SPEAKER_01 0:00

Laying on of my hands. The Spirit of God gave us for the Spirit of God gave us does not make us temp tenant, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. I want to focus in here on Timothy's mom and grandmother, grandmother Lois, and Mother Eunice. I want to talk about mothers passing on the faith. Mothers passing on the faith. In all my years pastoring, even as a Christian, I have read and heard many statements from cancer culture against the Christian faith. People have canceled Christianity, they have canceled Jesus, they have canceled the word. And how many of y'all know they've canceled preachers in churches? But in all my years as a Christian, as a pastor, I have yet to hear of anyone canceling or really greatly disrespecting the faith of a mother. Something causes all of us to pause when it comes to a mother's faith. Somebody said it so well, the quiet prayers of a mother often becomes the loudest victory in a child's life. I think a lot of us can testify here today. The only reason why we're here because we had a praying mama. Am I the only witness here? And yet, I would still argue that we live in a society that continues to increase difficulty on our mothers. We tend to give pause when it comes to the moms and their faith, but we don't try to lighten that burden. 83 million moms in America, and yet a recent Surgeon General report indicated that the average mother's mental health is not good. 41% of mothers say that most days are so stressful they cannot even function. 48% say that most days they feel completely overwhelmed with life. New York Times released a video that interviewed a broad spectrum of mothers. And the video was entitled, Get This Moms, Motherhood Should Come with a Warning Label. Any witnesses in the household now. And even in that video, the mothers were not really complaining about the task of raising children, but more about the unfair wages mothers receive in their employment employment spaces and the high costs of childcare. Research indicated that 15 years after college graduation, mothers still make less 42% less than fathers. Some have dubbed this the motherhood penalty. Fathers, when their wives get pregnant, they get a bonus. But when mothers on the same job get pregnant, they get reduced hours and sometimes reduced wages. Same degree, same experience, same qualification, but different pay scale. Childcare alone will make anyone shrivel up into a fetal position. $2,000 a month per child is what I hear is average, but I'm hearing that's on the cheap. Amen. 54% of mothers stated that childcare was either barely or not at all affordable. And 39% say it is the number one financial burden. Raising children is a sacred responsibility. Many times it's not easy on our mothers. And yet, in the midst of this, moms have the unique opportunity to pass on the faith. I plan to preach and teach and minister for as long as the Lord will let me. Make no mistake, no one can have a greater influence on someone's life than the mother or the father. More on that on Father's Day. Amen. But we need mothers that know how to pass on the faith. And that's what Paul is communicating here in our text this morning when he writes this letter to Timothy. Timothy is pastor of the church at Ephesus, and that church is kind of giving him the blues. And Paul here wants to encourage him to continue in the ministry. And he starts with reminding him on how he came to faith. He said, Your faith first lived in your grandmother Lois. And then your mother caught it, and now it's been passed on to you. Your mother, your grandmother had it. And then she passed it on to the mother, and now it's passed on to you. This is a generational faith that has taken place. And that leads to my thesis statement this morning. Make sure, moms, you pass on the right things, especially your faith. We need moms to pass on the right things, especially when it comes to our faith. I recently read a story of a young lady that was trying to warn children that when you have a chance and you know you need to forgive your mother, you need to do it while you can. And she talked about her mom. Her mom was this very famous writer, just extraordinary writer. But she wasn't the best mom. She was more into her writing and her career and jet setting rather than raising a child. And the truth is, this daughter, she she tried to emulate her in every possible way. She herself wrote a few books, but not at the scale and the popularity of her mother. And so over time, as she tried to be like her mother, she began to have her own personal struggles, struggles with addiction and bad relationship choices, to the point it caused a division between her and her mother. And years later they would try to wrap things up, but for the most part, it was in a strange relationship. And she said from time to time her mother would be with her while she was raising her kids, and just out the blue, she would say, I'm sorry. But she never would acknowledge her. Now she has dementia. And though she wants to forgive her and let her know she's forgiven her, her mother doesn't even know. And here, I think it's the struggle that every parent should have, not just mothers, but but every parent should have. I mean, how do you know what to pass on? And how do you keep from passing on what you don't want to pass on? On the one hand, I'm sure this mother would admit that she was probably not the type to be the kind of mother the child needed. But at the same time, I don't think she was trying to pass on some of the bad habits that she passed on. I'll be the first one to say I like my coffee now, but I didn't always drink coffee. That's an altary tradition. My grandfather Rufus, he used to grind his own coffee. And every morning he had one of those hand crank grinders. Y'all don't know anything about that. And early in the morning, he'd get up and grind that coffee, and he'd go out under the tree and sit and drink his coffee. Drake straight blank, no sugar, no cream, nothing. A man's way of drinking coffee. Amen, brothers. And then I discovered my dad would pick up the habit, and every morning he did the same thing. He didn't have a hand crank, but he was gonna have his coffee. And as I began to have breakfast with him from time to time, I picked up the habit. And as I thought about that, I say, you know, that's a good thing that was passed down to me. Nothing wrong with drinking coffee. My son drinks coffee. But but but let's be honest this morning. Sometimes we don't always pass on the right thing. Many times we're better at passing on bad attitudes rather than a positive disposition. We're better at passing on our past traumas rather than the hope for the future. And I just believe if I can pass on diabetes and high blood press high blood pressure, we ought to pass on a little Jesus with that every now and then. I'm not trying to say, Mom, you ought to be perfect and always pass on just the right thing. But whatever you pass on, pass on a little compassion, pass on a little grace, pass on God's faithfulness, what we just talked about. Pass on some of the good things. Pass on your faith and what you know God has done in your life. Faith, we need mothers who pass on the faith. So how do we do that? A couple things, and I'll be out of your way. Number one, here it is mothers must pass on the people values. People values. In other words, we got to pass on those values that help our children and future generations on how to relate with people. And I find this in Acts chapter 16, which is the first time Timothy shows up. And when he shows up in the biblical record, the text says that when Paul met him, the people in that church community spoke well of him. Acts 16, 1 and 2, Paul came to Derby and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. And the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Timothy was raised with good people values. He had parents who loved him, but that don't mean they were always on the same road, on the same page. Some say his father may not have been a Christian. So here we see a spiritual difference in this house. We also see that he was Greek and she was Jewish. So there were some cultural differences. And yet, in spite of their differences, somehow somebody was big enough to say, it's not about what I want, it's about what's best for young Timothy. And they raised him as a responsible young man. And a couple things I can say out of that, some of us we've been thrust into what I would call some creative parenting arrangements. In other words, it was not our choice to raise them the way we have to raise them. And to you, I say this morning, I know it's hard sometimes. And it's been very hard. And what I say to you is stay with it and continue to do the right thing. I applaud you for staying in a very difficult parenting arrangement. And sometimes when you stay in it, it