The Model Father

Well, it was in 1909 that a woman in Spokane, Washington, was listening to a mother's day sermon and was sitting there thinking about her father. The reason she was thinking about her father on a mother's day was because she realized we have mother's day We get mother's day sermons, but we don't have father's day in 1909 there wasn't such thing and so she initiated a drive to start mother's day and And sure enough the mayor of Spokane passed a resolution which was later then moved on to the state level in Washington and finally It was 1972 when former president Nixon signed a congressional resolution That named the third Sunday in June to be an official recognition of father's day and so here we are We're talking about fathers today, and I want to speak to you about the model father I can assure you he's not standing on the platform today and I'm not really thinking of just a general set of things that you might expect of a model father It's not just some vague concept. I actually do have a person in mind to Give you as an example of the model father It's not someone here Although there are many of you who could qualify well to serve as model fathers in our congregation No question about that. It's not really somebody from history It is somebody from the Bible and So you're wondering is it Abraham is it Isaac or Job? Maybe even David? No It is God Now I know it all you dads are thinking man am I in trouble now? If he's the model father, I'll never measure up well He is the model father and we will never measure up But he's still the model for us to pattern our lives after One of the fascinating things to me is that in the book of Ephesians God is referred to as father eight times So I invite your attention to the book of Ephesians this morning We're going to take kind of a survey of those uses of the word father for God in the book of Ephesians Three times in chapter one he is called father and then one time in each of the following five chapters So eight times in all he is called father in the book of Ephesians each chapter in Ephesians points to a quality of God as father That serves as a model for us. So what we're going to do is we're going to pull from the book of Ephesians those characteristics of God as father That served in as a model for us to follow as fathers and grandfathers The first one is that as our example as our model our father our heavenly father is a blesser He is a blesser Now you'll catch that in chapter one Let's just see how Paul opens the epistle the letter to the Ephesians verse one Paul and a pomsyl of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints in Ephesus the faithful in Christ Jesus Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ and if you'll skip down to verse 17 you'll find the third time the word fathers used in chapter one I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the glorious father May give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better First three says that God as our father has blessed us With every spiritual blessing and heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. So God is a blesser I want us to look first of all at God's blessings and then I want us to compare that with a father's Blessing and let's go ahead and pull all those both of those up on the outline because what we're gonna do is Is compare the two and you might want to jot something down about God then you'll jot down how it applies to you as a father When when Paul says that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly It's important to recognize first that he's focusing on spiritual blessings The way God blesses us is with spiritual blessings and that's the way he serves as a model for those of us who are fathers and grandfathers But Paul goes on to make that more concrete not just some vague concept of blessing He goes on to describe seven Blessings that our father God gives to us and Those seven serve as a model as to how we can bless others. Let's look at them quickly in Verses three through 17 seven blessings the first blessing our father blesses us with is that he chose us verse four For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight Now look at verse 11. He says much the same thing in him We were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in Order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory Now I it's not my purpose this morning to do an exposition of Ephesians I've preached through Ephesians before we've done that but so I'm not going to give you a Theological explanation of being chosen predestined of election this morning That's not my point my point is one of the blessings and the very first blessing God ever gave us even before we were Born even in eternity past is that he chose us to be in his family But my my concern this morning is how that transfers over to us Human fathers and how we are to bless our children. I believe as God chose us We as human fathers need to bless our children with a purposeful love a Love that chooses them that we choose to express That makes it an unconditional love I'm talking about a love that is not based on your children's performance I'm talking about a love that is not based on whether they're good or bad I'm talking about a love that you choose to give unconditionally the kind of love our father gives to us When he chose us Regardless of our character or who we were he chose us and for us to choose to give an unconditional love to our children is a great blessing that you can get to your children today Second blessing that God gives us is to be adopted look at verse four For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holding blameless in his sight in love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious Grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves the father not only has chosen us He has also adopted us into his family Now the amazing thing about the family of God is that we enter it two different ways Only only one time and really one way but in a sense from