A Visit with the Joneses

Carol Jones Saint: Hello, hello there. Welcome to Home Sweet Home. Come right in to enjoy a special time of family devotions at Home Sweet Home. You know, this ministry began back in 1948, and ever since the first visit, our theme song has always been Home Sweet Home. There's no place like home. There's a very special quote I would like to give you at the beginning of this visit, and you might want to jot it down in your Visit with the Joneses notebook.

The quotation says, "Home is home sweet home when each lives for the other and then all live for Jesus Christ." Isn't that beautiful? Home is home sweet home when each lives for the other and then all live for Jesus Christ. That would be an interesting quote for you to discuss with your family maybe around the dinner table or when you're having family devotions together.

Well, as we join the visit that has already been prepared, we will be singing a chorus that was written by our own Reverend Bert Jones entitled Give Christ First Place in Your Heart and in Your Home. And as we're singing it, you try to memorize and sing right along as you can, and especially get the message: give Christ first place.

Bert Jones: And remember, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said to His disciples, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the other things shall be added." The average American family today says, "Seek ye first all the other things, and then if you manage to make it, you might drag Christ into a little corner." But the word is seek Him first, give Him first place. Carol, tell somebody how one could get a copy of that little chorus.

Carol Jones Saint: Yes, again let us remind you, this song was written especially for the ministry of A Visit with the Joneses by our own Reverend Bert Jones. And we do have copies, words and music, of the little chorus, if you just would write to the Jones family, Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania 16512 and ask for the chorus Give Christ First Place in Your Heart.

It's a chorus that should be given to every newly married couple. If you're maybe giving a wedding present, it should be used at church and in the home. And there are just many, many places that its message could be of great importance.

Bert Jones: So if you're interested in a free copy, we have one for you. If you're interested in quantity rates, just ask when you write the Joneses, Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania. It would be wonderful if sometime during a family emphasis week at some of the churches represented you would get a copy to give every family in the church.

Carol Jones Saint: Yes, maybe the choir could sing it for every service. There are just many, many ways to use it because its message is needed in times like these.

Bert Jones: Well, here is an interesting letter that came from a listener concerning one of our recent radio visits concerning the Christian home. Listen as Ruth reads the letter for us.

Ruth: Reverend Jones, I heard your message on witnessing and winning in the home, and I found it most interesting. However, I have always felt that the area of religion was one in which I should give my children great latitude and also great freedom of thought. So we have never used any pressure, nor have we made any effort to win them to Christ, even though my husband and I are both Christians. Don't you think we are right?

Bert Jones: Don't you think we are right in not making any effort to win our children to Jesus Christ? Well, a frank question deserves a frank answer. No, I do not think these people are right. And I'll tell you why. Of course, if you've heard any of our radio visits, I think you can surmise the reason why. Of course, I want this understood to start with.

Of course, every individual must make his own choice, as the writer of this letter says. She feels that her children should have freedom of choice and the right to decide for themselves. And that is true. Underlying all that I say, of course, we recognize that every individual is a free moral agent. Every individual has a mind with which to think and a will with which he must decide.

Ultimately, every individual, whether that person lives in the most pagan home in the land or whether that person lives in the most Christian home in the land, ultimately every individual must make his own choice, not only about Christian faith but about lots of things.

Carol Jones Saint: Oh yes, of course. Everyone is still an individual.

Bert Jones: But still, parents exert great influence in many areas of life. For instance, in the area of life work or vocation, parents exert great influence.

Carol Jones Saint: Why is it that so often if father has been a coal miner, some of his sons will be coal miners? If father has been a medical doctor or a teacher or a minister, some of his children will follow in those footsteps.

Bert Jones: And statistics actually prove this over and over again. Many times the children, boys and girls, follow their parents.

Carol Jones Saint: Right. Bert, I was thinking, how about exerting influence as to where a child will go to college?

Bert Jones: Oh, exactly. Why is it that so often mother goes to one college and her daughter will go to the same college? Father and maybe there will be a whole line in the family of graduates from a particular school. Notice the influence that is exerted by parents in the area of politics. Now over and over even today when people pride themselves in being such independent thinkers, over and over in surveys that have been made, you say to a young person, "Why did you vote the Democratic ticket or why did you vote the Republican ticket?" And the answer will come back, "Well, if you really want to know, my dad's always been a Democrat or my father's always been a Republican."

Carol Jones Saint: This is what my folks have said at home.

Bert Jones: Sure. Notice in the area of social activities. If a family tends to be a sports-minded family, influence is exerted and the children tend to just be crazy about sports.

Carol Jones Saint: And even in that area, they might be more fond of football than baseball or vice versa.

Bert Jones: Sure. Think in the area of the arts or the literary matters of life.

Carol Jones Saint: The symphony.

Bert Jones: It is a well-known reality that even before birth now they say, if a child is accustomed while in his mother's womb to hearing good music, classical music, he is much more likely to respond to classical music as a one-year-old child, as a five-year-old child, as a seven-year-old child.

Carol Jones Saint: So in other words, you're saying, why in all these areas exert influence, but then when people feel we come to religion, then I have to keep quiet.

Bert Jones: Suddenly you have to give great freedom. The fact of the matter is it's impossible for a parent not to exert some influence. And we feel that as influence is exerted in these various areas of life, then also in Christian faith. If you are a Christian, you will exert an influence in winning your family to Jesus Christ.

