Cultivating Courage (2021-06-20)

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] bless the lord this morning city sanctuary why don't you stand to your feet all over this building as we put our hands together and honor the lord but we call on the father today [Music] our father [Music] who is in [Music] is heaven heaven [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] praise the lord [Music] our father who is who is him [Applause] let everything [Applause] [Music] [Applause] let everything [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we praise the lord this morning for he is our father for the bible tells us that everything that have breath give him praise are you come ready today to give him glory come on put your hands together and say your kingdom come your will be done is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] praise the lord [Music] [Applause] praise the lord [Music] blessed be the name of the lord in this place let your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven aren't you glad that you serve a great big god he's the father who loves each one of us as we get into this place today we've come with an assurance to know that he is the one who is our father there is no one liking unto him so we thank the lord for his presence this day may his presence be made known in such a real way that he can feel the warmth of his of his embrace let's lift our hands before the father and give him glory in this place [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] is my father's house there's a place [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i am you are for me not against me i am who you are [Music] yes i am there's a place for me [Music] there's a place for me [Music] for father we come before you this morning giving you glory and thanksgiving for what you have done for us for you are our great heavenly father and you know us all by name for we've been called by you and we thank you for the opportunity that we call and testify i am chosen not forsaken [Music] i am [Music] i am i am [Music] [Music] am [Applause] [Music] i am [Music] [Applause] i'm there's a praise for me [Music] amen put your hands together and praise the lord with me amen we're standing for prayer today i just uh in the second service i feel like just the prophetic word on that word chosen john chapter 15 verse 16 jesus makes it clear that the disciples didn't choose him that he had chosen them i remember of just a kooky story uh when i was a sophomore in high school that they had a pep rally a football uh you know game pep rally and i was chosen to escort in front of the school the senior homecoming queen just for the pep rally and all my buddies are saying how did you get to do that how did you get to do that man you know they were jealous like green with envy about you know i got as a sophomore got to escort the homecoming who was a senior the queen i got to thinking about the fact of that jesus said that we are chosen you know there's going to be things you know the bible says it doesn't appear what we shall be but we know we're going to be like him when we see him we may look like common folks to most people right but it doesn't yet appear who we really are and what we're going to be the world may not recognize what we have inside one day they will but i'm telling you that god recognizes his own and he's chosen you when you get that raised and you get that comfort when you get that that blessing you say well if people around you might say how did that happen to you well you know i've been chosen by the lord to be favored by god that's how it happened what i want to encourage you with before we pray is simply in zechariah 3 when they were trying to rebuild their disobedience and their their temple and the devil was accusing joshua the high priest that he wasn't worthy the lord said the lord rebuked you satan even the lord who has chosen [Laughter] these that have been like a brand plucked out of the fire you may feel like that you've had a failure or a trauma or a detour that seems like that there's no way out of it but he said the lord rebuke you satan which will try to accuse us that it's never going to happen you'll never get over this things will never be the same you're never going to reach your goal all those things the lord rebuked you satan today because the lord has chosen us praise god he has chosen us and he has plucked us out of the fire man that's as good i received that i received that hallelujah well i can go home now i need some fried chicken i feel good you're chosen today as we stand for prayer as the chosen of god remember the garcia family which is going to be here today and then that is again jahida and ricky garcia who who not too long ago um their son isaiah transitioned to heaven as a young teenager and now her mother besedia or beth miller has passed and gone to be with the lord jesus he's been a part beth has been a part of this church and uh that service will be sometime this week stay tuned for details don't have them yet but they're here uh will you raise your hand where are the garcias and anybody trying to look for the garcias and these lights i can't see the garcias oh they're over here okay all right god bless you over there so uh again if you think about it in prayer just you know raise your hand and say god touch the garcias and the miller family let's pray today father we just bless you and we pray for the miller family the garcia family we pray for all the relatives of bethsaida bethlehem we pray you would strengthen them holy ghost be their comfort and strength minister at peace and your presence in this time may they be reminded you are you have chosen them and god that beth is with you jesus and that that she is rejoicing in the presence and the pleasures of god forevermore so lord may you comfort their hearts during this time and we pray also today for everyone that feels like they're forsaken for everyone that feels like that the lord has abandoned them everyone that feels like they wonder where god is as joel said why should the people say where is my god oh lord for everyone that feels that way today we just rebuke satan's lie we bind satan's lie and we say the lord rebuke you satan even the lord who has chosen that believer that christian that mom that dad that son that daughter even the lord who has chosen them for great and wonderful things the lord rebuke you that everything he promised shall come to pass in their life in jesus name today and we give you glory lord we tear down every lie and we tear down every stronghold every argument the enemy is using to uh discourage us and we praise you that we are the chosen of god we are the chosen of the lord and we give you the thanks today we lift up fathers here and online and in our nation today we pray for the fathers and grandfathers lord the foster fathers and the spiritual fathers but we pray today for everyone and the men of the men of this church the men of our nation god we pray that you would rebuke the enemy who would try to destroy them like all the male babies in israel so they