Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Good Father
Your Heavenly Father sees you, knows you, and has a purpose for your life. This Father's Day message delves into the profound truth that God is the perfect model of fatherhood—one who gives fish instead of serpents, eggs instead of scorpions.
What does it mean to be a good father? Through personal stories of fishing adventures and campfire devotionals, we explore how earthly fathers can reflect God's heart to their children. The challenge for every man is clear: Will you speak blessing or curse? Will you provide nourishment or poison? Will you pass down generational brokenness or break the cycle through surrender to Christ?
Luke 11 reminds us that even imperfect fathers know how to give good gifts to their children—how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask! This empowerment is what transforms ordinary men into extraordinary fathers who can say with confidence, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Whether you're a father struggling with your own father wounds or seeking to leave a godly legacy for your children, this message offers hope. True courage isn't found in stoic independence but in humble dependence on God. It's found in asking forgiveness when you fail, getting back up when you fall, and modeling authentic faith for the next generation.
The greatest Father's Day gift you can give your family isn't material possessions but a heart fully surrendered to Jesus. Join us as we discover how to knock on the right doors, seek God's direction, and live as men who reflect our good, good Father.
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You have a good father. I felt really strong today that I was supposed to tell you that you have a good father in heaven who loves you so very much, that he has a plan and a purpose for your life and that he very much knows exactly who you are and your circumstances. That he loves you and he has provision for you and he wants to guide and direct you. That he is looking out for you and he hasn't neglected you. That he is perfect and he is not the one that will fail us. He's a good, good father. Would you say amen to that man? I was just been thinking about so much of the goodness of God and who he is as a father for us, and I think about how often, you know, we have bad examples of what that would be as a father and how we, even as fathers, have failed, you know, in our families or our children and how we draw short. But he does not. He is consistent, he is good, he is holy, he is a good father who's looking out for us.
Speaker 1:This week I got a chance to be with the guys at the Camp and Fish up north in Payson and got to see the beautiful creation, the sky the Lord painted for us that night and it was just amazing man just being out of the city and doing that type of thing. One of the highlights for me was a time around the count fire and just hearing from different guys with a perspective, hearing the words that the Lord had given, and different ones got to share a piece from their heart in the scripture, what God was using that for and just as a catalyst to charge all of us on towards God, and what it means for us to share our story, our testimony, and different ones were sharing that, and then having conversation with others about man, I heard that testimony. I heard you know they're devotional and it really it resonated with me and I love that. It was a really highlight for us, it was positive, it was amazing. It is interesting, though. You know, as city people who, whenever we leave everything we have here, like air conditioning, and we go set up a tent somewhere, you know what I'm talking about. It's a little bizarre, a little great, but it is good because you get out of sorts, it gives you a new frame of reference, it's refreshing, something really nice.
Speaker 1:You got to spend some time on the water, getting out there to fish and just spend some time doing that stuff or attempting to fish in my case, where I was, like you know, not doing the right things. I was trying all I could but it wasn't quite working. You know, it was amazing too. We got a chance to kind of go and look at some of the creeks and some of that fun stuff and see some of the guys here as they're kind of taking a look at where to throw the line or you know what kind of stuff was going on man just having a chance to relax, maybe throw up a hammock between some trees, like you see J-Bo here, just, you know, hanging out and chilling, and then having those times around the meals, so like in the morning when we'd pray over the meal and have those moments together, and then in the evening, the same where we'd pray over those meals and then have some conversation. And I was so very blessed, man, because we had some amazing, amazing food up there, thanks to Tyler, our men's director, to Pastor Angus, for all they did.
