Father's Day 2022

Father’s Day

Happy Father’s day.

It’s kind of funny with going to church on mothers day and fathers day is that on mother’s day, mothers get built up, and on fathers day, fathers get beat up. Well, that is not happening today. We get beat up enough by the world. I think many of us tend to beat ourselves up a good bit as well. The Word of God is meant to convict us and transform our hearts and minds. Sometimes it hurts, any kind of cutting away of the old to make room for the new is going to hurt. His Word is meant to make us the men, husbands and fathers that God intends.

For as many women as I have prayed with and for, I have prayed with and for as many men. Husbands who feel alone, fathers who see themselves as failures, men of God silently hurting and experiencing the crushing effects this world can have on all of us at times. We need some building up in the truth of God’s Word, we need some sharpening, we must seek our answers from the Father of all children.

Men of God, you are needed today perhaps more than any other time in our history. I read a statistic some time back that stated roughly 84% of prison inmates are from homes that did not have a good male role model. Another poll showed that the majority of men spend an average of 15 minutes per week with their younger children. It all starts at home, in your Jerusalem. In today’s culture, with all of the competing voices, we must stand as watchman over our families following and declaring the LORD. We are going to look at Joshua 24:15 this morning. This is an awesome verse for all Christians but it is especially pertinent to fathers today.

Joshua 24:15 NLT

15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

So many today want the promises of God without submitting to the service of God. We must all make compromises at times. One place there is no room for compromise is our faith, in our relationship with Abba Father. Joshua is saying that if serving YHVH as bad or undesirable, then make a choice, cause you are going to be serving someone or something. “Well, I serve the LORD, most of the time.” Who are you serving when you are not serving the LORD? When we make those compromises, we are refusing to serve the LORD. If we are not serving the LORD, then we are serving one of three things: we are serving ourselves, we are serving this world, or we are serving the enemy. We cannot compromise brothers. Every moment, every circumstance, every decision is one to serve the LORD or to refuse the LORD.

Notice that second question Joshua poses? “Or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live?” Many of us have a hard time with the direction this country has taken. Many feel as though they do not recognize the land that we live in anymore. We had a president in my lifetime state that “This is no longer a Christian nation.” A lot of Christians were infuriated and offended by this comment. I wasn’t. I actually chuckled a little and said “Dude, what proceeds out of mans mouth yours included, does not dictate how big my God is! I was brought back to this verse.

The hard truth is that people, including Christians, are in fact serving idols, ideologies, politicians, and certain organizations. Actively pursuing sin, living in sin and proud to do so. Our circumstance or where we live should not define the decisions that we make, God defines who we are and should be defining our decisions. If this is in fact no longer a Christian nation, then the harvest is indeed plentiful and you and I have a lot of work to do for Jesus Christ! I have said this before but it is worth repeating. They can take down all the statues and monuments they want to, God does not live in them. When you are alive in Christ, Holy Spirit is alive in you. Wherever you go, there God will also be! No man, woman, or group has the power to change that.

Joshua was not disrespectful or disagreeable for the sake of disagreeing. Joshua was not concerned with the politics or the cultural differences, or the different opinions. Those things have always existed and will until Jesus returns. We choose in each moment who we will stand with. We choose in the moment who we are going to represent. Joshua stood with the one true God! The choice to follow God rests with the individual. God does not make us choose to put him first.

God is not going to make all of our decisions for us either, but He will never leave us with an option outside of His sovereign boundaries. The choices may not be crystal clear every time, but the ungodly choices are pretty well defined. The secular world has no problem declaring where they stand. As fathers, as men of God, we cannot be ambiguous about following Jesus Christ.

Here is the big thing. Joshua says “as for me and my house...” Fathers, men of God, we must cover our wives and our children. To properly cover our wives and children, you must allow God to cover you. If how we speak and behave as an earthly fathers does not line up with scripture, if it does not look and sound like Jesus Christ, what kind of correlation will our children make between us and our heavenly father? We are to reflect Jesus Christ. It is our duty. We must be the example of Christ first in our homes.

No matter what we do, our children are going to make mistakes along the way. How many novels could you fill with the mistakes you've made? How far did you wander? We must allow them to make mistakes. We must allow them to experience successes that are theirs. We were not meant to live vicariously through our children or to control their every step. Sometimes our children will get into places where we can’t reach them, help them, or protect them? The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most popular in scripture. The story begins in Luke 15:11. It is a beautiful story of God’s love and grace for His children. It is also a reminder to fathers today how we are to treat our own children.

One of the mans sons asked for his inheritance while his dad was still alive. His dad gave it to him. The son takes off, blows his inheritance, is left with nothing, and has to take a job working with pigs. That is significant in that this was a rock bottom for this son. He was Jewish. To even be near a pig was dirty, filthy, and broke Rabbinical law. Scripture goes further, this son was so hungry he wanted to eat the food that the pigs were eating. Rock bottom. He had nothing. Broken financially, physically, and spiritually. He tried it the world’s way and he lost.

Many of us have been in one or more of those places in our lives. In the muck and the mire. When the choices we make bring us to a place of desperation. God did not go anywhere, we did. God did not choose for us, we did. God is a gentleman, if we say “I got this,” God is going to let us have it. It does not mean he does not love us, it means he lets us make the choice.

Luke 15:20 NLT

20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

That is a picture of God when his children wander and return to Him. This wayward son had brought disgrace to his family and village and, according to Deuteronomy 21:18–21, he should have been stoned to death. If the neighbors had started to stone him, they would have hit the father who was embracing him! What a picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross!

As father’s are we showing our children that same love and compassion? Do we embrace them, kiss them, and love on them? Do we encourage our children and build them up? The Father did not wait with His arms folded across his chest and full of pride for His child to apologize. No. He grabbed him and loved on him. Look what happens next.

Luke 15:21 NLT

21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

This is a picture of our repentance. When we get caught up in sin and we repent or turn away, it is more than regret or remorse. True repentance involves the will as well as the mind and the emotions. To be an example to our children means that we admit when we are wrong, we apologize, we repent, and we lead by example. If we allow pride, arrogance, or ego to keep us from apologizing or repenting, we have failed. Ask yourself “Am I going to be a tyrant or am I going to be a servant.” We are called to be father’s as well as servants to all, including our children. We are going to close with this verse.

Luke 15:22 NLT

22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.

Look closely at this verse. The son just got done pouring his heart out, repenting, he did not feel worthy of his fathers love. Too many young men and women feel this way today. They grow up believing that they are never good enough. The father does not beat him up with all that he did wrong. He did not withhold his love as a form of punishment like many fathers do. The son returned which overjoyed the father! Just like our father in heaven when we go to Him. He had the servants bring the finest robe to cover his son! The finest robe would have belonged to the father. Our Father sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ to cover us. The ring was a sign of sonship. It marked the son as belonging to this family. Holy Spirit is the mark of God on us, in His family. God has held nothing back, not His love, not His grace, and not His mercy. Neither should we. You are called upon by God to a divine purpose in being a Godly man and father and he has given us the road-map to do it.

Fathers, we can not hold close to the world and be kingdom men. We are called by God to lead our families, to love our wives, to love and teach our children. With all of the competing voices in the world today, our families need to hear His voice through us. It may not seem like they are watching, they are. It may not seem like they hear you at times. They are listening. Let us choose to be the men of God and the fathers that Christ has called us to be. As a small token of our appreciation this morning, we have some gifts for fathers up here. Please come up and choose a gift. God bless you.

Alter Call/ Worship