Imparting Success to the Next Generation – Part 4 Lawson and Barbara Perdue

  God bless you, my friends. It’s so good to have you with us today. I’ve got Barbara with me, and we’re teaching from her brand new book, “Imparting Success to the Next Generation.” We’re gonna talk today in the program about seeing God’s Word as the final authority. And when you teach your children to see God’s Word as the final authority, it will lead to God’s blessing, God’s favor, and God’s promises working in their lives. Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome. I’m so glad that you’re with us. I got Barbara here and we’re talking about imparting success to the next generation. And we’ve been talking really about the first principle. We said there’s three main principles that we teach to raise the next generation. Number one is love the Word, number two is love your family, and number three is a practical trade. Now, we’ve really just been talking this week about the basic aspects, right? Of loving the word and how we get this across raising the next generation. And in yesterday’s teaching about loving the Word, we talked about observing and teaching the Word of God, we talked about consistency and worship, and we talked about seeing God as the answer. And when you see God as the answer, guess what happens? You begin to see the good things of God work in your life. And so we’re gonna begin today with when you love the Word and you see God as the answer, good things happen in your life. So you begin to declare His marvelous works. And I’m gonna read Psalm 9:1, Barbara, before you get into the scripture you’re gonna share in Deuteronomy chapter six, which ultimately is where we started this teaching on loving the Word. But Psalm chapter 9:1 actually talks about declaring His marvelous works. It says, “I will praise you, oh Lord, with my whole heart, and I will show forth your marvelous works.” And when we started this teaching on love and the Word we began in Deuteronomy chapter six, and we read verse three through verse nine and it says when we observe the Word and observe God, that it causes us to do well, that it may be well with us, to increase mightily to experience the promises of God. And so we talked about how we’re to do that by these words will be in our heart, and we teach them diligently to our children, and we teach them not only by communicating them verbally, but He says by doing them. You talk of them when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. So keep the Word before their eyes, and then He talks about the results. So go ahead and jump into that scripture in Deuteronomy six.

 

  Well, again, I love what Deuteronomy 6:20, we’re gonna look at 6:20-24. It’s really important to explain why do we do what we do? And then it’s really important to really glorify God when prayers are answered. A lot of times people forget to have the party. Here it says, “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of these testimony, statutes, and judgments, which the Lord our God has commanded you?'” In other words, when you’re children ask you, “Well, why do we do this? Why do we love God? Why is it important to love His Word?” And I like what it goes on and says, then you shall say to your son, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe against Egypt, Pharaoh and all of us household. Then He brought us out from there that He might bring us in to give us the land, which He swore to our fathers. And the Lord command us to observe all these statutes, to trust and fear the Lord for our good always that He might preserve us alive as it is this day.” But I liken another translation it puts it, and I’ve experienced this in our own life. What they’re telling their children is we stood there and watched God deliver signs and wonders. It wasn’t about us, it was we put our trust in God and we stood there and watched Him move mightily on our behalf.

 

  Amen. And you know what? We’ve seen this over and over again. That God has moved on our behalf. He’s helped us spiritually, He’s helped us physically, He’s helped us emotionally, He’s helped us financially. And we have all these promises. I like down here where it says in verse 23, He brought us out. Talking about coming out of Egypt or coming out of the world. From there, that He might bring us in to give us this land that He swore. This is a land, this is a promise that He swore to give us. But God didn’t just bring you out. You know, sometimes people just talking about coming out of Egypt and coming out of the world and being separate. That’s great, that is part of the scripture, right? Jesus talked about sanctification and separation. Paul talked about sanctification and separation from the world, but He brought you out to bring you in. And sometimes people talk about, “Well, it was so good in Egypt.” Aaron recently preached on a message. They said it was so good when they had all the garlics and all the onions. Yeah, and you were slaves and they were beating you. Right? You forgot about that. And how convenient it is to forget about the bad things. And I never liked to glorify this time when we were in the world before we came to know Christ, before we got born of God. I’m telling you, the good life is in knowing Jesus. The good life isn’t in the world. Man, even in mirth, even when the world’s throwing a big old party, their heart is heavy. The good life is in knowing Jesus.

