that little change, and my chains are gone, knowing how the Lord had saved him from and what he saved him unto, and I think you'd be happy with that. I don't know if you knew this or not, but the original Amazing Grace has 16 verses in it, 16, not four or five, it has 16. And so it's been a while since I have read those, but anyhow, I thought I'd let you know that. All right, open your Bibles to 2 Timothy 1. Before we read this this morning, I want to give you a very small piece of history for Mother's Day. I thought it was kind of interesting in regard to its origin in America, to its origin in America. In 1907, Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia started a campaign to honor mothers two years after her own mother died. I don't have this down, but I remember reading about her mother, and she was a person of strong character who really promoted peace during the Civil War. But anyhow, in 1910, Anna Jarvis, because of her influence, West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother's Day. A year later, nearly every state officially marked the day. And then in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed Mother's Day a national holiday for the second Sunday of May. Well, of course, right after that, Mother's Day became very much commercialized. And Anna Jarvis, actually the one that influenced this to happen, to have this day to honor mothers, it's written that she was very bitterly disappointed in what had happened on Mother's Day. And she became enraged by its commercialization. She filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother's Day celebration in 1923. She was arrested. for disturbing the peace, which is very ironic considering what her mother did. Anyhow, I don't have time to get into all that, but she was arrested for disturbing the peace at a War Mothers Convention where white carnations, her symbol for mothers, were being sold to raise money. Her complaint was, I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit. This is kind of funny. You know, here we are celebrating Mother's Day. And so a good reminder, it's not all about, in the spirit of Jarvis, Anna Jarvis, you know, it's not all about the cards and the flowers and the chocolate and all that. Though, mothers, I think you would have to say you're glad for those. But anyhow, make sure you take good care of your mothers year round. All right, I just want to give you that before we got into this this morning. 2 Timothy chapter 1, and let's read verses 1 through 7. 2 Timothy 1, 1 through 7, the title of this morning's message is The Genuine Faith of Eunice. The Genuine Faith of Eunice. 2 Timothy chapter 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, a beloved son. grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind, the genuine faith of Eunice. Let's pray. Father, help us this morning as we again come to your throne and we ask, Lord, that you would help us as we come to your word. And Lord, as you have led us this week and the message that we have for this time, this special day for mothers, I pray that you would help me to encourage, Lord, our mothers today in the faith Lord, that they would have that genuine faith as is mentioned of Eunice. Father, bless our mothers today and all of our women today, Lord, that seek to be godly women, and I pray that you bless them this day in Jesus' name. Amen. I love the fact that in writing to Timothy that Paul seeks to encourage Timothy to be strong, to not be ashamed, to have courage, by recognizing the faith that is in him that he sees that was like the faith that Paul first seen in Timothy's grandmother and mother. To describe this faith that Paul seen in Timothy that he first seen in his grandmother and mother, he says that it is a faith that is genuine. The KJV uses the word unfeigned. The Word speaks of being sincere, without deceit, or without hypocrisy. Paul uses this word in the first letter he wrote to Timothy in chapter 1 verse 5 of 1 Timothy, where the New King James Version translates it sincere. And he says this, Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith." So with Paul's usage of the word there, it is safe to say that genuine faith accompanies those other two things. It accompanies a pure heart and a good conscience. Now this is the kind of faith that Paul's seen in Timothy that he first seen in Timothy's grandmother and mother. God is pleased this morning, we need to understand this, to work generationally through the passing down of the Word of God to raise up great servants who make wonderful impacts on the world. Now, not all great women and men of God have come from a godly heritage, but many do. I think that most of us here today were raised in an atmosphere that may have had a godly heritage. I think that would be the majority, but not all of us. Not all, but most. However, I want to say this. If there are any here today and you did not have a godly heritage passed down to you and taught to you by a godly mother and father, know this. that that godly heritage can begin with you. So I might mourn the fact that maybe you didn't have a godly mother or a godly father, but don't get so mournful about that to realize, hey, but you can pass that down to your children and grandchildren. Will you be that Lois? Will you be that Eunice that passes down the example of a genuine faith that may be used to instruct and shape a young woman or a young man, maybe, it turns out, like Timothy. So I want to encourage really all women today to seek to pass down a godly example, whether you have biological children or not. The first thought I want to share this morning is this, a young man like Timothy. A young man like Timothy. I do not know if really the church and Christianity as well has really given an appreciation for Timothy like we should. Paul mentions Timothy in 11 of his epistles, and that's not counting the fact that he writes two letters to Timothy. From the epistles that Paul writes, he refers