What a Difference Godly Moms Make!
2 Tim 1:1-7
INTRO: *Yakov Smirnoff, the Russian comedian, wrote a book, "Seeing the USA on Six Rubles a Day." In it he tells about being overwhelmed when he first entered an American supermarket & saw the great variety of products there. He just couldn’t believe it.
He wrote, "As I walked down the aisles, the first thing I noticed was powdered milk. ‘Just add water & you get milk.’ Then I saw powdered orange juice. ‘Just add water & you get orange juice.’ Then I saw baby powder, & I thought to myself, ‘What a country!’"
A. Life Changes in a home, marriage and family
1. Couple fall in love, marry, start life together
a. Children come along and nothing is ever the same
2. Make a few observations, Having 3 children of my own I came
across these the other day & I agree having seen them either in my
self, Julie, my children or our family
a. A mother’s wardrobe
• 1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your doctor
confirms your pregnancy.
• 2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
• 3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.
b. A mom preparing for the Birth
• 1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
• 2nd baby: You don’t bother practicing because you remember that last
time, breathing didn’t do a thing.
• 3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your 8th month.
c. The Babies Clothing
• 1st baby: You pre-wash your newborn’s clothes, color-coordinate them,
and fold them neatly in the baby’s little bureau.
• 2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
• 3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can’t they?
d. Pacifier
• 1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
• 2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby’s bottle.
• 3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.
e. Diapering
• 1st baby: You change your baby’s diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.
• 2nd baby: You change their diaper every 2 to 3 hours, if needed.
• 3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to
complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.
f. Going Out
• 1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call
home 5 times.
• 2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a
number where you can be reached.
• 3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.
g. At Home
• 1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
• 2nd baby: You spend a bit of every day watching to be sure your older
child isn’t squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
• 3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.
3. Of course those wonderful kids grow up & they make their
own observations. The pick up on things. They are dumb
• Patrick, age 10, said, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
• Michael, 14, said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don’t answer him.”
• Michael, wise man that he was also said, “Never tell your mom her diet’s not working.”
• Randy, 9 years of age said, “Stay away from prunes.” One wonders how he discovered that bit of wisdom.
• Samantha, age 9, said, “Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.”
• Naomi, 15 said, “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”
• Lauren, age 9 said, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.”
• Joel, 10 years old, said, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.”
• Eileen, age 8 said, “Never try to baptize a cat.”
B. My purpose in this message is 3-fold
1. To Honor Mom’s
a. Great Job, JOB, WORK, Life-time No greater honor or
demanding responsibility
1. God acknowledges mothers and has special blessings for them
2. Remind us of the GREAT responsibility of parenting
a. Passing on our values to our children
3. Give some helpful points to over come the fear f parenting
*Parent’s #1 fear according to George Barna is the fear of raising children.
You can see why when, McDowell states;
• Teen pregnancy has increased over 500% in the past thirty years
• Suicide among young people has jumped 300% in that same period
• Over a thousand teen girls get abortions every day in this country
• Over 4,000 kids a day catch a sexually transmitted disease
C. Text: Eunice and Lois
1. 2 Examples of Godly mothers; Lois and Eunice, the mother
& grandmother of Timothy.
2. Eunice the mom. a Jewish believer in Jesus.
a. She had or was still married to a Greek unbeliever
b. Raised Timothy in a superstitious town of Lystra
1. Pagan Idolatry, Yet Eunice and Lois had come to be Christians
2. Solid faithful believers, so solid
a. Timothy Paul’s young traveling companion who is grown hadn’t
been to school in Jerusalem, yet, Eunice and Lois had been his
teacher and did a wonderful job
c. She did a good job because she raised him to have his own
genuine faith.
3. So this morning we are going to look at some of the basic
things that young Timothy learned from his mother
a. We can learn, not just the mom’s, but all of us as well, to
teach others.
I. Start Young “From childhood”
A. Timothy’s mother started at a very early age.
1. Timothy received a religious education as a child.
a. His education didn’t come from a priest, a Pharisee, or a
Pastor, but from his mother and his grandmother.
2. Some times I hear about parents who say that they are not
going to push their beliefs on their kids.
a. They want to let them when they are old enough to make
their own choice.
1. True you can not make a child believe nor save them yourself but
you can get them in a position that they will see the truth & will
choose to believe
b. To say, I’ll let my child discover on his or her own is dangerous
1. But think about how stupid that sounds. Would you let your child
choice weather or not to do their homework? Or if they even attend
school? Or what kind of food they eat, or how late they stay up, or
who they hang around with.
*Someone once raise a good question, “Have you ever wondered why so many parents tie up their dog, but let their children run loose?”
3. Their belief in Jesus as their Savior, the most important
decision a person can make, should not be left up chance?
4. We need to start training our kids at a young age.
Prov 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
a. The word train here doesn’t mean teach.