God's perspective We are born into his family and we are adopted into his family But in the Bible adoption is not just really the method by which you come into a family The key thing for adoption in Roman society and this would be in the minds of every person in Ephesus who read this letter the key truth about adoption in Bible times was the inheritance That you got because you were brought into the family See if you were childless in Roman society you could you could make an official adoption of someone And the purpose of that was to be able to have someone to leave your inheritance to and so in the Bible adoption has more to do with Inheritance than it does with how you enter the family It has to do with being a full legal air of the father Now how does that transfer to us as fathers? If God blesses us with adoption we should bless our children as fathers and grandfathers By leaving them a legacy by giving them an inheritance a Spiritual legacy of godly direction the greatest inheritance you can leave your children is a spiritual Guidepost a path for them to walk on the example a legacy an inheritance that says This is how you love God. This is how you grow in him This is how you serve him that kind of inheritance left for your children will be the best thing you can ever leave them It'll be the best thing you can ever leave them Third blessing our father gives us our father in heaven is in verse 7 and it is Redemption in whom we have redemption through his blood now redemption means that that Jesus came and paid a purchase price The price of his own life He laid down to pay the penalty for our sin So that we might be taken out of the slave market of sin and set free now to serve willingly our our father our god That's what redemption is that a purchase price paid so that your sins are forgiven that you're you they are put behind you but more than that you are released from the bondage of them So what does that mean for us as dads? It means that we live a lifestyle modeling freedom from bondage That we show our children what it's like to live outside the bondage to sin so show your children a model of what it means to live free from the slave market free from the bondage of sin free from bondage to addictions and sinful patterns of Behavior that in trap you and hold you in its chains show them how to live free Show them how to live free from sin and its bondage one of the best things you can do for your kids is Not to be in bondage to sin But to live out that lifestyle of redemption of being taken out of the slave market of sin the fourth blessing our father gives us is Forgiveness look at it again verse 7 in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding So God blesses us in in heavenly realms With all spiritual blessings by forgiving us He has wiped the record clean of our sin The moment you trusted Jesus as your personal savior God took all the sin off of the record book in your account in heaven and he placed the righteousness of Christ on it That's what it means to be justified to be declared righteous in the sight of God the sin in your life has been dealt with and taken care of and wiped off the record you've been forgiven What a blessing that is and so if he is our father what he's telling us in order to to live out The example that he's given us we need to model forgiveness to our children Dad's forgive your children live out that model to forgiveness to your kids So many families are in turmoil today so much distance in families where dads and moms won't speak to their kids and their kids Don't eat one anything to do with mom and dad Because there's been there been things that have happened and There's not been any forgiveness take place there Dad's model what it means to wipe the record clean to offer forgiveness To welcome them back To not hold anything against them You say well wait a second. I'm waiting for them to make things right I'm waiting for them to ask forgiveness. Did your Heavenly Father wait for you to make things right? Did he wait for you to straighten up your life? Before he did what was necessary to open the door for forgiveness for you Of course not He made provision for your forgiveness before you were ever born and he sent Jesus to die for your sins The way was made open for you his arms were open to forgive you and Yes, the relationship that was broken by sin could not be restored until you trusted Christ as your Savior But the forgiveness was already offered have you ever taken the initiative to forgive your child? Or have you ever asked for forgiveness when you have wronged them? Live out that lifestyle of forgiveness that our Father has modeled for us Fifth blessing that God has blessed us with in heavenly places in Christ is what I'm going to call enlightenment verse 9 and he made known to us the mystery of his will According to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times have reached their fulfillment to bring all things together in heaven and on earth together under one head even Christ So he enlightened us he made known to us he gave us wisdom about what it says his will his purpose and his plan Which is to bring all things together under Christ eventually in glory? That's the ultimate end of his purpose but God enlightened us about his plan and his purpose What does it have to do with you and me as dads and grand dads? It means that we need to enlighten our children Now I know what some of you are thinking you're gonna pull junior aside when he comes home and say buddy I need to enlighten you about a few things Well, maybe you do but that's not exactly what I'm talking about I'm talking about following the lead of our heavenly Father and Enlightening our children making clear to them opening up for them the mystery of God's will Helping them to seek and find and live out God's will One of the greatest spiritual blessings you can get to your children or grandchildren is to challenge them to find and do God's will Are you doing that dad or do you already have your child's future planned out