to Timothy as these things. He calls him a fellow worker, a fellow laborer, beloved and faithful son in the Lord, our brother, bondservant of Jesus, a minister of God, true son in the faith. And he calls him, my son. You can easily see from the verbiage and the language that Paul used to describe Timothy, that Timothy was very special to Paul. And Timothy was very fond of Paul, as Paul mentions one time regarding Timothy who came to minister to him, I think, while he was in jail. And so it's not hard to see that Timothy, he was real. He was a real man of God. He attaches himself to the greatest missionary that this world has ever seen, and ministered to him so that Paul could do what he did and learn from him, and Timothy would later as well become a pastor at Ephesus for some time. Now I highlight all of these good and godly qualities that Paul mentions regarding Timothy to remind us that the kind of faith that Paul has seen in Timothy Paul first seen in Timothy's grandmother and mother. Timothy's faith was genuine. He was the real deal, as we may say it. He was not a pretender. He was not lazy, for he was a worker for the Lord. He was not ashamed of Jesus, but was a bondservant of Jesus. how important it is for us to raise up a godly heritage and godly young men and women. My friend and pastor friend Cliff used to say something, I couldn't remember his words exactly, but he used to say something like this, it's easier to build boys than to change men. I always liked that saying because I understood what he meant. And we need to build boys from the ground up, if you would, in godly homes with godly mothers and godly fathers. It's so good when a young man or young men are raised in the church and they come to faith. That is good when that happens. They are raised under the example of godly household. And as they get older and are ready to do more for the Lord and the church, they already have those fundamentals and foundations of the faith and have those good godly examples that they have been raised up underneath. Listen, it makes the pastor's job much easier. They've seen faith, lived out their whole life, and have been trained in it. John Wesley said this, I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England. I wouldn't agree with everything John Wesley, but I thought that's a great statement. For us to have more young men like Timothy, we need women of genuine faith like his grandmother and mother. So I want to encourage you mothers to make sure that you are passing down a faith that is real, a faith that is sincere, A faith that is without hypocrisy, as that word is mentioned. I want to look at another passage here where this word is used to describe the faith of Eunice, Lois, and Timothy. Turn to James chapter 3. This word, genuine, and where it's used in the book of James. I'm just trying to look at this word some to show us the word and how it's used to describe Their faith. In James chapter 3, my brain is not as sharp as it used to be. I used to be able to talk and turn to the passage at the same time, but I found out I can't do that as much. James chapter 3, verse 13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, Then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and here's where the word is again, and without hypocrisy. The same word is translated genuine or unfeigned or sincere is here, without hypocrisy. Now the fruits of righteousness are shown in peace by those who make peace. And so here, James is talking about the wisdom that comes from God versus the wisdom that is of the devil. This wisdom from God is without hypocrisy. I really could have preached a whole message on this just regarding an unhypocritical faith, and it would have been very applicable. But think about this. This faith that is without hypocrisy, it is genuine. It's genuine. And ladies, I want to encourage you to pass down a genuine faith, a real faith that is without pretense. And so your children should see a faith that is the same. A faith that isn't one way in private and another way in public. They need to see the good example of faith, that mother lives this faith out no matter who she is around. Not that she's perfect by no means, but she's real. This faith needs to be accompanied with the wisdom that comes from God that is described here in James. Mothers, I want to encourage you to maybe meditate upon this passage in James, these last couple of verses, starting with verse 17 especially, and ask the Lord to help you to have that kind of real, genuine faith. Because you need God's wisdom, do you not, in order to mother? in order to raise your children, in order to guide the home. You see, Proverbs says, the wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. And so you need that wisdom of God in order to build your house. And so if you want to pass down, ladies, a genuine faith to your children, then you must be a person that is genuine and real. I didn't say perfect. Sometimes we look at the Proverbs 31 woman and wonder if she's not divine. Okay? Not perfect. But this following of Jesus must be real to you. And your kids need to see that kind of validity. They need to see that kind of genuineness. And I keep stressing the word genuine because I'm not talking about being a perfect mother. The world puts too much stress on that. And sometimes Christians put too much stress on that. Do they not? But this following of Jesus has got to be real to you. It's real to you when you get up in the morning. It's real to you as you work around the home, as you do the things that you do. It's real to you when the kids are asleep. It's real to you when you are alone. It's real to you when you're out with your friends. Listen, we can't pretend with God and then think that God will bless our efforts in raising children. In other words, you don't try to be that godly mother around your kids and then you're the ungodly friend to other people. Do you have a genuine faith that God can bless? Do