When Dad Lives a W.E.L.L. Life*

Godly fatherhood is more than providing, protecting, or being present at important moments. Pastor Chris Teien explains how fathers, grandfathers, and spiritual mentors can shape future generations by worshiping God, encouraging others, learning His ways, and loving like the heavenly Father. See how a W.E.L.L. life can help dads lead their families toward faith, wisdom, forgiveness, and lasting hope in Christ.

In This Message

1. Dads Are Worshipers
   (Joshua 24:14–15; Philippians 3:10; 2 Timothy 1:12; Psalm 32:8)
   A godly father begins by choosing to serve the Lord and place God first. This section emphasizes that worship shapes a dad’s priorities, trust, decisions, and spiritual leadership in the home.
2. Dads Encourage Others to Become Worshipers
   (Romans 1:16; Psalm 91:14; Philippians 4:13; Philippians 4:19)
   Fathers can help children and others learn to trust God, follow Christ, and step out in faith. Pastor Chris highlights the importance of encouragement, guidance, and helping young people discover God’s strength and provision.
3. Dads Learn Godly Living
   (Deuteronomy 6:5–7; Exodus 20:5–6; Ephesians 6:4)
   Dads are called to keep learning God’s Word and pass it on through both instruction and example. This point addresses the need to break unhealthy family patterns, discipline wisely, and avoid provoking children to discouragement or anger.
4. Dads Love and Provide
   (Matthew 7:7–11; Galatians 4:5–7; John 1:12; Romans 8:15–16; Colossians 3:13)
   God shows perfect fatherly love by providing, guiding, adopting believers as His children, and affirming their place in His family. The sermon closes by encouraging fathers to reflect that love through time, care, forgiveness, provision, and a Christlike example.

Helping you apply God's Word and follow Jesus in everyday life. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church  Find episode transcripts at Well.faith 

Transcript

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Chris T 0:16

So uh I hope I don't talk too fast because when I get excited, I talk fast. Plus, sometimes I feel like I want to share a lot of stuff, and I feel like we're playing beat the clock, see if I can get it all in. But there's all sorts of things that I wanted to say that I won't be able to. So everybody, every father, family person here, um probably enough for every adult here, uh, I've got this booklet that I printed out called Fatherhood Making a Lifetime of Difference. And in there are famous quotes, Bible verses, and statistics on the importance of dads. So I want you to take those before you leave, or maybe we'll even pass them out at the end. I don't know, but I don't want you to have them now because then you'll be reading it instead of listening to me. And I prepared a lot for this, so it might be worth listening to. So they should say you shouldn't preach anything if you're not passionate about it. If it doesn't excite you, you shouldn't you shouldn't bother you know sharing it unless you have to. And then you should find a way to be excited about it. But I'm excited about this. We talked about living well lives. We always talk about living well lives. Uh, before it became super popular, I mean it's like everywhere now. The chiropractor wants you to live a well life, the grocery store wants you to live a well life. And every time you see that, think, oh well, well, worship, encourage, learn, and love. That's what well means to us. And really, that's a good thing for a church to be about, to have people that live well lives, to have people in the church that want to reach other people to live well lives. Uh, we say to the other people on the outside, we say encouraging, because non-church people don't want to be evangelized. They think that's kind of scary, like you're gonna yell at them with a megaphone or something. But we want to we want lost people to come to Christ. We want religious lost people to come to Christ. So worship, evangelize, encourage, learn love. All right. Well, wouldn't it be great if we all enjoyed fathers who lived well lives? Wouldn't it be great if the fathers that we have, or if we are fathers, if we would live lives that focused on God, where we worshiped God? Uh it seems that kids, that young people want fathers. I mean, listen to this, okay? A recent Craigslist ad gained internet fame after a group of friends in their 20s posted a request for a generic dad to do barbecue burgers and hot dogs at an outdoor party. The ad listed several dad-like activities as desirable, including grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, referring to all attendees as big guy, chief, sport, champ, etc., and talking about dad things like lawnmowers, building your own deck, Jimmy Buffett, etc. Additional requirements included a minimum of 18 years experience as a father, 10 years' experience grilling, and a preferred name like Bill, Randy, or Dave. After the ad went viral, the group of organizers admitted that their true hope was that Bill Murray would respond to the ad. So here are these people, I don't know what their deal is without inviting their real dad or whatever, but they're like, hey, let's like have a dad barbecue, but we don't