The Hamilton Corner

November 28, 2024 · 48:46

("Best-of" Edition from 10/18) Jeff Chamblee, host of The Stand Radio on AFR, steps into “The Corner.”

Bible & Theology

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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  1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
  2. 0:03It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
  3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
  4. 0:11It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
  5. 0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
  6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
  7. 0:20God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
  8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
  9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
  10. 0:28And now the Hamilton Corner.
  11. 0:32Good evening, everyone.
  12. 0:34Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio.
  13. 0:37I'm your host, Abraham Hamilton the third.
  14. 0:40The real Jay Mac is in the building often imitate and never duplicated.
  15. 0:44And we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program.
  16. 0:49I've been looking forward to having the conversation we're going to have today.
  17. 0:54Something that's certainly near and dear to my heart.
  18. 0:56And I pray that it will be incurred.
  19. 0:59Excuse me, encouraging and edifying to you all as well at this very moment.
  20. 1:05Many of you, if not most of you are making your transitions from your part time jobs,
  21. 1:10where you generate an income to your full time jobs, where you cultivate an outcome.
  22. 1:15As you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality because what goes on in
  23. 1:21your house is far more important than what goes on in the White House.
  24. 1:27This is true every day of the week.
  25. 1:32Even in election season, it is still true.
  26. 1:36And you're gonna see a large part,
  27. 1:41I'll say this way, a large part of what we desire
  28. 1:44in terms of outcome, sorry, outcome cultivation,
  29. 1:49is a byproduct of who we are.
  30. 1:51It's a byproduct of who we are.
  31. 1:53So as you make your transition from your part-time job
  32. 1:57where you generate revenue to your full-time job
  33. 1:59you're cultivating an outcome, remember that God desires our external engagement in ministry
  34. 2:05to be the result, or should I say the overflow of what we enjoy with him personally.
  35. 2:13We, even in our efforts to be disciple makers, never graduate beyond being disciples ourselves,
  36. 2:22that we are being refined, we are being challenged, we are being transformed, and our external
  37. 2:28Ministerial investment must be, must be a byproduct of what we are enjoying and experiencing as
  38. 2:35the Lord is maturing us and growing us.
  39. 2:39It is a sobering, sobering reality.
  40. 2:42The scripture bears it out.
  41. 2:44I mean, Luke 640 says it very well that a student, a pupil, when fully trained will be
  42. 2:50like his teacher.
  43. 2:52You know, and it's something that I often ponder and really welcome the Lord to search me by
  44. 2:58I have spirit Lord, where am I?
  45. 3:01When fully trained, do I want my children to be like me?
  46. 3:06When fully trained, the people that I'm pouring into,
  47. 3:08do I want them?
  48. 3:09Would it be beneficial to them?
  49. 3:10Would it be God-honored?
  50. 3:11Would it be God-glorifying for them to be, you know,
  51. 3:16to ascribe and to embrace certain aspects
  52. 3:19of what they've experienced?
  53. 3:21This is something that is certainly certainly
  54. 3:24worth consideration.
  55. 3:25So again, as you're making your transition,
  56. 3:27I want to remind you that what goes on in your house is far more important
  57. 3:33What happens in the White House the first institution the first human institution that God created was the family with marriage at the center?
  58. 3:39You know before you get to an order of priests in order of prophets the first human institution was the family
  59. 3:45Family is a big deal to God
  60. 3:48Family shapes who we are. That's by God's design
  61. 3:51You know I
  62. 3:54Refer to this often in the mental health profession when people get counseling when people go to therapy
  63. 4:00One of the first questions always is, what was your relationship with your father?
  64. 4:05No matter who it is, whether it's a male, whether it's a man, whether it's a woman, that's usually
  65. 4:09the first question.
  66. 4:11Some of the other questions will delve into what was your family dynamics.
  67. 4:14You know, how did you all interact in the home?
  68. 4:17Because it is intentionally, God designed that relationship to be shaping, to be formative,
  69. 4:24to have a lasting impact.
  70. 4:27Many of us are recovering from negative experiences in those contexts, but the negative experiences
  71. 4:35don't undermine or nullify what God's design is.
  72. 4:41And in spite of whatever experiences we may have encountered, we may have endured, the
  73. 4:46grace of God is available to us to reformat us, to reshape us, and to transform us so that
  74. 4:51what happens in our families, subsequently, is the product of the revolutionary transforming
  75. 4:59power of God. That no matter what has happened in your family background before you came to
  76. 5:06know Christ, everything changes once Christ enters the picture. Everything changes. Let us
  77. 5:18go to the Word of God. We're going to go to Psalm 78, a mass skill of Asaph as I was described.
  78. 5:25The mass skill is a particular type of Psalm. I've used this analogy before. We have the
  79. 5:31overarching genre of poetry that we're familiar with within English literature.
  80. 5:35A particular type of poem is a Shakespearean sonnet, right? A sonnet. You also have
  81. 5:42acrostic poems. Those are different types of poems within the category of poetry, right?
  82. 5:49This Maskell is a particular type of psalm. And in it, Asaf writes in Psalm 78,
  83. 5:57verses 5 through 7 is where I'm going to focus. And in his writing he reveals an
  84. 6:03an aspect that is intrinsic to manhood biblically.
  85. 6:07All right.
  86. 6:09This is what the Psalmist writes Psalm 78 verse five for he
  87. 6:13referring to God established a testimony in Jacob.
  88. 6:18He appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers
  89. 6:23that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come
  90. 6:28might know even the children yet to be born.
  91. 6:32that they may arise and tell them to their children,
  92. 6:37that they should put their confidence in God
  93. 6:40and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.
  94. 6:46The characteristic of Biblical manhood and Trinsic II Biblical manhood
  95. 6:51that's revealed in this text is God ordains men to be generational,
  96. 6:56envision, generational, and view generational
  97. 7:01and investment.
  98. 7:02Generationality is intrinsic to us, to where we conduct ourselves, we live in a certain way,
  99. 7:07we invest ourselves in a certain way where we have the generations that follow us in mind.
  100. 7:12Hey, how do you reconcile that with potentially being in the last days?
