True Fatherhood

The title of the sermon today is True Fatherhood. When you think of your Heavenly Father, what do you think of? When you think of your earthly father, what do you think of? When you think of your husband, what do you think of? Or, some of you may call your earthly father dad, probably most do. What do you think of when you hear the word dad? The fall holy days are near, as we heard in the sermonette. The Feast of Trumpets is only nine days away. The focal point of the fall festival season, the return of Christ and the resurrection, the binding of Satan, the rule and reign of the saints over the earth and the millennium. But do you know, and I'm sure you do, but how often do we really think about it, meditate on it, and really understand the significance of it? God the Father is the one who will deliver us through Christ and His Spirit. Sometimes we tend to forget the role of our Heavenly Father. The Father places all things under Christ and the saints. The Father will give us the kingdom. Who would turn to Luke 12? Luke 12, verse 32.

Here we'll see very clearly what I've just stated with regard to the Father in Luke 12 and verse 32.

Luke 12, 32, Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The Hebrew word for Father is spelled in English as AV, AV, AV, AV, AV, AV, AV, AV, and then it becomes DA, DA, DA, DA, DA. AV is a mimetic, imitative word taken from the first simplest sound of infant lips. It's the first word in Strong's Concordance. The first word of a child, as he begins what we call Kooing, is AV, AV, AV, AV, AV. Then it becomes, in the English language, eventually, DA, DA, DA, DA. And I think it does in other languages to some degree as well, before it becomes MA, MA, MA. I know that our daughters were somewhat aggravated as their children came along. It was DA, DA, DA first before it was MA, MA, MA.

In biblical Hebrew and Greek, fathers use in various senses as begetter and progenitor of an individual or a nation. Look at Proverbs 23-22. We can. Let's turn to these scriptures quickly. I'm going to turn to them mainly with my left hand. In Proverbs 22, I'm sorry it's 23, I reversed it. In Proverbs 23 and verse 22, it's good advice for everybody for all time, harken unto your father that beget you. So the father is a progenitor of life. Harken unto your father that beget you and despise not your mother when she is old. Now we go to Matthew chapter 1. In Matthew chapter 1, we'll see a whole series of so-and-so beget so-and-so. And we see very clearly that the father is the progenitor. He is the begetter. In Matthew 1-1, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, Abraham beget Isaac, and Isaac beget Jacob, Jacob beget Judas and his brethren. The father is the founder of all families. And in this case, I'm talking about God the Father. And we'll see that. Let's go to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 14. In Ephesians 3 and verse 14, let's all turn there. Ephesians 3 and verse 14.

