website here<\/a>. Then about six months ago, Will, our second youngest, wanted to also start the study. We do this one in our home.<\/p>\nWhat a privilege to disciple your second generation. Don\u2019t leave it entirely to their parents. Look at Psalm 78.1-8 with me. Observe the number of generations you are impacting when you are purposefully discipling your children and grandchildren. I\u2019ll simply highlight a few verses. Please read them all.<\/p>\n
And our fathers have told us;<\/em><\/p>\nWe will not hide them from their children;<\/em><\/p>\nTelling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord;<\/em><\/p>\nThat they should make them known to their children;<\/em><\/p>\nThat the generation to come might know them;<\/em><\/p>\nThe children who would be born;<\/em><\/p>\nThat they may arise and declare them to their children.<\/em><\/p>\nDisciple them<\/h3>\n
I\u2019ll leave it to you to count the generations that are impacted. It\u2019s definitely not \u2018one and done\u2019<\/em>. Then we see that God is the one who is directing and empowering the fathers in Malachi 4.6a\u2014\u201cAnd he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers\u201d. <\/em><\/strong>Notice that these are the last words recorded in the Old Testament, 400 years before John the Baptist and Jesus were born. No coincidence!<\/p>\nWe then move to these words of Jesus to the disciples and the crowds. \u201cLet the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Mt. 19.14,15). Jesus laid his hands on them and prayed. Dads, you are extending the kingdom of heaven through your little ones, even big ones. As a friend said, \u201cdon\u2019t raise them, disciple them for the gospel of Jesus Christ<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\nEmpowered by Jesus<\/h3>\n
And if the above is not enough encouragement, let\u2019s listen to the last recorded words of Jesus before he ascended. The last thing on his mind and heart must have been really important. He showed<\/u> the disciples, he then commanded<\/u> the disciples and finally empowered<\/u> the disciples. \u201cAll authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded to you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Mt. 28.18). That just might be a specific calling on your life. It is certainly a general command, to all of us.<\/p>\nAnd finally, examine the means by which Jesus planned to facilitate his commands. He was to depart, and now has. \u201cBut you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Acts 1.8). Let\u2019s not get the cart before the horse. Before you feel like going out and saving the world, all the nations, look closely at Jesus\u2019 words. Jerusalem (home);<\/strong> Judea (circle of influence); <\/strong>Samaria (people not like you) <\/strong>and the end of the earth (wherever God might place you, temporarily or permanently). <\/strong>Start with your primary responsibilities\u2014your children and grandchildren. Then, let God lead you to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From generation to generation A year or so ago, I started a session on FaceTime with our youngest grandson who was 14 at the time, now 15, who lives in Great Barrington, MA. We were studying the book of Genesis and the Ten Commandments. The material was developed by Practice Ministries. They have numerous study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[109,111,63,218,134,241,102],"class_list":["post-7040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding","tag-authority","tag-blessing","tag-discipleship","tag-gods-love","tag-grandfather","tag-influence","tag-weekly-devotional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}