The Lookout Weekly Podcast
This podcast contains the weekly messages from Church of the Lookout in Longmont, CO. The Lookout is a Spirit-filled, Christian church that is following Jesus into a life of awe-inspiring love.
The Lookout Weekly Podcast
Father's Day :: Wisdom from the Living Room 2019
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Thanks for joining us today as you listen to a portion of the message recorded at Fine Life Church in Boulder, Colorado. If you'd like to connect with us further, you can visit us online at www.finelife.com.
SPEAKER_04Okay, a lot of people may not agree, but you're just not there yet, so that's that's okay. So Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Dads. Yes, if you're a dad, can you stand up? Let's stand up if you're a father. So we bless you, we honor you for your strength, your steadfastness, your strength of character that underpins the family. So we thank you for um for being a dad. Now, stay standing. Oh no, don't sit down yet. If you have a father or have ever had a father, stand up. Okay, so that means everybody should be standing up, right? Okay, here's the deal, right? Father's Day, yeah, it's about dads. It's about our earthly dad and honoring and thanking dad, but it's also it really is about the heavenly father as well, right? So I am so thankful and glad that for the truth that the Lord is always after the deepest things in our heart, right? He's always after making us like him. And there are very few things in this world that um can access these deeper places than our families of origin, right? So you can go ahead and sit down. So here's my hope. Here's what we're gonna be uh doing today, like Bob said. We're not up here to speak to just the fathers, we're not up here to talk about how to be a better dad, but we're gonna talk about the journey of fatherhood. And all of us have a father or have had had a father, and we've had dads that have been great, we've had dads that have been absent. Maybe we never knew a father, maybe our father was not all that you needed. Maybe your father actively harmed you and and those things. So Father's Day can be really difficult too for a lot of people, and and that's something to pay attention to. So as we've been learning and in these conversations about the Lord showing up in the deepest place, I want to encourage you all this morning. First of all, we know that we have a father who loves us, right? We know that. But let's let's not shy away from or bounce out of the places that the Lord is highlighting that might feel difficult. So when you think about Fathers or Father's Day, right? What comes up in here? And let's pay attention to that, because the good news is there is a father who's good, who loves you, who wants nothing more than to meet you in those very deep, very personal, very tender, very painful, or very thankful places. So as we get into this this morning, we have a panel of some amazing men that I'm delighted to call friends and know, and um we're gonna hear from them. We're just gonna have a conversation and um and talk through some things. So as a point of honoring the place of the dad joke, I'm gonna ask each gentleman to introduce themselves and include their favorite dad joke, right? So it's gonna be name, maybe how many kids you have, and it might be nice to know like when you came to know the father and then your favorite dad joke, and we'll see which one's best. So I will I'll get things started. So my name is Mike. Most of you probably know me. I have three boys, um, Ethan, Levi, and Andrew. Hey. And they're great. I love them. They're my they're my heart. I love them dearly. I came to know the Lord when I was about six years old in a little Southern Baptist church in Lafayette, um, was baptized when I was about seven. And here's my dad joke. Are you ready? You ready for this? Okay. So a photon hurdling through space decides it needs to take a break. So the photon checks into a hotel and the bellhop says, Can I help you with your bags? And the phone photon says, No thanks, I'm traveling light. All right, Zayl, let's start with you.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04Oh, we need a mile. What am I thinking? Just talk real loud. All right, here's one.
SPEAKER_02Test. Okay, we got it. All right, my name is Dale Peterson. I have three children, Ethan, Lily, and Paul, sitting right over there. And um my faith journey started when I was a kid. I was raised in the church, but I really came to know Jesus had an overnight experience with a friend who told me about how he met Jesus at a camp, and we talked all night long, and by morning I'd given my life to Jesus. So that was my experience. Um my joke is why was Cinderella such a bad basketball player? Why? Because her coach was a pumpkin.
