"How has your impact on the family been"

Podcast # 363

Good morning welcome to your radio program "Radiant Women" which is broadcasted live from Canada. I am Leydi Campos, lawyer and president of Canadian Women Foundation Inc. whose mission is to expand Christianity throughout Canada and other nations. Our Theology conference today is called "How has your impact on the family been" this will be our session 1 of the series "A Christ Centered Home".

Bible Quotation: from 2 Timothy 1:1:: 

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ, to Timothy, beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Bill Elliff: How can we change the world if we don't have a family that is filled with God's life, filled with God's love and filled with God's truth? We have to get into the wholesome words and then once we are enlivened in these elements, over the years, we are awakened in the elements of a sincere faith and spiritual gifts. We will be awakening this in our children and giving them a sense of destiny and a sense of calling and the courage to carry out that calling.

En “Radiant Women" estamos felices y agradecidas  por lo que Dios ha estado haciendo en tantas mujeres a través de la lectura diaria de la biblia, su evangelio y la guianza de su Santo Espíritu que lleva a la salvación. A través de la oración, la adoracion, la unidad y el trabajo, hemos visto  transformaciones en nuestras vidas y en las vidas de nuestros prójimos. El jueves en la reunión de discipulado nos alegrábamos ver como Gaby esta pasando el legado ya que junto a su hija Danya de 8 años, hizo la oración para empezar la reunión, y que decir de Magui que canto la alabanza junto con su hija de 10 años, Juanita enseñando a sus hijas a tener un corazón generoso y muchas más que falta tiempo para enumerarlas. Que decir de la perseverancia, constancia y compromiso de las embajadoras de la oración cada día, pese a cansancios, aflicciones, espera en respuestas a sus oraciones, ahí siguen fieles pues saben en quien han creido.

 Through our LORD Jesus Christ, His love, advice, the voice of His Word, and in each verse we find a treasure, it is like a precious stone, one of the most precious because its value is immeasurable. It is the manual of life. 

 Every day he directs our hearts to him, to repentance, to integrity, to cleanliness and purification, so that our hearts may present themselves pleasing in his sight. Directing us to obey and put into practice his commandments, rules and laws.

And we certainly want our families to know God and the love with which He loved us- this is evident in our homes. And it's a big challenge, whether you have biological or spiritual children.

It's easy for moms to get discouraged and wonder if they are really making a difference.

 Today, he encourages parents to believe that all the investment they make in the next generation really matters. Our example is Loida, Eunice and Timothy. Paul says in:

 2 Timothy 2:1:"You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, that entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

I want to ask you two very important questions: What are the essential truths that are vital for your family? For example, you have an eighteen year old son, do you know what are the ten truths, which are the fundamental truths, that if those truths do not enter into the heart of your children, into the heart of your family, they are going to leave and they will be easily influenced by the lies of the world?

What are those truths? Here is the second question: How am I going to supply those truths in my child's life? How am I going to get those truths, with all the other things that come to them? How is it that we are going to be able to instill them in the heart, in life, in the spirit, in the practice of my children and my family? Because that is the only way we are going to be able to change the world. Because truth is what really liberates people.

 Some suggestions: One of the ways to do this is through planned educationand in a consistent way, and it is applied with other people or other things. In the course of the children's lives, we are going to be taking the truth and we are going to be walking through it and we are going to be pouring it into our children's hearts. There is also as a suggestion THE MOMENTS OF TEACHING. Life is one big classroom in our home, inside and outside, the children see everything we do and one day, God surprises us with their salvation.

The ten things that really need to be in our children's lives so that they really can change the world, and really need to know about God and how to access Him?”

But not only teaching moments, but finally, another suggestion, biblical streams.In other words, we need to be open to what influences our children have.The friends they have, the books they read, the groups they spend time with; congregating in a biblical church that is really teaching the truth and is challenging them. We can make a difference if we pour this deeply into their hearts and lives.

How can we change the world if we do not have a family that is filled with God's life, filled with God's love and filled with God's truth? We have to get into the wholesome words and then, once we are enlivened in these elements, through the years, we awaken in the elements of a sincere faith and spiritual gifts. We will be awakening this in our children and giving them a sense of destiny and a sense of calling and the courage to carry out that calling. With patience we will overcome.

They will be rooted in the sound words of faith. But then what do we do, where do we go from there, how is this going to affect the world? Finally, we also have to add what we might call a strategic plan.This is very important.

You have to have an understanding of God's plan if you are going to pass the trust to someone else.In this passage of Scripture we see this illustrated by three generations. We see Lois, who somehow knew, "I need to give this to my daughter Eunice." And Eunice, who probably didn't even have a believing husband, said, "Somehow, I need to instill this in my son Timothy." And then we probably heard her say along the way, "Now Timothy, you need to share this with other people."

