 I heard recently these words the world may be falling apart but God's plans are falling in place. It is really a treat when people when women get together because estrogen meets up with estrogen and we get it. We understand each other and we see eye to eye and it is so important for us to meet with sisters in Christ and be recharged and revitalized through fellowship and most importantly through God's Word and His Holy Spirit. And so for a little while forget about the laundry that's piling up, the grocery list, the doctor visits that you have scheduled for next week, the homework, the housework, the heartbreak. God has set apart this day for us to meet and hear from Him in a special way and I so appreciate this church and those who serve it with such love and diligence. I thank God for Marie and for Connie and for all the staff who has prayed together and worked together to provide such a day as this. Today's conference is focused upon the word legacy, a legacy of the word of God, a legacy of family, and a legacy of hope. What does that word legacy mean? Simply put it means that it is it's a continuation of your influence, of my influence after our lives are over. It's about making a lasting impact for generations to come. So ladies, what do you want your children, your grandchildren, your nieces, nephews, co-workers, friends to you to remember you for? Your tamales. Do you want them to remember how successful you were in business, in your finances, and the fact that your closet has all of these Prada shoes and purses? Do you want them to remember you that you grew the best tomatoes on the block? You know all of those things are good things but above all you want them to remember you for the way you live for Jesus Christ and how you put him first so that they can say when you are gone, my mom, my grandma, my auntie, she was always reading her Bible. She always prayed for me. She was a servant of the Lord and when things got rough in her life, she was strong in her faith. And so are you determined, am I determined, even intentional, even strategic about leaving a legacy of faith of the Word of God behind? And because you lived and because I lived, will others exalt the name of the Lord Jesus and speak about him? Serve him 30, 40 years from now. The thing is we have a limited opportunity to develop a legacy like that. The Bible says you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. And ladies, you can see that demonstrate it when you get out your hairspray in the morning and and mist it. It is gone, right? Gone. But as one person put it, our lifetime is limited, but our legacy can be limitless. In other words, our godly influence can continue beyond the grave, beyond Chino and even into the uttermost parts of the world. We live in an age of the internet ladies, of smartphones, Twitter, Facebook, Jet Plains. The words of faith, of truth can fly across this planet. So what can we do today, today to build a legacy that's worth leaving behind? What can we do today to build a legacy of the Word of God? Well, like all building projects, it starts with a strong foundation and the Word of God is a strong foundation for all spiritually impactful legacies. Before I can impress and embed God's truth deep down in the hearts and minds of the next generation, it has to be impressed and embedded deep down in my heart and my mind first. So our conference theme is based on Deuteronomy 6, 4 to 9. And so we're going to start to unpack that. And I have a slide that shows where I'm going on this. It begins with lasting words for all generations. The background information of this text is the nation of Israel is now finally, finally on the borders of the Promised Land. And it is a new generation. The old generation that came out of Egypt had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. And it wasn't because Moses refused to ask for directions. It was because of the sin of disobedience and unbelief that kept them out. And therefore a whole nation suffered. A whole generation suffered. And that generation that began with Moses perished in the desert, they never entered into God's rest. And the truth is a walk of disobedience and unbelief is a walk of utility and unrest. And are we not seeing that in our nation today? Unrest. Always looking for the next smartphone. The next thing down the line that's hopefully across my fingers is going to fill the emptiness in me. It will never work apart from Christ. Never. So it is no wonder that Moses sees the need before they take one step into the Promised Land to hear again what is most important to God and to them. The word Deuteronomy is a compound word which means second law. And Moses was not going to give this nation a second set of laws. But he was going to repeat for a second time the law and commands God had already given the nation. Those who came out of Egypt had all died except for Joshua, Caleb and Moses. And these men saw with eyes of faith and the rest saw their future with eyes of fear and unbelief. Ladies what are we conveying to our children who are watching us when bad things happen? Is it fear and unbelief? Or do they see a strong faith, a future of glory that's coming that God is with us and for us? Is that what they are seeing? You don't want to ever think that your grandchildren or great-grandchildren who know you today would say about you, oh my mom, she worried all the time. She rocked and worried. Or I love my grandma, but she rocked for Christ. What a difference. What a difference. So in the book of Deuteronomy Moses passionately reinstates God's commandments to the new generation of Israelites because he wanted them to know and remember God and his word and to live by every word that proceeds from his mouth. Moses said in Deuteronomy 8.3 man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. These are the very words that Jesus spoke when tempted by Satan. And let's think about God's word. God's word is perfect food. It's organic. You know how you're all in the supermarket now ladies, okay let's we have to get organic food now, right? Because you don't want any pollutants. You