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Oct 18, 2024 · 49 minutes

Jeff Chamblee, host of The Stand Radio on AFR, steps into “The Corner.”

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Show notes

0:00 - 15:00. Psalm 78:5-7 (NASB95). Generationality is the province of visionaries, not dreamers. 15:00 - 31:00. Jeff Chamblee, host of The Stand Radio on AFR, steps into “The Corner.” 31:00 - 48:00. If we desire familial generational fidelity to Christ we must pursue it intentionally. or call: 800-326-4543 To donate call : 877-616-2396

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Transcript

8,007 words, in two-minute parts. Made by machine, so a few words may be off.

0:0048:46

  1. 0:00

    Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite. Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media. And the philosophies of this world. God has called you and me to be his ambassador. Even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment. And now the Hamilton Corner. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. I'm your host, Abraham Hamilton the third. The real Jay Mac is in the building often imitate and never duplicated. And we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program. I've been looking forward to having the conversation we're going to have today. Something that's certainly near and dear to my heart. And I pray that it will be incurred. Excuse me, encouraging and edifying to you all as well at this very moment. Many of you, if not most of you are making your transitions from your part time jobs, where you generate an income to your full time jobs, where you cultivate an outcome. As you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality because what goes on in your house is far more important than what goes on in the White House. This is true every day of the week. Even in election season, it is still true. And you're gonna see a large part, I'll say this way, a large part of what we desire in terms of outcome, sorry, outcome cultivation, is a byproduct of who we are. It's a byproduct of who we are. So as you make your transition from your part-time job where you generate revenue to your full-time job you're cultivating an outcome, remember that God desires our external engagement in ministry to be the result, or should I say the overflow of what we enjoy with him personally.

  2. 2:13

    We, even in our efforts to be disciple makers, never graduate beyond being disciples ourselves, that we are being refined, we are being challenged, we are being transformed, and our external Ministerial investment must be, must be a byproduct of what we are enjoying and experiencing as the Lord is maturing us and growing us. It is a sobering, sobering reality. The scripture bears it out. I mean, Luke 640 says it very well that a student, a pupil, when fully trained will be like his teacher. You know, and it's something that I often ponder and really welcome the Lord to search me by I have spirit Lord, where am I? When fully trained, do I want my children to be like me? When fully trained, the people that I'm pouring into, do I want them? Would it be beneficial to them? Would it be God-honored? Would it be God-glorifying for them to be, you know, to ascribe and to embrace certain aspects of what they've experienced? This is something that is certainly certainly worth consideration. So again, as you're making your transition, I want to remind you that what goes on in your house is far more important What happens in the White House the first institution the first human institution that God created was the family with marriage at the center? You know before you get to an order of priests in order of prophets the first human institution was the family Family is a big deal to God Family shapes who we are. That's by God's design You know I Refer to this often in the mental health profession when people get counseling when people go to therapy One of the first questions always is, what was your relationship with your father? No matter who it is, whether it's a male, whether it's a man, whether it's a woman, that's usually the first question. Some of the other questions will delve into what was your family dynamics.

  3. 4:14

    You know, how did you all interact in the home? Because it is intentionally, God designed that relationship to be shaping, to be formative, to have a lasting impact. Many of us are recovering from negative experiences in those contexts, but the negative experiences don't undermine or nullify what God's design is. And in spite of whatever experiences we may have encountered, we may have endured, the grace of God is available to us to reformat us, to reshape us, and to transform us so that what happens in our families, subsequently, is the product of the revolutionary transforming power of God. That no matter what has happened in your family background before you came to know Christ, everything changes once Christ enters the picture. Everything changes. Let us go to the Word of God. We're going to go to Psalm 78, a mass skill of Asaph as I was described. The mass skill is a particular type of Psalm. I've used this analogy before. We have the overarching genre of poetry that we're familiar with within English literature. A particular type of poem is a Shakespearean sonnet, right? A sonnet. You also have acrostic poems. Those are different types of poems within the category of poetry, right? This Maskell is a particular type of psalm. And in it, Asaf writes in Psalm 78, verses 5 through 7 is where I'm going to focus. And in his writing he reveals an an aspect that is intrinsic to manhood biblically. All right. This is what the Psalmist writes Psalm 78 verse five for he referring to God established a testimony in Jacob.

