Fatherhood

Well, thank you, Joe. And again, happy Sabbath to all of you. It's already been mentioned, but tomorrow is Father's Day in the United States. Father's Day is traditional, a day in which we give honor to all fathers and grandfathers and stepfathers who play a very important role in our society today, and I certainly wish all of you a happy Father's Day tomorrow. Fatherhood is unique among human beings. Like the concept of family, it's unique among human beings because it has spiritual origins. The reason that we have families and the idea of pair bonding for life and nurturing and raising children in a family comes from the fact that God is a family. And that's why human beings do that, and you don't find deers and kangaroos and other forms of human life, literally where a male and female pool together their resources for a committed period of time, 18, 19 years, and raise a family together. I don't know what happened to the state of fatherhood in the United States. I really don't. I'm going to tell you something that's a little sensitive to me because it's a memory that goes back to all the way to 1959. I was in my first grade class. There were about 20 of us in class, and the teacher asked us, how many of you don't have mommy and daddy living together? It was a class of about 20 of us. Well, it was just myself and another child who raised their hands out of 20. That was 1959. According to the US Census Bureau, with modern statistics, if you were to go to that same area of East Cleveland that I grew up in, 70% of the children do not have daddies who live at home. So that number in my generation has changed from two children out of 20 to 15 out of 20. Do not have fathers who live at their homes and nurture them and care for them. So we can obviously see a downward trend of the concept of fatherhood in our own culture, in our own country. But today I would like to talk more about the ideal father than maybe the kind of physical fathers that we had. I'd like to talk about God because God is the ideal father, and I believe it's best to look at him if we want to know what real fatherhood is. He's the perfect father, and we should model our roles and the way that we act and conduct ourselves as fathers after his example, rather than the physical fathers that we had after all. They were human. They were imperfect. Let's begin by going to Matthew 7 and verse 7, and see what Jesus Christ told us about his father. Again, God as the ideal father.

Some things to think about as we approach Father's Day. Matthew 7 and verse 7.

Jesus tells us the kind of quality we need to have with our dad, our spiritual dad.

He says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asks, receives. If you don't ask, don't expect to receive.

And he who seeks, finds. If you don't seek him, don't expect to find God. To him, he who seeks, finds, and him who knocks, it will be opened. If you want to walk through the door, if you want to have that kind of relationship we talk about so often here in our congregation, you have to knock. Please open the door. Verse 9, Jesus says, or what man is there among you if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, he will give him a serpent?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father give, or your father who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him?

So Jesus here is emphasizing the importance of what we know and call prayer and study in meditation.

He's saying, keep going back to your spiritual father. Keep going back to him. Ask him, talk to him. Seek him. Knock and ask that that door be opened. Keep going back to your father.

The benefit of having a good relationship with God is that we will receive good gifts better than what our limited physical fathers were able or willing to provide, because our spiritual father is so good. He's so kind. He's so giving. He is so wonderful. And I also want you to notice that Jesus states that God is your father, just like he was Jesus Christ's father. He says, how much more will your father in heaven give you the good things to those who ask him? So he is our father, as well as the father of Jesus Christ. With that in mind, I'd like to look at some of the qualities of God as a father and see that he exhibits some traits that we don't normally associate with men in our modern culture. We're going to see here, as we go to Psalm 103, and you're so welcome to start turning there, we're going to see that God exhibits some traits that are normally associated only with moms in our culture. But I want to read about some of these fatherly qualities.

So those of us who are fathers or grandfathers or great-grandfathers or stepfathers can be aware of. If you look at the life of Jesus Christ, he was the perfect blend of masculinity and femininity.

On the one hand, he could be very strong. He could overturn tables of those who were, you know, money changers in the temple. He could speak to people very strongly and powerfully.

He was certainly strong and masculine in that way. But you look at other times in his life, when he saw every one mourning over the death of Lazarus, he just publicly, openly burst out in tears and wept openly in front of people. So he was the perfect blend, and he had great compassion and tenderness on people who were suffering. He was the perfect blend of masculinity and femininity as an example of God. Psalm 103. Let's begin in verse 1. It says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his benefits. What's a benefit? A benefit is something that you receive beyond your wages, your benefit plan. It includes things that are gifts that are extra beyond just your standard wages. It says here that God gives us benefits to go beyond what we are experiencing in our just normal human lifetime. God is a provider, a good provider, and our relationship with him gives us special benefits. Now, in a similar way, as a physical father and those of us who are stepfathers or fathers or grandfathers, we should be providers as well, and we should certainly give good things to our children. They should benefit by our presence in their lives. Verse 3, who forgives all your iniquities.

