Restoration of Fatherhood | Ap. Mike Connell

hey greetings uh encounter church and others who are watching online uh we just welcome you to this uh message it's a father's day message but it's eternal in its content and i want to have a special shout out for dads today you're celebrating at home special shout out for fathers if you're a father we give you a clap and shout great on you good on you and uh if you're a grandfather then we want to give a shout out to you as well and uh awesome and if you're a great grandfather i guess there may be some of those out there well we want to give a big big shout out to you as well and uh god bless you we pray today will be a great day uh with family and uh for some some people today is a great day great to be able to gather his family and uh honor a father uh but for others uh father's day brings out painful memories and it may be because they come from a home where the image of a father of god is a father has not been represented where the father has been absent or maybe the father has been passive or maybe the father's been abusive and the impact emotionally and financially and in terms of life experience has been extremely painful so if you're one of those people today then uh we welcome you and uh pray that the message today will help you to arise up that god will touch you at the end of the message and so god bless you everyone today and uh let's just open i want to read a a scripture for you out of malachi chapter four and uh many of you know the scripture to malachi chapter four the very last book in the old testament the last words that god spoke before the coming of the jesus about 400 years there and this is what he said remember the laws of moses my servant which i commanded him in horeb for all israel with my statutes and judgments so he's calling them to remember god's principles god's words god's instructions and then he makes a promise as the last two verses in the old testament behold i will send you elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the lord and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest i come and strike the earth with a curse now you notice just the context of what he's speaking about here and then we're going to look at actually the message and start to develop that the context is the end times notice what he says that coming great and dreadful day of the lord so he's speaking of the end times at the coming of jesus christ that the great upheaval and turmoil and tribulation they'll be in the earth at that time again he uses the term uh he says lest i come and smite the earth with a curse so god has as he's speaking through the prophet he has in mind the very end times the end of this age and the transition from this age into the coming age of the millennial kingdom and as he's talking about that period of time at the end of the age he indicates that there are serious problems in family at that time notice what he says uh he says i will send you elijah the prophet before the great and coming dreadful day of the lord he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers notice then there's going to be problems in families there will be problems with fathers there's going to be problems with children what are the problems it will be there'll be a breakdown and hearts will be embedded and families will become divided notice there he says growing problems uh concerning first of all fathers he starts with fathers because fathers are held responsible for the marriage for the family for the leadership of the family god puts a great responsibility on men a call-on man to lead in their marriage to lead in their family and to establish direction and standards and so on and so the first thing that he tells us there there will be clearly fathers who have neglected their responsibilities they have failed to represent god as a heavenly father so parents stand together as the first authority figures in a child's life they are called to represent the nature of god as a person who leads and shapes and forms identity also who nurtures and cares so obviously in this passage it tells us here that there will be in the end times a desperate need for a move of god to touch the heart of fathers and uh he's talking here about fathers who are absent when a father is absent from the family uh he's away for extended periods of time or he's abandoned the family or divorced the mother then there's a terrible pain and ache and and a lack in the in the family uh some some fathers are present but they're very passive they're not engaged they're shut down spiritually emotionally they have given up leadership of the family giving up leadership in the marriage and they're now let the weight fall upon their wife in a very unfair way and rob the family of the leadership god intended them to have and uh there'll be some fathers uh in that in that end times they'll be very abusive we don't have to look around the community now and we see the number of homes where there's domestic violence and of course it's pretty well usually the the man who's responsible for that violence if you look at any of the research on uh on children and the impact of a father upon a child's safety and progress in life you'll be amazed at the connection between the role of the father his presence his absence and the kind of fathering he gave and then the success or lack of success of the children when you look in the prisons you find the majority of angry young men that are in prisons it is the absence of a father an abusive father was a major impact in sending their life off the rails you look at educational success you look at general health all of these the absence of a father has a huge impact on these things you can do some of the research for yourself so when fathers are absent when father is abusive