““And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.””  Luke 1:17 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/luk.1.17.LSB

Are most men who love Jesus truly following Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit of God for knowing Him and doing His will? The evidence that such men exist is found in this verse, they are men who do two things. The godly man, the truly born again man, is described in this verse as the man who teaches his children the ways of God and who himself obeys the commands of Jesus. This is the man, when the Lord returns, will hear well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master. The church and the culture suffer the poverty of men owning the responsibility for raising disciples of Jesus. Parenting has become women’s work, driven by the mothers, resulting in a lack of discipline and honor in children. Men are to discipline children, to train them in righteousness, which involves a process of discomfort, and conflict, for the child is born sinful, foolishness abounds in their heart and flesh, and must be driven out by the rod of correction. Men are to be honored by their wives, men most identify with God’s command to be honored, so men must teach children to honor them, the Lord, and others. The means for children becoming obedient to the command to love God first and most is through the command for children to honor their parents. Fathers teach this requirement by requiring it in their children and punishing the disobedient. Fathering in this way is living the obedient life before God. It is making disciples beginning in our own household so that we can make disciples in the church and in the marketplace. Failure to be a disciple by making disciples at home will result in failure to live and work as a disciple in the church and marketplace, and this is the very problem we see today.