SPEAKER_03All right, Steve, you're up. Hi, uh, my name is Steve Jennings. Um my wife Gail and I have three children. One is here today. Very nice. Two boys, one girl, and I was saved 1981-ish. So we've been married about the same time as I've been saved, which is a good thing. Yeah. Which is a very good thing. Yeah. Um, dad joke? Yep, go for it. All right. Lay it on us. Blow our mind. Pay attention. Why did the Roman Centurion do this at Coors Field? He was ordering five beers. Yeah. Nice. It's very good.
SPEAKER_02Very good.
SPEAKER_01Yes. All right, Nate. Um, I'm Nate Swanson. Um, I have two boys, KJ and Micah. I came to know the Lord at a young age in church, um, but really came on fire with the Lord um in college. My joke is um, why do um children and grandparents get along so well together? Um because they have a common enemy. Ouch!
SPEAKER_04Ouch. Wow, that hurts. You should come up for ministry later, maybe.
SPEAKER_07All right, Mark. Hi, everybody, I'm Mark. I'm married to Karin, wonderful, wonderful woman. Um I have uh we have two boys, um, Benjamin and Joel. And many of you guys know them. Um anyway, they're a blessing to us as parents. And now for my terrible dad joke. Are you guys ready? Yeah. Okay. Now listen to the word invisible, okay? So an invisible man marries an invisible woman. And the kids weren't much to look at either. I had three jokes. Okay. One was what does the one-legged waitress where does the one-legged waitress work? IHOP. And then what did the daddy tomato say to the baby tomato or tomato? Catch up. And my wife did not like the first joke, so I would like a rating of the first, second, or third joke.
SPEAKER_04Number one. Yes, definitely. Yeah, I think only dads really uh have the say on what's a good dad joke, because everybody will say a dad joke is terrible. And what do you know? You don't know. I mean, it's dad jokes. All right, well, let's jump in because we got a lot of ground to cover, and um we're just gonna facilitate a conversation here and hear um just from each and and journey here. So um stepping into fatherhood, fatherhood, man, it's it's crazy. So if you want to um be a barber or whatever, you go through a hundred hours of training and certification, right? If you want to be a notary, you have to pass some kind of test and take uh training. But to be a dad, eh, anybody, anybody can do it, right? I mean, mostly it's like there's nothing, uh there's you're not set up necessarily to succeed, right? It's one of those things you learn as you go, and what a thing to learn as you go, because the importance of fatherhood is paramount. So, my question for you guys um in your journey of being a dad, where did you feel ill-equipped for fatherhood, and how were you or are you being supplied with all you need? Dale, let's start with your your reflections on that.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Um I've been a teacher for 23 years. I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of kids with lots of different personality types, but where I was ill-equipped as a father is just in my own family dealing with the diverse blend of personalities that God put me with is challenging. And uh I have over the years uh one way that I've dealt with that is to help uh to seek the help of a counselor. Um, God has a real sense of humor, and he I think he tends to put people together sometimes. He's probably up there laughing at uh at the way we interact with each other, but uh he puts us together, I believe, for specific reasons, and that we have something to learn from the people that he's put us with. I was wired really differently than my father, and I can see that my own children are wired in some different ways than I am, and sometimes that can be hard to comprehend. Uh so I really believe that seeking out wise counsel is essential. Um of course, uh looking into scripture, listening to the Holy Spirit, but I do believe God talks to us through other people when we seek out his wisdom. Um I was fortunate in that I got to start out my marriage in counseling, which is uh I had a my wife's parents had just gone through a divorce, and when we started dating, she said, if I'm gonna marry you, I don't want to make the same mistakes as my mom and dad. I want to try to work through that. And I was a little reluctant at first to go into counseling right away, but I was so grateful that we did for the wisdom that we got out of that experience. And um, you know, parroting in marriage can be really hard, and it's unfair and unrealistic to expect anyone to have all the answers, uh, especially considering that most of us weren't raised in perfect households with perfect parents. So I really I'm speaking to men here a lot because men often have a really difficult time seeking out help from other people. Um they look upon it as a failure if they have to go to a counselor. But I can just say that from my own experience watching members of my family, men in my family, and men for their friends of mine refuse to get any help for the problems that they have or that they're having within their families. Um, I can see the failed relationships they leave behind. And so I I've told my children you don't have to marry a perfect person because they don't exist, but find someone who's willing to get help when things go wrong. Yeah, because um that's that's pretty much the wisest counsel I can get looking at my yeah at my own experiences. So it's good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's it's you know, in in community, because we're the body of Christ, right? And we're not the Lord's not necessarily gonna give us individually, as individuals, the complete, the whole deal, right? This you know, you hold what I don't, and I carry things that you need, and and we need each other, church. We need each other to to be whole, right? We need each other to be whole. And that kind of flies in the face of Western individualism and our rugged individualism is Coloradans and whatnot, but um as a kingdom.