In Ephesians 3 verse 14, I repeat what I said as I ask you to turn there. The father is the founder of all families. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. As a doer, God is first and foremost a creator, physical and spiritual, and from God as creator in the spiritual sense. He is first and foremost our Father. Let's look now at Isaiah 63 and verse 16. Isaiah 63 verse 16. Isaiah 63 verse 16 is a very interesting Scripture, and I won't go off on the tangent, but to stay with the point of God as the God the Father, the progenitor and founder of all families on the earth. In Isaiah 63 and 16, doubtless you are our Father. Though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledges us not, you, O Eternal Art, our Father, our Redeemer, your name is from everlasting. Of course, God began to reveal Himself, especially to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob, and through the ages, through the prophets, and up to the time that Jesus Christ came and revealed the Father. Jesus Christ came and revealed the Father. Now, that is within itself, if you really understand the full implications of that statement. We'll read probably that Scripture a little later. We look across the page there in Isaiah 64 and verse 8. But now, O Eternal, O Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are our potter, and we are all the works of your hands. There is no deeper, closer, respectful relationship that can exist than father-son, father-daughter. It's amazing how daughters will cling to their fathers, and their daughters oftentimes are their first defenders. That close relationship cannot really be expressed in words. In Romans 8 and verse 15, Paul uses the Aramaic word that captures, to some degree, this there's no other word that has a deeper connotation with regard to relationship than this. In Romans 8 verse 15, For we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of sonship. We are literally sons and daughters of the living God because His essence is in us, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Our prayers should begin with our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Our Father, who art in heaven, we recognize His role in His being and His greatness, His supremacy. The Word, the one who became Jesus Christ, gave up His glory and humbled Himself and submitted to the Father. The Father, in exactly how this is done, I don't know, and nobody else knows who lives in the flesh. But the Word, who exists in eternity, humbled Himself, and somehow the Father, that spiritual essence of the Word, the Father took any place in the womb of a woman named Mary. We'll turn now to Matthew 1.20. Joseph was a spouse to Mary, and they were in the spousal period that you go through under the Jewish law. During this period of time, before the marriage was consummated with any kind of sexual intimacy between Joseph and Mary, Mary was pregnant. Joseph thought about putting her away privately so as to try to preserve her reputation as much as possible. But then, look what happens in Matthew 1.20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the Angelos, the angel of the Eternal, appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto you, marry your wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Now we go to Luke 1.35. We get a glimpse somewhat of how this was done in Luke 1.35. Luke 1.35. Let's read 32. We pick up, breaking in a little in the thought even there. He shall be great, speaking of Jesus Christ. He shall be called the Son of the Highest, see, the Son of the Highest. See, how did he become the Son? That's really what we are dealing with now. And also, following up on our statement from Ephesians 3.14-15, that he is the Father of all the families of the earth.

And as we read in Ephesians 3.15, that he is the Father of Jesus Christ. Even though Jesus Christ, existing in eternity as the Word, at one point, he agreed to submit himself to go through this process. In Luke 1.35, And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the highest shall overshadow you. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. Now, we go back to verse 32. He shall be great, shall be called the Son of the highest, the eternal God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. We just heard read from Isaiah 9, 6, and 7, that he shall sit upon the throne of his father David.

He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? The Holy Spirit shall overshadow you.

In John 1, forward to John 1, when this event happened, that is the birth of Jesus Christ and the begat of Jesus Christ, it was not that a another being came into existence, but the form of the word changed into a man, and Jesus Christ gave up his glory.

In John 1, verse 1, in the beginning was the word. This verb was, is the equivalent in the English language to to be, or means to exist. In the beginning, another way to translate this, the word existed, and the word was with God, showing relationship, but there was not a father-son relationship at that time, and the word was God, showing identity that he was on the God plane. The same was in the beginning with God. Now you go to Hebrews 7 for additional insight here with regard to the eternal existence of the one who became Jesus Christ, and Paul here goes back and rehearses where Melchizedek had appeared to Abraham on the plains of Mamre, and Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoil. And in this chapter, Paul is showing that the priesthood has now changed from the priesthood of Levi, who are Levi's of the flesh, to this unchangeable and eternal priesthood, the priesthood of Melchizedek.

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth, a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness. So those who would try to make this into some earthly king or priest that lived at that time, there is no earthly king who is the king of righteousness. And after that also, king of Salem, which means king of peace, there's no earthly person who's ever lived who is the king of peace, without father. So they're all earthly beings that have lived in the flesh, saved Jesus Christ, had a father, without father, without mother, without descent, neither beginning of days nor end of life, made life into the Son of God, abides a priest continually. Now we go to Philippians and we see how this was done. You begin to hopefully appreciate what the father did, true fatherhood, and also what the Word did in giving up his glory, humbling himself and taking on the form of a man. In Ephesians 2.5, even when we were dead in sins, that's, I don't know what I said, I'm wondering Philippians 2.5, I was reading Ephesians. In Philippians 2.5, Philippians 2.5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. The word robbery literally means a thing to be seized. He didn't think of the thing to be seized because he was already on the God plane.

