This is the only apostolic oneness pentecostal family devotional source specifically for dads on the web. Be sure to tell all your apostolic friends about this valuable resource to establish their families in the oneness pentecostal faith with weekly devotionals.

For DAD Only:

The Plunge

Dad have you ever felt pressured to have to tell your kids about the birds and the bees?  Many parents wonder when or how they are going to bring up this important topic with their children.  Surprise!  You have a bigger topic to discuss with your youngins.  And no, sending them to public school won’t get you out of this responsibility.

Salvation. The burden of responsibility rests on our shoulders, Dad.  If my children were to grow up unsaved, I could not blame their Sunday School teacher or their mother.  I saw a slogan on a billboard today that says, “Start talking before they start drinking.”  Start talking about what?  We apostolic dads especially need to talk about their salvation.  I know that it was the saving power of Christ that kept me from youthful temptations.  Talking to your kids about redemption in Jesus will mean much more than just another “Don’t you dare” kind of lecture.

To talk or not to talk. We apostolic dads fail our kids by either saying too much or not enough.  We need to start talking about eternity.  Dad, my kids have to know that it matters to me.  I must urge them to face the fact of their lostness.  It’s amazing how passionately us guys can talk about how “You kids better respect my tools” and “Don’t complain about your shoes, when I was your age I had to walk to school, in moccasins, in the snow, uphill both ways.”  Do we have the same zeal for their eternal destinies? Do we want them to know the foundations of our oneness pentecostal faith? Have we told them so?

On the other hand, I cannot force my children to believe.  I must lead them.  This is where the authoritarian father falters.  You can’t make a child believe or repent.  You can’t make them get the Holy Ghost.  If my child gets baptized on my faith, he’s done nothing but take a bath (without soap).  It must be his faith.  It must be his hunger for God.

One thing that has gotten my kids attention is telling them my story.  I obeyed the gospel and experienced Pentecost at age seven, so my kids can relate pretty well.  Even though many of us didn’t enter the kingdom at a tender age, we still have a unique story of when and why we got baptized.  It also helps to share stories with them about people they know or about Pentecostal legends who came to faith in their youth.  Encourage your kids to save themselves from a lot of hurt and poor choices by entering the kingdom now.

Don’t just talk. Aside from talking, apostolic Dad, we can pray.  We must pray for our kids.  When did you last go on a fast for your child’s soul?  How recently have you agonized in prayer for them?  This is more than just a child making a career choice.  This is eternity.  And hell wants to keep our children from the pentecostal faith.  Let us pray until the warmth of God’s love penetrates their hearts, softening them to respond.

Learn more about apostolic doctrine (the teaching of Christ’s apostles) and the oneness pentecostal practice of Baptism In the Name of Jesus.

________________________

Dad, read this story with your kids:

A New Name

Rusty was in the backyard when Misty found him.  He was filling a metal washtub with water.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m going to give Wiggles a bath.”

“All right!  Can I help?”

“Sure,” Rusty said.  “I’ll go get the dog shampoo while this fills up.  Do you want to get the dog?”

“Yes!”  Misty began calling the dog from where he was under a tree, sniffing at something.  “Wiggles, c’mere boy.”  He looked up.  She called him again.  He yapped and came running to her.  She scooped up the little dog and hugged him close.

Rusty came back out of the house with the shampoo bottle in his hand.  “Don’t hold him too close.”

“Why?”  Misty sniffed at the dog’s coat.  “Whew!  He stinks!”

“I told you he needs a bath.”

“I guess he does.”  Misty unclipped his collar and hung it over the water spigot.

Rusty shut off the water.  “Go ahead and put him in.”

Misty set Wiggles down into the shiny clean water.  Wiggles lapped up some.  “Eew!  He’s drinking it!”

Rusty scooped up some water with a cup and dumped it over the dog’s back.  Wiggles looked around and then shook himself, spraying water all over Rusty and Misty.  Rusty poured more water over the dog.

Misty opened the bottle and squeezed a little shampoo onto his coat.  They both worked the soap in until it made suds and bubbles in the water.  Wiggles smiled at them while they massaged and scrubbed his back.  He closed his eyes and panted.

Rusty turned on the hose and began rinsing the soap out of the dog’s coat.  Wiggles shivered a little bit.  Soon the water was gray.  Rusty turned off the hose and Misty called the dog out of the washtub.

Wiggles bounded over the edge and began running around the yard.  Then he came back up to Rusty and Misty and shook off.  Misty took the towel and wiped her face.  “He got me again!” she said.

They took the towel and wiped the frisky dog down. They rubbed and fluffed up his hair.  Soon his hair glistened in the sun.

“He looks pretty,” Misty said.

Dad came through the garage door.  “Well, look at that shiny clean dog!”

“Dad, you’re home!” Rusty said, as he clipped on the dog’s collar.

“Yes, and I have something for the dog.  C’mere, Wiggles.”  Wiggles ran over to Dad, who bent down and clipped something shiny onto the dog’s collar.

“What is it?” Rusty asked.  He and Misty knelt in the grass to see.

“It’s a name tag!” Misty exclaimed.  “It’s a shiny brass bone that says ‘Wiggles.'”  Wiggles sat down and smiled at everyone with his new tag glinting in the sunlight.

Mom came outside to get everyone inside for dinner.  They showed her Wiggles’s new name tag, which she liked.  Then she hurried everyone inside, including the dog.  She said, “Get cleaned up, Rusty.  Remember, tonight is your big night.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said as he bounded into the house, “I’m getting baptized!”

Soon, the whole family had loaded into the van and gone to church.  When they got out, Misty asked her brother, “What’s that bag for?”

“It’s my change of clothes.”

“Don’t they have baptismal robes?” she asked.

