[0:09] Good morning. Well, good morning. Good morning, all of you. Good to see you this morning. I think they're expecting another super hot day today, and I'm going back into the Caribbean.
[0:25] It was cooler down there than it is here, but we're back. Glad to be here and be back with you. Robin can't be here today. Her mother's in the hospital, so she's with her and just be praying for her. They got bronchitis and bad ear infection, and now they think the preacher, Papa, whatever you want to EC, whatever you want to call him, he's got my habit, too, so just be praying for them.
[0:51] And Robin is good to see you again this morning and happy Father's Day to all the fathers. Everybody a father here that knows your father. I guess it was good. Happy Father's Day to you. I'm trying to get my mind going again here and get back on track.
[1:13] We got in last night a few announcements. Adult outing on June the 25th. There's a sign up sheet in the back if you're interested in that, doing that and getting a spot on the bus. So the 25 June, which is what? Next Saturday is coming Saturday, so it's just right around the corner.
[1:35] So today's the day, I guess if you want to get a spot on the bus, you need to sign up on the sign up sheet. We are getting ready for vacation Bible school. It'd be July 10 through the 13th. There's some flyers on the back table. There's a sign up sheet for volunteers.
[1:54] We need volunteers desperately to do that. So if you can sign up for that, that would be great. Also, they're going to do not are you going to do a meal or just snacks? Finger food. Snacks.
[2:09] So if you would like to do what yeah, if you'd like to sign up for that back here, there's a sheet back there. So it's finger food snacks that we're going to do. And if you want to help with that or help volunteer, we'll need all the help we can get and sign up this evening. Tiffany or Paula, if you want to know what to do, what area you'd like to fit into best. So let's see.
[2:41] Children youth activities Wednesday night or cancel will resume in August. Just the children use as adults still meeting adults are still meeting on Wednesday nights, but the children use they're going to cancel until August. Vacation time and all that stuff. So we'll put that off. Anything else?
[3:06] This is June. It's not a birthday day. I've already done that. You got an announcement? Yes.
[3:13] I just want to tell you all you all know about Maria and I. Brother Walden's involved in the Christian Motorcyclist Association, and they had a big rally this past week out in Arkansas.
[3:31] They have now how much money we raise this year.
[3:39] I'm getting chicken skin. This thing about Marie's been making old banana breads typically what they say is for every dollar that we raise, there's one person that's exposed to the word of Jesus. And this year Jesus.
[4:17] No, you sure can't. Well, praise the Lord for that. That's 5.7 million people who hear the gospel of Jesus Christ if that's what they're going by. Dollar per person or $1 for every person to hear. So that's awesome.
[4:34] Thank you for sharing that. I'm trying to get back in mind where we're at with everything, so I don't know that there's any announcement. Miss Miley, keep her in your prayers. You're doing better this morning.
[5:00] Lord, I got the message I guess Tiffany had sent me. I had to get special messages on the boat that everybody through messenger and not text doesn't work. But Miley may be in congestive heart failure, but we pray the Lord this morning is not congestive heart failure. It's probably just a reaction to the medicine.
[5:22] She's retaining a lot of fluid.
[5:29] She had told me last night that they took pictures of her heart and they said it looked really good. And so the thing is, primarily because of the medication making retain so much fluid, but just keep her in your prayers as she goes through. This all look good. All right, well, just if you keep Miss Mild in your prayers and like I said, Robin's mother and father and keep him in your prayers and anyone else that everybody else is doing good. I'm trying to catch up, so I got several messages when we got in.
[6:09] And pray for Clan's dad. He's still being chemo, radiation for cancer. It's pretty rough on him. He's really having a hard time with it. So you know how that goes.
[6:25] It takes a lot out of you, so just keep breathing in your prayers and anything else, announcements wise. Everybody happy to be here this morning? Happy the air conditions working. Amen.
[6:40] Can just make sure it stays down low enough. All right. The buildings come along good. If you haven't seen it's open, they're putting up some sheet rock. So we're praising Lord for that.
