SPEAKER_01: I can't help but think what a strange thing it is that we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's really kind of odd.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I've really thought about it a whole lot, but this morning I was just struck with the fact that we all come here from very, very different places in very different lives, different situations, different chapters.
SPEAKER_01: We have people who are celebrating new births.
SPEAKER_01: We have people who are mourning the loss of a loved one.
SPEAKER_01: We gather together and we're singing songs, and one of them I'm very unfamiliar with, but I would just describe it almost like an Irish dirge.
SPEAKER_01: It was just very heartfelt and kind of melancholy.
SPEAKER_00: But a few moments before we were singing songs and we were clapping as a young man talked about giving his life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then we gather here and we find common ground and celebrating God as Father.
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned before at Mother's Day, and I'm mindful of this, that at other holidays, it's not the same experience for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: For me, today is a really, really good day.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is a great day.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Lane just got baptized.
SPEAKER_00: What an awesome young man and the decision that he's made.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: I have three kids.
SPEAKER_00: Two of them uh don't live uh in the house anymore.
SPEAKER_00: They're they're far off.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I'm all my kids that have texted me or visited with me, and man, it's like what a great day.
SPEAKER_01: And and I just I love my father.
SPEAKER_01: I have an amazing father uh and a great relationship with him.
SPEAKER_01: We get to talk every week, and uh, and because it's Father's Day, I don't know if this is the best part, but it's a really good part of Father's Day.
SPEAKER_01: We have a tradition is that I get to pick where we're gonna eat today, and I'm really excited about that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, no Tico Casa.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just I can't I can't wait.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's really exciting, but then I also know that for some of you, you woke up this morning, and the remembrance of Father's Day brings about grief or sadness or maybe wounds that you've experienced.
SPEAKER_01: And yet we're all here today, not not to enter into worship, right?
SPEAKER_01: We've we've come together to continue our worship for a God and Father who is good, regardless of what season that you've entered into.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where we are in Genesis chapter 22.
SPEAKER_01: It's a really difficult text, and as we think about the emotions and what God has called, commanded Abraham to do, it's a little, it's a little bit overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01: How how do we deal with this?
SPEAKER_01: You see this picture here.
SPEAKER_00: When we started a couple weeks ago, I shared several different depictions of what this scene might have looked like.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're unfamiliar with the story, it's kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_00: You look at this and somebody says, describe what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Well, well, we have this young man who, man, he looks like he's in big trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he's tied up, and there's the bad guy with the knife, right?
SPEAKER_00: And and here comes this angel flying down from heaven to stop the bad guy from killing the little kid, and that's the story that you might imagine, but but it's a completely different story altogether.
SPEAKER_01: Or is it?
SPEAKER_01: Because the same place that sent down the angel to stop the sacrifice was the same heaven that sent down the command to sacrifice him in the first place.
SPEAKER_01: And so what are we left to do with Genesis chapter 22?
SPEAKER_01: Well, what we did look at is that Abraham was willing to call what he was about to do worship.
SPEAKER_01: We kind of unpacked this a little bit last week.
SPEAKER_01: We assume that worship is something that starts with an announcement or some uh prayer, and then we have some singing, and then we we read a little from the Bible, and then you're forced to listen to a really old guy blather on for 30 minutes about whatever topic he thinks is important for today?
SPEAKER_01: That must be worship, but then of course it always ends because we have the closing prayer and the closing song.
SPEAKER_01: But what if, what if Abraham, what if this guy's not all bad and what if he's right?
SPEAKER_01: What if worship is something that we do every day?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we think worship is this mountaintop experience, but what if the mountain that you're on involves an altar?
SPEAKER_01: It involves an altar and a pile of sticks and your only son and a call to sacrifice?
SPEAKER_01: When does it stop becoming worship?
SPEAKER_01: Does worship end when we walk out the door?
SPEAKER_01: Does worship cease when we're out in the parking lot?
SPEAKER_01: I want us to be reminded that we worship God every single day, or at least we ought to.
