Now let's go to Romans 8. I hope
you brought your Bible. Romans 8. If you didn't bring
it, you can copy it down and read it later. Romans 8, verses
14 and 15. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. I'm a son of God. Therefore, I can say, Daddy,
Daddy. Come on now. There's times when
every adult in here is hurting so bad that you would love to
be able to say, Daddy, Daddy. Isn't that right? Sure, that's
right. Male and female. Verse 15, For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear. See, this thing about God, if
you've got this fear thing going on, God is not an abuser of His
kids. If you fear God in the sense
of, don't hit me, don't hurt me, don't send me to hell, there's
something wrong in that relationship. Because we haven't received the
spirit of fear or bondage, but you have received the spirit
of adoption. Whoa! Paul said, you've been adopted.
You've been adopted. Whereby we cry, Papa, Papa. In Isaiah 63, it just says the
same thing once again, that God is our Father. This is Isaiah
63.16, Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant
of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our
Father, our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting. Not only are you our Father,
but you are our Redeemer. In 1972, Richard Nixon made Father's Day
a national holiday. This week, Father's Day will
have fed the national economy one billion dollars. Anybody
get a gift? I got a shirt. In other words, because of Father's
Day, people are going to spend one billion dollars in gifts
to dads, all the dads out to say amen. One billion dollars. The first Father's Day took place
in West Virginia on July 5th, 1908, honoring 362 dads that were killed
in a coal mine in Fairmont, West Virginia. There are 70 million
men in America whose sperm have produced baby girls and boys. Notice, I did not say there are
70 million dads. Dad is a special term. Who really are the real fathers
who are celebrated and honored today? Who are the real papas? Who are the real dads? Who are the real fathers? They
are the men who have earned the respect of their children. That doesn't mean that our children
do not see our imperfections. If you live with somebody, you
know, your kids are going to see your warts. In fact, I think
children see them maybe first. They see them more often, things
they don't understand. But fathers or dads are to protect
their children. And let me ask you, men, and
this is not to put a guilt on you, but hopefully you'll turn
from it and do something about it. Once you come to grace and
you learn what a real biblical dad is, there ought to be a change.
Not only ought to be, there will be if you are a Christian dad. I said, but I've done so much.
I've messed up. I haven't seen my kids in 30
years. It's not too late because those kids still have the vacuum.
Oh, they may be angry at you, but you deserve it. Sure, you
deserve it. I'm so afraid my kids are going
to reject me. Why wouldn't they? But they're
empty and you're empty, right? Somebody say amen here. You're
not going along with me. This will hurt for a little while
and then it will feel good. You're a man. You're a man willing
to die for your kids. You stand up. You stop getting
drunk. You stop using drugs. You stop
talking about your pain when you've got four children who've
been without you forever. Stand up. Be a guy. Be a man. Be a husband. Be a dad. Amen. If there's anybody in this world
that ought to be respected and must earn that respect, it's
dads. Kids ought to feel secure because of dad. Dad's always
there. Dad's the rock in the family. Fathers are to be honored and
loved by daughters and sons because good dads usually become the
daughter's first boyfriend. That's how important it is. Usually
dad becomes the first boyfriend. And the son's first hero. My
dad. You've heard little boys talking.
My dad can beat up your dad. Fathers. our mentors to both
sons and daughters, teaching by example what a daughter ought
to expect from her boyfriends. If you've been a lousy dad to
your daughter and not respectful, she doesn't know love or gentleness,
her pick of boyfriends may be just like you. And that wouldn't
be good. Amen. I know it's hurting a little
bit. See, it not only hurts you, it
hurts me a little bit too, because there are no perfect dads. Right? Because there are no perfect
people. But there's always room for improvement. Right? I don't care how old your children
are. I want to be a good dad now.
Both the girls out of the house, I still want to be a good dad.
I want them to know their dad's there. Always there. Amen? OK, you're not amen-ing much
this morning. I just want you to... And dads ought to be an example
of how the son ought to respect his girlfriends, respect women
by the way dad treats mom. Those boys are watching. They're
watching. Fathers are to be providers. Amen. Fathers are to be... Work. Huh. What about that? Work ethic. Earning a living. Isn't that
a strange thing? Not counting on government, but
counting on God. Work with your hands. Flip the
hamburgers if you have to. Dig the ditches. Because you
love your wife and kids. And I don't want to go on a tangent,
but this whole entitlement thing has ruined work ethic. I know
there's something in every guy here who doesn't want to just
sit on his fanny and receive checks. Not really. Not deep
down inside. You can't feel good about yourself.