Based on what you've done you want them to follow in your footsteps in the sense of you want them to take the business Or you want them to to do the same kind of work that you did that that's fine if that's what God wants But have you enlightened them to know that there's something higher than Maybe what you've done or what anybody else does for them. It's what God wants them to do And so you've challenged them to seek God's will and to do what God wants them to do That's that's the responsibility we all have and that's what our Father's done for us He's opened our eyes to his will and we ought to help open our children's eyes to do whatever God wants them to do and Allow them to do what God wants them to do don't map out your kids life what you want Challenge them to look for God's will And follow what he wants them to do and lighten them in that way Sixth blessing that God gives us is that we are sealed verse 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation Having believed you were marked in him with a seal the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption Of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory When you believed in Christ when you trusted Christ God put a seal on you and That seal is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you when you trust Christ is your Savior You are sealed Nine Roman times a seal was a was wax marked with the kings and sign here the Caesars and Sign here the governors and Signia that showed several things one thing it provided security you couldn't break that document open without breaking the seal It also showed Authority this comes with the authority of the one that has that seal but it also showed ownership Identity who does this belong to and and part of what our seal the Holy Spirit shows for us in Christ is that God owns us and We're not our own anymore. We're bought with the price we belong to him and that ownership God is not ashamed to call us his own He's not ashamed to say you are my child and so for us who are dads and grand dads this mark of ownership is A willingness to say to our children and to show to our children you are mine and and I am so proud to Be your daddy I am proud to say to people this is my son. This is my daughter And I willingly lovingly joyfully identify with you as my child this mark of ownership this seal on you Comes with my blessing one of the ways you can bless your child is to give them that sense of identity that you love the fact that you had them as a son or a daughter and Then the seventh blessing that God gives us here is a close relationship with him or making that possible Deniver 17 I keep asking that the God of our Father Jesus the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the glorious Father May give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better And he goes on to talk about that in verses 18 and 19 what it means to know him better God has opened the door For you to have a close relationship with him so that you might know him better and he wants you to grow in that knowledge So in following our fathers lead as dads We need to bless our children by having a close relationship with them by letting them really know who we are By inviting them into our world and our life and sharing our heart so that they may know us better What great spiritual blessings our Father has given to us And I want to emphasize that the way you bless your children if you follow the lead of our Father is by By modeling and giving and inculcating in their lives spiritual blessings What you model for them and teach them spiritually is far more important than them learning a sport It is far more important than them making money It is far more important than them becoming a success in the world's eyes We are charged dads with the mandate of Blessing our children of passing along to them the spiritual blessings in Christ Stephen Curry is is One of the best basketball players just voted the best in the NBA Place for the Golden State Warriors if you followed the NBA finals You know the Golden State won the championship Do in large part to the kind of season Stephen Curry had Stephen Curry is an outstanding Believer he loves Christ solid testimony not afraid to take you stand for Christ and share his faith When he was awarded the most valuable player of the NBA this year back in May he made an acceptance speech It's worth watching. It's about 39 minutes, but it is worth watching This is the way he begins and I want to play this clip because he begins by talking about What's most important to him in life? Let's watch it I am a little nervous, Bob. This is a tremendous honor You know first and foremost I have to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for blessing me with the talent to play this game With the family to support me day in day out I'm his humble server right now and It is I can't say enough how important you know my faith is to how how I play the game who I am so I'm just I'm just blessed and I'm thankful for where I am After clearly talking about his faith in Christ and by the way you just don't hear that out of professional athletes When they're accepting awards they pretty much talk about themselves and their accomplishments And he started out by talking about Christ his faith in Christ very clearly and then he moves on in this Speech to thank his wife and by the way about the whole speech is thanking Other people even to the people that do security for the Golden State Warriors. I mean, it's incredible Nothing nothing about him But he thinks his wife and he for an extended few minutes gets thanks to his wife and then picks up with asking the crowd to give her a pause before he then talks about his parents and their influence I want you to see what he says next For me and you deserve a round of applause for sure Mom dead They did a great job of explaining it so far, but I think It can't be understated how much My brother and I and my sister Appreciators who you are You're the example for us. You Had her the 16 year