could not become large and strong and defeat them lord we know that we're meant to defeat the enemy so lord as the enemy has targeted men we say the lord rebuke you o satan even the lord who has chosen men to play a significant role in this earth fathers that play a significant role in this earth then in the name of jesus we rebuke your attack against them and lord we pray your strength your power your anointing your encouragement would come to them today your honor would come to them today as we honor the fathers lord in jesus name that they would rise up oh rise up oh rise up old man of god rise up oh rise up and may the lord use you in these last days as it would please him we thank you for our dads lord we praise you for them bless them with a great day in jesus name and everybody said amen let's praise our father today hallelujah god you're so good today amen this way to somebody be friendly as you're receded and you might be receded god bless you for your friendly waves your hospitality and the house of god amen we would like to also stay connected and we keep running this commercial but the same number of people keep signing up can i recruit some new ones today again we we're thankful that we do have usually a hundred or more that do respond uh on these times with the city sanctuary app we want to encourage you we'd like to hear from you if you haven't done it try to download the app city sanctuary has an app and if you go on the connect tab and then press the check in tab that's where you can give us your name and your praise report has god done anything good for anybody can i hear an amen out there that was a little weak but praise god lord you you're good amen so again we'd like to hear those things and share those things so god bless you and any prayer requests you have it's also time to worship the lord with our giving and again we don't pass the buckets anymore but we have a model church if you'd like to drop it off there or we can text to give or give online why do we do that we do that because the lord has commanded them jesus actually talked more about possessions and money than he did about heaven and hell combined was jesus when jesus a tbn televangelist no he was not and i appreciate all the good works all the television people do he was just addressing the thing that grabs our heart away from god the most and that's our possessions right so again give god what he is worthy of and he will give you everything that you need amen praise god i didn't know we had a newlyweds in here we had a wedding here yesterday and i'm i'm shocked that there are stellar spiritual life they just married last night but here we have ollie and debbie kennedy wave everybody just got married praise god hallelujah well hallelujah you must be top on the spiritual church today amen let's pray father we thank you for being the good good father lord doesn't matter what seems to be bad and undesirable in our lives we know that you promised the believer to work all things together for good ah lord let somebody just meditate on that right now every day james 1 17 every good and perfect gift comes down from you let us be reminded the devil's first temptation was to accuse you to us that you were not good lord today we're wiser than that we're more mature than that we're we're ready for that we're not ignorant we know that you are good and even though your goodness is attacked and the enemy accuses you before us all the time we're here to declare that my god is good he is the good good father and we give you the praise on this your father's day in jesus name amen god bless you hey good morning city sanctuary family let's take a couple of minutes to make sure you're staying connected this week hey make plans to be with us next sunday morning in both of our services we are going to have a special patriotic presentation called in god we trust we'll have some special musical guests with us that morning so make plans to come on out you don't want to miss it it'll be available in-house and online in both of our services next sunday this year independence day july 4th is on a sunday so make plans to worship with your city sanctuary family with a special message by pastor mark called one nation under god we'll also have patriotic music that service as well that's july 4th both of our services make plans to come on out before you go out and celebrate our independence come here and celebrate our freedom in christ we'll see you then hey dads we've watched you in the rough seasons walking your family through whatever came knocking at your front door sometimes they're just ordinary problems but you aren't any ordinary dad you've led us with a steady comb that was rooted in a lot of prayer you gave all the time you had and even the time you didn't dads you stepped up staying up late to finish work being the helping hand everyone needed on days that sometimes felt endless you wrestled with online school tackled homework you sometimes didn't even understand you made sure we stayed connected to those we love dads you stepped up and listened when we couldn't handle the circumstances of life and found extra patience somewhere in your back pocket even when things boiled over you led us through trying to understand what was happening in the world while pointing us back to the word of god as our source for hope and comfort dads you stepped up and brought fun and laughter whenever you could but you also showed us that it's okay to feel deep disappointment and loss [Music] dad you faced every day with courage even in the face of uncertainty and spent more than one sleepless night without any good answers or assurances but you always made sure we knew this one thing that we are loved we are loved by you and by god dad we just wanted to say thank you thank you dad for stepping up all right can i ask all the fathers in the house to stand please if you're a father would you please stand and remain standing all right congregation let's give all of our dads a big god bless we honor you today god bless you everyone you might be receded so proud of you and so thankful for you today hope you have a wonderful day we do have a donut board out in the lobby area if you would like to don't everybody rush out right now but there's a donut board if you like donuts and we have a selfie background for you to take a picture with your family so again remember this day and as they give honor to you and celebrate that that day this day so we know there's about 70 million dads that are in america uh and it's the fourth uh largest greeting card day of the year in america it used to be before cell phones the largest collect phone call day in america uh and uh we know that the i guess the most popular father's day gift is an article of clothing so you may get clothing uh today possibly uh again i i know i need clothing that when i was in high school uh my football coach came by one day and someone head-on and he said hey shred so did the light go out in your closet this morning i mean i mean you know i should have thought about you know i mean the fact that the coach wears