 

  I like that.

 

  Praise God. And there is nothing like knowing Jesus. There’s nothing like living in the blessing of almighty God, experiencing the goodness of Almighty God, experiencing His life and His power and His promise.

 

  It’s really powerful though-

 

  Amen.

 

  to share, again, our testimonies of what God has done. There’s something powerful about when we speak up and share our story. You know, I loved it when we were first married. We were married for three years, our first three years in marriage, I should say, we farmed and ranched alongside with your grandfather. And I loved being out there with him. Your grandfather’s life just radiated with just the thankfulness for everything that God had done for him, how God had been faithful to him his whole life. He just really talked about his faith that how God never let him down. And it’s not that your grandfather never had troubles or problems, but just being with him, he just always had so many stories to share.

 

  My granddad had made, faced major challenges, overcome, but my granddad got saved as a young man. And you know what? He really had a revelation of Ephesians 2:8. “For by grace are you saved through faith.” And He would talk about that and how that scripture, Ephesians 2:8, really became a reality to him and his life really radiated. I believe he had a revelation of grace even though he wasn’t baptized in the Holy Spirit and didn’t know some of the promises that we had. My granddad had a revelation of the grace of God, of the goodness of God. You know, I had the privilege of working for my grandparents on my dad’s side of the family when I was a young man. And you know what? They continually, every day when we would sit down, we’d go to work four or five in the morning in the summer, and we’d come in about seven, 6:30 or seven and eat a breakfast after we’d already fed the horses. Usually about seven. And grandma, I mean, she’d cook eggs and bacon and biscuits and gravy. And I mean, she just put on a spread. I mean, you ate good at grandma’s house. But then we’d go out and we’d work ’til probably 12:30. We had this bell. It was a big bell and our farm was about a mile long and a half mile wide where the most of it was. And grandma would ring that bell and you could hear that bell anywhere on that farm if it wasn’t too windy. You could hear that bell and you could be a half mile away and hear that be a boom boom. And that meant come and eat dinner, lunch is on, praise God. Now, at night, we didn’t eat a lot. You know, my grandparents on my dad’s side didn’t eat a lot at night. They didn’t eat a big meal at night. They ate light. But we’d eat 12:30 or one, eat a big meal, and then if we had time, we’d rest a little bit right in the heat of the day, then we’d go back and work sometimes ’til 10 o’clock at night. And sometimes we’d work longer than that. But you know what? When we sat down at a meal, my grandparents, thank God, my grandfather consistently, constantly thanked God for His goodness, thanked God for the good things that we had, thanked God, and he constantly asked God for wisdom. God, give us wisdom. And my granddad was a very, very blessed man. And you know what? When you get this attitude of gratitude and quit being a victim and start thanking God for the good things that He’s given you, start thanking God for the good things that you have in life, life will get better. And some people just don’t see life from the good side. And like my granddaughter, he understood grace. He was a very, I was a very honored child. I worked for him. Oh, Jesus. My dad died when I was just like 17-years-old. So my granddad kind of raised me between 17 and 23, 22, when we went to Bible school. You know, praise God he took care of me. My granddad was a very gracious man. That’s all I can say. But you know-

 

  Your grandfather really communicated though just the marvelous things that the Lord had done for him. And that’s what we’re talking about is, I like when it says in Deuteronomy, when your children ask you, we’re supposed to tell them about the marvelous things God has done. And I just wanna share another story ’cause this is in the New Testament about the woman at the well in John four. When Jesus met this woman there and minister to her, she was so excited about that encounter. Aren’t you excited about the encounter we have with Jesus every day as we spend time in His Word? But she went on in verse 39 and it said, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the Word of what the woman testified.” He told me, all I ever did, our stories of how, our own personal stories of what Jesus has done for us affects others. And she caused a citywide revival.

