Great Fathers

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Men, you can be a great father – a biological father, an adoptive father, stepfather, foster father, or spiritual father … it’s innate … it’s in your genetic makeup. You can tap into it. It’s best done on purpose. If you weren’t coached, coach yourself. Here are some tips. Recognize that:

• The one thing God wants more than anything else is to be your Father.

• When God could have portrayed Himself as anything … He chose to reveal Himself in the image of a Father.

• If there is one thing the devil could do away with, it would be the father. 

• Hordes of hell are assigned to minimize the role, the relationship, and the responsibilities of fatherhood by lying to fathers and to families.

• The devil wants to minimize and trivialize fathers in society.

  
  

• I believe this one problem figures into the whole problem with everything in the world.First to make you think God isn’t important and next to make you believe fathers aren’t important – like they don’t care about you.

• Being a good father is the most like God any man will ever get the chance to be.

• Being a Father means at some point you will be responsible for fixing something you did not break.

  
  

• Many times that means fixing relationships. That was God’s first and biggest move as a Father.

Fathers, you’ve already heard a great message this morning. There are only two things I want to share that will help you be a good father.

1. Embrace Fatherhood

1. Fatherhood is more than being an observer.

2. Don’t just take the path of least resistance.

3. Fatherhood is more than leading, it’s mentoring.

Genesis 18:19  “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”

2. Don’t present concerns with anger.

1. Many times fathers are afraid, and they don’t know how to deal with the concern that a child is about to make the same mistakes they made.

2. Other times fathers are hurt because they aren’t respected.

3. In these times they often present themselves as angry and they make things worse.

Ephesians 6:4  And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Colossians 3:21  Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Make sure you don’t react and attack your children. If you want to attack someone, attack the devil … train and encourage your children in the Lord.

I know we can do better because we know when we have done it the wrong way … let’s ask for forgiveness and then thank God for giving us a chance, or perhaps a second chance to be a great father.

An Ungodly Message

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2 Peter 2:5  God did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, and brought in the flood on the world of the ungodly.

Several thoughts come to mind when I read this verse. The one we are going to focus on this morning is the characterization of Noah. Peter calls Noah, a preacher of righteousness.

The best I can figure from the scriptures and from the writings of Bible scholars through the centuries is that from the time Noah was given instructions to “build a boat” and the actual time the first rains came was over 100 years (120 years, Genesis 6:3). In all that time Noah was preparing and building the ark according to the divine blueprint given him by God. Noah was also tasked by God to preach only one message. The message was simple … “Get right with God!” It was a message for the ungodly: those who were not like God. However, no one outside of Noah’s wife, his 3 sons and their wives believed the message and therefore no one else repented and was allowed on the ark. Eight people in all.

Being right with God requires we believe Him. He set this as the one door through which we can step and be made to be right with Him. 

Allow me to ask you a question … don’t answer … this is only for demonstration purposes. 

Do you believe what Johnny Kildare said?

I suppose before you can truthfully answer that question you would reasonably need to know 2 important points: 

1. Who is Johnny Kildare?

2. What did he say?

These are the same challenges we face about believing God. Before we can truthfully believe, we must first answer these two simple questions:

1. Who is God?

2. What did He say?

The first question can only be answered from your heart. The spirit of a man is his eternal conscious. We cannot accept an intellectual acknowledging of the probability of an existent God as our answer to this question. 

If all we have is a preponderance of scholarly evidence that there is an intelligence beyond our understanding who was involved in creation and who may or may not be watching and judging our actions, then we have no real faith. The Holy Spirit does not offer intellectual evidence as a proof of the existence of God. As I said, Faith is a matter of the heart, not the head. Belief in God is an acknowledgement of what is in our heart, despite the questions of our head and the desires of our flesh.

“They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them … So they have no excuse for not knowing God. (Romans 1:19-20 NLT)

The verse just above in this passage, verse 18, reveals how people “suppress the truth” with their unrighteous behavior. The unrighteous often cover God with unrighteous acts; acts that belie their belief in God. Wickedness is not necessarily an issue of not believing in God but rather it lies with the behavior side of our lives when people choose to enjoy the pleasures of sin instead of living life to please Jesus. 

The big difference in people who got on the ark and those who perished in Noah’s day was not a belief in God, but rather an unwillingness to do what it takes to get right with Him. The message of righteousness is an ungodly message. In other words: It’s a message to those who are not living right with God. 

God does not hate or want to hurt the unrighteous or the wicked, God wants to save them. However, they need to repent like the people of Nineveh in the days of Jonah or else face the consequences like in the days of Noah. According to Romans 1, choosing to continue in unrighteous, wicked, or ungodly behavior can result in a seared conscience, a hard heart, or a confused mind. (Romans 1:21 & 28)

Are you right with God? My questions for you this morning are: 

1. Who is God to you?

2. Do you know what He has said?

3. Do you believe Him?

3 Supporting Scriptures for Today

• Romans 4:3  For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

• Galatians 3:6  Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

• James 2:23  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.

Good News! You have a chance right now to ask God to cleanse your heart and mind from any darkness or confusion. Just because you may not feel God right now doesn’t mean He does not exist. It might be other things in your life confusing you about who He is or what He expects. 

What would it hurt to pray with me right now? Let’s pray.