Good morning, church. Hey. We're concluding our series entitled Family Circus today. Over the past five weeks we've been talking about different aspects of the family and we've been talking about our tendency that when we have a family, we all kind of aim. We want the perfect family, but we soon find out that what we end up with is more of a crazy, chaotic kind of circus.

And so this series has been about taking a realistic look at what the family really needs and how instead of aiming at perfection, we ought to be aiming at how can we bring our families under God's presence. That's what we've been talking about. And today I'm going to be preaching the second time I've ever preached this sermon because the first time was first service. I've never preached a sermon on what it means to be a grandparent. And so we've been titled this particular sermon the safety net.

Because being a grandparent is a support role. It's a shift that we have to make from being parents to grandparents requires a change of thinking and a new understanding. And so we want to hear what God's word says about it. That's what we'll be doing today. And before I begin, I want to pray and I want to pray for our church and for our grandparents in our church.

But I also want to pray for a family that represents us in the country called Turkey, and they represent us there. That's a muslim country and it's a place where they don't have access to a relationship with someone who actually knows Jesus. And so they've moved there with their family of four children and they're part of our church. Were members here. They answered to call to ministry here.

I'm not naming them because of security reasons, but if you noticed in the lobby, we do have a table set up for them where you can stop and you can say, hey, you know, I'd like to ask you some questions. How can I pray for you? And if you really want to keep up with them, you can put your email address down and they'll send you their newsletter. By the way, we're offering a free lunch after this service. We're having a pizza meet and greethouse to be with that family.

It'll be in the room next door in the gathering place. And so we'd love to have you stick around, give you a chance to talk to this sweet family and get to know how God's working in their lives. So let me pray. Let me pray for us. Lord Jesus, thank you for your word.

Thank you that we can talk about what your word says about being godly grandparents that pass on a legacy. And Lord, we also want to pray for this dear family that is like our very own. And because they are, Lord, because of you. And we pray for them. We pray for this family, for their provision, for their effectiveness.

We pray for gospel opportunities in the country of Turkey. And, Lord, we just pray that you would give them great favor there, and we just give you praise now, in Jesus name, amen. Amen. So this sermon is about being a grandparent. And the Bible says that being a grandparent is a joy and a blessing.

Here's what it says in psalm 128. Continually bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosper as long as you live. May you live to enjoy your grandchildren. So the Bible sees being a grandparent as being a joy and a blessing.

But sometimes it might not always feel like a joy and a blessing being a grandparent, because it's a shift. You have to change the way you're thinking about your role as you shift from being a parent to a grandparent. So we've been showing a little cartoon from the family circus every week. Here's one. This cartoon's written by Bill and Jeff King.

Here's one about being a grandma. And notice little Jeff, he walks up to grandma. Grandma, why do you always start redecorating as soon as we come? So grandma, she's figured out, oh, boy, I gotta move everything up. I gotta get all my knick knacks and my doodads.

You all got any knick knacks and doodads at your house, and you gotta get them up out of reach. And that's not the only thing in your life. You have to redecorate and change because it's a hard shift. It's a confusing shift, in fact, because grandparenting and parenting are really two different roles and they require different approaches. It can be confusing because grandparents are still the parents of their children.

You still have a mentoring role, and you're still their parents, but you're not the parents of your grandchildren. And so what's that look like? It can be confusing. It can be challenging. You're moving from a direct role to a support role.

You're moving from being the decision maker to being the influencer. You're moving from being in charge to being an encouragement. This is a shift that requires prayer and thinking about it and making some decisions about what kind of grandparents do you want to be. Now, if you're here this morning, you're not a grandparent yet. And the Lord delays is coming.

One day you'll get your shot, you'll get, you'll get your chance, Lord willing. It's a joy and a blessing. But by the way, you're building the grandparent right now that you're going to be, because the old person you're becoming, you're working on right now. And all you have to do is look in the mirror. You young people got them smooth, beautiful faces, but the rest of us have these things that they call wrinkles.

And those wrinkles came from whatever you did most with your face. If you have smile wrinkles, well, you was a smiler. And if you have frown wrinkles, use probably a frowner. And that your face shows it, because you're not gonna become something new just because you get older. You become more of what you are.

You're working on the future you right now. So take notes, because being a grandparent can be a joy and a blessing if you understand what the Bible teaches about it. So whether you're a grandparent today or whether you're still working on it as you grow, this message is for you. So what's a grandparent to do? Does the Bible say anything about being grandparents?

