Families, 1of3

~ The Bible & Parents ~

Every Parents Question  ~  “So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias.  His mother answered and said, ‘No; he shall be called John.’  But they said to her, ‘There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.’  So they made signs to his father — what he would have him called.  And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, ‘His name is John.’  So they all marveled.  Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God.  Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea.  And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, ‘What kind of child will this be?’  And the hand of the Lord was with him” (Luke 1:59-66). 

God Is Interested In Families  ~  “Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation’” (Genesis 7:1).  “When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ‘Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.’  And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.  So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, ‘Escape for your life!  Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain.  Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed’” (Genesis 19:15-17).  

God Appointed Parents As Teachers  ~  “Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.  And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children’” (Deuteronomy 4:9-10).  “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).  “You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 11:19).  “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments” (Psalm 78:5-7). 

God’s Care for Families  ~  “So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household’” (Acts 16:31).  “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call’” (Acts 2:38-39).

The Bottom Line  ~  “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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