Speaker 1: So I'm the student pastor here in wanting to share just a little bit about me.
Speaker 1: If you have, if you don't know who I am, I have a wonderful family and I have a picture to show you here of my great family here.
Speaker 1: And yeah, they are awesome.
Speaker 1: And to the left here is Judah.
Speaker 1: Judah is my oldest.
Speaker 1: He is five years old.
Speaker 1: This kid has a tender heart.
Speaker 1: He wears his emotions on his sleeves.
Speaker 1: I have no idea where you get set from.
Speaker 1: And then I have a middle child named Titus he's three years old and he is teaching me every single day on how to parent[inaudible].
Speaker 1: That kid is awesome in many ways.
Speaker 1: And he just show, he just teaches me how to show the grace of God.
Speaker 1: And then we have our lovely Macy and my beautiful bride.
Speaker 1: Heather, I'm so thankful to have a bride like Heather, that consistently plays such a supernatural part in the home.
Speaker 1: Not only does she get these kids ready every single morning and she gets them to church and she looks good.
Speaker 1: Come on now.
Speaker 1: But she also prays for us as a family.
Speaker 1: She's passionate about God's word.
Speaker 1: And she's one of the many reasons that I can stand before you and teaching the word that God has given me.
Speaker 1: And so I'll also want to give you a, give a shout out to my dad.
Speaker 1: He's not here at this service, but he's going to be attending later on.
Speaker 1: And my dad, he is an awesome man.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you his words mattered a lot in my life.
Speaker 1: I remember a time in, um, when I was young and I got in a terrible bike accident.
Speaker 1: And I remember coming home, I'm bloody from my midsection all, all the way down to my legs.
Speaker 1: And you guys know my mom, my mom's my girl, but she wears her emotions on her sleeves.
Speaker 1: And when I came through the door, she looked at me and all sorts of panic.
Speaker 1: And so my dad and mom, they took me over to the couch and I hear them talking about what they're going to do with me next.
Speaker 1: And I hear my mom saying, we need to take Chris to the hospital.
Speaker 1: If you want to send your kid into the quickest panic possible, tell them they need to go to the hospital.
Speaker 1: So my dad cool.
Speaker 1: As a cucumber, he comes over to me.
Speaker 1: He looks at my wounds studies at, for a second and he says, ah, Chris, it's a flesh wound.
Speaker 2: You'll be all right.
Speaker 1: Well, I still have those scars today, but I'm so thankful for the words that my father given gave me.
Speaker 1: You see the weight of your father's words are crucial.
Speaker 1: And what I learned was that my dad's always seem to carry more weight than anyone else.
Speaker 1: Even when I was disrespectful to my mom, all he had to do was raise his voice and the hair on top of my legs would stand up.
Speaker 1: I don't know why everybody's looking.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: You see a father's words can help or hurt your child's life.
Speaker 1: And today we'll be focusing on some truths that I've learned about the father.
Speaker 1: And the big idea is simply this, the presence of a father
Speaker 2: Matters.
Speaker 1: You see, not just physically but spiritually, and when you become a child of God by professing Jesus Christ as Lord, he not only saves your soul from hell.
Speaker 1: He also awakens your heart to the things of heaven.
Speaker 1: He gives you a new name.
Speaker 1: He gives you a fresh start and he adopts you into a spiritual family where you are now known as his, and you see from a spiritual perspective, from a spiritual perspective, how does that play out with my heavenly father's words and how do they matter?
Speaker 1: Well, you see, we see this in Luke chapter three, where Jesus is being baptized by John the Baptist Jesus desired to be obedient to the father.
Speaker 1: And we know the story of John the Baptist.
Speaker 1: Um, early on, he was quoted as saying that I'm not even worthy to tie the shoes or sandals of Jesus's feet.
Speaker 1: And yet he was given this experience to baptize Jesus.
Speaker 1: And it says this in Luke chapter three, verses 21 and 22, if you want to follow along on the screens, it says now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened and the holy spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove and a voice came from heaven and said, you are my beloved son with you.
Speaker 1: I am well pleased.
Speaker 1: Now I want you guys to know that we do baptism pretty special here at five lakes church.