SPEAKER_07What else? Thoughts, yeah, Mark. Um I had a kind of similar thing to Dale in that um I struggled with um although I loved I love my dad a lot, but I struggled with with him because I I felt an expectation um over my life as a son. And um and I've learned um through having kids of my own, um the you know, they're so different. They, you know, chalk and cheese, literally, you know. Um and and and and so through that I I think um having having come to know Jesus and and come to know the Father, and the Father's heart for each of us, um and the grace that he has uh given to each of us, um, he I think wants or remind reminds me to um give grace and and bring forgiveness um where uh you know some somebody has done something um you know and uh affected affected your life or or had expectations because as a father now I probably put expectations on my children and um in my own way. And so you know we're as as you said, we're not perfect, but um where you know where we can forgive and bring grace um that's where the peace lies. Yeah um and so that you know that those things don't fester in our lives.
SPEAKER_04Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Forgiveness, you know, forgiving, having grace and forgiveness in those places for our own father of uh you know, disappointments or where you feel you're cheated out of something, you know, it's forgiveness is absolutely key. Um anybody else want to chime in on that? Okay. So along those lines, then being both a father and a son, what has impacted you? What can you speak to around the truths about sonship and fatherhood, that being a father has revealed to you truths around sonship and fatherhood?
SPEAKER_02Well, my father was a cowboy. He was an honest to goodness cowboy. He actually rode his horse to school and would tie it up and then at the end of the day ride at home. And um he he was everything that was good in a cowboy. He was decent and honest and hardworking and tough. Um but consequently I grew up with a misconception that men enjoyed riding and roping and sports and living outdoors and shooting. And John Wayne was his image of what a man is. And um all of his friends were just like him. And John Eldridge says, uh, Christian writer, masculinity is bestowed. A boy learns who he is and what he's got from a man or the company of men. He cannot learn it any other place. And so from my dad and his friends, uh, I learned that that's what being a man was. And unfortunately, I had none of those interests that my father had. And the things that his father that my father considered manly. I enjoyed drama and music and maps and working with little kids. None of those fit that um stereotype. And so consequently, I spent a lot of my childhood feeling like I didn't really measure up. Um my father was disappointed that he didn't get his son who would ride the range with him and and that would watch sports with him. And I I started to question am I really masculine enough? Do I have what it takes? And Eldridge also says that he believes that this is where Satan attacks men the most, is by whispering in their ear constantly, you don't have what it takes. You really aren't man enough. So I struggled with that, and I also began to believe that maybe the Lord was disappointed in me. I was just a bit of a disappointment to him, especially during my teen years. So I followed a career path that I thought would please my dad, and I went and got my master's degree, and I thought I was on track, and uh I went to a career counseling session with my wife, and we filled out a lot of different inventories, and the career counselors came to at the end of the session, came to up to me and said, Of all the people in the room, you're the one we're most concerned about because you're not working in where your gifts are. You love children, you love um drama, you love music, and you're not doing any of those things. And I was I was so angry because I knew they were right. Um, and I decided, well, I don't care, I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing because I've just got my master's degree. And the Lord kept saying to me, unless the Lord builds the house, you labor in vain. I kept hearing that over and over again, and so I decided I was gonna go be a teacher, and yet I had to tell my dad that, and that was I was nervous about that. And um surprisingly, when I went to tell my dad about that, because I know he associated being an elementary school teacher with uh a woman's job, he said that makes sense, and I realized at that point that my father had really come to terms with the type of man that God had given him as a son, and our relationship improved with my father, and he became proud of me for who I was and not who he wanted me to be. That's awesome. Praise God. Yeah, I would just say God by giving God by God giving me children of my own, um, he's shown me that he's not up there just feeling disappointed in me all the time. Yeah. Because when I think of my own children, I can be upset with something they do. I'm