when there's a breakdown of the role of a father in a family then it wounds the heart of a child because god has given man a particular function in the family environment he's given them the function of a father and so we're going to look at the key purposes of a father a little later in the message so when a father fails to fulfill that role there's quite a deep impact on the children they feel as though they have been abandoned by their father or they may be quite wounded by their father's words or negativity uh they can it affects them very very deeply and children then react some react by becoming very passive by withdrawing by finding an escape from the pain of tension and conflict in the family and others become very angry and reactionary so the bible talks in the last days that children will be there'll be a pattern among children a pattern and families where children are ungrateful are disrespectful are critical and they magnify the faults of parents rather than doing what god says which is to honor our parents and he attaches a promise to that we'll look at a little later so often children who've got deep pain in their heart then their lives produce there's this product there's a reaction in their lives that carries on and affects even the next generation someone somewhere has to stop that cycle someone somewhere has to step in and stand up and let the power of god change them remove the ungodly legacy and choose to build a godly legacy and that's what we wanted to talk a little bit about that today so the first thing we see then in the end times in that passage you tell it's very clear from the need for fathers to have their hearts changed and children to have their hearts changed it's very clear that the state of their hearts is such that there's a major breakdown in families and of course we see that as we look at the statistics across our nation so notice there it then says i will send elijah the prophet why elijah there were many prophets in the bible why does he single out elijah and well there's a couple of reasons first of all elijah lived in the country everyone knew the prophet elijah historically he's very famous but elijah lived in a seasonal history in israel when jezebel had uh was married to ahab the king or aha ahab the king had chosen to marry jezebel the daughter of a uh of the high priest of baal and ashtareth and so when he did that he did it because he hoped to get some gain politically gain economically but instead he broke the laws of god and and by his actions he then opened the doorway for a major problem in the nation so the spirit of jezebel or the spirit that was uh on the gods that she worshipped then was unleashed through the leadership you see again a very simple reminder that leadership is very important god held ahab responsible for the destruction in the nation even if jezebel had initiated it or been behind making it happen it's a great passage it's a great few chapters to study from 1 king 16 and on have a look at it but in that season of history there was a major breakdown the uh there was a loss of faith in god there was a turning to false gods uh there was immorality there was sexual perversion there was all kinds of havoc played in the in the nation the prophetic voice was shut down the prophets were persecuted and the nation was in great disrespect great place of poverty and god raised up a prophet called elijah so one of the things we can see then is not only is there going to be breakdown in family clearly the spirit of jezebel will be a dominant spiritual power that will influence the nations and the culture i will send elijah the prophet so when we think about fatherhood god reveals himself as a father and fatherhood is a part of who god is he's the ultimate express the ultimate expression of fatherhood is god himself so this uh this spirit of jezebel attacks fatherhood attacks man attacks god's governance god's kingdom order and so within all of creation we see that there's an order there's an order in the natural world there's an order in relationships that god has established god has set the husband to be the head of the wife and therefore with his wife to be the head of the household so there is a role of governance and leadership god entrusts to men he gives that to men to fulfill when a man fails to fulfill it then there's going to be massive consequences so we find that we look in the bible that wherever the spirit of jezebel operated it destroyed manhood it attacked manhood to detect the role of man it attacked the function of man it attacked the priesthood it attacked men's role in prayer and leadership in their home when we look in in 2 kings 9 and verse 32 2 kings 9 and verse 32 jay who was raised up by god to destroy jezebel and as he comes in he says he looked up at the window where jezebel was and he said who was on my side who and there were two or three eunuchs looked out at him in other words what it's saying is that jezebel surrounded herself with eunuchs these are men or they were formerly men but now they had been emasculated and feminized they no longer functioned as life givers they were no longer capable of reproducing they were passive and they were under her control and they served her will and served her purposes so these were men who had lost their identity and lost their function as men it's tragic so you notice there then that the spirit of jezebel when it attacks it will attack man it will attack fatherhood it will attack everything that characterizes a godly family no wonder he says i will raise up elijah the prophet he raised up elijah to address this issue to confront the prophets of baal and restore prayer true worship and the priesthood back into the nation so elijah was raised up to confront that spirit in his hour so it's very clear now we see two