a t-shirt and shorts every day i mean he's no fashion queen or king you know telling me about my fashion but at any rate happy father's day and we are honoring you and and i pray that you have a great day of being honored i also want pastor james to say something uh we had a video announcement about it but i want to just have him say whatever he wants to say about next sunday i wrongly last sunday said that the in god we trust worship uh time extravaganza of sorts uh that's a great 50 cent word extravaganza was this sunday but i was wrong it is next sunday pastor james tell everybody about that next sunday i felt that the lord was leading us to a place to where we celebrate him to be the lord and the denominator over the earth so many times we celebrate the freedom that we have but one of the things that i do believe the lord is calling us to is a place to honor him as we pray for our nation there's so much division and so much that's going on in the earth it's time for the church to arise to declare the truth of what god has in his heart and i believe that on next sunday we will celebrate through music and we do have a very special guest tiffany coburn who is from uh from winter park and she is a great singer i worked with her at walt disney world once upon a time but one of the things that i know is that she loves the lord and she is a great person who just wants to pour out her heart and ministry and next week with us as well so i just want to say that i am delighted pastor for the opportunity to celebrate who god is and to declare his value and his worth over the earth that the earth may be redeemed back to him amen we agree with you we agree with you amen amen well let me with that let's go to the title today cultivating courage in a world of conformity cultivating courage men and fathers in a world of conformity anybody feel the pressure to conform to either political sides media talking heads hollywood figures the various i was going to say you know your spouse your kids whatever there is a a pressure right to conform to many things we just want to make sure we try to conform to this book right the word of god and so today we're going to read out of first corinthians 16 verse 13. and corinthians were in a city corinth was a very cosmopolitan city and i say cosmopolitan it means that it's has everything in that city that a major city would have in it and there was a lot of things that were not what we considered godly in fact they had a lot of temples there and a lot of immorality there so when paul writes this to the people who live there it was no hollow challenge it was a real challenge can i just get real with you that we have real challenges today that live out the will of god on earth as it is in heaven well i feel like i'm up here by myself but amen it's still true so here's what he said be on your guard stand firm in the faith be courageous be strong now some of your translations king james new american standard others will have the word courageous translated act like men anybody have that in your bible act like men is translated some and sometimes courageous because it comes from the same compound word the greek word is a compound word and the first part of the word is the word for man and the second part is the word for being brave or courageous so sometimes they translate it be courageous because that's but sometimes act like men so what does that say about you man you are to be courageous [Music] wow i'm going to have to work for my supper today aren't i all right so that's the way it's going to be may the lord help us today father we give you thanks and praise on the national day of father's day we honor you our heavenly father and today we ask that you do the miracle that makes this time effective unless you come lord we have nothing profitable that comes from it by the foolishness of preaching and it is truly a foolish exercise in its humanity unless you anoint it and use it with your power to change us and to save and then we've wasted our time so we pray father for that dynamic presence your presence so both annoying preacher and parishioner and god that you will interact with us that there'll be an energy of certain things that are shared today from you that pierce our heart challenge our faith so lord we are depending on you to do that today in jesus name and everybody said amen amen and god bless you and happy father's day it was in 1614 and we're on the first part of our text today which says be alert or be watchful it was in 1744 at the college of william and mary that they penned a letter to the native american indian chiefs and they said this we would like you to send 12 of your finest braves and we will give them those 12 a free education to which the indian chiefs responded to their letter with another letter and said we have previously sent some of our finest braves to your educational institution and we have found that then when they returned they were no good at running they were completely awful at trying to bear the cold and navigate the woods they were terrible hunters didn't know how to build a cabin and basically were people that we considered good for nothing they could not be a warrior and they also were not able to even be a counselor they didn't even speak the language well so no thank you but however if you would like to send us 12 of your finest sons we promise that we will make real men out of them [Applause] manhood has been a discussion for a long time we look at manhood in america sometimes it's the macho man the monster truck the hunter it is the guy that has the man cave not so much the man bun but you know we can go with that it's the guy that doesn't watch chick flicks or the hallmark channel a guy that wants a support center 24 7. right it's it's some of those macho characteristics that we think about uh in america in some some some people's minds about what it means to be a man however there's a man by the name of david gilmour he wrote a book manhood in the making and what he talks about is manhood in different cultures and how different cultures define what it means to be a man and a father he even goes to the softer side of the nations and the cultures that like in spain that say it's fine for men to use eyeliner uh that is a form of makeup that usually we think is reserved for women in our culture but there in spain they have a little softer view of of masculinity and so they basically let other things take place but what he do what he summarizes his book in saying is that there are three p's to manhood he talks about that men are protectors that men are providers and that men procreate that's just what he says is the universal secular definition of manhood i would just add to you a fourth p to his insights and that fourth p is purpose what was god's purpose when he created man what was god's purpose when he created the role of a father well we can go to the book of genesis and the very first book of the bible and we can find his purpose we look at the purpose of god first of all when he made adam or adam the hebrew word there is a word of relationship