Carol Jones Saint: Actually to have choice, you have to know two sides of the situation. And unless the Christian side is presented, how does the young person have the privilege of making a choice if they've only known a secular side of life?

Bert Jones: And so in today's society, which tends to be a humanistic society, we need Christian parents and church parents who are certainly making clear the claims of the gospel. Third, I would emphasize in answering this letter that a Christian cannot overlook the command of Jesus Christ, that as a Christian, we are to win others to Jesus Christ. Go ye into all the world and teach the gospel and preach the gospel. And your family is part of that world.

Over and over through God's word, we find that the Christian, the child of God, has a responsibility to win others to Jesus Christ. To one who had been filled with demons and Jesus cast out those demons and made that person a new person, Jesus said, when that one wanted to follow Jesus and the disciples on their missionary tour through Galilee, Jesus said in the words of Luke 8:39, "Return to thine own house and show them what I've done for you."

As the story is recorded in Mark 5:19, Jesus said to that man who had been filled with demons but had been cleansed and delivered by Jesus Christ, "Go home and tell what I have done for you."

Carol Jones Saint: Often that's a difficult place to tell it.

Bert Jones: And of course, in our previous radio visit, we emphasized the words found in John and the other early gospels: Andrew first findeth his own brother Peter. And so you see, it does become the responsibility of you and of me to tell others, even our own family, about Jesus Christ. My last thought in answering the letter is that the Scripture is filled with examples of those who like Andrew first findeth his own brother Peter.

The Scripture is filled with examples of those who win others to Jesus Christ. I'm thinking of the woman at the well whose life was changed through Christ, and she went abroad telling it everywhere. I'm thinking moreover of many personal examples that we could give in our own family of people whose lives have been changed and they went home to tell their own families and win them to Christ. Remember the man who came forward in one of our meetings, and the very next day he came and brought five of his family to the altar to meet Jesus Christ.

Carol Jones Saint: How wonderful. Remember the woman we met. She had found Jesus in one of our services, and a year later we went back and she brought the other members of her family. And she had said what an inspiration the Jones family had been to her. And she said when she left the service that day, she went home determined to win her family to Christ also. And the Lord, through her witness and her careful example in life and her words, did honor that prayer. Her husband was saved, her son, a daughter, a son-in-law.

Bert Jones: The whole family changed because mother found Jesus and then did her best to win others in that family to Jesus Christ. Oh yes, you cannot force anyone in your family to be a Christian. But you can be an influence in winning that one to Jesus Christ. You can be an influence in exerting the claims of Jesus Christ so that one will have to make a decision.

Remember when the jailkeeper came to Paul and Silas and said in the midst of the earthquake, "What must I do to be saved?" The answer in Acts 16 came back from Paul, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Now let's make it clear, just because mother or father finds Jesus Christ as Savior does not automatically make everybody in the house a Christian.

But the same formula that could save mom and dad, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, that same formula can be used for every individual in the family. And this I will say, when that jailkeeper was saved, it was altogether much more likely that his family would find Jesus Christ. And they did. We read that they were baptized. Let's make it your prayer and mine: Lord, lay some soul upon my heart and win that soul through me.

Way back in the Old Testament, it was proclaimed and the people were exhorted to win their family for God. Listen to the words we find, for instance, in Deuteronomy 6 beginning with verse 4: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on the gates."

Carol Jones Saint: Bert, isn't that Scripture really saying that when mom and dad are so filled with Jesus Christ and His word, there is just no way that it won't reach out to the children?

Bert Jones: Furthermore, there is no excuse for not having it reach out.

Carol Jones Saint: Right, because it's going to be something you talk of, as the Scripture says, when you sit down and when you rise up, and it's going to be on the post of the house. It's just going to be a vital part of everything that you do.

Bert Jones: It's a clear command: "This I command you this day, that thou shalt teach this diligently to thy children." How is it then that in modern America, under all the lovely spirit of today's Christian society, we say, "Oh, I won't tell them about my faith. I won't exert any influence."

Carol Jones Saint: I think personally, Bert, that's a tool of the devil.

Bert Jones: You have no choice if you're a Christian. You are obligated to do all you can to win your loved ones to Jesus Christ. My prayer, father, mother, brother, sister, is that one day when you stand before the judgment bar of God, you will be able to stand before your Maker and say, "I did my best to present the claims of the gospel to my loved ones. I did my best to win my loved ones to Jesus Christ." Remember you can force no one to be a Christian, but you can do your best to present the claims of Christ.

Carol Jones Saint: What a very special joy it has been to have you visiting with the Joneses at Home Sweet Home during this special time of family devotions. As we have shared together in part two talking about witnessing and winning right at home, this is a very crucial and important place. It is our prayer that the Scripture that we have given, the music that we have used, the thoughts will all be used of the Lord to help you and challenge you in your Christian life.

Now remember that you could be a blessing to us if you would like to email us. The email address is visitjoneses, as one word, @aol.com. We love to know when you have found the visits and where you are when you're listening. Then if you would like to use the mailing address, the mailing address is Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania 16512. Remember that if you're writing a check, the legal name is A Visit with the Joneses Incorporated. Thanks for being here. And as we go, let's join with the instruments in singing "I Love to Tell the Story."