things that in the end times there will be a loss of understanding of fatherhood and a breakdown as a result in uh in the roles of men as fathers and husbands there will be a con there'll be a breakdown in families and as a result an impact right through the culture single parent families men and women in jail all kinds of problems that will bring out from that secondly we see that the spirit of jezebel will be influential it'll be influential through media it'll be influential through education through the political system it'll be seeking to undermine christian foundations the kingdom foundations for marriage and for family and to destroy what god has intended to bring blessing we notice there that when jesus came he spoke then of john the baptist as being the elijah that was to come let's read that uh in matthew 17 11 jesus answered to them and said indeed elijah is coming first and will restore all things and notice the role of elijah he's speaking of a coming move of the spirit he said it will be a restoration move so he's he's prophesying that there's a restoration move coming and then he says but i say to you elijah has come already now isn't that interesting they all knew the last uh words of of the old testament they're very familiar with them they knew that god would send elijah the prophet and there would be a massive move of the spirit of god but jesus is now saying well elijah's come he's already come and you didn't recognize him that's what he said in matthew 17 verse 12 i say to you elijah has come already but they didn't know him and they did to him whatever they wished likewise the son of man is about to suffer at their hands so when john the baptist came he's speaking about john the baptist in verse 13 the disciples understood he spoke to them of john the baptist so what jesus is saying is you all understand that the spirit that elijah will come and i'm telling you john the baptist was the elijah he came in the same spirit and the same anointing as elijah came he came with the same function and purpose what was that function of purpose well you can see it in the message of john john's message which was also the message of jesus is repent turn away from things that fail in a wrong out of divine order for the kingdom of god is at hand the kingdom of heaven is at hand the rule of god is at hand god is uh poised and imminent and ready to invade you with blessings that come from his heavenly kingdom but the condition for our accessing that is repentance so john had a message of repentance and they stood and rose up against him and killed him and now jesus is saying they're about to do the same to me and so but notice there that the repentance is foundational for accessing kingdom blessing so now we have two things in the old testament he's talking about fathers having their hearts turn and children having their hearts turned otherwise the curse will come and now he's talking about the kingdom and it's all the same thing the kingdom of god means the rule of god it means god's order god's will being carried out now that means that the way god has designed life to function and relationships to function is being carried out his kingdom has come his order has come and with it his power and his blessing that was the message of john so let's we see then that reaction and resistance to fatherhood will be reaction and resistance to the kingdom of god let me say that again reaction and resistance to fatherhood and god's principles of fatherhood are actually the same as resisting the kingdom and the blessing and the flow of god into your life and so all who resist fatherhood actually resist the one who design fatherhood they resist authority and they resist god's order they're literally cutting themselves off from god's blessing and divine favor and there are consequences for that so god in the end times is wanting to establish and bring and manifest his kingdom and his kingdom he is the king of that kingdom and that kingdom is based on his fatherhood fatherhood is the ultimate expression of what god is like and uh so uh we see then that jesus links together john with his uh the old testament with the ministry of uh restoring the hearts of fathers and children repairing the damage done healing the generations and then he puts that with that's what the kingdom looks like so when we pray your kingdom come you will be done one aspect of that is that there'd be a healing of shattered families there'd be a healing of men who have father wounds it'll be healing of children who have father wounds it'll be a healing and a restoring of the proper dynamic of fathers operating as god intended them to operate and uh so it's great we can celebrate father's day today so that brings us to the next thing now and the next thing we need to see is then that uh we remember in the last part of that malachi 4 verse 6 it said he said i'll do this i will send elijah the prophet to bring restoration to bring a turning of the hearts now that's what repentance is the turning of the heart i'm going to do that and he said otherwise lest i come and smite the earth with a curse so what is he saying smiting the earth with a curse well he's not talking about coming and hitting the earth with the curse what he's saying is that in in creation god has built in to the whole process of creation laws and so when we look at the way god has designed relationships to function there is blessing when we're aligned with what god has purposed and uh if we don't delight if we reject god's order god's way of doing things then the consequences come upon us so when we read through the bible we find that there are a number of curses come upon people who despise their father despise their mother who violate god's uh principle in god's order that we are to honor our father and to place honor