A Godly Legacy, Part 4

SPEAKER 02 : 0:05

Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to The Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Knotts, thanking you for tuning in today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I believe you will be blessed by today’s message as I minister on the importance of raising a godly seed. You know, I’m a third-generation preacher, and I want to share with you the legacy passed to me from my dad, R.G. Hardy, and my granny, Mother Hardy, in today’s message, A Godly Legacy. So you see, it was legacy that was being put into me. And so we have got to have encouragement. I remember when I was growing up, my mother always said to me, she had little sayings that she always said, and one that always stuck in my mind. She always said that quitters never win and winners never quit. Whenever anything would be, you know, a problem or I didn’t want to do something or I didn’t feel like doing something, she would always say that to me. Quitters never win and winners never quit. And that would stay in my mind. That was encouragement. And then I remember I would always tell my children, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. And Sarah, when she was little, she would always have this, she’d get this little girl whiny voice, I can’t do it. And I’d always say, yes, you can do it. Stop saying you can’t because you can. And what would happen is she not only would do it, she’d end up bringing an A home. And then the next time she’d go back into that saying, but I can’t do it. I’d say, what happened the last time? Didn’t you get an A? I know, but I can’t do it this time. Amen. And this was over and over again. And I mean, the next thing you know, she’s on the honor roll. I can’t do it. The next thing you know, she’s getting a scholarship, but I can’t do it. But she was doing it. Because even though she was saying that, she was wanting me to come back and say, yes, you can. She was wanting that encouragement. She wanted to know that her father and I believed that she could do it. Amen? The two worst things any parents can do are fail to discipline, over discipline. If you fail to discipline, you let a child do himself. Oh my Lord, one day you will regret it, but by that time it will be too late. When they stand up in your face. It’s too late then. How many say amen? So if you think, oh, I’m just going to let them go and they’re a free spirit and let them be, yeah, when they get to school, they’re going to be so free, they’re not going to be able to sit down behind a desk. They’re going to have all kinds of problems. So failure discipline is bad, but so is over-disciplining. Because if you over-discipline them, the Word of God says you break their spirit. And I think off, I didn’t put that scripture down, but I think it’s Ephesians or Colossians, one or the other. I think it’s Colossians around the fourth chapter. If you over-discipline them, you will break their spirit, and you don’t want to do that either. So we want balance, amen? Because if we love our children, we will correct them. God said it clearly, and I won’t read it, but you know in Hebrews, the 12th chapter, it says, For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He accepts. Everyone. If you endure chastening, then God deals with you as a son. For what son is there whom the Father does not discipline? No chastening for the present. Somebody say, for the present. Seems to be joyous. But it’s grievous. For the present, it’s grievous. But he says, oh, but in the future, nevertheless, afterwards, somebody say afterwards. it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So we see that if God corrects and chastens us, how many people here that are saved have ever been chastened of the Lord? Is there anybody who’s never ever had the Lord have to chasten you or correct you? Because I want to make sure your halo hasn’t slipped. Nope, didn’t see nobody, didn’t think so. So he reasons if he chastens us. And how many know when you’re in that crucible, I’ve been in some crucibles, I thought I was going to die. And while I was going through it, in my heart I was saying, Lord, when you bring me out of this one, I will not do this again. I pray that I’ll not be this foolish. I’ll pray next time I zip my lip. I pray next time I won’t be so huffy-puffy and proud and whatever. How many say amen? So he uses that. He says, just like I’m chasing you. Does it mean I don’t love you? On the contrary. Because I love you, I don’t want you to persist in your bad behavior. If I reward bad behavior, I’m reinforcing bad behavior, you’re going to get worse. And as much as I love you because you’re my child, your teacher isn’t going to love you. Your neighbor isn’t going to love you. Your boss isn’t going to love you when you turn out to be a brat. You’re no kin of theirs. They’re not obligated to love you. They’re not your mama. How many say amen? So God says we must correct our children. I’ll just quickly run through these verses in Proverbs. Proverbs 13, 24. He that spares the rod hates his son. He who loves him chastens him B times. Now I know that B word, B times. Like, what is B times? Does that mean