 

  Yeah, Jesus used this woman who wasn’t even married, who was living with a man who had prior to that, had five husbands. Jesus revealed this to her by a word of knowledge. And then she went out and brought the whole city. Isn’t this man the Messiah? She was so excited. And then they came and they said, “We believe not only because of her word, but we believe because Jesus’ own word.” You know, and the Word of God will bring you into this experience. And that’s what Deuteronomy six is talking about. If you believe and teach these words, you’re gonna experience the goodness of God.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, my grandparents on my mom’s side, I remember going to their house and visiting them. And you know what? They were a little bit more religious, but at the same, man, they love God. And I remember we’d have devotion time every evening and that we’d get on our knees or in the morning and we’d read our Bible and we’d get on our knees by chair and we’d pray. And I remember Bobbie Jean Merck, she was a prophet of God. And I remember, and she’d been very instrumental in our life. She’s went home to be with Jesus, but I remember Bobbie Jean Merck actually sending me a picture of a man. It’s a very famous picture, but he’s bowed at a chair. That’s how my grandparents were. And with his head bowed. And she said, I asked her one time, I said, “Bobbie Jean, why is it the people in the world would see us as prophet when we were really challenged starting out in the ministry, so on and so forth?” She said, “Lawson, it’s not what they see on the outside, it’s the anointing that’s on you.” And she said, “Increase will be a key word in your life.” Now, Bobbie Jean probably gave me that word in 1990, 1991. And man, it’s happened. We have increased over and over and over and over. God has multiplied us. God has blessed us, God has performed His Word in our life. But you know what? This isn’t just for us. This is for any believer who will believe it. So if you’ll start believing the words of God, you’re gonna see the goodness of God in the land of the living. We’re gonna take a short break and we’re gonna be back. Barbara’s gonna share some more. And I’ll let you share. I’ve told too many stories. So it’s great, praise God. So stay tuned, we’re gonna be right back after this break. Hey everyone, I’ve just finished reading the final script for my wife, Barbara’s book on imparting success to the next generation. It’s a fantastic tried and proven thing that Barbara has proved in our lives on how we can teach our children to succeed. Andrew Wommack wrote the foreword. You don’t wanna miss it, you’ll be blessed. Thanks so much.

 

  What can you tell? What’s different?

 

  I struggle with pain in my neck and my shoulders consistently.

 

  Uh-huh, yeah.

 

  And they just prayed over me and it was gone.

 

  It’s gone. See that? Hallelujah. Amen. Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you’re with us and we’ve been talking about observing God’s Word, putting God’s Word first, and how if we’re gonna raise our children to succeed, we gotta teach them to love the Word. So we talked about observing and teaching the Word, consistency in worship, seeing God as the answer. And then today, we’ve been talking about declaring His marvelous works. And then you’re gonna share here the last point. And that is seeing God’s Word as the final authority. Man, if God said it, that settles it. You can believe it and receive it.

 

  Yeah, so we’re gonna just start right now in Psalm 119 and we’re gonna look at verses nine through 11. And it says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your Word with my whole heart.” I love that. Again, we’ve talked about this. “With my whole heart, I have sought you. Oh, let me not wonder from your commands.” And it goes, “Your word I’ve hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.” There’s something about when you get the Word of God in you, it really keeps that light turned on. We talked about not allowing the devil, the deceiver to deceive you or derail you from the things that God has for you. And the Word of God is the truth.

 