you seek after His kind of wisdom to build your home? A wisdom that is associated in James as that which is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality. Those are the characteristics of a genuine faith that is without hypocrisy when you combine James 3 up with 1 Timothy. If you want to raise a Timothy, then you must seek to be a Eunice. I like this poem that I read, I do not know who the author is, it's called, The One Who Follows Me. And it says, A careful mother I ought to be, a little one is following me. I do not dare to go astray, for fear she'll go the self-same way. I cannot once escape her eyes. Whatever she sees me do, she tries. Like me, she says, she's going to be that little one who follows me. She thinks that I am good and fine, believes in every word of mine. The base in me she must not see, that little one who follows me. I must remember as I go through summer's sun and winter's snow, I am building for the years to be that little one who follows me. The next thought I want to share with you is this from James, or from 1 Timothy. That is this thought, the same Spirit. The same Spirit. In this text that we read, I read down to verse 7 on purpose. This verse is often referred to and is no doubt a great beloved verse that gives us a lot of courage. When it says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. This verse is very encouraging, I think, for all of us. But to understand the context in which it is written, I think we have disconnected it from what Paul is trying to teach Timothy. I want you to see the flow of just these few verses to get the context of where it is written. He spoke about the genuine faith in him that was first in his mother and in his grandmother. Then Paul says in verse 6 what? Therefore, because of the genuine faith that is in you and in your grandmother, where it started, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying of hands. Why? For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. I believe that Paul was possibly aware of some challenges that Timothy was facing to be afraid. And so in order to encourage Timothy, in the context in which this comes is, Timothy, I know you are a person of genuine faith, real faith, like your mother and grandmother. I want to stir you up, because God has not given us a spirit of fear. And so I think that it's very easy to say from this that he's seen a faith in his mother and grandmother that was bold and courageous. And he's stirring Timothy up to say, I know, Timothy, you're like them. God has not given us a spirit of fear. Just like He gave them, He has given you a spirit that is bold, that is courageous. And so he's saying, I see in you what I've seen in your mother and grandmother, and I want to stir that up within you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear. I want to say this as well, when you think about Timothy and men like Paul, understand this, the same spirit then that worked in Timothy's mother, that worked in Timothy's grandmother, it takes the same spirit to do what they did to do what Timothy needed to do. Same spirit, same power, same love, and same sound mind. I want to bear this out because you mothers know this, at least you should know this, I hope you know this, that you are doing an important work. Sometimes, you know, we think about the big things, we want to think about the Poles and the Timothys, and we think about those who are world-renowned or whatever that we feel like have impacted the world a great deal. But I want you to understand that what you do is important. You are raising up lives. to know and to serve Jesus. It is hard work that requires the power of the Spirit of Almighty God, the same Spirit that would empower Paul or Timothy. You need to do your work as a mother. It's work that will take you to be empowered by the Spirit, because you will need courage to be the godly kind of woman that you need to be in raising your children. You'll need that because you'll be challenged by the world to not do so. You'll need courage to make hard decisions in raising your children when you are tempted to be a friend rather than a parent. It will take power because you will get very weak at times and feel like giving up. It will take love because those little humans will test you, and you know you're going to need a sound mind because those little ones can cause you to lose it. It takes the power of the Spirit of Almighty God to raise a two-year-old. It does. Listen, it's hard work. I mean, men, you have to confess that whenever there's times when your kids are little, especially, and you know your wife needs a night out, and she's needing to get away for a little bit, it scares you to death. I mean, she needs it, but you're like, I need to watch the kids? Yeah, yeah. It's good for men to stay at home with the little ones and watch them every now and then. So that you can see what they've got to do. And don't expect her to make sure they're all well fed and diapered and all that before she leaves so they can last just long enough till she gets back. It takes courage to change diapers. We need men who will encourage their wives for sure in this. It takes a lot to be a mother. Mothers, what you do is honorable. It deserves honor. It deserves a day of recognition. It deserves every day of recognition. What you do is important, what you do is hard, and what you do is necessary. And you need the Spirit of God to help you just as Paul needed the Spirit to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to travel across countries. We think about what great faith Paul had or what great workings the Spirit of God had upon him to travel across the world and to preach the gospel. I'm telling you, it takes the same Spirit to stay at home and to raise those children. So do not underestimate the importance and value of your work. Do not let the world take that from you and dangle some kind of carrot in front of you to make you think that you staying