Speaker 1:We have a hand of appreciation for these guys. They are awesome and they do a lot to serve our church, but amazing there as well, get some great meals together and spend that time together and you can see these guys. There's some smiles on their faces because of just how great it was the time together and just having that camaraderie and that friendship that's built there. It is those highlight moments. It's those moments around the fire hearing about what God is doing, and for me it was an encouragement to see how different guys they're using what God has given them in their story. They're using that to share with others. So I got a chance to see dads and how they interacted with their kids and their sons and and seeing them, you know that that tension between, like you know, keeping them from dying and also letting them run amok you guys know what I'm talking about. It's there's a tension there somewhere. It was awesome because you know these kids are running around having fun and and being carefree. You know running, running into all the things and you know, as a, you're like, oh, don't run too fast. You know, at the same time, you're like as thinking about when you were young, you're like, oh, you should run as fast as you can, run fast, fast, fast. And so there's that tension that's there. But it's cool to see how they were being intentional with their sons and they're showing them how to do things and they're spending that time Even other guys that are using their story and sharing with other guys about kind of their story with God and how God brought them out of their past and their brokenness and how God has done something dramatic and amazing and encouraging in their lives.
Speaker 1:He's bringing them forward to a new place. They are not their past. They are now who God has created them to be and I love that intentionality. That's what we're talking about today. As we talk about who God is for us is that we wanna be those that are good fathers. So the challenge for us in the men in the room is to be good fathers, be those that are examples of what it means to live for Christ, to be intentional in the way that we live for God and that we understand what it means to be courageous and to turn to God with everything that we have, that we're those that are living that example because we have experienced it for ourselves. So we can't lead someone to somewhere we've never been. So, as men in the room, we challenge you that you would live for Jesus and see what happens whenever you're open to God working through your life, and see what ramifications will happen through your life to your children and to your grandchildren as you live apart and set apart as unto God. You say amen to that, friends, I can tell you, the impartation of the story that my dad lived is an example to me. It's such a profound reason of why I now, today, have so much of the understanding of God because of what he shared with me and then what I was able to experience firsthand myself with God and that's my ambition for my son and my daughters that I would live that same way. God, help me to be an example, to live that way, so that they too can see what it means to live and love God, and to do so with passion. Today I want to say happy Father's Day to all the dads in the room, happy Father's Day to you, to all the gentlemen in the room as well, that, even if you're not a biological father, you use your sphere of influence to help others, to challenge others. Man, I applaud you. Happy Father's Day to you as well. Thank you for using your influence around, with everyone around you. It's such a blessing.
Speaker 1:What we realize is that we're very much people in need of a savior. None of us is perfect? I'm the first one to tell you I'm not. But what we are is we're people that are on a journey, we're following after Jesus, and so we use this imagery of Christ walking with his disciples because that's how we are. We're walking after him where he's leading us to go. Our heart is to be more like Jesus and since that's true, then collectively, what we're going to do is love God and make disciples and reach the world. That's what it means to live beyond ourselves and to be outward focus. That's why we talk about having a community and building those communities amongst ourselves. We want to be those that connect and grow and serve the Lord.
Speaker 1:We'd say amen to that, and today, as we look to scripture on this Father's Day, we do so with a heart to hear the voice of the Father. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone we're looking at Luke 11 today Picks up here in verse nine, and it says, and I tell you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you, for everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be open. Lord, we just pray over this word today, holy Spirit, you would illuminate it in our hearts and lives and challenge us, lord, to be more like you. We pray In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 1:Now, it's interesting, this idea of a father, because so often the idea of a father is, it's absent from a lot of our society. I remember as a youth pastor, a lot of the breakthrough that we had with students was that I could serve kind of as a youth pastor. You know, a lot of the breakthrough that we had with students was that, you know, I could serve kind of as that older brother, that person of influence with them and validate them. Because, you know, when we're young, so often you know, as children we turn towards our mom, because we love our mom, but as we start to come of age, there's this thing that turns in our heart that we want to have that connection with our father as well. We want to have that connection with our father as well.
Speaker 1:And I had so many different students that they were wrestling with this idea of who they were, because they had this empty father figure in their life, that they had this gap that was there, either by spiritual means, that their dad wasn't around and he wasn't engaged in their life or he had passed or something else. But it wasn't that anything against what their mom, but it was that they were seeking this validation from a father and then, for some, because they didn't have that validation, they put this wall up in their heart because they felt rejected by a father. So whenever they're praying prayers to father God, whenever they're singing these prayers, like these songs we sing today, they have this wall up in their heart against God, because they put it there and it's something that's separating them from the very father that they're looking for, the very loving example that they really want to connect with. And I think there's some real reasons on why we do that. We do it to protect ourselves, we do it because we feel emotionally vulnerable, we feel broken, and so we're trying to stay safe.