[6:52] You can go in and actually see the size of the rooms now, and it's starting to take shape a little bit and getting closer every day. So we praise the Lord for that. And as he supplies the need, just being prayers for that as we go through this, funds are needed, but as we get them, we'll do a little more and we'll just keep on keeping on until it's all done. So we're really excited about that. I don't have a whole lot of anything else if nobody else does.
[7:20] I want to thank Ms. Carol for being in for Robin today and last week. Clint, thank you for last week. I tried to watch it, but the Internet on the boat is bad. He'd say about two words and it paused.
[7:35] Two words and it paused. Well, I'll catch it later, but anyway, good to be back with you. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we just thank you for the day and we thank you for bringing us together and that we can come to worship you. I pray, Father, that you just lead and guide and all that we say, all that we do, all the songs that are sung, Lord, that you would get honor and glory and praise.
[7:58] Father, we thank you for each one that has come today. We thank you for our fathers this morning and the examples they are to us in our lives and to teach us to show us Your ways, Father. And we just thank you and praise you for each and every Father this morning. We thank you for this nation, for the freedom to come and to worship. We pray, Father, that you just continue to lead our nation and pray, Father, for revival, that our nation would come back to you, that you would just have your perfect will and your way in that.
[8:33] Once again, just want to thank you for the privilege to just come into your house together, to come to like faith and to have fellowship and to worship together. We just thank you for this opportunity this morning. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
[8:54] Let's take our hyminals and turn to page $208.
[9:51] All right, let's turn to page 43. This is an old favorite.
[10:16] All have a power of Jesus name. Let's angels frost straightforward rain for the road and crown him Lord of all and crown him Lord tell him to save you by his grace and crowd in. Lord of all let every tribes our gracious heavenly Father, as we gather in Your house today, Father, we want to thank you.
[12:58] Heavy, Father, in this building station pass it along to their kids. Father, we ask that you'll be with our pastor as he's back and brings the message. Father, we ask that he'll reach out and touch the hearts of each and every one that hears. Father, as we take up this offering, we ask that you bless it and use it for the building of Thy kingdom where it's in Your Son's holy name we do pray. Amen.
[15:19] All right, I hope I can do this because all of a sudden my sinuses have started draining and I can tell my voice is cracking. So you all just lift up a few fires, please.
[15:38] He let the splendor of heaven knowing his destiny was the only healed of God there to lay down his life for me.
[16:17] There's no stars in the sky and the sparrow can't swipe if that is in love then heavens are myth there's no feeling like this if that is enough even if he remembers heard the thief hanging by his side he spoke with love and compassion then he took him to paradise if that is in love thank you, David, and good song. Ms. Kendy is going out with the children this morning. Steve, do you want to go or do you want to stay here? He's going to stay here, okay.
[18:51] Steve said, no, don't put me out there with the kids, all right? It is good to be back, and I just appreciate the time to go and just relax and do those things and do a little studying. And I was telling Marie there's one night I was just sitting on the balcony of our room there to about 200 in the morning and just enjoying the lore, just looking out over the stars and there's a full moon glistening off the waters, and it was just so peaceful. And as I just tried to sit there and just pray and just worship and Lord, what do you want me to speak on Sunday? That just happened.
[19:37] Another one in good times, just me and the Lord. And I sit there and I don't know, I try to just, I guess, look and just compare the Lord. What do you want me to know? What do you want to show me? What you want me to learn here?
[19:53] And as I said, I just wanted to share. We have nothing to do with my message. But just as I sat there, I got to look, and the ocean is just boring and there's nothing there. It's just water forever, and it's flat with a few little waves. And every now and then you'd see one of them flying fish or a little white bird.
[20:15] I don't know how these little birds get thousands of miles out in the ocean with nothing to land on, but they do. But there's not a whole lot in the ocean. I sat there that night, and it was pretty seeing the moon on the water and stuff. But I got to thinking, the heavens are beautiful. They were gorgeous.
