Family Heroes | Jentezen Franklin

I pray that what I share will really speak to you when we think about heroes. We think about people who have accomplished great things, but God has a different definition of a hero. This is going to encourage you. You may never be recognized by the world, but if you make it your mission to lead your family to Jesus Christ, you are a hero in the eyes of God. There is no greater success than seeing your children and your grandchildren. No God loved his house and serve him. I believe God is going to speak to our families today a word that can change things. Let's go right into the service. Preach right here at Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia. If you're ever passing through Atlanta or anywhere near us, you should drive over and be in a live service that you're going to get the next best thing. You're going to get it recorded live. Family heroes, let this message speak to you. Together we're inspiring people to live for Jesus. If you're looking for more in life, to live with purpose and peace, to make a difference for your family and those in need around the world, Jesus is the answer. And our mission is to simply point you to Him. You're watching Kingdom Connection with Judson Franklin. Hebrews chapter 11, "By faith, Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. And what more shall I say, for time would fail me of Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jeptha, of David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith, subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. They were made strong." The next verse says, "Oh, they escaped the edge of the sword, quenched the violence." In other words, they won on the battlefields, major wars, were made strong and violent in battle, turned to flight the armies that invaded powerful stuff. It's God's Hall of Fame.

And God lifts those men and women in Hebrews chapter 11 who distinguish themselves in the Kingdom of God. It's God's roll call of outstanding winners. He says, "There's a long list, names that are household names biblically. But then in there, there are three names, I named the first one, but there are three names that did nothing in the natural such as winning a battle or slaying a giant or closing the mouth of a slaying a lion, as the text said. They did nothing, they conquered no city. They turned back no invaders of the land. They did nothing except one thing, and God said, "I want all three of these people to be mentioned in my Hall of Fame because they have reached hero status in my eyes," God says. "My eyes, maybe not in the eyes of other people, but in my eyes they are absolute heroes because all three of them saved their families." The first one is Rahab. Rahab said, "I want to be saved, and I want my family to be saved." When you read the story of Rahab in Joshua chapter 2, the most important thing to her when the spies came, I'll quickly give you a quick summary, Israel was going into the promised land. They had crossed the Jordan River, the first city they encountered was Jericho, the walls were high and strong, and they had no way to take that city except by the supernatural power of God. And before Joshua led them to march around the walls of Jericho, the scripture said they sent two spies into the walls of the city, and these two spies' words began to get around that these men are here, they're some spies here, and so their lives were in grave danger, and there was a woman who knew their lives was in danger. Her name was Rahab, and she was a harlot. The Bible is very clear about that in Joshua chapter 2. She had a house on the wall, and it was the red light district of Israel. And it was there that she sold her body and probably other women's bodies for money.

And out of that unusual house, she says to the spies when they say, "Hi, this." She says, "I will under one condition." Now, please listen, this is why she's a hero, I'm preaching on family heroes this morning. I'd rather be a hero to my family than a hero to anything else in life. And she said, "Here's this hero." She said, "I will hide you from the killers and the assassins that are coming under one condition that I can be saved when the invasion comes and watch this and my whole family." And they agreed to that bargain and they said to her, "You tie a scarlet thread on the top of the house and just let the thread fly in the wind. Nobody will know." It's a secret message that when the destruction comes to this city, because Jericho was under the curse, but when the curse comes, the scarlet cord bloodline will be over you and here's their instructions. And everyone that you can get in the house and keep in the house when the invasion comes, they will be saved. You and your house in the Bible said you ought to read it. She went and gathered her mom and her dad, her brothers and her sisters. Everybody says all of her descendants. It had to be inconvenient. It was not easy. She became a hero for one reason. She got her family in the house. And when she did it, Rahab became a hero in God's eyes. I love the fact that this is something that parents need to see. Parents you need to understand that your family and your kids need to be in the house of God. There is nothing more important than bringing them to church and getting them in services and exposing them to the singing and to the preaching and to the teaching and the Bible lessons. Do it in your home, but also get them in the house. Get them in the house because when you understand how powerful it is, the Bible said that those

spies said to her, they said take a scarlet cord and I'm quoting the exact word from King James, bind it to the window. One translation said nail it down. In other words, she didn't scotch take the scarlet cord. There was no wind or doctrine that could knock it off. No professor at the university, Mark and God can make that cord fly off. It was hammered down. It was nailed down. It was secured. You have to bind this message to your children. He said when they get up in the morning, teach them about it. When they're driving in the car to work, teach them about it. When you're picking them up from school, teach them about it. Take every opportunity, but make sure that the scarlet cord, I'm just so thankful. That when you bring your children to the house of God, whether you realize it or not, God doesn't see your children like other people's children that don't have that scarlet cord flying over your household. It's the blood line. It's the blood of Jesus and our marriages are under the blood. They may be under attack, but they're under the blood and the blood of Jesus is more powerful than anything in your past, present or future. And you praise the Lord because we're not weak. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. The scarlet cord was flying. The second family hero that we see is a man named Noah. The Bible said he had eight family members in his family. The only reason he's there is the Bible said he was moved by fear. He was moved by fear. What does that mean? That means he understood something's coming.