  101. 7:18Very simply, very easily.
  102. 7:23The Apostle Paul, the Apostle James, the Apostle John, they believe they were living in the last
  103. 7:30days as well.
  104. 7:33is sovereign over the conclusion of human history. We should be
  105. 7:39sober minded and recognize what the scripture says to us in a
  106. 7:44comprehensive sense to our real recognition of where we are in
  107. 7:54time in terms of what the Bible says what we're transpiring in
  108. 7:57the last days also is metered by God's command to us. It is
  109. 8:03because of a recognition as to where we are in terms of the potentiality of the human timeline,
  110. 8:09human history's timeline, that we should be all the more engaged, invigorated to obey what God has
  111. 8:17commanded us to say is simply, we should live for eternity and living for eternity guides and
  112. 8:24instructs what we do with the time He's given us and they hear now to say it even the more simply
  113. 8:29because of our confidence in eternal life,
  114. 8:32it should govern how we approach every minute
  115. 8:36that God gives us on this side of eternity.
  116. 8:40We should recognize that the Lord establishes commission
  117. 8:42and commanded us to execute it in view of the reality
  118. 8:45that human history is moving towards its culmination
  119. 8:47and conclusion.
  120. 8:50Here I've explained this before,
  121. 8:53the testimony that was established in Israel,
  122. 8:55that ASAP refers to in this song.
  123. 9:02And the law that was appointed in Israel
  124. 9:06is that he commanded our fathers, one generation,
  125. 9:09that they should teach them to their children,
  126. 9:12a second generation, that the generation to come,
  127. 9:16a third generation, might know even the children yet
  128. 9:20to be born, a fourth generation.
  129. 9:24The scripture is commanding that men in particular
  130. 9:28should have future generations, even those yet to be born
  131. 9:32in view as we navigate our lives.
  132. 9:36Then it continues in verse six, I'll reverse it again,
  133. 9:39that the generation to come might know, even the children you had to be born,
  134. 9:42that they, the children you had to be born, might arise and tell them to their children.
  135. 9:46A fifth generation to tell the generations what? Verse 7, that they should put their confidence in God
  136. 9:56and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Guys, this text brings to the forefront
  137. 10:06what I describe as the visionary versus dreamer, polarity. What am I talking about?
  138. 10:16Dreamers are men who have all kinds of ideas.
  139. 10:21This 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.
  140. 10:27With no wherewithal nor willingness to put feet to that dream, to that idea.
  141. 10:34A visionary however is one who yes has ideas, has goals to ascribe toward, metrics to move toward,
  142. 10:47and put feet to them. This generationality that I'm talking about that is intrinsic to
  143. 10:53Biblical manhood requires that we as men are not mere dreamers but with visionaries. Considering
  144. 11:04the necessity of being a visionary, the question rhetorically that should confront every one of us,
  145. 11:10that if we are going to embrace the generality that is characteristic of Biblical manhood,
  146. 11:17What are we implementing in our lives now in order to bring this vision to fruition?
  147. 11:24If generationality is intrinsic to Biblical manhood, what are we implementing in our lives now to bring this into fruition?
  148. 11:33I 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
  149. 11:43such a degree to where even the children yet to be born.
  150. 11:48We'll see the merit and value of embracing daddy and grandads and great grandads, manner
  151. 11:55of living to place their confidence in God, to forget not the works of God's God but to
  152. 12:04keep his commandments.
  153. 12:07What does this bring me to the verse I referred to earlier, Luke chapter 6 verse 40.
  154. 12:14A pupil is not above his teacher, but everyone after he's been fully trained will be like his teacher.
  155. 12:22I want to be clear.
  156. 12:26The call to be a disciple maker is not to make clones of you and me.
  157. 12:31When Luke is making this in recording, really Jesus instructions here, Luke is recording Jesus's teaching.
  158. 12:38He's announcing a principle that is reality.
  159. 12:44This is why I said discipleship is a constant.
  160. 12:46The only question is who's gonna be the discipler
  161. 12:48and in what direction and what trajectory
  162. 12:51is one being discipled?
  163. 12:53Because right now we're living in the consequence
  164. 12:56of the world being more effective
  165. 12:58and more committed to multi-generational discipleship
  166. 13:00than the church by and large.
  167. 13:02What we're living in is the harvest
  168. 13:05that has resulted from seed sewn
  169. 13:10and the cultivating work that has transpired
  170. 13:12for well over a century.
  171. 13:13That's what we are guys.
  172. 13:16When we are disciple makers,
  173. 13:19we don't just teach information and skills
  174. 13:22and attitudes, disciple makers impart a lifestyle.
  175. 13:29Disciples makers impart a lifestyle, not just information,
  176. 13:32not just skills, of course, the lifestyles
  177. 13:34will include information and skills of various sorts,
  178. 13:37and attitudes of various sorts.
  179. 13:39But ultimately, what we're seeking to impart is a lifestyle.
  180. 13:44So if generationality is something we will embrace,
  181. 13:48will we be dreamers, or will we be visionaries?
  182. 13:56I know the Lord would have us to be visionary.
  183. 13:59So if we are going to be biblical men,
  184. 14:02and I know I'm talking to the men today,
  185. 14:06what is our manner of living,
  186. 14:08our quality of living that we would impart as a lifestyle
  187. 14:12that would provoke even the generations yet to be born,
  188. 14:17not to reject and rebel against the faith of their fathers,
  189. 14:22grandfathers, great-grandfathers,
  190. 14:24but what caused them to say, man,
  191. 14:25I know what a godly man is,
  192. 14:27because I've had a father, a grandfather,
  193. 14:29a great-grandfather,
  194. 14:30And because of their witness and example, I want to provide a similar witness and example
  195. 14:36that I know what a man of God looks like because I had one in my home.
  196. 14:39Or I had one in my granddad.
  197. 14:41I had one in my great granddad.
  198. 14:43Fellas if we have a commitment to generationality, it requires us to be not mere dreamers, but
  199. 14:48to be visionaries, put a feet to the vision that God has given us.
  200. 15:00Those who place their faith in Jesus are elevated to an extraordinary position.
  201. 15:05co-heirs with Christ we share in His inheritance.