  4. 6:18

    He appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born. that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. The characteristic of Biblical manhood and Trinsic II Biblical manhood that's revealed in this text is God ordains men to be generational, envision, generational, and view generational and investment. Generationality is intrinsic to us, to where we conduct ourselves, we live in a certain way, we invest ourselves in a certain way where we have the generations that follow us in mind. Hey, how do you reconcile that with potentially being in the last days? Very simply, very easily. The Apostle Paul, the Apostle James, the Apostle John, they believe they were living in the last days as well. is sovereign over the conclusion of human history. We should be sober minded and recognize what the scripture says to us in a comprehensive sense to our real recognition of where we are in time in terms of what the Bible says what we're transpiring in the last days also is metered by God's command to us. It is because of a recognition as to where we are in terms of the potentiality of the human timeline, human history's timeline, that we should be all the more engaged, invigorated to obey what God has commanded us to say is simply, we should live for eternity and living for eternity guides and instructs what we do with the time He's given us and they hear now to say it even the more simply because of our confidence in eternal life, it should govern how we approach every minute that God gives us on this side of eternity.

  5. 8:40

    We should recognize that the Lord establishes commission and commanded us to execute it in view of the reality that human history is moving towards its culmination and conclusion. Here I've explained this before, the testimony that was established in Israel, that ASAP refers to in this song. And the law that was appointed in Israel is that he commanded our fathers, one generation, that they should teach them to their children, a second generation, that the generation to come, a third generation, might know even the children yet to be born, a fourth generation. The scripture is commanding that men in particular should have future generations, even those yet to be born in view as we navigate our lives. Then it continues in verse six, I'll reverse it again, that the generation to come might know, even the children you had to be born, that they, the children you had to be born, might arise and tell them to their children. A fifth generation to tell the generations what? Verse 7, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Guys, this text brings to the forefront what I describe as the visionary versus dreamer, polarity. What am I talking about? Dreamers are men who have all kinds of ideas. This idea of that idea of this idea of that idea of this idea of that idea of this idea of that idea of this idea of that idea. With no wherewithal nor willingness to put feet to that dream, to that idea. A visionary however is one who yes has ideas, has goals to ascribe toward, metrics to move toward, and put feet to them. This generationality that I'm talking about that is intrinsic to Biblical manhood requires that we as men are not mere dreamers but with visionaries. Considering the necessity of being a visionary, the question rhetorically that should confront every one of us, that if we are going to embrace the generality that is characteristic of Biblical manhood, What are we implementing in our lives now in order to bring this vision to fruition?

  6. 11:24

    If generationality is intrinsic to Biblical manhood, what are we implementing in our lives now to bring this into fruition? I mean, you see what the scripture says, that there is a conduct of one's life that will be provocative to such a degree to such a degree to where even the children yet to be born. We'll see the merit and value of embracing daddy and grandads and great grandads, manner of living to place their confidence in God, to forget not the works of God's God but to keep his commandments. What does this bring me to the verse I referred to earlier, Luke chapter 6 verse 40. A pupil is not above his teacher, but everyone after he's been fully trained will be like his teacher. I want to be clear. The call to be a disciple maker is not to make clones of you and me. When Luke is making this in recording, really Jesus instructions here, Luke is recording Jesus's teaching. He's announcing a principle that is reality. This is why I said discipleship is a constant. The only question is who's gonna be the discipler and in what direction and what trajectory is one being discipled? Because right now we're living in the consequence of the world being more effective and more committed to multi-generational discipleship than the church by and large. What we're living in is the harvest that has resulted from seed sewn and the cultivating work that has transpired for well over a century. That's what we are guys. When we are disciple makers, we don't just teach information and skills and attitudes, disciple makers impart a lifestyle.