even gets harder. But I applaud you for fighting the temptation to use unfair under-the-table tactics when the other person of the other party crosses the line. I applaud you when you declare the truth in the face of sometimes folks that are flat out lying. I applaud you for standing in the gap for your child when you have nothing left to stand with. Because I know a lot of us cannot wait until they're grown, so you don't have to ever deal with that crazy of a parent again. But in the meantime, my word to you, moms, is always stand on the right thing and trust God to step in for what you cannot do. Don't allow what happened between the two of you to poison your child's future. Don't let that crazy become your crazy. Don't lose your mind because they lost their mind. And I don't care what the courts allow for you. Make sure you're fair for that child and what's best for your family. Preach our I am. God knows how to stand with you in difficulty. But then also, too, we gotta teach our kids to let it go and let it go. And that starts with us. We gotta let it go. We gotta be the first ones to let it go. Make sure you let go of the past to ensure a better future for your children. The best thing we can do for our children, whether young or old, is to let it go. And when we let it go, we teach future generations how to let it go. That no matter what happened in your past, if God is on your side, your future is greater. Somebody said it so well. The past is the place of reference and not the place of residence. And too many parents live in the past, too many moms want to stay and camp out in the past. No, it's a place of reference, it's a place of lesson, it's a place of learning from the past so I can build a better future that's ahead of me. You can't start a new chapter in your life if you keep rereading the last chapter of your life. We have to make sure that we understand that though our past is a part of our history, it doesn't have to be a part of our destiny. Remember the words of Isaiah 43. Forget the former things, don't dwell on the past. I am doing a new thing in your life, and God can't do a new thing if I'm holding on to the old thing. Preach our chair, I am teach our children to let go of the past. And moms, the best thing you can do for your child is to let it go. Tell your neighbor, let it go, let it go. But then, number two, she passed on some life values. We seen here as we said earlier that Timothy was having a hard time with church folk. Preach altruy. Yeah. Church folk, he was pastoring the church at Ephesus, and he was having a little trouble in that pastorate. And Paul here reminds him hey, you got to stir up that gift that came by you on the land of the hands. Spirit of God didn't give you a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and sound mind. Don't be ashamed of the testimony about the Lord or me as a prisoner. Join with me in difficulty. In other words, we got to teach our kids some life values. And here was a grandmother and a grandfather, uh, a grandmother and a mother that not only instilled faith in his life, but began to see the path that he would take in life. And they wanted what God wanted for his life. And my word to every mother is it's okay to want dreams for your child, but make sure they're the Lord's dreams and not your dreams. The danger is many times we try to live out our dreams in our children's lives. And we had our chance when we were grown. Now we gotta let them have their chance. Preach. Make sure we let them live out what the Lord is doing in their lives. Let's not try to usurp what God is doing in their life. Paul said, I saw what God did in your life. I'm simply trying to urge you and encourage you to continue where God is taking you. But then also, too, don't forget, we got to remind folk, and this is what I love about Eunice, is that Timothy had to understand that dreams require effort. It's one thing to have a dream, but how many of y'all know you got to put some work if you want that dream to become a reality? And so she uh Paul here is letting them know that, yeah, you got this calling on your life, but if you're gonna fulfill the calling, you're gonna have to do the work that comes with the calling. It's not something that comes for free. And a lot of times we do well to encourage our children, baby. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to. Baby, you can do it if you want it, but we forget to tell them now. But there's a whole lot of effort that goes with that. You're gonna have to burn some midnight oil, you're gonna have to roll up your sleeves and work. It is not given to the weary. You're gonna have to work for it. And that's what Paul here is trying to tell young Timothy. Look, you're gonna have to put some sweat at sweat equity in that thing. I was reading a story about a young lady by the name of Rachel Etricen, and she won what is called the ultra marathon. I ain't never even heard of what an ultra marathon was. A marathon is 26 miles. Do you know what an ultra-marathon is? It's 253 miles over terrain, over mountains, uh, 10 to 30,000 feet inclines over dirt, desert road. They do it in Arizona every year. And this woman has won it for the last three years in a row. But this year, this year, not only did she win as the best woman in her class, she won out of the entire field of men and women. First time in the history of the ultra marathon that the winner was not a man, it was a woman. And so they asked her the question, well, what was your secret? How did you do that? Matter of fact, she shaved off about seven hours of her best time. And she recognized, she said, Well, the only way I was gonna do this thing is I had to learn to sleep in five and seven-minute intervals. That most folk, when they would run this marathon, because it takes about two days, they'd sleep for an hour, two, and three hours. She said, I didn't have that luxury. I learned that if I really wanted to finish this thing, I had to do this thing in five, seven-minute intervals, and that was the only way I was gonna win. In other words, while folk were sleeping, she was running. That's what we gotta teach our kids, y'all. While other folk are tripping and relaxing, that's when you gotta be doing your best work. Don't lay down, put some effort in that thing. Baby, you can do anything, but guess what? It's gonna require some work. It's gonna require some energy out of you. Make sure we teach our kids that life comes with challenges. Jesus said, In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. You're gonna go through something. But if you know the Lord is on your side, anybody know He'll bring you through? Let me give you my last one. I'm out of here. The last thing and the most important thing, she passed on biblical values, and that's in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 14 through 17, where Paul says, You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, that is the scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ's which is in uh Christ Jesus. All scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness, so that the man of God and the woman of God may be adequate equipped for every single good work. In other words, Mama, Mama Lois and Grandmama Eunice, I'm sorry, Grandmama Lois and Mama Eunice passed on the word. This is not deep, y'all. We just gotta teach our kids the word while you can. Whether they're young or old, we need to pass on the word. And I know some of y'all look at me and say, Well, Pastor, you just a Bible nerd, and that's just how you are. Amen. I am. And I do love the word, I do love the word, but I ain't talking about anything deep. We can teach them some very simple things. We can teach them the Lord's Prayer, our Father, which art in heaven. Surely we can teach them the Lord's Prayer. We can teach them the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So when difficulty comes in their life, they'll know to call on the Lord and know He can guide them. We can surely teach them Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, whom shall I be afraid of? We can surely teach them Psalm 37 and 25. I am young and now I'm old, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging bread. We can surely teach them Isaiah 40 and 31. Youths may get weary and young men may utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not get weary, they shall walk and not faint. Surely we can teach them about salvation with John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have an everlasting life. Surely we can teach them Romans 10 and 9 and 10. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. And surely when they get lonely and they think their life has come to an end, we can remind them of the words of Jesus in Matthew 28.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Loha! Loha! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