SPEAKER_01: You young guys and ladies, I want you to know that worship happens in the hallways, in the classroom, uh, on the soccer pitch.
SPEAKER_01: Wait, we're from Texas.
SPEAKER_01: I've been watching way too much football on TV.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it can happen anywhere you go, and it ought to happen everywhere that we go.
SPEAKER_01: Just like Abraham, we can go and worship God even when it's really tough, even when there's no songs to be sung, even when there's no victories to celebrate, God calls us to worship him in really every single imaginable instance.
SPEAKER_01: We can honor and worship and glorify him.
SPEAKER_01: As we looked in uh on the next slide, Genesis 22, verse 5, Abraham said to his servant, stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.
SPEAKER_01: We will worship and we will come back.
SPEAKER_01: Even on his worst day, in the midst of the most difficult, gut-wrenching decision, Abraham declares that what he was doing was worship.
SPEAKER_01: And so this morning, I hope you didn't come in here ready to begin worship or enter into worship.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, we want to be reminded that we are actually just continuing our worship.
SPEAKER_01: But I have to be honest, I really like worship on Sundays because now I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_01: I get to join other people as we think about, sing to, and pray to a God and Father who is good.
SPEAKER_01: But we can't stop in verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want us to get to the end of the story, but I do want us to read on a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01: And so let's pick up in verse 6 of Genesis chapter 22.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the nile.
SPEAKER_01: As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father, he said, Father, yes, my son Abraham replied, The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
SPEAKER_01: And now Abraham is left to decide what actually he's going to share with his son.
SPEAKER_01: And Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
SPEAKER_01: And the two of them went on together.
SPEAKER_01: When they reached the place, God had told them about Abraham, built an altar there, and arranged the wood on it.
SPEAKER_01: He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
SPEAKER_01: Then he reached out his hand and took the knot to slay his son.
unknown: Don't keep reading.
SPEAKER_01: Don't clean it up.
SPEAKER_01: Don't say, oh, oh, but wait.
SPEAKER_01: I want us to sit here in this moment and imagine once again exactly what is going on.
SPEAKER_01: As we looked at last week, God called Abraham not only to sacrifice his son, but he said, I want you to go to this particular place.
SPEAKER_01: And it was that three-day journey in which they traveled, and I just can't imagine what that situation would have been like.
SPEAKER_01: How Isaac might have been excited, thinking that they were going on a special trip.
SPEAKER_01: And Abraham knowing deep down inside that this was going to be the most difficult thing that he's ever done.
SPEAKER_01: They finally make it to this point.
SPEAKER_01: And he tells the servant to stay there, and he says, we're gonna go up and we're going to worship.
SPEAKER_01: At some point, at some point, Isaac has to realize that this is not going as he thought it would.
SPEAKER_01: What did it mean when his dad said God will provide?
SPEAKER_01: Is there a fight?
SPEAKER_01: Was Isaac scrolling?
SPEAKER_01: Was Isaac pleading with his dad?
SPEAKER_01: Do we have to do this?
SPEAKER_01: Is there any other way to do it?
SPEAKER_01: Can't we find another way?
SPEAKER_01: Why do I have to be the sacrifice dad?
SPEAKER_01: Does mom know about this?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you doing this?
SPEAKER_01: What was Isaac complied?
SPEAKER_01: Did he quietly sit there as his dad wept?
SPEAKER_01: As he tightened the rope around his son.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how old Isaac would have been.
SPEAKER_01: We do know how old Abraham was when he was born, and he's a pretty old fellow.
SPEAKER_01: He's over a hundred years old.
SPEAKER_01: And he had to bend over and take up his side and he had tied up to place him.
SPEAKER_01: What was Abraham thinking during that time?
SPEAKER_01: But I have another question I want to ask.
SPEAKER_01: We make a really big deal about Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: And rightfully so.
SPEAKER_01: We have a really good device song about Father Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't have many sons at this point.
SPEAKER_01: He has this one, which he's been asked to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to ask you this.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever thought about what Isaac was thinking about this whole story?
SPEAKER_01: What did Isaac think about the situation?
SPEAKER_01: What did Isaac think about his dad?
SPEAKER_01: Who would sacrifice his only sex?
SPEAKER_01: I think about this often.
SPEAKER_01: His arms are tied, he looks up at his dad.
SPEAKER_01: His dad is probably sobbing uncontrollably.
SPEAKER_01: Just wondering, is there any way that I can get out of this?
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing this?
SPEAKER_01: I think one of the questions you might have thought is my dad.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: What would lead Abraham to take his only son?
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: But I just wonder what Isaac thought about this, not only in the moment, but also the days and weeks and months and years tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Did Abraham and Isaac ever talk about this story again?
SPEAKER_01: That would be a weird conversation to have at the dinner table, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Hey Dad, remember that time I've been on that special trip?
SPEAKER_01: You made me carry the wood and you took the fire in the eye?
SPEAKER_01: Remember the time that you tied me up and put me on your remember when you were about to kill me?
SPEAKER_01: On purpose?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is not gonna be really difficult.
SPEAKER_01: What does what does a young boy think about a dad who's willing to kill his son over some god, some religion, some belief that he has in some higher being?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he he could conclude that my dad just doesn't like me.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe Isaac understands something down deep inside that bad stuff.
SPEAKER_01: What kind of marker is set out when a boy or a girl looks up and sees their father making sacrifices in their business and in their life for their hobbies, because they see that their dad loves God and will stop at nothing, literally nothing, certainly.
SPEAKER_01: What Isaac saw was he had a father who trusted God.
SPEAKER_01: I think he learned that his dad chose his love for God over everyone.
SPEAKER_01: And we learn that God chose his love for everyone over his son.
SPEAKER_01: Now, sometimes churches get in a little bit of a rut when it comes to celebrating holidays.
SPEAKER_01: On Mother's Day, we bring in all the ladies, we have them stand up, we paint a flower on them, and we talk about how them how they're the best women that have ever walked the earth, and that's totally true.
SPEAKER_01: And then we get the Father's Day, and then we basically just kick our dads in the shoe.
SPEAKER_01: And we give our dads our heart.
SPEAKER_01: No flowers for the dads, right?
SPEAKER_01: No standing ovation, no, this is a sermon just for our fathers.
SPEAKER_01: No, we just tell them how we're just dumb and terrible and we should we should be more like the moms.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to take a different route.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to encourage our men and our fathers.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you to be the father that I know that God has called you to be.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you to have the strength to worship God every single day.
SPEAKER_01: To be willing to bring your family here to worship and to take your family out of here and to worship as you wait.
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
SPEAKER_01: I know, and trust me, I know being a father isn't easy.
SPEAKER_01: I've struggled as a father.
SPEAKER_01: It's not easy raising kids.
SPEAKER_01: It's a weird thing, like there can be a time in your life where you're convinced that you're a good parent.
SPEAKER_01: Like you think that you might be a pretty good dad to help out with little lead, you help them with their homework, you make sure there's food on the table, they call you daddy, they give you hugs, they say I love you.
SPEAKER_01: And then one morning they wake up and they're teenagers.
SPEAKER_01: And the hugs are gone, and the I love you are long past, and they look at you like you're dumb.
SPEAKER_01: And you look at them like they're an alien that has invaded your child's mind.
SPEAKER_01: And they do some things that you don't want them to do.
SPEAKER_01: And you say some things you wish you had said, and sometimes being a father feels like anything.
SPEAKER_01: And it's rough.
SPEAKER_01: Guys who are often goal-oriented and we're not always good with communicating our feelings.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't know how to handle kids who are rebelling.
SPEAKER_01: Kids who look at us, the ones that we held look at us eye to eye and say, you can't tell me how to live my life.
SPEAKER_01: And we mumble under our breath, you betcha I can.
SPEAKER_01: And lines are drawn, crossed, and we struggle.
SPEAKER_01: We struggle with being the fathers that we want to be, the husbands we know we ought to be, and the spiritual leaders that God has called us to be.
SPEAKER_01: But this morning I want to encourage you.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you not to give up.
SPEAKER_01: When your child pushes you away, don't step back, step forward and step up.
SPEAKER_01: Step up as fathers and as husbands and as spiritual leaders of our household.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to provide for our family, but that goes way beyond a paycheck or a plate of food that lands on a table.
SPEAKER_01: For our men and for our fathers, I'm asking you, I'm calling you and challenging you.
SPEAKER_01: Let us be brave and let us be bold and let us be unwavering.
SPEAKER_01: Let us choose to worship God on good days and even on our bad days.
SPEAKER_01: May we place our faith above money.
SPEAKER_01: And sports and hobby and most of all our pride.
SPEAKER_01: Let us be an example for this generation and the next.
SPEAKER_01: We will worship God no matter what the cost.
SPEAKER_01: I struggle in my life just like every single one of you.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of days that I would not come close to getting the dad and be near a Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not going to quit.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not going to stop trying.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to ask you men to do the same.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want to be a man who will be a fearless warrior for God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I want my life to be about.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to shoulder up with other men who are willing to join me in fighting.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be the one who fights for my family.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be the one who fights for God.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to be one who fights for the loss.
SPEAKER_01: And I need to be surrounded with other people who are willing to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And I think we have men in this room who are willing to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Who will join me in the fight.
SPEAKER_01: It's not going to be easy.
SPEAKER_01: It's not going to be simple.
SPEAKER_01: It's not going to be a one-time decision.
SPEAKER_01: It is every day.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to think about your kids.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about your grandkids.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know the impact that you have had on the lives of your kids and neighbors' kids and nephews.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know that we can make a difference in this world because God is calling us to do, and he will not disappoint us.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how it happened.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how it happened, but somehow we got the idea that Christianity was about singing songs and this little spotless lamb and everybody just being all warm and fuzzy and cute and everything was great, and we talked about love and happiness.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not how Christianity started 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: It started with a crazy group of guys who in a garden would pull out a sword and say, we're going to fight for this guy.
SPEAKER_00: Thomas, we give him a hard time for doubting, but look a few chapters before.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to die too.
SPEAKER_00: James and John were crazy.
SPEAKER_00: They were crazy.
SPEAKER_00: They had no idea.
SPEAKER_00: They walk out of a town that didn't welcome Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You remember what they said?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, Jesus, should we call down fire and destroy this town?
SPEAKER_00: Because they didn't welcome Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They were crazy.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't know any better.
SPEAKER_01: But they followed Jesus to the very end.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of reasons why we don't have to believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: There's not a whole lot of proof, right?
SPEAKER_01: There's an empty tomb somewhere that we don't know anything about.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know where it is.
SPEAKER_01: Could this really have happened?
SPEAKER_01: But I look to the followers of Jesus who after his death wouldn't dare make up a story and then go down to their death lying about it.
SPEAKER_01: And they believed that Jesus was the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: And because of that, these crazy, bumbling guys changed the world with the help of a lot of smarter, faithful women alongside me.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be counted among those people.
SPEAKER_01: And guys, I'm calling you to do the same.
SPEAKER_01: Be mighty warriors for God.
SPEAKER_01: The battlefield may look like your workplace.
SPEAKER_01: Go in there fully armed to love and to show patience and kindness and step up when it's politically incorrect to do so.
SPEAKER_01: And in our homes, our kids need to know what it's like to have a father who loves Jesus recklessly and who will always choose God first.
SPEAKER_01: It's what Abraham did on the mountain that day with Isaac who loved him.
SPEAKER_01: And Isaac to follow in the footsteps of his dad and serve a God because he had a father who was example.
SPEAKER_01: And so for you fathers, I just want to continue to encourage you.
SPEAKER_01: Choosing Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This morning I want to ask you to take up that call, male or female, child or parent.
SPEAKER_01: Let us be people who are unafraid to worship and serve God, and let's do it this morning as we stand.