A Father's Calling

Have your Bibles with you turn with me to Psalm 128 and we will be looking at verses 1 to 6. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways, you shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hand. You shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you, your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children will be like olive shoots around your table the whole. Thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord, the Lord bless you from Zion.

But you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, all the days of your life. May you see your children's children piece the upon Israel got our Lord in prayer.

Heavenly father.

Today is Father's Day day that we set aside each year to call our dads to a deeper consecration to you. We pray that you will be honored in all of us.

Dads would take heed the call we have on our lives as fathers father here in our own country with secular humanistic Marxist radicals. They're doing all they can to destroy the nuclear family.

They mock your principles on family they've created havoc and sadness, hopelessness and depression among Americans. God give us God's intestinal fortitude to turn from this wicked culture and to turn to Jesus for guidance. Lord building our dads a backbone of steel helpless as dads to be men of conviction destroy the victim mentality that is spreading like wildfire and help us to be tough, godly, independent fathers fathers who aren't wives and children can look up to and trust. Help us to train and nurture our kids help us to help them to build a foundation in their lives.

That is, Christ foundation so strong that all hail can't shake it.

We love you Lord help us to honor you for it is the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. You know the seated power to ask you to describe the challenges that fathers have before them in America today, what would you say I think I would probably describe it this way it's like leaving your family through a minefield. I look over America today and and the landscape is field with broken families. Families who are blown to bits by financial pressure families who are devastated by immorality families who were destroyed by drugs and alcohol and our kids today. What are they here, what are they listening to their hearing that killing babies and is called freedom of choice that sodomy is called a sexual preference and adultery is called an affair dads it's a minefield and you are called by God to be the protector of the provider and the role model for your kids. William has a going, how are you gonna lead them through the minefield. When they ask you this is a going to be any opposition that you have to face only answer that yes there is the feminist agenda set to take that role out of your hands.

The socialist communist agenda that we see in our own government today wants to take that out of your hands. The gay lesbian agenda was to take that out of your hands. The secular humanistic educational system. Want to take that out of your hands and most of all, primarily Satan, the, the one who hates us with a passion, the one whose purpose is to kill, steal and destroy is set to take that role out of your hands, dads, I want to challenge you today I want to challenge you with all my heart to be strong to take a stand to love your kids because their lives are in the balance. America is not going to change until homes are changed and homes are not going to change until dads change our problem in America today is failing fathers and dropout dads.

So I've chosen for my tech for Father's Day. Psalm one 2816 versus here I got four points about dads that I want to share with you number one a fathers character looking again at verses one and two.

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways usually eat the fruit of the labor of your hands you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

The word blessed in this verse simply means favored by God. In the Hebrew the word for blaster blessed is by Rukh. Now what you picture this is a man back in Jesus day is getting ready to move from one town to the next and have moving vans they had needs camels so the man would go up he take his stick and hit on the back of the camels leg. The camel would drop down to his knees.

Then the man would take his precious cargo and he would throw it up on top of the camel, then fastened it together. He hit the camel on the the back of the leg. The camel would stand up and take off to his destination.

That action of the man throwing his precious cargo up on top of the camel was called a brute or a blessing. So the next time someone sneezes instead of saying God bless you. You can say my goblet up your camel. They won't have a clue as to what you talking about… Biblical ethical where else we see that word blessed in the Scriptures about Psalm one Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Think of the sermon on the Mount Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart.

Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake the word blessed means happy but that is not happy edit as the world would define it. The world's definition of happiness is so much more different is happiness that is temporary. We give you just to a few quick illustrations take this opioid it'll take were written.

It'll take care of the pain and and you'll be happy. Drown your sorrows with alcohol and drugs. I am when you do that you gonna feel better and you could be at the depression will be gone and you'll be happy. What else do you need to do will check out pornography check out pornography and it'll give you an endorphin rush and you'll be happy or pager expense account and you'll be able to take some money extra bills and put them in your pocket and that'll make you happy. You know what you see in each one of those illustrations you see that there's a temporary element to each one of them. All of those things.