Speaker 1:But what God wants to do is he wants to break down those walls. He wants to open up doors to him to have that relationship. Jesus says behold, I stand at the door and knock. He wants to open up your heart and your life to him. He wants to have open doors of connection to you. He doesn't want you to live this life alone. And in the same way, you know, as fathers, we're also called to be those that lead and by example, and to be those that seek first the kingdom of God. And so often, you know, the things that we get wrapped up into is we start seeking this and seeking that, and that's not what he's talking to us about. He's talking about seeking him first, and I pray often over open doors for everyone around us, because what we want to do is we want to go through the correct door that God is leading us forward. Would you say amen to that?
Speaker 1:A lot of times we won't pray before we go through and make a big decision, go through a doorway, and then we start to have results that we don't like. No one said results they don't like. No one's had results they don't like. Okay, I'm going to try over here. We have results that we don't like, and then we have to back up and be like God. Can you help me now that I've made a bad decision? Can you help me now, please? Anybody. And that's been my experience too. And sometimes the thing is we got to back up out of there and try again.
Speaker 1:Wouldn't it be better if we started before the big decision and we fasted and prayed then and said Lord, would you reveal yourself to me here so that I can go through the pathway you want me to go? We say amen to that and so we look to scripture here and it starts to speak to us about what these things are. It says here again for everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be opened and see what it's talking about here. As we start to talk about down this line, is that the first thing you're doing is ask and see. I think on the immaturity side of our spirituality, the thing we'll do is we'll just start asking God for everything. Right, it's like Lord, could I have a Rolls Royce? I also would like a Ferrari, and if you could really help me out, it would be great if I could right. Instead, what he's actually asking is saying Lord, I ask that you would reveal yourself to me.
Speaker 1:It says in scripture seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. The kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. And I could tell you as somebody who was like all right, god, I'll yell, I will yard sale it for you, I will give all these things over to you. It's not about stuff and I like nice stuff. Anybody else like nice stuff, I like nice stuff.
Speaker 1:But the problem is, as soon as you have a nice stuff, that stuff is now used stuff and you need new, new stuff right. But the thing is that's the problem with living for stuff is that stuff becomes old, it becomes crusty, it fades away. The scripture says, because it's not eternal, that wood, hay and stubble will burn up. But if we live for the eternal things of God, if we seek first him, he will reveal himself to us and then all these other things that other people live after. Well, that's just a bonus for you, that just comes to you because that's something he can trust you with, because it won't become a little G God in your life to separate you from him. Instead, it's just a tool in your arsenal that you can use for God and generosity and other things. He's like man. He wants you to have a good time, he wants you to have nice stuff, but he doesn't want to give you that stuff. So it becomes a God in your life and separates you from him, and as men and as fathers, we have to live that example for our family as well, that the reason that we go and we want to be a provider, the reason we want to be a protector, is that we have a care for them and for their life. The intentionality is our relationship and our relationship with God, not the stuff we trade our time for.
Speaker 1:And I could tell you in my own life that I definitely fell into that pitfall here and there, but that we would re-evaluate what we're doing and realign ourselves and seek first him. And I will say the other side too. It says knock and it'll be open to you. Well, that means that they were checking the doors and the doors weren't open quite yet. Anybody ever been there? Where you're not quite there and I love the persistent widow it says that she was looking for the healing and so she kept on going for the healing until she found it.
Speaker 1:And that's what I see here in this scripture is you're saying, knock and it will be open into you. It's like, hey, lord, will you open a door for me? I need your guidance here. And there's a tenacity, there's a perspective that's there, where it's like, lord, I need your direction for my life, not just my good idea, but I need your direction. I want the right door to walk through.
Speaker 1:Friends, I could tell you so often the conversations we have about guidance for people, from their youth all the way till they're older, is that we would have the direction of the Lord. We want the guidance of God, we want to go through the right way and walk in the correct way. That's when, whenever we're praying for open doors, we're saying, Lord, that you would open the door for me, not that I would try to kick on the wrong door till it opens, but that you would open the door in my life, that you would make a way for us, especially as a father leading a family. You want to be someone who is saying, lord, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and I'm going to align with you and I'm going to go where you're leading me to go. I want to have an open door and follow after you. And that's why it says here again for whoever seeks will find, whoever asks will receive, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be open.
Speaker 1:And here's the thing, the tension that's there is the scary piece right Of trusting in the Lord, because when things are open before you, then you have to take that leap of faith to go and be obedient to what God is telling you to do. And that's scary for a lot of guys, because what it means is that you're gonna have to give up control and trust God with where you're going. And I can tell you you know in my own life that that's been a big, big piece was like God, I don't know, I don't know if I can do it. He's like listen, you've asked from the right door, I'm giving you the door. Now are you going to be obedient, to walk through the door or not? And so I could say okay, lord, I'm going to trust you, I'm going to take this leap of faith, I'm going to step out into the unknown. It's going to be an adventure, but I'm willing to trust you.
Speaker 1:Here's an example of a leap of faith, too is that adventure song that we were talking about earlier, where it's like hey, as a dad, you're like hey, I want my kids to go and be courageous, and I want them to go, and, you know, be bold and be brave. And at the same time you're like don't do that that's very dangerous Anybody else. And that's a tension that we live in as parents because we want to trust. I tell you this, man when I was growing up, the leap of faith was a big deal, because you know everything that we had in my era I'm right at the hinge of where we had no technology. Growing up to, everybody had technology. So in my day everything was sharp and we were running full speed. You know what I mean. And we were running full speed. It was rocks, it was concrete, it was sharp objects and everybody was having a great time doing it. But now, as parents, we like nerf everything and make it all soft. And that's the problem is it's like sometimes we have to have that tension of like hey, it's going to be dangerous, some of these things we go and do, it's things we go and do, it's going to be an adventure trusting God. We have to take that leap of faith and trust him and walk this thing out.
Speaker 1:So, looking back to the scripture, we see here where it starts to pick up about this idea of a good father. Now in scripture it says what father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will, instead of a fish, give him a serpent. Or if he asks for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion and we can see. Obviously a good father would want to give good gifts to their child. I can tell you as someone who recently was just spending tons of time trying to get a fish. A fish is not an easy thing to get. Now we can go to the store and buy a fish, but someone spent a lot of time getting that fish. Can we agree on that? So whenever you give something like this, what it's talking about it's more than just the fish itself, which is great and delicious and yummy and thank God for sushi, but the idea is that it takes effort to do this thing. So what it's showing us like as a good father is that we give good gifts to our kids. We're doing something that's intentional. We're doing something that has effort. We want to do something that is intentional for them.
Speaker 1:You can think about someone spending all the time out there fishing and you know casting this way and that I can tell you that's my Thursday evening. I was out there casting and we were trying everything. I was throwing the kitchen sink at them, man, everything that I had in my tackle box. I'm tying this one on and that one on and we're trying everything. No good. And then the next day we're up, I'm trying all sorts of stuff and I'm holding my face a certain way, like you're supposed to do, like a professional fisherman Was not working. Friends down here catching all the fish, these guys up here, victor's catching fish, these guys catching fish, pastor Angus catching fish I'm like I got no fish, I got nothing. I finally, mid-afternoon I gave up. I went and sat in a hammock. So right before I sat in the hammock I threw one more line out there and just set my pole and I'm like I'm going to go do email in the hammock over here. And as I came out of the hammock I was like, all right, let's just roll this stuff up and get up out of here. And as I rolled up my line, there was a fish. My friends, there was a fish on the line. It was amazing and it was successful and I didn't get skunked. After all, you see, our brother Steve right here, man, he had a bunch of fish there and, you know, did well too. So you can think about the intentionality of all that. And I was like, thank you, jesus, I didn't get skunked, I caught a fish, and so there's a lot of effort.
Speaker 1:Whenever, as a father, you want to give something good to your child, you want to give them a fish and not a snake. Now a snake and you see a serpent, a snake within scripture. So often a snake is something evil. It's what's talked about as the one that's there, it's something that's negative, and so we don't want to give something that could hurt them and be venomous towards them. You can see the snake that we have in this imagery. Man, we were walking yesterday and, just as you're supposed to put your hand on a piece of rock to walk by a path, there was a rattlesnake sitting in the shade and I was telling all our friends that were with us in that line. I was like, hey, friends, watch out, danger noodle. If you pay attention to this one, this one will get you. You know, this little thing will bite you back, because the snake is a curse.