So we see it illustrated in this family and we see it encouraged by Paul. Here Paul, who really was the true spiritual father of Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:1–2,talks about four generations. He says, "I have had this truth, I have passed it on to you; I want you to give this to faithful men who will give this to others also.”

So in this plan there was this idea of multiplication, and of course, we know this is Jesus' plan, don't we? Go and make disciples, who will make disciples, who will make disciples, who will make disciples. The way you create this tsunami is by understanding the incredible power of multiplication.

You know how a tsunami works. It starts with an eruption in a live core and then the waves start coming out across the ocean, in fact, they're big waves. You could go hundreds of miles out to sea and not even see a single wave, but there's a strong current underneath that's growing and growing and growing and growing and growing. And when it comes in contact with something, it has a phenomenal impact.

This is how God is building our family. You know on certain days we think, "phew, I don't know if this family can ever be built; I don't know if we can ever have all these things." But you just need to stay faithful, doing the best you can, crying out to the Lord in prayer,"Oh God, may our family help change the world." And you're going to go over time and you're going to be building this sense in your children, "We live to disciple others who will disciple others, who will disciple others.”

I was thinking this week about my grandfather and grandmother, Thomas Alvis Alvarene Carter and his wife, Molly Missouri Mosely Carter. They were born in the 1870s and Molly and Thomas had fourteen children. Ten of them lived to adulthood and the last of those children was my mother.

Now, an interesting thing to think about, if you have two children, who have two children, who will have two children, who will have two children, in the tenth generation you are going to produce, through your line, 1,024 children. That's a lot of kids to impact the world. But Molly and Thomas had ten children who lived to adulthood. They all had an average of four children and all of them were believers who walked with the Lord.

My mother only went to church once a month, because that was the only time the church was open. But every Sunday her father and mother would sit on the porch and teach the Word of God to their children. And all those children became great men and women of God.

If you have ten children, who have four children, who have four children, who will have four children, in the tenth generation, do you know how many children they will produce? There will be 2.6 million children. Now, I want you to think about this in terms of God's purpose, because the devil has also thought about it and copied that plan. In fact, you know what he's doing all over the world right now? He's telling people of your faith and your religions, "Have a bunch of kids, fill them with your beliefs, even be willing to die for them. Just keep having kids with those beliefs and the world is going to change.”

Did you know that in France right now, which has such a low birth rate that they can't even support their own country's population, Muslim families have gone to live with their strong faith, and in two generations France has practically become a Muslim nation? They are changing the world. Do you know why? It's the power, the physical power of multiplication.

Now, just think about what might happen if you said, "What is it that my own family can do to really change the world?" You can raise up a family with a devout faith that understands its gifts and knows the truth and has a sense of calling and realizes that it can make a difference in this world.

Then you can train them and tell them: "Children, we want you to have children, physical children and spiritual children who disciple and develop". Teach them to do the same so that the next one will also do the same and so on. In future generations, our family will send out millions of disciples who will help advance the kingdom of God.

I'll tell you one last story before Holly takes the floor. My great-grandmother on my father's side was Maria Elliff. I don't know much about Maria, except that she was a firm believer. They moved from Tennessee, she and her husband, J.T., that is James (Santiago), to Oklahoma when it was still Indian Territory.

She got sick and was dying and she said to her husband, (in fact, we have it in a diary), "Please don't let me die in this wild Indian country." So they sold their farm, and got on a train at Fort Smith, changed trains at Little Rock and put her to bed on the train, as she was dying.

James knelt down beside Mary and she said, "I'm going to die, but you have to promise me two things. One, you have to promise me that you're going to give your life to Christ and number two, you have to promise me that you're going to raise our daughter for Christ." And so she died.

James' testimony was that he stayed on his knees beside her for a long time and rose up a Christian. He returned home, he buried his wife and began to raise that daughter for Christ. God gave him a second wife who was a wonderful believing woman and they had several children. One of them was my grandfather, who became a pastor.

My grandfather had two children, a son and a daughter. His son was my dad, who became a pastor. Then my dad had four children, three sons and a daughter. Three became shepherds and his daughter married a shepherd. Now, in the next generation, there are eighteen grandchildren and all eighteen of them are walking with Christ and fourteen of them, by the way, are either pastors or missionaries or have married pastors or missionaries. Now we are in the next generation that is full of young men and women who are also following Christ.

All because of one woman, who when she took her last breath and probably at that moment wasn't thinking, "I'm making an impact on my family for the cause of Christ"; but her sincere faith has changed at least one part of the world and that's our calling, amen? That's what God wants us to do.

Holly: You know, this is not something that God expects us to fulfill. This is something He wants to fulfill in us. He has already given us everything we need to live God's way. So, my friends, I want you to think for a minute today about what your "epicenter quotient" would be if we could measure your home today on a scale. What would your measurement be? Are you a negative ten? Are you a five? Are you a nine? God knows this today. I don't know that about your home. I know what God has called me to do in my home and I know that no home will ever be perfect. But my friends, we need to be looking for the call of Christ. It matters, it really matters, and it matters not only to us, but it matters to the generations that will come after us, more than we can imagine.