And let me tell you this, I'm not so worried about changing
government. I'm concerned about you being changed from the inside.
You know what will change government? When you get saved. Amen. No thank you, government. Send
your welfare checks back. Oh, it's going to really get
quiet in here. Providers. I don't even know
that wives ought to have to worry about bills. You know, the idea
of a man bringing home a check and giving it to his wife and
then watching the ball game and having a cold beer. That's not
the idea. Dad's involved. Dad knows the
bills. Dad understands. And even if
Mom does the bills, Dad knows and is backing. And when there's
a short, does something about it. I mean, you guys are going
to have to deal. You guys get married. You're
going to have to deal with some of this. Mom's going to say,
you got to be a man to deal with these things. Mom's going to
say, I want a new couch, but I want you home more. You shouldn't
work as much. You got to deal with that, guys. Amen. Some of you get it. That's what
a man does. He deals with the business end
of things as well. Providers, make sure your kids
have food in their belly even before you. I can remember lots of times
when the girls wanted designer jeans or this or that. When I
needed white shirts. Didn't get the white shirt, but
they got their jeans. Because there's something in
me that wants them to have love for my kids. Fathers are to be
encouragers and not provokers of wrath. Don't make your kids
angry. Now, you've heard me tell this
if you've been here very long at all. Provokers of wrath. I went in and you remember when
A&W root beer, you could get those gallon jugs for, I think,
75 cents, maybe, something like that. And I went in and I had
the empty jug. You know, you had to return your
jug. Some of you are going, what on earth? That's because you're
too young. You haven't grown up. Anyway. I went in to my dad
one Sunday afternoon, and the A&W root beer place was on, what
was it, Diane? Westminster, that's right. It
was at the corner of Westminster and Van Dyke. So I went in to
my dad. I lived at 8 Mile Van Dyke, at
Church Parsons. And I said to my dad, Dad, can
I go up to A&W and fill the root beer jug up? He looked right
at me. He must have been under some
kind of stress because he said, 75 cents? You're going to take
my last 75 cents? Well, here's my last 75 cents. You know, I went and got that
root beer, but I didn't drink it. I hated it. I felt horrible inside. That's
not the way to deal with children. You know, children have great
insight. If you're going to buy the root beer, do something like
that. Well, sure. And willingly give that. Don't
provoke your children to wrath. They bring home A's and B's and
you go, oh, I had Miss Westminster or whatever her name was. I had
her. She's easy. Anybody could get
A's and B's. How about this? That's great.
You're on honor roll. That's wonderful. Those sorts
of things. Just because your dad treated
you a certain way, don't pick up on those things. Lots of times. Here in church, in God's house,
from God's Word, you find out how to be a great dad. Really,
if you'll do what God says in His Word, you can be a great
dad. How about time? Dads are there to give their
kids time, not money. I mean, money's okay if you can
provide that. But how important is time? Me
and Amber would play soccer. I even built a soccer net, you
know, with Shannon and stuff. Getting involved. Kids never
forget that. They'll never forget that. Plus,
it's a good example to your sons. Now, I'll move on to where you
can say amen. There are no perfect dads in
this house. There are no perfect dads here
today. We all have failed to one degree or another. But now
that you know better, right? Just the little things I've already
said this morning. You know better. Be a better
dad. I'm not talking just to you that
are married and you got all the kids and the wife together. I'm
talking about being a better dad today because you have kids. You may have been divorced. I
don't know how long ago, but you have children. Be a better
dad today. Amen? Get in contact with those
kids. You can fill the vacuum now. And whatever vacuum I made in
the girl's life, I still have opportunity to try to fill that.