[20:37] I mean, in the distance there was clouds with lightning in them and you could see the reflection of the moon off of them and it almost looked like there was writing in some places in the sky. And then you look beyond that to the stars and see all the stars and galaxies and the Milky Way and all this just beautiful stuff all up in the heavens. And I got thinking, you know what that's a lot like now, here on Earth? This Earth may not seem like a whole lot to us, but our homes in heaven, what we long for is in heaven. And as I said to the Lord just sort of revealed that.
[21:17] And maybe it's just for me, but I thought that was pretty neat, just a little example that maybe he just showed me. But this is not our home. We're just passing through and there's a lot of things that trouble us. And as I got off the ship and I turned my phone off of airplane mode, it didn't anything forever, and it just seemed like message after message after message of you got bills due, coming back to reality. Molly's in the hospital, mommy's in the hospital.
[21:58] All these things like, can I go back? Can I put it back on airplane mode?
[22:06] But it's getting back to reality, getting back to life. And it just reminded me once again, this is not my home. I'm just passing through. What I'm longing for is in heaven where we won't have these troubles and we can go there one day and we never have to take it off airplane mode. We'll never get more any more bad news.
[22:25] So I just wanted to share that and maybe just encourage you a little bit. No matter how difficult things get and the troubles we go through, that's just it here because we live in a sin, cursed world. But one day that's all going to be over. So, like I said, I really had nothing to do with my message. I don't know why I want to share it, but I did.
[22:48] And I hope it was a blessing to you. But I want to talk to you this morning. Clint, you're going to have to forgive me. I don't know if you're this far yet or not. Ephesians, chapter five.
[23:02] I want to talk to you about the father or the husband being the spiritual leader of the home. Now, I'm not going to go in great detail. If you want great detail in Ephesians, chapter five, you need to come on Wednesday nights. He'll do a word by word, verse by verse, study of it. But I just want to show you some things.
[23:23] What is the father here on Father's Day? What does that mean? What are our responsibilities as fathers? What are we to do? And once again, as fathers, we worry about a lot of things.
[23:37] How am I going to pay the bills? How am I going to provide for my family? How am I going to teach? And I know a lot of us in here, most of our children are grown, so it may be a little bit difficult. But I want you to know that it still applies to you today.
[23:52] I'm learning now that as a father, I probably do more fatherly things now that my children are grown than I did when I was younger. I was busy working all the time. When I was younger, I stayed just going, costing, trying to provide and do the things I could do. And I tried to do my best to teach my children. But as younger fathers, you do stay quite busy doing things.
[24:19] And so I find as I get older, I get to spend more quality time with my children. I get to share with my children and my grandchildren more things that I think are more meaningful to life. So don't think that, well, my kids are all gone. So what Brother Kenny is talking about today doesn't apply to me. It very much applies to you.
[24:42] And in these passages of scripture, we see that the father or the husband is the head of the home. And all the men just stuck up the chest and beat their chest, right? Yeah, that's me. And said, our favorite verse is in verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband's as unto the Lord.
[25:05] We're done close the Bible, right. That's all we want to hear. And that's what a lot of men just think, yeah, I'm the head of the house, and my wife and my children are to submit to me because that's the way God made it and that's the way it should be. While you're in for a rude awakening, if that's how you believe, you are the head of the home. My preacher when I was growing up said, you may be the head, Tater, but you're not a dictator.
[25:36] You may be in charge, but you're not a dictator. Your wife was given to you a lot to work alongside with you as a helpmate to you. She's not any lesser. And women don't think I'm going to preach. I'm speaking to the men today, and you all like it, I promise, when I get done, they're not any lesser of a vessel than us.
[25:59] They're not beneath us. They're along beside of us. Man or woman was taken out a man's side to be his helpmate, to work along a side with him. But God holds the man, the father, accountable for the home. Do you all understand that when you get in and you hear the news, I'm pregnant, we're going to have a baby, some men, after you pass out and get up off the floor, are a little bit happy about it.