MBA career and had us three and He raised us the right way mom you are our spiritual guidance our Disciplinarian at times because you were around when pops is away obviously if if we were in real trouble he'd come home with and And and take care of business, but Just the way that you you know raises Not taking any slack obviously we knew the sports was important to us in our family But there are priorities in life. Obviously your faith is first and foremost Yeah, how we did in school growing up was important if we didn't handle that business and there were no privileges I remember sitting out my first middle school game because I didn't handle my stuff at home That's a pretty embarrassing moment if you go to you know To your first middle school game and you have to tell your your teammates. I can't play tonight. I didn't do the dishes at home They're like what I wish so just that that lesson taught me that's more there's more to life than basketball. There's Obviously the most important thing is your family and taking care of each other Love each other no matter what and Out and regardless if I would play basketball and I know you guys love me with a shadow of a doubt you would encourage me in any Part of life that out or any path that I take what I've taken so Just thank you so much and pops you're the example what a true professional is on and off the court you I remember a lot of your career And to be able to follow your footsteps It means a lot to me This is special I'm really proud of you know what you were able to do in your career and I don't take that for granted at all a lot of people Me thought I had it easy with a pops plan, you know in the NBA but And I was I guess it up part down the road But it was an interesting journey and just who you are you made it okay for me to have a family in my age When I started to know that You take care of your business, you know, you'll be alright, so so thank you so much I hope you listen to what he said Because what he said is exactly what I want to say about the emphasis on spiritual blessings Del Curry step Steve's father taught him what it meant the first of all put God first and Then honor your family take care of your responsibilities at home at school before sports Before anything else comes and if you don't take care of business as he said That's what he meant take care of yours walk with God and your family and your responsibilities and your education Then you don't get to do the sports. I wish we had more dads like that Now you're you're hearing that from the most valuable player of the National Basketball Association And I want to emphasize that this is what the scriptures are saying if you want to model God's Blessing to us you want to bless your children then bless them spiritually model for them the importance of spiritual things For you for you not to do that is a great disservice to your children For you to raise up athletics or other things higher than God for you to drop off your children on Wednesday night So they can go to youth group, but you don't stay for church. You're teaching them priorities. Yes You're teaching them what's important? You're teaching them that yeah church is okay to you get to high school start making decisions for yourself But it's not good for me. That's what you're teaching them You're teaching them priorities for you to to punish your children by taking them out of youth group things or out of children's ministry things I'm so glad I heard him say what how I got punishes. I didn't get to play my middle school basketball game I had to sit out of a basketball game Why don't you try that dad? Try taking them off the team for a while rather than taking them out of church for a while bless your children Spiritually that is your mandate from God to follow his leadership He blesses us how with spiritual blessings and if you're gonna be like your heavenly father as a dad You need to focus on spiritual blessings for your kids and train them that that's the most important thing in life Is their walk with God and their growth in him and they're serving him? Be a blesser to your kids Some of you are looking at the clock and I am to that thing speeds up whenever I start preaching I have four more points here. So we're gonna we're gonna summarize these because I really wanted to land with both feet on that one That we need to be blessors of our kids and of our families The second thing God does for us as our father is he is accessible He's accessible Chapter two verse 18 for through him through Christ We both have access to the father by one spirit Paul is talking here about the God who is near He is accessible. We have access to him access means Permission and ability to enter it means to approach and communicate with that's access and we have that Access to our father through Jesus Christ versus 14 through 18 talk about the fact that Jesus has brought two together Jew and Gentile broken down the wall of hostility between them the the law and made one new man out of out of these two Races and ethnic groups that were at odds with each other placing us in the body making peace Verse 14 and 15 so it is through Christ's death that we have this access Into the presence of God this willingness and ability to come into his presence of Prochuman communicate with him Paul talks about this in many other passages We're not gonna take the time to look at them this morning, but in Colossians 1 He talks about this in Hebrews 4 the writer to the Hebrews talks about this Peter talks about it in first Peter 3 that we have access To the father through Christ Through Christ who died for us and we can come near what does that mean for us as dads God has chosen to come near to us and allow us to come into his presence through Christ and for us as fathers It means this don't be a distant dad Don't let distance crawl into your relationship between you and your children have an open relationship with your children Break down barriers walls of hostility Ephesians 2 verses 14 to 18 break down those