I can apologize for things that I really feel like I messed up
on. And honestly and truly, I know I have messed up a lot of times. When I was a little boy, I can
remember getting in discussions with other little boys about
my own dad and how he was the biggest and the best. And it
usually grew out of some insecurity. It usually grew because I was
feeling threatened some way. Or maybe this kid said something
about his dad could beat up my dad or something. But at any
rate, what I'm saying is that came from an insecurity. Here's
what you need to know as a Christian. You're daddy. can beat up anybody. You need to know that. You need
to have a clear understanding that you have the greatest, the
best, the most awesome Father in all of the universe. Amen. You need to know that. Our Father, you see, is One who
has adopted us. We were little alley rats. Nobody wanted us. And why would
they? We were the babe in the open
field. I know mothers are going to find
fault with me about this, but I'm telling you, when that little
thing comes out of the womb all slimy and twisted-faced And they
lay it on her breast, and she goes, oh, precious, beautiful
thing. I'm thinking, yuck! I mean, I'm glad, but kind of
have that, your father saw you in the open field when you had
been cast off. Nobody loved you. You were left
in the field to the wiles of the devil. And God, passed by. And it was a time of love. And
He said, live, I want you. I love you. I love you. We've been adopted. What a wonderful
thing that is. To me, that's kind of the pinnacle
of it all. I've been adopted. I am a son
of God. I am a joint heir with Jesus
Christ. I'm in the will. And now I cry, papa, papa. You've
seen little children being adopted, and I've read about children
who are in orphanages, and they're so excited because this young
couple's coming in, and they're three or four years old, and
they're thinking, they might choose me. They might take me
home. God chose you and took you home.
You've been adopted. That's a wonderful thing. Paul
says in Romans 8, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God. You've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit of
adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And the old man John,
the apostle John in 1 John, he was so startled by this. This
is what he said. Behold! Startled. If you look at it that way, the
old guy, 80, 90 years old, on the Isle of Patmos, all by himself,
got a glimpse of the glory of God in adoption. And he said,
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God. The child of God. We used to sing in the old church,
I'm a child of the King, a child of the King, with Jesus my Savior. I'm a child of the King. Adoption. That's why I kind of wanted little
William sitting up here. So as you looked at little William,
you remember he was cast off. Mother deserted him, left him. And there he was, helpless, homeless,
by himself. And then Wanda came along. and took him up. That's what
I'm talking about. And that's what God has done
for us. A child's greatest fear is losing
dad or mom. Can you remember when you maybe
had thoughts? I used to have thoughts like
this. What if dad and mom died? I'd be all alone. Who would take
care of me? Forsaken. How pitiful. Psalm 2710 says this, When my
father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Isn't that good? You may be here
and your mom and dad may not even be speaking to you. You
came here and your parents haven't seen you in seven, eight years,
but you got saved. You've come to know Christ. And
now there's a power that's working in you. You're going to go back
and see mom and dad, maybe apologize, maybe get it right. Are you with
me? Here's what the Lord said in
Isaiah 49. Can a woman forget her suckling
child? You know, this happened several
years ago. Some of you remember this, that
several babies were found in dumpsters, still alive, where
that mother had given birth and threw the baby away. You know,
that's an unusual thing. Don't you think? I mean, it goes
against all of the natural instincts of a mother to throw her baby
in the dumpster. I mean, there's something bad
wrong with a mom who does that. And here's what God says. A mother
may. She may. It's not a usual thing.
A mother may forsake her suckling child. But watch this. But I
will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never leave you nor
forsake you. Isn't that a good thing? When
I'm running around out there acting stupid and I'm thinking
stuff like, you're not even saved, preacher. You don't even deserve
to be in the pulpit. Thoughts that go through your
mind. I will never leave you nor forsake you. All Christians
are crazy. They act crazy. They do crazy. They think crazy. Because in
their flesh dwells no good thing. But God said, I'll never leave
you. There isn't anything you can
do to get Me to forsake you. Isn't that something? From that
passage, I tried to tell the girls, you get pregnant, you
get drunk, you get whatever. I'll be upset, but I'll never
forsake you. I don't care what you do. I'll
love you. Amen. That's the way the Heavenly Father
is. We've all messed up. And I love
this part. He won't lose His kids. You know,
some of these churches, a lot of churches believe this. You
do bad, God throws you out. They call it falling from grace.
Well, you can't fall from grace. Grace is undeserved favor. God
giving you what you don't deserve. You can't fall out of grace.
God saw you when you were ugly. Which is continually. And yet he loves you. And he'll
never forsake. Think about all the things that
you've done since you became a Christian and then get rid
of them real quick because they'll cause you to doubt. But you have
a heavenly father who loves you unconditionally and will not
forsake you. The church may. Your sanctified
friends may. You know, there's a lot of sanctified
church people. Do you know that? You can't tell
them nothing. Don't tell them nothing. If you
go to R-rated movies, don't tell anybody. Amen. Be careful who you tell stuff
to about yourself, because they may reject you because they got
some idea that they're better than you. And that if you don't
live a certain way and keep all the rules... Listen, I've broken
all the rules. I don't know a rule I haven't broken. In thought,
word, or deed. Does anybody here know what I'm
talking about? Thank you. Thank you. Just checking
in with you a little bit. And none of God's kids get kidnapped.
Isn't it a horrible thing to read about these kidnappings
and kids being kept for 12 years or 14 years They're grown up
and they've had babies by their kidnappers and all of that mess. God's going to take you all the
way. I want to tell you, little believer, you're safe. I don't
care what you've done. You're saved and you're safe
because your salvation didn't depend on you. It depends on
what God did in Jesus Christ. Pastor, you shouldn't tell folks
that, especially, you know, this house is full of addicts. You
shouldn't tell addicts God's going to take them to heaven
no matter what they've done. Why shouldn't I tell him that?
He is. Yeah, you're going. You're going to have some rough
spots in the way. You know, like it's always been humorous to
me to see a person who has got just shot drunk, drink and drink
and drink, and they're hugging the commode and throwing up and
it's coming out every hole they have. And then say this, man,
we partied down last night. Cool. But when God saves you, He gives
you a joy that's unspeakable. You know where you came from.
You know where you're going. You know what you're doing here.
You're heaven-bound because of God. Listen, I'll tell you this. If I didn't believe in security
of the believer, I wouldn't go to church. Because all those folks who believe
you can get saved, and then you've got to keep yourself saved, and
you've got to be good enough to be saved, they're all hypocrites.
And they all know on the inside that they've come short of the
glory of God. That's exactly right. Have you
ever thought about, I can't lose my inheritance? Do you ever hear
about people being taken out of the will. Well, you know,
I took Johnny out of the will because... I took Susie out of
the will because... God's never going to take you
out of the will. How many reasons does God have to take you out
of the will? Millions. But He's not going to take you
out of the will. You have a mansion. In my Father's house are many
mansions. Many dwelling places. I go to
prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be
also. All the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. I give unto them everlasting
life, and they shall never perish." That's what God says to His kids.
And God wants His kids to know that. And when they know it,
they cry, Papa, Papa. What a great dad I have. Do you
feel that way, Christian? You should. You should. There are no empty mansions in
heaven. There'll be no empty spots in the choir, because God's
going to see to it that His kids get there. You ever thought about
this, about your father? My daddy is omniscient. He knows
everything about everything. Isn't that something? And he's
everywhere at the same place. Yes. He knows everything. He knows your past. He knows your present. He knows
your future. He knows the number of the hairs
on your head. Every time I get a haircut, Pete's
been cutting my hair for nearly 20 years. Pete says, why don't
you get you some hair up there? Or when you take a shower and
the hair falls out, some of it. Miss Pam says to me, you didn't
clean the tub. I hate to see that hair in the tub. I want
it back up here. But anyway, God knows the number
of the hairs on your head and the sparrow. You see all those
crazy little sparrows everywhere you go. When one of them fall,
his eye is on the sparrow and he watches over me. Isn't that
something? That is something. I'm about
to get happy by myself. We're more than conquerors. So often we spend our life as
Christians thinking about failure, and in our flesh there is no
good thing. But we're more than conquerors.
We ought to give equal time to this truth. No matter what's
happening to you, you're a winner. You are a overcomer. You are
a conqueror because of your heavenly father. Think about this, too. Your father has all power in
heaven and on earth. He's a champion. None can stay
his hand. You ever think about that? I
love those verses in Romans that I quote to you for so often. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love the Lord. All things. I don't care what's happened
to you this week. It's going to work out. And it's going to
work out for your good and God's glory. I mean, you may have a
little pain, but it's going to work out. Because His eye is
on the sparrow and He watches over His kids. And He has all
power. And I love this. For whom He
did for love, He did predestinate them. Whom He predestinated,
they'll be also called. Whom He called, they'll be also
justified. Whom He justified, they'll be
also glorified. There's not one break in there. I'm persuaded that neither life,
nor death, nor principalities, powers, things present, nor things
to come, nor any other creature shall be able to separate me
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. He's a powerful
God. Do you know you are a kept person? I'm not talking about a sugar
daddy. I'm talking about God. You are a kept person. Ever thought about this? I don't
even know how to explain this. One day, no, because there are
not days with God. But out there in faceless eternity,
When there was just God, He said, let there be light. That's how
powerful my God is. Do you know He created something
out of nothing? The Bible says we are His workmanship
created. He took a nothing like you. A
nothing. You were nothing. God took a nothing like me. And
look at me. And that's what he did. He had
mercy. Mercy on me. It amazes me. It absolutely is
amazing to me what God does with me. Honestly, I am shocked. I even say to myself many, many
times, I say to myself how humbling it is. I don't know why you did
that for me. I don't know why you blessed
me like that. I just messed up. And you just blessed me. Why
would you do something like that? Because He's my Daddy. He loves
me in spite of me. Creator. The God who said, Let
there be light, the Apostle Paul said, has shined into our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. When your heart was dark, God
cast a ray of light. That light had to come from the
outside because your heart was dark. There was no light within. And God sovereignly cast a ray
of light. And you saw God in the face of
Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about this?