God is quick to forgive our faults. We obviously sin. We make mistakes. Sometimes we make pretty serious mistakes. So do our children. So do our grandchildren. They make mistakes, too.

But God is quick to forgive our faults, and we, in the same way, should forgive the faults of our children and realize that we have to approach them differently as they grow and as they mature. I'll give you an analogy. Usually, when one enters the Church of God, what they have is from the revealing and understanding and new truth. They usually fear God out of a fear of being evil. They usually fear God out of a terror of being punished. They usually fear God out of a fear of disobedience.

But as you grow and mature in the faith, you realize that as you repent daily and as you have Jesus Christ living in you, that your spiritual father loves you, and you learn to obey him out of love, not out of fear. You learn to obey him because the good things of God becomes part of your life. You just naturally react in obedience to God because his spirit dwells in you.

And you begin to look at God as a papa, as daddy, not as that great, awesome, fearful being out there who's ready to crash down on you the next time you make a mistake. We tend to think when we're first called into the faith. So we grow and we mature in our understanding of who and what God is. And in the same way, we have children. And when they're little children, we have to discipline them more.

We oftentimes have to control them so they don't hurt themselves. But as they grow and mature and they become teens and they become young adults, our approach towards them has to change. If you treat your adult child like they're five, they're going to resent you. If you treat them and condescendingly look down upon them when they're 25, as if they were 13 years old, then that's only going to cause problems. That's going to cause resentment. So as our own children grow into adulthood, our role changes from being a parent, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that, into being an advisor, being a counselor, being a coach. Our role as a father, as a grandfather, as a stepfather begins to change. Verse 3, who heals all of your diseases? God is a nurturer. This is something that we don't often think of regarding men because men are not near as good as nurturers, as women are in most cases. God is a nurturer and he intervenes to heal us of our illnesses. We go to him when we are diseased, when we're sick, we can go to our spiritual father and ask for his intervention. And in a similar way, we too need to learn to be nurturing as physical fathers. And again, for many of us, that is kind of against our nature. We are not wired as men to be very good nurturers in most cases and we need to work on that. We need to nurture our children, help them, help our adult children. They come back and they need some comfort. They need a pick-me-up. They need an encouraging talk or they need emotional support. That's what good dads need to do. Verse 4, who redeems your life from destruction. God protects us from ourselves. Sometimes we stray and we do things to hurt ourselves and we have a tendency to get into problems spiritually, don't we? Well, in a similar way, a physical father should watch and protect their children from danger. You know, a physical father should keep an eye out and see how the kids are doing. And even though your children grow up, you never stop caring for them. In some ways, you never stop worrying about them. Even, you know, they're 40, they're 50 years old, they're still your little child and you care for them and you love them and you want to protect them. And that's a truly a wonderful and biblical principle. Verse 5, who crowned you, meaning put on your head, surrounds your head, who crowned you with loving kindness and tender mercies. Our spiritual father provides an environment of love and kindness and mercy to his children.

That's a powerful thought. When we're corrected by God, and we are corrected by God, he immediately wants to restore and put it back into that environment of love and kindness and mercy, even as he chastises us. In a similar way, we as human fathers need to do this in our home and not harbor grudges against our children and not prejudge them and not to look down and discourage them by the way that we treat them. Verse 5, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that our youth or your youth is renewed like the eagles? Well, one way we can translate this, satisfies your mouth with good things, is that our great God is a provider. He gives us everything we need. He gives us all good food to eat. He gives us clothes to where he provides all of our wants and even a few of our all of our needs and even a few of our wants. Let's put it that way, because he's a great provider. Another way we can translate this in the New Century version is he satisfies me with good things and he makes me young again like the eagle. So it's God that gives us a safe place, an environment to dwell in. He gives us a relationship that's blessed because it's with him and we should be able to look back over our years in the Church with satisfaction and joy and see growth and see a relationship. Have there been times of testing for the Church? Absolutely. Have there been frustrations? You bet. I'll be the first one to raise my hand regarding that. But overall, we should be able to look back over the years with satisfaction and joy with the fact that God called some of us many, many, many years ago and we've stayed on that path and on that journey. And in a similar way, our children should have fond memories growing up in our homes. They should be able to look back and say, as they look back in their youth, look back growing up at home and say that they received some good things from us and they witnessed a physical father who hopefully modeled God's values in the home. Verse 6, the Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his way to Moses and his acts to the children of Israel. So the Scripture says that God is righteous and he is fair in his judgments and in his discipline. He stands up for the weak and he makes his values known to Israel through Moses. God has house rules and that means that if you're going to live in God's house, you have to live by certain rules and those rules are that you treat everyone in the family with kindness and dignity and that you respect your parents and all of these qualities, those are called house rules and he expects his children to respect those rules in a similar way.