“Yes, but I wanted extra clothes just in case.”

“Why are you getting baptized?  You already got the Holy Ghost.”

“Because,” Rusty began, “Jesus will wash away all my sins forever and put His name on my life.”

Dad explained further, “Misty, baptism is a lifetime commitment.  Rusty is getting baptized to tell the Lord that he will live for Him forever and ever.”

“Wow,” she said.

Service started soon and went really well.  At the end, many people went up front to pray.  Rusty spent a little time at the altar and prayed through to the Holy Ghost again.  He had received God’s Spirit just a couple weeks before, at church camp.

After a good time of worshiping the Lord, Rusty went to the area behind the platform with his dad.  They went into the changing room, and Dad showed him the baptismal robe he needed to put on.

Rusty got changed and then went out to where Pastor was opening his Bible and looking at a verse, next to the baptistery.  “Hello, young man,” Pastor said.

“Hi,” Rusty said, shaking his hand.

“Are you ready for this?”  Rusty nodded.  “And what did Jesus do for you tonight?”

“He filled me with the Holy Ghost again,” Rusty said with a big smile.”

“Good!  You let Him do that everyday, Rusty, and you will have a wonderful life.  Okay?”

Rusty nodded.

“Are you ready to be baptized?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let me help you.”  Pastor held Rusty’s hand as he led him up the steps and down into the baptismal tank.  The water felt warm to Rusty.  But he shivered anyway.  He could hear someone playing the organ, and he saw his friends and family gathered around the front of the church.

Rusty stood in the baptistery while Pastor read from the Bible.  “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Rusty, according to the command of scripture, upon the confession of your faith, in keeping with your repentance of sins, and the fact that you have received the Holy Ghost, I now baptize you in the Name of Jesus Christ.”

Rusty clung to the pastor’s fist as he felt himself tipping backwards and going underwater.  The water splashed over his face, but it didn’t scare Rusty because he knew Pastor would pull him up quickly.

When he came back up, Rusty lifted his hands and began thanking Jesus for taking all the bad stuff out of his heart.  Soon he was speaking in a heavenly language again.  Pastor stayed with him until he calmed down.

Pastor said, “Congratulations, Rusty.  Your name has been written down in God’s book.  You are His child now.  And, whenever the devil looks at you, he will see the Name of Jesus on your life.  You have a new name!”

“Thank you,” Rusty said.  Pastor led him out of the baptistery and down the stairs that lead to it.

Dad stood at the bottom of the stairway and gave Rusty a big hug.  Mom and Misty were there soon, too.  They both gave him a hug as well.

Misty asked, “So what’s it like?”

“Awesome,” Rusty replied.

“You looked cold.”

“Naw.  I was just a little nervous.  It’s not bad at all.”

“Good,” she said.

Rusty looked at his sister.  “So when will you get baptized, Misty?”

___________________________

How was Rusty’s baptism different than Wiggles’s bath?

Wiggles got dirt washed away.  Rusty got his sins washed away.

Wiggles got a new name tag after getting clean.  How was Rusty’s experience similar?

He got the Name of Jesus put on his life.

How does Acts 2:38 say we are supposed to be baptized?

Why do oneness apostolic pentecostals baptize in the Name of Jesus?

Because He is our Savior. Understanding the oneness of God, we know His name to be Jesus (Yahweh-Shuah).

How old do you have to be to get baptized?

The Bible doesn’t say what age.  You have to be able to understand and obey the gospel.

What has to happen before you are baptized?

Repentance, belief in Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection.

Why do you want to be baptized?

Remission of sins, commitment for life, new name, home in heaven, or because of love for Jesus.

____________

Teach your older children The history of the revelation of baptism in the name of Jesus, a book by oneness apostolic pentecostal pioneer O. F. Fauss. Discuss it together.

____________

Read the following scripture with the family:

Plunge in the Desert

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

The place of the scripture which he read was this,

He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.  But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Acts 8:26-40

___________________________

Did Philip preach to this man from the book of Acts?

No.  He preached from Isaiah.

What do we learn about Philip’s soul-winning ability in this passage?

He knew the scriptures well enough to preach the plan of salvation from anywhere.  He hadn’t just memorized one or two scriptures on the topic.

What did Philip demand of the man before he would baptize him?

That the man should believe with all his heart.

What part of this passage reveals that the man was not sprinkled with water or poured upon from a container (as some religious groups practice)?

The last few verses say that Philip took the man down with him into the water and he came back up.

Why did the man want to get baptized right away?

Every conversion in the New Testament is followed by immediate baptism.  They understood that this mattered for eternity and that time should not be wasted.

Action plan: For family members who have been baptized, ask them when they last explained this wonderful apostolic experience to someone who had not obeyed this command.  Discuss how to approach a person who has been baptized “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” and share positive experiences.

For those who haven’t been baptized, talk gently about what keeps them from God’s cleansing.  Press the urgency without making the person feel shamed or awkward (although conviction will sometimes do both).  Perhaps dealing with certain members alone will be most effective.

Share your story.

_____________

Color this picture with your kids

Coloring Page

Go to http://www.devotionswithdad.com/AP2Coloring.pdf and print out as many as you like. Use it as a witnessing tool for your children to share with friends who are not apostolic, oneness pentecostals.  Happy coloring!

________________________

Memory Verse:

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said unto them,

Repent,

and be baptized

every one of you

in the name of Jesus Christ

for the remission of sins,

and ye shall receive

the gift of the Holy Ghost.

______________

If you and your family are looking for more apostolic, oneness pentecostal devotions go to danieljkoren.com. You will find devotional topics from a oneness pentecostal perspective, resources for apostolic soul-winning, and Bible teaching guides for church and family.