Well, it just so happens that it does. We're going to be looking at a psalm written by David, psalm 71, that many people refer to as the grandparents prayer. We're going to be looking at psalm 71, verses 14 through 18, where David says, when I get old and gray, I, Lord, help me to pass on a godly legacy to my grandchildren. And I believe that today we can pray like that, we can prepare like that. We say, Lord, as I get older and as you trust me with grandkids, I pray that I could pass on a faith legacy, a godly legacy to my grandchildren.

And as we look at the text, I think the text today gives us four steps on how to do that. Let's dig in. We'll be in psalm 71 starting at verse 14. But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.

With the mighty deeds of the Lord God, I will come. I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. Oh God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, oh God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. This is God's word.

Amen. We're looking for four steps on how to leave a godly legacy, how to pass on a godly legacy to your grandkids. Here's the first step. Determined to be an example of hope and praise. Determined to be an example of hope and praise.

Let's start with that first verse, verse 14. Circle the words hope and praise. Do you see them in there? Hope and praise. David has these I will statements.

In fact, he has five times that he says I will. It depicts, because of the hebrew tense, it depicts a decision, some would say it's like a vow that David is making. He's making a decided intent to do a thing and to keep doing a thing. And so the tense of it is, I've decided I'm going to be like this. I've decided in advance to do so.

When you get married, you make some I do vows. You say, you know, I do. But David has chosen. As he gets older, he's made some I will decisions. He's determined to be an example of hope and praise.

As my body gets older, as my hair turns gray, David says, I will. I've decided I will hope in the Lord. I will praise him more and more. That's what David has decided. I'm going to be more hopeful and more worshipful as I get older, not less.

David has decided in advance, I'm not going to let my body running down and the passing away of many of my loved ones and family and friends. Because as you get older, older, you begin to accumulate grief and loss. You just do. So, world's full of trouble, and you get more scars and more wounds and more wrinkles.

And many old people, as they get older, the old person that you're working on right now, that'll be you. You're either becoming bitter or you're going to become better in Jesus. You're going to become a blessing, and it's really going to depend on what you've decided between you and the Lord. Are you going to be one who says, you know what? No matter what, I will hope in Jesus.

No matter what comes, I will worship and praise the Lord? I don't know about you. I don't know what kind of people you have in your life, what kind of family. I don't know what kind of grandparents or elderly uncles and aunts you've got in your story. Many times there's a family system where there's an embittered old man or old woman.

That's the, you know, the grandparent and, you know, you feel guilty that you need to go check on them more often. You need to call them more often. But every time you call them, they go, why haven't you called me? And then they begin to complain about how you haven't done this and how you hadn't done this and how my bursitis is acting up, my arthritis. And they go through the list of all the things that are hurting and bothering them.

And you know why they're telling you about that? Is because all them things are hurting and bothering them. They are. They're not lying, but the. But it's making them bitter, and they're not full of hope.

And every time you talk to them, you feel like that cloud that continually seems to rain on them got you soaking wet, too. And so then you're kind of like, I think I'll wait a few weeks before I call again or before I check on them again. And you feel bad about it because you love them, but they've just gotten so discouraging to be around. What kind of old person do you want to be? What kind of old person are you right now?

What have you decided, David? Decided I will be hopeful. I will praise the Lord more than I did when I was young, and I will keep doing it. Lord, help me. Help me keep doing it.

Do you remember the story of this woman named Naomi in a little book called Ruth? There's a little four chapter book in the Old Testament called Ruth. And this woman, Naomi, she had a husband and two sons, and they lived in the land of Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means house of bread. But a famine hit the house of bread, and so they decided, we're going to move to Moab. That's what her husband decided.

They moved to Moab because of the famine and because of the drought. And they went over there looking for bread, and instead of finding bread, they found trouble. And so her husband died, and both of her sons, who married Moabite women, soon as they got married, they died. They got sick and died. And here's old Naomi in a foreign land with two daughter in laws, and she's got no way to provide for them, and so she tells them to go home.

And one of them does go home, but one of them refuses. And that's Ruth. She says, wherever you go, I'll go. Wherever you. You know, wherever you lodge, I'll lodge.

Your God will be my God, and your people will be my people. You know the famous line there? Ruth says, I've learned about God from you. I'm going to follow you and so Amy goes, naomi says, well, I don't know what to do for you. I can't bear any more sons.

I'm too old to bring you a husband. I don't know what I'm gonna do for you. Let's just go back to Bethlehem and see the best we can do. And so she goes back to Bethlehem, to her hometown. As she gets walking up the street holding hands with, with Ruth, here come all the older women that remember Naomi.

They come out and they go, oh, Naomi, we're so glad to see you. We're glad you came home. Because her name, Naomi means, as JV McGee says, it means like happy sunshine. It literally means sweet, delightful. And I think that's how she was before she went to the land of Moab, before she went to the land of bitterness.

And when they came up hugging her and saying, we're so glad you came home, happy sunshine, because you just make a smile come to her face, she goes, don't call me Naomi anymore. Call me Marah. Which in Hebrew means bitter. And they all went, ooh.

Her life was marked by loss and grief and pain and trouble. She had no hope. And she was not praising the Lord. I'm glad the story doesn't end that way, because this little girl, this little ruth that her deceased son had married, she saw something. She remembered how Naomi used to be and she had decided to follow the lord.

And she met this man named Boaz, who was a great man in this little town called Bethlehem. And she began to work on his farm and to provide. And he ultimately marries her. She has a son. And that's how the book ends.

I'm sorry to ruin it for you. It's only four chapters. It's wonderful. And Naomi tells everybody, stop calling me Myra, call me Naomi. And it says in chapter four of Ruth.

Then the women of the town said to Naomi, praise the Lord who has now provided a redeemer for your family. May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter in law who loves you and has been better you than seven sons.

It's funny how God can change your bitterness into blessing if you'll just hope, if you'll just praise. Anyway, just like that, it concludes like this. It says, now, Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. She cared for him like he was her own. And the neighbor women came to her and says, now, naomi, it's like you got a son again.

And they named him Obed. And he became the father of Jesse. And Jesse became the father of a man called King David, who became the great great great grandfather of a man named Jesus. So this little Moabite girl who didn't even belong to God from a foreign land, was brought into the land. And now she's in the lineage that you read in the book of Matthew, in the lineage of Jesus, because Jesus can turn your bitterness into blessing.

What kind of old person you want to be. You're working on them right now. You're going to become more and more of what you are right now, unless you make a hard shift, make an adjustment. I've decided I will hope in Jesus, I will praise the Lord. Be a blessing.

Grandparents choose to be a blessing rather than a bitterness. I was reading an article. It's entitled magic happens when grandparents care for their children. It's written by author Karen Nemeth. Here's some tips, some application for how to be a blessing.

Give your time. It's the greatest gift. Stop everything and focus on your grandchildren. That's the one thing when you're a parent, you're so busy, you're working, you're carrying them here, you're doing this, you're providing roof over their heads. You're busy, busy, busy, busy.

And then when you're a grandparent, I actually asked my small group this week. I said, I'm getting ready to preach on grandparenting, and can y'all give me some tips? Because I've never preached on grandparenting before. What do y'all think? What kind of grandparent are you?

Because everybody in my, my small group pretty much were all grandparents. And I said, are you a better grandparent than you were a parent? What do you think? And most of them said, I think I am. I think I am because I'd like to think I've grown in the Lord.

And I said, well, give me some character traits about how you've changed. And one of them said, I think I'm more loving. I said, well, what does that look like? Patience. I'm way more patient than I used to be with my own children.

I wasn't patient with my children, but I feel like I'm doing a better job being patient. And one of the men in my small group said, I'm more present. I'm more, like, right there with them, talking to them. They get my eyeballs when I talk to them like that. They had present more peaceful, more loving, more patient.

You know what these are? These are attributes of the Holy Spirit that when he lives in you. This is what should be happening, christians, is that you get older. You don't just get grayer, but you get more glory. You get more like Jesus.

And so you become the blessing to your family. Let me get back to the list. I got distracted there for a second. Play with your grandchild. Paint together, play board games, play catch, play pretend.

When you interact, you model. Good sportsmanship, you're teaching them, teaching them how to converse and how to get along with each other. Good manners. Tell your stories. Pass down the stories of your childhood and the kind of games you used to play.

Read the old books, the old classic children's books that you grew up on. Or maybe pull out the old VCR and pop in some little show you watched. You know, I don't know if it still works. Maybe you can get it on some modern version. I don't know.

But share the old stuff with them. Teach them your skills. Whenever you're working on something, don't get, say, quick, you know, papa's working on something. No, bring them in. Even though they're too little and they can't figure it out.

Grandfathers and grandmothers are so much better at this than parents. Cause parents really do have to get that thing finished. Cause they gotta get on the next thing. But grandparents have learned something. Hopefully it's more important to spend this time teaching this grandchild than it is to accomplish this project.