  7. 13:29

    Disciples makers impart a lifestyle, not just information, not just skills, of course, the lifestyles will include information and skills of various sorts, and attitudes of various sorts. But ultimately, what we're seeking to impart is a lifestyle. So if generationality is something we will embrace, will we be dreamers, or will we be visionaries? I know the Lord would have us to be visionary. So if we are going to be biblical men, and I know I'm talking to the men today, what is our manner of living, our quality of living that we would impart as a lifestyle that would provoke even the generations yet to be born, not to reject and rebel against the faith of their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, but what caused them to say, man, I know what a godly man is, because I've had a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, And because of their witness and example, I want to provide a similar witness and example that I know what a man of God looks like because I had one in my home. Or I had one in my granddad. I had one in my great granddad. Fellas if we have a commitment to generationality, it requires us to be not mere dreamers, but to be visionaries, put a feet to the vision that God has given us. Those who place their faith in Jesus are elevated to an extraordinary position. co-heirs with Christ we share in His inheritance. The Gospel is the ultimate dignity giver, elevating the unworthy to unimaginable heights. Our lives should reflect this dignity, empowering us to extend the same grace and love to others that has been so generously given to us. I'm Jordan Shambly, and you can read the rest of the Gospel Dignifers, The Undignified, on TheStand.net.

  8. 15:34

    Shiting light into the darkness, this is the Hamilton Quarter, an American family radio. Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton the third here. I am delighted as I mentioned to have this conversation. I've been wanting to have it for a while, but I'm glad to be able to do so today. I have in studio with me, none other than Mr. Jeff Shambly. He is the host of the stand radio, which you can hear every Saturday right here in American family radio at 4 p.m. Central time and on Sundays at 8 p.m. Central time. Jeff is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He served as a worship leader in churches in Mississippi, Texas and Georgia. He's worked at AFR in multiple capacities since 1998, including several years as director of American Family Studios. And as I mentioned, he now works with the Stand Magazine and hosts a weekend radio program called The Stand Radio. He and his wife Anita have seven children, four boys and three girls. And they have 19 grandchildren. And the grandchildren is what I really want to talk about with you today because I began the program talking about generationality being something that is intrinsic to Biblical manhood. And I've spoken a lot about being a father, being a husband, but I wanted to have a conversation particularly about being a grandparent and endeavoring to be faithful in that stage of our lives. But before we do that, I just want to invite you, Jeff, just to share with the audience here, What it is you do with the stand radio program and the stand magazine. Thank you Abe. Yeah, I work with the stand magazine and I contribute to some of the writing and also host and produce the stand radio program as you've mentioned. So we're taking a lot of the same topics, culture, faith and family, putting that into a half hour radio format and it's available as a podcast at aFR.net as well. So just love doing that work. Talk to a lot of really smart people and they get to learn a lot of things. So I enjoy that phrase got for that.

  9. 17:35

    And for those who don't know, the Stand Magazine is AFA's print publication, and listeners can get that print publication. Would you just share with them? Sure, we're offering a free six month trial subscription when you go to AFA.net slash the stand. So you can check out past issues of the Stand Magazine, look at the digital content, and there's a link to the Stand Radio as well. So yeah, it's our flagship publication. It goes back to the very beginning. Back when Brother Don started this, There were no pictures, no graphics. It was words from cover to cover. I mean, it was packed, but we cover a lot of the main issues that IFA are covering. Amen. So as I mentioned, the conversation I wanted to have, because I know you're a husband, you're a father. I know you've discipled your children in the home, get the privilege of working with one of your sons here on staff at AFA. But I just, I wanted to invite you onto the program to glean wisdom, one of the things I enjoy doing among a host of things is being able to converse with believers who are further along than I am at different stages of life. And I know we have a lot of listeners who would benefit from this conversation as well. So I wanted to just to kind of glean some wisdom from you as to how you and your lovely wife Anita have invested yourselves at this stage where you now have not only seven children, but 19 grandchildren. So you would include some spouses of your children, grandchildren the whole bit. So I just wanted to introduce the topic and let you walk us where you want to walk as some of the things you've learned in the journey where you are so far. I appreciate that opportunity. I don't know who is an expert in this. I can tell you a thousand things not to do. And that's where my expertise is. But I would say that my wife Anita carries the bulk of the hands-on instruction. We've homeschooled for 40 years. And so she's still at it. We have two boys at home. So not only do we have 19 grandchildren, we have two children still at home.