walls of hostility that have been built up between you and your kids Let them know you love them. They can come talk to you any time you're approachable. You're accessible They have the invitation to come into your presence into your home come back Be with you talk with you. You'll pull out your heart to them be accessible Don't be a distant dad If there are walls between you and your children today You take the initiative you're the father you're the man in the home you take the initiative to break down those walls And open up the opportunity for peace to come To be accessible to your children the third Blessing and model that God is to us as a father is he is worthy of honor chapter 3 verse 14 Paul says for this reason I kneel before the father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name He's kneeling before the father the father is worthy of honor and The reason the father is worthy of honor is because of his grace If you follow the the thrust of the book of Ephesians, it's clear that this is what Paul is talking about in chapters 1 and 2 Paul has magnified the grace of God That that free giving of himself and all of his good gifts and blessings and salvation to us It's all by his grace. He mentions grace six times in chapters 1 and 2 and then he begins Chapter 3 by saying for this reason Verse 1 for this reason because of this marvelous Grace of God which makes it possible our salvation because for this reason I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles and when he mentions Gentiles He goes off on a 12 verse rabbit trail talking about how God had given him a ministry of the Gentiles And all that's important he comes back to his main idea in verse 14 for this reason He picks up on what he was going to say in verse 1 for this reason for because of God's grace I kneel before the father He worships his father because God has given infinitely of his grace For us nothing would be ours Salvation would not be ours. That's clear in chapter 2 It is God's grace that gives us salvation nothing that we do nothing we contribute nothing We could contribute because we're dead and trespasses and sins. It is all of his own free willing gracious loving giving to us That's the reason we can be saved and all the spiritual blessings come through grace Paul says because of this for this reason I kneel I'm kneel humbly bow myself before you and worship you So that leads me to a couple of questions for us dads and grand dads and families First question is this are you worthy of honor? You say well if I have to be as perfect as God is as gracious as he is I'm sorry. I don't qualify I understand I don't either Again, that's what grace is all about But remember it is because of God's grace that he is worthy of honor and our reverence and our worship and dads You will become worthy of honor on the part of your children and family when you live out grace a Willing giving of yourself for the good of your family your wife and your children When you live out grace now, I know that we have to lay down the law as dad sometimes I know that we have to make clear what's expected and there's consequences for violating Those standards in the home that's a very important part of training and discipline and Grace doesn't mean you suspend those Grace means you freely and willingly give of yourself For the benefit of your kids it means when you're tired you still give to them It means when you're exasperated and frustrated when you're stressed out you still give of yourself to them That's grace giving are you worthy of honor? And then let me ask children and wives here today are you giving honor to dad? Sure, he's not perfect I'm not asking that you're worshipping or kneel down to him. Although that would be kind of cool I mean, you know, just the kneeling part of the kind but but don't don't do that. I'm not suggesting that What what I am suggesting is that you honor him that you honor him today He's not perfect. He's made mistakes. Yes, we all have as as dads But he's worthy of honor from his children his wife One family Adopted a hamster You know how that goes the kids love little animals and they promise I'll take care of him I'll feed him I'll take care of everything he does And so they brought the hamster home Who's named by the way was Danny and so they started you know working with little Danny and you know how that story goes to in two weeks A little rat would have died if mom hadn't stepped in and taken care of him and So finally mom gets tired of this and says okay, okay? Calling together the kids Danny has to go And the kids were kind of upset but mom was insistent Danny has to go one of them said but I'll miss him. He's been around here a long time. I'll really miss him Mom said that's that's fine. I understand that But he's just too much work for me. He's got to go One of the other children said well could he stay if he ate less and didn't make so much mess Mom said no, he's got to go So let's go we're gonna pack up Danny and take him to the person I promised him to and both the kids said Danny did you say Danny? I thought you said daddy Not Danny Will give your dad a little more credit than the hamster, okay? Show him some respect and honor today worthy of honor The fourth blessing that God gives to us or the fourth model he shares with us and gives us is The he is impartial Chapter four the mention of the father and chapter four is in verse six One God and father of all who is overall and through all and in all Let me say first of all what this does not mean it does not mean that God is the father of all mankind Except in the sense of being a creator Paul talks about that in one sense But he is the God of all mankind He is the father of all who are in the family and you get into the family of God through trusting Christ as your savior It's the only way you get into the family of God and so this is for believers He is the father of all believers But the emphasis here is on unity that's the point of this passage You see all through this book Paul has