  202. 15:08The Gospel is the ultimate dignity giver,
  203. 15:10elevating the unworthy to unimaginable heights.
  204. 15:14Our lives should reflect this dignity,
  205. 15:16empowering us to extend the same grace and love to others
  206. 15:19that has been so generously given to us.
  207. 15:22I'm Jordan Shambly, and you can read the rest
  208. 15:24of the Gospel Dignifers, The Undignified, on TheStand.net.
  209. 15:34Shiting light into the darkness,
  210. 15:36this is the Hamilton Quarter, an American family radio.
  211. 15:40Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton the third here.
  212. 15:43I am delighted as I mentioned to have this conversation.
  213. 15:46I've been wanting to have it for a while, but I'm glad to be able to do so today.
  214. 15:50I have in studio with me, none other than Mr. Jeff Shambly.
  215. 15:56He is the host of the stand radio, which you can hear every Saturday right here in American
  216. 16:01family radio at 4 p.m. Central time and on Sundays at 8 p.m. Central time.
  217. 16:07Jeff is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
  218. 16:12He served as a worship leader in churches in Mississippi, Texas and Georgia.
  219. 16:16He's worked at AFR in multiple capacities since 1998, including several years as director
  220. 16:22of American Family Studios.
  221. 16:24And as I mentioned, he now works with the Stand Magazine and hosts a weekend radio program
  222. 16:29called The Stand Radio.
  223. 16:31He and his wife Anita have seven children, four boys and three girls.
  224. 16:34And they have 19 grandchildren.
  225. 16:38And the grandchildren is what I really want to talk about with you today because I began
  226. 16:43the program talking about generationality being something that is intrinsic to Biblical manhood.
  227. 16:49And I've spoken a lot about being a father, being a husband, but I wanted to have a conversation
  228. 16:53particularly about being a grandparent and endeavoring to be faithful in that stage of
  229. 17:01our lives.
  230. 17:02But before we do that, I just want to invite you, Jeff, just to share with the audience here,
  231. 17:07What it is you do with the stand radio program and the stand magazine.
  232. 17:09Thank you Abe.
  233. 17:10Yeah, I work with the stand magazine and I contribute to some of the writing and also
  234. 17:15host and produce the stand radio program as you've mentioned.
  235. 17:18So we're taking a lot of the same topics, culture, faith and family, putting that into a half
  236. 17:24hour radio format and it's available as a podcast at aFR.net as well.
  237. 17:28So just love doing that work.
  238. 17:30Talk to a lot of really smart people and they get to learn a lot of things.
  239. 17:33So I enjoy that phrase got for that.
  240. 17:35And for those who don't know, the Stand Magazine
  241. 17:37is AFA's print publication,
  242. 17:41and listeners can get that print publication.
  243. 17:44Would you just share with them?
  244. 17:44Sure, we're offering a free six month trial subscription
  245. 17:49when you go to AFA.net slash the stand.
  246. 17:51So you can check out past issues of the Stand Magazine,
  247. 17:55look at the digital content,
  248. 17:56and there's a link to the Stand Radio as well.
  249. 17:58So yeah, it's our flagship publication.
  250. 18:00It goes back to the very beginning.
  251. 18:02Back when Brother Don started this,
  252. 18:03There were no pictures, no graphics.
  253. 18:05It was words from cover to cover.
  254. 18:08I mean, it was packed, but we cover a lot of the main issues
  255. 18:10that IFA are covering.
  256. 18:11Amen.
  257. 18:13So as I mentioned, the conversation I wanted to have,
  258. 18:15because I know you're a husband, you're a father.
  259. 18:18I know you've discipled your children in the home,
  260. 18:21get the privilege of working with one of your sons
  261. 18:23here on staff at AFA.
  262. 18:25But I just, I wanted to invite you onto the program
  263. 18:28to glean wisdom, one of the things I enjoy doing
  264. 18:30among a host of things is being able to converse with believers
  265. 18:35who are further along than I am at different stages of life.
  266. 18:38And I know we have a lot of listeners
  267. 18:39who would benefit from this conversation as well.
  268. 18:41So I wanted to just to kind of glean some wisdom from you
  269. 18:44as to how you and your lovely wife Anita
  270. 18:48have invested yourselves at this stage
  271. 18:51where you now have not only seven children,
  272. 18:53but 19 grandchildren.
  273. 18:55So you would include some spouses of your children,
  274. 18:59grandchildren the whole bit.
  275. 19:00So I just wanted to introduce the topic
  276. 19:04and let you walk us where you want to walk
  277. 19:06as some of the things you've learned
  278. 19:07in the journey where you are so far.
  279. 19:08I appreciate that opportunity.
  280. 19:10I don't know who is an expert in this.
  281. 19:11I can tell you a thousand things not to do.
  282. 19:14And that's where my expertise is.
  283. 19:16But I would say that my wife Anita carries the bulk
  284. 19:20of the hands-on instruction.
  285. 19:24We've homeschooled for 40 years.
  286. 19:26And so she's still at it.
  287. 19:29We have two boys at home.
  288. 19:31So not only do we have 19 grandchildren,
  289. 19:33we have two children still at home.
  290. 19:35And I was caring for my own mother
  291. 19:38up until May of last year.
  292. 19:40So we found ourselves in a very unique position.
  293. 19:42We were caring for an elderly parent.
  294. 19:45We're also raising children
  295. 19:47and we're also taking care of grandchildren.
  296. 19:49We did not anticipate that when Anita
  297. 19:52and I first got married.
  298. 19:54And we decided that if the Lord would allow,
  299. 19:57we would have a large family.
  300. 19:58And so we had seven children,
  301. 20:02they're roughly four years apart.
  302. 20:04And so our oldest is 40,
  303. 20:08and our youngest is 16.
  304. 20:10So I have grandchildren the same age as my son.
  305. 20:13That's some of your children.
  306. 20:14Yeah, which is kind of neat.
  307. 20:16It's kind of different.
  308. 20:17It's funny you said a larger family.
  309. 20:18I think that someone on the board of HSLDA now,
  310. 20:21And when Mike Ferris invited me to join the board,
  311. 20:24he said, oh, you got a nice starter family.
