It's Not Too Late to Change Your Legacy

Jeff Schreve: Your kids will watch you. They will listen to what you say. They will watch what you do. They will watch how you act and how you react. They will watch to see how do mom and dad do when they get jostled, when they're in traffic. That can be a little convicting. Maybe I'll leave that one out. But they're listening all the time. All the time. Listen, the greatest parenting advice, the greatest parenting advice is: Be the person you want your child to become.
Larry Nobles: This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. And that is a great parenting inspiration to offer your children: To be the person you want your child to become. But as Pastor Jeff teaches each day, we were created to love God by first loving other people in the name of Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And that truth is one your children should see and hear lived out in your life each and every day. Today, we're hearing part two of Pastor Jeff's message, "Leaving a Legacy," to be passed down through the generations to come. And today, you'll be challenged to examine your walk with God. So, turn with me to Psalm 112, and let's conclude the teaching from Pastor Jeff today.
Jeff Schreve: There's a man named Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan preacher of the 1700s, one of the principal preachers in the first Great Awakening in America. He and his wife, Sarah, had 11 children. And they were godly people who left a godly legacy. And somebody did a study on the descendants of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. And this is what they came up with because of the impact of his life and his wife's life. They had one U.S. vice president in their legacy, three U.S. senators in their family legacy, three governors, three mayors, 13 college presidents, 30 judges, 65 professors, 80 public officeholders, 100 lawyers, and 100 missionaries. That's quite a family posterity. But it started at home with mom and dad, leaving a legacy. The scripture talks about this in Psalm 112. The scripture says this: "Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Light arises in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. It is well with the man who is gracious and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment. For he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear evil things. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld. He will not fear until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries. He has given freely to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted in honor. The wicked will see it and be vexed. He will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish." The legacy of a godly man, of a godly person. So, here's our question today: What does it take to leave a godly legacy? I want you to notice with me three insights from this passage about leaving a godly legacy. Insight number one: A godly legacy requires a godly life. Look at verse one again. "Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord." If you're going to live a godly life that produces a godly legacy, first, you have to fear the Lord. You have to live a life in the fear of the Lord. The Bible is clear about that. It says in Psalm 111, verse 10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." It says in the book of Proverbs, chapter 1, verse 7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." The fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God, but it's understanding who God is. It's having a constant awareness of the fact that God is God. Secondly, a godly legacy requires a priority on marriage and family. Verse two: "His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed." His descendants—that word means seed, posterity, children. And his children of this godly man, this godly woman, the children are going to be mighty, strong and valiant and powerful and confident. And then when he says, "the generation of the upright will be blessed," that word "generation" can also mean the dwelling. I think it carries with it the idea of family. The dwelling of the righteous, the family of the righteous. Those folks are going to be blessed. They're going to experience the praise and the blessing and the favor of God upon them. Now, you don't have to have children to leave behind a godly legacy. But if you have children, it starts there in your family. I read and heard directly from a guy who knew a very well-known theologian. He's gone home to be with the Lord. But he was a terrible husband and dad. When he died, his wife, after about a year and a half, she remarried. And this friend of mine told me, he said it was so amazing. Because this guy—I'm not going to mention his name—but most people would say, anybody who studies the Bible or studies theology would say, "Yeah, I know who that is." He was a terrible husband. And when he died and his wife remarried, after about a year of being remarried, she