been emphasizing the unity in the body of Christ chapter two verses 11 through 16 He's talked about the unity of Junot Jinta becoming one one new man and that's their united now in Christ He mentions again chapter three and verse six this new body this new unity in Christ and so he begins chapter four by saying Now live up to that unity that God has created in the body of Christ And he talks about a number of characteristics that we must have to have unity Be completely humble gentle be patient bearing with one another in love make every effort He says in verse three to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace and then in verses four through six He's talking about the various things that create this unity that make this unity in the body of Christ the things that we all share That we have in common there is one Body one spirit all these one things and one of those is we have one father So the one father who is the father of us all It's not like he's the father of certain ones or is more of a father to the people that are really spiritual But those that are all the time outside the boundary lines and and you know kind of messing up He's not really father to them now. He's father of us all There's an emphasis on unity here. That's why Jesus taught us in the Lord's prayer to pray Our father not my father, but our father stressing the unity of the body. He is all of our father And we need that stress in the church on our the churches not mine There is no such thing as mine or I in the body of Christ. It's not my ministry It's not my whole, but it's not my deacons. It's not my it's not my it's not my staff. It's not nothing's mine I wish we could do away with that in our vocabulary in the ministry. It's all Christ's and it's ours He is our father is equally our for all of our father So what does that mean to us as dads? It means being an impartial dad It means being a father to all your children Not playing favorites I know that can be difficult. I know there are some children who will test you on everything Everything you tell them to do they do the exact opposite and everything you tell them not to do You can just seem salivating to do it, you know Man, I'm gonna test that one and you can just see them with that that spirit of just Rebellion against authority there and so they're more difficult to deal with They're the little rear-end state red most of their childhood years and so they're kind of difficult to deal with, you know I'm saying that as a father Don't show partiality because there are some other kids who are just just fall right into the line You know I have to do just kind of look at them and they just do exactly what you want At least I've heard there are some kids like that So the tendency is gonna be for you to play favorites and to really kind of Man, that's daddy's really favorite kid over here because they always are doing what's supposed to do be careful Remember what that did the Jacobs family When it was clear to everybody in the family the favorite Joseph Because of that his brother has hated Joseph Hadity wanted to kill him So be careful Don't play favorites be a father to all your children and that one that is more difficult Go above and beyond what is called on to show love and To lovingly disciplined train But show them you love them if They're creating more difficulty for you than you create more love for them show them as much as they're creating difficulty That's how much I love you don't play favorites be impartial and Then notice the last thing I want to say about God as our father and his model to us Is that he is the giver of good gifts chapter 6 verse 23 Peace to the brothers and love with faith From God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love Notice four things that God gives us here For good gifts he gives us peace love faith grace and those are all things that he gives as Gifts to us gifts that money can't buy and so dad's I want to challenge you What are a father's good gifts one of the kinds of gifts that you can give that money can't buy Give your children time I remember when Harmon kill a brew used to play for the Minnesota twins and by the way This is father's day so I use all the sports illustrations. I want this is a guy's day Harmon kill a brew when he was inducted into the major league baseball Hall of Fame in 1984 said in his acceptance speech And I see a bunch of you look at the screen. You're not gonna see this one But he he said he said you know my dad taught my brother and I to play baseball in the front yard He said one day my wife or my mother stuck her head out the window and said Said honey you're ruining the grass And Harmon kill a brew's dad said honey we're raising kids not grass I love that Sad thing is there a lot of dad to spend more time on their yards and they do under kids What are you raising grass for kids? Raising sons and daughters or a beautiful lawn Give the good gift of time give the good gift of loving their mother give the good gift of commitment to stay in the family Give the gift of affirmation to them give the gift of Direction training give the gift of interest in and involvement in their lives give the gift of a godly example to them Okay, we've touched on basketball baseball here's boxing James Cratic James Bratic was a great boxer back in the 20s and 30s And in fact he went through the depression just an amazing man He never was that great a boxer in fact when the stock market crash in 1929 He couldn't even get a fight and he was having trouble putting money together enough to put food on the table for his kids He was trying to work at the docks and it was a kind of thing where you line up and if you get a chip You get on and get to work that day and if you don't you go home with nothing and And so finally he gets a fight and he wins it and that gives him the ability to get another fight and he kept moving up the chain And he's not a young guy anymore But amazingly enough he finally made the championship fight with Max Bayer who was the best boxer