  Amen. You know, Jesus, we shared this verse earlier this week, but Jesus said, “Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.” John 17:17. The way that we’re set apart from the world is by observing the Word of God. Now, I remember when Aaron first went to Carnegie Mellon University. He was looking for a church and it was supernatural, really, that we went there and we went to two different churches. One on a Saturday night, one on a Sunday morning when we took him out to college. But the one we went to on Saturday night was 28 miles away. Aaron did not have a car, but we went that night and it was Victory Christian Center. It was connected with the from Tulsa, Oklahoma. And my mom had went to their mission school and been involved in their church, helped in the children’s ministry for a long time. But when we went there, it was a Saturday night, we sat towards the back of the church. It’s a fairly large church. And across the aisle, there’s this man that came, met us. And he said, “What are you here for?” We said, “Well, we’re here to go to Carnegie. Our son’s gonna go to Carnegie Mellon University.” He said, “Well, I’m the director of admissions or something like that at Carnegie Mellon University. And if your son needs any help or has any problems, tell him to come talk to me.” So he had a connection right there. And Aaron started going to that church. Course he had, because he didn’t have a car, he had to rely on other students to take him. And we took our church, kids to church unless they were dying. Then if they were dying, we took them to church and had them raised from the dead. No, we went to church. We’re pastors. You know, we believe in Hebrews 10:25. And you know, it was good for our kids, it’s good for us. So that wasn’t work out. So we went to talk to the guy and he told him about kind of a secret sensitive church, and it was a rather large charismatic type church. But Aaron went there in four out of the first five Sundays. He was mad because what they were being taught was not really what the Word said. And so I told him, “Aaron, go pray in the Holy Spirit for a half hour day for a week, and then see what God tells you.” And just a couple days after I told him that, a minister friend, he was an evangelist that I knew from Western Sunross, called me just out of the blue, Lived 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, and I said, “Hey, where can my son, Aaron, go to church?” And he told me about a church that we didn’t know about called Berean Fellowship. And Aaron actually went to that church. He had to ride two buses, took him an hour and a half to get there, but actually, the man had attended Rama, had not only a revelation of faith, but had a revelation of grace. He was connected with some folks that we know from down in Louisiana with a great church. But that man had a revelation of faith and grace and Aaron went there for four years. It was a great church, built a great relationship with the pastor, with his wife, with the pastor’s mom, with a good friend, and really was able to minister there, take friends there, and was really strengthened in his relationship with God. He’s got friends there even now. And this is nearly 20 years ago, 18 years ago or something that Aaron was first in college and how God blessed him there.

 

  I like what you just brought out. That’s a great example of teaching our children the truth, having, loving the Word and getting it in them so that truth is in them. So when they do go somewhere, they’ll know that this just really isn’t the message of faith and grace and it’s not the place for me and how God will lead us. And I like what this goes on. And we’re gonna look at Proverbs four-

 

  Amen.

 

  Verses 20 through 23. It goes right along with a great example you just gave about having the truth in your heart and soul. “My son, give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them.” I love this. “And health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligent for out of it spring the issues of life. The word of God is health to all of our flesh.”

 

  Amen, medicine. So what is our attitude towards the Word? You know, our attitude towards the Word determines the place that God holds in our daily life. We need to put the Word above everything. God’s Word, this is the point you taught in your book and that you’ve written in your notes, in your syllabus. And that is we need to see God’s word as the final authority. And we absolutely need to see God’s Word as the final authority. Man, the Word of God will change your life. If you’ll believe it, you can receive it.

 

  Amen.

 

  And he says, “Give attention.” Man, what if the president of the United States of America walked in our church? Everybody’s attention would be on him. You know what? We need to give attention to the Word like that. Incline your ear. Listen. Listen, my son, to what the Word says. The word is the answer. See, I believe that God’s Word has the answer for everything in life. Jesus said, He said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Word will endure forever.” Matthew 24:35. He said, “Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And it gives us life. He says, “Incline your ear. Listen for what,” not only do we need to read the Word, we need to meditate the word. You know, and Psalm one says, “Blessed is the man that walks not in the council than godly, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the Word of God.” Are you delighting in the Word of God? Are you meditating in it? Does he meditate day and night? And he will be like a tree that’s planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season. Listen, you keep meditating in the word, you keep delighting in the Word and you’re gonna bring forth fruit. There’s a season for that. And he says, “His leaf also shall not wither.” You don’t have to wither. He goes on and says, “The wicked, they’re like the heat that the wind drives away.” They’re not so. But He says, “Your leaf will not wither. And whatever you do shall prosper.” when you honor the Word of God and put God’s word first place, you cannot help but good things begin to happen in your life. He says, “Keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life under those that find them.” And medicine, medicine, the Word is medicine to my flesh. The word is healing to my physical body. Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. You’ve gotta guard your heart. Praise God. And one way you guard your heart is by letting God’s Word be the final authority. Man, if the Word says it, I believe it.

 

  Amen.