Speaker 1: But to my recollection, I don't know to my knowledge, I don't know if I've ever seen a dove come from the sky.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've ever seen the heavens split.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I've heard the voice of God, literally come down and say you are my son or daughter, but I got to tell you, and this is my shameless plug.
Speaker 1: If you've never been baptized, you need to get baptized, but they are pretty special here at five lakes, church.
Speaker 1: And so what's being portrayed here is the father is identifying Jesus as his son.
Speaker 1: He's affirming the steps he is taking in his personal walk with him.
Speaker 1: You see, God knew the journey his son was on.
Speaker 1: He knew it wasn't easy, but he also knew his son could handle it.
Speaker 1: So here's the interesting thing.
Speaker 1: You know, I think of my son and I have dreams of my son and in my carnal nature, I have dreams of my son playing professional baseball.
Speaker 1: And if I were to go one step further, I would say that he's playing for the Atlanta Braves.
Speaker 1: He's enjoying life.
Speaker 1: He's playing really, really good.
Speaker 1: And because of my son's effort, I'm sitting by his awesome big pool, drinking lemonade, and I'm joining life because of his contributions that he's given to us as a family.
Speaker 1: But then I wake up and I realize that it's just a dream.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you guys know this, but not that sports is impossible for a few, but I have to take into consideration his genes.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you've noticed, but my son may not be good at synchronized swimming
Speaker 2: [inaudible]
Speaker 1: But then I got to tell you that I have another vision of my sons and my daughter.
Speaker 1: I have a vision that is filled with supernatural possibilities.
Speaker 1: I have a vision of my sons and daughter being a being compat, having a compassionate heart that loves people like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Did I see him holding his hands up on a shame?
Speaker 1: Shamingly worshiping the Lord in heaven.
Speaker 1: I see them hungry to learn the scriptures because of the investment that my wife and I have created each night.
Speaker 1: And when he opens up God's word, he celebrates in his hunger, hungry for the word in good times and in bad.
Speaker 1: And I celebrate the godly steps more than
Speaker 2: The earthly games.
Speaker 1: And if you're taking notes this morning, that is thought, number one, that God, our father celebrates the spiritual steps more than the earthly gains.
Speaker 1: You see at the end of the day, I want to know I've done all I could in celebrating their spiritual steps in seeing their relationship with God flourish.
Speaker 1: Now at five lakes church, one of the things we do in his honor publicly, and why we do this is because we want to encourage good things.
Speaker 1: We want to create a lifestyle of seeing the church in their God, given potential.
Speaker 1: Can I give an encouragement for you this morning church, that encouragement is simply this do less seeking and more celebrating.
Speaker 1: You see church that celebrates a church that celebrates is a church that values people and what God has done.
Speaker 1: A church that celebrates as a church that values people and what God has done.
Speaker 1: Would we see the potential rise up?
Speaker 1: Or would we keep the celebration a secret?
Speaker 1: Because they haven't earned it or deserved it.
Speaker 1: You see God, the father did the same thing with Jesus.
Speaker 1: And maybe you're sitting here today and you're saying, well, Chris, you don't know my kids.
Speaker 1: They're crazy.
Speaker 1: Just a matter of time before they get back to their old ways, which leads us to our next point when God is our father, not only do we celebrate the spiritual steps more than the earthly gains, we all so realize that God loves us most
Speaker 2: When we die served it, the least that's thought, number two,
Speaker 1: God, our father loved us most
Speaker 2: When we deserved it, the least did we deserve it?
Speaker 2: No, but Ephesians
Speaker 1: Two says this, but God is so rich in mercy.
Speaker 1: And he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life.
Speaker 1: When he raised Christ from the dead, it is only by God's grace that you have been saved.
Speaker 1: You see another way to say that is found in the story of the prodigal son.
Speaker 1: And for sake of time, I want to get to the best part of the story says this, a Luke chapter 15 verses 23, 24, it says, and he arose and came to his father.
Speaker 1: But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and his father had compassion on him and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
Speaker 1: And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven.
Speaker 1: And before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Speaker 1: But the father said to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this.
Speaker 1: My son was dead and is alive.
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 1: He was lost and is now found and they began to celebrate, you know, Kenneth Bailey author of the cross.
Speaker 1: And the prodigal says it this way explains that if a Jewish son lost his inheritance among Gentiles and then returned home, the community would perform a ceremony where they would break a large pot in front of him and yell.