Speaker 1:So often the symbol of one is a curse, and what it means is that you don't want to be a father who is cursing your children. You want to be a father who's intentional towards them, and there's a big difference between it. So many people have had these curses spoke over them you won't amount to this or you are to this. And they're passing a judgment statement Some of that been said by their father over them from the time they're young and friends, that's not who we are. We are people who speak life and not death. We're people who speak blessing and not a curse, and the reason that we do that is because so much is in the power of the tongue. And so what we want to do is speak blessing and correction, because we're doing that out of love, just the way that God corrects us. It says because he's forgiven us much, we are called to forgive. In the same way, by his spirit, he corrects us. It calls us, call into an alignment so we can repent. That's why, as parents, he talks to us about being those who speak the word of God and teach the word of God to our family and to our children, so that they will not depart from it and that that'll be instilled deep down inside of them. And so what we're doing is we're speaking life and speaking blessing, speaking correction and not a curse on their life.
Speaker 1:One of the things I'm so very thankful for in my own life is my parents were willing to pray over me and bless me every time I left the house and even as I, you know, had my own nefarious plans of what I was really going to do and not the thing I told them I was going to do, they would say okay, jay, have a great time. Have a great time, honor God, make wise decisions. And all I could feel is Holy Spirit convicting me as I headed out, to do bad things and make bad decisions. Anybody else. That's a good thing, because what they're doing is they're praying that blessing, saying listen, holy Spirit's going to be all over you. You're not going to have fun doing everything everyone else is going to do, because you're going to feel convicted about it. And even though you're going to run and make a whole series of bad decisions, you can't outrun the hand of God. He's going to bring you back to himself because he loves you that very much. And not just that, but the scripture says that our prayers are heard by him and their prayers they're praying the prayer face, saying, lord, that you would go and grab Jay out of that mess that he's making right now and bring him back to himself, lord, that you would have a relationship with him and that he would know you personally. See, they could have easily done the reverse. They could have easily been like well, you made a bunch of stupid decisions, that's on you and it spoke a curse over me. But instead they spoke life and they said you know, those are bad decisions, but you can make better decisions and you can make a different decision. And that starts with living for God. Friends, that's the kind of people we want to be. That's the kind of father that we're called to be fathers. We're called to be a good father that speaks blessing and not a curse. The second part of this talks about an egg and a scorpion and I could tell you an egg man, that's a blessing, right, that's something substantial. If you guys don't like it too bad, I love eggs, I love breakfast. Think about how bougie some of that stuff. You can see a picture of it here. Praise the Lord. Anybody else so good.
Speaker 1:I remember as a kid man, we would have late night services here and I was a pastor's kid man. I was done man. I was more than done. I was done a long time ago. And my parents are talking to the third person and there's two more people in line. You know what I mean. And I was like can we go? We haven't even had dinner yet. Man, I am dying. Can I go, please? And they're like I need to talk to these people, then we can go home. And I was like, oh for the love, please help me, lord.
Speaker 1:I was hanging out with Faith the other day and Faith was having the same conversation with me. She's like let's go. I was like Faith girl, this is how it's going to be the rest of your life, because you're going to wait for your parents forever at church. I'm so sorry, but what's cool about the end of this moment is that, you know, is that I was like man, if I could only have a breakthrough, I could go and I could eat dinner. And my mom would be like okay, you know what, when we get home, we're going to have breakfast for dinner. And I was like, oh, thank you, jesus. I could hear the angels singing glory because this is my favorite thing breakfast for dinner.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm talking about, and so something about that and this is what he's talking about here in the scripture is about how the egg is a nutrient. It's something that you're giving, that's a nutrient to your child and you would give them an egg. You wouldn't give them a scorpion. So when you see that plate of those fried eggs with the bacon and the goodness from God, you're like, praise Jesus, what you're not going to do is give them something that's going to bite them and attack them and be poison to them. See, that's what a scorpion represents, is the poison that's there, it's danger. And if you've ever had in Arizona man, we have them everywhere but if you've ever walked around and been right by a scorpion barefoot, you know the fear of what I'm talking about. It's that thing that's gonna attack you, that thing that's evil.
