<TITLE>03. Par 14-22</TITLE>L-14   Now this text that we're speaking on tonight, of influence, it goes back, the real lesson of it, if you'd like to--to read it, you'll find it in Second Chronicles, the 26th chapter. It was the life of this Uzziah, the king.

L-15 Now, Uzziah the king was a shepherd boy. He was a young fellow, that, a king's son, and that loved outdoors. He--he liked the--the woods and he was a herdsman. And he also liked the vineyards, he liked to see things grow. And this young fellow was brought up under real good influence. Amaziah, his father, had been a great man, in his last days he let down a little, and picked up some gods from another country, and the Lord then taken him out of the earth. But this young fellow had had good influence, because his mother was a daughter of Jerusalem, his father a believer, and therefore the--the boy had been raised up with good influence.

L-16 And that's a good way to bring up a child, in the way it should go. And you know what? Your children is one of the main eyes that's watching you. They watch what you do. And whatever you do, they copy after you, because you're setting the example before them, to what you do.

L-17   Reminds me. Here not long ago, I was at a meeting of the Full Gospel Business Men, out in Los Angeles. And Brother Oral Roberts had made a statement about something on this line, and they asked me to get up and say something about it, about influencing. I said:

L-18 It reminds me of a story that I read once, where a--a man went out, Christmas eve, taking presents through the neighborhood, to his colleagues, neighbors. And on each time, where he went to a place, he--he taken a drink. He'd go to the next house, and he'd take a drink. And by time he got all of his--his presents give out, and the ones that he had collected; on the road back, he thought he would take a short cut through the park. And had fallen about four or six inches of snow. And he found himself, he couldn't walk straight, he was going zigzag because he was being influenced by these drinks.

L-19 He noticed, coming way back behind him, not able to keep up with him, was his teeny, little seven-year-old boy; and he was making big steps, and falling over, and zigzagging. So he waited till the little lad caught up with him, and he said, "What are you walking like that for, son?"
He said, "Daddy, I'm trying to step in your steps."

L-20 Now you see that that's more than just a--an example, because it is the truth, that, your children, you set the pace for them.

L-21   And if our American people are setting the pace today, before our children, of smoking cigarettes, the women and the men, drinking, and cards in the house, and--and dice, what kind of a--of a people will we have in the next race that is to come, or the next generation, rather, that is to come? It'll be a bunch of neurotics. And which I think the whole world is just about in that condition now. Then if this race, or this generation, rather, is like this, what will the next one produce? Then if there would be another, why, the whole human race, if it keeps going in the way it is, will become extinct, altogether, because we're killing ourselves and setting examples for others.

L-22   And even Christians today, who claim to be Christians, and smoke and drink, and--and cheat, and buy on dishonest. While we... Why, it's no wonder that Christianity is at one of its low ebbs at this time. It's the influence that the church people has--has placed upon the men that hasn't yet received Christ. Men wants to maintain their testimony and then live any way they want to.


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