Who being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be seized to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the stake. Wherefore, God has also exalted him, given him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth. You begin to get an idea of how great and awesome this whole plan is. See, the angels were created spirit beings to begin with. They were not born beings. As you read in Hebrews 1, under the angels said, he at any time sit you on my right hand. He never did. And then Paul gives the purpose of angels in Hebrews 1.14, are not they ministering servants sent to the heirs of salvation? See, this plan of being born into the family of God was planned out before the foundation of the world.

And as you consider this of what the Word did, then you begin to understand why the Father has exalted him to the position that he has. Verse 11, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.

Now, in John 17, the Gospel of John, this is his prayer that Jesus prayed that night that he instituted the symbols of the new covenant Passover. The night that he was betrayed, and also the mock trial, all of this going on from sometime after sunset on Passover, Abib, or Nice and 14, to the daylight hours of the next day. In John 17, and now this is verse 5, And now, O Father, glorify you me with your own self, with the glory which I had with you before the world began. So upon resurrection he was then restored to this glory, and as we shall read in a moment, the firstborn from the dead.

Now we go to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1.

You see, if you're going to talk about Jesus Christ, I mean, I'm sorry, God the Father, being the progenitor of all the founder of all the families on the earth, as it says there in Ephesians, then you need to understand this part. This is awesome beyond belief. In Romans chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God, which he had promised a fore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. And so when he was resurrected from the dead, the first person who ever lived in the flesh is now a glorious radiant spirit being. You look at Romans 8.11. The scriptures that I'm giving you here today should be readily on the minds and able for any person in the church of God to discuss. We can't do it at this juncture. Most can't, but they can if they put their minds to it and they study. And the picture becomes so very clear of this great plan that God and the Word ordained, and that they have carried out thus far, and they will complete the work. In Romans 8.11, But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you. And we will be resurrected on that same plane of existence as God the Father and Jesus Christ. Because you look at verse 17, and if children then heirs of God and join heirs with Christ, it so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together. Now we go to Revelation 1 and verse 5. Revelation 1 verse 5. And here we have birth equated with resurrection. We've seen here raised from the dead in Romans 1.11. In Romans, in Revelation 1.5, we'll see the terminology of the firstborn from the dead.

In Revelation 1 and verse 5. And from Jesus Christ who is a faithful witness, and the prototikos, the Greek firstborn of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, and him that loved us, washed us from our sins in his own blood.

In 1 Corinthians 15, it talks about Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of those that slept, and then after that each man in his order at his coming.

The Father is the source of the Holy Spirit. We go to John 15 and 26. We recently gave a Bible study on the Holy Spirit, and we read this scripture. This scripture should be memorized by everybody in John 15 and 26. But when the comforter is come, and in John 14 and 26 you should put in your margin, says the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. So you can read it either way. When the Holy Spirit is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, it shall testify of me. Now we go to James, and we'll see here in James that the Father is the one who begets us with the Spirit of truth. Somehow Jesus Christ plays a role in it, and we'll talk a little bit about the role of Jesus Christ. Today we're going to focus because after we cover this part, then we'll get into the earthly Father and some of the parallels there, and what we should be doing.

In James 1, 17, every good gift, every perfect gift, is from above and comes down from the Father, comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, of his own will begets us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation. So if you have God's Spirit, it is through the will of God. Of course, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Let's go now to we begin to talk about some of the qualities and characteristics of God. Hopefully you have now planted firmly in our mind how that God the Father became the Father of Jesus Christ and how Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the firstborn among many brethren, but by the same Spirit that God raised Christ from the dead, he will also raise our mortal bodies. We will be heirs of God and join heirs with Christ in the kingdom of God. Now in Psalm 68, and I'm just picking one place here, the Psalms are filled with, I would especially encourage you to go to a concordance and just look up every scripture that has the capital F. There are tons of scriptures with the lowercase father, but especially Matthew. Look at you read every scripture in Matthew that has a father in it. That within itself would be a great study. In Psalm 68 verse 5, a father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families. This word solitary in this case means he is the only one. He is the father of fathers. He brings out those which are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Look at verse 3, but let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing under God. Sing praises to his name. Extol him that rides upon the heavens by his name, Jha, and rejoice before him. He is a father to everyone, even to those who don't have a father, to those who don't have a husband, a father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows. Now listen to this. A University of California psychologist named Nicholas Christenfeld found that infants tend to resemble their fathers at birth. Well, pity them, it's good that it's some change.

