Mother’s Day for me is difficult as a pastor in certain ways. It’s good for some people, they have a great mother and many things have happened. It’s a difficult day for others and then some of us it’s a day of remembrance that don’t have our mothers with us anymore.

So it’s kind of a difficult situation but God’s word speaks to us and God’s word gets us through it no matter what, no matter what position we’re in. Today in 2025 for us here today some scripture here that maybe you haven’t heard for Mother’s Day before. Mother’s Day like I said is one of those Sundays that sometimes I just struggle with and it’s trying to make it fresh or new.

When I tried to google it, if you’ve ever done anything with google Mother’s Day or scripture you have many scriptures and dozens and dozens of scriptures come up and when they come up it’s not about dead babies but it does come up. When I read this one scripture in 2nd Timothy 1 1 through 7 if you have your bibles that’s what we’ll be today 2nd Timothy 1 1 through 7. When I read this I thought it was really good and I was like and those of you that come here to Williams Lake Church I’m about a month ahead of myself. I have a scripture set about a month ahead of time and then whenever I came to this point where I do the beginning and the end of it after the scriptures all filled in it’s like what were you thinking? So and this week it came to me what I was thinking it wasn’t about me and what God had put on my heart and working with this week.  So this week it kind of came to me so be patient with me as far as as the scripture and coming to the point. I think it’s great scripture for us to study and be a part of and there’s just one thing in there that kind of jumped out at me. So if you have your bibles we’ll be in 2nd Timothy 1 1 through 7. So it says here it begins like this Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus to Timothy my beloved son grace mercy and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day longing to see you even as I recall your tears so that may fill be filled with joy for I am mindful of the sincere faith within you her first well in your grandmother Lois in your mother in your mother Eunice and I’m sure that it is in you as well for this reason I remind you to rekindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying of my hands for God has not given us a spirit of infinity but of power and love and discipline let’s go to Lord in prayer father we thank you for this father’s day we thank you for this scripture that you’ve given us this morning Lord now we just ask that we turn our eyes and our heart towards you and when we take that into our mind that we take it down to our heart and something here will speak as to us today that we can take out to the rest of the world father I already talked about how this scripture didn’t made that not fit mother’s day to start with but I pray that each one of us have clear minds and we see the purpose through this scripture today in Jesus name in prayer amen so when it starts off with the first verse as a Paul apostle Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of life in Jesus Christ we’ve studied many books of Paul written written by God through Paul we’ve studied by many of them and we know he was an apostle for Jesus called and commissioned directly by Christ and if you remember on that road of Damascus he was called his call was according to God’s sovereign plan and his purpose our scripture says according to the promise of life in Jesus Christ the gospel promises that those who are spiritually dead but by faith embrace the gospel message will be united with Christ and find eternal life in him what we have to notice here is Paul makes it clear that this is his call to preach it it was the will of God and not of his own will the message of Paul had to all was the promise of eternal life that was in Jesus Christ and Christ remains the anointed one and Jesus means Jehovah’s Savior and Christians alone of all religions have hope of the resurrection because of Jesus Christ he starts that out right in the first verse just lays it all out second verse he says to Timothy my beloved son grace mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord I know it’s Mother’s Day we talked about that give me a little bit more latitude we’ll get to the mothers and we’ll get to the ladies but Paul says here my beloved son like a father here only Timothy and Titus received this special expression of Paul’s favorite says my son this emphasizes Paul’s role as a spiritual father to Timothy grace peace and mercy things truly only given by God for those of us who are believers if you recall being alive before Christ was in your life there was no peace there was no grace there was no mercy that was real and sustaining only God gives that and Paul gives all credit to God for all of this right here and as Paul knew better than anyone else at this point only real peace is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that’s the only place to find true peace and notice here the love Paul shows Timothy in the name he calls him beloved son Timothy was not Paul’s son in the flesh he was Paul’s son in the fact that Paul had trained him in ministry we can see the devotion that Paul has for Timothy and Paul knows if something happens to him say if he was executed Timothy will carry on the work this is what he’s introducing here in the beginning of the book verse three says I thank God who I serve with clear conscience serve with clear conscience the way my forefather did as I constantly remember you and my prayers night and day and Paul is speaking here of God the Father because his forefathers were Jews Paul is explaining his conscience is clear we can get the impression Paul prayed for Timothy daily from this and no one knew better than the hardships that faced those who lived for Jesus Christ than Paul the Apostle this mention of his forefathers and his pure conscience is also to let Timothy know that he had not done anything wrong in the sight of God the Father by worshiping Jesus Christ and that’s tough for a lot of them that was something that was very tough for me to understand at first especially back then for the Jews to understand that as we worship God only but now God in the flesh Jesus the Trinity we will worship God all three in one and this mystery of the three in one revealed see through the struggle back then always worship just the Father and now to see three in one includes Jesus made some struggle even still today but verses like this give us reassurance as mentioned here forefathers and pure conscience we can know we are on the right path he’s assuring Timothy here and assuring us in this verse four says longing to see you even as I