Again, this Sunday, struggling
a little bit with this voice situation, as I understand many
of you are as well. But we will struggle here and
get through this and praise our God. William, I'm glad to see
you. I am so glad you're here. Could
you just stand up so folks could see you? William is our guy here. And William, you know, I have
some Tiger tickets here. And I wondered this morning who
I'd give these Tiger tickets to. And you appeared. Would you
like them? I love you very much, man. You're
a mighty welcome. What a polite, athletic and successful
young man he's becoming. Well, I have struggled a bit this week. I
know it's Father's Day. And trying to figure how to minister
to you and not discourage you, but encourage you as well as
myself about this business of being a daddy. I thought I'd make this statement
and then I thought some will find fault with it, but I don't
believe there is anyone more important in society than a good
daddy. America's in a mess today. because
of us guys, lack of leadership, lack of fatherhood, lack of responsibility,
lack of loving our wives, the breakup of the family. The
Bible places great emphasis upon the responsibility
of us guys. I remember several years ago,
I was counseling a couple and the guy quit coming because he
said, you do nothing but blame us men. Very true, very true. We have a tremendous responsibility
to live up to exemplifying the great father. Father God, I will
tell you openly and honestly, you're not looking at the greatest
daddy in the world. Your pastor's not the greatest
daddy in the world, but I want to be. Not only to my own girls
and grandkids, but to everyone who is a part of this congregation.
Many sons and daughters in here that I love very, very dearly,
like you were my very own. Early in life, when I thought one day I likely
would be a father. You know, when you get older,
you have thoughts that go way, way back about things you've
considered. Right, Space? And one of those thoughts with
me was not only did I want the approval of my father, my own
earthly dad, but I had thoughts about, I want to be a great dad
when I grow up and father children. But I also remember asking myself
this question, how can I? How can I be a great dad? I did not know back then that
it was impossible to overestimate the importance of dad. You know, girls will look for
in others what they have experienced and become familiar with in childhood
because they've gotten used to those familiar and historic behavioral
patterns. They think they can handle them
in relationship. But boys, boys, that's us, But
boys, on the other hand, will model themselves after their
fathers. They will look for their father's
approval in everything they do. And early on, I did just that. Nothing is normal for a male
child who has no good mentor father. And I'm so thankful that
William and other young people in this church have you guys
who are mentoring fatherhood to them. They will long love
you and remember you for the things you do. And they will
become what you are teaching them. When I talk about being a daddy,
I'm talking not so much about being a sperm donor, because
any male can do that. I'm talking about emulating God
the Father, being like God the Father. Oftentimes we ask, what's
wrong with that child? And most of the time what's wrong
with that child is there is a father vacuum. Many of you guys in here,
you're up in years now, You know what I'm talking about, and some
of the things that I'm talking about is most painful to you,
even though you're 35, 45, or maybe 65, or maybe 74 years old. It really does take a good dad
to make a healthy child. A good dad. Our children are
so vulnerable to those early patterns and incorporate those
early behavior patterns of interaction into how they feel about themselves
and how they develop. Children who are well-bonded
and loved by involved fathers tend to have less behavior problems. That is very important. and they
are somewhat inoculated. I have read so many stats about
this. Somewhat inoculated against alcohol
and drug abuse. That's really important to have
a solid daddy figure in your life. You look at the heroin
epidemic, what's wrong? One thing that's wrong is daddies
have disappeared, godly fathers. What does a healthy dad look
like? Well, in order to be one, you
have to know one. Mentoring is so important. It's
not possible to be a good father without knowing God. I mean,
knowing God. But I want to say to every one
of you who have failed in this business of fatherhood, there
is hope for you because there is a Bible and there is a God. And those of you who have children
who haven't seen you for 20, 30 years, now's the time today
to get in touch with them. And let them know you love them,
and you're thinking about them, and you're sorry for your mess-ups.