And hopefully, as we become more like Jesus, it's people over projects rather than projects over people. Hopefully we're making that shift. Hopefully we're growing. Share your passions for music, for sports, for drama, for working on cars, for cooking, whatever it is, teach them your skills. Include them in conversations.

Talk about your things. Like go through your house and like, my wife's got this, like, curio cabinet. It started out it was supposed to be a place where you put your china, and she's got some in there. But then it turned into, here's a doll that belonged to my grandmother that she gave me, that she made the dress. And so it's in there.

I was like, that looks odd in there, Robin. In fact, that's a scary looking doll, I'm telling you. What is that thing? 200 years old? That thing would scare me, scare our grandkids.

But anyway, tell them the story is about where that came from and how your great grandmother passed it down to you. And when you were a little girl, you always wanted it. And before she died, she left it in the will. Or she said to everybody, whenever I die, I want Robin to have this or whatever, and then, heaven help, don't move anything, because your grandparents or your grandchildren, rather, they want to come to your house and see it in the same place because you're like an anchor to them, because the world's full of change, and the grandparents are like, this permanence because often the parents are kind of barely hanging on, and you can be kind of an anchoring point. And so, like, at Christmas, my wife and I, we.

Man, we decorate like you wouldn't believe. Our whole house. And so I was talking about this first service. My. My granddaughter cadence was sitting, like, right here, first service.

So I could see her, and it just reminded me that she's been doing this the past few years, is she'll come in, and she'll. She'll get Robin, and they call her Mingi, and I'm Papa. So, Mingi, that's not where that goes. Last five years, you've had this Christmas tree sitting over here, and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer goes over here, and all of those nutcrackers that you got going up and down the steps, it looks like you got some new ones right here. But this one used to be right here, because they.

They love these traditions, and they. They look forward to them. They come to your house. So talk about your things. Try not to change.

See, I'm stuck in this house now. I meant to sell this house and get a house on one floor. You know, as I got older, I still got this two story house. I was like, okay, these grandkids, they want some permanence. They love our house.

We got ten of them. Did I mention that to you? Five boys and five girls. It's awesome. We've been grandparents for 15 years.

My oldest grandson, Nate, 15 years ago, made his grandparents, and now we got a bunch. But they love our house. They love coming to our house. And so we had grandparents weekend last weekend. I'm just now getting over it.

It was fun. It was a lot of fun. Oh, a lot of fun. And we put in an above ground swimming pool in the backyard just to keep them out of the house a little bit, keep them busy, get them wet, wear them out. Maybe they'll go to sleep.

These are the things that grandparents work at, but we asked them. So, in previous years, we've taken them different places, so we'd be like, okay, so there's only two qualifications to be on the grandparent weekend. Number one is you have to be one of our grandchildren. Number two, you have to be potty trained, because that's too much that's just too much. Eight of them have not qualified, so eight of them made it last weekend to grandparent weekend.

And we said, okay, we've taken you to the lake, and we've rented a pontoon boat, and years gone by, we've taken you to the beach, we've taken you to the zoo at Ashborough and spent the night over there, and we've done this. And then the older ones, like in Eunice, and said, no, we just want to be at your house. Really? Yeah, we just want to be at your house with you and each other, with the cousins. And I'm like, praise the Lord.

That's a lot cheaper. Wow.

But it's sweet, too, isn't it? God's showing us favor. Be the cozy lap, the warm embrace, the listening ear, and the relentless cheerleader to your grandchildren. Be a blessing. Be a blessing, not a bitter representation of what an old person looks like.

I know life's full of trouble. I know it's full of pain. Put it off and put on Jesus. Be a blessing to your grandkids. That's your first job as a grandparent.

Be a blessing. Here's number two. I got to go faster. I spent a lot of time there. Tell them the good news of salvation.

We're at verse 15 and 16. Tell them the good news of salvation. Circle the word salvation. If you're taking notes, I told you, there are five I will statements. Three of them are here.

I will tell, I will come. I will remind, I will tell, I will come. I will remind. Tell them what? About salvation.

Come with what? I'm bringing salvation. Remind them what salvation. I'm going to tell them the good news of Jesus until they have heard it so much where they go. Papa, you've already told us this.

I know, but I'm reminding you now because I want to be a blessing. But I also recognize I'm the one passing on the legacy of faith. And so I want to constantly remind them because I want to see him in glory. See, the chances are, because I'm the oldest, I'll get there first, unless Jesus comes tomorrow, and I want him to come right behind me. Don't you like, yeah.