have a dad, so let's hire one off of Craigslist and uh hopefully will fit what our hopeful expectations and requirements are. Uh on the other hand, another article says that the young people today, between 18 and 34, aren't really interested in becoming dads. That marriage and family is not on the top of their list. It says that they uh see life transitions, uh very important, uh ranked in level of importance. Uh completed formal schooling, 62%. Everybody wants to do that. Be unemployed full-time, 52%. That was high on their priority list. Why is it only 52%? Why isn't it more than that? Capable of supporting a family financially, 50%, financially independent from parents, 43%, no longer living in parents' house, 26%, getting married, 12%. So here, these young people they want to be independent, they want to do all this stuff on their own, but marriage, family, having kids is like on the bottom of the list. They don't necessarily see that as something that they want to do. But the weird thing is, is if you get, if you get, I mean, anybody can become a father. So if you get some guy with loose morals that's, you know, willing to do whatever he wants with whoever, and some girl that's willing to go along with it, uh, no real requirements there, uh, you get those two together, and a baby can come, and then all of a sudden choose the mother, and he's the father. Hopefully they'll keep the child, but there was no qualification, there was no training, there was no interview process, the child didn't get to choose the parents. So they go through this whole thing, and so these two people who obviously lacked morals and self-control all of a sudden have a baby on the way, and what do they do? How will that child turn out? Well, don't raise your hand if you're one of those children, but I am. And so I was a surprise, and parents got married because they thought it was the right thing to do, and it totally changed their lives uh as far as their expectations and things. And sometimes uh God gets a hold of us and uh uses us and transforms us into what we need to become as we step up to the fatherhood plate and we we take the bat and we hope that we don't strike out, and we do the best we can and we keep praying, God help us. Uh, some of you didn't expect to be fathers and you are. Others of you prayed and prayed and prayed to become fathers, and God blessed you with children, and some of you wanted to become fathers and and haven't. But so there's really no qualifications for uh your dad to become a dad. And what's really fun is if you look at pictures of your dad and mom before they had you, uh, especially if you're the oldest child, you might look back and go, wow, they were just kids. Wow, they were so young, oh, they were so little. I mean, how it's like babies having babies. And there isn't a qualification for parenthood, but there is a great opportunity for the church to do some great training in the young people to get them prepared to be parents, to train them and teach them of why they should wait to get married, and then after they're married, when they become parents, how to raise godly children and where resources are. That right now media service that we have has lots of different videos that are helpful for parenting skills and things like that. We want to help in that. But there's an interesting passage in Ezekiel 22, and it kind of talks about where our culture is headed now. The world without God is going to continue to roll on and be worse and worse. In Ezekiel 22, verse 6, it talks about the sins of Jerusalem. It said, Every leader in Israel who lives within your walls is bent on murder. Fathers and mothers are treated with contempt. Foreigners are forced to pay for protection. Orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed among you. You despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest. People accuse others falsely and send them to their death. You are filled with idol worshippers and people who do obscene things. Men sleep with their fathers' wives, and force themselves on women. With your walls live men who commit adultery with their neighbors' wives, defile their daughters, and it goes on, it gets worse. But anyway, it says, There are hired murderers, lone racketeers, extortioners everywhere. They never even think of me in my command, says the sovereign Lord. So it's really, really bad. So then it talks about the sins of Israel's leaders, and it comes to verse 30. And God says, I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so that I would not have to destroy the land, but I found no one. And so then God is going to pour out his wrath because of their sin. It talks about their sin, and God is searching for someone. And I would like to say that a father can be a someone who can help in this situation, because if the children are taught at home how to live moral, godly lifestyles, then they're able to carry that wherever they go, to their own families, to the place that they work, to the communities that they live. That will start to change society. It starts in the home and then it affects the community, eventually the state and the nation. It all starts at home with fathers that step up to the plate or people that fill in the father role when there isn't a father there. So God is looking for someone, and fathers are to be people like that. To be righteous, to live for God, to be worshippers, encouragers, learners, and lovers. Joshua chose to be a dad that worshipped God. With all of the opportunities that he had, he proclaimed his allegiance to the Lord. And he says in Joshua 24, 14, So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshipped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods, Malji, of your ancestors? Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. Now we are not chasing after false little gods and idols, but will you pursue money? Will you per pursue sports? Will you pursue fame? Will you uh be so enthralled in all the stats and sports and everything in sports that you won't have any time for God because you got your fantasy football stuff or all this other stuff that consumes all your time? Will you chase after money thinking that there's true security in money? Because there's really not. There's true security in God. The money that you've stored up could disappear quickly. It could all fly away quickly. Joshua chose to be a dad that worshipped God. He proclaimed, Me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And would you do that today? So, dads that are worshipers. It's great when you have a dad that was a worshiper before he became a dad, someone that accepted Christ at an early age and saw in Scripture and was taught how to be a godly father, how to be a godly man, had the principles and ideas of what he's supposed to be doing and how he's supposed to be doing it. It's one thing to know what you're supposed to do, it's another thing to pull it off consistently, day after day after day. And I think that just about every dad feels that they're not sufficient, that they don't do enough, that they don't measure up. Uh, but you shouldn't quit. You shouldn't stop trying. You should keep pursuing that. Ask God for help, ask God for wisdom. Dad, a dad's worship is a desire to know Christ. I mean, there's a lot of things dads want to know about uh home repair, uh how to keep that lawn grow growing, how to help their kids in school and sports and all these other things, but dad's worship is a desire to know Christ. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to, and then it says they even want to suffer with him, sharing in his death. So to say God first, family second, to say that I want to live for the Lord and then he can help me to get through life. The alternative is for you to live for your kids and to not have time for God. The alternative is to work all the time and try to provide all the money you can to give your kids things, but not spend any time with God. And at the end of your days, you'll look back and wish that you had a different strategy that you wish that you would have put God first. Because you always come out ahead when you put God first. But dad's worship is a desire to know Christ. Dad's worship is trusting in God's ways. 2 Timothy 1 12. Paul's in prison, he's suffering. Uh he says, I'm not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. So he puts God first. Paul puts God first. He was a spiritual father to Timothy. I don't know if I don't think he had any of his own children, but still, if you put God first in your time, in your relationships, it will affect your family. If you show that you have a trust in God, hopefully that will be contagious and it will spread to your children, and they will trust in God during the difficult times, during the hard times. And even the good times. You know, some of the most dangerous times in your spiritual life is when everything is good. When you have all that you need and everything's comfortable, then it's often a time where people stray away from their reliance on the Lord. Dad's worship brings God's guidance and protection. The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. There's been so many times that we've cried out to God and asked for help and insight and direction and for doors to open or for things to be given or provided, and God has guided and directed. So as a dad worships God, God can give that dad direction and insight for his family. It's true for mothers too, but put God first. God can guide you and give you wisdom and how to how to do the right thing at the right time, or how to avoid landmines, how to do the right things. Uh, with your family, too, the right choices to make. How should you school them? How should you encourage them in a career or not? But should you do how should you do it? Every kid is different, too. So you can get parenting books, and they often say, Well, there's four types of kids. You know, you got these four types of kids, and this is what you do with the four different types of kids, and then you look at the book and go, Well, wait a second. Uh, my kids, not any of those four. No, my kids like maybe a number five or number six, or there's a there's a new model of kid, and he's in my house. Uh, what do I do? And then you pray for guidance and help through that. Dads encourage others to become worshipers. When a man truly loves God, when a person truly loves God, uh, hopefully it will be contagious. And they will share that with others. They will say that I have this great gift, I know God, and He is working in my life, and why wouldn't I want to share that with you, with family, friends, neighbors, uh, co-workers? Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the good news about Christ. It's the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes that you first and also the Gentile. Paul says that I'm not ashamed of it, and we shouldn't be ashamed of it either. If you read all of Psalm 91, you'll see lots of messianic promises, but also promises for us. A conditional promise that says, if you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the most high your shelter, and you can read some of those things, but one of them, verse 14, says, I will rescue those who love me, and I will protect those who trust in my name. So we want our kids to become Christ's followers. We want our grandkids to become Christ's followers. We want to do what we can to guide and to direct and encourage them in that. Dads encourage others to become worshipers. Dads encourage strength and reliance. When a young person is going through life, often they wonder, you know, how can they do these things? How can how can I if I try this, what if I fail? How can I be successful in life? And often dads want to encourage and you know get their kids to step out and to try new things because you can never know if you're going to be successful at something if you don't try it. You never know if you're going to be able to do great things if you don't, if you're not pushed sometimes to do it. Sometimes you'll take a child and you'll kind of push them in a situation that they didn't necessarily want to do, and then all of a sudden they find out that they have a skill or they really like doing that thing they didn't think they wanted to do. So sometimes dads need to like not push so much, like thinking that your kid needs to be the best athlete on the team, or that because you were good in sports, your kid's going to be good in sports, or because you were good at math, your kid's going to be good at math. You know, you gotta kind of figure that out. But sometimes as you encourage and push a kid kindly, lovingly, uh, sometimes they'll do so much more than they ever thought they could do because of your encouragement. And God does that with us. He tells us to step out in faith, he tells us even in Malachi that when we give, that we can test him and see if we're faithful in giving, if God won't bless us back and provide for us. But Philippians 4.13 says, I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. And Philippians 4.19 says the same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. So we focus on a relationship with Christ. We focus and we walk with Christ, and God provides, and God can empower and help us to even be successful. Dads encourage godly living. So we're told in Deuteronomy that we're supposed to encourage our kids in the Lord. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, all your strength. So this is how a man is supposed to live, and a woman too, but dads are supposed to be focusing on Christ, and you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I'm giving you today. And so you love God, you're committed to what you're learning in God's word, and then you tell them, you repeat them again and again to your children. You talk about them when you're at home and when you're on the road, when you're going to bed, when you're getting up. So you focus on those things and keep talking about the things of God and encouraging your kids because so much more is caught than taught. And if you were to look at the Ten Commandments, you would see a list of things that we are to do, that we are to teach. Interestingly, in Acts 20, verse 5 through 6, it talks about uh worshiping false gods and that God is a jealous God. And then he says, I lay the sins of the parents upon the children, the entire family is affected, even the children in the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. And that creates kind of a problem there because does that mean that if my grandfather was sinful, that I'm stuck paying for his sins? Do I have to be punished and go through life and these difficulties because of something someone else did? Is that what God is saying? I think that, you know, back in that time there was a generational curse on the Israelites for following false gods. But if you want to break any curse, uh any generational thing in your life, you need to come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. You need to confess your sin and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, and the Bible says that you're a new creation, and I think that sets you free from any of those things. But a real practical way that this works is that if your grandfather was an alcoholic or disrespectful, um, if he was physically or verbally abusive, um, if you come from a family of gluttons or idolaters, uh greedy people, all of those things can be passed down. So if you're if your grandpa disciplined a certain abusive way, and then your dad learned it, and then he became a dad, and he's like, I don't really know how to discipline, but this is what