The sort of Dad I choose to be I Be that Dad

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] good morning crossway and happy father's day happy father's day to all the dads watching this morning trash you've had a great day already perhaps some of you woke up to breakfast in bed and kids in bed with you and maybe some of you already opened up those uh father's day gifts the jocks the socks the deodorants and those father's day mementos like mugs and best dad trophies and all those sorts of things dads we hope you have a great day you know i love being a dad i've been a dad now for just over 20 years i've got four kids and just love being a dad to my kids but i have noticed a shift in my fathering over the last few years you see when i was a dad of preschoolers and primary age kids i had hero status i had relevance i was pretty cool i was a cool dad not unlike what pastor sam is about southeast campus right now see pastor sam he's in his 30s he's a young dad he's still got cool factor but pastor sam i'm here to tell you that something's about to change over the next few years you don't think it's ever going to happen but all of a sudden your hero status starts to diminish and you become what i would describe a daggy dad and this is the moment that dawned on me so i've got teenagers now as they start working their way through those teenage years they start to respond my fa to my fathering a little bit differently see at the dinner table i might provide a pearl of wisdom or a joke or some sort of teenage insight and you know what i get from my kids now it's what's called the eye roll let's see it's the groan oh dad yep that's uh that's the level of parenting that i'm at right now and i know i'm still loved i know my kids still love me but they show it in different sorts of ways right now and perhaps i'll become a bit more relevant and a bit more cool when they start to enter their twenties but for now that's what it is but in honor of those eye-rolling moments those daggy dad moments we initiated a competition during the week on our social media platforms called the best dad joke we invited you to submit your best dad jokes and we have some winners that we'd like to announce this morning and here we go the best dad jokes that were judged during the week and just remember dad jokes are harmless they're g-rated they're supposed to be cringe-worthy not roll around on the ground with a bit of a belly laugh these are like sort of palm on your forehead oh crikey that's right if that's the response you go with now then we've done our job the best dad joke has done its job but here we go congratulations to you seth daniel your dad joke was this parallel lines have so much in common it's a shame that they'll never meet boom boom thank you for that one set mei ling your dad joke submission was this one who is the richest man in the bible jesus because he saves thank you very much mailing for that one we are glad that you we're the rich ones because jesus saves the singleton family now quite like this one the singletons have uh submitted this one i can't take my dog to the pond anymore because the ducks keep attacking him well i guess that's what you get for buying a pure bread dog like that one that brings a smile to the face i must say thank you very much singleton family for that one a bunnings voucher coming your way and jason wright from our south east campus jason thank you you're always up for a competition i know jason and so you've also won an award today this was your best dad joke my son and i were watching the olympics recently and were amazed by the sprinters my son asked me what do those sprinters eat for breakfast i told him nothing they fast good work jason as i said dad jokes cringe worthy not particularly a belly laugh but hey they might bring a bit of a smile to your face and they are a step up from those jokes that we find in our christmas crackers those christmas bon bons aren't we at christmas time but thank you for those of you who submitted your dad jokes for those of you who didn't get a prize this morning well perhaps next time for those of you who did bunnings vouchers coming your way over the next week or so that dad's whether you're daggy or whether you're cool it doesn't matter we love you and we are glad that you are in our lives and i know today that it's not an easy day for all dads particularly during this stage of lockdown and restrictions that we're experiencing we a lot of us are feeling quite disconnected physically from our dads today but having said that we trust that all our dads will feel loved warmth and security today as uh as we pour out our love upon our dads so dad's good on you have a great day and thank you for being a part of our online service today hey to that and how about we kick start our service today by praying for our dads would you bow your heads with me and let's pray for this father's day let's pray well god we want to thank you for our fathers our earthly fathers and the blessing that they have been to us over so many years god thank you for the love the sacrifice and the provision and the energy and the teaching they've provided each of us over the years that have shaped us into the people that we've become today god by those memories those strong biblical legacies that they give us the moral legacy that they leave with us continue to shape us into the future again we want to pray particularly for those families feeling a little disconnected today for dads that that can't be with loved ones and they'd love to be with loved ones today we want to pray a simple prayer and that is that those zoom gatherings that we experienced today the face time messages the the emails the text messages then there might be a a real heightened sense of love and warmth in those today so would you provide blessing even across those mediums to those we connect with our dads lord for those who have fallen out of favor with their dads where the relationships are a little bit strained right now we pray that today you might reinstill some hope in that relationship we pray for restoration we pray for healing we pray for forgiveness we pray that forgiveness might be sought that forgiveness may be received where it needs to be received and god that you might eradicate any sense of hate or bitterness or lost hope in that relationship god we also pray for those who have lost their dad over the last 12 months this is not an easy day for many it's the first first day in years the dad hasn't been there god would you bring your portion of peace and strength to such people on this day and for fathers who have lost a child over this past year or even over the years this is also a tough day for many god we pray that you would bring strength and solace to such people during this day as well god for all fathers today and i pray on behalf of the dads who are listening watching and praying right now god we aspire to be a father like you full of grace full of compassion full of love full of love for our wives for love and honor