not always happy with everything they do and say, but really the feeling that I have most of the time is just a marvel. Yeah. I just wonder how amazing they are and uh how special they are, and so even though I know they're not perfect. And when God gave me children and I felt that way, I was he also gave me the revelation that he's up there feeling the same way about me. He may not be pleased with everything I do, but he's marveling at me too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. That's great. That's awesome, Dale. Yeah. Anybody else on that note? So on those lines then of expectations, it's you know, it's a thing. You grow up as a child with a father and parents knowing pretty clearly what's expected of you, what fathers expect of us, and we conversely have expectations of our own father here on earth. We expect him to either you know be home at six o'clock, or expect him to be mad if this happens, or things. Um it's really worth, I think, allowing that to ask the question, where what expectations then do we have of our Heavenly Father? What do we expect of him? Do we expect the disappointment, the places of I don't measure up? I'm not, I'm not, you know, I can't do it right the first time. So do we have expectations? What are the expectations we have? So as we as we continue the conversation, I my my hope is to to invite you into not just listening, but really engaging and participating in asking yourself the question, what do I expect of God? I mean, we know what we should expect and we have uh academic ideas of his character, but what do you actually expect of him and what do we think then conversely, as a son, his expectations are of us? So what does the father expect of you this morning? Does he expect that you're just gonna you're gonna blow it again? What does he expect of you? And what do you expect of him? So as we're in that place on Father's Day and and uh you know, these are these are places that only you and the Lord can go to, right? I can't go any further into that with you because these are places where you need to be present with the Lord and ask him, What do you what what do I expect of you and what do you expect of me? And then allow yourself to be there with him in it to hear what he has to say and to know that the good news in it is that his love is perfect. His love is absolutely perfect, and it's just what you need. It's just what you need. And he just wants to meet you right there in that place of what your expectations are of him and him knowing what what you know what he expects of you. Um Mark, we talked a little bit. You you mentioned um when we visited this week that um I brought up the question that a lot of times our family of origin father tends to often can inform how we perceive. The heavenly fathers, what we're talking about here, but that wasn't necessarily the case for you, Mark, since you were came to know the Lord at a later age. And and uh so do you want to speak to that a little bit?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, so I grew up in a loving home. Um, but my my mom's a believer, but my dad wasn't. And um uh so that kind of formed you know my my childhood. Um he was kind of a disciplinarian, and um being kind of British heritage, cricket was the big thing, you know, you need to play cricket, blah blah um which can take you know days if anybody has ever watched a cricket match. Days may take days. Anyway, as a kid, um I I could not really get engaged with that. So it was kind of some of the same things that Dale uh dialed up, but um you know when I I went to college and um I found God there and I found a loving father. I found a father with uh a heart, you know, the this this heart of God um for me and the the love that's poured out. And I I guess that's why I just love worship because um I can through worship express my heart to the Father, but also experience the heart of the Father, you know, communicating in worship and the experience uh of that is is it it liberated me, it completely changed my life. Um and you know that I I I I don't um I don't think I've had any um of my my earthly father's kind of expectations um come through from or my expectation of of the heavenly father come through from uh my experience with with my own dad. Um and maybe the whole worship worship experience has helped me um deal with some of those things. Yeah. Um because the father's heart is is is massive. It's you know it's it's over us, and it it's not only the protection and provision, but just the you know the removal of our our sin as we sang this morning, you know, Jesus paid it all. Yeah. Um what a gift.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Um so Steve, you've been a father longer than any of us, right? Um I'm not calling you old, I'm just saying you're experienced. Um You had a lot you shared that was really good around, you know, if there is one thing, if there's one thing or several things that you wish people knew about fatherhood or the hearts of fathers, and what would that be?