my dad did to me, so I'm gonna do it to you. And then you realize that wait a second, this isn't right, this isn't a good way to discipline. So you stop, you confess that is wrong, you change your behaviors, you read parenting books and learn the right way to do it, and you break that chain. You stop from today, and you move forward and say, This is what was done to me, but I'm not doing that anymore. This is the way they did it, but there's a better way. I'm choosing God's way, I'm choosing the right way. So uh think about that. What is it that you're doing or has been done to you that you might be doing on autopilot? There's probably something dysfunctional in your parenting that you want to fix, that you want to change, that you want to stop. Don't just say, Well, that's the way it's always been done. That's the way my grandpa did it to my dad, my dad did it to me. Stop. Change. All right, it's amazing how fast time goes. All right, so dads are encouragers of following God's will. Uh, your kids want to know what God's will is, so they want to always take the Bible and read it for themselves. So you need to guide them and direct them and help them through. But dads can be discouraging too. Dads can be discouraging in the ways that they talk to their kids, in the way that they affirm or don't affirm their kids. We can have some dads that give everything to their kids, but they don't give time. They say, Here's, here's, I love you so much, I bought you this, I bought you that. It's like I gave you a big house and a pool and I bought you new cars when you turned 16. I bet you love me. And they would have liked some of their dad's time. I'm sure they like the other stuff too, but they would have really appreciated some of their dad's time. But dads need to learn. Dads need to learn to show compassion. Dads need to learn to discipline. Dads need to learn not to push too far. Actually, it says in Ephesians 6, 4 that fathers don't provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with a discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. So that means don't push so much that they just give up. Don't push so much that they just quit. Yesterday, in the background on the this TV show going, and it was talking about the rivalry between the uh Los Angeles Lakers and the Celtics. And so it I noticed that the Celtics coach, this is like back in the 70s, 80s, but the Celtics coach thought that players would play better if they were angry, so he would constantly yell at them and taunt them. But eventually that fell on deaf ears. And um, that can happen to your kids too. If you ride them so hard that they say you're impossible to please, why do I even try? They will just give up. So don't push too far. And children learn from dad's examples, which is a good thing and a bad thing. You uh could be giving an example of dishonesty, of uh greed, of things that shouldn't be done, or you could be giving a great example on what should be done, uh, how to respect a person, how to care for people, how to act towards others, how to be respectful, those types of things. Uh kids are watching you to see if what you do what you say, and also watching you learning things that you might not even know that you're teaching. So be aware. Dad should be learning about that. A son often becomes the moral image of his father. If you look in the Bible, in the Old Testament. Testament and said, Asa did right in God's sight, and Jehoshaphat walked in his father's way. That was a good thing. Jehoram worked evil in God's sight, and Ahaziah did evil like his father. That's not good. Rehoboam forsook the law, and Nadab followed his father's example. Amri worse than any preceding was worse than any preceding king, but then Ahab was worse than any king preceding him. So your kids could be coming better or you or worse than you. Which one do you want? Amaziah did right in God's sight. Uzziah followed in his father's steps. That's where I want to be. I saw this, I thought it was clever. It talks about uh the memories of a father, how they are sacred to children. F is for the fun we had together, A is for his anxious care for me, T is for his tender consolation, H for home he made dear to me, E is for the earnest counsel he gave to me, and R is for the right I see in him. F-A-T-H-E-R. So I feel really guilty of this sometimes because I'm always busy and things like that too, but I know that kids often spell love T-I-M-E. And so spending time with your kids often shows that you love them and care for them. And we need to focus on ways to do that. And love is spelled time, but love also provides. If a father wants to provide for his children, the Bible says if a father doesn't provide for his family, he's worse than an unbeliever. And God provides. Everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds, and everyone who knocks, the doors will be opened. So it talks about prayer. And we should focus on God. And we should ask for things. So there's probably things that we don't have because we didn't ask. There's things that we couldn't find because we didn't ask. We didn't ask the Lord to help us. We didn't ask for the door to be opened, so God did not open it. And then a couple of verses down, Matthew 7 7, 11. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him? So God is a loving provider. He cares about you, he loves you, he even adopts you as one of his own dear children. Galatians 4 5 says, God sent Jesus to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of a Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out Abba Father. Now it's interesting that back in that day, that the word adoption means to place as a son. And back in that day, uh the Roman law said that once you are adopted, you couldn't be unadopted. The adopted son was adopted permanently. He cannot be adopted today and disinherited tomorrow. He became a son of the father forever. He was eternally secure as a son. The adopted son immediately had all the rights of a legitimate son in the new family. The adopted son completely lost all rights in his old family. The adopted son was looked on, looked upon as a new person, so that the old debts and obligations connected with his former family were canceled out and abolished as if they never existed. And God loved you so much, he adopts you as a son. John 1 12 says, To as many as received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right for them to become children of God. And finally, we are loved and affirmed as God's child. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's spirit when he adopted you as a son, as his own children. Now we call him Abba Father, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. This is how much God loves you. This is how much God cares for you. He shows what it's like to be a heavenly father. And if we have opportunity, we should be fathers like that. And if we don't have any kids, maybe we can fill that role. Mothers are important too. We talked about mothers and mothers. They were talking about fathers today. But many of these same principles can be applied to mothers and even just people that care trying to help other people, especially children, grow in the Lord and in their relationship with the Lord. Now you might be sitting there saying, That sounds all great, but my dad wasn't that way. My dad wasn't perfect. My dad didn't do this or that, or you know, um maybe you need to forgive your dad. Remember now that if your dad was young, you know, he probably had no idea what he was getting into. Maybe he didn't even plan to get into it, but they kept you and tried to do the best they could to raise you. And maybe they weren't perfect, and maybe they had lots of family dysfunction and everything. Um, but life is really a long time. So if you know they're 70, 80 years old, uh, wouldn't it be great to let some of that stuff go? Colossians 3.13 says, make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Um maybe you can't forgive your dad in person because he's not here anymore, but maybe you could just in prayer uh talk about that with with the Lord and just let that go and uh move forward trying to remember any of the good things of the attempts. Um I posted on my Facebook thing a repost from I Am Second, but it's the story of a dad or grandpa was so terrible that it impacted dad in the way that dad looked at his dad and said, Well, he was really messed up. I know I can do better than this, and then changed the way that he was and the way that he treated his kids because he realized that his dad had messed up. Grandpa was really messed up, and God changed my life and made me different, and I want to treat you this way, and made a change and was thankful for the fact that my dad was not my dad, but this person's dad was so messed up it actually helped this person to become a better family man. So actually, my dad gave great sacrifices to get custody of me when I was young, and uh, so anyway, but he wasn't perfect, and I surely am not perfect either, but love can forgive.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

This is for all the dads who give all they've got and everything they are for their families. You know who you are. Every time you hear the word dad, father, pop, sir, and even hey, you get it. So from all of us, thank you that you crack up. You're always there to open up. Do you even attempt to hold up? As the world changes around you, you do your best to keep up. You daddy hold up. Do you know it's what it means to man up and make the time to catch it up? And in the most ordinary of days, in the most ordinary structure of things you take the time to look up and count your blessings. We may not say it enough, but we are better because you prey up. And as we grow up, you dad, choke up. And when we seem to be at our lowest low, you even help us keep our chin up. You're there for the checkup and the cleanup, and you take the time to listen up and read up. So, Dad, thanks. Thanks for showing love, for teaching right from wrong, for being willing to go the extra mile. You surrender the comforts of doing things halfway. You prayed for us night and day. You stepped up to be your best many times when we were at our worst. As life goes on, we know there will be troubles in this world, but we won't fear. We will hold our heads high and be of good cheer because you showed us the one who has overcome the world when you showed us Jesus. So, Dad, thank you.