It Starts in the Home with Dr. Dobson

00:00 - Speaker 1This is a real good place to talk to God. If you'd like to come and give your heart to the Lord, I welcome you to do this. And people, I remember every moment of this. They were all stepping into the aisle and going forward and I didn't ask my mother, I went with them, I gave my heart to the Lord and I cried and my dad came down from the platform and knelt beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. 00:22 - Speaker 2Four years of age. 00:25 - Speaker 3That's right. Welcome to the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast, where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life. Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited. 00:41 - Speaker 2We're back with Dr James Dobson, the founder and president of Family Talk, which airs on thousands of stations across America, and, of course, my good buddy from all the way back since we were kids and, Jim, great to have you with us today. We were both so blessed with parents who knew God. I mean you have your story and I mean I know a lot of people watching this right now know the story. Your parents were so precious. Your dad was one of my professors in college. 01:08 - Speaker 1Well, they were great parents. My mother knew just intuitively how to raise children. She didn't read it in the book because I hadn't written it yet, but she knew she understood the mind of a child. But my dad is the one, when I got a little older, actually got out of high school, that I saw the strength of that man and he had great influence on me until he died. How old were you when you accepted Christ? 01:41 - Speaker 2I was. I think back to when that happened. Chuck Higgins was an evangelist in our church when I accepted the Lord. My son's school teacher, in fact, that's something, and so I was in the age of 12, 13. I was four, you were four. 01:56 - Speaker 1I was. You were four Sitting with my mother at the back of the church. My dad was a preacher. It's called in our church tradition there's an altar and it's called opening the altar, and so he opened the altar. He said you know, there's no magic here, but this is a real good place to talk to God. If you'd like to come and give your heart to the Lord, I welcome you to do this. And people I remember every moment of this. They were all stepping into the aisle and going forward and I didn't ask my mother. I went with them. I gave my heart to the Lord and I cried and my dad came down from the platform and knelt beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. Four years of age, that's right. 02:39 - Speaker 2You know parents I don't know if they really understand that. Well, when they grow up, they'll watch us and they'll get it, and when they get older, or whatever. No, the battleground is right now. 02:49 - Speaker 1It's in that family Tell me that a child can't do business with God now. 02:55 - Speaker 2There is secular research that proves beyond a doubt that it's a matter if you're Christian or not If you want your child to have a healthy life, to not be depressed, to have a healthy mind, to have a long-lasting marriage, to have a healthy career. There's nothing these are secular studies. There's nothing you can do that will have the impact of having your child in church reading the Bible and praying to God. 03:19 - Speaker 1That's a secular study, you know. I'm sure that there are many, many people watching this and listening to us today, and if they believe that and I'm sure there are millions of them who do if they believe that, then they ought to be living according to it. If you don't get your children into the arms of Jesus Christ, you will never see them again after you're gone. That's the end. You will never see them again. 03:52 - Speaker 2There is this disconnect between what we believe and what we do, our actions. We say we believe, we read it. We read it out loud, we read it to our kids, we hear it in church, we sing it. We read it out loud, we read it to our kids, we hear it in church, we sing it in the songs. But when it comes right down to the practicality of it, we don't live our lives like we believe it. 04:10 - Speaker 1We're either entrepreneurs or we're creative people, or we're trying to earn money, or we're building a business, or we've got a medical practice. Whatever it is we're doing, For 100 years and then it's over. 04:23Absor absorbs us All of our time and energy is there and around our feet are these little kids who are watching everything we say and do they miss nothing? It's scary to me sometimes to realize that something I said casually comes back, that something I said casually comes back, and so if that really means a lot to us, we should live according to it. We have to be sensitive to that. We should be very intentional about our faith. 04:53 - Speaker 2And if we recognize that we are automatically more careful. People are watching us, whether we like it or not. We're the city center, on a hill. People are watching us and we can either move them closer to God or further away from God by our body language, just by being insensitive. 05:10 - Speaker 1And that's what Deuteronomy 6 tells us, and not just at bedtime, not now I lay me down to sleep, but it is all day long, when you get up, when you go for a walk. You know, write it on the doorpost of your house and on your wrist and on your forehead. Just make it a part of everything. 05:31 - Speaker 2That is such a good point. We're here with Dr James Dobson, the founder and president of Family Talk, and we're going to have a lot more with Dr Dobson on future segments. 05:39 - Speaker 3If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review to help us reach more listeners. Remember sharing your faith ignites your faith. See you next time on the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast.