Hooray for Dad! (Part 1 of 2)

I got not a Lamaze class probably only guy in the world to be kicked out, a Lema, they showed a movie I said run it backwards and the lady didn't have a sense of humor. Drunken babies never plan to become apparent.

But now he's a proud father of two grandfather of six and today he's in a share encouragement for dad's as we anticipate Father's Day this weekend and you know men have a special role in the family. They show their daughters what to look for in a future husband how man should treat his wife and they show their boys how to be a good husband, father and man of integrity and no matter how old your kids are every day is a good day for fathers to lean in and spend time with their children is really true and today's guest Ken Davis has a knack for inspiring men. He's written a number of books is a motivational speaker and teaches speaking skills to ministry professionals and corporate executives. Here he is now at a promise keepers event in San Diego several years back and just starting the story on today's Focus on the Family little boy sat at his desk perplexed after somebody got down off the chair and he went into the kitchen where his mother was preparing dinner. He said mom. Where did I come from his mom froze.

She had been meaning to talk to her son about this, but she was too busy now and she said she hadn't expected him to ask so soon so she put them off one more time with the old lysine been telling all along.

She said son start Roger. He hung his head and he started back toward his room and as he passed his then again, he saw his grandma sitting in their knitting. So he went and he said grandma crawled up on his grandma's lap. He said grandma where did I come from. Grandma was a touch this with a 10 foot pole. She said to start Roger same way as he brought your mom same way as he brought me the little boy climbed down off his grandmother's lap went back crawled up in the chair and began his school report with these words, there hasn't been a normal birth in our family for three generations. I tell you that to say this to warn you that there has never been a normal birth in our family. God did not give me an athletic athletic body. He gave me a twisted mind and I will use it until the day I die second to tell you this in the message. I'm going to give you today's taken from the book of Malachi. The situation is much the same.

The book of Malachi's chosen people who have not experienced what God had intended for them to experience.

For a long long time. These were people who had lost touch with God.

They had all of the form of religion. They had all of the form of faith on the outside it looked good but on the inside.

They were lukewarm. They were absolutely dead. There's a story that I love about a woman who looked out the window and was horrified to see her German Shepherd shaking the life out of the neighbor's rabbit. They had had trouble with this neighbor and this was going to make it worse. So she grabbed a broom and ran outside and she beat on that dog until he dropped the rabbit she looked down at a rabbit which was very filthy and extremely dead. She didn't know what to do. So she picked the rabbit up on the end of the broom brought him into the house and dumped them in the bathtub to turn on the spray and clean them off on one side and she tipped them over with Roman directed the shower spray under that side and clean that off until it was clean.

She thought for a moment and then she went and got her hair dryer and blew them dry on both sides. Then she got an old brush and comb them out till he looked pretty good. When the neighbor wasn't looking. She hopped over the fence and prop him up in his cage. She didn't want to be blamed for this. About two hours later she heard the neighbor screaming. She ran outside pretending like she didn't know what happened. The neighbor came to the fence all the blood drained from her face.

This lady said what happened what happened in the lady said I rabbit I rabbit. He died two weeks ago and we buried him and his back. Malachi comes to prophesy to a group of people who were not unlike that rabbit from all outward appearances, they looked okay but on the inside. They were dead.

What is interesting is that they had not turned against God. They had just turned away from God. They had been propped up in their cages. The theme of the book of Malachi, I believe can be wrapped up in a couple of simple points. God says to these people. I have loved you, and then he says to them you have.

In spite of that love despised my name and the last part of the book of Malachi is so clear that judgment is coming.

The people of Israel were moaning and groaning. They were dissatisfied, Israel remained a weak little providence in the midst of a powerful secular nation. In spite of the prophecies of their upcoming power they were still weak. They were surrounded by people who seem to have all of the power. God did not yet come to the temple evil prospered everywhere you look. They were calling out for God to do his judgment and they had lost their seriousness about God's law. Does this sound familiar. In response, they were despising God's name. They were giving them substandard sacrifices, then complaining because God didn't accept them, they were marrying those of other gods, they were embracing the things that broke the heart of God. They were betraying the covenant with the wife of their youth for getting the promises that they had made and they were calling to God for judgment friends. We need to be careful when we call the God for judgment because in our minds. We think that is judgment only comes to those who have committed grave sin and we forget that his judgment is also reserved for the dead rabbit in this ominous setting. There is a fascinating portion to Malachi, and I'm going to read it to you.

Malachi chapter 4 verse five says this after all of this impending rhetoric about judgment all the impending rhetoric about what God is going to come to due to the evil around them. He says this see I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day the Lord comes. He will turn listen. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers or else I will come and strike the land with the curse.

Some translations indicate that it might be before I come to strike the land with the curse and then the Scriptures are silent for 400 year now. Who is this prophet Elijah the prophet Elijah is John Baptist. In Matthew speak very clearly identifying him as John the Baptist, Baptist, the one who would make a way for the Lord, the one who would introduce. He who was the like. And John himself that I am not that, like, but I come to bear witness of that light. Indeed, dad indeed husbands, indeed sons it was Jesus Christ that would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. It was Jesus Christ that would turn the hearts of the children to the fathers nationally personally. Our eyes have turned from God. Just like the people of Israel. The result is we have a broken relationship with God and because of that broken relationship with God, we are experiencing broken relationships with the people we love the most. On the face of this earth.

55% of the men in America freely admit that they believe that they are living this functionally in their own families.

Something is wrong. I would like to share with you some evidence that men's hearts are returning to their children and that the hearts of the children are turning to their fathers. This is only evidence if you were to take this as techniques for being a better dad, you will miss the whole point of what God is trying to say to us techniques don't work, you can come and learn. 15 of the greatest techniques of fathering the greatest techniques of being a good Christian. The greatest techniques of having marvelous patients and if you walk out of here without the real key it will disappear in the first traffic jam outside the door. Here is the first evidence of a commitment of time. Zig Ziglar says love is spelled TIME we live in a culture where we don't have time for the people who are most important to us. What we don't take time for our children where we are busy building careers where we are building scraping to just make ends meet. And we forget that the greatest ends we need to meet are the needs of our life the needs of our children the needs of our dads the needs of our mom.

Love is spelled time.

Aren't you glad that God didn't send us an email. Aren't you glad that he didn't send us a fax. Aren't you glad he didn't leave a message on our phone system. Aren't you glad he said Jesus to live among us, and take the time to prove the love of God's dad said to them, let's go fishing. They sat all day long and didn't catch a thing.

Years later, the man was going through his journal and found a journal of his son. This dad had written in his journal on that day that he took his son fishing didn't catch a thing. All whole day wasted.

He opened the journal to the same day and saw his sons entry spent the whole day with my dad greatest day of my life were who have young children. The window of opportunity for investing time in your child will be gone tomorrow.

My child was born. I didn't even want children. It isn't that I hated children.

It's just that we met one. We went to our house to eat. They sat me next to a 1 1/2-year-old child to eat gentlemen.

That's a grossest experience in all of life that can had food spread all over me and my wife will never forget when he turned to me and spoke to me in a language I did not understand food up to his elbows going thing gone.

I whispered to them you touched me drop you think I'm kidding on the way home. I said to my wife. I don't ever have children she was rubbing food stains from her dress.

She said neither do I couple weeks later we sat in the doctor's office and the doctor told us that we were incapable of having children. He said it's physically impossible, and God's ears perked up. I have a 21-year-old daughter remained physically.

I got a 17-year-old. It's impossible and I wouldn't trade those two children for anything on the face of the I came from a strict home. I rejected many of the things my parents taught me, I probably don't raise my children the same way my parents raised me, but I am so grateful that they raised me in such a way that abortion was never an option about that after the doctor's visit. My wife sat me down and said I'm going to have a baby. I was angry. I said why'd you do that I have not been a good husband all my life. I'm still working on being a good husband and if my wife and follow the dictates of many advice that she had received, she would've left me long, long ago, I was angry. She was making $22,000 a year working in a bank. I was working in the ministry, making $8000 a year. I liked it that way. I didn't wanted to change I thought children would ruin my life.

I had a bad attitude right up until the day they were born. I got kicked auto Lamaze class, probably the only guy in the world to be kicked out of Lamar showed a movie I said run it backwards and the lady didn't have a sense of humor, but the second child was, I was overcome with love. This was flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood and I will tell you without a hint of hesitation that I would've died for her in that moment, there were three people in the room.

Me. The doctor and my wife then by only a miracle of God. There were four people in the room I ran from the room to call my wife and tell her she wasn't home. I got so messed up that Dr. brought me that little baby in his arms he said would you like to longer.

I said no tears streaming down my face. He said why not. I said, because she'll I never saw anything so fragile in all my life. The doctor said stand up because I was sitting on the floor. This is a true story. I stood up and he put that baby in my hands, and a little hand reached up her whole hand. What many bigger in my thumb and she wrapped that little hand around my little finger and I made a horrible mistake. I blinking and when I open my eyes.

She was still in my arm and I was still weeping but I was leaving her in a college dorm room 700 miles from my house.

It went like that in December of last year that little girl grabbed a hold of my arm one last time and we walked down an aisle when we got to the front. I kiss that hand one more time and then I placed her hand in the hand gorilla basically I love him much. He was at promise keepers in Chicago with I love him dearly but he still a gorilla friends. Jesus looked at his disciples just before he was about to die and he set a new command I give you that you love each other like I loved you, he said. By this all men will know that you are my disciples how to be loveless. He made a commitment to leave his throne on high to leave all the glory that was his and come down here to spend the time with us that would allow us to know the love and forgiveness of God. If you want evidence that your heart dad is returning to you the your sons, your daughters, make the commitment of time and I'm speaking to you sons to because this isn't easy. I remember sitting in a hotel room, weeping one set a message I heard of how important it is for a father to spend time with their children and dad, you need to realize this dream. In reality, not in fantasy. I could hardly wait to get home. I got on that plane.

It couldn't fly fast enough. I wanted to leave my luggage. There I got my luggage.

I went home I threw open the door and I said to my daughter honey I love you. I heard a message on television. I haven't spent enough time with you going to the cabin this weekend just you and me and my daughter was about 16 as the time rolled her eyes, way back in her head and said is this going to be a family thing kids you will never know teenagers, young men, you will never ever know the value of you taking time to be with your dad, how many of you dad's in here have discovered that when your kids reach 16, 17, 18, when your heart begins to turn back toward them. Just when they get to be the age when they can be good companions. They choose another companion young men.

If you claim the name of Jesus Christ make time for your dad monitor your father with your time. Have Ken Davis as he spoke a number of years back at a promise keepers event in a crowd of almost 50,000 men obviously appreciated what he was saying there that we need to spend time with their loved ones, so I hope we can all take this message to heart and really make that extra effort to spend time with our kids and us children ourselves if our parents are still on this earth to acknowledge the role of dad's in our lives that you know even though I lost my dad at a young age and we didn't have a great relationship when Father's Day rolls around I still honor him to at least think of the good memories that I have related to my dad and I appreciate that you him that's a good way to think about Father's Day forests when were adult children and I'm really fortunate to have a lot of good memories with my dad just hanging out watching him tinker in his workshop but he really let me into his world that something any debt can do just share those everyday moments.

That's good and you know when our boys are 13 years I realized I only a few summers left with them before they became adults and moved out of the house so Jean and I really made an effort to at least take the boys camping a few times over each of the summers to the hobos really good memories and that we have listeners who share great ideas with us all the time and here's one I loved one couple rode into say that the husband requested an early morning shift at work so that he could pick up their kids from school every day and spend the afternoon with them. Now that's being an involved parent and it's a good reminder to take a look at your schedule and just see if there are any days were you could spend more time with your children. During these brief years when they're at home with you and you know for many families, the recent shelter in place orders help parents and their children grow closer together. One manufacturer boardgame saw their sales for possible store but get this, almost 400% in two weeks during the worst of the pandemic. Now that's a good idea for bonding fix it rather puzzling that makes sense yeah Troy and I had a great time working on model cars. It was really nice just to sit and chat with them for an hour or so each day that we worked on and with boys. They seem to share their feelings more readily while they're doing something like a puzzle that it feels safer to them.

I think rather than sitting face-to-face eyeball Bible, but of course we understand that for many families these past few months have been marked by unemployment, perhaps illness separation from loved ones and we have been praying for you Jean and I started almost every day praying for you. In addition, praying for the first responders and for the medical professionals who've been on the front lines of this war, this battle against the coronavirus set thank you for your service and as many of you know to try to help families at home, we launched our free streaming service called focus at home and we feel that digital library with excellent faith filled programming for both adults and children. We also offered a four week free trial of our adventures in Odyssey club and almost 100,000 households took advantage of our generosity and that offer ends at the end of the month so sign up today. If you haven't already done so, and families love adventures analyses for kids primarily 8 to 12, but we hear from teens and from a lot of adults who still enjoy it. In fact, here's a note we received from an adventures in Odyssey fan Jennifer.

She wrote I became a Christian in my 20s and adventures in Odyssey taught me how to walk with God, I'm so thankful for this ministry and now my kids listen to Odyssey every night right after dinner.

Thanks. Focus that's so good, and let me say if you donate to Focus on the Family thank you for making it possible for us to produce and distribute adventures in Odyssey and all of the other great resources here, focus, and we know that the pandemic has affected many of our supporters financially and we are seeing decreased giving because of that were also saying an increased need among families. So if you're able, can you support us today. Right now some generous friends of this ministry have offered to match your donation dollar for dollar so that gift will have twice the impact a $25 gift will become a $50 gift and so on. This is a great time to give to the family and we make a donation of any amount will send you a CD copy of this complete, two-part message from Ken Davis as our way of saying thank you for partnering with us. Just give us a call. Her number is 800 K and the word family or click the link in the episode notes to donate to the work of this ministry and request that CD as well. It's a great little tool to share this wonderful message was somebody else when you're online. Be sure to check out our free parenting assessment which takes just a few minutes and provides a really honest look at your strengths and some suggestions on improving your parenting skills.

A mule also learned about the seven traits of effective parenting that are biblically based, and backed by research, she can really lean in and raise healthier, more mature responsible children and online were building a complete Father's Day landing page for you to explore lots of great resources and articles there, including one called redeeming fatherhood when it broke. Be sure to check that next time Ken Davis explains how we should love each other, just like the unconditional love.you can be gone for five minutes five hours five days you come home dog is) come and see what I've done, come and see what I've done have podcast gratis please and sure about this episode, I'm John Fuller inviting you back is once again provide trusted advice. Your family ride