I want them to be smart. I want them to be educated. I want them to have a good life and all that, but all that aside, I want them to be right with God, and I want them to spend eternity with me in heaven. Don't you? And so I want to be an evangelist.

I think that's the second important step of the shift of being a grandparent. Be the evangelist in your family. Tell them. David says, I will tell. I'm going to come carrying it like when I come to visit you.

I've been brought the gospel with me again. Well, you told us that last time. I know. I'm reminding you because I said I'm going to remind you. David's made these determined, almost like vows, if you will, of what kind of an old man he wants to be.

And so have I. So have I. How about you? Have you decided what kind of a grandparent, with God's help, that you can be? Verse 16, he addresses the Lord as the Lord God.

If you have your bible or if you have a bible app, we might not have gotten it right in your notes. I can't remember. I didn't look back. But it's that whole capital letter thing, so it should be capital l, lowercase ord, which shows the hebrew word underneath it. In the Old Testament, it's Adonai, which means the Lord.

Good accurate translation. But then you have capital g, capital o, capital d. If you're looking at your Bible or looking at the ESV Bible, and that means Yahweh is underneath, which is the covenantal name of God. So it's like David says, I'm going to tell them about the name of God, the sovereign name of God. I'm going to tell them about the Lord God.

I'm going to remind them of this and help them keep remembrance of it. Remember how the apostle Paul talked to his spiritual son in the Lord, Timothy? It's in two. Timothy and Timothy. You just got to imagine how hard it would have been to be the wingman of the apostle Paul.

You know, the apostle Paul's the guy who's preaching. He gets in trouble with some people there. They take him outside the city gates and stone him and leave him for dead. And then in the power of the Holy Spirit, he gets up and shakes his clothes off, goes back in and gets right back at it again. That's the apostle Paul.

Can you imagine being his wingman? That's Timothy. But Timothy's not got the story of the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul was blinded on the road to Damascus, a persecutor of the Christians. He was basically a terrorist who got converted to Jesus.

And so he's got this. And I remember growing up, and people at our church sometimes would stand up and give their testimony, and they'd say, I did this, this and this. And then the Lord saved me. And I'd be like, man, people would be crying like, that's a great testimony. And, like, I'd be thinking about my testimony and be like, yeah, I got saved when I was a little kid, and that's what happened to Timothy.

So look what Paul says to Timothy. He says, I'm reminded because Timothy would get kind of timid sometimes. He didn't have a Damascus road testimony. Here's his testimony. I reminded you of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and in your mother, Eunice.

And now, I'm sure, dwells in you as well. And so he says, timothy, I'm just reminding you, stop being so timid. You've been in the faith for years. In fact, your grandmother and your mother were in the faith. You grew up in the faith.

You should be thankful for that. And I used to think, now, by the way, my grandmother and my mother were not named Lois and Eunice. Now, Lois and Eunice, you might be in the house right now. There might be somebody. I mean, them two ladies could live in Wilson, couldn't they?

That don't sound like. They don't sound like hebrew names to me for some reason. Lois and Eunice. But my grandmother's name was Eddie. E t t I etty.

Elizabeth. Eddie Elizabeth Dillon. That was her name. We named. My daughter's middle name is Elizabeth.

We named her after my grandmother and my mama. Boy, she had a long name because she was born premature. And my grandmother was so excited about the nurses that took care of her at the hospital there in Beckley, West Virginia, that she got all their names and put all their names on my mama. And so one of the nurses names was Wilda, one was Jewel, and one was Ann. And that's my mom, Wilda.

Jewel. Ann. That's my mama's name. Named after all the nurses there that took care of her when she was born. So those two, I didn't have Lois and Eunice.

I had Eddie and Wilda. And they raised me up from the time of my earliest memory, teaching me about the Bible.

That's a boring testimony, isn't it? That I had a grandmother and a mother told me about Jesus. My dad died when I was eight years old, and so he was a big influence on my life. But I gotta say, those two women were the ones who handed me the baton of faith. They really did, my grandmother, more than anything.

Cause my grandmother, man, she. I was a little bit scared of her. She was so intense for Jesus. But every time I was around him, they tell me about Jesus. They said, I'm coming with the gospel.

I'm telling you the gospel, and I'm going to remind you of the gospel. That's how them two women were. Praise God. I'm glad I made a decision to follow Jesus when I was eight years old. I didn't know everything.