1.Parent do the training not vice versa *seen any role reversals like
that?
a. As a baby they learn that if they cry they can be held, get what
they want, just to shut up
b. throw big enough tantrum, loud enough mom or dad will cave in
c. child will either get values from home or somewhere else, kids
at school, MTV
b. The Hebrew word (chanak to dedicate) to prepare for a contest.
1. We know that Satan is in a contest.
a. He is in a contest to take as many souls with him to hell as he can.
b. He influences society to influence people, & young people are the
most influential of all.
c. Parents have to prepare their children for that influence
5. It takes time, effort and diligence as Deut 6:4-7 teaches
a. Today parents uses things to do their job, TV, DVD *Baby
channel (how ridiculous is that?)
1. or a surrogate, babysitter, nanny, school teacher
b. How can we expect our children to have our values if we
don’t do the teaching our self?
6. Most will agree a child’s behavior is formed early
a. What really needs to happen is that children be taught to
‘discriminate’
1. No not racially discriminate
b. But sin and righteousness, False and True, Good and evil
1. Right and wrong, those things that pleases our creator and thoise
that does not
B. Time is of the essence:
1. You have them today, now, they grow up fast, believe me
a. One day you are walking them out of the hospital
b. The next walking them to school
c. The next walking them down an isle to the wedding march
2. Take advantage of this time, Use your time wisely
a, Make time for them
3. It use to be the parents and the children worked side by side
in the field or in the house
a. Had time to talk, for the older to pass on to the younger
wisdom
b. Today: they barely see each other passing in between,
school, work and all the other activities
4. Time proves to them not only your care and love
a. It shows them the reality of your faith
5. Last thing about time: If you don’t make the time to teach, lead &
train your child something or someone else will always have the time
a. The junk of tv, the wrong friends, whoever or what ever
will fill the void you leave in their life by not being there
C. Of course that begins with the parents having a vibrant,
personal relationship with God.
1. We need to make sure that we have the right relationship
with God then we need to teach our children at an early age
to have a relationship with God as well.
2. Eunice led her boy Timothy to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
a. She taught him about Jesus, & expected that he would
accept Christ as Savior.
II. Use the right tools
A. Not only do you have to have the knowledge but you have to
have the tools to apply that knowledge. 2Tim 3:15-17
1. Equipped for every good work.
a. As a parent what is a better work than training your child?
2. Where do we get those tools?
a. God left us with the greatest “How to book” in the world.
b. It is not for only reading,
1. God’s instruction book is applying what you learned.
B. The Bible
Ps 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
1. We need to read & teach God’s word to our children.
a. Some of the greatest stories in world can be found in the
Bible.
2. The bible will be only as good to your family as you much
as you use the bible with your family
C. Pray
1. Pray for your kids and pray with your kids.
a. Pray for your Kid’s Salvation and Safety
b. Pray with your Kid’s about everything, help them
understand you take it all to Jesus
D. Church
Heb 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
1. Today you see a lot of people who drop off or let the church
bus bring their kids to church. Maybe the verse should read, “Train a child in the way he should go… and go there yourself once in a while.”
2. If you are the type of the person that church is a something
you do when you can and not a priority,
a. Guess what.
1. Your kids will probably not go at all when they grow up
2. They think well it was not that important to mom and dad.
a. It’s Not that important to me.
3. Parents should be leading the way to church, which leads me
to my last point.
E. Practice what you preach
A. His mom & grandmother not only taught Timothy,
1. But he also saw God’s influence on their lives.
a. Godly parents “train” their children not just verbally but by
leading in example.
b. Do your children see God’s influence in you?
1. Do they see His love, His discipline, His grace, His mercy?
c. Are you an example of godliness to your children?
d. Realize it or not, You are being watched. How you live
your faith matters to them
1. There will be eternal consequences
2. Timothy no doubt had other influences in his life.
a. As a young boy he probably had friends or at least
acquaintances whose parents were not Christians.
b. I am sure Satan tempted him to follow after carnal desires,
sins of the flesh and improper behavior.
c. But Timothy always had his mother and grandmother at
home as a guide.
3. Do your children and grandchildren see you as a godly
guide in their lives?
a. Someone who is steadfast in your faith.
1. Someone that when the temptations of this world come calling,
they can look to you as an example of godliness?
b. You will never shield your children from all that life will
throw at them,
1. But you can be a light in the darkness that leads them through by
being an example of God for them
B. God never intended that children be allowed to go blindly into
life without any knowledge of Him,
1. But that godly parents would guide their children into that
knowledge.
a. Moms & Dads Set some goals for your children
1. #1 Live in such a way that your children will want to know your
God & Savior
*Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.”
2. Mothers (and Dads), don’t leave the mission to the preacher, SS
teacher or anyone when it comes to your precious children.
*A Spanish proverb: An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.
3. YOU lead them to the Savior; YOU teach them the Scripture;
YOU prepare them for service.
a. You be a mother on who makes a difference!