at home or being with the kids and working at home somehow belittles you. If we are going to see a raising up of some Timothys in the church, we need to be raising up some Eunices at the same time. And so focus not just on, of course, your young boys, but your girls, and teaching them the mothers that they should be when they grow up. It will take the same spirit to encourage them and help them to do that. I love this quote from the rise and fall and rise of motherhood in America. I thought it very encouraging to women, and it said this, After years of society belittling the calling of motherhood, something wonderful is happening, something wonderfully counterculture. In the midst of the anti-life, anti-motherhood philosophies which pervade the culture, there is a new generation of young ladies emerging whose priorities are not determined by the world's expectations of them. They have grown up in homes where fathers shepherded them, where children are not merely welcome, but they are deeply loved. Some of these women have been home-educated, which means that many of them have grown up around babies and their mothers. They have learned to see motherhood as a joy and a high calling, because their parents see it that way. And when asked about their future, these girls know their own minds. These are the future mothers of the church. Young women who are not afraid to say that the goal of all their education and training is to equip them to pursue the highest calling of motherhood, the office of wife and mother. And there has been somewhat of a change in our culture, and I am very thankful for that, because we've had plenty of years of the other. Aren't you encouraged by that? Now I realized this morning that I cannot address all the various challenges that are in the room for all the mothers. I started thinking about some of those things, some of the challenges, but I realized I would fall short somewhere. I realized that I would not give a right example of what you may be going through as a mother. But I do know this, that as a child of the King, as a daughter of the Most High, that all of the great promises in the Word of God are yours as a mother. Maybe you are a single mom or a mom that has little help from dad. That happens. Listen, that's the example we have here. Eunice seems to be the only parent of faith. The only parent of faith. When you go back and look at Acts, you really find out that Timothy's father was a Greek and he does not seem to have any kind of good spiritual influence. I'm not saying he was a bad dad. I'm just saying he wasn't a man of faith so far as the Scriptures reveal. With the Holy Spirit, no matter what your occasion, no matter what your condition that you're in as a mother, I want to encourage you with this fact that the Holy Spirit is enough. You abiding in Jesus. You abiding in the Word. and you're just seeking to have that genuine and real heart of faith before God, that's what you need first. And in that relationship that you have with Christ, I promise you and assure you that you will be the mother you need to be to the given challenges in raising your particular children. Because all the children are different. And God has placed the children in your life for a reason. And one of those reasons is this, is that you, abiding in Jesus and following Him, you will be enough. Because Christ will be enough for you and through you and unto your children. And God can do great things through you and to your children as you seek Him to, first of all, do great things in you first. You want God to do great things in your children, through your children, well, you need that first, that God might work in you and through you unto them. Because the greatest thing that your children need is for you to walk with Jesus. That's the same for a mother and a father. That's the greatest thing they need. And we get so, this world, I get so mad at it, at the pressure it puts on women. to be all these things unto their children. The stress that comes with it. You've got to make sure that you're this kind of cook, or you've got to make sure your kids are involved in all these games and all these sports, and boy, you just run here and run there and running ragged, and you're not spending time with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a distraction of Satan. Listen, if you're not getting that time with the Lord, no matter how much time you spend in running your kids everywhere, it's not going to be enough. Spend your time with Christ. And if that means taking your kids out of some sports so you can do it, then so be it. There's so much pressure in so many ways. I'm not saying sports is bad, but I'm just saying we can get so strung out. God can do great things through you and your children, but you must first ask God to do great things in you. But know this, all the promises, as we said, are unto you, that you are never alone, mothers. For He has promised to not leave you nor forsake you. So I just don't have the strength. You are absolutely right. That's why you've got to abide in Him, because He will be your strength. And He will enable you to do all things that you need to do. And that's the problem is we get involved in a lot of things we don't need to do. And we don't understand why we don't have the strength to do what we think we need to do when we're really doing some other things instead. But He will give you all the strength for what you need to do. And you don't have to worry about being enough. He will be enough. As you seek to take the daily manna of grace that He will provide for you every day, it will be sufficient. And you might get to the end of the day and feel like, whew, I just made it. That's okay. He was enough. That word sufficient, when he talks about His grace, it literally means just enough. You don't need grace to raise your kids tomorrow. You need it for today. And every day you can get up and get that daily manna with