1. It has been truly said that no other force in the life of a child is as strong as the influence of a mother. Napoleon said, “The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother. Let France have good mothers and she is bound to have good sons.”
2. President Theodore Roosevelt said, “The mother is the one supreme asset of the national life. She is more important by far than the successful statesman, businessman, artist, or scientist.” He also said: “Praying mothers are America’s greatest assets.”
3. Many famous men have been greatly influenced by their mothers – George Washington’s mother was a patriotic and Bible-reading woman. Her son became the father of our country.
4. Lord Bacon, Sir Walter Scott, and John and Charles Wesley all had good mothers. Abraham Lincoln said, “All that I am, or can become, I owe to my angel mother.” Thomas Edison said, “My mother was the making of me. The memory of her will always be a blessing to me.”
5. On the other hand, Lord Byron’s mother was proud, contentious, and violent. He grew up to be a promiscuous misfit and died at the age of 36. Nero’s mother was a greedy and lustful murderess. He grew up to be a terrible tyrant and murderer.
6. King Charles IX of France had an evil mother who encouraged him to massacre the Huguenots. The Saint Bartholomew’s Massacre was the result of her wicked desire to rid France of all Bible-believing Christians.

I. WINNING CHILDREN TO CHRIST (II TIM. 1:5).

1. Church is important. The Sunday School is important. Children's Church, the youth group, the pastor, youth director, Sunday School teachers, and all the church workers are very important.
2. But the most important influence in a child's life is his mother, and mothers have the privilege of leading their children to Christ.
3. My wife has led many people to Christ, but her most notable converts were our four children.
4. Second Timothy 3:15 says, "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
5. From his childhood, Timothy was rooted and grounded in the Word of God -- the holy scriptures, which were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (II Tim. 3:15).
6. All scripture is inspired (literally, "God-breathed"). The Bible is inspired and the Bible is preserved. "And is profitable for…"

Doctrine – teaching Bible truths. What is right.

Reproof – exposing error. What is not right.

Correction – straightening out sinners, and restoring them. How to get right.

7. That the man of God may be "perfect" (3:17). This means complete and mature. The Bible alone is our authority and it is enough for us to be "throughly furnished unto all good works."
8. Timothy's mother Eunice taught Timothy the Word of God. Timothy's father was not saved. Acts 16:1 says Timothy's mother "was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek."
9. The great preacher John Wesley said, "I learned more of Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England."
10. His mother Susannah Wesley had 19 children, including John and Charles Wesley.
11. Second Peter 3:18 says, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." I have been thinking and praying much about the tremendous potential for spiritual growth among our members.
12. Mothers, you could raise up the next John Wesley or Charles Wesley or Charles Haddon Spurgeon or Hudson Taylor. The potential is there.
13. Hudson Taylor was brought up in a good Christian home -- both his mother and father were godly Christians. When he was 17 years of age (1849) Hudson Taylor went into his father's library in search of a book to read. While poking around the books on the shelves, he picked up a gospel tract, read it, and he received Christ as his Saviour. That same afternoon and that very same time, his mother was visiting some 75 miles away. Experiencing an intense yearning for the conversion of her son, she resolved not to leave that spot until her prayers were answered. She prayed for hours, till the Lord gave her the assurance that her son was saved. She returned home ten days later and was met at the door by her son who said he had good news for her. She said, "I know, my boy. I have been rejoicing in the glad tidings you have to tell me." Hudson Taylor's mother had learned of his conversion from no human source, but God had assured her.
14. The great evangelist R.A. Torrey grew up in a strong Christian home but when he enrolled at Yale University at the age of fifteen he became very skeptical and very worldly. He took up dancing and other worldly pastimes like card playing and attending the theater.
15. He drifted far from God, and one night in 1875, while he was still a student at Yale, he was overcome with a desire to kill himself. Meanwhile, his mother, many miles away, was awakened by God to pray for him. R.A. Torrey came to his senses and knew that he must pray. He knelt and said "Oh, God, deliver me from this burden. I'll even preach!" Immediately he was saved, called to preach, and overcome with a great sense of peace.
16. Thank God for praying mothers!
17. We need to win our children to Christ before the devil gets them.