We as human fathers, we too should emulate the righteousness and fairness in our families.

You know, sometimes some of our family members are picked on or bullied because they're smaller than the other ones. Maybe they're younger, maybe they're just not as intellectually adept as their siblings and it's the father's role to be not just peacemaker but to make sure that that some of the siblings and some of the members of the family are not being picked on or bullied. Sometimes the father needs to intervene and restore order and fairness in a family.

Sometimes, unfortunately, it's mom being picked on and bullied by some of the children and there again it's dad's responsibility to step up to the plate and for righteousness sake provide justice for the oppressed mom and to put an end to mom being bullied or mocked by some of the family members. Let's now go to verse 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. These are qualities not often associated with men or fathers. Verse 9, he will not always strive with us. That means sometimes God does discipline us, doesn't it? If he will not always strive with us, sometimes he will strive with us. If we go, if we break beyond, we snap the leash and we go a little too far in one area, we can expect to be punished. Nor will he keep his anger forever. But do you realize that sometimes all of us have probably angered God momentarily but disappointed him at least for something that we've said or a way that we've acted or something that we've done. Verse 10, he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities. In other words, he doesn't give us what we deserve. He's merciful and he's gracious. Verse 11, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards those who fear him as far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us. So the truth is, is that sometimes we may anger God. Sometimes he does strive with us to correct us. We upset him. We do something that we shouldn't do and he has to respond by disciplining us. But even when he does that, he doesn't give us what we deserve because he is a God of mercy and he's a God of graciousness.

He's quick to forgive. He has abundant mercy. When we show repentance, he not only forgives our sins, he forgets about our sins. Now, as human beings, that may be hard to do. Some of us, you know, are kind of like elephants. We never forget. But God has the ability to remove sin so far from him as the east is from the west that he chooses to forget about his sin. In other words, he doesn't always look at that person for all eternity through holding that sin up and looking at that person through the lens of that sin. He chooses not to do that. He removes that sin upon repentance. In a similar way, we as physical fathers also need to move on after disciplining our children. Sometimes we are required to discipline our children and then we're required to cut them some slack and give them another chance and not to hold their sins and their faults and their problems against them. Verse 13, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. You see, when God the Father looks down on us, he realizes that we are weak, physical, pathetic little beings, particularly compared to him. It says here, as for man, his days are like grass as a flower of the field, so he flourishes for the wind, passes over it, and it's gone. In an area of my yard, there's an area that I grow poppies. Poppies! And they're beautiful little poppy flowers and they're orange and they're like tissue paper. Really beautiful. The only problem is they last like three days. So for three hundred and sixty-two days a year, I don't have poppies. And then they come out, and you better run out and take a good look at them. You better take a picture of them, because much like this scripture says, much like the scripture says here, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes those poppies bloom, for the wind passes over it, and it's gone. Here today, gone tomorrow. And that's the way our lives are like. It says, and its place remembers it no more.

So God understands our frailty as human beings. He doesn't use his power to dominate or intimidate us. You know, he could do that. He could dominate the human race. He could intimidate us daily and have the entire human race, obeying him in utter fear and terror, but that wouldn't allow us to have premoral agency, wouldn't allow us to have choice. He has compassion on those who hold him in great awe, because he realizes how weak and frail we are. And in a similar way, human fathers should not expect mature adult behavior in their children. This was a mistake that I made, often, as a father. Children are tender vessels, and they're not capable of acting with maturity. They are just children.

They have underdeveloped minds, and they're incapable of adult thought and adult behavior.

So allow them to enjoy being children and teach them or discipline them in appropriate ways that are right for their age and right for their level of maturity. Verse 17, But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children, to such as keep his covenant and to those who remember his commandments to do them. So God's mercy is from generation to generation to generation to children's children, and especially towards those who keep his word and his teachings.

In a similar way, if we're fortunate enough to have children or great-grandchildren, grandchildren, what should they see as they look at us, those of us who were fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers? They should see us as patient and merciful and good men, rather than bitter or grumpy old men. The words that come from our mouths, when asked as a question, should reflect wisdom. It should reflect seasoned years of experience of life, but most of all it should reflect a godly example. With that in mind, let's now go to another scripture. So turn with me to Matthew 6 and see a principle that Jesus Christ taught regarding how much faith we should have in our spiritual father's providence and in his love towards us. How much faith, trust, confidence should we have in our spiritual father? Matthew 6 and verse 25.

Have you worried about anything lately? Something on your mind that you're worrying about? Maybe your health, your finances, the fact that the only tie in your closet is 85 years old.

There's something you're worrying about. As human beings, we do have a tendency to worry about things, don't we? What I've learned in my own life is that half the things that I worry about never even happen. I get myself in a tither. My stomach is upset. I relive this thing that could happen over and over again in my mind, and half the times it never even happens. Events or something else diverts the whole theme, and it goes somewhere else, usually in an area that I'm not prepared for. But the point is that we tend to worry, and Jesus understood that he was human and understood the way human beings are. Matthew 6 and verse 25. Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life. Is there something in your life that you're worrying about that you're concerned with? What you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, nor what you will put on, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the year, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather in the barns, I might add, like you and I do. They don't work all day, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not or ate like one of these. Verse 30, now if God so clothes the grass in the field which is here today or which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Then he says here in verse 31, therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? For all these things the Gentiles seek. That is people who don't know God. That's their whole purpose in life. Every day they wake up and how am I going to get a new car and how am I going to get a bigger home and how am I going to have a nice retirement and how am I going to get new clothes and how are all these things going to happen that is their priority in life? He says, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Every one of them. He knows you need clothes. He knows you need food. He knows all the things that you need. Verse 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. They'll be given to you. Everyone else, that's their priority and that's all they focus on and all they achieve. And what Jesus is saying is if your priority is right, you can grow in spiritual riches and as a bonus, God will give you the things that you need. You'll have nice clothes and you'll have cars and you'll have shelter and you'll have all the things that you need as a bonus that'll be added to you if you have the right priority. Verse 34, therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. When you get to tomorrow, then worry about tomorrow is what he's saying. Again, if you worry about all these things that could happen, most of those things won't happen anyway. So you're just wasting emotional energy on events that won't even occur. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Focus on the troubles and problems that you have today and don't worry about tomorrow.

Jesus teaches his disciples that our Father is in complete control of all events. He is in complete control of our lives. As the sustainer, he sustains us. He takes care of everything that needs to be done in the world. He even takes care of the birds. He even takes care of nature. It all works out. It's all in a certain rhythm. It's all in a certain harmony. And Jesus says he will take care of you as well. There's no need to have anxiety or to worry about your personal wants or desires. If your priorities are right, then these things will all be added to you. Let's now go to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43. Take a look of a godly quality of love that Jesus talked about that, frankly, I'm still working on. I'm not there yet. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43.

This is an advanced lesson from Jesus Christ on godly love, and it is contrary to being human.

It's contrary to the way that we are naturally. He said, you have heard it said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But, Jesus said, I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. You mean Jesus is saying that I need to pray for someone who on purpose, consciously, wants to make my life miserable, who wakes up in the morning with the sole goal of making my life miserable, and they do it on purpose, and they do it out of spite? That's exactly what Jesus Christ says. Pray for them, who spitefully use you and persecute you. Verse 45, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the politicians do the same? I'm sorry, actually, it's his tax collectors. I'm sorry, I repeat myself.

Do not even the tax collectors... The reason Jesus used the term tax collectors is they were despised in that society. Tax collectors were considered like some professions that exist in the 21st century, literally despised. Verse 47, and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? I mean, everybody greets their friends and their brethren. You know, everybody in their own churches is warm and friendly to the people who attend their own churches.

That's just the way human nature is. Do not even the tax collectors do so, he says. And then verse 48, which oftentimes is taken out of context, Jesus talks about perfection in the context of what godly love is. You know this, verse 48 follows what he has just said since verse 43. Therefore, you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. And again, the context is godly love in that perfection. So Jesus here is giving an advanced lesson in godly love. Humans usually love those who love them back. And they're good and they're kind to their friends. But what Jesus Christ is talking about is patient godly love that takes love to a whole new level.