  10. 19:35

    And I was caring for my own mother up until May of last year. So we found ourselves in a very unique position. We were caring for an elderly parent. We're also raising children and we're also taking care of grandchildren. We did not anticipate that when Anita and I first got married. And we decided that if the Lord would allow, we would have a large family. And so we had seven children, they're roughly four years apart. And so our oldest is 40, and our youngest is 16. So I have grandchildren the same age as my son. That's some of your children. Yeah, which is kind of neat. It's kind of different. It's funny you said a larger family. I think that someone on the board of HSLDA now, And when Mike Ferris invited me to join the board, he said, oh, you got a nice starter family. We have six children. So every time I hear I think about that, I say starter family. Yeah, yeah. Some families are really large. I know. But my role is a grandparent. And I look at, I look at passages like Deuteronomy chapter four in verse nine, where the Lord is warning the people to take heed and to what they've been taught. And he says, and teach them to your children and your grandchildren. So I think the Lord intends for grandparents to have an instructional, discipling role in their grandchildren's lives. Now that's gonna look different than it is raising a child. For us growing up, I mean, we were every night, you know, in the den with the Bible open and reading the scriptures. Talk about what you, raising our children right, right. So, you know, we made family worship time a real priority, you know, when the kids were growing up. and still do, but you don't have that element with grandchildren. And so what you do with grandchildren is a little bit different. Now my wife today, and I wish she could be here, but she's taking care of three of our grandchildren, while our second daughter is at MD Anderson receiving some cancer treatment.

  11. 21:37

    And so, because she has been a homeschool mom for all these years, she has the freedom to be able to bring the grandchildren into the home and actually homeschool them as well. So when you say, what are you doing to disciple your grandchildren? Anita's role is very hands-on. I mean, she's talking about the Lord and walking them through the Word, also working on math, doing activities that are family-related activities, how to cook, how to fun games and things like that. So she's got a very direct role. Mine is more indirect. For the grandchildren specifically, every morning, I've always been reminded of Job and how he went before the Lord every morning and prayed for his children. And from the time that she and I began to homeschool and he and I began homeschool, that was an important picture to me. So every morning, my routine is to pray for the grandchildren by name. Chase, Eli, Ashton, Claire, Carolina, Aiden, Sawyer, Swazie, Declan, Colin, Haden, Henry, Everly, Joseph, Andy, Amelia, Audrey, the baby, Archie and Maeve. By name and praying. I expect you almost did it alphabetically. Well, I go by family. Okay. So I go by my oldest daughter is Lauren and I go with her nine children. Then we go to Devon and Jordan and Aaron and I have two that are not married. So I'll have to do some more memory work. When the youngest get married. Anyway, that's worth it. But I pray that the Lord would move on their hearts that he'd save their souls, keep them from the deception of the world, keep them from the enemy and preserve them. And I pray for their parents. You know, part of this difficulty or part of the challenge of being a grandparent and discipling is that you have to respect the boundaries of your children's families. Yeah, please talk about that. Because when you bring up a family, you have family standards of what the manners are going to be in the home, what's going to be acceptable in terms of books and media.

  12. 23:39

    And then when you have children, they need to wrestle with those issues for themselves. And some of them will approach things differently. So when you have grandchildren coming back into your home and mixing with your own children that are still home, you have to maintain the standards that you've always held, but you have to be flexible enough to be able to not offend or to say things that are just, you know, you need to let the people, let the children be their own children. That is a very interesting dynamic because often we think about, even in my own mind, when I think about grandparents influencing contribution to the shaping of grandchildren, it's often not within the consideration of the grandparents having their own children who are still in the home as well and not wanting to undermine or undercut the parents, your children's convictions while also maintaining your, that is a very interesting dynamic. talk to a grandchild in a negative way about their parents. I mean that that even if there's something that you would disagree with I mean we've Anita and I've always had this understanding and I think we've learned this from from other people as well that even if there's something that you would do differently as a family you never criticize a parent to a child you know but you have to explain why we do things differently so it's it's a delicate process but I think you know, you look to the Lord and for His grace in that. So you have to hold to your truth, but you have to be flexible enough to allow parents to be the parents. Now we do have a rule, a rule. So if the grandchildren come into our house, our rules apply. Okay, so. And this is something you would have discussed beforehand with the parents. I mean, they all know that. They all know that. And my approach is that, look, I'm going to handle grandchildren the way that their moms and dads were handled. You know, so they know what to expect when they come in.