a whole bunch of times? No. So don’t go thinking it says B times. B, B, B, B. No, that’s not what it means. It might sound that way, but don’t jump to conclusions. B times means right now, promptly, especially when children are little. They have to be able to equate the crime with the punishment. If they do something then, you’ve got to correct them then. Don’t tell them when your father comes home tonight. Because number one, if they’re little by then, they forgot what they did. They can’t put the two together. They did it now, correct them now. Number two, you’re making their dad Mr. Bad Guy. Boy, my daddy, he’s the one, he’s the one, I don’t want my daddy to ever come home because when he comes home, I get beat and stuff. No, don’t tell your child when your daddy comes home or when your mother comes home or however it works in your house. When the child does it, especially the younger they are, they must promptly do it then. They have to understand what they’ve done, why they’re being punished. Okay? Because otherwise, they won’t understand it. And then later on when you’re whipping them, they don’t know what they’re being whipped for. They don’t put it together. Now we know with teenagers it’s a little different. Okay, Proverbs 22, 15. Foolishness is in the heart of a child. Okay, that’s a given. You understand that? That is a given. Children are foolish. They have foolish things in their heart. I know your child is the next Einstein. But trust me, even so, foolishness is in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction will drive it far from him. And some kids, I’m not even going to look. I’m going to do this. Some kids around this church are really foolish. And if you’re their mother or father, you know who they are. So this is for you. Okay? Proverbs 23, 13. Withhold not correction from thy child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Now, I want to make something clear in just a moment. I know we keep reading this rod stuff, and I’m going to explain that in a minute, but let me read one more verse. Verse 29, 15. The rod and reproof… I better read that again. The rod and reproof… Give wisdom. Oh, that’s what we’re interested in, a wise child, right? The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself shall bring shame to his mother. So here, what were we talking about? You have got to give your child at some times plenty of R&R. And I’m not talking about rest and relaxation. Right? I’m talking about the biblical R&R, rod and reproof. And it refers back to what I said a moment ago. You’re not only punishing your child or whipping your child, but you’re making them understand why you’re reproving them. The crime, if it’s the punishment, they understand why they’re being disciplined. You don’t just whip them and they don’t have no idea. What is that? What does that do? It does nothing. It causes the child, if anything, to be confused and then resentment. So they have to understand why they’re being punished. Make it clear why they’re being punished. And when we speak of the word rod, I would really like in your mind, instead of thinking of a rod, because I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking of some big, huge branch off a tree or something or some billy stick. No, no, no, no. We ain’t thinking that way. Think more like a reed, okay? Instead of rod, think more like a reed. Yeah, it’ll sting you a little bit, but it ain’t going to really do you any bodily harm. It ain’t going to break no bones or knock you out or anything like that. I’m going to say amen. So let’s make sure when we talk about rod here, we’re not visualizing the wrong thing. Say, well, that’s what the Bible says. Okay? Yes, we discipline our children. Yes, there are times to whip them. Yes, there are times that you have to get the readout or whatever you use that works in your house. But make sure that when you’re doing it that you have its remedial. that it’s going to bring about afterwards. See, we’re trying to get to afterwards. After the rod and the reproof, we want to get to the afterwards, that then there’s joy. Verse 17 of that same chapter, “…correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest.” yea, he shall delight thy soul. So on the one hand, he said in verse 15, a child left to himself will bring his mother shame. It will happen every time. You can just see it. You can just see it. Children that are just left to do what they want and later on they bring such shame to their parents. By that time, it’s usually too late. But on the other hand, a child that is corrected brings delight. brings joy, and that mom can say, I have no greater joy. I have no greater joy. My child is walking with the Lord. I have raised a wise child. I almost said wild child. I think it’s time to get another drink of water. Wild about Jesus. Okay, now we’re down to the last one, why. Anybody want to take a guess what why is for? Okay, they’re fine, they’re good, but they’re not the one I have. Make it real, real simple. Give your child you. Yourself. Y-O-U. You. Your time, your investment of yourself, your interest, your attention. Yes, it’s great. If you can buy your kids all of the