[26:31] Some men, like some men think, oh, this will be cool. I'm going to have a little boy, and I'm going to teach him how to play baseball, and I'm going to do all this, and I'm going to teach him how to work on cars. I'm going to teach him how to work with his hands to build, or I'm going to teach him how to count money to be an account. I want to teach all these little cute things I'm going to teach this child. And you just automatically go through your mind.
[26:54] But most men, as if you're like me, scared me to death as I began to think of the responsibilities of a father. Wow. It's no longer me and Robin anymore. If I didn't do it, she'd be okay. She had a good job, I had a good job.
[27:15] But then this little girl comes along and she's dependent on me. She's trusting me, and laid her two little boys and everything that they had, everything that they were, was what they looked to me for, and that was sobering experience to me. That was very sobering. So these chapters here talks about the father being the father or the husband being the head of the family. And wives, submit yourself to your own husband as unto the Lord.
[27:48] For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ will, let wives be to their own husbands and everything husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to Himself. A glorious church having spot not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Now flip over a page if you have to, to chapter six, verse one. He says, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right.
[28:38] Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise that it may be well with Thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. And your fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Father, as we take a few moments to study Your Word and to look at what you have for us today, I pray that you would give me the words to say that you would speak through Me the truths of Your Word and open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to receive Your message, to understand it and to be doers of that same message. We just thank you and praise you for this time we have together. In Jesus name I pray.
[29:26] Amen. Now, I told you when you're going to like this. All of us men want to beat our chest about. My wife should submit to me, right? Why would your wife submit to you?
[29:43] Well, because the Bible says so, right? Then that's why it should. If you look through this here and you look on down through there, it is an example. Verse 25. Husbands, you love your wives as Christ loved the Church.
[30:01] So first of all, I want to tell you, and I know this is not on fathers, but briefly, if you're going to be a father, you got to be a husband, right?
[30:12] So the husband loves the wife as Christ loves the church. Do you know that the marriage of a man and a woman, the home, is an example of Christ and his church? You are his bride. You are the one that he presents blameless without spot. It says out there.
[30:34] It's an example. So the Christian home, the nucleus of the family, was created in heaven by God. That's why it's so important. I believe that when God says that you keep the family, you keep the marriage pure, you keep it holy. It's so important because it's not just about you living with a man or woman here on earth.
[30:57] It's about an example to the world of what's going on really in heaven, of Christ and his bride. Of Christ and his church. And as we as a church submit to Him, he builds his church, his church grows. And so it's the same way with a husband that they get married. And as the family grows, the mother and father work together.
[31:25] They love one another, worked one another. And as the husband is in submission to the heaven, as Jesus let me get them back up a little bit. As Jesus, our husband, or we're his bride, is in submission to the Father, we're in submission to Him. So it's the same way in the family. Husbands, as you are submitted to Christ, your wife submits to you.
[31:51] Does that make sense? It's not you beating your chest. And I've heard some people say, you woman. I say, you do. That's not what this is about.
[32:03] You're not a dictator. Your wife is not going to submit to you if you are not submitted to the Lord. I need to say that again. Husband, do you want your wife to work alongside with you and submit to you as Bible teaches you? You need to be submitted to the Lord.
[32:26] It's not going to work any other way. You wonder why you're having marriage problems. You wonder why your wife and you never seem to be on the same page. I would ask you, where are you at in your walk with the Lord?
[32:41] Well, I got quiet and I didn't get any amen out of that. Guys, the women should have been saying amen, but see, if you are submitted to the Lord, your wives will want to submit to you. That's what this is saying here. That's what the Bible is teaching. It's not a dictatorship.
[33:02] It's not that women are less. It's not that God thinks women just there are some scriptures that talk about because the woman fell and all that, but it's just designed I used to call it the pecking order at the fire department. I remember when I first made officer and I went in my first place and all the guys, oh, you're captain now? You're a lieutenant now. That's great.
[33:27] That's awesome, guys. You know what that means? I'm the first one they come to to chew out when something goes wrong. That's all that means to me, guys, you are the one God goes to when there's something not right in your family. Hello.
[33:45] God holds you accountable. Not the woman, not the children. He holds the father accountable. And I would say for the women nowadays, they think that they want that place of leadership in the home. We're very much in that world and I'm not going to get into that today.