that word for man is used in other places that hebrew word in other places adam is not just a transliteration it is actually the hebrew adam and that word is used in other places in the old testament and it is always referring to like in jeremiah 10 23 that adam or man will say man but it's the hebrew word adam that man was not made for himself alone he was made for god and he was also made to be in relationship with others many times men don't know their relational aspect and their purpose and they just give themselves to other aspects of manhood and and they don't develop a relationship with god and they are terrible at developing a relationship with other people but they don't understand their their created purpose and then he talks about that he created them male and female the word for male is the hebrew word zakar zakar refers to uh genitals or the anatomy or the biology of male or femaleness the phallic nature of a man that defines him uh as a gender and so we look at the fact that he describes man and picks the gender for us in his creative process and and then we go on to the fact that he's designed man with dignity to be honored that he was made in chapter 1 verse 27 in the image of god imago dei he was made in psalm 8 5 a little lower than the angels crowned with glory and with honor we look at that dignity many times today has been dumbed down in the media in sitcoms and movies uh that basically many would depict a man or a father as an idiot or a dummy or someone who just maybe makes jokes silly someone not to be a leader in the family someone that is more tolerated than they are honored when we look at the whole idea of the relationship of god when it comes to the conformity of this world we know that there was a tv show back in 1948 you might remember it called candid camera anybody remember that tv show all right can the camera did a show on looking in the wrong direction and they had staged it where a person got on an elevator an upper floor and as they began to go down to the first floor they had staged various actors there was three actors that got on one of the floors after the unsuspecting individual did and they went and faced the back of the elevator or in the wrong direction the camera records the angst of the one man that was in there watching these three other men looking that direction and he wondered why and it records the uncomfortable feeling that he had about why are they doing that and then the next floor a fourth actor got on and also joined the other three actors because the fourth was an actor as well and he also faced the wrong direction well the person who was unsuspected on candid camera they did not turn when they had when he had three others going the wrong direction when the fourth one entered then that person turned as well and faced the back of the elevator and faced the wrong direction what that basically showed was the power of peer pressure even though in your gut you feel like something's right yet the pressure around you feels like you need to do something different to fit in with the crowd that you're with so it is it's not just young people teenagers that go through peer pressure it's all of us adults as well that there's a pressure on us and those pressures first of all are in the modern challenge of the identity this is the very first thing god says about men the very first thing that god's going to reveal about fathers that he created them first as an identity to be in relationship with god so if we miss that we've really missed everything that defines our purpose in this world and then they were made the car to be a certain gender you see what we find out in all the gender things going on today is that basically they haven't regarded what god says about gender it's not a self-choice but it's a god choice from the very beginning read with me or read later or pull it up now psalm 139 verses 14 and 15. that's where you read about david saying that i am fearfully and wonderfully made and that my soul knows right well but then comes verse 15. and then he says that you knew me and you formed me in my substance in my mother's womb god's claiming that he forms us that he is really selecting the gender and he is really deciding whether we're male or female remember in the beginning he made them male and he made them female he had a divine destiny a divine role to have two genders and that he would decide how he would create and make all of us and what gender that we would be the very next verse in verse 16 says and all of your deeds are also written in the book that i have for your life that god has intricately with every person that is ever born upon the earth not just those of faith that god the creator this is a new subject maybe for some of us but god is the creator not only creating the world but he is the big bang right that god is the creator created us with divine purpose and so the modern challenge for men is to really understand our identity because that's the greatest attack the enemy can make on your life to change your identity daniel and his hebrew friends went to babylon than what they do change their names right they try to change their identity let me tell you men stick with god be in relationship with him and be what he says that you should be in the word of god remember who you are that's the song we say i know who i am and i remember and i'm going to say what i am supposed to be because god has dictated that and then there is the moral challenge he said i didn't know cher was the moral challenge but share cher in this 1987 movie moonstruck is slapping nicholas cage and uh she's slapping him because he is uh trying to do something inappropriate and she says after she slaps him snap out of it basically to say to really america snap out of it that we basically are people that are in a moral free fall we really don't have where truth is now relative right where not many people believe that the bible is absolute truth and so we have this whole thing about my truth is true for me your truth is true for you and it's all relative well let me tell you that in that moral free-fall what we find is a man by the name of samson samson was a man who was stuck in the the zakar phase of his created purpose the phallic stage of his created purpose he basically had parents that knew god and yes he became a judge but his decisions were made about everything in life based on his lust for women so he would choose to break the vows of god for the delilahs in his life he would choose to let his god-given design go out the door because he was busy playing the playboy he was the hugh hefner of the day right and so in all of that we face a moral challenge where pornography is one of the greatest challenges that men face in the world today and that the promiscuity and the people that are cohabitating not marrying there's all kinds of trends that show us that we're moving away from our intended purpose what am i saying this i'm saying this because the first thing that he says in texas watch out be sober be vigilant be be aware of what's going on in your environment and