What a great day this would be if hundreds of children across
this nation heard from their father. Say, well, you know,
they're angry at me. They don't want to hear from
me. Do it anyway. Write them a letter. There are men in here
that have not had contact with their children for years. And
I have said to them over and over again, start writing them,
start calling them, start bugging them. Eventually it will set
in. Knowing God. And I say to all
you guys this morning, whether you father children or not, I hope you come to know God because
you won't be a good dad without knowing God. because he's the
mentor God. You want to know how to be a
great dad? Follow God's order. Do your best
to walk in his steps. Get on his trail and follow him.
Find out how he loves his kids, how he treats his kids, how he
reacts to his kid. You'll notice in the verses that
Joe read for us, There's this little saying, God has sent his
spirit into us whereby we cry, Papa, Papa. Not so much a moaning
cry, but a confident cry. It would be like this, my daddy,
my daddy. I have a daddy. You can be a
daddy. There's a nation of children
out there without a daddy. I'm so burdened about children. You know, here we deal primarily
with those that are homeless and addicted to drugs or alcohol,
and because of their own sins, they have lost their children,
or the courts have taken away their children. Or maybe you
are so stinking religious that your children want nothing to
do with you. Amen. There's lots of ways to
lose our children. But coming to know God, you come
to find out who he is. Moses said, show me your glory.
And I think this is a missing element in fatherhood. And God said to Moses, I'm going
to hide you in the cliff of the rock. and I'm going to pass by
and you will see my mercy, you will see my goodness, you will
see my grace. You know your children need grace
because they came from you and they're sinners. You gotta know
something about this God of amazing grace if you're gonna raise healthy
kids. If you don't, you're gonna try
to beat the hell out of them and it's not gonna work. It's
just not gonna work. But to know this God, not judge
of all, not judge of the whole world, but this Father God, who
is gracious, who is merciful, who is long-suffering. Lord, have mercy. It takes dads
who are long-suffering. Think about how long-suffering
God has been to you. I consciously thought many times
in being a father to my two girls, in many instances where they
took on the characteristics of my depravity, how would God deal
with this particular situation? I won't mention which one, but
one of them stole some things from the church or the school,
the high school store. We had to deal with that. I thought,
how would God deal with that? So we tried to, I tried to deal
with that, Miss Pam and I. The way God would deal with something
like that. That same girl, I won't mention
which one, But she's very strong-willed. I said, now, when mom and I aren't
here, you don't have kids, and especially boys, in the house.
I came home one day, Miss Pam and I, and kids started running
out every door and window in the house. I told her, I said,
you know, if you do that, I'm going to give you a spanking.
And I had had gallbladder surgery. and I dealt with her this way.
I told you I'd give you a spanking, you deserve it. But I can't do
it, I'm too weak. So, you're going to have to spank
me because somebody has to pay your price. You did wrong and
you're guilty. I thought she'd be a merciful
young girl. I got the yardstick and held
out my hands and I said, now you've got to You've got to hit
me five times as hard as you can, because I'd had the big
surgery, the gallbladder surgery, not this new surgery where they
just take a pin and go in there and pull your gallbladder out.
They cut me about six inches like that. So I held out my hands. She said, no, daddy, I'm not
going to. Yeah, you have to. And I told her, this is a type
of the gospel that Jesus took our place. That's the way God
dealt with me. She whacked me about twice and
threw that yardstick down and ran up to her room. But we got
a gospel message. How does God deal with us? Those he loves, he corrects.
I want you just to consider with me quickly and then I want you
to go home and think about what kind of father am I? What kind
of grandfather am I? You know, I got a second shot
here. I have grandchildren that I love so dearly. You think you
love your kids, well, you get grandkids. Because you can return
them, you know, it's time to go home. Think about what God says in
his word in the three passages. First of all, it's this. Behold,
what manner of love is this? That we should be called the
sons of God. Sons of God. We are sons of,
who, me? Yes, you. Consider this, the
amazing love of God. We are sons of God. You know what'll give your kids
confidence? I grew up, I was not a confident child. I was
always seeking my dad's approval, always. I don't think I ever
got it, except occasionally when he would take me hunting or something,
and we seemed to bond and enjoy that. But we'd heard somewhat
on the gospel, so, you know, I never preached in his church
after about 1968. Never led prayer. You know, that sort of thing.
