Imparting Success To The Next Generation – Part 14 Lawson and Barbara Perdue (Updated)

  Welcome friends of the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. We are talking about imparting success to the next generation. And specifically today, we’re gonna be talking about the value of a practical trade and how that looks in our life. God wants our children in the body of Christ to be extraordinary, not just ordinary. We’re gonna tell you how that can happen. Open your heart, blessings. Friends, it’s great to have you with us, and it’s good to have Barbara. We’ve been sharing all of this week on imparting success to the next generation, specifically talking about what we kind of learned from the Hebrew culture is what they imparted into their children. Number one was to love the Word of God. The second thing we talked about is to love your family. But today we’re gonna begin talking about, we think this is very valuable to us, the value of a practical trade, or how do I live in the workplace? And you know what? We need to understand how this works in real life.

 

  I love this and I’m gonna start here in Proverbs 22:6. And it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” And I wanna read it just so people are following with us, because you’ve talked about a lot of times Christians put a lot of nurturing in the spiritual aspect, but we know there’s other parts of us, the spirit, soul, and body that also need nurtured. And again, this is Proverbs 22:6, but in the Amplified, it brings this out, it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and in keeping with his individual gift or bent. And when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Another translation says, “Point your kids in the right direction. When they’re old, they won’t be lost.

 

  Amen.

 

  And the last thing we wanna do is treat our children like a bag of confetti, throwing them up in the air and just saying, “Well, wherever they land, that must have been God.” This really tells the parents, “Train them up,” in other words, “Nurture those God-given gifts, talents, and anointings, nurture them.” Or you could say “Flame…”

 

  Fan the flame.

 

  Fan the flame, thank you, that’s a little bit of a tongue twister, but it’s important for all of us. So I like this, we’re all God’s children. This is for us as individuals, this is for parents bringing up their children. But you need to understand that God has created us in His image and He has amazing destinies and purposes for us. And when our children live that kinda lifestyle, I like what it says in every translation, New King James or Amplified, “When he is old, he won’t be lost.” In other words, we’re raising our children to understand that they have a God-given purpose, not only to be a blessing to them, but to be a blessing to others, to use that creative imagination that work is a blessing. But they need those anointings and talents nurtured.

 

  Right, and you know what? We didn’t send our kids to Christian school. Now we have lots of friends that do, and we’re all for that. We have friends that have homeschooled and have done a very, very good job with it. Their children have went forward, done very well, major leadership positions in the community, and doing very well spiritually in the church, and serving also in the world, serving Christ in the world. But we actually had our kids attend secular school, and then they went to secular colleges to develop different giftings that were in their life. And none of our children went out to a secular college or public school and went crazy for the devil. But I think it’s because we imparted, first of all, the Word of God, right? And then we also taught ’em the value of loving their family. But finally, we were teaching them to develop their God-given gifts and talents, and they were living for purposes. And I think one thing that really hinders kids today is when they don’t have goals, and when they don’t understand that they have gifts, talents, and abilities and live with a real purpose from God.

 

  And there’s one thing we’ve brought out too, again, that we’re made up of three parts, a spirit, soul, and body. The importance of really nurturing our children in the spiritual things, and that’s what we talked about, loving the Word. But we also had our children in sports because they had bodies. And I’ve talked to you about this, I’ve talked to our children, now that we have raised three sons and now we have six grandchildren, I’m like, “Everybody needs to get outside and move around.” When our children were little, we would get outside. It’s important to move around and be physically active and take care of that part of your body as well. And I remember one of our middle sons, sometimes we would say, “Go run laps around the house” because he just had so much energy. And I know even when I take care of our grandchildren, and we did that recently, we try to make sure we take them outside to a playground or to a pool where they can really move around. ‘Cause a lot of times people, it’s so… Isn’t it really funny when you have your children for the longest time, you’re telling them, “Walk, walk, walk.” And then they start to walk and even run and then you’re always telling them, and you’re trying to get ’em to talk: Say mom, or say dad, and then for years you’re telling them, “Sit down, be quiet.” And so we need to understand all these aspects. And so we worked with our children in helping them move around, be in sports, be in music, be in academics, and really I love when they’re in academics and in sports, they’re really learning how to even get along with other people. But again, what we’re really talking about today is a practical trade, training them up in the way they should go, keeping in mind, we had three sons, they have different gifts,