don't lose your identity about who you are supposed to or designed to be and then we have the third challenge is the make a difference challenge look at this make a difference challenge this really helps define fatherhood for us because what we know about a father is that the word means an architect a leader a source a foundation a fountain that gives life and gives direction but yet that role is somehow being perverted today we have tremendous absenteeism and what we find in fatherhood and what we find is this book what to expect when no one is expecting talks about america's coming uh demographic disaster basically showing that both here and in asia that we're seeing families have less children than ever before that instead they are acquiring pets instead of children that many places where there were once schools they're tearing them down and building doggy parks and doggy day care centers for all of the pets that are multiplying across our country and in asia what does that basically mean for today for father's day it means that according to this book and i would agree that many times that we look at kids as something to make us happy like we look at them as pets we buy a pet to make us happy to make us not feel lonely a pet to uh give us a a friend in the in the home well sometimes parents say oh if i just could have a baby that would make me happy if i could just have a baby that would make my life complete and it seems to be all about our happiness as adults that we want to have kids for our joy and for our happiness and kids do bring joy most of the time everybody said amen right but what we know about that is that that's the wrong perspective the wrong perspective is that god wants you to fulfill his command to do what genesis commissioned to replenish the earth replenish the earth with a godly seed replenish the earth with people who would what on the other side of the screen who would know god remember that's the main purpose adam you're made to be in relationship with god in relationship with others right that their second purpose is to express the dominance of what we're subduing what we're subduing ungodliness we're subduing crime we're subduing injustice we're subduing oppression we are subduing the things that the enemy wants to bring and to hurt and oppress people in this world and then we are building a better world we are doing what we are replenishing but we are also doing a fruitful work that we are being fruitful filling the land with good works filling the land with good deeds remember how it was destroyed once because in the time of the flood there was all this ungodly living when god says my purpose is this that you raise up your children that you teach them to know me you raise up your children you teach them to subdue the evil and the oppression that's in the way you raise up your children to build a better world than to bring my kingdom down to this earth to build the kind of place that i originally intended that's the goal oh it's great if they make you happy it's great if you enjoy having children but your purpose is that you are mature dads fathers you are the ones that are supposed to with the divine obedience to god i want to raise up the kind of son and daughter that will make the genesis commission come to pass upon this earth and i want to raise them to stand strong against the moral confusion against the modern confusion against any kind of confusion about their identity and the purpose because god has ordained you dad come on dad he's ordained you fathers to raise up kids that will make a difference for him in this world that'll build a better place or that will put down oppression and that will see the enemy put to flight if you believe that give god a praise today amen that's good stuff amen praise the lord hallelujah but sometimes left to ourselves dad when mom's away and we're babysitting the kids what happens well this is what one dad did he sent a selfie to uh his wife that uh he and their baby were busy driving the car and having lots of fun here's another dad when he was left to himself he decided to be ingenious there's a string that's attached to this uh young man's tooth and then there's attached to the punching bag and he wants the kid to hit the punching bag that'll then pull out his tooth that's what happens when dads are in charge and of course there is a zip tie for the bow to replace the bow in the girl's hair there's a zip tie uh when dad's in charge of course dads are not known for being great cooks but they always resort to whatever they need to here's a dad with a ketchup bottle that's going straight down uh the little baby's throat here's a dad that when he's in charge he's got notice the little kids that are peddling him across the lake there that's when dads are in charge and this is one of my favorites right here when dads are in charge it's all about the evil knievel stunt driver let's see what we can do with these kids right come on let's run them off a ramp this looks like fun let's try that when dad's when moms are in charge they kiss and hug your babies but when dads are in charge they say this is an interesting thing to play with this baby's face let me see what i can do with this baby's face when dads are in charge left to themselves sometimes dads we don't do it quite the way that god wants us to do it book was written about why men hate church why they hate going to church by david morrow and the second phrase in our text this morning was not just the phrase that said watch and be sober about your surroundings that you don't lose your identity but number two was to stand firm in the faith is this mike on stand firm you guys are already out to lunch aren't you you're already online you're probably already eating lunch right so stand firm in the faith look at then what does the enemy attack our faith why don't men like to come to church well this word spells bored that they're bored out of their mind why are they bored well they say i'm busy i have things to do b's for busy oh i'm i feel like church is out of touch three are rather it's a ritual not a relationship e i'm too educated to think that i need god i think that there's no really space for that i've had more education don't feel like i need god d is this is a duty and not a delight or a desire so what happens is that men don't go to church sometimes men don't go to church not just because of that but because of a wound a father wound sometimes our earthly fathers have some idiosyncrasies shortcomings something that happens that which a father wound is a negative experience which affects us the rest of our life and because of that we equate god the father or religion with that barack obama obviously made it to the top of his field in the political science world as the president of our country we had a 2007 interview on father's day he would disclose that he had only known his biological father actually spent time with him for a month and that was when he was 10 years of age he described the void that he felt in his life all of his life because his father was not in his life stephen jobs