said, "I never knew marriage could be so wonderful." Because I was married to this guy who wasn't doing it for me emotionally. He wasn't bringing home the blessing to the family. Godly legacy requires that you put a priority on marriage and family. Because that's the first thing that God gives you, your wife, and He gives you your kids. Children are a blessing from the Lord. And your marriage is the foundation of your family. You talk about having a godly family, well, it starts in marriage. Now, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Jesus is the cornerstone. So, in every marriage, you say, "The most important thing in your marriage is Jesus." Because He's the cornerstone of your home. But when you start talking about having kids, if the marriage is not solid, then you're in trouble. You're building on a cracked slab because you're bringing children into this family, and the foundation of the marriage is not strong. So, we have to focus on that, to have a strong marriage for husbands to love their wives and for wives to see to it that they respect their husbands. The marriage sets the tone for the home. Sets the spiritual tone, sets the spiritual temperature, sets the pace for joy and peace and love and stability. Because kids thrive in stability. They get very nervous when things are unstable. I have a friend of mine who used to live in California in Orange County. And he moved from the Houston area to Orange County. He said, "It's so expensive here." This was some years ago. He said, "I couldn't afford earthquake insurance." And he said, "Sometimes I'd wake up at 3:00 in the morning and just think, 'Oh no, I just know this is the night that we have an earthquake and I lose everything.'" He was always just—couldn't ever really relax in his home because he's in an earthquake area. Now, that's the consternation that goes on in the heart of a child when they're not sure mom and dad are going to stay together, when they're not sure they're going to make it. And he sees out at school that Jimmy's parents didn't make it, and Billy's parents didn't make it, and Suzy's parents didn't make it. And maybe that's going to happen to me. And it creates all kinds of fear in the heart of a child. I learned years ago one of the greatest gifts I could ever give my children is to love their mother. To love their mother. And wives, one of the greatest gifts you can give—or moms, one of the greatest gifts you can give your children is to respect their father and to be committed to that marriage so that your kids know mom and dad are going to stay together. It is solid here. They love each other. Your marriage is the foundation of your family. And your responsibility, if God blesses you with children, your responsibility as a parent is to raise godly children. Children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalm 127: "As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of one's youth." An arrow was once a crooked stick. And what did someone do? Someone took the crooked stick and someone started working on that crooked stick to straighten it and then to polish it and to hone it and to sharpen it so it could become an arrow. That's what parents do with their little kids who are just coming into the family, crooked sticks. Just a crooked stick. It's a little sinner. You're conceived in iniquity, as David said, "I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." And so you bring home this little bundle, but it's a little sinner. And they do that really well. They know how to do that. It's all about me from the time that they come into your home. It's all about me. And you have to work that out. Scripture says that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline removes it far from him. That's the job of mom and dad. It's not the job of daycare. It's the job of mom and dad to do that and to work on those kids so they can make them sharp arrows aimed at the enemy.
Larry Nobles: Pastor Jeff Schreve will expand a bit more on this in just a moment. You're listening to the message, "Leaving a Legacy," inspired by Psalm 112. And earlier this month, Pastor Jeff presented a new eight-message series based on the entire book of 1 Samuel that challenges us to leave a legacy. If you missed any of those dynamic lessons—all eight of them—they're available in a series called, "Leaving a Legacy," and it's yours for a gift of any amount to support the ongoing outreach of From His Heart Ministries. We broadcast on radio, television, and online around the world each and every day. And Pastor Jeff is a volunteer for this ministry, receiving no income from it. So, thank you for what you can give. If you're blessed by this ministry, we would appreciate you praying about what you could do to help us. Again, call 866-40-BIBLE or go to fromhisheart.org and request the series, "Leaving a Legacy: Lessons from the Life of Samuel." Now, let's conclude today's message called, "Leaving a Legacy." Here again is Pastor Jeff.