My dad is so great that when there was no way for me to be
saved, there was no way to put away sin, He became Savior. I mean, that has always blown
my mind. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was made manifest in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
became flesh. and tabernacled among us, not
to spy out our sins, but to deliver us from our sins. My Daddy came
down here to save me and did not fail. He saved me in His
Son, Jesus Christ. He made an end of sin. You know,
the devil's an accuser. And I'm telling you, the proof's
in the pudding, and he's got proof. And the Bible says that
my Daddy made an end of sin. All his kids have none, judicially. You're not guilty. Yeah, but
the devil says, I was there. I was with him. I even helped
him, you know. I supported him or her. Not guilty. I can't find
it. Somebody said all of our sins
were put under the blood. No, they're not. They're gone.
If you could lift the blood up, you wouldn't find sin. Because
he made an end of it. Isn't that something? He made
an end of your sin and mine. My father's rich. That makes
me rich. The Apostle Paul said all things are yours. All things
are yours. They're all yours in Christ Jesus.
Thinking about the power of God, I got to thinking this week about
God in creation and how big my God was and my daddy was. And
I remember in 1989, I cut out a news clipping in
the paper. It's been on my mind all week.
I need to see if I've saved that news clipping. You remember me
telling you about the news clipping that, I think I brought that
with me too, about where the Filipinos, yes, the little Filipinos,
a picture of the little Filipinos that were saving their God from
the mudslide. Let me tell you, if you have
to save your God from a mudslide, you better switch gods. These little guys are picking
up Buddha out of the temple and there's about 16 of them carrying
him with mud up to their thighs. And the caption was, Filipinos
rescue their God. Seems like that's kind of backward,
doesn't it? Anyway, you remember the voyagers,
the spaceship? Looked like I found it. I went
down in the basement. This is why I don't throw things
away, Ms. Pam. I said, I know I saved that. 1989, I know I
saved that. And I found it after six or seven
boxes. Listen to this. Think about your
Creator God. This was in 1989 that I cut this
out. I think, but this thing had already
been going 12 years previous to 89, this spacecraft. Listen
now, 1989, after 12 years and a journey of 4.4 billion miles. Everybody hear that? Voyager
2 has acquainted us with Neptune, a planet at the outskirts of
the solar system. The stunning success of its mission
is a powerful reminder of the importance of unmanned space
exploration. The mission would have been valuable
even if Voyager had only maintained its original course to Jupiter
in 1980 and Saturn in 1981. that it was made capable long
after its liftoff of exploring Uranus in 1986. And Neptune, last week, is a
tribute to its Earth-bound handlers at the Jet Laboratory in California. The scientists, too, are champions
of the space age, even if they are not as death defying or glamorous
as astronauts. The cost of putting Voyager 1
and 2 into space was a fraction of the price tag attached either
to space shuttle program or proposed manned space nation. The point
I wanted to get is the exciting prospect of sending astronauts
back to the moon or even to Mars ought not to obscure Voyager's
achievements. This thing is still flying. I cut this out in 1989. It was
flying 12 years previous to 1989 and on the outskirts of the solar
system. Do you understand what that means?
That means we only know about the solar system. This thing
has now gone out of the solar system. There are 177,000 number
of universes. I don't even know
how to explain this beyond the solar system. We are just this
little dot in a big world that was created by a big God. Now,
if you can just imagine 1989, that thing was going up, up,
up. And today, 2013, it's still going
up. Up, still feeding back the information. That's how big my God is. I wish I could read the whole
thing. I knew one of these days I was going to get to use this.