latest television or the latest, I don’t even know what they have out these days, iPods and videos and computers and they can make their own records and they can… do this, and they can do that, and you can send them to here, and you can send them to there. Anything they want, okay, you buy them the best sports stuff, if they’re in sports, if they’re in music, you can buy them all the music things, I don’t care, whatever they want, organs, microphones, guitars, amps, you can afford to give them the, no, you don’t give them a hand-me-down car, you’re going to give them a new car. I think that’s kind of foolish, but if you want to do that, fine, do all that, but make sure you give them you. You see, it’s not enough just to give them things. You have to give them yourself. And that is so important that you invest your time in your child. Many a rich child has grown up to feel unloved. They’ve had everything and anything their heart could desire. Because their parents just gave them things, but because a lot of times their parents were too busy with their business, too busy with their career, too busy with what they wanted to do, that child grew up not feeling that they really were connected in an emotional way to their parents. And I’m going to say this, and some people might not like this, but it’s still true. Even ministry is no excuse for not investing time in your child. Amen. If you’ve got so much ministry that you can never ever go with your kid to something that they like to do, a ball game or something, and you can’t do things with your child, you know what? You’re not obeying the Holy Spirit. You’re too busy. Your ministry has become about you then. Amen? Because what good is it going to do if you have this ministry and you lose your own children? Isn’t that right? And many of children have grown up bitter because they felt like that their parents were so involved in ministry they didn’t have any time for them. And made them resent the church and resent the Lord. And it wasn’t the Lord’s fault. How many say amen? So there’s no greater calling than investing time in your children. That’s one thing I am so proud about Benny. He has always, always invested much time, and even when I hurt my back and I was not able to do a lot of things that normally I would do as a mom, he took the baton from me, and then he just really invested himself into Sarah. When she… liked softball so much, and I wasn’t able to take her there anymore. He stepped right in there. He took her to all his games, and even when he had jobs, he would find a way to work around it so he could take her to her games, take her everywhere. And he invested time in her. That’s one thing she’ll never be able to grow up and say. She will never be able to say that her father was not there for her. Never. Never. I mean, we didn’t have the finances to maybe give her a whole lot of things that other people, not that she ever wanted for anything, because the Lord’s good. He blessed us. But her father was always there to invest time in her, and he always made sure that he worked things out, that he could be with her. And so that is the most important thing that you can realize, that for everything else, make sure you spend time with your children. Find, I mean, talk to them and let them talk to you. Take that time. I know you’re busy. I know you got a lot. I know you got a full plate. I know sometimes it’s hard to get that time, but make that time. It’s because my grandmother took that time when my mother had to work. My mother didn’t have a choice. She had to work when I was little. But my grandmother stepped in there. And, you know, fortunately, if you can’t watch your own children because you have to work, and I understand that. I know that. Ideally, you should be there with your own, but if you can’t, God knows that. It’s good if you’ve got a grandparent or someone like that that can step in there and put that quality time in that child and invest the Word of God. That way, even when you go to work thinking, I wish I could be there, at least you know in your heart they’re with someone that’s going to put the same time, the same interest in them as if you were there. How many say amen? So above everything, make sure that in this legacy that you give them yourself. Because like I said, my grandmother didn’t pass down any of us. I don’t have one piece of thing that I could show you my granny gave me. But I’ve got the treasure of words like this. And because of that, she influenced my father and my mother and then myself and many other people. God wants us to raise wise children that will walk with the Lord. And so I want to ask the Lord to bless the moms and the grandmoms and the children and the dads for that matter because most of this will fit either way. How many say amen? Parenting is something you have to do in unison. But I know that maybe your children, you’ve been trying to get a handle on it, and you just can’t seem to figure out how to do it. It’s really just if you’ll follow these things, love, encouragement, guidance, affirmation, correction, and give them yourself. If you do these things, I’m telling you, it will pay off. Even if they