In a test he conducted participants. They picked the correct mom and an infant from photographs 30 percent of the time, but picked the correct dad 50 percent of the time. One hypothesis is that nature encourages paternal investment by having the infant to resemble the father. Eventually, however, the father-infant resemblance is outgrown, and usually for the better. God is love.

We'll be talking about... I gave a sermon here back in February when we had the President's weekend about the three men, or four, or whatever it was. I think four are most powerful three-letter words, three-letter sentences. God is love, and from his love flows all living things. From his love flows all living things. Why is that? How is that? It's because that love is outgoing, and love is of no value unless it's shared. So we could even set up a little equation. It would go like this. God equals love equals law, because the law of God...

It says in 1st John 5.3, for this is the love of God, that we should keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. So the law defines how to love God and neighbor. So God equals love, equals law, equals light, equals life. The law was given to sustain life. The law doesn't give life. Life comes from God. God and Christ are unconditional givers of themselves. The great and famous verse, John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life.

In Romans 5 8, let's go there. We see what we're doing now is this God is love, and all spiritual things flow from God's love. We wouldn't even exist if it were not for that. Can God exist without us? Yes. Does God need us and want us?

Oh yes. You know, I've heard ministers talk about, well, God doesn't need us. Well, you could ask yourself, do you need your children? I would say that most of you would say, yes, I need my children. I love them. I care for them. They help make my life complete. Without them, it would be it would be rather empty. So God, in the Word, worked out this great plan to share their being with humans who were, first of all, created flesh but have the potential to become spirit beings. In Romans 5 verse 8, but God commanded his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

See, God makes the first move. 1 John. Let's go there. 1 John chapter 4. God makes the first move toward us, and in the human family, of course, the Father should lead in loving his wife and his children.

The children get their cues as to how to love human beings from their parents. And if that love is not demonstrated in the family, then that person is going to have a difficult road, usually. Not that it can't be overcome, because it can be, and many have. But it's far more difficult because somewhere along the line you have to learn how to love if you're going to succeed, even in this life physically, much less spiritually in the life to come. In 1 John 4.8, verse 10. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the perpetuation for our sins.

Beloved of God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Verse 16. And we have known and believed the love of God that he has toward us. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love, we love him because he first loved us. So God makes the first move and has made the first move to us. God and Christ are unconditional givers of themselves. And like manor, fathers should show unconditional love to their children.

When do you stop loving your child, your son, your daughter? And children learn love from their parents. The children they found out a long time ago, this was around sometime in the late 1800s, it was a terrible stigma at that point in our history for an unwed mother to be pregnant. And oftentimes, especially the family with means, they would take this child up on birth, they would give it to what they called foundling homes.

And in those foundling homes, a lot of those babies died apparently for not any identifiable disease. And they discovered that those babies that were held close and cuddled and talked to and nourished and fed and cared for were the ones that survived. And those who were just shunned, some of them even died. So we can ask ourselves once again, when you think of your heavenly Father, what do you think of?

And when you think of your physical Father, what do you think of? Do you view either one of them negatively? With a sense of guilt because you feel that you're never quite measured up. So God is never pleased with you and thus you don't really feel close to Him. God does not want us on a perpetual guilt trip because we can make it.

If He loved us so much to give His only Son, then surely He has provided a way whereby we can overcome and be in His family. He is bringing sons and daughters to glory in His family. And as we have already explained, fatherhood has to do with begetting, with loving, and with teaching, with nurturing. You know that your father, your physical father begets you to physical life, but did you discern that your physical father loved you, that he had your best interests at heart and taught you how to live your life?