Jeff Schreve: Listen to what the book of Malachi says. Malachi 2:15. God is getting on His people because the men were divorcing the women. And He said, "Didn't the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you were His. And what does He want?" Notice this. What does God want? "Godly children from your union. So, guard your heart, remain loyal to the wife of your youth." And in the very next verse He says, "For God hates divorce." That's what God wants. Why did God give you kids? Why did He give me kids? So that we could raise up—Debbie and me raise up godly children. And that's my job as a dad before God. To train up my children in the way that they should go, to nurture them in the fear and in the instruction of the Lord. You say, "How do I do that? I take them to church?" Yes. "Bible stories? Read them Bible stories?" Yes, that's important. That's good. "Prayers at night?" Yes. "I just do all that and that's going to do it?" You want me to tell you the best way to be a good parent, to raise up godly kids? Example. Example. That's why we have parent-baby dedication, because it's all about example. I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I'd rather you walk with me than merely point the way. The eye is a more ready pupil than ever was the ear. Good advice is often confusing, but example is always clear. Your kids will watch you. They will listen to what you say. They will watch what you do. They will watch how you act and how you react. They will watch to see how do mom and dad do when they get jostled, when they're in traffic. That can be a little convicting. Maybe I'll leave that one out. But they're listening all the time. All the time. I had a friend of mine tell me just the other day, he said his child woke him up in the middle of the night and said, "Hey dad, had a little accident in bed." His dad is like—it's like 3:00 in the morning. His dad is like, "Really? Crud." And he goes in there. Godly guy. And he was just tired and the bed was wet and the kid was wet and he said a word that he doesn't normally say. This is a cuss word. He said when he said it, he just kind of mumbled it under his breath. He said his kid looked over at him. He thought, "It's the middle of the night. He's not going to remember." He said he went to sleep, slept for four hours. First thing he did when he woke up, he said, "Mom, dad cussed. I heard it." Be careful, little ears, what you hear. Your kids are watching you and they're listening to you. What comes out of your mouth? Listen, the greatest parenting advice, the greatest parenting advice is: Be the person you want your child to become. Be that yourself. Be a person of honesty. Be a person of integrity. Be a person of responsibility. Be a person who loves the Lord, who seeks the Lord, who has a passion for the Lord. I tell my girls, I said, "Listen, you don't want to get involved with a guy who's a marginal Christian." I said, "You want to find a guy who is passionate about Jesus." Because lots of times when you're dating, if the guy is interested in the girl, what does he do? He's like, "She seems pretty religious. She goes to church a lot. I'll do that for a while." He doesn't desire the Lord on his own. And so you hook up with a guy like that, you marry a guy like that, and you find out immediately he drops out. "I don't want any of that stuff." He just did that to marry you. So, you don't want to go after somebody like that. You want to get together with somebody who loves the Lord, who has a passion for the Lord. Whether you go to church or not, he's going. Whether you read your Bible or not, he's reading. Whether you pray or not, he's praying. Why? Because he loves God, and he wants to be the man God wants him to be. Here's a question that you can ask yourself with your children. You can even ask your children this and see if they'll give you the honest answer: Do they want what you have? Do they want a marriage that they have seen modeled in front of them? Do they want a marriage like mom and dad? Do they want to walk with God like mom and dad? If not, you need to do some deep searching within to find out what's not working here. Maybe you're coasting through this Christian life. Maybe you're not passionate about the Lord. Maybe you don't treat your spouse right. Because one of the greatest things that you can hear from your kids is, "I want to have a marriage like mom and dad. I want to have a love for God like my dad does, like my mom does." They're my examples. They're my heroes in the faith. That's how God set it up. How did Jonathan Edwards and his wife have such an impact on their 11 children and their children and their children and their children? It's because Jonathan Edwards and his wife loved Jesus Christ with all their hearts. And they were the example that they needed to be. So, a godly legacy requires a godly life. It requires a priority on marriage and family. And lastly, it requires a starting point. A starting point. I told you before about a sign that was in a tree and garden nursery. And the sign said this: "The best time to plant a tree was 50 years ago. The second best time is today." You have to start somewhere. So, you can hear a message like this and just say, "I've just messed up so bad. Jeff, my kids aren't like arrows in the hand of a mighty man. My arrows have already been shot and they were a crooked—still a crooked stick because I didn't