  312. 20:25We have six children.
  313. 20:26So every time I hear I think about that,
  314. 20:28I say starter family.
  315. 20:29Yeah, yeah.
  316. 20:30Some families are really large.
  317. 20:31I know.
  318. 20:33But my role is a grandparent.
  319. 20:37And I look at, I look at passages like Deuteronomy chapter
  320. 20:40four in verse nine, where the Lord is warning the people
  321. 20:44to take heed and to what they've been taught.
  322. 20:48And he says, and teach them to your children
  323. 20:50and your grandchildren.
  324. 20:51So I think the Lord intends for grandparents
  325. 20:54to have an instructional,
  326. 20:56discipling role in their grandchildren's lives.
  327. 20:59Now that's gonna look different than it is raising a child.
  328. 21:02For us growing up, I mean, we were every night,
  329. 21:06you know, in the den with the Bible open
  330. 21:09and reading the scriptures.
  331. 21:11Talk about what you,
  332. 21:12raising our children right, right.
  333. 21:14So, you know, we made family worship time a real priority,
  334. 21:19you know, when the kids were growing up.
  335. 21:20and still do, but you don't have that element
  336. 21:23with grandchildren.
  337. 21:24And so what you do with grandchildren
  338. 21:26is a little bit different.
  339. 21:27Now my wife today, and I wish she could be here,
  340. 21:30but she's taking care of three of our grandchildren,
  341. 21:33while our second daughter is at MD Anderson
  342. 21:35receiving some cancer treatment.
  343. 21:37And so, because she has been a homeschool mom
  344. 21:41for all these years, she has the freedom
  345. 21:42to be able to bring the grandchildren into the home
  346. 21:45and actually homeschool them as well.
  347. 21:47So when you say, what are you doing
  348. 21:49to disciple your grandchildren?
  349. 21:50Anita's role is very hands-on.
  350. 21:54I mean, she's talking about the Lord
  351. 21:57and walking them through the Word,
  352. 21:59also working on math, doing activities
  353. 22:02that are family-related activities,
  354. 22:05how to cook, how to fun games and things like that.
  355. 22:08So she's got a very direct role.
  356. 22:10Mine is more indirect.
  357. 22:15For the grandchildren specifically, every morning,
  358. 22:18I've always been reminded of Job and how he went before the Lord every morning and prayed
  359. 22:23for his children.
  360. 22:24And from the time that she and I began to homeschool and he and I began homeschool, that was an important
  361. 22:29picture to me.
  362. 22:30So every morning, my routine is to pray for the grandchildren by name.
  363. 22:35Chase, Eli, Ashton, Claire, Carolina, Aiden, Sawyer, Swazie, Declan, Colin, Haden, Henry,
  364. 22:40Everly, Joseph, Andy, Amelia, Audrey, the baby, Archie and Maeve.
  365. 22:46By name and praying.
  366. 22:47I expect you almost did it alphabetically.
  367. 22:49Well, I go by family.
  368. 22:50Okay.
  369. 22:51So I go by my oldest daughter is Lauren
  370. 22:54and I go with her nine children.
  371. 22:56Then we go to Devon and Jordan and Aaron
  372. 22:58and I have two that are not married.
  373. 22:59So I'll have to do some more memory work.
  374. 23:00When the youngest get married.
  375. 23:02Anyway, that's worth it.
  376. 23:03But I pray that the Lord would move on their hearts
  377. 23:05that he'd save their souls,
  378. 23:07keep them from the deception of the world,
  379. 23:09keep them from the enemy and preserve them.
  380. 23:12And I pray for their parents.
  381. 23:13You know, part of this difficulty or part of the challenge of being a grandparent and
  382. 23:21discipling is that you have to respect the boundaries of your children's families.
  383. 23:25Yeah, please talk about that.
  384. 23:27Because when you bring up a family, you have family standards of what the manners are going
  385. 23:33to be in the home, what's going to be acceptable in terms of books and media.
  386. 23:39And then when you have children, they need to wrestle with those issues for themselves.
  387. 23:43And some of them will approach things differently.
  388. 23:47So when you have grandchildren coming back into your home and mixing with your own children
  389. 23:54that are still home, you have to maintain the standards that you've always held, but you have
  390. 23:58to be flexible enough to be able to not offend or to say things that are just, you know, you
  391. 24:05need to let the people, let the children be their own children.
  392. 24:08That is a very interesting dynamic because often we think about, even in my own mind, when I
  393. 24:14think about grandparents influencing contribution to the shaping of grandchildren, it's often
  394. 24:20not within the consideration of the grandparents having their own children who are still in
  395. 24:25the home as well and not wanting to undermine or undercut the parents, your children's convictions
  396. 24:33while also maintaining your, that is a very interesting dynamic.
  397. 24:37talk to a grandchild in a negative way about their parents. I mean that that
  398. 24:43even if there's something that you would disagree with I mean we've Anita and I've
  399. 24:47always had this understanding and I think we've learned this from from other
  400. 24:51people as well that even if there's something that you would do differently
  401. 24:55as a family you never criticize a parent to a child you know but you have to
  402. 25:02explain why we do things differently so it's it's a delicate process but I think
  403. 25:07you know, you look to the Lord and for His grace in that.
  404. 25:10So you have to hold to your truth,
  405. 25:12but you have to be flexible enough to allow parents
  406. 25:16to be the parents.
  407. 25:17Now we do have a rule, a rule.
  408. 25:19So if the grandchildren come into our house,
  409. 25:21our rules apply.
  410. 25:23Okay, so.
  411. 25:24And this is something you would have discussed
  412. 25:25beforehand with the parents.
  413. 25:27I mean, they all know that.
  414. 25:28They all know that.
  415. 25:29And my approach is that, look, I'm going to handle
  416. 25:34grandchildren the way that their moms and dads were handled.
  417. 25:37You know, so they know what to expect when they come in.
  418. 25:41But you know, our kids, look, we're pretty much on the same page.
  419. 25:45They're all walking with the Lord.
  420. 25:48They all have the same view of education.
  421. 25:51They all have the same view of discipling children.