We can always teach them the word. Teach them the word. Teach them the word. Tell them how the Lord brought you through. And let that be your testimony. Oh, the Lord brought an image back to me on this one. And I've been living on this for the last two days. Y'all know my Lakers are really in trouble. Capital T, I've been sitting on it. They about to get swept in a very dirty way. They about to get wiped out. Can't even get close, y'all, to a win. But when they played Houston, that's the only thing I can rejoice in. They did beat Houston. There was a player on Houston's team by the name of Jeff Green. Jeff Green is an 18-year veteran of the NBA. He was the number fifth, he was the fifth pick in the 2007 draft. He's had a prolific career. He's been a wonderful NBA journeyman. He has really contributed everywhere he's played. They say he's a gentleman with great respect. But I never shall forget on the day he was drafted. When he was drafted with the number fifth pick, he went to the stage. His friends were there. His little girlfriend was there. They were shouting and jumping, and everybody was happy. He walked on the stage in his brand new suit. Commissioner shook his hand, hugged him. He was happy, put on his new hat for the team that drafted him, and you could see his life was about to take over, about to take off. And then they panned the camera on his mother. His mother wasn't shouting. She wasn't screaming. She had her hands over her face. And if you look closely, you can see the tears that were streaming down her eyes. Like you don't know what I had to go through to get him to this place. And for some reason, the cameraman kept the camera on her on her.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

And as she sat there, she started to lift her hand as if she was in church. I said, you better go home and give him the praise. Next thing you know, the hand started going right to left. She's in the draft class. She's not in church, but she's giving thanks for what God had done to her child. God was on her side. That's my word to every mother. God knows what you go through, but I dare you to trust him. I dare you to give thanks. He'll watch over your life. He'll keep your family. He'll bring you through. Is that anybody in here knows that God will be faithful? Give thanks.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

And he'll keep your family in a way that'll bless your life. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Won't he do it? Won't he do it? Hey, I'm a living witness. I got a mother who was watching over me. He'll do the same for you two. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

We need mothers.