on our mother as our life source i know for some of you perhaps you think about that you think of your father and your mother and there's a lot of pain in your heart but we'll get to that shortly we need to lift our eyes up from our experience and our pain and we need to look at what god's principles are and align ourselves with heaven so heaven can come to earth so when we talk about curse what do we mean by curse a curse is literally a sight it's a cycle of failure and defeat an oppression that's empowered by demons it's a cycle in other words it keeps happening and it causes oppression it causes to feed it causes failure so you work hard you're struggling to get ahead you're trying to do the very best you can and yet there's this defeat and failure and behind it are demonic spirits now you don't have to look around many families to see that very thing happening you see parents trying to do the very best they can for their children they've worked hard and done what they can and yet these problems seem to keep coming up that look when you look into them as though they're not just one generational they're multi-generation something in the background is working creating a a force or a headwind against their success so there are a number if you have a look in the bible and go through the old testament through to the new you'll find a number of areas related to this issue of honoring your father honoring your mother since it's father's day we're just going to stick with honoring your father and so when you look in the bible we find a number of references to how important it is to place honor on our father not because of whether they're a good father or a bad father but we're to do it because we're to honor the role the rank that god has given them in our life we'll look at what that is in a moment so when we look through the bible we find a number of consequences of failing to honor our parents or failing to honor our father and mother so let me give you a few of them i'll just read a few scriptures and then i'll just give you what it means or how that actually how it works because sometimes you can read the scripture and it's just a scripture and you don't kind of think how does that work out in life now let me read something that jesus said and i give and i'll give you some consequences negative consequences or curses if you like that fall on those who dishonor their father in matthew 15 verse 3 jesus answered them and said why do you transgress the commandment of god because of your tradition and he says for god commanded so jesus is reinforcing this command honor your father and mother and he that curses father or mother let him be put to death well that's pretty serious talk isn't that hey let me read that again god commanded honor your father and mother and he that curses his father and mother let him be put to death now what the what he's saying is that uh honor of our social honor of the father is very very near to the heart of god and so he puts blessing when we do it and he says there's consequences when we don't do it notice him this is a command of god why is jesus raising this he's raising it because the religious leaders of their day have tradition that if something that you have that you're going to give to your parents you decided to give it to god instead that that would god accept that and he's saying this is a tradition this is a way of operating that violates god's clear command that you are responsible to honor your father and to honor your mother and he says there's a consequence of that now you notice there they then be put to death well i don't think there's any records in the bible of anyone being put to death but they do list disrespect dishonor of parents as being a serious sin a serious violation of god's kingdom principles worthy of a person being put to death how about that now what does that look like for us well when we talk about being put to death death's got many ways you could look at it you could think of it as someone being stoned to death but uh it may also refer death when we are talk about death we're talking about being separated we're talking about emotional disconnection we're talking about lack of feeling so now if we just looked at it again that when people dishonor their parents one of the consequences of their father particularly they live life as an emotional and spiritual orphan an orphan is someone without a father it's a person cut off from his father his father has died and there's a separation from his father and he now becomes exposed and vulnerable he has no one to protect him no one to provide for him no one to be the strength and guide in the family and so he's left orphaned and insecure so the first thing is that people live their life there like an emotional and spiritual orphan no one to impart unto them the things that they need for success in life the next thing we see in proverbs 20 verse 20 whoever curses his father and mother his lamp will be put into deep darkness what does it mean to curse a curse can also mean to speak negative words critical words destructive words to speak ill of i hear many people do that speaking ill of a father or ill of their mother so that is cursing them rather than blessing them appreciating them being thankful to them they complain and criticize that is cursing them speaking evil about them and judging them now notice what says proverbs 20 20 whoever curses his father or mother speaks evil about them and of them his land or even to them his lamb will be put in deep darkness now what does it mean by that the lamb when you talk about the lamb the bible says the spirit of man is the lamp of the lord so the lamp the spirit the inner life it's it will be put into deep darkness what does that mean it means you can't see clearly in darkness you can't see