Join Sharon Knotts in a special Mother’s Day message as she delves into the true essence of a godly legacy. Through personal anecdotes and scriptural insights, Sharon explores how the greatest gift a child can offer is walking in truth, and in doing so, brings innumerable joy to their parents. The episode underscores the impact of seeing children grow in faith, wisdom, and grace as guided by the foundational principles instilled by righteous, faithful generations.
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. God bless you, ladies. God bless you, moms and grandmoms. May this day be a beautiful day all day. May you be blessed of the Lord. We love and appreciate all of you. God bless you. You all may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Hallelujah. Yes, we want to just say happy Mother’s Day to all of you. And maybe some of you have already started receiving gifts from your children and grandchildren. And maybe some of you will be getting them after the service later today. And you know, there are gifts that we all love to receive and we expect to receive. Most of the time on Mother’s Day, we can expect anything from candy to flowers to maybe perfume, maybe a piece of jewelry, a pretty pin or a necklace that maybe your child might pick out for you. Or maybe they will give you a gift certificate. to your favorite store or your favorite restaurant. Or they’ll say, we’re going to take you out for dinner. How many know that’s always a good thing? Or maybe they’ll give you money and say, Mom, just go get what you want. And that way they know you won’t be taking it back because it doesn’t fit. or you really it’s not really what you need all of these are beautiful gifts and you know even if your children are still little and they come with those little homemade paper machine little things they put together how many know those are all gifts you treasure and I still have mine somewhere in a box somewhere I’ve got things going all the way back to Scott and Todd and Sarah and every now and then I’ll come across some little thing that one of them scribbled in their little second-grade handwriting and it is so precious It is so wonderful. And I want to minister a Mother’s Day sermon this morning. But really, it’s for mothers, but it will be applicable to fathers. It will be applicable to mentors and even to children. Because even if you’re not a parent, I know you’re a child. Not everybody here today is a mother or a grandmother, but everybody’s a kid. Amen. Everybody is somebody’s child, even if you’re 60 years old or older, you’re still a child to someone or was a child. So I believe that even though this is a Mother’s Day sermon, everyone can take something from it. And we’re talking about some of our favorite gifts, as I just mentioned. And all of these are very special. And they’re gifts that we like to receive. And hopefully you didn’t forget your mom. And if you did, you still got time after church to run up to Rite Aid or somewhere. Amen. But there is a gift, even though these are all wonderful, there’s a gift that’s the number one greatest gift you could ever give to your mother. And it’s found in the book of 3 John. And I want you to turn there. Now, 3 John is all the way in the back next to Jude, which is next to Revelation. So you might want to start from the back and go this way and find it quicker. And 3 John is just a short little book. It’s only 14 verses. And we all know one verse real well. Beloved, I wish above all you would prosper and be in health even as your soul does prosper. We’ve got that one down real good, don’t we? That’s a good one. But I want to focus in on another verse in this little book of 3 John. And let’s kind of slip into it by starting with verse 3. “‘For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.'” And here’s the verse I want, verse 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Every mom here today, regardless of what gift you have received or your child could ever give to you, the one that would be the greatest gift of all is to know that your child is walking in the truth. to know that your son or daughter, your children, if you have more than one, that they are walking with the Lord. There is no greater joy and there is no greater gift than that. While we’re thankful for the flowers and the perfume and the candy and the dinner out and we deserve it and we look forward to it and we should receive those things, while all of those things are a blessing to us, There is no greater joy, there is no greater desire of our heart, there is no greater gift that our children can give to us than to know that they’re walking with the Lord, than to know that they’re walking in truth. There is no greater gift that we could receive from those to whom we have given life than to know that they have eternal life. amen so sons and daughters I’ll speak to you for a moment and say whatever you give to your mom and next month whatever you give to your dad whatever you could ever given you should give your mom the best gift that you can afford to give to her and for everyone that will be different for a kid who’s still in school and doesn’t have much money that gift that that he gives to his mom might only cost ten bucks but it’ll be precious to her to that child that’s out and working and has more, might give a more expensive gift, and that’s apropos. But whatever you give to your parent, the thing that your mom, that your mother and your grandmother would want more than anything is to know that you are walking with the Lord. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, 24, and 25. Now that’s kind of easy to remember, 23, 24, 25. The father and mother of the righteous shall greatly rejoice. John said, I have no greater joy. And the wise man said that the father and the mother of the righteous shall greatly rejoice. and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. There’s a lot of joy going on around here for those whose children are walking with the Lord. Amen. You will make your mom the happiest when you’re walking with the Lord. She will rejoice in thee. She will have joy of thee. She will say, I have no greater joy. I have a wise child. Amen. Everybody wants a wise child. Amen? Everybody does. Now, a lot of people have confused wisdom with intellect. We’ve got people today, their kids are three and four years old, and they’ve already got them on the computer, and they’re already taking them to special school and special class because they want them to have a jump start on kindergarten. My Lord, by the time they get to kindergarten, they’ve got to be way ahead of everybody else. There are parents that that’s what their main focus is, that their child be the best educated and the best learned child, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Education is high on my priorities. I mean, that is something that’s important to me. But there is a difference between being educated and being wise. And just because your child goes to school and they might grow up and you might send them to the best college that you could possibly afford and they might have the best career and job that you could ever wish for them, it doesn’t mean they’re going to be wise. It doesn’t mean they’re going to be walking with the Lord. So while you’re focusing on making sure your child has everything that you want them to have, the newest computer, the newest computer, iPod or whatever else is coming along and you sacrifice to give your child all these things things things But the thing that you want is to know that your child is wise and walking with the Lord Because that is the mom that is the grandma that’ll say I have no greater joy Amen. And to know that my child is walking with the Lord. And we’ll talk about being a wise child a little bit more in a minute. But here’s the thing about it. Parents, moms, grandmoms, dads, anybody that has a child under your influence, if we want our children to walk with the Lord, we’ve got to walk with the Lord. Amen? If we want our children to make wise choices, they have to see in our lives that we make wise choices. I like what Ruth Graham said, the wife of the great evangelist Billy Graham. She said, if you want your child to eat spinach, that the only way that you can expect that your child is going to want to eat spinach is that if every time they see you eating spinach, you’re not gagging on it. You’re gagging on spinach. Do you think you’re going to sit in front of your child saying that you’ve got to eat this? This is good for you. I don’t think so Amen, so if we want our children to walk in truth and be wise they have to see it in our lives if we want our children to love the Word of God and feel that it must be something important that they should read it they need to be seeing us reading the Word of God and amen if we want our children to be children of prayer then they’re going to have to see in our lives that we have a regular prayer life and that when crises and problems crop up in our lives they see that the first thing we do not the last thing when everything else has failed but the first thing we do is go to the Lord that we say well I’m going to pray about this thing when there’s a problem we don’t just up out of our flesh and say this is what we shall do But we say, no, this is too serious. This means we got to take it to the Lord. We’ve got to acknowledge Him in all our ways. We’ve got to trust in Him with all of our heart. We cannot afford to lean on our own understanding. And when they see that that’s the life that you live, when they have troubles and crises that come into their lives, they’re going to say, hey, I do know what to do right now. I haven’t done it before, but I know this is the time to pray. This is the time to call on God. Because I saw my mom and my grandmom when troubles came, when I had a problem, when I was sick, when things went wrong, they called on God and somehow he worked it out. Amen? If we want our children to go to church, we’re going to have to come to church. Isn’t that right? If we want them to have a love and a respect and esteem for the house of God, we’re going to have to show an attitude and a demeanor of love and esteem for the house of God, ourselves. Isn’t that right? If we want our children to grow up and be blessed and prospered, if we want them to pay tithes, they’re going to have to see us pay tithes. They’re going to have to see that in our lives, even when we had financial problems and our back was up against the wall and we didn’t know