I didn't understand it all, but I made a public profession of faith when I was eight years old. Indeed, I think I asked Jesus to save me every day of my life from my earliest memory until. Until I finally began to understand it, because I heard it so much. I don't know about you. It's great having a grandparent and a parent like that.

So tell them the good news. That's your second job. Be an evangelist. Be a blessing. Be an evangelist.

Here's the third. Proclaim to them what God has taught you. Proclaim to them what God has taught you. Verse 17. Here's David.

He says, o God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deed. Look what I've learned, a lot of it I learned in the school of hard knocks, Lord, but you taught me and you brought me through it. And now I'm going to tell everybody what you did for me. That's really your testimony, isn't it? It's how God brought you through to where you are today.

Have you ever told your testimony to your children, parents, grandparents? Have you ever told your grandchildren how you got saved? Have you ever admitted to them what a crazy, wild young person you were before you got saved? I don't want them to know that part. Why?

It might help them get through what they're going through. They might feel like, I wish I was holy and perfect like my granddaddy. And maybe you need to tell them what granddaddy used to be like before Jesus got ahold of them so they could get a leg up and realize, okay, so they understand. I used to be. I used to struggle with some of the things, or maybe you still do.

I still kind of struggle with that. But I'm praying. I'm praying for you, too, because I see some of me and you, and I'm praying for you. And he says, oh, God, from my youth, you've taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. He's decided I'm going to pass on to my grandchildren.

I'm going to teach them what God's taught me through experience. Just like that. In the book of Deuteronomy, it says this, only, take care and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life, make them known to your children and your children's children. That's a command. Don't forget what God's done for you and tell your children about it.

And when you become a grandparent, tell your children's children. Tell your grandchildren. This is what God did for me. This is how he brought me out to what I was in. Book of psalms talks about it, psalm 78.

Oh, my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past, stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children. We will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty.

Make a decision, grandparents. I'm going to be one who tells them the stories of how God has done a work in me. I'm going to be honest about how God brought me to the place I am. I've told you a little bit about my mother's mother, Eddie, Elizabeth, my grandmother, she was the Bible woman. But let me tell you about my papa.

I took his name on when I became a grandparent because it was a sweet name to me. And so when my first grandchildren came into the world, I taught them to call me Paw Paw. I thought that was a name that I could wear with honor. My grandfather, my papaw, was not well educated. When we would ask him, how far did you go in school, papa?

He'd say, well, I just about finished the second primer. And I'd be, is that like second grade? He'd be like, I don't know. Is it this McGuffy reader thing? He never finished second grade.

Every year, his daddy, who was an alcoholic, worked in the coal mines, tried to keep a garden, a little farm to feed the family. He'd take him out of school every time he needed help on the farm. And so every year he'd get behind again. By the time he was twelve or 13, he was still sitting with these little six year olds trying to do second grade work. And it was getting embarrassing to him.

And so his father, not just for that reason, but because his father was somewhat abusive, he took him and his brother Tracy out of school and put him in the coal mines to work at twelve and 13 in what's called 30 inch coal. That's coal that you work 16 hours a day on your knees six days a week. And so that's all he knew. It was hard work when he became a father. He wasn't a believer.

He grew up rough. But he had decided he was going to take care of his family because his daddy used to take. And as they lined up to get their pay, he'd be standing there with his daddy. Here's 13 year old and 14 year old Walter and Tracy. He'd take all three of their checks and head down to the pub and drink it all up.

And then they'd be hungry. My papa used to talk about eating water, gravy, whatever that is. But when he became a grown man with a family, he worked hard and he made sure he took care of his family. He wasn't a believer, but he had the same little problem with alcoholism. He was an alcoholic.

I heard stories growing up because my granny was a Christian and they used to pour his liquor out so he couldn't have any in the house. He had to hide it in the barnab. But finally he got so miserable, plus his wife talking about Jesus all the time, he got saved. And so in the decade before I was born, I never knew my alcoholic grandfather. I only knew my born again grandfather.

And all I knew about him was he was sweet and he loved to tell stories, and he loved to work hard. And he would take me with him to learn how to do the things on the farm because my daddy had died and I'd spent a lot of time with my papa. And I knew one thing. I knew he loved Jesus. The way I knew was not because he was a good teacher about stuff like that.

Truth is, he wasn't. And he couldn't really read that well, although he could write his name. But I'd sit next to him in a pew at church, at Willow Branch Baptist Church, this little country church in the woods. And a certain song would come on that my family would sing. My mom and my grandmother were in a gospel quartet.