And I must prepare my family, an arch, that they will be safe. see that Noah got his children involved in the work of God. He was building an art, but for 120 years he gets all the credit, but it was his children and his wife and his whole family every day that showed up to help build the art. For 120 years not one soul was saved through Noah's ministry, but he saved his family and God said he's a hero. And the Scripture said that the, can you see those kids? I mean every one of his boys had a little hammer built and had a hammer and had a saw and had some nails and every day they went to work because they were involved in the work of God, in the calls of God. That's why the church is so powerful because you teach your children to get involved in the work of God. I believe that Noah taught his boys, you need to marry wife, boat builders. Make sure that they aren't about something else. Make sure they care about the church too and the house of God too. You need some boat builders and mothers and fathers, if I could encourage you at this vantage point in my life after raising five kids and now with six grandkids and counting, I'm thrilled to tell you the gospel works and what I'm preaching works. And if you do it, God will back it up. I'm not telling you they'll never drink from the polluted streams of sin. I'm not telling you they won't get off track and go in the wrong direction, but I'm telling you that before they die, God will not let them go to hell until He deals with them in such a profound way that they will know who Jesus is if they'll open their heart. And I'm going to tell you, what's that word? What's that word? What's it worth for you to know that your babies are going to heaven and not hell? Tell me, what is a greater thing than that in this world? John said, "I have no greater joy than to see my children walk in truth." Lastly, I want to end with this one now. She's in the book of Hebrews.

Her name is given. For some reason it didn't give the father's name, it just says the parents, but her name is given in Scripture, Jacobid. You may have never heard of Jacobid. Jacobid was Moses' mother. And the Scripture said that she was a hero according to God because she saved her family. When Pharaoh put out the edict to kill all the male children three years of age and lower, she, and if you read it, the first time he said to the midwives, "If it's a male child, you are to strangle the child." Oh, that sounds so brutal, doesn't it? But we have a nation where we have a whole political party, not one senator who would stand for a child in the ninth month. Basically, same demon, because Moses is a deliverer and a deliverance generation is trying to come into the earth, but let's strangle them. Oh, you didn't like that, did you? I don't really care. I'm too old to care anymore. I have to stick with the book, stick with the book. Now watch. So then Moses, Pharaoh gives the instructions, throw them into the Nile River. We're just going to make sure none of them get by, throw them into the Nile River to the crocodiles. And here's what I want to preach, just I'm almost done. This woman, Jacobid, said, "I know what the government say in his right, but I'm going to protect my baby." And she built a basket. And the scripture said, and she pitched it, P-I-T-C-H-E-D, which is a word, means sealed or sealant, or we would call it caulking, you know, like the caulk. sealed up, waterproofed it, and what they used for This is so good.

Meaning this, this is what the commentary said. One that I read the other week said that when it said, it was pitched outside and inside. It had an aroma that hid the human smell of that child, that those crocodiles, imagine how many tens of thousands of male children were thrown as guards watched mothers do it into the Nile River. They developed an appetite for those pitiful little babies. But when the crocodiles came around this basket of love and faith that a woman by the name of Jacobid, which is pretty exciting in itself. Jacobid, in Hebrew, means the glory of Jehovah. It's the first time, this is astounding. It's the first time in the history of the book of Genesis that the name of God is linked with a person. The glory of Jehovah. She decided that she would team up and yoke up with God to preserve her family. And so she puts that baby in a basket of love and faith that is pitched up or sealed up with a repellent to the crocodiles. I'm not saying the crocodiles didn't surround it. I'm sure they got all around it. They probably even heard the baby crying every once in a while because it said that's what got Fayro's daughter's attention and she heard the baby crying. And then when she looked at it, she said, it's beautiful. This is the moment that every parent comes to. Why you've got them, hide them. Why you've got them, you have some rules

and have some boundaries and have some standards and have some-- I mean, while you have them, you hide them. You teach them. You won't be their buddy all the time. Teach them. They need a daddy. They need a mama. The mama needs to say that skirt is too short and the daddy needs to agree with it. [APPLAUSE] This is what parents do. Now, watch. Because Jacobed is a serious family hero, because not only did she release Moses in a basket of faith and love, but she told Mary on her daughter, walk along the site of the river and make sure-- I'm putting it in the current, but you make sure if it gets called in the bull rush. You sneak out there and God's going to protect you too, I guess. There's crocodile. Everybody thinks of holy Moses. What about Miriam? And Miriam pushed out that little basket, and it goes around the-- they probably had it roped off and netted off to where the daughter Pharaoh bathed every day, and she heard the baby crying. And about that time when she had it and she said, oh, it's hungry and it's so cute.

I'd like to keep it. But would you like me to find you a nurse? Miriam said, would you like for me to find you a nurse? I heard about a woman who had to throw her baby in the river, wink, wink, and she could feed this baby, probably. Yes, go get her. And by the way, tell her to get her bag. She's going to move into the palace and tell her to bring her whole family. And the Bible said Pharaoh paid the wages. Pharaoh paid for the formula. Pharaoh paid for the diapers. Pharaoh paid for-- I won't say-- I won't say the wedding, but he was a boy, but Pharaoh paid for it all. Now watch. She released him because if you raise him to come to the house of the Lord, if you raise him, stay involved in the work of the Lord as much as you can. And you hide them as much as you can. And you build a basket of faith and love that no matter what they do, they know you love them. And there's always a way. The Bible said that Jacobian raised Moses-- everybody say Moses-- without Moses, there would be no 10 commandments. Without Moses, there would be no nation of Israel because God got so fed up with Israel that he said, I'm going to wipe everyone out. And God's Moses said, if you kill them, kill me. Thus saving the nation of Israel,

thus saving the tribe of Judah. One woman, not only raised Moses, but she raised Aaron the High Priest, the man who for the first time would go into the holy, the holies and sprinkle the blood and bring mercy and roll the sins over to the next generation or the next year. Not only did she raise Moses, not only did she raise Aaron the High Priest, but she raised Miriam, the first worship leader found in the Bible was Miriam when they went across on dry land. She pulled out tambourines and led the women in dancing and praising and she wrote a song. Today Row and his chariots have been swallowed up by the sea, one woman, one man, Rahab, in the Book of Life in Matthew chapter 1, how, how did it happen? It happened when they made a decision to be a family hero.