how we could make it, we did not rob God, but we paid our tithes anyway and then saw the blessing of God come on our lives. That’ll teach them to pay your tithes because God will bless you. With all of my children, when they reached the age that they were making money, Benny and I didn’t start right off the bat saying, okay, you got to pay us rent or board or whatever. In the beginning, we always let them have a period of time of freedom to get acclimated to having money and making choices, but I always told them, you pay your tithes. The day you don’t pay your tithes, you will be paying me board for sure because I’ll pay your tithes for you. I told them all that, and they did it. And I’m going to tell you this. Even at times when my children weren’t really walking with the Lord, we won’t really go there, but you know the general idea, they still paid their tithes. And I saw even with Sarah, she saw that even when her tithes were only like $2 or $3 and she paid them, then they got to be $10 and she paid them, and then they were like $20. You’re not $20. It starts looking real big. But she found out that when she, I’d say, yeah, but you pay your tithes now. The Lord will bless you. And half the time, within a few days, she would get money. And she’d say, oh, yeah, I paid my tithes, and now look, I got this. Not that we do it for that reason, but we’re teaching our children. And if they see us consistently in our lives do these things, then we’re going to raise wise children. When they see that we’re kind and generous to other people, we’re givers. We like to give to people. We like to help people in need. We try to help others out when they’re down. When they see that we’re generous like that, they’ll grow up and they’ll be generous. They’ll want to help people in need. They won’t be selfish and stingy. When they see that we try to speak nice to people and treat people kindly, then they’re going to want to do that. Now, they’re not going to be perfect angels because we’re not perfect angels. Amen. Amen? They’re going to see us make mistakes. And if you try to act like you don’t make mistakes around your child, then they’re going to lose respect for you. But when sometimes maybe if you say something and you’re a little, you know, sharp, or maybe you misjudge them, if you say, listen, hon, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, you don’t realize what respect that will put in their heart. to know that you would recognize that you needed to apologize to them and not always the other way around. Well, that’s not part of the message. I better stay away from that. I’ll get us all in trouble. So we’re talking about raising wise children who walk with the Lord. And let’s turn into 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 1 and verse 5. And we’re going to, I’m talking about… a godly legacy that we pass down from one generation to another, be it grandmom to mom or grandpop or however it comes down. There are many, I’m sure, here that are third and fourth generation, that your parents and your grandparents and all walk with the Lord, and now you’re walking with God, you’re raising your children to walk with God, and you’ve got grandchildren coming up. And so this is how it works. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, let’s look first at verse… To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. Drop down to verse 5. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. Now, I don’t know if my Bible’s got a misprint or not, but they should have put a is in there. I don’t know if yours has one in there, but is in thee also. So here’s what we’re looking at. Paul is writing to Timothy and he writes and says, my dearly beloved son. Now Timothy was not Paul’s biological son, but he was like his spiritual father. And that’s the case of many people I’m speaking to today, that you may not be the biological parent, but you are like a parent in the Lord to someone. And so he was writing to Timothy, and he said, I am persuaded that in you is an unfeigned faith. That means a pure faith without any hypocrisy. He says, you have a pure faith in you, Timothy, and first it was in your grandmother, and then it was in your mother. So we see here a legacy that was passed from his grandmother, down to his mother and to him. Turn your page over to chapter 3 and let’s look at verse 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Who did Timothy learn them from? His mother and his grandmother. And that from a child. See, it started from a child that thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise. Wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Do you want to raise a wise child? Yes. then it’s more than putting them into some special program at Sylvan Learning Center. If you want to raise a wise child, you’re going to have to get the Holy Scriptures in them and you’re going to have to start while they’re young. Amen? That’s what causes a child to grow up to be wise. So here we have these precious women that started when Timothy was just a little boy putting the scriptures in him. And now this young man was a wise child who had grown up to be a man of unfeigned faith. And not only that, he was now a servant walking beside God’s holy apostle Paul who called him his