You know, as I look at the community that I grew up in, it's a very religious community. Virtually everybody went to the Baptist Church, the Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church. There was hardly anyone that didn't go. My next-door neighbor didn't go. He was an alcoholic. He was a very kind-hearted man, but he eventually lost everything that he had. And after all the children were gone, one bright sunny spring day, his wife went out into the front yard, took a 12-gauge shotgun, put it to her chest, with her toes, pulled the trigger, and blew herself away. Just about everybody there went to church, but the men were basically the, you know, the grunt and groan.

If you got a few grunts and groans each day, you were pretty lucky, because they were not great communicators. Many of them would have great difficulty in telling their wife or their children that they love them. I remember the only time I ever saw my daddy cry.

Now, one day I saw him cry one time toward the end of his life, when she was visiting there, and she left, and he cried. But my mother came home when I was about 12 or 13, and she announced to us she had had a goiter taken off her thyroid, and the pathologist's report came back. It was malignant. And so the next morning, he always, before work, they would have what I would call the ritual, the ritual or ceremonial little kiss, and leave. And that morning, I could hear down the hall what he said.

He said, we have been through difficult times before, and we've made it, and we can make it through this. And he cried. That's the only time I ever heard him cry. I think he told me once he loved me, but I discerned by the way he conducted his life that he loved us, my brother and I, with all his heart.

But he just, he, see, children learn method more than content, and basically we're going to rear our children the way that our parents reared us, unless we can overcome some barriers and come to a greater and deeper understanding. And hopefully that's one of the things that the Church of God can do. And the Church of God, in its teachings with regard to child rearing, has made some drastic mistakes. And it may be one of the reasons why we've had some of the difficulties that we have had.

Because when you look at God the Father and the way that he has treated us, it oftentimes is a much different model than what we have modeled ourselves.

God ordained marriage and family so we could see in a concrete way what he is doing on the spiritual plane. The Father's position is so absolutely essential to all things spiritual.

All spiritual things begin with the Father. We have already talked about that. The Father is the source of the Holy Spirit. We are drawn through the Spirit of the Father, John 6, 44. Christ said, No man can come to me except the Father draw him.

We read from James 1, 17, and 18, Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.

He loved us so much, as we have quoted, John 3, 16. He gave his only begotten son.

God intended and commanded that fathers be the head of the wife and children. God intended and commanded that fathers be highly respected.

Notice 1 Corinthians 11. The hierarchical structure of God's government.

I know I used this word one time back when United was starting and everybody found today's world with Facebook, they would really blow their top. I'm just reading what the Bible says. Now, if the Bible is not true, then you put that on Facebook. The Bible is not true.

But I submit that it is. Thy word is truth.

In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 2, Now, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances I delivered them to you. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ.

And the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

So he went from the lowest to the highest.

So in the order is God the Father, Jesus Christ, human beings, and in the family, the husband is to be the head of the family.

The wife is to be in submission to her husband, and the parents are to obey their parents. The parents are to nourish and teach their children.

But since World War II, and especially with the advent of television, fathers have been characterized as bumbling idiots.

Going back to the old Dagwood Bumstead comic strips, and since then, I mean it's really taken off from there, he is portrayed as somewhat mentally deranged, not able to manage his own affairs, let alone take care of a wife and children.

It's viewed as someone to be pitied, to be tolerated, and really they're saying, if it were not for fathers, really the world would be quite a nice place to live in.

You're led to believe that he's out of touch with the modern world.

He hasn't been enlightened. He just doesn't seem to understand that the world belongs to women and children. And please, let's understand that male and female have the same potential in the sight of God. Man is not greater than woman in the sight of God with regard to potential in the kingdom of God. So anything that we say or have said today is not to put down women. Fathers are viewed by some as the last stick in the mud to be overcome so the world can really move forward into the new age of enlightenment and fun in the sun. And to a large degree, fathers are responsible for the way they're viewed because, just like I described those fathers in the community that I grew up in, very few of them were really leaders in the family. And especially as time went on, the wives, the mothers, tended to dominate them. That's what happened in my family.

