The Promise Is To You And Your Children

The Promise Is To You And Your Children

God works through families—regardless of how dysfunctional they may be.

DUTTON LANE was born near Baltimore, Maryland, on November 7, 1732, the very same year George Washington was born. Sometime thereafter his father moved the family to Virginia near the North Carolina border.

Nearby in Sandy Springs, North Carolina, Shubal Stearns, a convert of George Whitefield, the leader of the Great Awakening, had founded a Separate Baptist church in 1755 with the help of his brother-in-law Daniel Marshall. (During the Great Awakening revivalistic Baptist churches were called “Separate Baptist,” and antirevivalistic ones were called “Regular Baptist.”) Stearns and Marshall soon began evangelistic trips into Virginia, where one of the many who put their faith in the Lord Jesus and were baptized was Dutton Lane.

Lane soon began preaching himself, and when the first Separate Baptist church in Virginia was founded at Dan River in 1760, Dutton Lane was installed as its pastor. By 1772 he had five additional preaching positions with five assistants helping him.

In spite of God’s blessing on his ministry, Dutton Lane also faced opposition. A man named William Cocker loudly boasted that he would rather go to hell than heaven if going to the latter required his becoming a Baptist. However, one day by chance Cocker heard Dutton Lane preach. His response was to fall to the ground, crying, “Lord, have mercy upon me! I am a gone man! What shall I do to be saved?” He soon was saved and became a Baptist on his way to heaven!

On another occasion an opponent by the name of James Roberts was traveling with a companion to obtain a warrant for the arrest of one of Lane’s assistants. As they traveled at night a supernatural bright light shone around them, startling their horses. The bright light was followed by a thick darkness in which they could not see where they were going. Roberts understood this to be God’s warning to him, and he immediately stopped opposing Dutton Lane.

Regrettably, Lane’s greatest opposition came from his own father who told his mother that he would horsewhip her if she ever went to hear her son preach. On the one occasion when she did sneak away to hear her son, her husband whipped her on her return home.

Lane’s father next determined that he was going to shoot his son. Lane’s mother courageously reminded her husband that, when he went bird hunting, the birds had the opportunity to fly away before they were shot. She challenged her husband to give his son a similar opportunity and go hear him preach at least one time before he murdered him.

Lane’s father accepted the challenge and went to hear his son. During the service he became convicted of his sins and soon trusted Jesus as the One who had paid the penalty for them. Dutton Lane then had the privilege of baptizing his father, who had sought to kill him.

Reflection

Have you experienced opposition to your faith from members of your family? How do you react to it? We need to remember that we are responsible only for our own behavior. If God changes us, those around us will act differently toward us. We can trust God’s promise to work in our families.

Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.

Acts 2:38-39