And I'm excited because in 1989 when I cut this out, I never
used it. But I knew one day. Isn't that amazing how God does
that? And I thought about it. I said,
Lord, if you want me to find this this morning, just make
it clear. So I went through two boxes. And then I said to myself, well,
you know, you were cleaning out the garage and you had all those
sermon outlines and all that stuff and you took stuff out
of there. I wonder if I took that out. I went upstairs. And on my desk, There it lay,
along with some other papers. But I had no idea when I took
it out that I was going to use it today. That's how big my God
is, I'm telling you. It's absolutely amazing to me. You see, it's those little things
that make me cry out, my God is real. My God is real. See, back in 1989, He said, can't
cut that out. You might be able to use that
someday. This is how big I am. So I cut it out. You see how
yellow it is? Yo, this was the Detroit Free
Press. I don't even get the Detroit
Free Press. Isn't that great? Our God is such a big God. I
don't care what you've done, where you've been, what you've
said, what act of sin you've committed. You've come to know
Jesus Christ. Forget about it today and say,
Papa, Papa, I have a great dad. Rejoice in God. Celebrate God
today. If you've messed up in your life,
and you have, and I have, and you have some bridges you need
to mend, it's OK. Mend them. At least try to mend
them. You know, your kids will eventually
understand this. I was a mess. And I was self-centered. And I love you. And you're mine.
And I want you to forgive me." Now, they may give you some static.
But eventually, they'll circle the camp. I guarantee you, eventually,
maybe a little while, but eventually you'll get a card. Eventually
you'll get a letter. Eventually you'll get a phone
call. Because they're just as empty as you are. They need you
just as much. I don't care how old they are.
You know, here I am, 68, my dad is with the Lord. But I still
think about, Dad, I wish. Right. Anybody else think that
way? Dad, I wish, I wish, I wish we could have, I wish we could
have. And I know some of you had horrible experiences. And
maybe mine's not nearly as bad as yours. But you think for 30
some years, my dad never let me preach in his church, never
let me pray in his church, never had any spiritual communion. You know, we had Christmas and
would go to his house and do things, but never any spiritual
communion. That's a big empty space. So
you're not the only one that has an empty space. I still long
for my dad's approval. What about that? Sixty-eight
years old. I would just love to have heard
him say, you know, Kent, great job. God's got His hand on you. God's blessing you. I'm so proud
of you. Never heard it. I want you to
think about that when you think about your kids. Don't be tearing
them down. Whatever you do, the Bible says
because the Lord loves us, He chastens us. We don't chasten
our children because we hate them. We correct them because
we love them. And we need to be very careful
how that correction is done. Children are pretty smart. You
know, I was never able to say why, except my dad would say,
because I say so. And don't ask me again. Don't
ask me again. You know, I personally believe
kids ought to be able to say why in a nice way. Well, maybe the kid doesn't understand
why. Because I say so. Well, when
you get big enough to act on your own, if there wasn't a good
reason for I say so, you do what you want to do. So, if you can
explain to that child, this will hurt you. You know, kids aren't
stupid. They can see right through us.
Really. You'd be surprised what your
kids think. Amber, be quiet. I'm not calling for personal
testimonies this morning. But they see us. God help us
to try to emulate the Heavenly Father, acknowledge that we have
a Heavenly Father. And those of you who have no
children, we have plenty here for you to bless. Plenty of kids
here to bless. I hope you think about little
William. You know, Wednesday night, and I'm closing with this.
Wednesday night, Wanda brought another little boy here. I want
you to think about this. That little boy. Mother was just
sent to prison. The dad just got out of prison
after eight years, so that little boy who's Williams age and his
little newborn baby sister was handed off to the guy that just
got out of prison, the bridge card. Nobody knows exactly who
has the bridge card. You know what the bridge card
is? That's the free money card. Disappeared. And so Wanda goes
down and picks this kid up and tries to... And now they're after
the kid because they want the bridge card. I mean, they want
to keep the bridge card. And this little guy sat right there.
And I thought about him all week and I prayed for him. And I prayed,
I hope he's there this morning. You know, we need to do something
about that. Well, Pastor, you know, there's
so many of those kids. I know. I know. You know what true religion is?
Caring for orphans and children and widows, orphans and widows.
You see, Ms. McCool, this church has an
obligation. She's a widow. We have an obligation. Amen. That's what real church
is. God help us.