[34:04] Do you really want that place? Do you really want to answer to God for everything that's not right in your family?
[34:18] I wouldn't take it away from my husband. It's a very humbling experience to be a husband. It's a very humbling experience to be a father. God has ordained what I call pecking order. And that just means he holds the husband, the father, accountable for the family.
[34:38] And as you are seeking the Lord, as you are looking to Him, then your wife will look to you, your children will look to you. I've sort of experienced. Not that I'm anything, but I'm experiencing that a little bit in my older age. As I see me and Tiffany, she'll tell you she's too much like me. Both our heads about as hard as all the rocks out there in the ground.
[35:07] So we fought like cats and dogs as teenagers, but I found that as she gets older, she gets wiser. We spend more quality time together talking. Now, she understands. I'm understanding. And as a father, I love the times that we can spend and talk with my children to show them these things and to help them to understand things that the Lord has brought me through and showed me things.
[35:37] So as the husband submits, the family will submit. That's why it's so important for fathers. You need to understand that. You need to look at these things that God is telling us in Scripture and not just beat your chest. You're supposed to submit to me.
[35:58] How good would that work for you, Mr. Jack? Probably not too good, would it? I bet Miss Tony submits just fine.
[36:08] Still quiet over there. I'm trying to help you, sir.
[36:14] Okay, I'm going to get away from that.
[36:18] But the father and the husband to be effective in the home. Your effectiveness in the home let me just say this. You know the requirement for a pastor? The Bible calls it a bishop. I guess in one Timothy, when Paul was given instructions to Timothy about how the church ought to be run in one Timothy three, four through five, he talks about a bishop or a pastor of a church.
[36:46] He says, one that ruleeth his own house well.
[36:52] So the example of how you do your home, you ought to do it well before you ever even desire to be a pastor. Now, that hit home to me. You're talking about it was sobering to be a father. It was sobering to be a husband. It was terrifying to want to be a pastor.
[37:14] I'll be honest with you. The responsibility, not just for my family, but as I stand here and proclaim the word of God, and I tried to express to you the truth of God's word, I know my Saviors hearing every word I say. And one day I'll give an account to what I say and what I don't say. I have to answer to him, my commander in chief. I answer to him as a pastor of this church.
[37:47] And the effectiveness of what's in your home should be a requirement. It's also the same requirement for a deacon. You want to be a leader in the church, you want to be a deacon in the church. How well are you being a husband? How well are you being a father?
[38:06] Sort of sobering, isn't it? It's awful quiet here this morning. What kind of example are you leading? You can read them if you want to. Again, one Timothy, chapter three.
[38:19] It gives all of those examples, but I want to bring out that they borrow their own house. Well, does that mean you never make a mistake? Absolutely not. Does that mean you never fall flat on your face? Absolutely not.
[38:33] What that means is when you do make a mistake, when you do fall flat on your face, what do you do with it? I've always said that's what makes a Christian, you know you're going to fall you know you're going to do things wrong. But what makes a good Christians is what do you do with those wrongs? Do you go to that person to make it right? Do you confess it to your wife, to your children?
[38:54] Do you let them see that you are imperfect? Disney and my kids will tell you I am very imperfect.
[39:05] Oh, my goodness, I thought you went to children's church.
[39:11] But I do try to make it right. I do try to identify when I do make a mistake. Most of the time. Sometimes I want to do good with that.
[39:26] How well do you rule your children? How well do you rule your home? See, the scripture says here in going back to our text and Fijians as unto the Lord. That's very key. It says that when it talks about the children, it says that when it talks about the husband and the wife.
[39:46] And then also I didn't even get into it. I'll let Clint cover this for you about the service, that the head of the house is the husband, the father. He's over his wife and his children and also his servants, his whole household. Back in those days, the servants would live in a quarter just off the side of the house, and so they were very much part of the family, too. So what he was saying here is not only are you an example to your wife, not only are you an example to your children, you're an example to your service.
