Grandparents: Faithful And Fruitful Series

Faithful Grandparents-The key to faithful Greatgrandchildren

Tonight we are beginning our series on Family Relationships and I want to begin with Grandparents because I talked about Fathers, not too very long ago.

How many of you in here are grandparents? Do you think your life will have any influence on your grandchildren? How about your great grandchildren? Yes and absolutely yes!

In Genesis 5 , we get an account of a man named Enoch, the son of Jared and the Father of Methuselah. Methuselah the father of Lamech and Lamech the father of Noah. You better believe that Enoch walked close to God and because he did Noah’s father Lamech expressed that faith by the name he gave his son. Noah means rest and it was from this seed, the seed of Seth, that Noah came.

Noah was faithful and he preached the truth about God for 120 years, even though people were laughing and mocking God while he labored away, day by day. Even though after 120 years of preaching only 8 people were saved.

Grandparents do you think your faith will effect future generations? You better believe it will.

Grandparents are we living a life like Enoch’s?

Listen to what the writer of Hebrews has to say:

Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

Don’t you want your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to turn out like Noah?

Look at some of the fruit in his life:

1. He was a righteous man in a totally corrupt age (Gen 6:8-9, Ezek. 14:14)

2. He followed God’s instructions exactly (Gen. 6: 14-16)

3. He preached this righteousness and warned others of the consequences for not seeking God (2 Pet. 2:5)

4. He totally submitted to God, he built the ark, got I the ark, he had no twin Cat diesels, no sail, no rudder, no paddle, no compass, no GPS, no radar, no LORAN- all he had was a total and perfect trust in God. A man who had never seen rain before the flood.

Or how about Timothy’s grandmother Lois, maybe she is your model?

Paul says to his spiritual son Timothy I miss you, I long to see you so I may be filled with joy. 2 Tim 1:5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

2 Tim 1:6 And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Are you influencing your grandchildren in such a way that they become a joy to their parents and other people? Are you influencing them to be faithful, obedient, respectful, responsible and fun to be with? Or are you just spoiling them rotten and sending them home?

An 8-year-old wrote, "A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own, so she likes other people’s boys and girls. Grandmas don’t have anything to do except be there. If they take us for walks, they slow down past pretty leaves and caterpillars. They never say ’Hurry up.’ Usually they are fat but not too fat to tie shoes. They wear glasses, and sometimes they can take their teeth out. They can answer questions like why dogs hate cats and why God isn’t married. They don’t talk like

visitors do which is hard to understand. When they read to us, they don’t skip words or mind if it is the same story again. Everybody should try to have a grandma, especially if you don’t have television, because grandmas are the only grownups who always have time.

Unknown.

Now there’s evidence based on interviews with children and grandparents that children need their grandparents and vice-versa. The study shows that the bond between grandparents and grandchildren is second in emotional power and influence only to the relationship between parents and children. Grandparents affect the lives of their grandchildren, for good or ill, simply because they exist. Unfortunately, a lot of grandparents ignore the fact, to the emotional deprivation of the young. Of the children studied, only five percent reported close, regular contact with at least one grandparent. The vast majority see their grandparents only infrequently, not because they live too far away, but because the grandparents have chose to remain emotionally distant. These children appear to be hurt, angry, and very perceptive about their grandparents. One of them said, "I’m just a charm on grandma’s bracelet."

THE HEART OF A CHILD

Whatever you write on the heart of a child,