 

  Right, different talents. So I wanna share something. When we moved to Colorado Springs, God put us right across the street from a retired colonel in the Air Force, his name was Ken Rosebush. He had actually ran three military Air Force bases during his career. He flew over 200 missions in World War II. He was personally accounted for sinking a Japanese tanker. He was really a great hero in our nation. But he had run the airbase in Michigan, in Detroit, he ran the air base in Kansas City, and then he ran, for part of his career, an airbase in Hawaii. But he had three sons, just like we had three sons. And this is one thing that he really instilled in his sons, and I heard him talk about it, “Work is not a curse, work is a blessing.” And he said, “It’s so much better when you enjoy your work, then it’s not like a job.” And he had three sons, all three of his sons went to the Air Force Academy. They graduated with honors, they went into different fields in life, and they were all really blessed in their careers. And did, you know what? I believe that God wants us as Christians to have children that are blessed, that are leaders, in society, in their careers, in whatever they do, like you talked in the first broadcast this week, “Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord.” But work is not a curse, work is a blessing. And I think that’s something that’s really been attacked in our society or under attack is the value of work, the value of a good work ethic, and the fact that work is a blessing. God gave Adam a job before he gave him a wife.

 

  And like you said, in whatever you do, and I was really blessed, it was during the holiday or Christmas season and I was out and about and I was outta place looking for something for you. And this gentleman was so nice and really went out of his way to help me. And then when he wasn’t working, or helping me, or helping another customer, he was over there meticulously folding the clothes or putting things. Part of their job of course is to stock everything, stock the shelves. And I mentioned to him, I said, “You are so good at your your job, you take it so serious.” And he just started… He began to open up and tell me about other aspirations that he had and other plans he had. And I said, “Whatever you choose to do, you are gonna be so successful because you do it with excellence.”

 

  Right, and the thing is, wherever we are at, whatever we’re doing, we need to be 100% there.

 

  Mm-hmm!

 

  And I know after we left the farm and went to Bible school, and while I was going to night school at Dr. Lester Sumrall’s Bible school full-time, but I worked full-time in the day for Dr. Sumrall, over 40 hours a week. And Monday to Friday, I’d show up early, I’d work late. But I did a good job, in fact, I think I replaced about three people. But we were making between $4 and 4.25 an hour, basically minimum wage. But while I was there, in just a little bit, they offered me a full-time salaried position because they saw my work ethic, they saw my attitude, they saw my diligence. And you know what, you shouldn’t have this attitude, “Well, I’m just making minimum wage so I’m not gonna produce.” And minimum wage a lot of places then, it was 4 to 4.25 an hour, here in Colorado, it’s around $15 an hour right now as we speak. But you know what, that shouldn’t be our attitude. Our attitude should be, “Hey, we get to do this, and let’s do a good job, and let’s be a blessing to our employer.” And I think when we get that attitude, then that opens avenues and doors for us to really be blessed.

 

  I like what you shared too about our neighbor, even teaching his children that work should be enjoyable. And again, if we’re operating in that gifting or bent, it’s gonna be enjoyable because it’s part of what you create. I love how God’s a creator, we’re made in His image. So we create and use our imagination. I love this in Psalm 127, and it’s really verse four, but I’m just gonna read the whole chapter. This is Psalm 127, it says, “Unless the Lord builds a house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is His reward.” And this is what I love, verse four, “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has quivers full of them, they shall not be ashamed.” But I wanna bring out again Psalm 127:4, going with what we read in Proverbs 22:6, “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior.”