  422. 25:55So these are no big hurdles that we have to overcome at all.
  423. 25:59Well, praise God.
  424. 26:00I do a bless with that.
  425. 26:01I get people asking all the time,
  426. 26:03maybe what do I do in this situation where my children don't share my view on these matters?
  427. 26:10How do I respond to my grandchildren in those contexts? And I've explained to many, many callers,
  428. 26:19listeners, they'll email or whatever that you never want to undermine your children, your grandchildren's
  429. 26:26parents. However, like you just said, I think it's important to communicate with your children,
  430. 26:32your grandchildren's parents upfront as to what they should expect
  431. 26:36and give them the opportunity to determine whether or not they're willing
  432. 26:39to allow that to happen. When I have found just experientially, this is anecdote,
  433. 26:43when that happens I have found most children are willing to allow their grandparents
  434. 26:49to invest in them as they see fit in most of the time, not always, but most of the time as long
  435. 26:54as that communication between parent and grandparent happens upfront, not after the fact.
  436. 26:59That's good.
  437. 27:00That's what I, but just find experientially.
  438. 27:02Yeah, and I think when we first decided
  439. 27:05to have a large family, I think our parents were supportive.
  440. 27:13But when you approach and say, well, number three's coming
  441. 27:16along, now number four's coming along,
  442. 27:18we're having number five.
  443. 27:20At some point, the attitude is a little different.
  444. 27:24It's still good, but it's a little different.
  445. 27:27I think some things were challenges for our parents
  446. 27:29as we were coming along.
  447. 27:31But I do agree that you need to have those conversations
  448. 27:35with your parents, you know,
  449. 27:37as your kids come into their homes.
  450. 27:39What was the dynamic light for you and Anita
  451. 27:43as your children, the ones who are married now,
  452. 27:47as they've grown and now they've married,
  453. 27:50I'm sure your relational dynamics with them
  454. 27:53changed somewhat as they mature to the place to where now
  455. 27:56they're taking on families of their own
  456. 27:59and moving out of your home.
  457. 28:00And what was that transition like for you?
  458. 28:03Well, for us, because our kids are all Christians
  459. 28:06and the ones that are married.
  460. 28:07Let's just pause and thank the Lord for that for us.
  461. 28:09You need to make all your children.
  462. 28:11Praise God.
  463. 28:12All Christians, that is the grace of God.
  464. 28:13Yes.
  465. 28:14Lord is precious, the wonderful name.
  466. 28:15So look, we don't have any major worldview issues
  467. 28:19that we have to work through.
  468. 28:20Yeah, that is why.
  469. 28:21I mean, that's just the way that is.
  470. 28:23And for us, we've been able to approach our children,
  471. 28:26not as friends, I wouldn't say as friends,
  472. 28:28but I wouldn't say in the same role as a parent,
  473. 28:31because you're not giving instruction.
  474. 28:35A lot of times you're asking their opinion.
  475. 28:37And so you're listening to them,
  476. 28:39and I've learned a lot, and I've listened to my kids.
  477. 28:42Now, they haven't had the years of walking
  478. 28:45with the Lord that I've had,
  479. 28:46and so there's some things that I would maybe do differently.
  480. 28:50But for us, I mean, that's always been good.
  481. 28:52One of the challenges is,
  482. 28:55When your children marry someone,
  483. 28:57you're hoping that they will love the Lord as well.
  484. 28:59And that's been my prayer for my kids spouses,
  485. 29:01that they would love the Lord more than anything.
  486. 29:05And so I have three son-in-laws and two daughter-in-laws.
  487. 29:10And they're great people.
  488. 29:13But when you may have a child that marries
  489. 29:16into a family that's a lot different,
  490. 29:18where they say, well, we're not sure we want
  491. 29:20to teach our children at home.
  492. 29:22we're not sure we want to have the same standards.
  493. 29:25That's going to have to be navigated in prayer
  494. 29:29and according to the scriptures.
  495. 29:31And again, never undermining a parent's authority
  496. 29:35to a grandchild.
  497. 29:37I just come back to that
  498. 29:38because I think that's very important.
  499. 29:39Yeah.
  500. 29:40And you've iterated it and reiterated it.
  501. 29:44Just why?
  502. 29:45Why is that so important?
  503. 29:46Because of parental authority,
  504. 29:48the parent has the authority from the Lord to instruct in the reason.
  505. 29:55They are God's representatives in the lives of those children, and that needs to be honored
  506. 30:01and respected.
  507. 30:02Now, if there are unbiblical things going on, there are times when that has to be addressed
  508. 30:07with the parent, not the child, and that needs to be addressed with the father and not necessarily
  509. 30:13the daughter.
  510. 30:14For example, we have three daughters, three son-in-law,
  511. 30:19if there's an issue with a family activity or whatever,
  512. 30:22I'd go to the man and we'd work through that
  513. 30:25as a head of the family.
  514. 30:27But-
  515. 30:28Well, it's because you're a chauvinistic misogynist.
  516. 30:29I mean, you know, I just, patriarchal,
  517. 30:32all that stuff, stereotypical.
  518. 30:35No, just because the parental authority is important.
  519. 30:38It was important to us when we were raising our children,
  520. 30:41we wanna maintain that.
  521. 30:42And besides, the children already see what's going on
  522. 30:45in their own families.
  523. 30:46You don't need to reiterate that to a child.
  524. 30:49You need to make them feel secure and accepted and loved.
  525. 30:53Point them to the Lord by your life and your example,
  526. 30:57by letting them see you pray for them.
  527. 31:00Have a Bible in your hand when they come over to your house
  528. 31:02and you have family gatherings.
  529. 31:04Read some scripture and pray.
  530. 31:06You don't have to preach.
  531. 31:07But that illustration, that object lesson
  532. 31:10really important in the eyes of a child to see their grandmother, grandfather, be people
  533. 31:16of faith in walking with the Lord.
  534. 31:18That's so good.