for our children we yearn to be men of integrity we yearn to be men of honor rising up to be the men you've called us to be rising up to be men who multiply disciples and may this day be a day where our dads feel warmth and feel secure and feel loved and embraced and also embrace that heightened sense of their spiritual calling as they move into the year ahead in jesus name we pray amen amen well again happy father's day dads trust you have a great day and welcome to all of you to crossway church online today particular welcome to those of you who are part of our crossway campuses our birdies campus our southeast campus our brighton campus and for those of you who click on online each week and would call this online community your campus great to have you with us and for those of you who have connected with us around the world in some shape or form today perhaps you're with us for the very first time we trust your experience of crossway online is very much a positive one you are enriched by the experience you have today if we can help you in any way just go to our next steps link there on our website and let us know how we can be in connection with you this week how we can help you and just remember we are here for you particularly during this challenging time of lockdown and restrictions so let us know if we can help you in any shape or form whether that be prayer or care or even some groceries help as well just let us know won't you hey kids we have crossway kids online today you know the drill there's a link there we've got we've got a program ready and waiting for you it's a great program today so enjoy that but just before you head off to crossway kids online you might want to hang in there just for another two or three minutes we've got a special video clip we'd like to show you now watch it with your family won't you because we have uncovered what some of our crossway dads get up to during the week let's check that out now [Music] [Music] hey i'm elizabeth it's malachi did i cross i've been here i thought i would go as an undercover kid this is a day in the life of my dad okay caught thanks for taking my call i know you're at work right now i'm doing an undercover sun mission for father's day and i want to capture some of a day in the life of dale stevenson um now you're in the house with him i need to recruit you is that okay this is how my dad gets me out of the bed in the morning here you come at 80 and 80 and i'll go to go for and you know i'm gonna go for one courtney is filming me where are you dad yeah what's up i need help with my math yes what are we doing long division long division is it the one with like the symbol like that can you my dad is really good at reading books to me especially books that need to be read every single day how cool is that yo what's up he's so good at painting is that this is the chicken cave and the master of work extending the chicken coop sometimes my dad is a bit scared of our pet dad did you ever hold my hand oh very cute pet uh no i think that didn't stay on you i love how my dad's teaching me life lessons of things that are very useful when i grow up like mowing the lawns i did a training for pastors the other week and we ended up having 46 pastors from across australia new zealand that's a bit of fun my daddy really loves me he lets me do anything [Music] one of the things my dad is really good at is playing games with us tonight we're playing katan and i'm gonna try kiki's blood [Applause] well that didn't go to plan dad loves his chickens let's be clear he doesn't love all birds the cockatoos that chew apart the edge of the balcony not a big fan of those but i thought let's hit dale's two great loves his children and his chickens against one another i'm gonna call up and i'm gonna ask him if i can have two of his chickens at my house and see what he says i think we might find the limit to uh to dad's fatherly love let's have a look now my question is regarding your chickens how would you feel during this lockdown time which might extend longer if nina and i grabbed two of your chickens and had them along the long edge of our house if we could catch them in is that just to experiment with you whether you're working yeah pretty much give us some eggs give us something to do sure this was a this was a test between your two great loves your children and your chickens and you've passed with flying colors well suffice it to say i did not expect that response we we thought that we'd stump him that we found the extent of his fatherly love by saying will he say no to his son or his chickens he told me i can have some chickens now let's be clear i don't want chickens but uh the man really loves me what a day i didn't realize how much my dad did i love my dad so it turns out that my dad does quite a lot in the day and there's so much more that he does too i learned that he loves me and he helps me be the best that i can be i hope i'm just like him one day cheers for watching this is malachi signing out happy father's day dale love you a lot [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah how much fun was that uh a bit cheeky i've got to say when to to realize your kids are filming you and you don't even know they're filming you and they're running around and like i'm got my chickens and i'm chasing cockatoos and my son's trying to borrow chickens and and they're all recording it just for you so uh there you go anyway happy father's day dez it's great to be together today and i really i want to bring a message to encourage our dads today and my dad won't say this because my dad doesn't uh doesn't view church online or anything like that but i love honor and respect my dad he lives with me these days so i will get to i will get to see my senior citizen father a little bit later today but it's good to be together with you today i remember seeing a dad um carrying his child out of church one uh one day and his child was a toddler and he's got his child up on his shoulder and the child was having a full-on you know like temper tantrum and he was leading with the child's feet so the child's feet were going everywhere and the child's head was out the back was bang and the child was screaming and the father was just walking out of church really calmly as the child screamed and the father looked at me and i just smiled said hey you going and he said that was a really spiritual experience and he said how do you take the batteries out of these things you know every now and then you see a dad doing something and you just you just go i wanna i wanna be that dad i wanna be that kind of dad i remember seeing one one dad walking out a child holding on to his ankle crying and dad was just very calmly in a supermarket just walking every stride he took the child got dragged a little further along the floor dad was kind of smiling it was a bit of a fun thing the child didn't think it was fun but when you see your dad and whether where they're being like kind or fun or courageous loving generous firm thoughtful