SPEAKER_03Just yeah, put in the You know, Mark, you talked about it twice now, the father's heart and what that means, and there's many scriptures about that, but it so resonates with me. In I think August of 2018, the Lord spoke to me very, very clearly in in a morning prayer time about the Lord wants my heart. He talked about to me the condition of my heart and what I'm accepting, what I'm reading, how I'm uh embracing that. Um, an analogy was given to me that your heart can be very pervious and the word runs through it. And your heart can be very impervious and it just runs off. And he said, I want a deeper relationship with you, and that starts with the heart, Steve, and it starts with the condition of your heart. And that's greatly impacted my prayer time, what I'm writing, what I'm doing since August of 2018. But to address this heart issue to fathers, I think what I maybe have missed as a father through time is that it really is a consistent parenting activity over the course, and this is addressing my kids are older, right? But even if I look back to when they were young, I can remember my oldest son. You know, you're trying to parent your first kid. My daughter was born, but he was the one that was talking and needed or you know, wanted attention. Many times, Mike, he would look at me and say, Daddy, look me in the eyes and don't move. I'm quoting him. And I think the lesson from that is to listen. And while you may not, and this is biblical, you may not be able to address each of the situations because mostly with children they're new to the parent. Um, that if you listen, put God's word, and use discerning heart and communicate with them, I think that's a lifetime experience. I I look at my daughter here today, and you know, it's the little things that come through. Um we had a, I don't know if it was uh it wasn't a habit, but we all we both traveled globally a lot, and we would leave handwritten notes in the bookstores of the airport in a specific book, and then we would text. This is in this book, the third book back, and it's in the middle. Wow. And it was that bonding experience with the child. Yeah, and I've got I've saved some of those, but this is from all over the world. I can name the cities, and we would pull the she would write something, and sometimes she would say, Now, if this isn't my dad, I hope you're blessed anyway. Long story short, I think the consistency over time is what has been important to me in dealing with my children. I'm not always equipped with that, but with the right heart condition, and it's never static. It's it's a growth process for the father and for the children. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Can you expound on that a little bit? Like what over the years, what has changed and what has remained constant as you've gone from the babies to the toddlers to now uh adults and as a father?
SPEAKER_03I think the love that a father has for their children never changes or shouldn't change. And that's the biggest constant. Yeah. That I may love them in little different ways, but the core love of a father to their children doesn't change for me. It just doesn't change. And I think the Lord and growing closer to him just makes that better. It's reflecting the father's love into my children. And no, I'm not perfect. Yeah, right. But that's that's what I think is the consistent thing is that love of the children reflecting the father's love scripturally.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Um so Nate, we uh we were talking, you had a lot of um scenario. Use both. Double loud. Um being a father, being a husband, being a man, a big challenge is around the places of identity, specifically around our ability to whether it's provide or our identity found in the work that we do. You know, one of the first questions men ask each other when they first meet is, oh, what do you do? You know, as if that's what defining you, right? I mean, it's what? What why do we ask each other that? You know, but that's what we ask. And it's I think it's uh it's a little revelator that that's a lot of what our identity is tied up in is oh, what do you do? And there's all the societal just bombardment of, you know, you need to have this kind of car, you need to have this type of lifestyle, and as the man, as the husband, it's really incumbent upon you. Your level of success as a father, as a husband is directly proportional to your ability to provide or to have this kind of lifestyle that society says you should have or that maybe you want, which is fine too. But but there's a kingdom reality that says none of that matters. None of that matters, right? So how do you guys, and Nate Allah, you speak to it first, how do you care for your identity, right? Not being found in work and ability to provide, but being rooted in the place of sonship with the Lord. So how do you care for that? Like how do you speak to that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so for me, I guess it's it's it's a lot of just reminding me of just the the simple basic truths of why I'm here and why I'm doing what I'm doing, and to remind myself, you know, what's really important. Because it's really easy to just sort of lose that as, especially when stress hits or when busyness hits, to just be focused right in the present tense of things and not being uh reflectant of uh what your heart posture is. Um so for me and my story, uh I don't know if some of you guys can relate to this, but um sometimes I was subject to uh a household where it was um don't touch my stuff, don't mess with my stuff, um, this is my time, this is my space, you know, and it was over, it wasn't you know, you know, healthy boundary kind of thing, but it was more like, you know, I'm the adult, you are the child. And the can and and what's going on