don't want any GMOs. God's word doesn't have GMOs, no pollutants. It doesn't even have a price tag on it. It is perfectly prepared. Don't you like that ladies? You don't have to cook it up. No calories, satisfying, nourishes, body, soul, and spirit. Steak cannot do that. A daily need, a daily feast. So do you sit down long enough to eat it, digest it, savor it? Or is it your habit to eat on the run? Ladies, it can happen to us, right? Eating on the run, eating God's word on the run. Oh if you only knew Kathy and I schedule every day. God is the God of your schedule and we need to trust him to make time to savor and eat his word. It is spirit and it is life. And maybe that's why when you skip the meal of God's word, you just are what is wrong with me? Let's look now at Deuteronomy 6.4. Moses says, here, oh Israel, open up your ears. The Lord our God is one. This is called the shema, shema, Israel, here Israel, here church. And this is a clarion call to the nation to have a jealous devotion and faith in Yahweh, the one God. There is no other God. And they are never, never to love another, never to replace God with another thing or person. Verse 5, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. So we see the words, the word your three times here, personal. It has to be a personal love. You cannot bank on your grandma's love for God to apply to you. Jesus said, this is the first and greatest commandment. And so ladies, it's all about love. God's love for His children is all consuming. It is complete. It is unquestionable and it is everlasting. Who can give you such a love like that? And that is how we are to love God. It should be a consuming thing, complete, unquestionable and everlasting. And the only way we can even begin to do that is to have a new heart, a new birth by faith in Jesus Christ and to be sealed with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you were dragged today to this woman's conference. Perhaps you were bribed today to come to this conference because you don't want to hear about this, this God, the Bible, this born again thing and you keep turning a deaf ear to it thinking, I'm good. I'm good. I'm religious. I did come to this woman's conference. That should come for something. Or you say, I'm not ready. Oh, how Satan loves to put those words in your ears. I'm not ready. Tomorrow. Who is guaranteed tomorrow? May the Holy Spirit who is hovering right now here, hovering, the one who quickens us to new life. Might he quicken you to make that decision today? This is the day the Lord has made for you. He wants you. He wants to love you and give you a love that is incomparable and give you a life that is incomparable. The world cannot give that to you. Verse six, these commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts and press them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up, tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads, write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Simply put, live it out. Live out this life of love for all to see, for all to know throughout your day, morning, noon and night. Live it out. And moms, a lot of you, you spend a lot, a lot of time taking your children to and fro, right? To school, to baseball practice, soccer practice, to dentist appointments. You have a captive audience and you won't have them for long. Seize, seize those times for prayer, to memorize scripture together. I did not do that and I wish I did. I, I, I thought, oh, you know, the Bible study fellowship children's leaders can do that and the Sunday school teachers can do that and I should have done that. I'm old now. You know, compared to some of you. But really, God is saying, Kathy, you could have used that time a lot better. And so I want to tell you young, young moms, do it now. Take advantage of the time you have with your children because I will tell you they will be gone and you, you're just not going to believe it, right? It's like, what? My, my daughter is, is 18. She's graduating from high school. How did that happen? Now, I want to, I want to point out something very important here. The words of Deuteronomy are Moses' final words to the nation of Israel. He knew that he was not going to enter the promised land. He was going to die and be taken to glory. So in a sense, the book of Deuteronomy, it's like, this is it. This is his last words. And that reality underscores the fact that, you know, if you, if you know you're going, you're leaving this earth. You choose your words. You know, what do I want to convey to my, my child on my deathbed? And the bottom line message for Moses in his final words was not peace out. You know, don't worry, be happy. It was love and obey God. Love and obey God. It's the most important thing. And his ancient plea is a lasting plea for all generations, for this generation and beyond. And we have a sacred obligation to do as Moses did, to leave behind a legacy of the word of God. For it is the word of God that we need and we need all of it. So what does it take to be faithful in this charge? How do we begin? We live such busy lives. Am I going to do this? Let's turn to Luke chapter six, verse 46, building a legacy upon a solid foundation, building a legacy upon a solid foundation, Luke six, 46 to 49. Jesus is teaching his disciples kingdom principles. How a subject who is in the kingdom of God lives out his or her life. And Jesus says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me. And here's my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house, but could not shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. My friends, this is such a vivid, straightforward, easily understood teaching. We get this. The foundation is everything. So let me show you a picture of a collapsed house battered and destroyed in the storm. Unusable. No longer can you go in that. And I mean it's just gone. Your life, my life, may have the appearance of being all together, but the proof will be revealed in the storms of life, in the sufferings of life. And so are we living in a house of cards or a house built on the rock, the