All through high school, it was something like, you're gonna
ruin me. Don't say that to your kids. They can't ruin you, but
you can ruin them by saying stuff like that. Let your kids know
you love them. Think about this, here in his
love, not that we love God, but that he first loved us. I used
to, I know this is a little radical and many of you watching may
not agree with this, but I used to tell Shannon and Amber both, I'm gonna love you no matter
what you do, no matter what's in your life, no matter what
sin you commit, I'm going to love you. I will love you. Doesn't
mean things will always go the way you want them, but I will
love you. Because I know God loved me no
matter what. I have mess on top of mess, but
God loved me and loves me. And just think about this, that God chose you. You're chosen
of God. Election has been a savior of
my life to some degree in the sense that when I failed and
messed up, I know that God didn't take back his choice. I was still
his. His affections were set upon
me from the foundation of the world. Tell your children you
love them, that you're behind them, that you're with them.
The highest form of confidence that I have today at 70, almost
74, is this. God loves me and that God has
predetermined me. before the foundation of the
world, and that God has a plan for my life. How can you be a
loser child with a father like this? I'm gonna work everything
for your good, Kent, and for my glory. Your entire life is
all plotted and planned and purposed, and I'll be there every step
of the way. There'll be clouds, there'll be storms that will
come your way, I will be there with you. I will never leave
you nor forsake you. A mother may forsake her suckling
child, but not me, says Father God. I will never leave you. Hallelujah. Nor forsake you. Your children need competence.
They need to know that you're there no matter what. And besides,
they're just you and your wife wrapped up in different flesh,
that's all. So don't act shocked. I've seen parents go, I can't
believe you did that. Now you're lying right through
your teeth. They came out of you. It shouldn't be too much
of a surprise what our children do to us. God says this, you've
been adopted. I've been looking at this. You've
been adopted. I'm not an orphan. You're not an orphan. Think about
this in salvation. You were adopted. You were out
there a whirling, all messed up, and God adopted you through
Jesus Christ. And I love those verses in Galatians
that says, The Spirit into you. Think about this. Every Christian
in here, no matter how messy you are, and relapse might have
been yesterday, but this is a new day. And I want to tell you this. When you mess up, the Spirit
of God is still in you. God put the Spirit of God in
you called the Holy Spirit. Think about that. Galatians says
that you little orphan who've been adopted by Almighty God
has sent the Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, who is the Holy Spirit,
into you. Wow, man, what a church we have
here today. A bunch of no-good-for-nothing
orphans who've been adopted by the God of heaven, who now holds
the Holy Spirit within them. And the apostle says this, when
you're able to call Papa, Papa, Daddy, Daddy, and you can do
that, the Bible says he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Our God is not a God who is a
fire off. He's the God of all comfort.
And he draws near to you in those dark and cloudy days and sees
you when you're crying. You know, I often heard this
as a child, stop that crying. Or how about this one? Big boys
don't cry. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. And they need to be able to cry
out, Papa, Papa. You know, this happened about
two years ago. Hayden, what is she, eight, eight,
nine? Couple years ago, she was riding
around our, at our house on her bike. She just kind of learned
to, to ride and she fell in the driveway. And here's what she
said, and my heart just sunk. Just as soon as she fell, papa,
papa, papa, papa. And I thought to myself, I can
do that too. The Bible says I can do that.
When I mess up, when I fail, when I falter, I can cry out,
Papa, Papa. Listen, life is tough. Life can be tough. Things happen. Some of you, all of us, we have
the scars of life. You think about, some of you
sitting here thinking about, Pastor, you have no idea what
my mother and father did to me, what my father did to me. You
have no idea, but there is one who knows, who sticketh closer
than a brother. who is touched with the feelings
of your tears. You never cry, you never weep,
you never hurt, except this God of the Bible is right there with
you. He's got you. He loves you. He holds you in his arms and
is working things out for your good and his glory. The spirit
of adoption. What a wonderful thing that is.