right now is based on a dividing point based on that, you know. I I'm in there's somebody else that's an authority, and they're using that right now as a way to sort of, maybe in a very subtle way, to um to put me in my place or to keep me down, or when it's discipline, it's it's not necessarily for my good, it, but it's for the relief or the health of whoever is disciplining me. And to to turn that around and to be a father, it's to remember, you know what? Um you know, the Bible says, you know, on the day of judgment, you know, there's gonna be gold, silver, and precious stones, and there's there's gonna be things that burn up. And for me, it I can't think of any other place in my life where it's more obvious when I am seeding into the valuable stuff that will stay versus stuff that's gonna be burning up. You know, when I come home and and I'm using my authority, my God-given authority as a parent to do things for my benefit at the expense of my children's benefit, I mean, I don't need necessarily a Bible to tell me that there's not a whole lot of good things to say about that, even if it's you know legally within my power to do so, because that is you know who God has set me in in uh to be. But when I am choosing to lay that down and to realize all that I have is an opportunity to give it to my children, you know, there again, I I can feel the weight of the worth, and I can feel God smiling upon me. Yeah. And I feel like, hey, I just did something good right now. Yeah, and nobody can take that away from me now. I'm gonna hold that in my heart, I'm gonna remember that, and when I look back upon these days, I'm not gonna feel a sense of regret.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_07Anyone else? Mark? Yeah, I I was just thinking as you were saying that, um what a what a privilege that we have as parents uh and as uh humans. You know, God gives us the capability to meet somebody and to have children, and yet we are his kids. Yeah. So we're we are creators, but he is the creator. And but he allows us to experience all of these things. That's the amazing thing about God. Um, so that you know, we experience our own fathers, we become, you know, a father. Um and so I think God gives wisdom through his word. You know, he says, pray, pray for wisdom. And um in bringing up kids, you certainly need wisdom because each of us are all so different. And um but that modeling of the father, you know, all the way through life is just uh amazing if you think about it. And we we go through life sometimes not thinking about it. Right. You know, these new babies that are are born in our church body, they're just starting out and they have this whole thing to learn. It's a it's a learning experience, as you say, Nate. Uh what a privilege to engage with a father, to um be first of all a child of God, but also a father, and to s to have that uh uh ability and capability to s to direct uh another life in the best way that you can. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes good and sometimes not so good. Yeah, right. Praise the Lord, you know. Amen.
SPEAKER_04Anybody else on that? Yeah. So as we wrap up, um Mark, don't jump on the keys and do that. We'll do that. Um another thought or question. So being a father, um you know, it's a special thing where you do get to get a glimpse of of the Heavenly Father, his heart for us, right? For the way you look at your own kids with love that says, I would absolutely lay my life down for you. And um, you know, it's a beautiful thing to actually have an experiential understanding of that type of love that I didn't experience before having you know my first, second, and third child. And they are they are very different, and it's crazy it's just crazy. You love them, of course, equally, but each one needs something different. And it's tough being uh imperfect person, you can't love them perfectly, you can't give them everything you need. And um so uh can we just say fathers, you're you're free from the expectation of perfection. Okay, you can't be perfect, you can't, you can't do it. You can't measure up to 100% of what your children need, you can't do it, right? But with the grace of the Lord, with praying for your children, with giving your kids to him so that he can love them perfectly, there's where it comes together. And then places like Dale spoke to where we need each other, right? And I think as men, we're we're more our default is to go it alone. Nope, this is my deal, this is my problem, this is on me to solve it. Reaching out is a sign of weakness, and that's just alive from the pit of hell, right? We're the kingdom, we are the body of Christ. We need each other. So that's um that's a thing. God help us there. Um with that, I know we didn't really talk about this much, but is there just any final thought on the father's heart and you being a father? And is there just a last thing you'd like to share about what you've come to experientially understand about the father's heart and the father's love?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, again, it's the father's heart, but if I can encourage anybody in anything, it's that your children do love you and they I think will always love you. I was in the basement going through some old photos and I found files of what the kids had written when they were in their grade school year, or kids, you know, yeah, whatever, four through ten, four through twelve. And they were raised in the church, they were homeschooled a couple years, but my point is when I went back and read those, the heart of my kids, all three of them, that wrote these notes to my wife and I, either for birthdays or for father's days, it it just always remember your kids love you. Yeah, that's because the father loves us. Yeah. And I'm convinced of it. Amen. That's good.