Speaker 1: You are now cut off from your people.
Speaker 1: The community would totally reject him.
Speaker 1: Not only were you cut off from your father and your family, you were now exiled from your community and treated as an outcast.
Speaker 2: But fortunately, there's another part to this story.
Speaker 1: You see the father's heart is larger than the tradition and the community he came from.
Speaker 1: You see these verses provide a visual of the father running to the son.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys know this, but the Jews are rarely seen running for fear of showing their thighs.
Speaker 1: I have the same problem.
Speaker 2: You see, this is considered.
Speaker 2: Boy, this
Speaker 1: Is considered shameful and undignified to Jews.
Speaker 1: You see, he'd rather you see Jesus or God.
Speaker 1: The father would rather take on the shame from his community rather than seeing his son being outcast.
Speaker 1: You see, I love the son's response.
Speaker 1: The son is repentant.
Speaker 1: The son is remorseful.
Speaker 1: The son wants to be hired in as a servant.
Speaker 1: And I can only imagine him coming to his father with all sorts of regret.
Speaker 1: And he knows the Jewish customs.
Speaker 1: He knows what's about to happen.
Speaker 1: And he says, man, if I could just be a servant in the house of my father, that'd be good enough.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be, need to be known as a son.
Speaker 1: I a need to be known as somebody.
Speaker 1: Great.
Speaker 1: If I could just serve like everybody else that it would be quite fine with me.
Speaker 1: But the father's response is this.
Speaker 1: He gives them a robe of royalty.
Speaker 1: He puts a ring on his finger that signifies that he's one of his kids.
Speaker 1: And then he celebrates his son because he has
Speaker 2: Turned.
Speaker 1: And I want you guys to know that the father has every right to lecture.
Speaker 1: The father has every right to cast blame on his son to cast shame on his son, but he chooses not to.
Speaker 1: And maybe you're sitting here today and you're filled with the shame of not feeling worthy
Speaker 2: To be called God's son or daughter.
Speaker 1: If I had one thing to say you this morning, this is the only thing that you get this morning.
Speaker 1: I want you to know that he's calling
Speaker 3: Out now.
Speaker 3: I don't think that he's calling out.
Speaker 3: I actually think that he's running to you.
Speaker 3: He's running to you.
Speaker 3: And he wants to remind you who you are.
Speaker 3: He wants to tell you to leave the shame behind.
Speaker 3: He wants to tell you to leave that guilt in the past.
Speaker 3: He wants to wipe your slate clean.
Speaker 3: And I think that's the hardest part for us.
Speaker 3: Especially as believers, when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and savior, we
Speaker 1: Tend to hold onto the baggage that we've picked up throughout life.
Speaker 3: And I think that God wants to free us this morning.
Speaker 3: Imagine a church that if we were to just receive the love and grace of the father, that we could
Speaker 1: Walk out of this room, just feeling free.
Speaker 1: You know, in Galatians
Speaker 3: Five, it says it is for freedom.
Speaker 3: That Christ has set us free.
Speaker 1: Jesus watt had a plan and his plan wasn't just to save you from sin.
Speaker 1: It was to free you
Speaker 3: From.
Speaker 3: It was to free you from the things that are holding you back from your biggest purpose on this earth.
Speaker 3: And I want to tell you this morning, that when we accept Christ as our personal Lord and savior, when we believe that he is our father up in heaven, we take on a new name.
Speaker 3: We take on a new storyline and we start to walk in the newness that Christ calls us to be.
Speaker 3: I just got one more point to give to you.
Speaker 3: And we're actually going to get out of here early.
Speaker 3: Come now, pastor Micah, ah, I'll be looking for a job after today's service thought.
Speaker 3: Number three is this God, our father sees something in us before we see it in ourselves.
Speaker 3: No I'm sitting up here this morning because my God up in heaven, he saw something in me before I saw it in myself.
Speaker 3: And I want you to know that that same God sees it in you.
Speaker 3: He sees the goodness.
Speaker 3: He sees the victories that you're about to win.
Speaker 3: He sees the blessings that are on the horizon and he wants to call you that he wants to call you to that potential.
Speaker 3: All we have to do is receive it and walk in.