anything you stumble you trip over things you you actually can't find your way when there's a deep darkness you are lost so anyone who's been out in the in the bush and the clouds have come over and uh there's now no sky nothing to guide you it's just deep darkness you realize quickly how it's impossible to find your direction unless you have something that gives you a course and so when people have father issues when people have unresolved conflicts with their father and are speaking negatively critically then they will struggle with a lack of direction they'll struggle with insecurity they'll struggle with fear and when people are insecure and fearful they try to control everyone around them because of the deep insecurity that they feel inside so they may look big and strong on the outside but on the inside insecure weak struggling and when people are like that they tend to then build their whole life and build their stability around things that are unstable the opinions of people what people think public opinion around possessions what i own around my business around my finances around uh success around money around being recognized by people but all of those are unstable they can be shaken like that so they can't see that those things aren't valuable those things won't get you the peace you're looking for in your heart a third thing that happens is demonic oppression demonic oppression so when people curse their parents or curse their father they then become uncovered and then they become uncovered spiritually they've resisted and rebelled against their father there's been a resistance in their heart and an anger expressed towards him and the consequences they're then exposed to demonic oppression in proverbs 30 and verse 17 the eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother the ravens of the valley will pick it out the young eagles will eat it so a valley usually speaks of a low place where battles are conflicts of fort the ravens valley speak of demonic spirits so when people are angry when they uh uh disrespectful dishonoring uh uh speaking evil against the father the consequences they are uncovered spiritually demonic spirits can come and torment them with fear and security rejection abandonment and all kinds of bitterness and addictions and then a fourth uh consequence is cycles of failure in relationships cycles of failure in relationships look what the scripture here says in ephesians 6 2 honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth now notice there that god attaches to honoring your parents honoring your source he attaches to it a promise and here's the promise the promise is that life will go well for you your relationships your world your life will flow there'll be something positive something of the blessing of god in your relationships and in your life that and and you'll live long and uh so clearly the opposite is also true that if we dishonor our father and our mother if we dishonor our father particularly then life will not go well there'll be problems happen in your life and you can't see remember you won't be able to see what is the cause of them you will stumble and keep repeating the same mistakes and to your grief and sorrow see the very things you said you'd never be like now you're becoming like and they're being repeated in your own family so some of the consequences relationally when there's a cursing or father and a cursing uh uh or a dishonor of father or bitterness against the father because of abuse and failure or whatever frequently it affects identity uh the person's identity is insecure and often the gender confusion comes because of that usually there's a pattern in their life of conflict with authority figures thirdly there's usually independence against any form of correction or any form of boundaries being set because there's been no uh response to their father's boundaries uh they're usually people like that we find them unable to receive correction because they're so fragile and insecure if you try to correct them in any way to help them grow in their character they treat it as being an attack on them because their identity is attached to something external it's not been established by a father and we're seeing a lot of that today a generation rising up that are without fathers without honor of fathers and of course they're very fragile on the inside get offended very easily and can't take correction can't be developed in their character and therefore can't fulfill their purpose usually when people have these issues with the father then they project the bitterness against the father into their marriage it comes and affects their wife it projects into their family against their own children and as a result they reinforce family dysfunction family generational inequity is reinforced and finally they begin to reap a reaction from their own children to them in the same way they reacted to their own parents you see this very much in in some families families attached to gangs perhaps and uh you see there the cycle of dysfunction keeps repeating generation after generation so then when we talk about father what are we what do we mean what is it referring to so let's have a look at some of the key purposes of a father and then just talk just in a couple of practical ways how we can just turn into the lord for help around this issue if it's still a burden in our life so firstly your father is a source the word father in the bible the word ab in the old testament abba in the new testament it's the word meaning a source originator producer so a father is a source he's a he's the place of origin so god the father heavenly father is the source of all things ultimately and uh but in the old testament when or through the bible culture they always wanted to know who someone's father was