 

  Amen.

 

  When you think about what is the purpose of an arrow, they would take those arrows years and years ago, they’d take those sticks and shape ’em and form ’em and they would have bins in them that no stick is actually straight, but they would work with that stick. Or if you made something out of metal, you’re making it so it can fly and fly efficient, fly straight, fly fast, fly far. And children are an arrow, arrows are to hit the target. We want our children to hit their God-given target for the Lord.

 

  Right, and part of that is figuring out what God’s purpose for you is.

 

  Mm-hmm!

 

  So this is something that you are really good at, I believe, is seeing the gifts and the talents, the abilities in our children. And we tried to have our children develop multiple areas of excellence in their life, academics, sports, music. And then when they got older, they could focus on the direction that they were gonna do. And that really opened multiple doors of opportunity. And I think this is God’s plan, right? As we develop our children spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, educationally, that way they’ll have multiple doors of opportunity. They won’t feel like they’re in a trap, and they can move into the place that God’s really gifted them and anointed them in, and really be blessed and be a blessing.

 

  Mm-hmm, amen.

 

  So we’re gonna be back right after this break and we’re gonna be talking more about imparting success to the next generation, and specifically, how to help your child find their gift, find their place in life. So stay tuned, we’ll be right back. Hi friends, we’ve been teaching from Barbara’s book, “Imparting Success to the Next Generation.” These are principles that will help you establish a strong marriage, a strong home, and be a blessing to your children. We’ve also made the syllabus for this free of charge on our website at CharisChristianCenter.com, blessings.

 

  Before we came here, there was a disconnect between what God offers us and what we feel like we have to earn. This is a place that really teaches God’s grace, and I’ve seen my dad be transformed

 

  Every morning, I just.. I say, “Jesus, thank you because of your Word and because of your blood. I’m more man of faith today than I was yesterday.”

 

  Friends, so glad that you stayed with us. We’ve been talking about imparting success to the next generation and we’ve been specifically talking about the value of a practical trade. And I think it’s so important for us as parents to not only develop our children on the spiritual aspect, like in the Word, in church, in worship. Not only in that aspect, but also in the area of their soul, in academics, in music, and their physical body like in sports and in work. And we need to realize, hey, work is not a curse, work is a blessing. I get to go to work, I get to do this. I get to make a difference in life, praise God, and see how that really works out in helping people.

 

  I like that, and I like a thing that I believe my mother brought out, it’s okay to be different, dare to be different. In other words, something that we taught our children was be extraordinary, don’t just be ordinary. How much effort does it take to be ordinary?

 

  Right!

 

  About zero. And I know there’s just different things that were trending. Even when our children were young, it was almost like not cool to be smart and make all A’s, and I’m like we’re gonna be extraordinary, that’s what I see in the Word of God. And how many amazing people and stories do we see throughout the Bible where it’s brought out that people saw they had a spirit of excellence or there was something different about them. The Bible will say, and we’re gonna talk about some of these examples in this session, this half.

 

  And the way I believe that we can really be extraordinary one way is faith. And you talk about a couple people of faith from the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament, Joshua and Caleb. And what’s really interesting about this story of Joshua and Caleb is God spoke to Moses and told him to choose 12 leaders, right? So he had 2 million people in Israel at that point in time and the 12 tribes. And he said, I want you to choose 12 men, one from each tribe, send them in the land to spy out the land. And then he told them, “When you come back, tell me about the people, tell me about the cities, tell me about the fields, tell me about the houses, tell me all the different things, and don’t be discouraged.” Because he knew that the average person had a tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive. So when they came back, 10 of them, right, so he chose 12 outta 2 million, right? 10 of them focused on the negatives. However, Joshua and Caleb focused on what God said, and who God said they were, and what God said they could do, and that made them extraordinary. So two of them really live by faith. So living by faith will make you one in a million, hallelujah.