  13. 25:41

    But you know, our kids, look, we're pretty much on the same page. They're all walking with the Lord. They all have the same view of education. They all have the same view of discipling children. So these are no big hurdles that we have to overcome at all. Well, praise God. I do a bless with that. I get people asking all the time, maybe what do I do in this situation where my children don't share my view on these matters? How do I respond to my grandchildren in those contexts? And I've explained to many, many callers, listeners, they'll email or whatever that you never want to undermine your children, your grandchildren's parents. However, like you just said, I think it's important to communicate with your children, your grandchildren's parents upfront as to what they should expect and give them the opportunity to determine whether or not they're willing to allow that to happen. When I have found just experientially, this is anecdote, when that happens I have found most children are willing to allow their grandparents to invest in them as they see fit in most of the time, not always, but most of the time as long as that communication between parent and grandparent happens upfront, not after the fact. That's good. That's what I, but just find experientially. Yeah, and I think when we first decided to have a large family, I think our parents were supportive. But when you approach and say, well, number three's coming along, now number four's coming along, we're having number five. At some point, the attitude is a little different. It's still good, but it's a little different. I think some things were challenges for our parents as we were coming along. But I do agree that you need to have those conversations with your parents, you know, as your kids come into their homes. What was the dynamic light for you and Anita as your children, the ones who are married now, as they've grown and now they've married, I'm sure your relational dynamics with them changed somewhat as they mature to the place to where now they're taking on families of their own and moving out of your home.

  14. 28:00

    And what was that transition like for you? Well, for us, because our kids are all Christians and the ones that are married. Let's just pause and thank the Lord for that for us. You need to make all your children. Praise God. All Christians, that is the grace of God. Yes. Lord is precious, the wonderful name. So look, we don't have any major worldview issues that we have to work through. Yeah, that is why. I mean, that's just the way that is. And for us, we've been able to approach our children, not as friends, I wouldn't say as friends, but I wouldn't say in the same role as a parent, because you're not giving instruction. A lot of times you're asking their opinion. And so you're listening to them, and I've learned a lot, and I've listened to my kids. Now, they haven't had the years of walking with the Lord that I've had, and so there's some things that I would maybe do differently. But for us, I mean, that's always been good. One of the challenges is, When your children marry someone, you're hoping that they will love the Lord as well. And that's been my prayer for my kids spouses, that they would love the Lord more than anything. And so I have three son-in-laws and two daughter-in-laws. And they're great people. But when you may have a child that marries into a family that's a lot different, where they say, well, we're not sure we want to teach our children at home. we're not sure we want to have the same standards. That's going to have to be navigated in prayer and according to the scriptures. And again, never undermining a parent's authority to a grandchild. I just come back to that because I think that's very important. Yeah. And you've iterated it and reiterated it. Just why? Why is that so important? Because of parental authority, the parent has the authority from the Lord to instruct in the reason. They are God's representatives in the lives of those children, and that needs to be honored and respected.

  15. 30:02

    Now, if there are unbiblical things going on, there are times when that has to be addressed with the parent, not the child, and that needs to be addressed with the father and not necessarily the daughter. For example, we have three daughters, three son-in-law, if there's an issue with a family activity or whatever, I'd go to the man and we'd work through that as a head of the family. But- Well, it's because you're a chauvinistic misogynist. I mean, you know, I just, patriarchal, all that stuff, stereotypical. No, just because the parental authority is important. It was important to us when we were raising our children, we wanna maintain that. And besides, the children already see what's going on in their own families. You don't need to reiterate that to a child. You need to make them feel secure and accepted and loved. Point them to the Lord by your life and your example, by letting them see you pray for them. Have a Bible in your hand when they come over to your house and you have family gatherings. Read some scripture and pray. You don't have to preach. But that illustration, that object lesson really important in the eyes of a child to see their grandmother, grandfather, be people of faith in walking with the Lord. That's so good. I want to ask you, and this is related, I want to go here, and I know we only have about a minute and some change before this segment is over, but what are some of the things that you prioritized in investing in your own children that aided, and of course, you can't predetermine and that your children will be Christians, but by God's grace, as you mentioned, they all our Christians. So what are some of the things that you prioritize in your own home as you are raising your children and then we'll take it to the next layer and see how some of those things may be passed down to your grandchildren? So the priorities were definitely everything is centered around the character of God. I got to interrupt you right there because the disrespectful music is grabbing.

