names is this is not just some fun quiz for Mother's Day. I want you to realize that most of the greatest strengths in our children come from our greatest weaknesses and losses. Comes from us trusting God in the areas where we feel absolutely insufficient. Why? Because God often utilizes imperfect homes to form deeply faithful people. And finally, how do you become like a Daniel and raise a child like him or like a Timothy while living in a world that doesn't want it? Godly gifting. This is my favorite. Man, I love this. Paul writing to Timothy, he says, Son, for this reason I want to remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you. In other words, it is a foregone conclusion. If you're a Christian in the room, God has given you a gift, he has given you a purpose, he has given you a calling that he wants you to navigate. There are no cruise control Christians in his family. There is no show up and eat Cheetos on the couch in God's family. We only get 80 years for blood, sweat, and tears. And then that window closes. Use every one of them. Fan into the fl into flame the gift of God. Christian, listen to me. It's in there. It is in there for you to see. Gifts are expected in Christians. Where did it come from? Through the laying on of my hands. Where was that spiritual gift found? Right here in the church. It was found when people got together and said, I'm not coming in here to be a consumer. I'm not coming to get 60 to 90 minutes of encouragement to help me out on a Tuesday. What was I built for? God knit me together in my mother's womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Made for what, God? We look different. We think different. We see the world differently. Therefore, your gifts are different, which means they are needed. If you never come back to Mid Tree Church, I am okay with that. So long as wherever you go, you find a place to be the man, be the woman, be the kid, be the teen, be the grandma, be the grandpa, he has gifted you to be. And if you have no clue how to do that, come and grab prayer. Let's spend a week or two asking God to show you what he has placed in you and fan it into flame. Because God gave us a spirit, not of fear. These gifts are intended to go into scary places. If I were to take those three concepts, throw them in a blender, and pour it out, here is what I would find. Gifts are expected in Christians. Gifts of God grow in the house of God, but the gifts of God are never expected to remain in the house of God. They go out. When are you doing Graduation Sunday? Next week we're doing Graduation Sunday. One of our biggest prayers is God, whatever you have given us the ability to pour into these kids, yes, we want them to be protected. Yes, we want their souls to be cared for. We want them to find healthy churches and healthy communities. Yes, yes, yes. But don't neglect this. Shoot these kids like arrows into a world. Give them a target to go for. Shoot them out that they would be points of light and the gospel wherever they go. For this reason, Timothy, I'm reminding you to fan into flame the gift of God. The concept here is one of enthusiasm. If we fan into flame the gift of God, the concept here is this should really be a lot of fun. Now every fire is going to go out if you don't add fuel. So let me just give you one little trick of the trade. Are you waiting to be asked? As a Christian, are you waiting to be pursued? Are you waiting for a need to display? The concept here is Timothy. If the thing I've called you to, you have fanned into flame and you have done well, and that season is beginning to close, go find more things that set you on fire. I don't have this in my notes, but I'll just tell you. I don't think there is room in the kingdom of God for people without passion. How could there be? How could there be room in the kingdom of God for people without passion when this is what brings you in? When this is what calls you home. It doesn't matter to me if you're 14, 44, or 84. You were built for a passion that is bigger than you. And if it is as small as an ember today, if you can't even find it, can I just tell you it would be one of my great joys to help you fan that into flame? Jim Elliott, whose life was extinguished on the mission field right after his feet hit the ground, basically, prayed this. God, I pray thee light these idle sticks of my life. Love that phrase. Find the places in my life where I'm being lazy or idle, lack of passion. Find those sticks in my life, and may I burn for thee. Turn into my laziness and my selfishness and my just sort of cruise-controlledness. Grab those things, Lord. Consume my life, my God, for it is thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one like you, Lord Jesus. This is how you can become like a Daniel. It's how you can train one as well. But the enemy would trick you here because every one of these things is dangerous. It's dangerous because the things that form you are obvious enough to used. It's obvious. It's like, uh, yeah, well, so I came to church to learn. You want me to have a godly family, you want me to not be lazy and have other people speak into me. I have never heard these things. This is unbelievable. Why has no one ever taught me? It's obvious. And the enemy would use that. He would make it obvious to you so you could say, ah, yeah, we we pray sometimes. Yeah, it it's obvious. I ask people for advice on occasion. That's the danger. It would be obvious enough to assume, but difficult enough to neglect. So I show you these three things and I ask you, which one should you take a step in today? Which one should you take a step in for your own soul? And if you're training someone up, which one do they need that you could pursue? You see, while we spend the morning looking at ourselves and looking at our children, I would close with this encouragement. We are not the only ones who care. This is an obscure little verse from Deuteronomy, but it's one of my favorites for one purpose. God's writing and he says, When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of God. When God gave people their stuff, when he showed them their scope, that's how most of us navigate life. What's mine? What's under my care? What am I going after next? That's how most of us operate. What's under me? What am I in charge of? Notice how the Lord looks at it. When he fixed the borders of the people according to the number of the sons of God, but the Lord's portion, it's his people. Do you know what God loves more than anything else? You. That's why Jesus would be able to say, Who it, whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, this is the most un-Mother's Day verse. I don't know if y'all know where this comes from, okay? If you know where this comes from, Jesus' mom and brother show up and they're like, hey, we need to talk to Jesus for a minute. We know he's a big deal. And Jesus says, My mother, my brothers, who? You do not do that on Mother's Day, okay? Who is this lady? I don't even know. What's his point? It's the same reason I didn't start with family. Whoever does the will of my father in heaven, that's my brother, that's my sister, that is my mother. The greatest message I can give on a Mother's Day or any day is this God's greatest desire is to build his family. He builds his family when we do the will of his father, and the first will he has is for you to repent and draw near to him. For you to want to be in the family of God. And then for those of us, and it is most of us, that have imperfect families, he begins building it, and you will notice one person missing in that family. You got the brother, you got the sister, you got the mother. What are we missing? Nothing. Because he is the heavenly father who gives us everything that we need. Most of God's children don't have the story of this perfect little family. They have been redeemed into a new one. And that is his great desire for you today. So let us draw near to him in all of our brokenness and all of our imperfection. I'll give you a few questions to reflect on, and then we will worship together.