recall your tears so that I may be filled with joy we begin to see the affection here that Paul has for Timothy and the urgency of the hour in Paul’s life as he is faced with death here in this writing and Paul really wanted to see Timothy one more time recalling your tears it says maybe Paul was remembering this or occurring at the last time they parted and said goodbye that this occurred in Ephesus and after writing Timothy won and before his second imprisonment in Rome Paul facing death wanted to see him just one more time and he knew that Timothy would bring him great joy he also was concerned for the grief Timothy would experience at his death his thoughts may have been that if he could see him one more time it would give him comfort he did not want Timothy’s faith to be weakened upon his death if you think about that a lot as I get older as time gets shorter I think of that some with my children and how they’ll go forward without me and I know how I struggled some when my mother and father went on to be with the Lord there’s a struggle there and that’s what I love about the Paul’s writings here he knows this he reassures us he knows God knows and through Paul he’s telling us of these things and they don’t want our faith to be weakened by that particular time in verse 5 says for I am mindful of the sincere faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and I’m sure that it is in you as well see Paul’s using these names makes us believe something that he knew them personally he’s calling them by name and these women were true old testament believers that understood scripture enough to prepare themselves and Timothy to immediately accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah when they first heard the gospel from Paul Paul reminding Timothy that his faith has never faltered he knew the faith of Timothy Timothy’s mother and grandmother and it’s strong in that same faith was installed in Timothy see these both were Jews and Christians when we think about these two women Jews by birth and Christians by faith Jews Gentiles all come to Christ by faith to be called Christian we have that in common only one way to get there through Jesus Christ and these ladies were the ones who had the faith and taught and showed the faith to the children and a Timothy a small and Timothy they had made a strong foundation was laid for his future verse 6 says for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in through in you through laying of my hands and it says remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God makes me think Paul’s trying to encourage Timothy here to lift his faithfulness kindle means to keep the fire alive and Timothy here is reminded that as a steward of his God-given gift for preaching and teaching and evangelism that he can’t let it fall into disuse it seems as though Paul himself anointed Timothy the gift of God is one or more of these gifts of Holy Spirit and some of the gifts are miracles healing etc things like that we don’t know how many of these gifts of the spirit Timothy actually had we do know that he did have some gifts and the gifts God gives us grow with us as we all are giving gifts as God has given each one of us gifts as we move along as we get closer to Christ those gifts increase we become more comfortable with them God allows us to understand them better and as we move forward we’re able to do that I’m an example of that the first time I got up here to actually do this in front of somebody there was more hums and ahs than there was a word and when I listened back to it I was like oh my goodness what was that and I prayed about it and I got to tell you the truth the next week there wasn’t one um and ah I couldn’t believe it was like where did it go it was just natural for that verse 7 says for God has not given a spirit of Timothy Timothy but of power and love and discipline Timothy is is cowardly shameful fear caused by selfish character the Roman persecution was tough it was hard and it was escalating and there was hostility toward the Ephesians the church and Timothy’s leadership and this could have been overwhelming to Timothy but it was he was fearful of it did not come from God power God has always given power to the believers they have all the spiritual resources they need for all the trials and threats and then we see love and this kind of love that centers on pleasing God not self-seeking others welfare before our own and discipline self-control properly prioritized the opposite of fear and cowardice that causes fear and confusion and Paul is reminding Timothy not to let his death cause him fear fear is the opposite of faith the spirit of fear is from the enemy and God has given Timothy and us the power to overcome the fear in our lives great faith does away with fear and God’s love for us is enough to keep us going that is enough encouragement we all need that encouragement for faith to be instilled in us and to grow in us and that’s why many of us that’s why a lot of the reason we’re here today in church is for that encouragement the word of God opened up and encouraging each one of us and that encouragement is there but it’s mother’s day 2025 2nd Timothy 1 1 through 7 a lot of talk here about Timothy from Paul about faith about discipline about self-control to keep things afresh remember all these things that they were taught all this talk of Timothy and Paul and his love and joy from Timothy on Mother’s Day what has gone wrong with your pastor doesn’t he pay attention to the calendar it’s Mother’s Day and a Mother’s Day message is sometimes what is expected but all this talk of Timothy this morning the product of a loving faithful compassionate God God-fearing tribe and true women sold out for God verse five said this if you remember for I am mindful of the sincere faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and her mother Eunice and I am sure that it is in you as well see this section of scripture for me seems so fitting for Mother’s Day and the fact of this it’s more about Timothy than the grandmother and mother but isn’t that typical of the mother isn’t that typical of the ladies in our life they’re in the background they’re always there they’re full of faith they’re teaching but they’re always there but they’re taking a back seat maybe the most important things in our lives after God is these ladies in our church and Christian women that are in our lives our verse says sincere excuse me sincere faith first dwelt in these ladies that he is sure is in him as well talking of Timothy these ladies were the first to teach Timothy of this faith of the heart of a woman which is precious loving forgiving compassionate yet stern and to the point and teaching see I see a lot of this in our