Sermon Tone Analysis

*Theme                 *God’s drive for life is powerful and sure.

Prelude

Welcome            ray- thank you

Call to Worship

*One:           *O Lord, our God, Creator of the whole universe,

*All:    *We are full of your life.

*One:           *Gardens and fields, once at rest, bring forth life.

*All:    *We turn to you, O source of life.

We listen, to learn and to hope.

Praise                Lord, I Lift Your Name on High

                        We Exalt Thee

                        Glorify Your Name

~*Invocation        (the Lord’s Prayer)       Look upon us with your gracious eyes, Jesus Christ.

Then, in you kindness, be found among us here - bringing us your holy word that we may know you in spirit and truth.

~*Gloria Patri       # 575

Just for Kids

Our Offering to God         Let us bring our offerings to God, looking at the needs of the world with the loving eyes of Jesus.

Our gifts will now be received.

~*Doxology          #572

~*Prayer of Dedication          These are the gifts we bring you, O God, the fruits of our labors and the offerings of our hearts.

Receive them, we pray, and lead us into the best ways of using them for your work.

Scripture Reading                Deuteronomy 7:7-13;

7It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples.

8It was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10and who repays in their own person those who reject him.

He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him.

11Therefore, observe diligently the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today.

12If you heed these ordinances, by diligently observing them, the LORD your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors; 13he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you.

~*Hymn of Prayer          # 354        I Am Thine, O Lord

Pastoral Prayer           With thankful hearts, we come to you, O God.

We know that, no matter what we really deserve, you always see us as those who could be more than we have ever been.

You give us the universe to care for and to play in.

You give us each other to cherish and to invite toward a greater hope.

You give us awe-inspiring freedom to live and work in, believing that anything is possible for those who walk with you in faith.

~/~/ as God of the mountaintops of our faith you invite  us to look at the world with love, point us to the needs we have not noticed and prophetic visions of what could be, guide us now as we pause to reflect on what lies before us.

~/~/~/~/~/ help us to look at the world  and all its struggling places and peoples for the purpose of bringing them before you in prayer.~/~/~/~/~/~/

Loving God, we pray for those men who are fathers of growing children.

Give them more energy than their smaller ones and wisdom enough to guide their older ones.

Give them patience in conflict, sensitivity in matters of the heart and sound judgment in preparing their children for the future.

Help fathers balance the enormous demands made on them, helping them do a good job both at work and at home.

Be with those fathers who must live apart from their children, as well as with those who must raise their children alone.

Enable each to foster lasting, life-giving relationships with their children.~/~/~/~/~/~/

Give us clear understandings of where you lead us.

Grant us strength to stay the course until something changes, and faithfulness in both small things and larger challenges.~/~/~/~/~/Sometimes

we fail to recognize the pain and grief, the needs and longings that lie here among us.

We bring them before you now, that we may be healed and comforted and made strong for whatever lies ahead.~/~/~/Reconcile

any differences that lie among us, give us brave voices to ask the harder questions, and ears to listen.~/~/~/Give

us wisdom in all that we do here and all that we do in the world around us.

In the name of Christ.

AMEN

~*Hymn of Praise          # 526        God of Our Fathers

Scripture Reading                John 3:16

Message            *A Blue Print for Fathers* \\ God gives us a blueprint for fatherhood, because he is the perfect father.

The documentary movie /The March of the Penguins/ follows the Emperor Penguins of Antarctica on their incredible journey through ice and snow to mating grounds up to 70 miles inland.

Narrated by Morgan Freeman, this beautiful film captures the drama of these three-foot-high birds in the most inhospitable of environments.

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Once the penguins have made the trek to their mating grounds and the females have produced their single eggs, a remarkable exchange occurs.

Through an intricate dance, each mother swaps her egg into the father's care.

At this point the father becomes responsible for the egg and must keep it warm.

As this part of the story unfolds, the camera shows remarkable shots of the penguin fathers securing the eggs on top of their feet and sheltering them against the cold, which will drop to as low as 80 degrees below zero.

Freeman narrates:  Now begins one of nature's most incredible and endearing role reversals.

It is the penguin male who will tend the couple's single egg.

While the mother feeds and gathers food to bring back for the newborn, it is the father who will shield the egg from the violent winds and cold.

He will make a nest for the egg atop his own claws, keeping it safe and warm beneath a flap of skin on his belly.

And he will do this for more than two months….

\\ As the winter progresses, the father will be severely tested.

By the time their vigil on top of the egg is over, the penguin fathers will have gone without food of any kind for 125 days, and they will have endured one the most violent and deadly winters on earth, all for the chick.

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|  Today we celebrate Father's Day.

Human fathers are not asked to spend 125 days without food to hatch their children, yet,   we cannot deny the impact that a father can have on a child.

One successful man said, "Yes, I'm a self-made man, but my dad made the blue print."

Today we will look at a blueprint for fatherhood, found in the most recognizable verse in all the Bible: John 3:16.

You probably already have it memorized: *For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

*If you're a father, this verse will give you some ideas of what it means to be a good dad.

This verse also teaches us 4 ways our heavenly Father relates to us.

Let's take a look at each one.

First of all... *1.

A father loves.

*Jesus said,* "For God so loved the world..." *My experience has given me insight into two spiritual concepts: 1) What it means to love.

2) What it means to be loved.

We may strive to love others unconditionally—our spouse, our friends, our siblings—but it doesn't come naturally to us.

This kind of unconditional love is something you have to develop.

For example, you may love your wife unconditionally today, but you haven't always.

You didn't love her unconditionally before you met her.

When you first began dating, you didn't love her unconditionally.

Today, you may love her with all your heart, but it is a love she has earned, to a certain extent, by being the person she is.

Too often, this is how we think God loves us.

We think his love for us grows the more he gets to know us, and the more we do things worthy of his love.

It doesn't work that way, and becoming a parent teaches us this.

The moment your children come into the world, you love them.

Period.

He or she has done nothing to earn your love, but you love them anyway—simply because they're yours.

And you will keep loving them, no matter what.

This is unconditional love, and virtually all parents have it.

If you're a parent, think of the love you have for your children, and realize: this is the best human example of God's love for us.

It's not based on performance or merit.

It's based on the fact that we are his.

I have never met a father who has said, "I don't love my children."

But here's where too many fathers drop the ball: you don't express it.

You don't say it and you don't show it.

Or you show your love only at certain times, in reward for certain types of behavior.

As a result, the kids get the idea that your love for them is conditional.