Promise you happiness but to give you just little temporary bit of pleasure, it's here in the very quickly. It's gone. There's a quick adrenaline rush. Then there's guilt and sorrow and then there's an addictive element that that comes in and just has you in his clutches verse one tells us that we can be genuinely blessed dads are you blessed by that I mean are you happy in the Lord, are you satisfied in Jesus.

Does your life reveal contentment and peace and joy, or do your kids and your wife.

Take a look at you and I see a man that's got a black cloud over his head and there's the man's not satisfied.

He's not. He's not happy he's not joyfully has no contentment. AEA just it is all the time feeling just down.

He doesn't see how the Lord can satisfying that nephew claim to be a Christian as a dad and that's what's going on in your life, what your children think about Christ as would Jesus think bring the joy Jesus can't make me happy. Christianity is just rules and regulations and laws, but is not about a life changing relationship so that you can fail in a lot of areas, but you need to be careful not to fail. Here you need to be content in the Lord, joyful in the Lord in your kids need to see it.

And maybe you're here and you sent Doug is just not me. I'm not that kinda guy. I'm just not happy like that. I don't have that kind of joy you say what can you do about it. I think we have an answer here and in verse one, two things you to fear the Lord in your to walk in God's ways fear the Lord and walk in God's ways to fear the Lord has to do with your attitude to walk in his ways has to do with your ass to do with your your being. Dear God has to do with attitude walk in his ways has to do with action. So what does it mean to fear God. What does it mean cringing in fear every time you think about God. Every time you hear his name.

It's not a servile theater like a slave would feel fear of risk taskmaster that just means that a whip in his hand the exact opposite of that. It's a reverential all is in excitement.

It's a joy it is to love God you can fear God and is not a conflict with that.

It's a compliment. It complements each other a member. 13 years ago was in a terrible car car accident had three major operations and I was in the hospital in and out for about three and half months. During that time a red book. It was one of the most important books in my life. It was a book called the fear are the joy of fearing God by by Jerry Bridges and it sounds like an oxymoron done it. Fear and joy in the same title is not an oxymoron at all. It's true, the fear of God leads to obedience and obedience submissive children of God are the happiest people on earth.

Let me give you a few verses to just chew on and him. Proverbs 910 the fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Psalm chapter 2 verse 11. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Job 2828 behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom and to turn away from evil is understanding. Psalm 103 verse 13 the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Psalm 147 verse 11. The Lord takes pleasure in those who, fearing we share something with you that Adrian Rogers said.

Your kids need you to fear God there facing humanism that tells them that man is the center of everything. Materialism tells them that happiness belongs and things. Hedonism tells them to live high, wide and handsome relativism tells them that there are no absolutes, no fixed standards of right and wrong. They need a God fearing dad.

Amen. The man who truly fears God is a man who's going to walk in God's ways. That's what's being said here.

I think it's this God is not called you to be passive. God is called you to be active in your relationship with your children. He has called you to a life of passionate, passionate, unadulterated, Christian action there way too many Christian dads in this nation today who think their responsibility as a dad ends when they bring on the paycheck will.

It is true that is a dad. You're responsible for being there material provider but your responsible for much more than that. You are also responsible for being a spiritual and emotional provider is whale and you can't do that by sit down on your Blessed assurance with a a remote TV remote in one hand and watching sports center on TV as your chill as your wife is gathering the children together and walking about the door to go to church and the kids are our scream and why do we have to just go to church when dad gets to stay home and and watch TV. Man, what a difference there is in that and in the end the dad who fears God and waltzing God's ways, who delights in the Sabbath day who gets up on Sunday morning with a song on his lips goes and wakes the kids up the kids get up. This is the greatest day of the week. This is Sunday. This is the Lord's day we get to go worship him get up and let's do it.

Proverbs 22 six is train up a child in the way should go and when he is old he will not depart from it word for train up they are comes from a root word in the Hebrew for my health and has to do with actions of a midwife midwife would be helping the mother and the delivering to the baby and and the baby would be delivered she take the baby in her hand. She washed the baby up that she wrapped the baby up in a blanket and she go over to the mom and she would take her finger and get one drop of milk from the mother's breast. She put it into the mouth of the little baby and rub it in the top of the baby's mouth. The baby get that taste of the milk in its mouth and start sucking on the finger of the midwife as soon as that would happen. The midwife would immediately give the baby back to to the mom and the baby would start the nursing process. So, what had she done. She had developed in that child a thirst for the mother's milk and brothers and sisters. That's exactly what God is called dad's to do. He is called you is a dad to developing your child's heart a thirst for God. I listen that's different and push in religion that a kids throat legalistic mean-spirited dads give their children the impression that Christianity is, like swallowing casserole and it's not fun.

It didn't taste good. You're not gonna like it but do it anyway, grit your teeth and bear it because it will keep you out of trouble. What happens if they see a dad is so excited about Jesus that is contagious and they see a dad who has a family devotions with his kids into a time of of fun a time of joy and not a time to dread. Dad, you train up your kids by developing in them a thirst for God.

Kids will develop that thirst lacing a dad who loves them. But he loves Jesus more like number two.

The father's companion. Look at verse three.

The first partners three a, your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Father's if you want to be a good dad love God, love your wife and love your children and do it in that order. Our kids need security.

One of the ways that our kids get security is when they know that that you're gonna love them but you can love mom even more than them if they don't have to fight for your affection because the white wife is already won that battle. She comes before them, and they need to see that they need to see that your kids need to see you being affectionate with your wife.

They need to see that you love her as Jesus loved the church so much he was willing to die for it.

The kids need to know that you won't side up with them against their mother. The psalmist refers to the good wife by calling her vine a great vine and as we look at the grapevine.

What is it do three things.

Number one, it clings not know the image that are the word that pops up in her mind when when we think of playing and it's a very negative word playing is not a good thing. People that are clingy other people run from that their manipulative their controlling like they depend on other people to make them happy, and if people are giving them what they want. If they're not given them the time the attention and the love that they want from them and they're going make this people's life miserable clingy people will suck the life out of you will suffocate you. We don't like that word clean but that's the negative part of playing what I'm talking about very positive and I'm talking about a dependence. The wife feel dependent on her husband dependent that he is a provider of protector a defender, a lover and a friend, and when the husband feels that and knows that he's going to feel needed. He's going to feel respected.

He's not going feel suffocated in Genesis 224 God said that the man and the woman shall leave their father and mother and they shall cleave together as husband and wife. That's a great word that we are to cleave together to cleave second word is Klein people are grown vineyards.

Willow Grove Vineyard by putting stakes up or are like a lattice and the. The grapevine will climb up to the lattice grid bigger and bigger and bigger and grow it produced many many gripes that way and by putting up that lattice but by doing that, the, the great the grapevine is growing its maturing and dad, you have the responsibility of helping your wife mature you want help or mature in the faith you want to help her and by encouraging her in her responsibilities with the kid and she is overcome with trials and sufferings and she's going through a tough time. She needs your shoulder to lean on what is up husband. Husband helps her to grow up.

He helps her emotionally, spiritually, and socially. But how many husbands are doing the exact opposite Wiley doing the exact opposite what they helping their wife to mature because they're not mature themselves and because they think they married their mother and they want to do to treat her like they would mama I want to take all those things that God has ordained for us to to do responsibilities. These given us and just push them to the wife is how you be the provider you take care of the finances.

You take care the family devotions you take the children to church because I want to live my life just like I was living it when I was in high school husbands is your responsibility to help your wife to climb to mature her into a godly stable lady. How you do that mimic a few suggestions.

I think you have a date night. That means like one night out of the week. It's her night you take her out. No kids.

Nobody else new friends. Just you and her were there can be romance where you can look into her eyes. When you can get into her heart. When you can listen to what she's gotta say that then help her. She wants to go to a Bible study keep the kids help her to grow in the Lord. The third word is cluster verse three a says your wife will be like a fruitful vine that primarily has to do with bearing children, but it's much more than that is helping your wife to have a productive productive fruitful life. The Bible teaches us.