Speaker 1:And so what we wanna do is be someone who's providing, someone who is instructing, someone who is giving good nutrients to our children I don't mean just physically, I mean spiritually too and that we wouldn't be someone who's instead trying to poison them for the future or speak negative over and those other things. We, instead trying to poison them for the future or speak negative over and those other things, we want to be those that are actually bringing life and bringing blessing, being those who are challenged to live that way ourselves, first as an example, and then that they can have that impartation as well. It says here in Luke 11,. It picks back up. It says if you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Friends, this is exactly what we're talking about is that we would be empowered by Holy Spirit to live for him, that we would live that difference.
Speaker 1:And I can tell you, gentlemen, the challenge to be a good father starts with a passion for God. It's a willingness to have his Holy Spirit guide and direct us. It's taking that step of faith to understand that we are frail and we are broken and we are not enough without him. And so we'd say, lord, that you would have your way in me, lord, empower me to be a man of God, to be someone who's walking in your path. That, even though I know I'm going to make mistakes, lord, that I would ask for forgiveness and get back up and dust myself off and go after Jesus. See, so often it's easy to just sit back and be like, oh well, you know, and kind of give the excuses why that's not being a brave man, that's not being what a real man is.
Speaker 1:A man takes authority of what he's doing and he says I'm going to follow Jesus, I'm going to be willing to take all this brokenness and give it to him so I could be made whole and not pass on brokenness to the next generation. If we don't, then the other thing happens and the brokenness inside of us gets broken and put down inside of the next generation. And the brokenness inside of us gets broken and put down inside of the next generation and the brokenness inside of them gets multiplied to the next generation. And the curse of the brokenness is not broken because we keep on passing it down. Friends, that we instead would be willing to say, lord, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. As for me and my house, lord, I'm Lord. As for me and my house, lord, I'm breaking these curses off of my family right now. That's paradigm, that's perspective, that's all these things that we pass down and we model to our children. Lord, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna say, as for now, I can't help what happened in the past. But as for now, in this moment, I'm going to take full, full responsibility for what I've done and say, lord, that you would forgive me, or that you would help me, or Holy Spirit, empower me, because I want to live different. I want to have a difference in my family for the future, for the generations to come, that there will be a difference, because I'm believing for a future that's brighter than my past, and that future is found only in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:James talks about it how the Lord is the one that illuminates us. He is the source of all good gifts. It says it like this James 1, 17,. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. See, friends, he is a good father. He loves us so very much and he wants us to be the same kind of father to our families.
Speaker 1:Our challenge today is to embrace what Holy Spirit has for us, gentlemen, to be the kind of father that we're called to be, the kind of father that our family deserves to be a man that loves God, that's courageous enough to say when we've made mistakes, to ask forgiveness, to move forward, because that's what a real man is. A real man is someone who has a heart that's open to God and be courageous enough to follow him where he's leading him to go. You know, we can all stand and be stoic and act tough, but in the end we'll get the very exact same results of brokenness that were passed on to us. Instead, let's embrace what Christ wants to do in our lives. Embrace what Holy Spirit wants to do in us, so we can be the difference. And now we can say, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Today we have this opportunity, as we talk about so often. We want to be more like Jesus, and so there are those in the room, even in the first service, who had that opportunity, and they took and seized it to make a commitment to Jesus. We have people today, for the very first time, make a commitment to follow Jesus and invite him into their heart and life. That same decision is for you, in that question of have you embraced Jesus? See, nobody can make a decision for you. It's you that has to make the decision.