You know, the sun came up this morning. It was a beautiful morning. Wasn't it a beautiful morning? The same sun is shining today on people who curse God and despise his name. The same warm sun shines. You know, they walk on their yard. It's just as beautiful today for them as it is for me. And when it rains, it'll rain in my neighborhood. It'll rain in my yard and it'll rain on the yard of those who curse God and who ignore him. What we often fail to realize is that God is patient and merciful until the time for judgment. He gives people space. He gives people time. And until then, he's good to them in some of the same ways he's good to you and me.

He gives them warm sunshine. They live in an abundant nation. They have a lot of wonderful blessings by living in a nation like ours. So he gives them some blessings along with us. Now, of course, we have to realize that as his children that we have extra blessings. We have extra benefits that we read about earlier. We have opportunities like healing and protection and guidance and God's daily presence. And those are things, those are benefits that the other people in the world who reject God and don't know him don't have.

But what Jesus is reminding them is that this is an example, the kind of example of the love God has that's a mature and a perfect love. God loves all of his creation. God loves all of the people that he created. This is an example, again, of a mature perfect love that the Father has towards all of his created children. Now let's turn to Luke chapter 2 and verse 42. I wonder if you've ever considered the fact that from the first time that we meet Jesus Christ at age 12, and we're going to read about that, the first time we read about him in which he has consciousness and he's aware he's not just a babe, but he has an awareness and he has a consciousness from the very first time throughout his ministry to the very final words that he utters as he dies on the cross.

He mentions a relationship that he has, and that relationship is the one that he has with his father throughout his entire lifetime. Let's take let's look at the beginning here. Luke chapter 2 and verse 42. And when he was 12 years old, so he's a pre-teen, that's pretty young, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, so they were observing the feast, and when they had finished the days as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother did not know it, but supposing him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey and sought him among their relatives and acquaintances.

The families were so large, and cousins would play with each other, and just like one large group, that oftentimes your child would be going for hours and hours and hours, and you just knew they were playing with a cousin. They were hanging out with Uncle Abraham, you know, Aunt Mary, whatever, and you didn't worry about them, but after a period of time, they went a day's journey, and they sought him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking him. Now so it was that after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

So when they saw him, they were amazed, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to me or done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously for three days. We've been wandering around Jerusalem trying to find you, and he said to them, why did you seek me? Do you not know that I must be about my father's business?

What he's saying here is that why did you waste three days and then come to the temple?

You should have come here first. You should have come right here at my father's house first, because this is where I've been at. This is where I could be expected to be at.

But they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them. So Jesus Christ, he knows the Father like no one else does. On his first personal appearance in history, at the age of 12, he's a young kid. He declared he must be about his father's business, meaning he's got to do his father's will. His whole life is dedicated towards completing the will of his father. This is why we study the life of Jesus Christ, because to know Jesus Christ is to know the Father. Jesus says that in so many words, as we'll see in the scripture in just a little bit. But we study the life of Jesus Christ, and we focus on it, because when you get to know him and his qualities, his attributes, you get to know what the Father is like. Now let's go to Mark chapter 1 and verse 1. Now with age 12, now let's go to age 30. From age 12 to age 30. Mark chapter 1 verse 1. It says, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I stand my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. You see, John fulfilled the prophesied role of Elijah. There are some men today who say that they are fulfilling the role of Elijah, and that is a lie. According to Jesus Christ, John the Baptist fulfilled the prophetic role of the prophet Elijah. Verse 5, Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locust and wild honey. Anyone here ever eat a locust? Just curious.

I knew someone in the church once who ate locust. Has he eaten locusts? Anyone else? Yes, Mr. Skipper. I'll have to. I'll bet it tastes like chicken? Like French fries. Okay.