And they'd sing this song, and I'd look next to me and I'd see him. He'd start sniffling. I'll meet you in the morning by the bright riverside. You know that song? You ever heard that song?

Where all sorrow has drifted away I'll be standing at the portals as the gates open wide at the close of life's long, weary day.

Oh, I'll meet you in the morning by the bright riverside. All of a sudden, I'd feel the pew shaking a little bit. And I'd look over at him. He'd already had them little big black glasses off. He'd have his hanky out.

He'd be wiping his face. He'd be cleaning his glasses. He'd be like this. And he'd start holding his hanky up, crying his eyes out. Thank God he saved me one day.

I'll meet you in the morning like that. What a legacy. That's my papa. Not a well educated man. Taught me how to work hard, taught me how to cry and love Jesus.

We don't even call the song. It's called I'll meet you in the morning. If you want to look up the lyrics sometimes. But that's not what my family calls it. We call it papa's song.

That's his favorite song. We sang it at his funeral.

Be a teacher. Grandparents, granddad, grandma. Be a teacher, be a blessing, be an evangelist, be a teacher. Here's number four. Here's the fourth step.

Ask God's help to pass on a godly legacy. We're at verse 18. Verse 18 especially is referred to as the grandparents prayer because you can see he's addressing God. He started in verse 17, if you will. But here he's talking about.

He says so even to old age and gray hairs. Oh, God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. God, you've brought me this far. You've taught me so much. I've learned some things.

Oh, I wish I'd have known this when I was younger. Would you let me live long enough to pass this on to my grandkids? I have a purpose, grandparents, you have a purpose. There's a reason you're still here.

To wave that banner called Jesus, to pray Jesus, as we sang a moment ago before this sermon, to pray Jesus over your family. To declare his name over your family, to wave the banner of faith over your family. Oh, Lord, don't forsake me. My body's forsaking me. My knees are forsaking me.

My hips are forsaken me. Praise God. My hair hadn't turned loose, but it is turning white.

There's a lot that I used to depend on that's undependable. But my God is more dependable today than ever to me. I've learned to lean on him more and more. There's a sobering reality for that generation that doesn't have grandparents that pass on the legacy, that doesn't have parents and grandparents that pass it on. The book of judges speaks of this and all that generation who were gathered to their fathers.

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that they had done for IsraEL, and the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the BaaL. So when all that generation passed away, the generation of JosHuA and of CaLeB and all those men who came through the wilderness, all those men and women who loved Jesus and loved the Lord, they died, and they were warriors. But they must have failed in one important way. They failed to pass on the baton of faith. It's a sad and sobering reality.

But yet we are called. Proverbs says good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren. What's your greatest inheritance? Is it a house? Is it money?

Or is it a legacy of faith? I would say it's the last one. You might not have a lot of house or a lot of money, but if you have Jesus, you got all you need. You can give him Jesus. When Jacob moved to Egypt, because there was a famine in the land of Canaan, and Joseph was already there, he was number two man under the pharaoh.

He brought the 70 his family, Jacob and all of them moved to Egypt. And we get to Genesis, chapter 48, we see that Jacob's on his sick bed. He's approaching death. His eyesight is failing. He's old and gray.

He don't see good anymore. And Joseph, he comes, and he brings his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. He brings them to his grand. To their granddaddy. And Jacob says, who are these?

Bring him near. And he takes them and he hugs them and he kisses them. You can read about this in Genesis, chapter 48. He puts his hands on him, and you know what he wants to do? He wants to bless them.

He starts off by saying, when I was in the land of Bethel, an angel appeared to me. And he told me, this land is going to be yours. And that. That your. That your children are going to be like the sands of the seashore.

They're going to be like the stars of heaven. And. And the God of Abraham, Isaac, and nail of me, of Jacob, he changed my name. I wrestled with him. And trust me, you shouldn't wrestle with God.

Cause I've been walking with a limp ever since. And he tells them this. He's telling about this angels, he's telling them about his testimony, and he blesses them. And he kind of freaks Joseph out a little bit because God had given Jacob an insight. And so Joseph had very, very carefully put Ephraim in front of Jacob's right hand because he's the firstborn.

And he put Manasseh in front of Jacob's left hand. And he thought well, daddy can't see good, because daddy's done this to me like that. And he goes, no, dad, he's trying to interrupt him. Ephraim's firstborn. Put your right hand on ephraim, because the right hand is supposed to be okay.