 

  And if I’m going a direction that’s contrary to the Word, you know, James one says we’re born of the Word, but it says receive with meekness the engrafted Word that’s able to save our soul. So it helps us in our mind, our will, and our emotions. Praise God. How do we put God’s Word first? How do we let God’s Word be the final authority?

 

  Well, you read it, get it in you, and believe it.

 

  Yeah.

 

  It’s reading it and it’s believing it and it shall come to pass.

 

  You know, reading it and believing it and doing it. You know, faith without, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And faith without corresponding action is dead. So you’ve gotta not only read it, believe it, but when you really read it and believe it, you start speaking it and you start doing it. You’ve gotta do it. Be doers of the Word that James goes on to say that in chapter two. Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, James chapter one, I might, I got that wrong. James chapter two says, “Faith without works is dead.” But James chapter one says, “We’re born of the Word, receive with meekness the engrafted Word.” Then it says, “Be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own self.” The only person that’s being deceived when you’re not doing the Word is you.

 

  Well, I like what you said. It’s really important what we speak. And the Bible tells us death and life are in the power of the time.

 

  Amen.

 

  And so if you can’t think of anything good to say, if you’re just really having one of those days where maybe you’re a little bit upset or something, just speak God’s Word. Don’t say anything, just-

 

  Say what God said.

 

  speak God’s Word. And I love this. You talked about how it’s a light for us. And I have that in the book. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” We don’t have to claw around in the dark and-

 

  Stumble.

 

  Stumble around and get ourselves hurt. But His Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. He clearly shows us the path of life. And I love this. We have maybe just enough time to share another scripture here. But Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” I like that.

 

  Amen. So we’re protected through the Word of God. His Word is pure. I mean, His Word is, you know, we have the unchangeable Word of an unchangeable God. And if we’ll believe it, we can receive what it says. Amen, see the Word works. The word is working. It’s either working for you or against you, actually. But you know what? When you begin to really get a revelation of what the Word says and you start believing it, you start speaking it, and then you know what? You start doing it. And all of a sudden, your life, that’s what Proverbs is talking about. You know, it directs your way. When you’re giving attention the Word, when you’re listening to it, when you’re keeping your eyes on it, when you’re keeping your heart with diligent, it leads you into a path of life. And it brings blessing, favor, increase in your life. Praise the Lord.

 

  There was times when we were believing God for certain things. And I just wanna encourage someone watching, whether you’re believing for healing, joy, or a job, or relationships, we would take the scripture, pray and seek the Lord, and I believe the Lord will show you specific verses. But we would write these verses out on index cards and hang them up around the house, above the kitchen sink or on our mirrors in the bathroom, or on the refrigerator. But put the Word of God before your eyes because to me, when we are believing God for something, when that voice tries to come and tell you it’s not working, I look at the Word of God and say, “Yes, it is. That is my final Word. That is the final authority.”

 

  Amen. And some of these promises, we had to believe God for nearly a year or over a year. Some things God’s told me, I believe God, and it’s taken over 20 years for these things to come to pass. But I just never quit believing.

 

  Amen.

 

  I always keep believing and I believe the good things of God. I would’ve fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living again. We’ve been teaching from Barbara’s brand new book, “Imparting Success to the Next Generation.” This is a great book and I guarantee you it works. And a lot of people are teaching things that may not really be working, but I guarantee you the fruit proves it. So I wanna encourage you, go to amazon.com, go to charischristiancenter.com, or come to church and you can get that book here. Blessings.

 

  It is important to keep God first, family second, and our ministry third. In a busy world, it is essential that we understand and act upon these priorities. Raising kids to love the word, value family, and live with purpose will bring them great success. Get your copy of Barbara’s new book, “Imparting Success to the Next Generation” for 15.99. Go to charischristiancenter.com and order yours today.

 

  Friends, I’m Pastor Lawson Purdue, and I love church and I’m excited about church. You know, Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” And I wanna invite you to come to church, whether you’re in Colorado Springs or wherever you are in the world. You can connect with us online, Sundays at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. or you can just get on our website and watch us at charischristiancenter.com. Blessings.

 

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