What we do, the decision we make, matters.Let me close with this thought:

Lord, give us a home that has Christ at the center, so that the longer we live the more we may see you. A home where your truth is fearlessly proclaimed and the children who live there grow year by year to be more like Jesus. Until one day your name echoes on every tongue and the world you have created praises you as one. Lord, give us a home that has Christ at its center.

I want to ask you, is that your desire today? That is our Father's desire for us. Let us pray together.

Father, we thank you today, for you do not expect us to create something with our own hands. Father, we fully recognize that this can only happen in and through you, as we accede to what you have already done. Lord, we pray that we leave this place as women with a calling on our hearts, no matter if we have a husband who is not a believer, no matter if we have a husband who is a believer, or if we are single, or widowed, your calling does not change.

Father, if we have a husband who is a believer, I pray that you will lead us to follow our husbands, so that your work may be accomplished in your way, and also Father, may we surrender our homes to you, so that one day the impact that you want us to have may become real in this world for the cause of Christ.

To God and God alone be the glory, amen.

Nancy: That's Holly Elliff, reminding parents that all their investment, sacrifice and hard work for their family does matter. Holly and her husband, Pastor Bill Elliff, have been showing us how every family can make a difference in our world and also in future generations.

I have many friends who are young mothers with young children and I know they need all the encouragement they can get. Maybe you know a mother who would be blessed by this program. You can send her the link to the audio or the transcript by visiting Revive Our Hearts.

Annamarie: Thank you Nancy. Visit us there at Revive Our Hearts and be sure to share this program with more women.

Not long ago we heard the testimony of a woman who has been uplifted by programs like this one. She shared with us a bit of her story and we would like you to hear it as we conclude this series. Listen to what she had to say:

Woman Hello dear sisters, good afternoon. I want to share and thank you for what God has done in my life and thank you for your prayers and for the means of grace that my children and I have received as a family, through Revive our hearts Aviva Nuestros Corazones. My son was brought from God. It was a very difficult year and I thank God with all my heart for having placed this beautiful means of grace that is Revive our hearts

About a year and months ago, I first learned about the group through my sister, because she knew my pain, my affliction to know my son was in drugs and in the world, and she sent me an audio of a testimony of Christopher Joan and his mother, Angela, and her testimony moved me and was a blessing.

From there I began to search, and one day an invitation came to receive audios from the Aviva group, and it was at a very important moment in my life because my son had just had an accident, his second fatal accident, and in those days I had just met the group. In fact, I asked them to pray for the life of my son who is very serious, and especially for his soul.

It was a very difficult year my sisters, but I really thank you with all my heart, because without the studies, without the audios, without the prayer group, I don't know where my life would be. I know that God put them in my path. I know that it is for God the glory, the honor, but He puts beautiful means of grace that in this case were you through the audios, through Sister Nancy, listening; and then to see my children. My daughter had left home with her boyfriend after being here so long.

She has been gone for a year and a half or so, but now, thanks to God, that too... two beautiful answers the Lord gave me this year. One was the life of my son, God brought him to His feet; and the other was the life of my daughter who is already married, and my two children are seeking the Lord.

Some time ago a dear sister who is also in the group, told me, seeing my need, if I wanted to follow the challenge of 31 days of praying for the children, and it was a turning point. It was what changed, I think, radically my life because when my son came to me, he started to relapse after his accident and he was very bad. But when he started, he broke me, he confronted me.

How do you pray for your son or daughter to be merciful...and where are you? And I turned with all my soul, with all my heart to that challenge, sisters. I wrote it in a little notebook, everything that was sent to me as it was, and then the verse of the day and I pasted it in my bedroom, and God saw my cry so much, I still had not finished the challenge, when my son came to my house with a heart so needy of the Lord...and from there he has been searching for God, he has been concentrated, he is very grateful to the Lord and he told me the other day Revive our hearts revived my mother's life, and it is true.

Aviva enlivened me because I don't know how we would be if I had not met you. God bless you sisters, and let us never lose faith. Let us go and pray, no matter how we feel, no matter what happens, let us not stop seeking God and praying also for the sisters, may God continue to strengthen them. God bless you sisters. 

Annamarie: God is working in our lives in many ways. I hope that this testimony and the teaching you have heard in these last few days will encourage you to continue to make disciples of Christ and to pray for the next generation. 

At times you may feel that your world is falling apart, or that you are in the midst of chaos flooding your life. In Psalm 29, King David reminds us of two very important truths: God reigns and He cares for you. 

This program was translated by Andrea Calixto Alvarez.

"Radiant Women" is an outreach ministry of "Leydi Campos Canadian Women Foundation. Inc.”