That's the firstborn blessing, and this is the second born blessing. But Jacob said, no, I did what I did because the Lord gave him insight. He gave him insight into Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim is going to get a blessing, but Manasseh is going to be the greater. He's going to get a greater blessing.

The Lord's already told me that. And so he see, because there's something about grandparents. They've been around a little longer, and they listen better, or they should. And they can see things in their grandchildren that parents might be missing. And they are the ones who can call it out of them.

They can call it out of them. They can pass on the legacy. And so when I was a little boy and I would spend those summers down on the farm, sometimes it would be the cousins that would be there, too. And there were 21 of us. There's a bunch of cousins, right?

21 of us, and the ones that would spend the night there first thing in the morning. My granny had, like, a rocking chair with a little table, and she had a big old black Bible and her glasses on top of it, and she would be, we're going to read the Bible, and then we're gonna have breakfast, and then y'all can go play. And it's a different time period where kids did exactly what they were told because we were all scared of her, basically, because she's very intense. I loved her to pieces, but I would do what she said. And so she'd get that big old black Bible and put it on her lap and start reading.

Now, some of us would get. Because she would read a lot, and some of us would get kind of squirmy based on. On how old you were. But for whatever reason, and I'm not bragging on myself, it's something God did to me from my earliest memory. It might have been because I lost my father when I was a little boy.

Made me really spiritually sensitive. I don't know what it was. I just love God's word from the first time I heard it. And Granny used to, now y'all sit still. And she said, gary Wayne.

And this is how she would say it. Gary Wayne, I think you gonna make a preacher. I think you gonna make a preacher. Because she would notice. I was just really.

And I would ask questions and I'd say, no, granny, I'm going to be a farmer with pop bottle. I'm going to be a chicken farmer. I still like chicken a lot, by the way.

When I was older and married and had three kids, I had a good corporate job. I had two houses. I had one at the lake and one in the city, I was on the ladder of success. I was. I was making a lot of money.

I was not happy. But I was asked to speak at my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. The reason they asked me, all the cousins and all the aunts and uncles said, gary likes to talk. Let's put him up front. And so they did.

And I wrote. I wrote something up about my grandparents. I actually went and interviewed them, and I said, tell me how you met. And I wrote down stuff about what year they were born. My papa was born in 1903.

That was the year that McKinley was assassinated, the president McKinley. And I wrote stuff like that in it, and I read it and I expounded on it. You know, afterwards, we had my grandparents sitting in these wing back chairs, right in the front like this, and all the family and all the friends were all around. And I went down and I had my notes and I walked down, I gave them to my grandmother, and she pulled me in and she said, I still say you're going to be a preacher. I don't know if I'll live to see it, but you're going to be a preacher.

And I said, oh, granny, I'm doing pretty good. I don't see that. And she passed away not long after that. And not long after that, I quit my corporate job, sold my lake house, sold my boat, sold a bunch of stuff, and went to seminary and planted this church. You know, sometimes a grandparent knows what hand to put on what head, knows how to listen to God, knows how to call something out of a grandchild that nobody else saw.

Oh, I want to be a godly grandfather. What about you? What kind of old man, old woman you working on right now? Because you're working on him right now. What kind of grandparent do you want to be?

Be a prayer warrior. That's the fourth one. Be a prayer warrior, be a blessing, be an evangelist, be a teacher, be a prayer warrior that says, God, tell me how to. Tell me how to help that grandson, that granddaughter, how to call life out of them, of what I see in their little personality. Cause mom and dad are doing the best they can.

They're trying to hang on, but grandparents perhaps have the insight to really bless. Well, will you pray with me? Cause you can't do any of these steps that I've talked about in your own power. It requires Jesus in your life to do it. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, I pray right now, and I thank you for your word. I thank you that you gave me a sermon on grandparents, and I pray for that one. It doesn't matter if you're a grandparent or a parent or you're just here as a single person, but you're working on the old person you're going to become. And all of us will stand before the father one day in eternity and give an account for our lives. I pray for you right now that first of all, you'd give your name to Jesus.

You'd give your life to Jesus. Would you call on his name? Pray with me. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I need a savior.

I believe you died on the cross for my sins, that you were raised from the grave, that you live today. Come and live in me. I invite you to be my lord and savior. I want to be a child of God. I want to follow you all the days of my life.

If you're praying that prayer, believing, he'll save you and he'll empower you to be what he's called you to be. And I pray a special prayer right now on our grandparents. Lord, help us not to become bitter, but to be a blessing, to be evangelists and teachers and to be prayer warriors for our families. In Jesus name, amen.