[40:26] Now, we don't have many service today, but we do have employees, right? We do have people that work under us. Do we show them? Are we an example to them of how we should live our lives and all these things? Our children are going to submit as our servants submit as our wives submit.
[40:50] We focus on that very much, and we beat our chest and say, yes, my wife should submit. But it's all prerequisite of the first part of chapter five. It goes to tell you that you need to be a spiritual leader so that the family would desire to submit.
[41:15] So you go back to verses one through 21. I'm sorry, Clinton, I'm getting all into your stuff here, but I'm just prepping them for your studies so they'll have a little but these are the prerequisites. Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. Now a lot of people say, oh, there it goes, you shouldn't drink and all that. I'm not going to get into that this morning.
[41:38] No, you shouldn't drink if you don't feel you should drink. And that's a whole nother. But the point of that verse is not about drinking. The point of that verse is husbands be filled with the spirit of God. That's the point of that verse.
[41:55] Be the spiritual leader God has created you and designed you to be. That's the point of that. And these are the prerequisites for a father and a husband to be spirit filled and your children and wife will want to submit to you as you are submitted to the Lord. Now, how does this work? I guess in the military, many of you have been in the military, you have a soldier and a commander and he gives a command, right?
[42:28] And the soldier submits to the command of the commander. That's the form of these words that are used here. They don't go along and say, well I don't know. The soldier says, well I don't know if I really want to do that. Let's talk this over.
[42:48] No, that's not how it works. See, the commander gives an order, the soldier submits and obese. But the reason why does the soldier submit and obey just because the commander said so? Have you ever thought about this here? No.
[43:09] It's because his commander said so. And if you go above that commander, you have the President of the United States who said so. And if that's not good enough, the President of the United States is controlled by the Constitution of the United States, which is for the benefit of the people of the United States. So when that commander gives a soldier an order, it's actually coming from the people of the United States. Does that make sense to you today?
[43:41] I know some of you are saying, well brother Kenny, you've been on that boat way too long, it's nothing like that. Now we are getting away from that. But that in theory is how it's supposed to work. It's not that the soldier says, oh yeah, I'm going to do whatever that commander says in his mind he goes all the way back. What I'm doing is beneficial to the people.
[44:05] We, the people of the United States is for their honor, it's for their protection. That's why I'm going to follow the command, tie that back with the father, the husband, when he says or when he is leading by an example and he's submitted to the Lord for his honor and for his glory. The children, the wife, they want to submit because they know it's for the glory of God. Does that make any sense? Does that help you understand that a little bit maybe I could as the fathers leave the home and you're submitted to the Lord, you're bringing glory to the kingdom of God, not to yourself.
[44:53] Now, how do you do that?
[44:57] I'll just share this with you. Do you know that when you honor your husband, you submit to your husband? If I had any children in here, I guess we're all children to somebody. You submit to your parents. It's actually an act of worship to our Lord and Savior, who is the head of the home, who is the head of the body as we submit and we fall in place as he's designed it.
[45:27] It's an act of worship to bring glory to the kingdom of God. Just things I want you to think about this morning and look at as examples to understand how God designed things and for why. So the Father, your ultimate goal is to bring glory and honor to the kingdom of God, right? Which makes me go to this verse, Matthew 633. We all know it, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to every preacher it's ever preached.
[46:02] Preaches that and we throw that verse out there and just leave it right there. And we wonder, okay, what exactly does seeking the kingdom, God and his righteousness means? What exactly does that mean? I think in the context of what I'm trying to tell you this morning is that but seek ye first the kingdom of God. Fathers, husbands, wives, children, as you for yourself are seeking first god's glory, God's righteousness, all these things come together.
[46:43] You got a husband and wife that aren't getting long. Things aren't right. I promise you, one of them is not seeking the glory of God, if not both. They're seeking their own glory, their own pride, their own ambitions, their own desires. That's why every couple that I counsel, I say, you got to put God first.
[47:05] God's got to be in the middle. You both are seeking God. You both are seeking the kingdom of heaven first and his righteousness. Then the family falls in place. Then all these things come together as God leaves the home.