The wife is to be submissive she is to be submissive to her husband and it takes it further than that.

So she should be to submissive to her husband in the same way she is submissive to the Lord while when she does that her husband feels respected and her children feel secure.

It's amazing what that will do and and she's not way down with responsibilities that God never intended her to have but husband you can destroy your wife's fruitfulness by taking advantage of her submission the command of the husband is to love his wife even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.

That means that he is to love her and the way Jesus loved the church and how much did Jesus love the church.

He loved us so much he died for us with your wife you, that you love her so much that, if necessary, you would die for her. She don't mind being submissive. Do you know because she knows you're always going to have her best interest in mind. That's the command, but how many husbands think submission means Boolean submission means demanding submission means totally controlling some and even take it further and get abusive with their wives so the wives are fearful that they can get hurt in his book, each for the other. Brian Chappell said this God's word in the hands of a religious fool can do immense harm. I've seen couch potatoes who order their wives and children around like the grand Sultan of Morocco adulterous misogynists with the domestic ethics of Jabba the Hutt tell their wives around Bible verses about submission insecure men whose wives do not dare go to the grocery store that permission will even tell their wives had address with the fact that evil disordered men have perverted God's word is no reason to throw it out either heal the great pastor at a Watts California who years ago passed away went on to be with the Lord grew up in a little town in Texas called Sweet home Texas. He went to a church where they took these principles of marriage very, very seriously, and one day in that church while he was there lady came in with her little five-year-old son. She walked in her eye was swollen. Her lip was cut.

The deacons ran over tour support in the world happened you are you okay and she said all the snacks and it was nothing, nothing, it's it's okay and the little boy piped in a said it was not an accident. Dad got drunk and hit mama and I tried to get him to stop and he wouldn't do it after the service was over, the deacons went to pay this man to visit and they walked into his house. He was lying back in his recliner and they said Sir God is called you to love your wife as Christ loved the church and they say do not hit her again. If you do working to come back over here and wiggle lay hands on you and they were talking about an ordination well about two weeks later man got drunk again hit his wife again. The deacons came over and that he was in his recliner again. They grabbed and pulled them up out of the recliner took him out back behind the barn and wore him out.

It was a needed attitude adjustment and that that man quit drinking that day and he never beat his wife again started coming to church, heard the gospel and came to know Christ as Lord and Savior. I don't know about you but I call that church discipline. I don't see it quite that way in Scripture, but boy it worked in that situation. Husbands need to be respected but they don't need to be feared.

Number three the father's leadership verse three beneath the four. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table but hold us shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord, the psalmist compares our children to olive shoots now olive trees. Very strange tree for the first seven years of its existence. It doesn't produce any olives at all from year seven to year 15. It produces a few olives, but then after that gets very productive and has a long lifespan. Olive trees can last millennia there, like the California redwood trees. I was over in Israel but 40 years ago when I was there in the garden of Gethsemane and our guide told us that the olive trees that were they are that several of them were there and growing. When Jesus Christ walked the earth 2000 years ago. So what's the message here think the messages this you can grow a court corn stalk in a few weeks, but it takes years to grow in idolatry. It takes it takes a lot of work a lot of preparation, a lot of of caring to put into a child in those formative years to help them to grow and what God would have been to be.

The Roman Catholic Church is to have a say and give us a child until he seven years old and was guiding for life. I think there's some truth to that, I think there's some truth to that, as the twig is bent so grows the tree and Proverbs 22 verse six were looking for a minute ago to train up a child the way he should go when he is old he will not depart from it knows it says in the way he should go, not necessarily in the way that you as a parent might think he should go see you don't live your unfulfilled dreams to your children that you see what is bent. Saar what are his talents waters gifts will order the things that he likes and did things that he dislikes and then helped him by the by the power of the Spirit of God to move him into what God wants him to be dance. Don't force your unfulfilled dreams on your kids.