Speaker 1:For us, the symbol of the cross is one that's profound. The cross is a place of suffering. It's a place of threat that the Romans used against the people to show their power. And Jesus, as he came onto the scene, he lived a perfect life and he took the sin of the world upon himself. He became the sacrifice for all people and he was whipped and he was beaten and he took all of that abuse. For us it wasn't his, and because of our brokenness, because of our sin, he took on all those things and he took our sin and he died with it upon the cross and in doing so he becomes a sacrifice for all people, for all time. But the amazing thing about Jesus is that he is not dead, he is alive. And since he's alive, then we can have a relationship with him, an active relationship where we are in dialogue and we're following after Jesus every day. See, I'm not offering fire insurance. This isn't just Jesus as Savior, this is Jesus as Lord. It's the difference of what it means to walk out with him every single day.
Speaker 1:Friends, we cannot earn the presence of God. We can't do enough good things. It's not possible. What do we as unholy people, we who are evil, what can we offer a holy God? We offer nothing to him that can earn his grace. No, by his grace and by his love, he came all the way to us because he loves us that much, he loves you that much, that he wants you to have a relationship with him. Apostle Paul. He writes to the church at Rome. He says it like this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. With the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Speaker 1:Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. I'm going to ask everyone in the room if you would stand to your feet and bow your head. If you're online, wherever you are, take a moment. Prepare your heart for what God wants to do in and through you. Prepare your heart for what God wants to do in and through you. You've heard this challenge today of what it means to be those who belong to Jesus, of what it means to be fathers who are led by his spirit, to be those who are forgiven and a part of the family of God. Today is your opportunity to embrace Christ as well.
Speaker 1:As heads are bowed here in the room, christians are praying. If that's you, you never made a decision to follow Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life. Today is your day, or maybe you have made that decision in the past, but you haven't been living it. Friends, today is your day to recommit your life to Christ, to live for Christ every day as heads are bowed here in their room. If that's you and you'd say, pastor, I want to be like those who made a decision to follow Jesus today. I want to invite them into my heart and life. If that's you, if you raise your hand right where you're at today and say that's me, I want to make a decision to follow Jesus. Thank you, lord. Thank you, lord. We see hands that are here. See the hand. See that hand. Others making decision. Thank you, jesus. Friends online, wherever you are. If that's you making decisions today, we're with you. Praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna ask everyone to pray this prayer out loud after me Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name. I pray Amen, amen. Friends, we rejoice in you making the decision to follow Jesus today. Several people raising their hand today in this service praise God. Let me encourage you in this. If you are one of those that raised your hand, connect with us in the back. We want to be able to put resources into your hands. If you're online, message us so we can connect with you as well. No one's called to live this life with Christ alone.
Speaker 1:The challenge for us is a little different. Today, as we respond, I'm going to ask that every father that's in the room if you would come forward. What we're going to do is just pray a blessing of God upon you and ask for his Holy Spirit just to fill you anew and, if your family is with you, that they would come and they would be behind you and that they would be joining us as we pray. I'm going to ask myself, pastor Angus, pastor, they would be behind you and that they would be joining us as we pray. I'm going to ask myself, pastor Angus, pastor Celeste, we're going to be praying for the fathers across the front, so I'm going to challenge every single father If you would come and be bold, get out of your seat, come to the front.
Speaker 1:Let us pray that blessing of God upon you during this song.
Speaker 1:Lord, we thank you for your word and we thank you for how you breathe upon it and make it alive to us, lord, as these fathers come forward, lord.
Speaker 1:We pray that blessing of God upon them, lord, that they would have an impartation. They'd have a new revelation of who you are, lord, that they would have more of you, lord. It'd be less of them and more of you, lord, a freshness that what you want to do in their life, lord, and, as a result, in their families, lord. We thank you how you use them, lord, as leader in their home, lord, and how you use them as men of faith to do great things for you, lord. We come to this altar, lord, to have an impartation of your blessing. We pray In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Hey, I just wanna tell you this If you've been someone who's said yes to Jesus in these last few weeks, let me encourage you that you would be water baptized. Say yes to Jesus, follow him in baptism. It's coming up soon so you can sign up on the app and follow him in that next step.
Speaker 2:And, once again, happy Father's Day to all of you men there here today. We honor you, and so we have something for you. As you head out, there's a table and an ice chest. Ooh, I got you thinking, but I just want you to grab everything that you can on your way out. We just want to let you know that we love you and we honor you today.
Speaker 1:Before we go, I pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen, know this, we love you very much. You're a cornerstone. God bless you and happy Father's Day.