 

  Amen, that’s a good point. And I like it, and this is where it talks about this in Numbers 14:24 and it says, “But my servant, Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I’ll bring him into the land where he went and his descendants shall inherit it.” But I like that it says, “He has a different spirit and he has followed after me,” like you’re saying, getting our children to understand the Word of God and God.

 

  Yeah, and when we really look at Joshua and Caleb, we see those 10 spies came back in the end of Numbers 13. And after Caleb stilled the people and said, “Let us go up once” in verse 30, “and possess this land, for we are well able to overcome it.” But these other 10 spies came and said, “We are not able to go up against these people, for they are stronger than we.” They were looking at physical circumstances that were contrary with what God had said to them, what God had promised them. It says they brought up an evil report. This evil report was focused on the facts of the physical situation more than the truth of what God said. And they said all these different things and it said this land eats up the inhabitants, the… All the men that we saw are men of great stature. I’m sure not everybody was a giant, giant, right?

 

  Mm-hmm!

 

  And he said, “And we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. So were we in their sight.” We’ve gotta begin to see ourselves the way God sees us and see what God says about us.

 

  I have it in my notes. Faith declares the power of God in the face of the problem. Faith declares the power of God.

 

  Amen!

 

  And that’s what we see in Joshua and Caleb. They were extraordinary, not ordinary, and you brought it out, they were people of faith, but they declared the power of God.

 

  Joshua served Moses for over 40 years and then he became the leader of Israel to lead them on into, from the wilderness into the Promised Land. And I believe that Joshua saw Moses declare the power of God in the face of problems with the Philistine, with all these different Pharaoh and the Egyptians and all these different armies. And so he was able to lead the children of Israel into their desired possession. And I believe God wants us to be able to lead people into what He has for them. And I love the testimony of Caleb when he is like 80 years old, 40 years later when he’s leading the children, in Joshua 14, into the Promised Land.

 

  Amen.

 

  And he said, “I’m as strong this day as I was in the day when God left us there.”

 

  Mm-hmm!

 

  And so we have some great examples in the scripture, and like you’re saying, we taught our children not to just be average, but to be extraordinary. And all of our children went to different schools and they really did phenomenal in their different fields. Aaron studying music at Carnegie Mellon University and Andrew studying engineering in Colorado School of Mines–

 

  That’s right.

 

  And then Peter studying business, business finance and business administration at Princeton University, and they’ve all really been blessed in their different fields.

 

  Amen.

 

  So thank God. We wanna also talk a little bit about Daniel.

 

  Mm-hmm!

 

  And so Barbara, you have a scripture about Daniel. We wanna talk about four things about Daniel and his three Hebrew friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, what they had in their life, and these are things that I’ve taught to children for years, and I believe it will set you apart and help you be extraordinary.

 

  Amen, and you might have to turn there too. I have it here at Daniel 5:12, we’re talking about teaching our children to be extraordinary, not ordinary. And so we talked about how it was brought out about Joshua and Caleb, how they were different because they were people of faith. And in Daniel 5:12 it says, “In as much as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.” But I like his reputation was that he had an excellent spirit.

 

  Right, and then he was called upon even there, and in chapter six verse three. It says, “Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit,” that’s talking about having a good attitude. And we’ve talked about having a good work ethic, how important that is, but also keeping a good attitude, that will help you. And so in Daniel, we see kind of four things. First of all, they lived with purpose. And you can see that in Daniel 1. Daniel talks about this and he says, “He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king’s meat, nor the wine which he drank.” So their purpose was connected to their covenant with God. So Daniel and his friends lived with purpose. The second thing is that they relied on the Holy Spirit. When they live with purpose, it says in the end of this chapter, “In all matters of wisdom and understanding,” verse 20 of Daniel 1, “the king inquired them, he found them 10 times better than the magicians and astrologers that were in his realm.” And so they had to learn how to rely on the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit didn’t make ’em 10% better, he made them 10 times better, 1,000%, praise God, 10 times better. The Spirit of God on the inside of them helped them. And when the king thought to destroy all the wise men, Daniel asked for mercy, asked for a little bit of time, and he and his friends went and prayed. And God revealed the king’s dream to him about the empires of the world, the gentile empires of the world, in the dream. And he went and told the king his own dream and the interpretation of it. So they live with purpose, they relied on the Holy Spirit, they kept a good attitude. And God wants us to keep a good attitude. And those things will help you move into God’s purpose and God’s plan for your life. Those things will help you be extraordinary, not just ordinary.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  Praise the Lord. Barbara, you have some more. So what do you wanna share?