son. See how he went from a wise child that he grew into a man of unfeigned faith? And now he is walking with the apostle Paul. because his grandmother and mother began at an early age to get that word of God in him and that’s what we need we meet we need more Lois’s we need more Eunice’s we need more godly moms and faithful grandmothers that will instill this faith of God this wisdom of God into our children and into children that you see that do not have perhaps that kind of parenting that you can get that word of God in them so that they can grow up to be wise and and to have a faith that is pure and unadulterated. So because of this, we have in a short period of time, three generations of those who walked with the Lord. It is the power of a godly legacy. It is so powerful. I look in my own life. Now, my grandmother, some of you remember her. How many remember Mother Hardy? Okay, that’s more than I even thought. I didn’t even realize it’d be that many that would remember Mother Hardy. Some of you sat under her teaching like I did. And my grandmother lived to be 89 years old. She didn’t get saved until she was about 30. But she walked with the Lord all those many years. She walked with God almost 60 years that she walked with the Lord. She was a self-taught Bible scholar. And she was full of the word of God. She trained scores, maybe hundreds. I don’t want to exaggerate, but I’ll say hundreds of people through the years that sat under her teaching, including myself. And that she taught the word. Sister Janet. is the prime example of someone from a child, young age, began to sit under Mother Hardy. So that when my grandmother was old and moved on, that Janet was able to step into that position because she sat under her just like Timothy worked with Paul. So here she taught and she was active well into her 70s. And the thing about my grandmother is she got saved, and you’ve heard the stories my dad’s told through the years that my grandfather was an atheist and how hostile he was to the gospel and how a hard time he gave her. My grandmother had four children, and she dearly wanted to see all of her children saved. And out of the four children, you all know my father was the black sheep. He was the one that would seem like the least likely that would ever get saved. The one that needed the most, but the one that seemed least likely that would be saved. But my grandmother literally prayed him into the kingdom of God. She prayed him into the kingdom of God. And when he had that crippling back injury, my grandmother prayed and fasted with her church people. And they brought that anointed prayer cloth and laid it upon him. And he was miraculously healed. He wasn’t even saved. He was healed because of her faithfulness. And when God healed his body, of course, then it wasn’t long after that that he got saved. As soon as he got saved, my grandmother marched in there because she had the privilege of actually meeting Phineas Jennings Dake of the Dake Bible Course. He actually came to their church that she was in at that time. So she actually met him and sat under a little bit of his teaching. The first thing she did was come in with that day’s course. She immediately, as soon as my father was just brand new, just brand new saved, she saw he was hungry and he had a zeal. She stuck that Bible course in his hand and immediately he began to just absorb the word of God. And so you see that that legacy began, and I saw in my grandmother and my father people that absolutely loved the Word of God. I mean, they’d rather read the Bible than eat. I mean, literally spend hours and hours and hours reading the Bible. Saw that I just thought that that was what you’re supposed to do because that’s what I saw them do I watched my grandmother We used to always you know laugh because we’d say she got up with the chickens She got up at the break of day when it was still dark out and she had her same routine every day She got up and spent hours reading the Bible. I see her sitting sitting now and in her chair. It didn’t matter where she lived. She lived on Lombard Street. She lived on William Street. She lived on Clement Street. And in everywhere she lived, she always lived on the top floor and she always put her chair. If this is the window, she had her chair like this so she could look out the window and watch everything going on. She had her table here with her Bible and her books and piles of handwritten notes. handwritten notes where she would just read the word of God and prepare lessons and write down her thoughts. 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 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 To Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. And request offer SK-129. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.
Join Sharon Knotts in a special Mother’s Day message as she delves into the true essence of a godly legacy. Through personal anecdotes and scriptural insights, Sharon explores how the greatest gift a child can offer is walking in truth, and in doing so, brings innumerable joy to their parents. The episode underscores the impact of seeing children grow in faith, wisdom, and grace as guided by the foundational principles instilled by righteous, faithful generations.