  535. 31:19I want to ask you, and this is related, I want to go here, and I know we only have about
  536. 31:24a minute and some change before this segment is over, but what are some of the things that
  537. 31:28you prioritized in investing in your own children that aided, and of course, you can't predetermine
  538. 31:36and that your children will be Christians, but by God's grace, as you mentioned, they
  539. 31:40all our Christians. So what are some of the things that you prioritize in your own home
  540. 31:44as you are raising your children and then we'll take it to the next layer and see how
  541. 31:50some of those things may be passed down to your grandchildren?
  542. 31:53So the priorities were definitely everything is centered around the character of God.
  543. 31:59I got to interrupt you right there because the disrespectful music is grabbing.
  544. 32:04But when we get back I'm going to re-present that question and we'll continue to conversation.
  545. 32:10you are listening to and watching the Hamilton Corner, my guest is Jeff Shambly.
  546. 32:14We're talking about grandparents and their investment in contributing to
  547. 32:19multi-generational faithfulness to God.
  548. 32:21How can grandparents serve their grandchildren?
  549. 32:24The following is from an article by Dr. Jessica Peck, host of the Dr. Nurse Mama Show.
  550. 32:34Some children feel fear in places they should feel safe every day.
  551. 32:39So let's be challenged to speak words of life and encouragement.
  552. 32:43The next time a student shares a discouragement or difficulty with you,
  553. 32:47try listening first and then engaging them in compassionate and encouraging conversation.
  554. 32:53Read the full article SchoolMomHope on thestand.net.
  555. 33:18Shambly host of the stand radio heard every weekend here on American family radio Saturdays at 4 p.m. Central
  556. 33:24Sundays at 8 p.m. Central before the disrespectful music grabbed us I posed a question to you
  557. 33:30What were some of the things that you prioritized in your home as you were rearing your own children
  558. 33:35That you think it's important to share with audience here. Yeah, I say number one
  559. 33:40Everything revolves around
  560. 33:42the person and character of God.
  561. 33:44I mean, God is the center, Christ is the center of what we do.
  562. 33:47I mean, we bring that into the marriage,
  563. 33:50we bring that into the child raising.
  564. 33:52So education centers around that.
  565. 33:54So when we go through education, math and history
  566. 33:58and language and all of those things,
  567. 34:01it always points back to our responsibility to our creator,
  568. 34:06that we have a loving father,
  569. 34:07that we need to know him through what he's made,
  570. 34:10That includes math, that includes science and all those things.
  571. 34:13So our homeschools centered around educating on who God is and so forth.
  572. 34:19And so it's centered around the scriptures as well.
  573. 34:22So really that's the bedrock.
  574. 34:24Above that comes everything that points back to it.
  575. 34:27So you're pointing, you're teaching manners, you're teaching a hard work ethic.
  576. 34:33You're going outside and the boys are learning how to build things to dig post holes.
  577. 34:39you know, and build fences and whatever you're doing.
  578. 34:43We happened to live on eight and a half acres out in the country,
  579. 34:45so it was easy for us to go out and have animals.
  580. 34:47We had sheep at one point, some horses and chickens and all of that.
  581. 34:52So, you know, hands-on activity was really good.
  582. 34:55Anita does a lot of canning and a lot of home-making kinds of things,
  583. 35:01so the girls are all cooked really well.
  584. 35:04Our daughters cook cantons.
  585. 35:05What time do I need to be on for Thanksgiving?
  586. 35:07I know it. It's good.
  587. 35:09I'm telling you.
  588. 35:10You advertise and I'm responding to the...
  589. 35:12Yeah, it's good stuff.
  590. 35:14It's good stuff.
  591. 35:15But that was really important and then a daily time with the Lord having a daily quiet time,
  592. 35:22a daily family worship time.
  593. 35:25We had a big tradition during Advent.
  594. 35:27We bought an Advent wreath.
  595. 35:29And so every night during the Advent season we would go through the prophecies of Christ
  596. 35:33from the Old Testament, all the way to fulfillment in the New Testament.
  597. 35:36Wow.
  598. 35:37We'd sing some hymns.
  599. 35:38spent a long time with that.
  600. 35:39You know, I preached occasionally.
  601. 35:40I shouldn't have, you know, but I need to say,
  602. 35:42they get a long lengthy, but over the year
  603. 35:45they get a little shorter.
  604. 35:46But those were those were important things that we did.
  605. 35:49Now, I refer to the scripture in Luke 640 in the first segment.
  606. 35:55When Jesus is speaking in Luke records him saying
  607. 35:57that a pupil is not above his teacher.
  608. 35:59But when fully trained, the pupil or student
  609. 36:01will be like his teacher.
  610. 36:03Also, may the statement that a disciple maker
  611. 36:05doesn't just teach information, skills and attitudes,
  612. 36:07but he or she imparts a lifestyle, imparts a lifestyle.
  613. 36:12What are some of the things that you found
  614. 36:15to be important as grandparents?
  615. 36:17To make sure that you do and live as a part of your lifestyle
  616. 36:22in an effort to see Christ inculcated in your grandchildren.
  617. 36:26My wife, if she would hear, she'd say,
  618. 36:27we want to inculcate a lifestyle of learning.
  619. 36:31So you never stop learning, you know,
  620. 36:33when we were homeschooling,
  621. 36:35It really is more life training, I would say, than homeschooling.
  622. 36:39Because the idea is that when you grow, you never stop learning.
  623. 36:43You're always learning more about the Lord, you're learning more about the world that He
  624. 36:46made, you're learning more about how you can advance the kingdom through your involvement
  625. 36:51in the culture, whether you are a homemaker or whether you're in a working environment.
  626. 36:56So I think that would be a big goal for us, is preparing them to not be passive adults
  627. 37:05to be thinkers and to think biblically.
  628. 37:08I mean, that was really our goal.
  629. 37:10And what about, and this is frankly kind of sad
  630. 37:14because we've seen story after story,
  631. 37:16especially here recently, if pastors kind of,
  632. 37:20not kind of falling, compromising the different things,
  633. 37:23what do you see some of the things that are important
  634. 37:27in terms of us as me,
  635. 37:29out Lord willing, I'll be a grandparent at some point
  636. 37:31to the Lord Terry,
  637. 37:33that we should seek to invest or pursue in our own lives
  638. 37:37to try to maintain that legacy of faithfulness
  639. 37:40beyond just ourselves, even our children.
