March 10, 2010
Helen Stam
Bible

EARS TO HEAR is the radio ministry of FAMILIES•BY GOD• For EARS TO HEAR, here’s Tim Glisson.

In 1934 John and Betty Stam served as Christian missionaries to China. On a cold December day terrorists invaded their village near the Yangtze River kidnapping the young couple and their 3 month old daughter Helen.

A day’s walk through the forest earned the Stam’s a mud hut hotel for the night. As dawn broke, John and Betty joined the ranks of Christian martyrs, but Helen although an orphan, was miraculously spared.

As her captors left the infant alive but alone, a desperate search for her ensued. The media coverage was intense. Her rescue took forty days to secure, but when she landed back in the States publicity was so fevered that hundreds of adoption offers poured in.

Helen Stam was eventually adopted by her maternal aunt and uncle, which is correct. What was also correct was the outpouring of offers to adopt.

My question is: why does it take media coverage for most people to hear the cry of the child?

The Bible – the only media we really need heed – mentions orphans over 60 times. God defines Himself as the defender of the fatherless. James tells us true religion is their care. Why do we need the media before we have ears to hear God?

If the Lord is talking to you about adoption, won’t you please visit our website at
FAMILIESBYGOD.org. For EARS TO HEAR, I’m Tim Glisson.

March 8, 2010
Correctional Facilities
Ezekiel 36

EARS TO HEAR is the radio ministry of FAMILIES•BY GOD• For EARS TO HEAR, here’s Tim Glisson.

America is in deep trouble and no one is talking about it.

Sure we’ll discuss the current conflict in Iraq or we’ll compare the dollar to the Euro and shake our heads in both surprise and shame, but our crisis is not military nor economic.

We’ll complain about medical care and health insurance and long for the good ole days when all’s you needed was a family doctor to tend to both, but the lack of health care doesn’t even compare.

No the real catastrophe is the close to three million kids in America whose moms and dads are in prison. It’s a critical problem because it will end up costing many of those children their lives too, close to 70 percent of kids who grow up with a parent in prison will end up in prison.

It’s a critical problem because it will end up costing taxpayers more than all the military, economic, and health care crises combined.

But it’s a critical problem mostly because it’s breaking our Lord’s heart. He made us for his glory. Disobedience creating the fatherless is a double hit. The answer isn’t in our corrections facilities, if they were correcting anything we wouldn’t have a five-fold increase in our prison population since 1970.

No the answer is in God’s correction of our facilities. “Return unto me”, He says in Ezekiel 36 and “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you”. The only correction necessary is getting right with God.

If you have EARS to HEAR God’s heart for all of His children, please visit our website at FAMILIESBYGOD.org. For EARS TO HEAR, I’m Tim Glisson.

March 4, 2010
Raise A Child Up…
Proverbs 22:6

EARS TO HEAR is the radio ministry of FAMILIES•BY GOD• For EARS TO HEAR, here’s Tim Glisson.

Scripture tells us to train children up in the way that they should go and they will not depart from it when they are old. It’s not a suggestion, but a command. And that’s a promise, not a possibility. But it is a lot of hard work.

Training a child up in the way they should go is not about how they want to go: as a two year old, or as a 15 year old. It’s about where God wants them to go.

Training a child up shouldn’t be left to teachers or coaches: or friends or peers for that matter. It’s a parents job; given to them exclusively by God.

Training a child up isn’t about raising kids, it’s about raising adults: warriors for Christ, culture changers just like Joshua. It’s God’s design from the start, we’re made in His image.

But just like with any type of training, from horses to marathons, child training takes time in the saddle. Teaching children that everything they do is subject to God – EVERYTHING – is under His authority is by design exhaustive: not exhausting as in the physical sense, but exhaustive as in the sense of completion.

But it’s worth it to avoid watching a child fall into sin. It’s worth it to escape generational sin. It’s worth it to watch God bless them … and you!

If you have EARS to HEAR God’s heart for His children, please visit our website at FAMILIESBYGOD.org. For EARS TO HEAR, I’m Tim Glisson.

March 3, 2010
“Only Luke is With Me”
2 Timothy 4:11

EARS TO HEAR is the radio ministry of FAMILIES.BY GOD. For EARS TO HEAR, here’s Tim Glisson.

Only Luke is with me.

Paul’s memorable lament from his second letter to Timothy speaks volumes in its brevity. He was alone, and he felt it.

While for most of Paul’s ministry he traveled with great groups, because of persecution at the hands of Nero, Paul’s friends, facing prison or execution, scattered.

Paul was alone, and you could hear it in his words. He needed his friends around, he needed the strength you find in numbers, and he needed it now. He begged Timothy to come to him quickly; he even asked him to bring Mark, whom Paul had shunned years prior at Antioch.

Alone. Desperate. That’s how Paul felt. And that’s how thousands of kids in the child welfare system feel every day. Day after day. Week after week. Year after year. More than a half a million kids right here in the United States.

Kids begging people to pay attention, but having only dysfunction for a voice. Kids begging people for a family but having only disruption as a choice. Kids, alone and desperate with no where to turn.

What can we do? Pray of course. For friends. For parents. For a Savior

If you have EARS to HEAR God’s heart for the fatherless, please visit our website at FAMILIESBYGOD.org. For EARS TO HEAR, I’m Tim Glisson.

March 2, 2010
Defending Our Tents
Deuteronomy 33, Matthew 12

EARS TO HEAR is the radio ministry of FAMILIES.BY GOD. For EARS TO HEAR, here’s Tim Glisson.

Men of Issachar, the Bible tells us, were Godly men who understood the times and knew what to do.

Descendants of Jacob they were of the twelve tribes of Israel. Defendants of David, they were among his mighty men.

So in David’s victories over the Philistines, in the Kings conquests of the Moabites, the Ammorites, the Syrians and Rabbah, what were the men of Issachar doing?

Tending to the home front of course. Deuteronomy 33 reveals that while their blood brothers of Zebulon were defending the high seas, they of Issachar were assigned to… their tents. Not battlefields abroad but domestic fronts at home.

It’s a lesson we of 21st century America would do well to heed. America’s men are absent from home in record numbers and it’s killing us: literally. 63 percent of youth suicides are fatherless, as are 85 percent of teen prisoners and 90 percent of runaways.

In 1960 5 out of every 100 babies were born to unwed moms, today that number is 36.

Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 12 that when a strong man is bound the devil marches in and spoils his goods. Strong men are falling prey to the devil’s lies: discipline is old school, adultery is cool, the only rules are there are no rules. And children are dying…on the vine. Dads are absent, fathers are vacating, Men of Issachar, America needs you.

If you have EARS to HEAR God’s heart for His children, please visit our website at FAMILIESBYGOD.org. For EARS TO HEAR, I’m Tim Glisson.