A locust and wild honey. Verse 7, And he preached, saying, There comes one after me, who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy, to stoop down and lose. Verse 8, I indeed baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus from Nazareth the Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan, and immediately coming up from the water, because he was immersed. If you look at the original Greek, John the Baptist in the original Greek is called John the Dipper, because he literally dipped the immersed people under the water momentarily, John the Dipper. And immediately, verse 10, coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. Then came a voice from heaven, and this voice is the Father, our spiritual father. He says, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Why? Because he was fulfilling the Father's will. He was giving glory to the Father, which, by the way, is our purpose in life, to do God's will, and by our lives give glory to the Father. So Jesus Christ was publicly baptized here as an example for all future generations, for everyone to see, and to realize it's something that they should do. I want you to notice the supernatural voice that everyone who is present hears. It is the Father himself proclaiming that Jesus is his Son. And you know what? Just like the Father is well pleased with Christ for doing his will, our Father is pleased with us when we yield to him and we do his will. And we let go of our will, and we do his will.

He also is very pleased with us. Well, let's take another step into the ministry of Jesus Christ, Mark chapter 9 and verse 1. Mark chapter 9 and verse 1. There are scholars who say that this was the benchmark, the high mark of the ministry of Jesus Christ, what we today call the transfiguration. That's what the scholars say. Of course, sometimes you have to wonder about scholars, as it's been said, a scholar is someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. But according to biblical scholars, they say this was the highlight, the pinnacle of the ministry of Christ, the transfiguration. Mark chapter 9 verse 1.

And he said to Sam, Surely I send you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God present, like right now, with power. And this is immediately fulfilled. It's connected with verse 2. Now, after six days, Jesus took Peter and James and John and led them up to a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.

His clothes became shining, exceedingly white like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Verse 4, And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. This is something special. This is incredible.

These are the, you know, the pillars of Israel. Elijah and Moses talking to you and us.

And let us, he says, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.

And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the clouds, saying, this is my beloved son, very similar to what we just read in Mark 1. This is my beloved son, hear him. Who's that coming from? That is coming from God the Father, proudly mentioning about his beloved son, Jesus Christ. Again, this is what we commonly call the transfiguration. This was a miniature preview of the kingdom of God with Elijah and Moses resurrected from the dead and sharing immortality with Jesus Christ in this vision that they experienced. This was intended to confirm to the disciples that Jesus Christ indeed was the Son of God. And from that point on, these three at least could believe in the future promise of the resurrection and eternal life, because they thought, they felt it, they were there. So again, a voice from the Father confirms the sonship of Jesus Christ. And notice what this voice says. It says, listen to what he has to say, hear him. And that's a good lesson for you and I. And again, that's why we need to study the scriptures and we need to study and understand the life of Jesus Christ, because to know Jesus Christ is to get to understand the qualities and attributes that the Father has. And I want you also to notice, by the way, that it is thought that this occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles.

I want you to notice how Peter connected the presence of Elijah and Moses and Jesus to the kingdom of God. And he wanted to make tabernacles understanding the symbolism of the Feast of Tabernacles representing the kingdom of God. So these disciples, they witnessed a miracle. Let's pick it up here now in verse 8. Suddenly, when they looked around and saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. Now, as they came down from the mountain, he commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. So they witnessed this miracle. They're given a forecase, a preview of the kingdom of God when Elijah and Moses and Jesus Christ are all glorified together. But they were confused about what Christ was saying. He was casually talking about his own resurrection. And they were saying to themselves, why is he talking about his own resurrection? What do you mean his own resurrection? Don't you have to die to have a resurrection so they didn't quite get his statement? So we looked at Jesus Christ and what he had to say about his father's business as a pre-teen. We saw some significant points in his ministry. The father is always there. There's always a discussion of the father, whether it's the baptism of Christ, the transfiguration. Now let's go to Luke chapter 23 and verse 44 and see the final words of Christ as he's dying. Luke chapter 23 and verse 44.

It says in Luke chapter 23 and verse 44, now it was the sixth hour and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was torn in two. That veil always separated the people from God. That's why that veil hung there. Only the high priest was allowed to go in once a year and we know what holy day that is, right? The day of atonement. The high priest could go in there and he could go into the presence of God. And because of what Jesus Christ was doing, that veil was torn in two, meaning all the believers and the disciples have direct access to God the Father, direct access to the throne of grace. There's no longer a barrier there. Verse 46, and when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, this is his final words, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last and when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God saying, Certainly, this was a righteous man. So what did we see here? We saw that from a pre-teen throughout his life to the very end of his life, Christ had a special connection with his Father. And so should we.

In closing the sermon today, let's review a few things he told his disciples shortly before his death. Take a look at just a couple of final scriptures here. John chapter 14 and verse 1. If you'll turn there with me, John chapter 14 verse 1.

