Good morning, CHURCH!

(Church joke of the day)

I have this friend of mine that’s a pastor and he told me he consulted his doctor about his wife’s snoring.

I said come on pastor everybody snores a little bit at times.

I snore sometimes.

My wife snores sometimes.

“It can’t really be that bad it is?”

He said, “Pastor J, this is not just an occasional snore here or there.”

I said to him, ‘Does it really bother you that much that you have to consult a physician?’

He said, ‘It’s not just me.’

‘It’s bothering the whole congregation!’

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Before I get started:

Can you all tell that I’m glad to have my wife back.

Do you have some things in your heart that you would like to share with us?

I’ll bring back the wisdom vaccination next week.

Let’s get into today’s message.

We have been in a series titled The Heart of Worship.

We will continue that series moving forward but for today, I felt led to center the message on fathers, leaders, and heads of households.

Father’s, where are you leading us.

I’m sure we can all look back over our life and see a strong connection to our fathers or lack of a father.

It’s usually a strong indicator to how our lives either are or how they were.

And it’s not about blaming our fathers or lack of a father but it’s about realizing where we are.

I’ve realized that my lack of intimacy for most our marriage had a lot to do with (not that my father left us), but how I processed it at a young age.

The mind is not fully developed until you get into your twenties.

And I chose to act like it was no big deal.

I chose to move on with life as if I didn’t need my father.

But my choice of how I dealt with it, turned out to hurt my marriage relationship.

Some men grow up in a house with a father who was a serial adulterer.

Some men grow up in a house with a father who was an abusive man.

Some men grow up in a house with a father who was passive.

(Drug users, workaholic, male chauvinist, etc.)

Or you may have been fortunate to grow up with a father who was present in your life, God fearing, loved your mother, provider, attentive to you etc.

Whatever your circumstances may have been, the role of the father or leader you were raised by has a great effect on your wiring.

If you are a father in here today, I have a question for you.

Where are you leading your family?

Point #1

The leader sins and many suffer.

Let’s look at what happen to the people of Israel as a result of what their leader did.

2 Samuel 24:1 NLT

Once again, the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he caused David to harm them by taking a census. “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah,” the Lord told him.

Some of you should be taken back by the translation that refers to God causing David to harm Israel.

That doesn’t sound like something God would do.

And we know it doesn’t make sense for God to do that because God punished David for it.

2 Samuel 24:1 NASB 1995

Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

The reason for the differences in translation is that, in the original language, there is no subject for the verb incited.

So, we aren’t told who exactly moved David to take the census.

To translate the verse literally, we would say, “There was who moved David against them” or “For one moved David against them.”

Some other options that theologians offer up are:

*The unstated thing that moved David to conduct the census could have been David’s own evil imagination. *The “one” who moved David could be Satan, as 1 Chronicles 21:1.

1 Chronicles 21:1 NLT

Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.

*The “adversary” (the meaning of the word Satan) mentioned in 1 Chronicles could be someone other than the devil; it could have been an unnamed counselor to David who prompted him into a foolish (or sinful) action.

But the point I want to make is that David took a census.

Why was that a problem?

In those times, a man only had the right to count or number what belonged to him.

But Israel belonged to God, so you would only number them at His command.

David knew it was wrong and begged God to take away the guilt of his sin.

2 Samuel 24:10 NLT

But after he had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt, Lord, for doing this foolish thing.”

God gave David a choice of three punishments for his sin.

*Three years of famine

*Three months of fleeing before his enemies

*Three days of plague.

David chose the three days of plague.

And the plague that came upon Israel killed 70,000 men from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.

So, we see here that the sin and disobedience of the leader had a devastating effect on the followers.

Point #2

The father sins and the children suffer.

Joshua 7:1 NLT

But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully regarding the things designated for destruction, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the designated things; therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.

They were supposed to return all the plunder to the Lord because this was the first battle and the first belongs to God.

So, the next time they went out to battle it was against tiny AI.

They only sent 3,000 soldiers because it should have been an easy victory.

Especially with the Lord on their side.

Joshua 7:5 NLT

And the men of Ai struck and killed about thirty-six of their men and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them on the mountainside; and the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

Joshua 7:7 NLT

And Joshua said, “Oh, Lord God! Why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan, only to hand us over to the Amorites, to eliminate us? If only we had been willing to live beyond the Jordan!

Joshua 7:10-11 NLT

So, the Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also violated My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things designated for destruction and have both stolen and kept it a secret. Furthermore, they have also put them among their own things.

Joshua 7:20-21 NLT

So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoils a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I wanted them and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

Joshua 7:24-25 NLT

then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.

25 And Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you this day.” And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

So, we see here that Achan’s kids were killed because of the sins of the father.

If you’re watching online or here in the building, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?