do a very good job as a dad, I didn't do very good job as a mom, and now my kids are out of the home, and there's nothing I can do to leave a godly legacy." But that's not true. Alfred Nobel changed everything in his life the last few years of his life so that his legacy wouldn't be the merchant of death, but it would be the Nobel Peace Prize. Robert Lewis was teaching in men's fraternity, talking about how a dad can make such an impact in the life of his kids. And he said after he got done, a man came up to him, a man in his sixties came up and said, "Man, I really blew it as a dad. I did a terrible job as a dad." He said, "I just worked too much and my marriage wasn't good and I didn't treat my wife right." And he said, "Man, I wish I had heard this stuff that you're sharing. I wish I had heard it 25 years ago." And he said, "But it's too late for me." And Robert said, "It's not too late for you." He said, "Well, my son, he's finishing up his residency in medical school. It's too late for me." He said, "It's not too late for you." He said, "Call your son. Go see your son. Spend some time with your son." He said, "Take him to dinner and reach across the table and grab his hand and tell your son that you love him and that you're proud of him. He probably hasn't ever heard those words from you." And he said, "Do you think I could do that?" He said, "Yes, you can do that." And so the man said, "All right, I'll do it." And he called his son. His son lived in a different city. And he went to see his son. He spent the whole day with his son. They went out to dinner that night. And he told his son that he loved him and that he was proud of him. And at the end of that meal, he got to the airport to get on a plane to fly back to his home. And while he was on the plane flying back, the son called mom. And the son said to mom, "I just spent the whole day with dad, and it was the finest day of my whole life." You can make an impact. You can change things. You can plant a tree today. You can start today. And it's going to require you to make some changes. If you look and say, "Man, if God were to write my obituary right now, he wouldn't say the merchant of death has died, but it wouldn't be very good because I haven't left a godly legacy for my children and my grandchildren and my posterity." And so what can you do to change it? Maybe you need to make some changes. Maybe you need to apologize to your sons, to your daughters. Maybe you need to spend time with your kids and tell them, "I love you and I'm proud of you." Every kid needs to hear that. One of the greatest blessings my dad ever gave me was before he died, told me, "Jeff, I'm proud of you, proud of you." And I think on that often. So, maybe you need to make some changes like that. Or maybe you need to make some pretty radical changes because your job has swallowed you up and all you ever do is work, and you know you're not spending hardly any time in your marriage and hardly any time in your family and hardly any time in the things of God because it's just work, work, work, work. Outside of my relationship with Jesus Christ, there's nothing more precious to me than my wife, my three girls, my two granddaughters. That's the way God wants it to be. And my son-in-law, throw him in there too. That's what matters.
Larry Nobles: Are you willing to do what it takes to leave a lasting and godly legacy for your kids and grandkids and great-grandkids? We hope these have been thought-provoking insights for you today. If you'd like a copy of this particular individual message, you can find out about that when you go to fromhisheart.org. Just click the listen link. While you're there, if you have any questions about what it means to be a Christian, we have some wonderful materials for you when you click the "Why Jesus" link. It's right on our homepage. And also the link called "Free Stuff"—a lot there for you to download for free that will help you get started in your Christian journey. Again, fromhisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" link. On our website, we also have a small sampling of many real testimonies from real listeners all around the world, sharing the real fruit from this mission called From His Heart. And we'd also love to hear how God has used this ministry to help in your daily walk. Go to fromhisheart.org/real-testimonies and leave us your thoughts of the impact the teaching of Pastor Jeff has had on you. Thank you so very much. When you're at our website, we hope you'll sign up for Pastor Jeff's weekly "Real Hope" email encouragement devotional letter. You'll get that in your Friday morning inbox. The web address again, fromhisheart.org. Well, thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles reminding you that if you want to be blessed, be sure to be here next time for a lesson about how to undertake your pursuit of happiness to a glorious conclusion. Here's part of the truth we'll hear.
Jeff Schreve: No one does things that they think will make them unhappy. Nobody is on a pursuit of unhappiness. But we make decisions all the time thinking they're going to make us happy and they make us so unhappy. Now, why is that? Why do people who are given life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, why do we pursue things that make us so unhappy?
Larry Nobles: That's on Monday, when we'll open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.