My daddy didn't have very much education. He was bright intellectually, but he just didn't have very much education. My mother was valedictorian of her class. She was smart.

And a lot of the things that you had to deal with, and for the family, by default, she did them.

But that's sort of a different situation than by default the wife winds up doing it because the husband just doesn't take up the responsibilities that he should and do what he ought to do. To a large degree, the fathers have abdicated—and we could say fathers and husbands—have abdicated their God-ordained responsibilities as being the head of the family in a godly manner. We just read from 1 Corinthians here. One dad won a family door prize drawing. He called his five children together and asked them to help decide which one of them should get the prize.

So he said, Who is the most obedient? He asked. Who never talks back to Mother? Who does everything she says? The five children answered in unison. You, Dad, you get the prize. One wise senior adult who was celebrating his 50th anniversary was asked the secret of their long marriage. He replied, I learned a long time ago you can be right or you can be happy. David Chancy writes, Most dads understand that the best gift they can give their children is to love their mother. Children learn by example, and they learn method more than content.

But some are slow to catch on. A husband and wife were attending a marriage seminar dealing with communication. The instructor asked the husbands, What is your wife's favorite flower?

Well-meaning husband who wanted to show that he was really tuned into her needs, leaned over his wife's gently stroked arm and said, It's Pillsbury, isn't it? So many husbands and fathers are so out of it, it's no wonder they're viewed the way they are.

And so much of the marriage counseling that I've done over the years, and it's now into the forwarding range. And plus, even before I came to the church, I was a teacher and coach in public schools and also in college and also teaching adult Sunday school. So we see a world, what I saw, I interrupted myself, is that most of the time when the women, they just get to the point, they can't take it anymore. And it's to a large degree, it hinges on this thing of lack of communication and lack of being responsible and leading the family.

And so they're just aghast that everything is dumped on them.

So we see a world in which the people are running to and fro, they're wringing their hands and wondering, what are we going to do? What are we going to do about the behavior that now terrifies the world? Children killing children, children killing their parents, mothers killing their children, sons going berserk, and opening fire on innocent women and children in a closed place. Much of the confusion unrests lawlessness. Fear and anxiety stem from the fact that fathers are not fulfilling their roles. Today's terrorists are not disfound in the Middle East with Al-Qaeda Hezbollah, Hamas, or Fattah or any other terrorist organization that you want to name.

In a lot of cases, they are family members, young and old.

Not so long ago, the story broke of the young mother who loaded her two beautiful young daughters ages two and four, summarily drove out to an isolated area, shot them, and then went and turned herself into the sheriff. I doubt this mother had ever been properly fathered.

Dr. Albert Siegel, professor of psychology at Stanford University, wrote in the Stanford Observer, quote, When it comes to rearing children, every society is only 20 years away from barbarianism. Twenty years is all we have to accomplish the task of civilizing the infants who are born into our midst each year. I'm quoting, These savages know nothing of our language, our culture, our religion, our values, our customs, or our interpersonal relations.

The infant is totally ignorant about the various isms, whether it be communism, fascism, democracy, civil liberties, the rights of the minority, as contrasted with the prerogatives of the majority, respect, decency, decency, customs, conventions, and manners.

The barbarian must be tamed if civilization is to survive, and when the home breaks down and the father doesn't fulfill his role, it will break down, and it has broken down, and that's where we find our nation today. But in the Church of God, it must not be so. To be a spiritual leader, you must be a great communicator. God is so concerned about communicating with us that he sent the word to communicate with us. Christ communicated faithfully the doctrine of God. I bet you've never focused on this term. Notice Gospel of John 7, verse 16.

Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, and doctrine really means teaching. My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.

Jesus Christ came and revealed the Father. Communication is a sacrifice. Notice Hebrews 13.

I wonder how much each family, each head of household sitting right here in this auditorium today, how much time they spend with their wife and children, and how many words are spoken each day between them. In Hebrews 13, verse 15, By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name, but today we are given thanks to his name. Do good and communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

So God has communicated his whole plan and the various qualities and characteristics of his being. We hold it in our hands almost every day. It's called the Word of God. He's made it possible for us to come boldly before his throne and to make our wants and petitions known in prayer.

And he wants us to communicate with one another.

Communication is a sacrifice. It requires effort. It requires giving up self.

Notice back in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 21.

We go back to my experience as a marriage counselor, which I have not been very effective, and neither has anyone else. You witness all the divorces.

The bottom line so often is that people are just not willing to give up themselves.

They insist on defending themselves and justifying themselves.

In Ephesians 5, verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Well, that says a lot. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. How does God say, Do it? Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands and unto the Lord.

Husband is ahead of the wife, even as Christ is ahead of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, let the wives be their own husbands and everything. And then, this weighty and mighty verse, husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. So both husbands and wives really have to give up self. Physical fathers must communicate their love, care, and concern. Tell their wife and the children they love them in word and in deed. Going back to my family, the way I was reared, it was in deed but not in word. And seldom touching, seldom hugging—there was a family down in Houston, the Hutto's—well, they hug everybody in sight. They hug themselves, they hug their neighbors, they hug over here, and they hug over there. I nicknamed them the hugging Hutto's. And so they are. Research shows that two principal ways whereby love is perceived is through spoken words. Now the second most powerful three-word sentence. First, God is love. Second, I love you. God has demonstrated His love to us, and we've already talked about that, mentioned it quite a few times. And secondly, by touching. Perhaps the number one way whereby love is perceived also is through the amount of time that you spend with a person, with your children. See, growing up on a farm, as I did, my dad and I worked side by side. I can remember when I was five years old. We were following the mule. The plow has what they call a plow stock. The handles come down, and then there's a cross piece. Well, I would get inside those handles and hold the cross piece, with him holding the handles behind me.

So you're spending that time together. You really get to know people, and you develop those bonds in that relationship. One person wrote, Dads know that love is spelled T-I-M-E. One corporate executive who said his five-year-old daughter was the most important part of his life realized that he usually went to work before she got up in the morning and often returned home after she was in bed at night. So to spend time with her, he took her to the office with him one Saturday. After looking around his office, she said, Daddy, is this where you live?

A nice Nen writes, Love never dies of a natural death.

It dies because we don't know how to replenish it.

We don't know its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals.

It dies of illness and wounds. It dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishes.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 that the inward man is renewed daily.

You remember in the model of prayer, give us this day our daily bread.

And it's not just physical bread. It's also spiritual bread. Man should not live by bread alone.

In light manner, relationships must be continually nurtured or they die.

I've experienced this so many times in all the various moves that we have made.

The most masculine activity in life is to become spiritually mature.

The various moves that we have made, we just made one a year ago, and we left people in Houston that we had a very close relationship with. And to some degree, it's carried on a while.

And then because of time and distance, it's really not nurtured, and it just sort of withers away.

And you're here on a different scene. So it has to be nurtured. You have to spend time with it. I would say the greatest need is for all of us to become spiritually mature, especially as fathers.

Mature as our Father in Heaven is mature. Remember Matthew 5, 48 says, become ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.

Then I would say that one of our greatest needs is masculine fathering.

So many people in this world have never really been fathered. Many of the behaviors we see extend in society stem from the youngers who are in search of a father.

The sad reality is that they're showing their contempt for never having been properly fathered. So they become a living advertisement for perpetuating the vicious no-fathering cycle.

Those who are caught up in such behavior are opposing themselves.