And what happens is this, when you get into this, this God Father
truth of the Bible, you know, I keep telling you, salvation's
all by grace. Most of us have been taught that
we gotta earn everything we get. We have to work very hard. Some have been told you're never
gonna amount to anything. Let me tell you this, if God
chose you, you're everything. Everything's yours. All things
are yours in Christ Jesus. You are somebody. You really
are. Some of us were told, you know,
why can't you be like your sister? Why can't you be like your brother?
Or how about this? You brought home a report card
with all B's, maybe all A's. And somebody said, you know,
Ms. Vandenberg, I had her too. Maybe
your parents said something like, Ms. Vandenberg, I had her. She's
an easy teacher. That's why you got all these.
God doesn't treat us that way. God works in us both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. You know, God will put good things
in you to come out of you. Every good and perfect gift that
you have, everything that's God honoring, everything that's trustworthy,
God puts in us and then blesses us in that, the blessing in the
doing. You are somebody as a Christian. Say, well, you know, I didn't
come to know the Lord until I was 40 years old or 50 years old. Ah, God's got big plans for you.
It's makeup time. It's overtime. The spirit of
adoption brings gratitude. It's just as simple. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus
found me. I'm so grateful. I'm so thankful.
that he saved me. I've been adopted. I am somebody's
child, the Lord God of heaven. I'm his child. You can't get
better than that. You can't get a better parent
than that. You know, most of my early religious
life, I was raised in bondage and slavery. Never had a phys
ed class in my life because you had to wear shorts. Never knew how to play cards,
couldn't play pool. I did sneak out and go to the
drive-in theater when I was 18 years old. and I knew I was going
to hell, I went there and watched Pat Boone in State Fair. And
as I sit there and watch Pat Boone with his white bucks in
State Fair, condemnation and judgment rest on my head. I waited 20 years later and saw
it on TV. I didn't feel that way at all. You know, if you're not under
grace, if you're not hearing the gospel of God's grace, the
message of God's unmerited favor, that God loves you, that you're
not a slave, and you live for him because you love him, not
out of fear. God is not walking around with
a fly swatter just anxious to give you a whack. He's a God
who's working in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And one day, think about this.
Did you ever want to hear this from dad? One day you will. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Well done. Good job. Good job. Let me tell you now,
if you haven't called your dad today, I've got my kid's card. Shannon and Amber, I got one
of their cards. I read it and I said to Miss
Pam, do you believe everything on those cards is true? But I am thankful to God. that
the girls, and many of you sent me messages this morning, and
what an encouragement you are to me, to keep on preaching this
comforting gospel, this good news, this glad tidings, to keep
on telling you that God has a great plan, and it's predetermined
that it will surely come to pass, that God is doing great things
for his kids, that he is a loving father. God never abuses his
children. He never abuses his children. He loves his kids. And even in
chastisement, which is usually the effects of our own doings,
he lets you do something, permits you to go ahead and do something
stupid, and then there's a consequence to your stupidity. God is not
walking around just wanting to take off his big belt and give
you a whipping. He's not. Any chastisement is
out of deep love. And what you sow, you reap, right?
It's not God punishing you. I went to the hospital here a
little while ago to visit someone who doesn't attend our church,
but this person said to me, who was going to have surgery, is
God gonna get me? This was an older person. Is
God going to punish me? God doesn't have to. He could have killed you and
me a long time ago and been just in doing it. But He's merciful
and gracious to us, is He not? I don't know, maybe dad's here
with you today. Maybe you ought to just give
him a big hug. I know some of you are guys and you got your
dad here. You know, big guys don't hug
their fathers. Oh yes, they do. It'd be all right if you hugged
your dad. It'd be all right if you tell mom you love her too.
Family, how important that is in being like God. Let's stand
together and give God praise.