  640. 37:43And even as the, sorry, Psalm 78 says,
  641. 37:45the children yet to be born to see something valuable
  642. 37:50in our lifestyles that will cause them
  643. 37:52to want to yield their lives to Christ.
  644. 37:53Yeah, as I said earlier, you know,
  645. 37:55the role of the grandparent is to pray
  646. 37:57for their grandchildren every day to intercede for them.
  647. 38:00And I would say to that end, Abe,
  648. 38:02we need to live in such a way that our prayers are actually heard.
  649. 38:06Because in Psalm 84, 11, he said,
  650. 38:10no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
  651. 38:15The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails us much.
  652. 38:19So if we are not living and pursuing God as older adults
  653. 38:25with the same vitality that we had in our earlier walk with Christ
  654. 38:30and avoiding laziness spiritually,
  655. 38:33and pursuing the Lord really,
  656. 38:35as far as he wants us to live,
  657. 38:37and to leave behind a legacy of faithfulness.
  658. 38:40Because as you mentioned,
  659. 38:41there's so many sad stories of ministers and others
  660. 38:44who have fallen, and listen, we're all susceptible to that.
  661. 38:48Absolutely.
  662. 38:49And that should cause a fearfulness in our hearts
  663. 38:51to pursue the Lord with a trembling and a fear,
  664. 38:54and to not get so close to a sinful lifestyle
  665. 38:58or a pattern that you can be diverted into that.
  666. 39:01So create a big buffer between you and sin.
  667. 39:05And I think in two, leaving behind relics of faithfulness.
  668. 39:11So my mother passed away this past year
  669. 39:15and I have some of her prayer journals
  670. 39:18and I've opened them up and I've read,
  671. 39:19she was praying for my children
  672. 39:22and she's praying for my grandchildren.
  673. 39:24And I have that record to be able to pass along.
  674. 39:27And I have her Bible that's well worn.
  675. 39:31And that's the kind of thing I want to leave
  676. 39:34for my grandchildren when they look back at mom, mom,
  677. 39:37and pop pop.
  678. 39:38I want them to have a written record of what we have done
  679. 39:42in notes in our Bibles, memories of seeing us
  680. 39:46at family gatherings praying with people,
  681. 39:48not criticizing people, not undermining,
  682. 39:53but quietly and faithfully pointing to the Lord.
  683. 39:57Man, you got my wheels turning because what you illustrated is something that I say frequently,
  684. 40:06but just having you here and having this conversation puts even a more tangible point on it,
  685. 40:11because the concept of retirement, and I understand what it's meant in the world,
  686. 40:15what that said, but that's really not a biblical concept. We don't retire from Christ following.
  687. 40:21I often say, we don't retire, we refire. I'm not saying you have to remain employed or run
  688. 40:27in the business, something that way.
  689. 40:28If the Lord has afforded you the financial capacity
  690. 40:31to make some adjustments there, that's fine.
  691. 40:32But we never want to adopt a mentality,
  692. 40:35kind of a spiritual retirement mindset to where,
  693. 40:37you know, now I'm older.
  694. 40:40That's when you get in trouble.
  695. 40:42That's where trouble comes.
  696. 40:43That's where the enemy's waiting to catch you
  697. 40:46when you say, hey, I'm just going to kick back.
  698. 40:47And I want to say that it may have been John,
  699. 40:52the Apostle John, that gave some warnings to older men
  700. 40:55as they get older, not to slip back, not to just relax,
  701. 40:59because one of the recent pastors who fell
  702. 41:02was close to 80 years old.
  703. 41:04And listen, that can happen to anyone
  704. 41:07if those trap doors are left uncovered.
  705. 41:11And you just have to be sure that there's
  706. 41:13some safeguards in place.
  707. 41:15You mentioned earlier, and I think this
  708. 41:17is important for people to understand,
  709. 41:19and you said it just a few moments ago,
  710. 41:21that what you did with your own children
  711. 41:23was more life training than just home
  712. 41:25schooling and then you mentioned some life skill development that your wife is involved in with your grandchildren
  713. 41:30I often say discipleship is not merely getting the corner less recited to 10 commandments
  714. 41:35It'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
  715. 41:43Right, how do we exalt Christ? I think it's important for grandparents to recognize that and to take advantage of every opportunity
  716. 41:50opportunity to impart a God honoring lifestyle to their grants as
  717. 41:56Often as they have that opportunity. I know you guys are pursuing that. What would encourage? Would you give? Yeah
  718. 42:01I would say if you're a grandparent you are already discipling the only question is are you pointing to the Lord?
  719. 42:07Are you pointing them to the world? You are discipling
  720. 42:11Even if you're silent your actions speak very loudly
  721. 42:15What you say what you value
  722. 42:17you, what you congratulate them for.
  723. 42:22So if you're pointing to success in material kinds of things,
  724. 42:27that's going to stand out.
  725. 42:29If you give more accolades to those sons or daughters who
  726. 42:33have positions in the business, or are you
  727. 42:35looking at your daughters who are, quote,
  728. 42:37merely staying at home?
  729. 42:39So I think the things that you value and the things
  730. 42:42that you talk about will be noticed by your grandchildren.
  731. 42:45You picked up.
  732. 42:46Yeah.
  733. 42:47That's so important to underscore because we might think,
  734. 42:50well, I'm only discipling when I'm going through the beatitudes
  735. 42:54or when I'm talking about the fruit of the spirit
  736. 42:55from Galatians 5, but in what you celebrate.
  737. 42:59You know, what lights up your eyes.
  738. 43:01I often reflect on the thing that lit up my dad's eyes
  739. 43:06with sports.
  740. 43:06In fact, only was all I played sports
  741. 43:07because my dad got so excited about it.
  742. 43:09I didn't really care about it at first,
  743. 43:11but he got so excited and made me excited about it.
  744. 43:14Well, yeah.
  745. 43:15And I don't try to duplicate my own likes and loves
  746. 43:20for life in the hearts of my grandchildren.
  747. 43:21I do wanna share some things with them.
  748. 43:23And listen, there's nothing wrong with sharing
  749. 43:26whatever your passion is with your children and grandchildren.