They excuse themselves and blame someone else for their behavior since they have never been taught self-discipline and responsibility. One of the greatest keys to success in life is self-discipline and responsibility.

Another great three-word sentence that we all must embrace and internalize is, I am responsible. I am responsible. Father should be the spiritual and physical leader of their families.

He should establish a rule in the penalty for breaking the rules.

If you're still in Ephesians 5, look down at chapter 6.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right, and there is a blessing connected with it.

Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.

And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Nourish them. Teach them the discipline. Love them. Teach them as God the Father teaches us.

Thoughts or ideas are the precursors of actions. As a man thinks in his heart, according to Proverbs 23.7, so is he.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

So how often do we think about our plan for being a good father?

Do we seriously sit down and meditate? Well, here's what I should do.

See, God's thoughts are ever toward us, according to Psalm 119 verses 17 and 18.

God's thoughts are ever toward us. Are our thoughts ever toward our children?

The hairs on our head are numbered. Not even as Pharaoh falls as grand unless we're aware of it or he's aware of it.

God always knows where we are. He knows what we're thinking.

He knows what we're doing. And more importantly, he knows what we're becoming.

God is not afraid to express his emotions.

He does not present a phony facade of primitive emotions of grunting ah and ha occasionally.

Can we go rise above the animalistic ugh-ug and truly express our emotions as appropriate? The shortest verse in the Bible is, Jesus wept, John 11, 35.

Then the most powerful three-word sentence in any language, as we have mentioned, God is love, I love you.

Then I wonder, have you ever heard the Rego McIntyre song title, The Greatest Man I Never Knew?

At the close of the sermon today, we're going to play that song. I'll read the first verse.

The greatest man I never knew lived just down the hall.

And every day we said hello, but never touched at all.

He was in his paper. I was in my room.

How was I to know he thought I hung the moon?

The Psalms are filled with words of comfort, praise, and encouragement for us.

God has spoken the great words of life and hope to us.

One of the names of God is El Shaddai, which means nourisher, sustainer, one who nourishes, one who provides.

So do we provide for our families? We say, Oh yeah, I put bread on the table.

But do we provide spiritually?

Do you, Father, lead in Bible study? Do you lead in the way with regard to spiritual activities?

God always has our best interests at heart.

He's looking out for us years in advance. You know the story of Joseph, sold into captivity. Eventually, his brothers came down into Egypt to buy grain. And when they saw that Joseph was the one who was controlling the grain, they were fearful. They were fearful for their lives.

And Joseph said, Fear not, my brothers. It was not you who sent me here, but God.

God sent me here to sustain life. And of course, when they embraced Joseph's wealth so greatly, that he could be heard all over the household of Pharaoh.

And then another one of the greatest three-letter words is three-word sentences. I should say three-word sentences. I forgive you. You know the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal son says, Let's divide it up. You give me my half now, and I'm going to leave here.

So he gave him his half, and he went and squandered it. And he eventually came to his senses, and he was taking care of pigs and eating at the pig's trough. He said, I will arise and go to my father.

The father sees him coming way off, and he runs out to meet him. He tells the servants to kill the fatted calf to prepare great feast. And the son that stayed home was mad. You never gave me a feast.

And the father said, Son, you were here all the time. What was mine was yours, and we were together. You see, you can do the right thing in form, and yet your heart might not be right.

But the father forgave him. God the father forgives us. He holds no grudges.

He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. We're all prodigal sons in God's eyes.

How did a mere mortal receive a prodigal son? He prepared him great feast. He forgave him.

God the father is the father of all mercies.

God the father is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. Notice Romans chapter 14 verse 17.

The time of keeping the fall feast is upon us. This verse here tells you what the kingdom of God is.

The kingdom of God. What is it? What is it?

Romans 4, 14, 17. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men.

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

And if we do that, brethren, one of these days, God the father is going to say to us, enter into the joys of the kingdom.

So rejoice, little flock. It is the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.