co-founder of apple very successful in the business world but yet stephen was abandoned by his father and then later he abandoned his daughter sometimes it's like father like son sometimes it's like father like daughter sometimes it is something that we were impacted with we perpetuate dennis rodman was inducted to the nba hall of fame obviously he was quite a good basketball player but yet at this induction speech in 2011 he would say that he never or he never had a father even though he knew who his biological father was he began to tell everybody that he's fathered 47 children in the philippines obviously living a very promiscuous life he talked about the pain the wound that he had that he published a book about dennis and then uh made a lot of money about it but never did he ever call dennis he even came to chicago one time where when he was playing for the chicago bulls same city never called him and went to see him used him to make money and fulfill his own desires father wounds happen and they affect children why does god care about fathers because children of absent fathers are five times more likely to commit suicide why does god care about fathers because children don't have fathers are seven times more likely to become a teenage mother or uh with unwed pregnancy why does god care about you as a father because children who don't have fathers who father biologically but don't father with their presence are seven times more likely to drop out of school why does god care about fathers because children don't have fathers are 15 times more likely to exhibit behavioral disorder they're 15 times more likely to end up in prison at an early age and 24 times more likely to run away from home you see we don't just have a pandemic of coronavirus do we we have a pandemic of fatherlessness and if and if a father is in the home is he actually fathering the fatherhood of god is something that is extraordinary in the religious world you won't find the fatherhood concept of god in any religion the fatherhood of god is something that is warm and near and very uh very intimate not for everybody if you've had a father wound but again you see the times in the old testament 15 times 165 times in the new testament the explosion of the revelation that god is your father 40 times in paul's epistles it is a doctrine that has been foreshadowed in the old testament that has been revealed in the new testament that god is our father and as we sang today he is a good good father but what the point is here when we look at this point of standing firm in the faith is that no matter what our fathers did to let us down if they did anything to let us down god as our father promises to make it up you see joshua chapter 5 verse 2 is just one of many examples i picked this one out i felt like it was what i should share today this year it was this second generation that had not been circumcised which was the sign of being in relationship with god and a sign of his blessing upon them because the first generation came to and did that but then when they did not go into the promised land the fathers did not circumcise their newborn sons that they were supposed to circumcise on the eighth day after they were born so for years their earthly fathers didn't do it for years their earthly fathers kind of said well hey i'm giving up on my my walk with with god i'm not going to disciple my sons i'm just going to give up on it and for years they didn't do this but yet if they would have tried to go into the promised land without this sign of god's blessing upon them which was just a foreshadowing again circumcision was in the most private part uh it was because god was going to by his spirit later say i'm going to circumcise your heart your heart is your most private part so in colossians it's like i'm going to cut away the things of the world in your heart and i'm going to in the most private place in your life your heart and your innermost being that i there want to be sanctified in your life and be put first and then i will bless you right so without this covenant in the old testament which was a foreshadowing of the new testament spirit worked inside of us he is basically left there this generations left without the blessings of god they're left without knowing how to to be blessed in their life they don't have the leadership that they needed to have from their fathers but let me tell you the good news this morning the good news is that this shows us among other things in the bible that whatever our earthly fathers didn't do or whatever our earthly fathers messed up in doing in our life praise god your heavenly father is going to make sure he makes sure that's done in your life that no matter what bad thing has happened no matter what someone did to us no matter how we felt neglected no matter how we felt like we didn't have what everybody else had no matter what that story might be in our life like it was for stephen jobs and all these i'm telling you that god it shows that god your father is going to make sure you have what you need for the direction you need in your life to reach your full potential to enter your promised land he's going to make sure as your father that he does raise you right that he does guide you right that he does bless you right and you can be assured today that no matter what father wound we all may tell the story of god our father is greater and god your father will make sure that he gets you to where you need to be come on and praise him in the house amen amen praise god happy father's day heavenly father so we looked at the fact that when dads are left alone disastrous things happen what about what dads can fix here's a dad who got ingenious when his son was doing batting practice off the tee for t-ball he hooked the t-ball up to his fishing pole and whenever he hit the ball he'd let the line out and then he would reel it back in so he didn't have to get up and go fetch it every time i tell you what and either lazy or ingenious dead that is here's a dad who decides to be a multi-tasker you can't see it but in his lap is a controller for a video game and he's playing a video game but yet he has a rod in the left hand that is connected to rocking his baby who is down there in a cooler by my dad that he probably used for the beach watching a cartoon so this guy is a multi-tasker this is one of my favorite ones here here's a guy there's a lawnmower on the end of this tractor this guy is backing up his tractor with a lawnmower on the end to trim his hedgerow i'll tell you i'd like to meet this guy i bet he'd be an interesting guy to talk to because dads can fix anything now how many of you you know you had kids you got them chicken nuggets from somewhere and they were too hot you want to cool them off well this dad decided to put him into the car air conditioning system cool those hot chicken neckers off so he could give them without pain and suffering to his wonderful little kids i love it the third thing that he says in this verse is that men are to act like men we are to be courageous praise god what does it mean to be a man