As Fathers Go

Welcome: SBC UPDATE:

It was a good week:

NAMB, through non-cooperative program dollars, was able to pay for adoptions for a few church planters. Also, they were able to give a family who’s three children all were born with a genetic disease that will lead to blindness and short lives, new vehicles that will help them get to doctors visits reliably and do ministry well. It was a moving a touching moment as we recognized the sacrifices and hardships that some of our missionaries experience.

IMB, commissioned 58 missionaries for the field this year. Your giving has helped send the gospel to the ends of the earth. It was a powerful moment that I wish all of you could of experienced.

God continues to do incredible things through the SBC. We passed some wonderful resolutions including advocating for Biblical marriage and sexuality, condemning pornography, and many others.

We should be grateful to have Clint Pressley as our president again. He did a remarkable job leading this year.

One other major good news for all Southern Baptists is that Salvations/Baptisms were up for yet another year! God is moving across our country and people are being saved and baptized.

It was a wonderful reminder of all the good that God is doing through our convention and in our churches across America.

Pray

Intro to message

Allforkids.org highlights the importance of Father’s in the lives of their children. Listen to this data:

A child’s engagement with their father impacts their learning from elementary to high school. Studies show children with involved fathers are 43% more likely to earn A’s and 33% less likely to repeat a grade than those without engaged fathers.

When dads are involved at school, either engaging with students in the classroom or interacting with teachers, faculty, or other parents, their children learn more and perform better, exhibit healthier behavior, are more likely to participate in extracurricular activities, have fewer discipline problems, and enjoy school more.

This trend continues as the child moves into adulthood and towards independence. Children who feel close to their father “are twice as likely as those who do not to enter college or find stable employment after high school, 75% less likely to have a teen birth, 80% less likely to spend time in jail, and half as likely to experience multiple depression symptoms”. Other research indicates that fatherhood engagement promotes problem-solving skills in school and career settings.

This trend stems from the authoritative influence of a father figure. Ideally, the father figure uses an authoritative parenting style to combine love with clear boundaries and expectations, to motivate a child to succeed and instill successful habits and desires. Overall, father involvement usually leads to better emotional, academic, social, and behavioral outcomes for children.

In other words, involved dads more times than not leads to successful children, even as those children enter adulthood. We live in a society where father’s are less involved in their children’s lives. The data is clear. Our children need both mom and dad involved in their lives and they especially need father’s who will lead them well.

I’m a father of four young men and have a daughter that will be born in October. Dad’s I know the weight of responsibility. The desires to provide and longing to be better all to well. Granddads or dads with grown children. This message is for you too. While you might think these days are long past, you will always be dad. You never stop being the dad to your kids. You still hang the moon for your children. You are still the man we look most too in life.

This morning I want to talk to you about “As Fathers Go so does the home and society.” Joshua knew this all to well. If you have your Bibles please turn to Joshua 24:14-15.

Context: Joshua has gathered Israel together, and declares the word of the Lord to them, reminding them of all that he had done for them, including giving them things they did not work for—it’s for this reason that Joshua says “now therefore”

Joshua 24:14–15 ESV

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

1. Commit to worshiping Jesus.

a. Worship through Submission.

Psalm 95:6 ESV

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

b. Worship by Singing.

Psalm 100:2 ESV

2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

c. Worship in Spirit.

John 4:23–24 ESV

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

d. Worship through sacrifice.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

IllustrationThe Burning Coal

A pastor once took a coal from a blazing fire and set it off to the side. Slowly, it lost its glow, its heat, and its flame. He said to the man next to him, “This is what happens when we separate ourselves from the fire of worship.”

Application: Committed worship keeps our hearts burning for Jesus. When we neglect worship—personally or together—we cool spiritually. Stay in the fire, and you’ll stay on fire.

Transition: Not only should you commit to worshipping Jesus,

2. Commit to leading like Jesus.

a. Lead selflessly.

Philippians 2:3–8 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Illustration: The Coach Who Ate Last

A high school football team always noticed that their coach, though tough, always made sure the team ate first at meals. At camps and post-game dinners, he was always last in line, ensuring everyone had enough before serving himself.

Application: Jesus said, “The last shall be first.” Leaders who follow Him commit to putting others before themselves—just like Christ, who gave Himself for the church.

b. Lead as a servant.

Matthew 20:26–28 ESV

26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

c. Lead as a shepherd.

1 Peter 5:2–3 ESV

2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Illustration:The Guide Who Walked Behind

In Africa, a missionary group was led through thick jungle by an experienced local guide. One day, the guide walked behind the group rather than in front. When asked why, he said, “Today I must see how the others are doing. A good leader knows when to walk ahead and when to walk behind.”

Transition: Not only should you commit to worshiping Jesus and leading like Jesus,

3. Commit to holding onto Jesus.

a. Press on towards Jesus

Philippians 3:12–14 ESV

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

b. Pursue Jesus and deny yourself.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Illustration: The Firefighter’s Carry

During a house fire, a firefighter found an unconscious boy on the second floor. He lifted him onto his shoulders and navigated collapsing stairs and smoke-filled halls. The boy did nothing but remain limp in the arms of his rescuer. He was saved—not by his own effort, but by the one carrying him.

Application: Holding onto Jesus means surrendering control and letting Him carry us when we can’t carry ourselves. Our commitment is not in striving, but in clinging.

c. Please the Lord rather than men.

Colossians 3:23–24 ESV

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Conclusion: 1. You can commit to worshiping Jesus, leading like Jesus and holding onto Jesus all you want, but if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus then eventually your efforts will falter and fail.

Illustration The Child’s Grip

A father and his small daughter hiked up a mountain trail. As the path narrowed, the father said, “Hold my hand tight.”The daughter replied, “No, Daddy, you hold mine. Because if I hold yours, I might let go—but if you hold mine, I know you won’t.”

Unless Jesus holds you, your attempts to be a good and godly father will never succeed. You need to be saved and you need to allow Jesus to hold onto you so that you can hold on to your child. Will you trust Jesus today?

With every head bowed and Eye closed…