[47:24] Is this making sense? Is this helping you to understand how God designed it? And it's all part of his master plan to work things perfectly and smoothly for our good and for his glory?
[47:45] We often pray for our kids to go to a good school, right? Maybe it's elementary school. The schools are terrible, and you want to tell them private school and you can't afford it. And I've seen parents just pray and fred over, what am I going to do with my children? What am I going to teach my children?
[48:05] Am I going to home school? Am I going to public school? Am I going to private school? And you just pray, pray, pray that they get a good education. You pray that they get good jobs.
[48:14] You pray that they succeed in their jobs and that they are prosperous in what they do, or that they get on the football team, or that they get on the baseball team. You pray for a lot of things that you're healthy, that you're this, that you're that.
[48:35] But I want to ask you, and this was brought to me, showing me very clearly this week, as I contemplated a lot of difficulties and a lot of things going on in my life and should I have done this and should I have done that.
[48:51] It's very simple, keep the main thing, the main thing. Seek ye first the kingdom of God in his righteousness. I'll share with you later, as we seek God's kingdom, all things come together. There are some things that matter I want to ask you. Do you even now pray for your children's salvation?
[49:25] You pray for everything else. When's the last time you prayed that they'd be saved? Husbands, if your wife wife, if your husband is not saved, when's the last time you prayed they would get saved? Or maybe that they would just have a closer walk with the Lord, oh, my husband, I'm not going to submit to Him. He's not very spiritual, he don't walk the Lord.
[49:47] When do you pray for Him? Or do you nag at him?
[49:53] When do we pray for Him? When do I pray for our children to be saved? I found that I pray often for my children who are all saved. Now I'm praying for my grandchildren, and most of them are, all of them that know, all of them that have come to that age of accountability are saved. And I praise God for seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
[50:21] All this will come together, guys, as we see God's direction in our lives. Are you teaching your children the ways of the Lord? I know back in Deuteronomy, as Moses directed the children of Israel, before they went into the Promised Land, he gave them a directive and given by God, if you do this, I will bless you. God says if you don't do this, you won't be blessed. And the children had to it says that the fathers to teach it to their children, to write it on the door post and drew it around me, chapter twelve.
[51:00] And they were to learn and recite this, the law of God, by the time they were aged twelve. And it was the Father's responsibility to teach that to them. Father's, it's your responsibility first to pray for your children's salvation. Father is your responsibility to teach your children the ways of God, to show Him what God would do and wants you to do in differences, how to have faith and how to trust Him. That's why he says in Ephesians 64 and fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
[51:39] One version says fathers don't frustrate your children with no win scenarios, things are not going to work out more unlikely, but take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master. Father's, here to be an example by which you're leading. Your example should be to your children.
[52:07] As I said, we want to teach our children the ropes of life, to play sports, to fix cars, to build things to do with their job, maybe to go hunting and fishing. We want to teach them all that's great to be able to provide and to do these things and all that is awesome. But are you teaching Him the ways of the Lord? It's your responsibility. God holds you, not the wife.
[52:39] He holds you accountable. You and your wife may get together and the wife comes and you all come up with a plan on how that's going to happen. But ultimately the responsibility falls with the Father as the way the children are taught. Are you teaching them what salvation is? Are you teaching them what God's love is?
[53:02] Are you teaching Him to pray? Are you teaching them God's ways? This is a very important one today. Are you teaching them how to deal with false teaching?
[53:17] I am very concerned for our younger generation because there's a lot of false teachings out there. There's a big movement right now that say even this can't be fully trusted because there's copies of copies and some people got it wrong. My NIB is better than this King James. This new King James is better than this one, this ESB. And there's a big argument over which translation that I should even trust.
[53:58] I say you trust the translation that you will read the most and you trust the Holy Spirit to teach you. But all these people want to get in these big arguments over was this really right and was this wrong? Should this verse, it's all a bunch of I believe it's all a plan of Satan to bring doubt to the very word of God. That's all it is. Fathers, do you know how to explain that to your children when they come up and they've heard those false teachings?