  16. 32:04

    But when we get back I'm going to re-present that question and we'll continue to conversation. you are listening to and watching the Hamilton Corner, my guest is Jeff Shambly. We're talking about grandparents and their investment in contributing to multi-generational faithfulness to God. How can grandparents serve their grandchildren? The following is from an article by Dr. Jessica Peck, host of the Dr. Nurse Mama Show. Some children feel fear in places they should feel safe every day. So let's be challenged to speak words of life and encouragement. The next time a student shares a discouragement or difficulty with you, try listening first and then engaging them in compassionate and encouraging conversation. Read the full article SchoolMomHope on thestand.net. Shambly host of the stand radio heard every weekend here on American family radio Saturdays at 4 p.m. Central Sundays at 8 p.m. Central before the disrespectful music grabbed us I posed a question to you What were some of the things that you prioritized in your home as you were rearing your own children That you think it's important to share with audience here. Yeah, I say number one Everything revolves around the person and character of God. I mean, God is the center, Christ is the center of what we do. I mean, we bring that into the marriage, we bring that into the child raising. So education centers around that. So when we go through education, math and history and language and all of those things, it always points back to our responsibility to our creator, that we have a loving father, that we need to know him through what he's made, That includes math, that includes science and all those things.

  17. 34:13

    So our homeschools centered around educating on who God is and so forth. And so it's centered around the scriptures as well. So really that's the bedrock. Above that comes everything that points back to it. So you're pointing, you're teaching manners, you're teaching a hard work ethic. You're going outside and the boys are learning how to build things to dig post holes. you know, and build fences and whatever you're doing. We happened to live on eight and a half acres out in the country, so it was easy for us to go out and have animals. We had sheep at one point, some horses and chickens and all of that. So, you know, hands-on activity was really good. Anita does a lot of canning and a lot of home-making kinds of things, so the girls are all cooked really well. Our daughters cook cantons. What time do I need to be on for Thanksgiving? I know it. It's good. I'm telling you. You advertise and I'm responding to the... Yeah, it's good stuff. It's good stuff. But that was really important and then a daily time with the Lord having a daily quiet time, a daily family worship time. We had a big tradition during Advent. We bought an Advent wreath. And so every night during the Advent season we would go through the prophecies of Christ from the Old Testament, all the way to fulfillment in the New Testament. Wow. We'd sing some hymns. spent a long time with that. You know, I preached occasionally. I shouldn't have, you know, but I need to say, they get a long lengthy, but over the year they get a little shorter. But those were those were important things that we did. Now, I refer to the scripture in Luke 640 in the first segment. When Jesus is speaking in Luke records him saying that a pupil is not above his teacher. But when fully trained, the pupil or student will be like his teacher. Also, may the statement that a disciple maker doesn't just teach information, skills and attitudes, but he or she imparts a lifestyle, imparts a lifestyle. What are some of the things that you found to be important as grandparents?

  18. 36:17

    To make sure that you do and live as a part of your lifestyle in an effort to see Christ inculcated in your grandchildren. My wife, if she would hear, she'd say, we want to inculcate a lifestyle of learning. So you never stop learning, you know, when we were homeschooling, It really is more life training, I would say, than homeschooling. Because the idea is that when you grow, you never stop learning. You're always learning more about the Lord, you're learning more about the world that He made, you're learning more about how you can advance the kingdom through your involvement in the culture, whether you are a homemaker or whether you're in a working environment. So I think that would be a big goal for us, is preparing them to not be passive adults to be thinkers and to think biblically. I mean, that was really our goal. And what about, and this is frankly kind of sad because we've seen story after story, especially here recently, if pastors kind of, not kind of falling, compromising the different things, what do you see some of the things that are important in terms of us as me, out Lord willing, I'll be a grandparent at some point to the Lord Terry, that we should seek to invest or pursue in our own lives to try to maintain that legacy of faithfulness beyond just ourselves, even our children. And even as the, sorry, Psalm 78 says, the children yet to be born to see something valuable in our lifestyles that will cause them to want to yield their lives to Christ. Yeah, as I said earlier, you know, the role of the grandparent is to pray for their grandchildren every day to intercede for them. And I would say to that end, Abe, we need to live in such a way that our prayers are actually heard. Because in Psalm 84, 11, he said, no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails us much.