Another great verse Ephesians 64 father's, provoke not your children to anger, but train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, we send negative and a positive here. First of all the negative don't provoke your children and what what does that mean that means don't drive them nuts. We can do that his parents can't wait don't exasperate frustrate wound them badger them or humiliate them.

Here are three ways that dance provoke their kids number 100 discipline that is by letting them get away with murder just given them everything they demand is not good for your children. Number two is inconsistency as making empty threats that that you don't fulfill that you don't carry out the number three over discipline at 20 father's a bully.

He's a leader he's making the decisions, but he might make a bad decision and is going to bully the child and the child can't do anything about it because he's bigger and stronger than the child that's the negative thing about raising children don't provoke your children.

The key I think is working toward the right balance all rules and no relationship equal rebellion our relationship and no rules equals chaos, what about the positive side, the positive side is nurture, or cultivation is word nurture comes from a car or we get the word nursery from that word for nurture. So what is Baucom's nurture nursery do Baucom's nursery cultivates plants she can go over to get a plant from there, a tree and take it back your house planet. They will help to helped you to cultivate that plant for your house so farmers will tell you what it takes to nurture.

It takes time, patient training, good soul, good water, sunlight and weeding that is removing the the bad influences from the plant dad's teacher sons to be men teacher sons to be men teach them character and morals and ethics.

Teach them to be adventurous.

Teach them to be bold. Teach them to protect the weak.

Teach them to stand against evil.

But most of all, teach them to love Jesus and the glory in the cross with you got daughters daughter. She had a little differently. Dad love your dollars. The affectionate with them, then hold them when their little hug, and when they get big a daughter needs male affection and she's not getting male affection from her dad, the chances are she's going to get it from another source .4 is a contribution he leaves verse five and six the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, all the days of your life may see your children's children piece the up in Israel on close this message with the challenge saw a movie about eight years ago that just touched my heart movie was entitled courageous is a movie about a policeman group of policemen that were just buddies like good friends they loved each other. The main character was a policeman whose nine-year-old daughter got killed in an automobile accident and flew his suffering. With that through the trials that he had to go through through all the pain of that loss. The Lord led him to become responsible and godly daddy and several months later after he begin to grow as a dad after he begin to take that responsibility seriously. His pastor asked him to come on Father's Day and to give a challenge to his two to the people in that church to the dads and that church only take just a minute read you that challenge and I'll close with this father should love his children, and seek to win their hearts they should protect them.

Discipline them and teach them about God patient model had a walk with integrity and treat others with respect and should call at his his children to become responsible men and women who live their lives. What matters in eternity. Some men will hear this and mock it or ignore it but I tell you that is 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 soles of your children do so me and 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, regardless of the mistakes we made in the past. Regardless of what our fathers did not do for us will give the strength of our arms and the rest of our days to loving God with all that we are in the teach our children to do the same. And, whenever possible, to love and mentor others who have no father in their lives but you 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 is already been made. You'll 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 will accept the responsibility of providing for and protecting my family.

I will Google ask God to break the chain of destructive patterns in my family's history I will Google pray for, and bless my children to boldly pursue whatever God calls in the do. I am their father. I will accept this responsibility and it is my privilege to embrace it. I will the favor of God in his blessing on my home any good man does. So where are you men of courage.

Where are you father's who fear the Lord is time to rise up and answer the call. God has given you and to say I will I will I will spray heavenly father may every dad granddad and great granddad that are here today take the challenge to heart the chaos, the lies, the destructions, the mayhem that is going on in America could stop if you would bring revival to our land. We know we don't deserve revival because his country delves deeper into anti-God.

Foolishness each day our children's minds are pounded with acceptance of sexual perversion of the destruction of the Puritan work ethic and the mocking of holy Scripture heavenly father. It's time for dads to take a stand is time for dads to quit being effeminate, cowardly and become loving and strong. We deserve judgment, but we need mercy, open our hearts cleanse our souls and help us reach our kids, our grandkids and our great grandkids with your gospel, for it is in the holy and precious name of Jesus that we pray. Amen