in the world and he defeated Max Bayer One the heavyweight championship two years later he would lose it to an unknown named Joe Lewis but But he was he was he was amazing guy he actually had the nickname because of his unprecedented rise to the heavyweight championship The nickname they gave him was Cinderella man And some of you remember that movie was made about his life In that movie he comes home one day after failing to get work at the docks And finds out that his son has stolen Some sausage from a meatmaker Won't you to see what he teaches his son Hey Hey Rosie cheek how you know In a trouble From the butcher and you won't say a word about it will you Jay will you Jay? Okay Okay, pick it up. Let's go And I test me boy right now How to stay here veteran Monty Johnson I was gonna play the背OW What he Yeah, things ain't easy, it's not what you're eating right. There's a lot of people worse off than what we are. Just because things ain't easy. That don't give you the excuse to take what's not yours, does it? That's stealing, right? We don't steal. No matter what happens, we don't steal. Not ever. You got me. Are you giving me your word? Yes. Come on. Promise. And I promise you, we will never send you away. You are the scared I am the mad. Okay. The promise that they would never give him away, never send him away to live with relatives, no matter how hard it got. You remember the movie, you remember that one day comes home, his wife has had to send the kids away to live with a relative and he was so upset. He borrowed money to be able to pay off debt by food to be able to get their kids back. The best thing you can give your kids besides spiritual blessing is the good gifts of your promise, of your time, of your relationship with your family of a godly example. Well, if you've been following along, you know, I left out one in chapter 5, verse 20, where it says, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I should at least mention that one in closing. Today is a day to give some thanks to Dad. To thank him for what he's done, thank him for who he is. Give some thanks. But dads, I want us to leave here with the challenge today to be the kind of dads and grand dads God wants us to be. I know the time is a little bit late, we only get one Father's Day a year. And I know this clip has been used before, but it's a great one. The movie courageous, where the main character challenges the men of his church to rise up and be the kind of fathers that God wants them to be. We can't leave today without seeing this once more. Let's look at it. I now believe that God desires for every Father to courageously step up and do whatever it takes to be involved in the lives of his children. But more than just being there, providing for them, he's to walk with them through their young lives and be a visual representation of the character of God, their Father in Heaven. The Father should love his children and seek to win their hearts. He should protect them, discipline them, and teach them about God. He should model how to walk with integrity and treat others with respect. He should call out his children to become responsible men and women who live their lives for what matters in eternity. Some men will hear this in market, or ignore it. But I tell you that as a Father, you are accountable to God for the position of influence He has given you. You can't fall asleep at the wheel, only to wake up one day and realize that your job or your hobbies have no eternal value, but the souls of your children do. Some men will hear this and agree with it, but have no resolve to live it out. Instead, they will live for themselves and waste the opportunity to leave a godly legacy for the next generation. But there are some men who are regardless of the mistakes we've made in the past, regardless of what our fathers did not do for us. We'll give the strength of our arms and the rest of our days to loving God with all that we are, to teach our children to do the same, and whenever possible to love and mentor others who have no father in their lives, but who desperately need help and direction. And we are inviting any man whose heart is willing and courageous to join us in this resolution. In my home, the decision has already been made. You don't have to ask who will guide my family, because by God's grace I will. You don't have to ask who will teach my son to follow Christ, because I will. Who will accept the responsibility of providing and protecting my family? I will. Who will ask God to break the chain of destructive patterns in my family's history? I will. Who will pray for it and bless my children to boldly pursue whatever God calls them to do. I am their father. I will. I accept this responsibility and it is my privilege to embrace it. I want the favor of God and His blessing on my home. Any good man does. So where are you men of courage? Or are you fathers who fear the Lord? It's time to rise up and answer the call that God has given to you. And to say, I will. I will. I will. Will you? Will I? I'm not going to have the praise ban come this morning. I just want to bow in prayer. And I want each of us men before God to say who? Who is it that God wants me to be a father to? My own children, obviously. My grandchildren. Maybe my neighbor's kids who don't have a father. Whoever it is, who is it? I will say I will be that godly influence for them. I will ask you as we bow in prayer that you ask God to give you the grace to do what He wants you to do as a man of God. Let's pray. Father, every one of us in this room who are dads rise to the challenge and the model of our heavenly father to be a blesser of spiritual blessings to our kids. To be the kind of father that gives them the best gifts, spiritual gifts, a godly example. To be the kind of man of God, a grandfather, an uncle, a neighbor who will be the example of a godly man to others. May we each take the challenge of the apostle Paul today and the model of our heavenly father of you and say I will, I will in Jesus name. Amen.