[54:30] Do you know where our Bible came from? Do you know how it got here? Do you know that God promised he will preserve His Word? So just as God gave it to these men to write it down, and we trust that. I also trust that God was very much involved in translation of the Scriptures, and I can trust that because he said he will preserve His Word.
[54:58] Do you know how to answer these questions? There's a lot of false teaching today, and we see. That was promised back. Peter said in the last days there's going to be a lot of false teachers.
[55:14] They are here. Don't wait any longer. They're here. And it's horrific what you can't hear anymore. Fathers, do you know how to teach your children the truth, how to identify these things, to show them God's ways.
[55:32] You say, well I guess I need to start having Bible study all the time with my kids. I need to be more demanding of being submitted. I need to be more this, I need to do that. You make a whole list all you want to. Let me give this to you.
[55:49] This is how I view what God says. He said go into the world and preach the gospel, making disciples. It's not a list you got to make up. It's not an effort that you got to do. If God's Holy Spirit lives within you, you will be a disciple, you will make disciples, you will teach, you will preach the gospel.
[56:12] You can't help it. It's what's inside you. I think it's the same way fathers, as we are spirit filled, as we're being led by the spirit or we are seeking God's face and for ourselves that's revealed to our wives, that's revealed to our children. Jesus was the best example I can think of that of the disciples. Saw him praying one day.
[56:40] What they say, Lord, teach us to pray like you can pray.
[56:47] The disciples saw the faith of Jesus and how even in the storm and all the troubles of life jesus was nowadays version, cool, calm and collective. He knew the Father had all things. You know what his disciples said? Lord, increase our faith. Teach us to have faith like you have faith.
[57:10] Jesus knew the Father very well and when he was just praying the Father and telling him, they asked him jesus, Lord show us the Father.
[57:25] And guys, here's your answer. In Jesus answer he said if you've seen me you've seen the Father. Father, I want to ask you husbands, I want to ask you when your wife looks at you, what do they see? When your children look at you what do they see? And is what they see something that they would desire?
[57:54] Would they want what you want? What they want to submit to who you are by the way you walk, by the way you talk, by the way you love, by the way you act? Where are you at fathers? And I'm not just speaking to you. Remember you pointing the finger.
[58:17] I got three pointing back at me. Very soul searching in this thought because we're living in some troubled times and church is half full. We talk about our world and how it's just going down the tubes. I wonder if we'd have some fathers that would step up and say I want to be a father like my heavenly father is. I want to be an example like Jesus is.
[58:48] I want to lead my family and the way God would have me lead them. I want to teach my children the way God would want me to teach them. We need husbands. We need fathers to step up if we ever want this world to change. Father, we thank you for this day.
[59:06] We thank you for Your blessings to us.
[59:11] Lord, we just thank you for being a husband. We thank you for being a father, for such great blessings that come with that and the great joy that comes with that. Father, we understand there's great responsibility with that. I pray for each and every father and husband here this morning that you would help them to see how they should live their lives before their family, that they would be an example, that their family would desire to follow them. Lord, just lead and guide us.
[59:49] And all we say, all we do, we thank you for Your word. We thank you for loving us. And, Lord, when we fall on our face, we thank you for Your grace and for Your mercy. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
[60:06] As we stand happy Father's Day. I hope I didn't scare you to death. I don't want to be a father no more. Is a big responsibility, but what a blessing it is too good to have you all. Anything else?
[62:09] All hearts and minds clear? Keeping ones in your prayers, everybody. Good? Don't get too hot today or this week. They say it's going to be a scorcher.
[62:21] Bobby, could you call us some prayer, please?
[62:26] Thank you for all the fathers on this Father Day. We just ask that you just take that awesome responsibility that you put on us and lead, guide and direct us. Let us pull our families close together and pull everyone close to you. Lord, as we go out today, we also ask that you just look over the sick, the needy, not always bless those less fortunate. Father, we just come to you, praise you, and thank you.
[62:55] In Jesus name we pray. Amen.