word of God? It's as simple as that. The songwriter penned these words how firm a foundation you saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. It starts there. It continues there. It ends there. You can't skip this part. You can't ignore this part. You can't skimp on this part. And there are no substitute foundations. And let me say that again. There are no substitute foundation. All other ground is sinking sand. It's not too late to build a rebuild. Building a legacy of the word of God begins now, not later. So Kathy, I still want to know, how am I going to do this in a practical, give me some practical tools. How do I do this? How do I get started? What do I do? You can start by signing up for a Bible study class at your church, at this church, at Bible study fellowship, online, in your neighborhood, getting with a neighbor, a friend, so that you will be in community with others, holding each other accountable, learning together. But then, you must always come face to face with the God, just you and him, to have that personal time of Bible study. Just take a chapter from your Bible, a book, work your way through it just as Pastor David does for us. It doesn't have to be a whole chapter. It can be one verse that speaks to your heart, that nourishes you for that day. Look for an attribute of God. Write it down. Oh, God, I just learned you are holy. Look for a lesson. Write it down. Oh, Lord, I am not always holy. I wasn't holy 10 minutes ago when I yelled at my kids changes you to be like Jesus. And the thing is we are to read the Bible more. As one person said, we are to read the Bible more and other people less. What is your go to book? Facebook? What is your go to website? Pinterest? Oh, how Pinterest can get you down a deep hole? Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, looking recipes, styles. You know, things that I can get for my home. It becomes a trap. Is it are these things keeping you from the Bible? Oh, how easily ladies we can get distracted. We are multitaskers. We are. We have to be careful. Our go to book every day must be the Bible. And when we go there, God speaks to us tenderly. Sometimes, sometimes, you know, process, corrects us, disciplines us so that he will. We would be kept from sin and the terrible consequences of it. He will give us words of love, of encouragement, of faith. And sometimes you don't have to say any word to him, but you know, he's, he's speaking to you. I think of our brother Sa'id in a Tehran prison cell as, as I speak. And others like him who have been persecuted for their faith who would love to freely hold the Bible in their hands and set their eyes upon the word of God. May God forgive us for the way in which we live in America take this book for granted. May God help us to treasure his word and to build our lives upon it. The third part I want to share with you today is writing down your legacy, writing down your legacy. You know, God is amazing. When he wants to get your attention, he'll repeat himself. Don't you find that to be true? You know, the pastor just talked about a message about loving your and obeying your husband. And wouldn't you know it? You hear it again and again. He loves us. The recent message that I have been hearing more than once from God is write it down. Write what down? Your legacy, the facts about your conversion to Christ, your ministry, your walk with God, the storms that you have weathered. Write down words that will put a spotlight on God and put them into the hearts and minds of your children and their children. You know, I was thinking about the tremendous interest today in genealogy. You know, Ancestry.com shows on TV. Who do you think you are? Celebrities wanting to find out all about grandma and grandpa. And for myself, I was born and raised in beautiful Hawaii. And I am the oldest of eight children. Yes, eight. Yes, lots of lots of kids. My grandmother lived with us. So it was a full house, one bathroom. But we had the beach. But all of us kids, we dearly love grandma. But I knew very little about her past, her family history. And of course, you know, when you're younger, you don't care about family history. Really? You care about maybe boys or I want to pass the SAT test or I mean, there's so many things when you're young, but family history. And I regret that today. So for you who are young and your grandmas are still with you, talk to them, find out about their faith. My grandma's gone. And so is my mother. The one thing I remember about grandma was that she liked going to church. She went to this little country church on the windward side of the island of Oahu. Her church was about 12 miles from our house. And to local people, if you know any Hawaiians, that's too far. That's far 12 miles. Oh, and so my dad, who was not a Christian then praise God, he's in glory now. He wasn't a Christian then. He was never really, you know, boy, I get to take grandma to church today. So about once a month, just once a month, ladies, my grandma went to church. And ladies, here's the sad part. That's all I know about my grandmother's spiritual side. All I know. What did she know about Jesus? What did she know about the Bible, about the gospel? I don't know. If only she had told me, if only she had written down these important things. Remember, I told you that when God wants to get you attention, he'll repeat himself. Well, let's look at Deuteronomy 6.9. Moses said, write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Write them. Imagine how precious it will be for your children, your children's children to read about your love for God, your love for his word, what your favorite verse is, or the favorite go to scripture passage when you are suffering and in pain, how you came to faith in Jesus Christ, how encouraging for them to read, how you weathered a particular storm of life, and how God caused you to stand and to stand strong because you had built your foundation upon the rock of the Word of God. Now for some of you, you're thinking, write them down. Listen, you don't have to have a degree in journalism to do this. Look, if you can