Speaker 3: And every single day, you know, I remember a number of years ago when I was called into ministry, I was mentored by a few gentlemen that took the time to walk with me during the craziest seasons of my life.
Speaker 3: When I was questioning my calling, yes, I was saved, but I was questioning that God wanted to use somebody like me.
Speaker 3: I remember there was this gentleman that invited me into his life group.
Speaker 3: And I was with guys that were much older than me.
Speaker 3: He walked me through spiritual healing.
Speaker 3: And I remember there was a part in this evening where he invited me into this room.
Speaker 3: And then there were these guys that were praying and they prayed this verse.
Speaker 3: And they said this first, um, in Psalms 1 39 verse 13.
Speaker 3: And it says this, it says you made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's sorry.
Speaker 3: I remember this mentor saying now, Chris, we're all praying here.
Speaker 3: And I just want you to close your eyes and go back to the birth place of where you were born.
Speaker 3: And he said, Chris, as your eyes are closed, who was in that room with you?
Speaker 3: I said, well, that's easy.
Speaker 3: That's my mom.
Speaker 3: And that's my dad.
Speaker 3: He says, okay.
Speaker 3: Chris was the first person that is holding you.
Speaker 3: I said, well, that's easy.
Speaker 3: That's my dad.
Speaker 3: I remember the story.
Speaker 3: My mom was a little jealous that my dad helped me first.
Speaker 3: And they said, okay, Chris, what is your dad's saying to you?
Speaker 3: And I just said, that's my dad is saying, that's my boy.
Speaker 3: And then he said, who's holding you next.
Speaker 3: I said, it's my mom.
Speaker 3: And he said, well, what is your mom's saying to you in that moment?
Speaker 3: And she says, baby boy, that's my boy.
Speaker 3: I think this is not, this is the most difficult part.
Speaker 3: But he said, imagine that your father in heaven is holding you.
Speaker 3: And what is he saying?
Speaker 3: And I gotta tell you, the tears just started to flow down my face.
Speaker 3: And then I could hardly utter the words out of my mouth.
Speaker 3: And he, and the words that I heard in that moment was well done.
Speaker 3: And I got to tell you the reason why that was so powerful because I needed to hear affirmation from my father.
Speaker 3: That'd be before I did one single thing for him.
Speaker 3: He said, well done.
Speaker 3: He looked at me and he's already claimed me as his.
Speaker 3: He already claimed me as one of his family.
Speaker 3: And he said, this is my son.
Speaker 3: I am well pleased with them.
Speaker 3: I have a storyline for him.
Speaker 3: And I receive the truth of what Jesus said to me that evening.
Speaker 3: And it's my hope and prayer that as we get to a close in this service that you receive that today, the best father's gift for Jesus up and having this free, you walk in the truth that God has called you to live in.
Speaker 3: So as we have our eyes closed this morning, and I'm white pastor Micah on the stage by your heads and close your eyes with me for a moment.
Speaker 3: And if you're, if you've never allowed Jesus Christ to be the Lord and savior of your life, but you know, your father is calling.
Speaker 3: You know that today he's calling you.
Speaker 3: He's already said, he's pleased with you.
Speaker 3: He loves you.
Speaker 3: And he wants you with him.
Speaker 3: The question is, will you step into that relationship?
Speaker 3: So I'm going to pray.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to ask you to pray with me.
Speaker 3: And maybe today will be the first day that you've allowed him to be your Lord and savior, or maybe it's going to be the first time in a very long time that you've allowed him to be your Lord and savior.
Speaker 3: He's ready to call you son.
Speaker 3: He's ready to call you daughter.
Speaker 3: Are you ready to call him Abba father five lakes, church.
Speaker 3: Let's all pray together so that nobody has to pray alone, but let's pray together.
Speaker 3: Lord Jesus.
Speaker 3: I love you.
Speaker 3: I believe that you lived, that you died and that you rose again for me.
Speaker 3: So today I accept you as my Lord and my savior.
Speaker 3: I repent of all my sin and I turn to you.
Speaker 3: You are my God, my savior, my Lord.
Speaker 3: And from this day forward, I am your child in Jesus' name and let everybody say amen.
Speaker 3: Amen and amen.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Jesus.
Speaker 3: For what you're doing in this house right now, let's stand on our feet.
Speaker 3: Prayer partners.
Speaker 3: Would you come forward?