  19. 38:19

    So if we are not living and pursuing God as older adults with the same vitality that we had in our earlier walk with Christ and avoiding laziness spiritually, and pursuing the Lord really, as far as he wants us to live, and to leave behind a legacy of faithfulness. Because as you mentioned, there's so many sad stories of ministers and others who have fallen, and listen, we're all susceptible to that. Absolutely. And that should cause a fearfulness in our hearts to pursue the Lord with a trembling and a fear, and to not get so close to a sinful lifestyle or a pattern that you can be diverted into that. So create a big buffer between you and sin. And I think in two, leaving behind relics of faithfulness. So my mother passed away this past year and I have some of her prayer journals and I've opened them up and I've read, she was praying for my children and she's praying for my grandchildren. And I have that record to be able to pass along. And I have her Bible that's well worn. And that's the kind of thing I want to leave for my grandchildren when they look back at mom, mom, and pop pop. I want them to have a written record of what we have done in notes in our Bibles, memories of seeing us at family gatherings praying with people, not criticizing people, not undermining, but quietly and faithfully pointing to the Lord. Man, you got my wheels turning because what you illustrated is something that I say frequently, but just having you here and having this conversation puts even a more tangible point on it, because the concept of retirement, and I understand what it's meant in the world, what that said, but that's really not a biblical concept. We don't retire from Christ following.

  20. 40:21

    I often say, we don't retire, we refire. I'm not saying you have to remain employed or run in the business, something that way. If the Lord has afforded you the financial capacity to make some adjustments there, that's fine. But we never want to adopt a mentality, kind of a spiritual retirement mindset to where, you know, now I'm older. That's when you get in trouble. That's where trouble comes. That's where the enemy's waiting to catch you when you say, hey, I'm just going to kick back. And I want to say that it may have been John, the Apostle John, that gave some warnings to older men as they get older, not to slip back, not to just relax, because one of the recent pastors who fell was close to 80 years old. And listen, that can happen to anyone if those trap doors are left uncovered. And you just have to be sure that there's some safeguards in place. You mentioned earlier, and I think this is important for people to understand, and you said it just a few moments ago, that what you did with your own children was more life training than just home schooling and then you mentioned some life skill development that your wife is involved in with your grandchildren I often say discipleship is not merely getting the corner less recited to 10 commandments It's how do we exalt Christ in all of life? So in work work ethic post-hole digging? Yeah, you know baking or whatever it is Right, how do we exalt Christ? I think it's important for grandparents to recognize that and to take advantage of every opportunity opportunity to impart a God honoring lifestyle to their grants as Often as they have that opportunity. I know you guys are pursuing that. What would encourage? Would you give? Yeah I would say if you're a grandparent you are already discipling the only question is are you pointing to the Lord? Are you pointing them to the world? You are discipling Even if you're silent your actions speak very loudly What you say what you value you, what you congratulate them for.