text, I have a dear friend who is single, never married, no children, 72 years old, and she became acutely aware of the need for her to pass on to her nieces and nephews, her spiritual legacy. Throughout the photos and the family stories she wrote down Bible verses, she described her mother's faith and hers, and I got permission from her to share one of the God stories that she wrote down just before her brother Dale passed away. She writes, Dale was the last one of our family to go home. Many wonderful moments were shared during his hospital stay and nursing home period, despite the less than desirable atmosphere of those places. The experience I most want to share is the day before Dale died. Others in the room had left for a little while, but we're going to be returning later. I sat beside his bed and we were listening to old hymns by the Gaithers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, some of you know him, or not. Before we had started listening to the music, Dale said, there is something I want to tell you, but he wasn't ready to say anything yet, and later he said, later I said, I bet you decided not to tell me. He said, no, no, and he waited. And then as a Gaither number with being sung, he heard the words. If we never meet again, this side of heaven, we will meet on that beautiful shore. He squeezed my hand and said, that's it. She writes, the Lord has truly blessed me through the laughter and through the tears. I have no doubt that we will meet on those beautiful shores. Please plan to meet us there. My friend is leaving a legacy of the word of God and what Christ means to her and has done in her life for future generations. What a treasure that you and I could put together now before we leave. You know women, we are really good about taking family pictures and making photo albums. And today we have Shutterfly. We can have a book made of all of these wonderful things we have done and seen in our family, our friends. We are so good at recording our children's birthdays. Their first step, first day at school, graduations, weddings, vacations. But is there ever any mention of God? Are there any of his words to be found in those albums? If we say we love God above all, then he will be evident in all. Psalm 89.1 says, with my mouth, I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. Our mouth can speak even when we are long gone. Our words can speak even when we are long gone. Imagine 40 years from now if the Lord tarries your great grandchild, your great nephew picks up what you have written down about your relationship with Christ and that experience prompts faith in them, prompts courage and perseverance in them. It will all be worth it. All right, the next section, Leaving Behind Successors. Leaving Behind Successors. It has been said that there is a crisis for successors. You have the baton of faith in your hand, but so few want it. Few are willing or ready to carry on the race. How much more critical when this is true in your own family? I mean, my goodness, if we can't even get the baton passed in our own family to one person, passing the baton to our church, in our ministry. If the legacy of the Word of God is going to move forward beyond our lifetime, we need to leave behind successors. We need to invest in the teaching and mentoring of the young, the next generation. Moses did that. He invested his time and energy in the teaching and mentoring of Joshua. So when it was his time for him to climb Mount Nebo and depart from this earth, there was a strong, courageous, sold out for God leader to carry on the work and take the Israelites into the promised land and conquer it in the might of God. So how soon should we start investing in another person's life in the life of the next generation? I think of the words of the apostle Paul, who was a teacher and mentor to Timothy. And I have a slide for that. He said in 1st Timothy 314, as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you have learned it and how from infancy, and how from infancy. You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 1st Timothy 1.5, I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also. Ladies, we need to thank women who invest their lives in teaching children at this church, at your church for the hours they spend to do that. Thank you. If any of you are teachers of God's word from the nursery on up, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But we are not to just leave it in their hands. We must be the first on that battlefield to do it. The shaping and molding of a successor who will carry on the legacy of the word of God starts at infancy. In Timothy's case, it began with mom and grandma and then continued on with Paul. And I just read this in my B.S.F. notes, Bible Study Fellowship notes. I'm sorry, I have to say that. That's who I am. Moses, it says this, Moses received the best secular education possible. However, it was in his home and from a slave mother that he received the most important lessons. The influence of a golly parent's life in teaching cannot be underestimated even when the parents do not see the results in their own lifetime. You may not see the results of your prayers for your son who is out there immersed in sin, lost. You keep praying. You keep living out the life of faith in Christ. Those words were followed up by the story of John Newton, a slave trader turned believer in Christ who wrote Amazing Grace. And it was his mother who filled his mind with Scripture. When he was young, she died when he was seven. But she left behind a legacy of the word of God which made an impact in his adult life. Moses' legacy of the word of God has been passed on to us, to me, to you. And we dare not fail to do the same. We dare not be that missing link. When the next generation looks back at our lives, we want them to be able to say well done by good and faithful mom. A good and faithful grandma, good and faithful auntie, good and faithful sister. I have learned and seen the truth lived out in you. And now it's mine. And I will make sure I do the same for the next generation until Jesus comes.