the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will be enough for that day. You don't have to worry about being enough to get your kids right now through grade school and through middle school and through high school and through college. I don't know if I can be enough, if we can do enough. Quit worrying like that. Walk with Christ each day and trust that His grace will be sufficient for the day. So if you want to be a godly mother, then first seek to just simply be a godly woman. Walk with Jesus, and then you will be the mother you need to be. Listen, I'm not a mother by no means, but being a pastor requires a mothering heart. Paul talks about that, and I'll read that verse in just a moment, but it requires a mothering heart. I mean, you care for the flock. And listen, it can be stressful, right? You've got this one and this, and this one and that, and this one's struggling here, this one's struggling there. I mean, it takes a mothering heart to be a pastor. My pastor always said, you need the heart of a mother and the hide of an alligator to be a pastor. And that is true. You've got to be tough, but you've got to be caring. That's hard. So you have to have that heart of a mother. And Paul talked about that. He said, I've nurtured you as a mother. So I have that little bit about me. I know it's not the same. Don't go at her mad saying he thinks he's a mom, no. But I understand a little bit about that. But I said that to say this. I know that the pressures of pastoring can get to you. I've been there, done that. I quit pastoring for a few years because of it. Because it was tough. I was trying to be everything I could be, as much as I could be, to people that I couldn't really be enough for. And then I had to come to realize, you know what, if I want to be a pastor and be the effective pastor, my greatest thing I need to be doing is simply walking with Jesus and have a heart for God. And then I will be the pastor I need to be. Why? Because God cares about me too. God cares about me too. Mothers, God cares about you too. He's not just up there saying, oh, you need to be this, you need to be that to your kid, you need to be this, you need to do this. No, He wants you to walk with Him first. and through Him in you, you will be enough through Christ in you. Amen, men? Amen. Now with me saying what I've said so far, let me remind all married mothers of this truth, that your husband cannot be to you what only Jesus can. I'm not saying there's not some expectations that we have for fathers, by no means, or husbands. Yes, husbands need to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and they need to be a father to the children as the Scriptures teach. But at the same time, mothers, you cannot look to your husbands to fulfill only what Christ can. Yes, husbands need to step up. I'm saying, but don't put expectations that come from Jesus upon your husband. Before you complain about your husbands, listen, first of all, know this, you need Jesus. You need to walk with Him. You need to talk with Him, trust in Him, obey Him, enjoy Him, sing to Him, worship Him, and listen to Him. You need Him first and foremost. Sometimes women look to their husbands and place expectations that are sometimes unreasonable. So be careful of that. When you think your husband does not fulfill you in some way, complete you, or meet your needs in any way, just make sure that first of all, first of all, and I'm not saying there's some things that your husband may not need to be doing, but make sure first of all, you are seeking your fulfillment in Christ. And fathers, help your wives, right? You can't be Jesus to them, but you need to love them like Jesus. Now our last and final and brief thought this morning, I want to just take a moment and consider how the Bible takes the heart of a mother and then uses it to explain other biblical relationships. I already mentioned this one, but when Paul was writing to the church at Thessalonica and he wanted to express his heart for them, he said, But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. When David thought upon his God and his hope in the Lord, he said this, Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child is my soul within me. To describe the nature of his relationship, his comfort and hope that he was receiving from God, he likened it to a baby with a mother. And then the greatest example of all to me is when God Himself uses the heart of a mother as an example for how He cares for His people Israel. And He said this in Isaiah 66, As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And so to give them an image of how God was going to comfort them, He says, just like a mother would comfort her child, I'm going to comfort you. Thank God for the power of comforting mothers who can bring calm and quiet to the hearts of their children. You need the power of the Spirit of God because it takes power to be a comforting mother. In conclusion this morning, seek to honor your mothers today and every day. Honor for your mother should be something we do all the time. Like I said earlier, I'm sure she appreciates the cars, the flowers and gifts, even though the woman who started all this Mother's Day stuff in America was arrested for being against it. Make sure she feels special all the time. Thank God for our mothers and all women who step into the role of mother. even if they have no children or not a mother at all. Thank God for godly women. And you may not be a mother, but know this as well. You can be spiritual mothers, nurturing, caring, leading, guiding, comforting. I thank God, not just for my wife and the wonderful mother she is, but I know my children have other spiritual mothers in their life, women who they look up to, that we have pointed to and encouraged relationship with because they provide a great role model. I thank you. We have so many of those in our church. I'm so thankful for the godly examples of our women at New Testament Baptist Church. Let's all stand.