SPEAKER_01Um, I would say that one of the greatest ways that I've learned about God in a more deeper way has been through the process of learning how to be a father according to God's ways. So like when you when you come to know the Lord, it's you know, God is it's it's the you know, God's over here and He's pouring out on you the recipient. He's the Father, you're the Son, and it's it's a very it's a one-way kind of transaction to where, you know, okay, God, you've forgiven me all my sins, you've paid for everything, and it's wonderful, and I'm so thankful. But at the but at the same time, it's just it's so different, you know, it's so in some ways of a foreign thing to where I'm sure glad that you're you are that way, but why? Why are you that way? Like that doesn't make any sense, you know, from any sort of accounting standpoint. That just seems like a completely almost foolish transaction to pay it all and to pour yourself out to an individual to our people that may or may not return what is due. You know, it it's it's such a backwards kind of thought. But when you become a father, it's it's like you you're you're invited to you know the other side of the table and you can stand shoulder to shoulder with God and you get to experience reality in the way that he experiences it. You see the worth and the enjoyment in the same way that he experiences it when you are in the process of pouring out and giving out in the way that he would. And you know, the the thing about fathers is it's not the understanding of why fathers are fathers, and the way that our fat Heavenly Father is a heavenly father, it's not just like a one-word sentence just to know. It's a reality that you have to experience it. Yeah, and there's no substitute for it because there's nothing to compare it to. It's it's like in the way that God is holy. You can't, there's no comparison, you have to experience it for what it actually is.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Amen. Dale, anything from you? Good? All right. Um so, guys, as we wrap up here, um Mark has a song, he's gonna uh play a song, and this isn't gonna be like we're all gonna sing along, but I'd like to invite you into the a contemplative place as we think about Father's Day and we think about whether we are a father or all of us. The one thing we all have in common is we've all had a father or have a father. We've all been fathered to various degrees, right? So let's let's just, while Mark plays and and sings, um let's be intentional too. Let's go into that place with the Lord, let's see what comes up and know that the father wants to meet you there in places of either, you know, whether it's disappointment or places of thankfulness. If you had a dad that was just amazing, praise God. Give him thanks for that. If your dad has has passed away, you know, that's that's okay. Give God thanks, you know, for the father that you had. Um but let's meet him there, right? Let's meet the father there and find how he can make with his perfect love all things right. He's the supplier of all things, he's the supplier of all goodness and everything we need. Um, so Mark, if you want to start playing, and I'd like to read um, let me read this over you. So if you could just close your eyes, put out your hands and read. I'll read this, read it over you. Change it just a bit. The Lord is my father. I shall not want. He causes me to lie down in green pastures, and my father leads me beside still waters. My father restores my soul. You lead me in the paths of righteousness for your name's sake, and even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you, my father, are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You, Father, prepare a table before me in the presence of the enemies of my soul, and you anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows. Surely, my father's goodness and my father's mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell with my father in his house forever. You accept us, Lord.
unknownThank you, Father.
SPEAKER_06I have heard so many songs. Listen to a thousand tongues, but there is one that sounds above them all.