church on Mother’s Day for the ladies with children that may not even be their own by their own blood yet showing this faith in these children I think about Stephanie with the AHG girls I brought it up this morning with with the flowers that we see out there and the American Heritage girls that are meet here every other Tuesday throughout the year and the love that she shows these girls that only one of them is by blood to her but she has a whole group of children that she just pours into she pours into every week and she got out there we see the flowers there today so I think of that with Tiffany and Stephanie and these ladies that pour out she had a lock-in this weekend do you know how much you have to love kids to be locked in a church with them all night she had a lock-in here in church and it’s still here and nothing’s destroyed great job great job but that’s how much she loves those kids to be able to do that we used to do those lock-ins and out oh they’re tough they’re tough I think of Lisa and Erica and Jean with our youth they’re wild and crazy kids they they but they’re wild and crazy but I watch these three women on Wednesday nights and the attention and the love that they show these children one week just one week Lisa wasn’t here and I had to take over and I had no found respect for Lisa like never before the love and the way she held those they just responded to her they walked through the door and hugging them and she’s hugging them back and showing them love and giving them faith it’s just amazing to watch these ladies in our church work I think of Melanie and Paula who was cooking for these kids on Wednesday night and bringing them I mean Easter filling the egg baskets and filling the eggs and passing them out making sure that all that’s taken care for the love for those children the love of God through them I think of Deb and all the ladies in our church packing those boxes for Operation Christmas Child year-round you can see it out front it’s there it’s a ministry that kids that they will probably never have an opportunity to see even talk to or know in any way but the love of God through these women are sending those boxes out and I gotta tell you the truth it’s different it’s different with women I pack those boxes I walk around like this and I put it in there they put some thought into it they put the love into it they this will be for this little girl and she would like that and you can see that love come out the Christ’s love through them I think of Miss Jane at ZCI with some of the younger men that are there if we for those who don’t know we’re involved in a prison ministry and when I see some of the younger men there they see Miss Jenny as a mother they see her love and she treats them like that she does not hold back she tells them the truth she tells them when they’re going sideways and she tells them when they’re going straight and they appreciate that the women of the church doing that and then I watched our church with Bob’s grandchildren whenever they bring their grandchildren and it’s like passing the potato with these kids all the mothers all the ladies trying to get a hold of them and hold them and we see the love of Christ coming out through the women in this church see there’s all these children touched by women with little or no acknowledgement little or no acknowledgement like our like our scripture today seven scriptures only one really gave any acknowledgement to the ladies in Timothy’s life it’s the way life is for whatever reason we don’t give them a lot of acknowledgement and sometimes being a mother from watching my my wife and my mother it’s a thankless calling but they do it exceptionally well it’s thankless but they still want to do it there’s not any more money involved in it there’s not too much praise in it there’s not too much pat in the back but they still go forward and want to go forward with it this is appropriate scripture seven verses only one talks about mothers it’s so important yet hardly mentioned or acknowledged yet they continue to teach they continue to love they continue to share the faith with very little accolades these great women of God just do it and they continue to raise teach and love God’s little children with little to no recognition and we see here in these verses the product of a great mother and you notice that we’re not talking about blood we’re not talking about a child maybe that was naturally born that these ladies these Christian ladies in our church are mothers to those to these prisoners to these children that aren’t even their own the best things in life think about this for a minute aren’t the flashes they’re not in your face they’re not the most expensive they’re not the biggest they’re not the most flamboyant things that we pine for that we just got to have we seem to want the most they’re not the best the best things are the slow and the steady the ones always there when you need them the ones that inspire you to do something in you these ladies bring faith that dwell in them and mothers for me another name for the ladies of the church when we say mother’s day we say mothers i’m speaking of the ladies of the church get little get little praise or much going in their way i was thinking of something this morning and i told you this morning that sometimes i don’t know where we’re going but when i think of the ladies of our church um this this plot came out to me and somebody in the church was kind enough and they it was for whatever they went on vacation and they gave us a plaque pastor in it for the outcome not the income i really appreciated that but this is the one where i think of the ladies i really think of the ladies of the church and it’s addressed to the pastor’s wife but this is addressed to the ladies of wilderness lake church Christian ladies that are here today pastor’s wife because multitasking ninja isn’t a church title and that’s the truth with the ladies of this church they pour out their love there’s no way to describe it in just one word and their god has god has ladies of church god has made you mighty and here has made you important to be part of the family of god we acknowledge you today and truly thank god for all the ladies that are here today with wilderness lake church we love you ladies of the wilderness lake church when i put that big title around it the world thinks about i think i thought about this this morning the world thinks about on mother’s day how great mothers and how great and what they have done but the ladies the Christian ladies in the church what the women of the church think about how great the father is and what he has done through her and that’s the difference of what they’re looking at they give the glory and the praise to God,