"He [will] command his children after him" - Genesis 18:19 NKJV

At a Promise Keepers' conference in Texas, James Ryle told this story. When he was two years old his father was sent to prison. When he was seven, authorities placed him in an orphanage. At19, he was in a car crash that killed a friend. He sold drugs to raise money for his legal fees and was arrested, charged with a criminal offence and sent to prison. While in prison James accepted Christ. After he served his time he eventually went into the ministry. Years later he sought out his father to reconcile with him. Their conversation turned to prison life. James' father asked, 'Which prison were you in?' When James told him, his father said, 'I helped build that prison.' He'd been a welder who went from place to place building penitentiaries. Looking at that audience of men, Ryle said, 'I was in the prison my father built.' Your children may not always heed your advice, but they'll never escape your influence. Any time a child spends the first 18 to 21 years of their life with you, they'll grow up to repeat some of your mistakes, resent some of their memories of you, and may rejoice in the legacy you left them. God said of Abraham, '... I have known him... he [will] command his children... [to] keep the way of the Lord... ' Can God say that about you? Philip the evangelist won the city of Samaria to Christ, but he has an even greater claim to fame. He had '... four daughters, all virgins, who did prophesy' (Acts 21:9). His children made it morally and spiritually. So, how are your children doing?
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