where do you come from who is your source what is your father people were even named after their father and they carried the father's identity so uh people were identified by where their father came that's why the bible has so much two chapters involving establishing the genial of jesus where he came from where he originated from so fathers people were identified by their father and people were raised to uh to be fathers and to represent what god is like secondly a father establishes his children one of the key functions of a father is not just protection and provision but it's actually to invest into children to establish them let me read your scripture deuteronomy 32 6 do you thus deal with the lord foolish and unwise people is he now talking about god is he not your father who bought you paid a price for you has he not made you and established you so notice that word established a father establishes his children that word establish what does it mean the old testament means to make secure a father makes children secure to make stable a father aids stability to make ready to order in the new testament means to cause someone to stand or to stand firm to uphold their authority to cause someone to have an internal force inside them wow how about that a father has an important role in establishing strength inner strength in the life of their children to stand up to and face the challenges of life how about that wow so we notice there that a father then has a god-given role to establish identity of a child and to establish them in who they are and what they're called to do so a father empowers their sons and daughters at first to discover who am i and uh secondly what and my purpose what am i called to do so we find in the look at the life of jesus we find jesus was established by his father luke chapter 3 and 21 and 22 when jesus went down into the waters of baptism his father spoke over his life his father released his anointing and empowered him so we we find that jesus was empowered by his heavenly father uh he he needed to be established he needed to be confirmed he needed to be validated by his father before he began his ministry representing his father and so the father confirmed his identity you are my beloved son the father uh confirmed his his value i love you my beloved dearly loved son well what powerful words a blessing from a father uh he's not a city he confirmed his pleasure with him he said i'm pleased with you i've watched everything you've done you've brought me great pleasure and uh so these are important statements that he made and then the father validated the ministry he released the anointing of the holy spirit to empower him into his calling and then we find the father giving him direction says he was led by the spirit and so all jesus ministry he was guided and led and directed by his father's ever-present influence wow there's a whole message just in that but you see the importance of a father establishing a son a father establishes their sons and daughters and secondly a father establishes identity identity is who am i identity is who i am and god and who god is in me my identity is who i am and it's really quite important to be established in identity that's the role of the father if you look back into the garden of eden to adam adam was the lord brought animals to adam and adam was called to name them to name them means to give identity to them that's a dog that's a cat that's an elephant so notice how he was given the role as the father within the earth the first father to bring identity to creation and uh so it's quite an important role of a man in the household is to give identity and part identity to sons and daughters you notice that god says he's the father of abraham isaac and jacob uh he talks and uses fatherhood as a way of describing identity uh we see with jesus in john 13 uh jesus identity was firmly established that's what it says here he said knowing the father had given anything into his hands verse 3 of john 13 he come from god he's going to god he rose and then he laid off his clothes he put on a servant's garment and he began to wash the feet of the disciples notice he's not hung up on his position he's not hung up on his role not hung up on anything he became a servant why could he become a servant because he knew where he came from he knew who he was he knew where he was going and he knew his purpose he was able to then fully serve without worrying what people thought of him because identity was established firmly in his father's voice to him you notice even in jesus first temptation in the wilderness the first attack was on his identity if you are the son of god prove it do something and that pressure is on people today this is one of the things fathers are meant to do help sons and daughters know hey this is who i am i belong here this is my father i'm your son and so we're called to come into relationship with god i know who i am god is my father i'm a son of god i'm a daughter of god i'm a child of the living god i belong to god i came from god i go to be with god i'm called to represent my father here on the earth see that's the message of sonship and so a father establishes their identity a father establishes purpose and calling and so this is something that a lot of fathers don't understand it's the importance of these things in genesis 49 verse 1 jacob called his sons and said gather together that i might tell you what happens to you in the last days wow now here here we notice he's the head of the house and he's come to the end of his life and now he's going to speak prophetically words that will shape to find the destiny of his sons well it's an amazing thing so we see in jacob there jacob speaking words that defines the destiny how powerful are the words of the father to speak unto your