Jesus says to the disciples, Let not your heart be troubled. Don't be fearful. We heard about that in the sermon today, didn't we? Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. And my Father's house are many mansions or abodes. God is sharing everything he has with us. I saw a cartoon once that had a man's organizational chart of his company. There were two blocks with a line connecting the two blocks. And the one block said, me. And the other block said, everybody else.

Well, God isn't like that. You see, he is a loving God. He wants to share what he has with all of his children. And his house has many abodes. It has many opportunities for leadership, many cities to be ruled, many ways to give, many ways to use the unique talents that we have been given. So my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also. Verse 4, and where I go, you know, and the way you know. Verse 5, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you were going. And how can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. What Jesus is saying here is that world religions with their various myths don't lead all to the same path of salvation. There's only one way of salvation, and that is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and becoming his lifelong disciple. You know, you can twist the scriptures into saying anything you want. You really can. A number of years ago, I was watching a priest being interviewed by Larry King, and the priest said, you don't really need to be a Christian to be saved. You can be Buddhist, you can be Hindu, you can be any faith in earth, because they all lead to the same path. And Larry King said, well, do you kind of have a scripture to back up what you just said? He said, well, Jesus said, he who is not against me is for me.

Then that was his justification. If you're not openly persecuting Jesus Christ or Christians, then apparently it's just all these great religions flow down the same path together.

That's not what Jesus Christ tells us. He says, no one can come to the Father except through Jesus Christ himself. Verse 7. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it's sufficient for us. If you just show us the Father, we'll be satisfied. Then we'll get it. We'll understand it. Verse 9. Jesus said to Him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? For he who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Again, like I emphasized earlier, Jesus Christ did the will of the Father. He didn't do things on His own authority. He wasn't like Sarah Palin. He didn't go rogue.

He did the will of His Father. Even the works that He did weren't so the people who said, Oh, Christ, you're so mighty and wonderful. Even the works that He did, He did to glorify the Father, and not to give credit and glorify Himself. Verse 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else. Believe me for the sake of the works themselves. Jesus Christ, in the way that He healed, in the way that He was compassionate, in the way that He was forgiving, in the way that He loved, in so many qualities that He lived, reflected. He was a mirror image of the Father.

When I lived down south a number of years ago, they used to have a saying when a child looked just like a parent. And like if a little baby boy looked a lot like the dad and holding a little baby boy, they used to say, He looks like He done went and spit you right out of His mouth.

That was an old saying. They used to tell us in North Carolina. Perhaps that's where we get the phrase that something is a spitting image of something else. I don't know. But my point is that Jesus was so connected with the Father and so committed to do the Father's will that when you observe the actions and thoughts of Christ, you were seeing the actions and thoughts of the Father. And this is how our lives should be as ambassadors for the kingdom of God. And as we yield ourselves more to God's will and give up our own will and our own agenda and yield to God and allow that powerful spirit that He's given us to develop those fruits within us so we can acquire, as Paul said, the mind of Christ. And that's all possible when we give up our will, when we decide to make God's will our own and our purpose and our life. Let's take a look at verse 12. He says, Most assuredly I say to you, He who believes in Me, the works that I do, He will do also and greater than these will He do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. So Jesus Christ reminds the disciples of the immense power available to us because of our relationship with God. Prayer is incredibly powerful, but like any tool, it has to be used and it has to be mastered. Prayer is a tool. You have to use it and you have to master it. You know, if I buy a brand new chainsaw and I don't read the instructions and know how to use it and I pick it up with my right hand and I start using it and I don't master the tool, pretty soon they might start calling me lefty.

And prayer not only has to be used, but it has to be mastered, meaning it has to be focused. It has to be disciplined. We have to discipline ourselves to get the most out of prayer. It has to be consistent. It has to be positive and faithful. It has to believe. It has to know that these aren't just words that are stopping at that ceiling or ceiling tiles, that these are utterances from a child of God that are going up and being accepted like a sweet-smelling savor to your spiritual father and he wants to hear you. As Jesus Christ said, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

Well, brethren, that's all I have to talk about today as we ponder Father's Day tomorrow. I hope you not only will take time out to honor your physical father if he's still alive or grandfather or male caregiver or someone who's made a significant impact in your life, but I hope we'll take a little time as well tomorrow and think about the great, loving spiritual father that we have as well. Have a wonderful Sabbath.