I took a piece of plastic clay
And idly fashioned it one day.
And as my fingers pressed it still,
It moved and yielded at my will.

I came again when days were past,
That bit of clay was hard at last.
The form I gave it, still it bore,
And I could change that form no more.

Then I took a piece of living clay
And gently formed it, day by day,
And molded with my power and art,
A young child's soft and yielding heart.

I came again when years were gone,
It was a man I looked upon,
He still that early impress bore,
And I could change it never more.

II. A GODLY MOM CAN WIN HER HUSBAND TO CHRIST (IPETER 3:1, 2).

1. I know many men (even some preachers) who were won to Christ by their wives. Bro. Earls' wife led him to the Lord.
2. I know we have many women here with unsaved husbands. I am praying every day for you. I know it is not easy.
3. Notice in I Peter 3:1, it says, "that, if any obey not the word." Not, "if any believe not the word..." "Obey not" is much stronger than "believe not."
4. The Greek word translated "obey not" means, "not to allow one's self to be persuaded; to refuse to believe."
5. This describes stubborn men who refuse to even consider the Gospel. It indicates a hostile attitude toward God, the Bible, and church.
6. And yet despite this wicked unbelief and open hostility toward the Gospel, Peter says, "They also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear" (I Peter 3:1, 2).
7. George Müller spoke of a wealthy German gentleman whose wife was a devout Christian. The man was a heavy drinker and he spent his nights in the tavern. His wife would stay up late to greet her husband when he got home. It was usually very late, and he was usually very drunk.
8. She never complained or nagged him, and when necessary she would even undress her husband and help him into bed.
9. One night in the tavern he said to his drinking companions, “I bet if we go to my house, my wife will be sitting up, waiting for me. She will come to the door, give us a royal welcome, and even cook supper for us if I ask her.”
10. His friends were skeptical at first, but decided to go along and see. Sure enough, she came to the door, received them courteously, and willingly agreed to make supper for them without the slightest trace of resentment.
11. After serving them, she went off to her room. As soon as she had left, one of the men began to condemn the husband. “What kind of a man are you to treat such a good woman so miserably?” With this he got up without finishing his meal and left the house.
12. Another man did the same, and then another, until they were all gone.
13. Within a half hour, the husband became deeply convicted of his wickedness, and especially of the shabby way he treated his wife. He went to his wife’s room, asked her to pray for him, repented of his sins, and asked the Lord to save him.
14. George Muller said that from that time on, that man became a devoted Christian (I Peter 3:1, 2).
15. Some Christian wives do more harm than good by constantly scolding their husbands.
16. Proverbs 21:19 says, "It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman."
17. Proverbs 27:15 says, "A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike."
18. One wife nagged her husband so much it was affecting his health. He went to the doctor, and his doctor told him to run five miles a day and then call him in a week.
19. A week later the man called and the doctor asked, "Are you running five miles a day like I suggested?"
20. "Yes, doctor."
21. "And are you feeling better now?"
22. "Yes doctor, much better -- I'm 35 miles away from my wife."
23. Christian wives should have a "meek and quiet spirit" (I Peter 3:4).

III. SHE CAN WIN OTHERS TO CHRIST

1. We see how mothers and grandmothers can win their children to the Lord, with the example of Lois and Eunice in Paul's second epistle to Timothy.
2. We see how wives can win their unsaved husbands to Christ, in I Peter 3.
3. In John 4, we see how the woman at the well won many people to Christ.
4. The Bible says she had just gotten saved and immediately she went and told others (John 4:28-42).
5. This was our Lord's plan for Samaria. John 4:4 says, "And he must needs go through Samaria."
6. Later, before He ascended into heaven, our Lord told His disciples, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
7. Then in Acts 8:5 we see that "Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them." Many souls were saved, and Acts 8:8 says, "And there was great joy in that city."
8. There could be great joy in this city if Christians went out and shared the Gospel to their friends and neighbors, and relatives and co-workers.

CONCLUSION:

In England many years ago, a notorious criminal named John H. Starkey was executed for murdering his wife, and they asked William Booth to preach his funeral.  A huge crowd gathered quietly, wondering what the great preacher would say.  General Booth started his message by pointing to the coffin and saying: “John H. Starkey never had a praying mother!”