sons and daughters i believe in you i see this in you i'm here for you i am with you i'm behind you i'm there to stand with you these are the words jesus received and here's the words that jacob spoke he spoke words that carry power notice he said i'll tell you what'll happen to you in the last days so he's speaking about their future he's speaking about their destiny what a powerful thing for a father to do that a father can help identify the gifts and strength what god has put into their children and prophesy and speak them over their children it gives them a powerful sense of destiny there's something about a father's words that carry force and power and uh if the father withholds words if your father withheld words from you words of affirmation words of love words of identity words of pleasure in who you are words of encouragement then there's a deep usually a deep lack it's like it's like the heart or the soul is like it's like ground that has no water it's like a desert inside longing for affirmation from somewhere and if we don't find it from an actual father and from a heavenly father we will look for the watering of our soul in many other different places and so very very important so we see also for example in the life of gideon when gideon had an encounter the angel of the lord carrying the father's message to him how powerful is this go and have a look at it in judges chapter 6 verse 12 and he says the angel lord appeared to him saying the lord is with you you mighty man of valor here's gideon he's got fear in his heart and god speaks to him and god speaks word you are a mighty man of valor that's identity talk how we need our father to talk into us words of identity you are a mighty man of valor you can do it you've got what it takes and then he says i am with you i am with you so the father speaks to him and confirms his identity the father speaks him and gives him a calling and a mission in his life and then the father says i'll back you up i'm with you in it what a great thing to go out into life and know your father says listen i'm here i'm backing you up i'm with you and all that you do so of course one of the things that the bible requires of us is that we respond by honoring our father and that's really today is about honoring our father in malachi 1 and 6. uh if a son honors his father and a servant his master god is saying if i'm your father where is my honor so clearly honor is a principle right through the bible honor your father because there's blessings jesus reaffirmed it matthew 15 4 god commanded god commanded sort of suggestion honor your father and your mother so jesus reinforces we should honor the sources in our life and so honor means to place value on on a means uh to give a gift of something it's nothing to do with whether someone deserves it it's actually an issue of a gift of value some kind of value that you place there are lots of ways you could honor your father maybe i'll throw a few you could pray for them regularly how about praying for your dad regal if he's still alive how about speaking words of gratitude if he's not alive you could write out a letter and just write out the things that you want to say thank you for that you never said thank you for words of appreciation for what they have said what they have done for just their journey their life their consistent whatever they have done uh you could express honor in terms of personal gifts in terms of care and attention you can express honor by asking for wisdom asking for advice and important things you can express honor by receiving correction and advice from them you can honor them by holding or discover and hold what are the core values that got you where you have and discover what things god put into their life that you should embrace and identify identify embrace and carry on and of course to honor them in public so what about those who are struggling because perhaps you haven't got a great background your father has not functioned as god intended him and in fact only god himself can meet all our needs so jesus came that you could be introduced to god and find him as your father be born into his family but god also wants to heal the brokenness in your life so let me just give you an example in psalm 27 10 david king david said when my father and mother abandoned me so he was abandoned because of the pressure that came on him god will take care of me teach me your way o lord so you notice then that even though he had faced conflicts and troubles and difficulties and rejection by parents he turned to the lord and discovered that god could take care of him and he become teachable not rebellious teach me be a father to me and teach me how to do life you notice if you read the book of proverbs how solomon his son carries on the instructions he received from his father let me ask you this question how did solomon know what to ask god for when god said ask whatever you want i'll give it to you he knew exactly what to ask for how did he know he'd listen to his father his father had invested time into him his father had invested wisdom into him his father had poured into his heart words of encouragement and showed him what to ask for and he asked for exactly the right thing wisdom and an understanding heart so it's important then that if we've got issues in our background that we do these things number one we need to resolve father wounds it is a heart issue we saw that malachi it's a turning of the heart there's repentance needed it's a turning of the heart as needed that god is able to do so it's important to resolve them it might be a natural father it may be some authority figure in your life some male figure in your life someone that's deeply you trusted them and thought you had a certain relationship and then they let you down and you're very