well these two things act like men and be strong we look at different rites of passage we know that to get to manhood different cultures do it differently native americans put you on a vision quest you have to go in the wilderness for three or four days and bear the elements and then come back uh medieval knights had a all night ceremony a fasting a prayer of uh ceremonial things communion and then the prayer by the priests over their sword the messiah tribe in kenya which i visited when i was there the young men had to kill a lion in order to be considered a man now that's a request right there huh all right sanguine kill a lion when you come back you know we'll consider your man the mandans had to go on a four day fast of everything including sleep for four days and prove that they could all these are talking about courage right are you getting that all these are talking about courage you see this is something i believe god revealed in the earth that is known inherently and people repeat it in their own way the nahi tribe do a leap of faith now this leap of faith is possibly a leap of stupidity but they do a leap of faith where they pick them up 90 feet in the in the on a cliff and they tie vines these people live on an island they tie vines they don't have bungee cords they tie vines anybody you know get in the picture here and they have to leap and dive off of that 90-foot and let the the vines keep them from killing themselves and if they do that then congratulations you are a man and you are not very smart as well so congratulations and then there is in the brazil there's a there's a custom there of of bullet ant mitz where to be a man you have to put your hands now bullet ant has the greatest sting of any insect in the known world and it is the sting of being shot with a bullet they say this thing lasts for 24 hours so it doesn't just go away so if you want to become a man you have to put your hand into a mitt that is filled with bullet ants and be stung several times over and over again and then hey if you live you're not a man or you are a man congratulations the jews have bar mitzvah for the men or the boys and bat mitzvah for the girls and that basically is a process by which they consider manhood something that you become responsible that to be a man you have to first of all know the torah you have to know the five books of moses you have to understand that uh your created purpose they give you a box and the box is uh some scriptures from the torah and a teflon a teflon has it's like a a band to put around your head that you always remember the words of the lord or to put around your your left arm where the main artery to your heart is that it is to keep close to your heart that you keep these commands close to your heart that you keep god in your heart because then you will be responsible to fulfill the commission that he wants you to fulfill so their definition is more of responsibility when we look at courage today there was a guy by the name of timothy mccarthy in may uh march 30th 1981 that's when ronald reagan came out of the washington hilton that he was shot by john brinkley jr the first shot that john brinkley jr fired went into the head of press secretary uh brady and then the second shot he fired went into a dc policeman and the third shot was where timothy mccarthy stepped in front of the president with a full spread of to try to get as much of his body out there as he could to keep the president from being shot he was protecting taking a bullet for someone else in this case the president the next shot of course went into after he was shot in the abdomen and caved over the next shot went into ronald reagan's lung an inch from his heart he obviously survived and god's plan for his life continued we look at the courage it would take to step in front and take a bullet for somebody else we have to know when he talks about act like men that we have a pretty good example to do that we look at what jesus christ did as a man but also the son of god that he came from heaven down to earth and again that he condescended from from that amazing state down to being clothed in human flesh and live like we do and then he was tempted in all points that we had to be tempted yet he resisted all the sin and he took on all of the bullets that the devil had been shooting for all time and that maybe not all time but for some time and we look at those bullets the greatest of those bullets was death he would take on death the greatest bullet he would take it on for you he jumped in the way because you so you wouldn't have eternal death so that i and you could be have eternal life and have resurrection in our dna as a believer and he had the courage to do that for you and for me and then yet sometimes as men we don't have the courage to stand up for him let me tell you that the same spirit that's in jesus his spirit lives inside of us romans 8 and verse 9. and so therefore that's why the apostles were bold as they were they said they beheld the boldness of peter and john that they had been with jesus can i tell you that he is the lion of judah can i tell you that he is the one that is the he embodies courage and courage so he says act like me act like men act like the courageous sons and daughters of god that you are have the boldness of my spirit in you and don't be afraid to stand up and have courage in these last days that you are the gun lap generation that you fathers and men have a mantle upon you that we are to lead our homes lead our communities lead our nation in the things of god so in every way men celebrate what god has done through jesus christ and then act like him act like a man look up in the mirror every morning say act like a man tell yourself i'm going to act like jesus christ because that's the commission he gave me to be strong and courageous if you believe that give him one more praise today as they come to the piano final point today is we look at what he tells us to on father's day to watch be sober and watch watch your identity and then to stand firm in the faith realizing that god is your father and you can depend on him fathers can i get an amen you can depend on your heavenly father then he goes on to say to be courageous be bold be courageous do something that takes some guts for god right do something don't be afraid of new things don't be afraid to do things that god's put on your heart and finally he says what defines manhood is not just courage but strength you see masculinity really is one of the gabors another hebrew word for warrior we men were made to be strong and made to be warriors sometimes ladies you got to get your man out of the house and get rid of that testosterone right he's got to do something go go exercise go work on a car go go hunting fishing run around the block right because we're made we're made to war so own it be a part of that charles lindbergh was not a was not a morally chased man but i put him up here because of his courage charles lindbergh was a postal delivery pilot he delivered the mail by airplane yet he would on may 27 2000 excuse me 1927 he