 

  Well, I just wanna, again, just share some very practical things. ‘Cause a lot of times parents can get kind of frustrated, especially, I really wanna continue to encourage and exhort the younger parents, the younger moms, when you have children who are bouncing off the walls. And I just wanna bring out that if you have children with a lot of energy, that’s a good sign, that’s a sign of a healthy child. And maybe you’re in the season where you have teenagers, and again, there’s a lot going on with teenagers, there’s a lot of energy, they’re starting to grow and want a little more independence. The main thing I wanna just encourage and exhort you is it’s really about keeping that energy channeled and pointed in the right direction.

 

  Amen, praise God.

 

  And doing that. And so I just wanna share really briefly, our middle son was very gifted in math and science. So it was really important for him to be in classes, gifted classes for math and science. And he made the comment to us one time that… This was when he is in seventh grade, he said, “The whole world is so slow.” It was frustrating to him. So that had to… That was challenging his parents to make sure we got him in a place where they could teach him at a higher level.

 

  Right, so he was you very high level. He actually graduated from Colorado School of Mines in three years with his BA, takes a average person five, outstanding chemical engineering student, and then got his master’s in four. Again, the outstanding chemical engineering student had the highest grade in the nation on a organic chemistry test. They said they’d never seen a grade that high. And so I told him when he graduated from high school, “Andy, Jesus made you smart. Don’t you ever forget it?” And he said, “I won’t dad.” And praise God, he has not forgotten that. And he has been a blessing to his church, blessing to the body of Christ, and he’s a blessing at his workplace. And I believe that’s God’s will for everybody. We find out our God-given gifts, our God-given talents, we begin to live with purpose, rely on the Holy Spirit, have supernatural revelation, right, pick good friends, this is another thing–

 

  Mm-hmm, oh, that’s great.

 

  That Daniel, he picked good friends, good relationships, and finally, he kept a good attitude. And I believe if we can teach our kids these things, this will help them really to thrive in life and not just survive.

 

  Amen, amen.

 

  Praise God. Barbara, before we go off the air, just pray for the people really quick or share what you wanna share.

 

  Lord, I just thank you for those watching adults that need to get this individuals to get this in their own life. And Lord, we just pray for these parents, Lord God, that you give them wisdom. I love how you give us wisdom for all of our children.

 

  Amen.

 

  In James, it says, “If we ask for wisdom, He’ll give it to us.” Literally, you do have the mind of Christ to raise your precious children.

 

  And if you need prayer, give us a call today, our prayer ministers are ready to receive your calls. Thanks so much for staying with us and being with us today. I’ll be back to pray at the end. Friends, I certainly hope that you’ve enjoyed the program today, and it’s ministering to you to move into that which God has for you. And I wanna say a great big thank you to all of our partners for helping us share this gospel across the United States and across the world. It’s because of our partners that we can take this message of grace and faith around the world. If you would like to join partners and receive that blessing, give us a call today, 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 to today.

 

  Friend, I don’t wanna leave this broadcast without giving you the opportunity to pray with me and surrender your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Pray right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and you raised Him from the dead and made Him Lord on the third day. And right now, I surrender my life to you in the name of Jesus, amen.

 

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