deeply wounded deal with it resolve it identify what it is the offense the disappointment uh whatever is the grief and bring it to the lord bring it to the light bring it to the cross forgive and bless let it go don't stay chained and imprisoned by dishonor they've acted dishonorably but don't you carry it in your heart and then act dishonorably to them and bring cursing on your life you're responsible for your decisions and your choices perhaps some of you today need to deal with an issue in your heart regarding a father or an authority figure see so it's important to resolve that come to the lord with the pain and let it go to him secondly choose to honor choose to honor honor on as a gift it's a choice you choose to honor and bless your father choose to appreciate your father there are spiritual fathers there are natural fathers and there's a heavenly father whoever is a father in our life honor them and bless them and appreciate them choose to do it it's a gift appreciate them express gratitude show kindness show honor show that you value what they have invested in you they're no perfect man only our god in heaven is perfect jesus christ who came to represent him as perfect but we can draw from people and honor what they do give to us and then thirdly pursue revelation pursue revelation of fatherhood and sonship you need to be proactive don't complain what you didn't have don't complain what you didn't have that's not going to get you anywhere don't do that rather study what the bible says about fatherhood start to search in the bible ask the holy spirit to teach you about god he's the holy spirit is called the spirit adoption who brings us into sunshine it's the holy spirit reveals we're the children of god it's the holy spirit gives access to our father make the holy spirit your friend and seek to come near and understand revelation concerning fatherhood and then sonship responsibilities what is your responsibility and then seek out father roles see there's always someone around that can model for you not perfectly but they can model some aspects of father so seek out people that can help model that for you so you can learn from them you may not get it from one person but you can draw from here draw from there draw from somewhere else draw from reading draw from listening to messages and so on but don't just be a passive person don't be a victim because of where you've come from make a decision i will bring resolution to father wounds i will choose to honor i will honor my natural father or honor those who have fathered me and helped me in life and ministry and i'll give honor to god as my heavenly father and then i'll pursue i'll pursue revelation i want to understand about fatherhood i want to understand about the responsibilities of sonship and i want to become a repairer and a rebuilder i want to build and restore what has been in our family history and build a better different future for the next generation man what what a call if you're a man you have a call to be a father to be a man of god a leader you've got to call in your life to repair and restore the old foundations to build new patterns you're called to be a repairer of the bridge of many generations god bless you i just know that today there'll be people watching and this is really touching you once you close your eyes where you are and i want to just lead you in a prayer i want you to open your heart just wherever you are watching right now i want you to close your eyes open your heart and open your inner being today and perhaps for some of you you had a wonderful father a good father you've been great in your life thank god for him and just let go any forms of criticism where he's lacking and no one's perfect so just honor him if you've had a father that's been absent been passive being abused of being neglectful then there's something in your heart you need to let go of so why don't we reach out to the lord right now father god in the name of jesus christ we come before you we recognize i recognize you are my father you are my heavenly father you are my life source my identity is found in you father you've created me to fulfill a purpose in this life you've created me to represent you you've created me for a distinct and unique purpose i repent lord of seeking to find my own way i repent of running and living a life independent of you and i come to you and ask for you to forgive me for that independence lord where i have resisted and reacted to a natural father my natural father father in any way that i've resisted reacted or dishonored him i repent of that now in any place in my heart that i'm carrying wounds that are unresolved lord i bring them to you right now i release forgiveness i choose to forgive i withdraw all judgments i have made i withdraw all vows i've made that i would not be like him i withdraw those things and i ask would you cancel any judgments against me lord i choose to bless and i choose to honor lord as i come before you today i thank you lord that you are coming to me to heal my heart i receive your healing into my heart i receive a freedom from that oppression of rejection i break my agreement with that orphan spirit that i break my agreement with that jezebel power to resist your fatherhood and father i come to you today i say abba father thank you i receive your healing i receive your life i receive your love into my heart today today i know who i am i am a child of god i am a representative of my father i am called to represent him and honor him in all that i do i'm called to carry the message of his love to the nation lord today i thank you in jesus name amen

Channel: Encounter Church

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Id: eNKg6VGStQQ

Length: 49min 40sec (2980 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021