get out there and get rebellious for a while and look like they’re going the wrong way, don’t worry. Just keep putting the prayer in. Keep putting the prayer in. You have invested. It will not return void. God said, my word will not return void. So if you put the word in your kid, it’s not going to return void. It’s going to come back some way, somehow. Even if they end up doing something dumb and stupid, it’ll still come back. It’ll draw them back to God. It’ll draw them back to Jesus. Amen? So I would like to ask all the parents, moms and dads and grandmoms and granddads to stand, please. And what we’re going to do, if you’re standing next to your husband or your wife, if you happen to be here together, or if you’re a grandmother and son or a grandmother and daughter, join hands if you happen to be, you know, next to the person you’re… your mate, or your, like I said, the legacy. And I’m going to pray, we’re going to pray a special prayer of blessing first over you that God will help you to take these points and begin to really put them into application in your lives. If you’re having struggles in your home, that you’ll start seeing a difference. And maybe your children are already grown, and they’re gone, and they’ve got kids of their own, but you’re a grandparent, and they bring them over to see Grandma sometime. I know they do. You know, sometimes they want a babysitter, don’t they? That’s your opportunity. You’ve got to get that word in them. And if their parents are godly, then you’re just reinforcing what they do. You’re just reinforcing it. You’re all working together. You see, Lois to Eunice to Timothy. We’re all working together. We want to flow. We want the legacy to flow. Father, I lift these precious, precious parents and grandparents up before you, Lord God. And Lord, we know sometimes it’s so frustrating. Sometimes we feel like pulling our hair out. We don’t know what we’re going to do. But Lord, you have a formula because you gave us instructions that come with these set of kids that we have and grandkids. Your word, your word is the set of instructions that we can raise wise and godly children who will walk in the truth. Now, Father, I pray that you will just put a mantle upon these moms, dads, grandparents. Put a mantle upon them, Lord God. Let them catch that spirit and catch that anointing. Lord, if they haven’t already developed in their home Bible reading and prayer and devotions, Father, I pray that they will begin to set these things up in their home. so that their children can catch sight of, Lord, these things, that they can begin to develop a legacy, Lord, that if you should tarry, you said you’re looking for a godly seed. In the last book of the Old Testament, you said, I’m looking for a godly seed. And Father, I pray that we will raise godly children. Anoint these parents, Lord. Put your spirit upon them. Put your word in their hearts. Put your word on their mouths. Lord God, I pray let there be unity in their homes and bless them, Lord God, and let the love that they have, that natural love that you put in them, Lord, let it be strengthened by the love of the Spirit of God and the love for the Word of God and the love for the truth of God. And Father, let it be instilled in their children and their grandchildren and their nieces, their nephews, anyone, any young person over whom they would have an influence, I pray. In Jesus’ name we pray, Lord.

SPEAKER 01 : 20:15

Oh, we lift them up in Jesus’ name. Oh, Lord, we thank you right now. You’re imparting. You’re imparting. You’re imparting, Lord. You’re imparting your spirit and your truth. In Jesus’ name. Oh, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.

SPEAKER 02 : 20:34

Amen. I hope you’re being blessed by this message, A Godly Legacy. This message speaks not only to mothers and grandmothers, but to all parents, grandparents, godparents, and really to anyone who mentors or has influence over children. You know, I love to talk about my granny, Mother Hardy. She was a self-taught Bible scholar who trained many young believers in the Word of God. And when she died at age 89, she had no earthly riches, no property or money in the bank or even jewels to leave us. But she did leave me pearls of wisdom, which she gleaned from a lifetime of daily prayer and Bible study. She left a well-worn Bible with ragged pages and voluminous notes, And this is the most valuable legacy we can receive and we can leave to those who come behind us. I want to help you to walk with me in God’s word as we discover the power of L-E-G-A-C-Y, legacy, and the six attributes these letters stand for. You may want to order this message for yourself or someone you want to become a godly legator. It’s available on CD for your love gift to the radio ministry of $10 or more. Ask for offer SK129. That’s SK129. and mail to The Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. You may also order online at soundoffaith.org, where you can order on MP3s as well. But to order by mail, send a minimum love gift of $10 to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203, and request offer SK129. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.