  21. 42:22

    So if you're pointing to success in material kinds of things, that's going to stand out. If you give more accolades to those sons or daughters who have positions in the business, or are you looking at your daughters who are, quote, merely staying at home? So I think the things that you value and the things that you talk about will be noticed by your grandchildren. You picked up. Yeah. That's so important to underscore because we might think, well, I'm only discipling when I'm going through the beatitudes or when I'm talking about the fruit of the spirit from Galatians 5, but in what you celebrate. You know, what lights up your eyes. I often reflect on the thing that lit up my dad's eyes with sports. In fact, only was all I played sports because my dad got so excited about it. I didn't really care about it at first, but he got so excited and made me excited about it. Well, yeah. And I don't try to duplicate my own likes and loves for life in the hearts of my grandchildren. I do wanna share some things with them. And listen, there's nothing wrong with sharing whatever your passion is with your children and grandchildren. I was a ham radio operator growing up 15 years old. I got a ham radio license. I'm starting to get back into that. So my grandchildren think that's really cool that you can listen to. Yeah, you listen to Morse code and these radio signals from all over the world and I love amateur astronomy. So I have a 10-inch reflector telescope. We take out in the yard and my kids grew up with some of that, so I take it out with the grandkids. And what a perfect opportunity to talk about the Lord and what He's made, the wonders in the heavens. So there's a lot of things that grandparents can do that the kids will take with them. They'll remember those things. Yeah. What are some cautions you would provide? And I'm not asking you to go into the details of all of your things. But I'm telling you, I value this so much. So what are some, some caution, some things you might recommend that that grandparents may want to avoid or even parents who, you know, like I said, where I am, I'm not a grandparent yet.

  22. 44:25

    What are some things you might recommend that we may need to avoid as we seek to honor the Lord at that particular, this particular life stage? I think when you're starting out as a young parent, a young Christian parent, you think you have everything figured out and you think, okay, well, here's the template. If we do these things, we're going to get this result. As you get older and as they get into the teenage years and beyond, you think, well, that's not going to work. That obviously does not work. And when they get married, that's where you begin to find out what kind of job you did as a parent. It's not when they're 12 or 15 or 18. Those are crazy years anyway. It's when they're 25 or 30 that you begin to say, okay, well, there are some gaps here or there are some things we could have done differently. And I would think the second thing is that, and not to be critical in the children, I mean, they've all, I'm so proud of how they've been matured into adulthood. I mean, I wish that I was as mature as my children are now when I was their age. I was nowhere near where they are now. And I would say, don't hold on to your convictions so strongly that you can't admit your mistakes, because there were times when in discussions of how we were raised, you know, we raised are early children very strictly. I mean, very much. We were on top of everything. With the younger children not so much, our older kids say, well, you let the younger ones get away with everything. Well, our older children had young parents and our younger children have old parents. And so we've changed in how we've, the things that get our attention in those days don't really bother us now. And so being willing to say, I learned some things as a parent and talking to my children, and you will too. You'll parent differently in 10 or 15 years than you do today, because you've grown, I mean, you learn things, and the Lord has shown you that maybe you were trusting in the flesh more than in him, and so you've had to learn those lessons.

  23. 46:29

    So being willing to admit those things and to hopefully pray that your children will take where you've brought them and take it to the next level. You know, that's what I want to do. Yeah, that's my prayer, Lord, my ceiling, we my children's floor. Yes, yeah, yeah. I heard you say that. Yeah, I pray that almost daily even now. And what you described is a continual, really display of humility to your own children, which is still continually to disciple because they'll take that because they know how they were raised. And if there are some changes, they recognize the changes and then they'll present it, hey, you let them get away with murder and it gives you the opportunity to say, Well, here are some things that we learned that have affected how we've made these adjustments. Yeah. So these are some things and even that is instructive even the more for them. This is valuable for me. We're still making those adjustments. I mean, we had a conversation with one of my children at home the other night about, you know, wishing certain things had taken place earlier on in their life. And I thought, okay, well, that's something that we can probably do a little bit better with Caden, who's our youngest. And so we're always learning and we're always getting into the scriptures, we're always reforming as the performers used to say, and always looking for ways to walk more faithfully with the Lord. Thank you so much for joining me here today. My pleasure. This is so helpful for me. I'm positive, it's helpful for lots of people who are listening and watching. I know we have a bevy of grandparents who tune into this program and even parents who tune into this program. This is vitally important. I say every day what happens in your house is far more important than what's going on in the White House. It's easy to allow those things to distract us and avert our attention. But what happens in our house really ultimately shapes our nation. That is the truth. And so what we should seek for is for faithfulness across the long haul of life's journey. Should the Lord afford us additional years of inhaling and exhaling his oxygen, our commitment must be to remain faithful. Thank you. Thank you.

  24. 48:38

    The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.

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