  750. 43:29I was a ham radio operator growing up 15 years old.
  751. 43:32I got a ham radio license.
  752. 43:33I'm starting to get back into that.
  753. 43:34So my grandchildren think that's really cool
  754. 43:37that you can listen to.
  755. 43:38Yeah, you listen to Morse code
  756. 43:39and these radio signals from all over the world
  757. 43:41and I love amateur astronomy.
  758. 43:44So I have a 10-inch reflector telescope.
  759. 43:46We take out in the yard and my kids grew up with some of that,
  760. 43:50so I take it out with the grandkids.
  761. 43:53And what a perfect opportunity to talk about the Lord
  762. 43:56and what He's made, the wonders in the heavens.
  763. 43:59So there's a lot of things that grandparents can do
  764. 44:01that the kids will take with them.
  765. 44:03They'll remember those things.
  766. 44:04Yeah.
  767. 44:05What are some cautions you would provide?
  768. 44:08And I'm not asking you to go into the details
  769. 44:11of all of your things.
  770. 44:12But I'm telling you, I value this so much.
  771. 44:14So what are some, some caution, some things you might recommend
  772. 44:18that that grandparents may want to avoid or even parents who,
  773. 44:22you know, like I said, where I am, I'm not a grandparent yet.
  774. 44:25What are some things you might recommend
  775. 44:28that we may need to avoid as we seek to honor the Lord
  776. 44:32at that particular, this particular life stage?
  777. 44:34I think when you're starting out as a young parent,
  778. 44:36a young Christian parent, you think you have everything
  779. 44:39figured out and you think, okay, well, here's the template.
  780. 44:42If we do these things, we're going to get this result.
  781. 44:45As you get older and as they get into the teenage years and beyond, you think, well, that's
  782. 44:50not going to work.
  783. 44:51That obviously does not work.
  784. 44:53And when they get married, that's where you begin to find out what kind of job you did as
  785. 44:57a parent.
  786. 44:58It's not when they're 12 or 15 or 18.
  787. 45:01Those are crazy years anyway.
  788. 45:02It's when they're 25 or 30 that you begin to say, okay, well, there are some gaps here
  789. 45:08or there are some things we could have done differently.
  790. 45:11And I would think the second thing is that, and not to be critical in the children, I mean,
  791. 45:16they've all, I'm so proud of how they've been matured into adulthood.
  792. 45:20I mean, I wish that I was as mature as my children are now when I was their age.
  793. 45:25I was nowhere near where they are now.
  794. 45:27And I would say, don't hold on to your convictions so strongly that you can't admit your mistakes,
  795. 45:34because there were times when in discussions of how we were raised, you know, we raised
  796. 45:39are early children very strictly.
  797. 45:41I mean, very much.
  798. 45:42We were on top of everything.
  799. 45:44With the younger children not so much,
  800. 45:45our older kids say, well, you let the younger ones
  801. 45:48get away with everything.
  802. 45:50Well, our older children had young parents
  803. 45:52and our younger children have old parents.
  804. 45:55And so we've changed in how we've,
  805. 45:59the things that get our attention in those days
  806. 46:03don't really bother us now.
  807. 46:05And so being willing to say,
  808. 46:08I learned some things as a parent and talking to my children,
  809. 46:13and you will too.
  810. 46:15You'll parent differently in 10 or 15 years than you do today,
  811. 46:20because you've grown, I mean, you learn things,
  812. 46:22and the Lord has shown you that maybe you were trusting
  813. 46:25in the flesh more than in him,
  814. 46:27and so you've had to learn those lessons.
  815. 46:29So being willing to admit those things
  816. 46:32and to hopefully pray that your children
  817. 46:34will take where you've brought them
  818. 46:35and take it to the next level.
  819. 46:36You know, that's what I want to do.
  820. 46:38Yeah, that's my prayer, Lord, my ceiling,
  821. 46:40we my children's floor.
  822. 46:42Yes, yeah, yeah.
  823. 46:43I heard you say that.
  824. 46:44Yeah, I pray that almost daily even now.
  825. 46:47And what you described is a continual,
  826. 46:50really display of humility to your own children,
  827. 46:53which is still continually to disciple because they'll take that
  828. 46:57because they know how they were raised.
  829. 46:59And if there are some changes, they recognize the changes
  830. 47:01and then they'll present it,
  831. 47:03hey, you let them get away with murder
  832. 47:05and it gives you the opportunity to say,
  833. 47:06Well, here are some things that we learned that have affected how we've made these adjustments.
  834. 47:10Yeah.
  835. 47:11So these are some things and even that is instructive even the more for them.
  836. 47:15This is valuable for me.
  837. 47:17We're still making those adjustments.
  838. 47:19I mean, we had a conversation with one of my children at home the other night about, you
  839. 47:25know, wishing certain things had taken place earlier on in their life.
  840. 47:29And I thought, okay, well, that's something that we can probably do a little bit better
  841. 47:32with Caden, who's our youngest.
  842. 47:35And so we're always learning and we're always getting into the scriptures, we're always
  843. 47:39reforming as the performers used to say, and always looking for ways to walk more faithfully
  844. 47:44with the Lord.
  845. 47:45Thank you so much for joining me here today.
  846. 47:47My pleasure.
  847. 47:48This is so helpful for me.
  848. 47:50I'm positive, it's helpful for lots of people who are listening and watching.
  849. 47:55I know we have a bevy of grandparents who tune into this program and even parents who
  850. 47:59tune into this program.
  851. 48:02This is vitally important.
  852. 48:04I say every day what happens in your house is far more important than what's going on
  853. 48:08in the White House.
  854. 48:09It's easy to allow those things to distract us and avert our attention.
  855. 48:12But what happens in our house really ultimately shapes our nation.
  856. 48:16That is the truth.
  857. 48:17And so what we should seek for is for faithfulness across the long haul of life's journey.
  858. 48:24Should the Lord afford us additional years of inhaling and exhaling his oxygen, our commitment
  859. 48:29must be to remain faithful. Thank you. Thank you.
  860. 48:38The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American
  861. 48:43Family Association or American Family Radio.

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