would make the first solo flight across the atlantic from long island to paris france even though i had the guts only taken a quart of water with him he took five chicken sandwiches i guess they had chick-fil-a back then too i don't know quarter water he had no gas gauge no fuel gauge rather on his on his little single engine only one engine that goes out you know you're gonna go swimming in the deep blue sea right the courage to do that he said was inspired by his father on the left august lindbergh august lindbergh was a factory a mill worker a mill worker who worked in a logging factory or a mill and he one day fell into a a saw that opened up his body you could see his heart openly beating his chest and his arm would eventually in three days after be amputated his left arm but yet after waiting three days in the doctor getting there amputating his left arm sewing him back up that it was recorded that he he didn't have any pain medication and he never said the first ouch he didn't cry scream out he didn't wince in pain he just took it in great strength as if it was nothing that was bothering him in the extreme way that it was so charles lindbergh thought about that great man of strength he thought you know 33 hours 30 minutes 30 some seconds i can make it i can do it i can be strong i cannot be afraid i can do it i tell you this is what the purpose is for fathers first john he writes i write to you fathers because you have known him from the beginning who was from the beginning i've written to you young men because you are strong and the word of god remains in you and you have overcome the evil one what he's writing about is that fathers passed on their strength to the next generation dad you're meant to pass on your strength your courage to the next generation come on somebody somebody anybody out there today in radio land amen you are ordained to be men that stand firm in the faith and pass it on you ordained to be watchful and vigilant to again protect your family protect your marriage protect your church protect your nation this is our calling this is god's plan for our life but yet in all that the media dumbs us down the media makes us look insignificant and many times we're made to feel like that we are not the leader that we are not supposed to be the person of strength but let me tell you that's not god's identity for us today amen god has ordained us to be strong and ordained us to pass on our strength to the next generation let's stand together men and everyone please stand like to have all of our fathers join me down here in the altar for just a prayer please all fathers if you come and join me i know you may want to get going i got something i want to share with you down here in our prayer together if you will just come and stand across this tape line and uh we're going to have a prayer together today hey damn god bless you tim god bless you i see anna here today too i didn't god bless kathy god bless they're all all here that's great thank you men for coming let's wait on everybody come on a little closer men if you don't mind not yeah that's great first samuel chapter 10 there was a there was two wars and the two wars were being fought joab was fighting one his brother was fighting the other one this is what joab said to his brother he said if i get overcome and need help you come fight with me and help me and he said if you get overcome then i'll come help you and fight with you he said and then the lord will be between us and the lord will be our strength i want to tell you there are sometimes men that even though we're strong we need the prayers and support of another man and sometimes that you are the support for another man our role as fathers our role as men is not for wimps right we are called to be strong and courageous but every one of us has to deal with father wounds we have to deal with times the battle seems great we have to deal with things that seem to be overcoming and overwhelming and in that time that's why i have you down here together because i'm going to ask you not to join hands how many however you don't believe in joining hands another man i don't believe it i'll do it for jesus but that's it right but i want you to think about putting your your hand on another man's shoulder besides you or at the high part of his back as a symbol a praying one for another as fathers today right we want to lift up if you're fighting a battle that i can help i'm going to help if you if i'm finding out you can help you're going to hell that's what we want to do right now i want you to pray for the man that you're standing the men you're standing beside today and all of us if you will pray for these fathers that are up here today let's pray together our father we thank you because lord you've ordained psalm 139 verse 15. you created us in our mother's womb to be the gender that we are you created us informed us to be adam a man that's in relationship with you and also a man that is gabor a warrior lord yes we have procreated we have been that zakar we have begun to replenish the earth but father today we are coming to you as men of god we're coming to you asking to strengthen our brother strengthen the the father on each side of us god strengthen my brother today is he fights his battle and as he prays for me as i fight my battle god we pray one for another oh we say today as fathers and men if the enemy comes against you strong i will come to your aid and if i need you on a day when the enemy seems strong against me you come to my aid because we are together we are men we are fathers and we are fighting for our families fighting for our marriages fighting for our children fighting for our communities fighting for our nation and we will fight until the day you come again we will fight with great courage we will fight with your spirit we will fight oh god with your strength we will fight and we will stand until the day that you return oh god strengthen us to be who we were called to be strong and courageous men and fathers of god father we thank you for your spirit your spirit that's in us to do this and we know of your spirit's in us greater are you that's in us than he that's in the world that we will overcome we shall overcome we thank you god that we are overcomers and today we overcome for our families we overcome oh god for our marriages in every way we overcome for christ so may god be glorified may he be praised because of all the good works you've ordained to do through us as fathers on this earth for that we give you our praise in jesus name amen let's give god a man clap come on give him a man clap man hallelujah amen father we thank you today praise praise your name amen happy father's day man i wish you a great day and you deserve all the honor may the lord bless you keep you and your families have a great lord's day say happy father's day to these great men god bless you thank you so much you

Channel: City Sanctuary Deland

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Id: HBZ6ha_1AK0

Length: 82min 32sec (4952 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 20 2021