engaged present godly inspirational i tell you what when a dad makes a sacrifice or or when a dad loves their child so much they step outside of those social mores because they've just got to get by their child when you see that you say i want to be that type of dad and i don't know what your experience is like with your own dad everyone's got a very diversion experience and for many who are watching today your dad is no longer walking planet earth and uh you've only got memories of your dad for some of us our fathers are still alive and look whether your dad has done a great job or a terrible job you still have a dad and and and it's really important for us to realize that we all have a father in heaven as well you know when i was growing up i didn't get to see a lot of my own father between like late in my primary school and my um when uh with my own family my parents marriage ended in divorce my dad moved into state and he remarried and he uh he remarried a lady who was a widow and he raised her her three sons and so that that was kind of a big checkout period for me so all the way through my teenage years and and i went to america for a year when i was 15 and then i picked up my backpack when i was 19 and i went overseas for almost four years i actually didn't get to see my dad a whole lot uh through those years but you know just before i turned 19 i actually put my faith in jesus and i discovered that i actually have a father in heaven who genuinely loves me self sacrificing god who actually affirms me and it repositioned a lot of things for me it made me want to be a really committed dad i really did and for all different challenges that life throws our way and right now for those who are joining us wherever you're joining us from melbourne's in lockdown melbourne's probably in lockdown for a couple more months so and come on everyone we've got this thing uh we we can see the light at the end of the tunnel right now but uh for some of the days at home right now it's kind of like oh my goodness it's so hard to be a dad in lockdown they say melbourne i'm reliably told this melbourne is about to become the most locked down city in the world just for the length of time that we've been locked down sometime between now and november that's going to take place so it's challenging isn't it let's not pretend it's easy but really we've got this and we've got this because god's got us now i read a verse from the bible a couple of weeks ago when i spoke about honor a few weeks ago i spoke about honor and uh and i read uh ephesians chapter six verse four where it speaks specifically today's here's what it says it says fathers do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them rather bring them up with the discipline or training the different translations put it different ways so bring them up with the discipline of training and instruction that comes from the lord so here's what i want to do i actually want to simply apply that verse today so i'm going to use that as a springboard i'm going to apply it in lots of different ways because when it speaks about raising up our children so rather than frustrating them raising our children with discipline or training and their little word there is padia and it actually means the cultivation of their person training their mind their morals and their and their body so bring them up with the discipline or training and then it also says and bring them up with the instruction which literally means putting things in their mind so there's this educational component as well so it's it's the how and the what and and the why of life and so dad there's we're encouraged in the bible rather than frustrating our kids and let's face it kids have got an enormous sense of justice and if there's ever a time where you're being inconsistent in other words if you're not applying kind of the household rules evenly across the kids or if you're if you're trying to apply rules to them but you're living in consistently with them with those same rules children have got an innate sense of justice they have a strong sense of what is fair and they're looking for you to be consistent because yesterday you said and did this with with them or with another child and today if you're not being consistent they will become frustrated and that's what it says there in that passage in ephesians 6 4 where it actually provokes them to anger so we don't want to do that we want to be consistent and parents in such a way that we're raising up fantastic young people into the world ultimately we are raising our children for somebody else we're raising our children to be good citizens for the nation we're raising our children so they can hopefully love and maybe marry somebody else we're raising our children for a life well beyond ourselves so here we go dads if we're going to be raising up our kids we're going to be training and instructing them what are some of the really big ones well here's number one for me that my children know that they are loved unconditionally that love is not the sort of thing that they've got to evoke or earn it's not something they need to achieve it's not that they will be loved if but rather they are simply loved they are loved because they are my children that is their identity and and their their identity it's it's all secured irrespective of whether they're having a good day or a bad day at their best moment or their worst moment i want my kids and i've always wanted my kids to know they are loved simply because of who they are that's such an important thing because your kids aren't always going to be able to have a great day and sometimes your children are going to make choices they might be choices that you disapprove of they're going to do things wrong you did it as well when you were young by the way so let's let's just acknowledge the fact everyone that like the lord jesus was the only perfect person to walk planet earth the rest of us we stumble our way through we make good choices and bad choices but how important that is for our kids to know they are unconditionally loved it's their identity it's exactly um what we see when in the parable of the prodigal son in luke chapter 15 verse 20 and the son is coming home he's blown his life to pieces he's blown his inheritance he's done all sorts of loose living he's a jewish boy he's starving he's been feeding pigs he looks and smells horrible and as jesus told the parable he's telling us what god's like here it says in luke 15 verse 20 so he returned home to his father and while he was still a long way off his father saw him coming filled with love and compassion he ran to his son embraced him and kissed him and he made this great provision you know he got the jacket the feet the ring like screws slaughter the fat and carp let's have a celebration because unconditional love empowers your children to live from a position of affirmation not for affirmation now i used that phrase a few weeks ago and i didn't feel it got picked up as much as it should have been let's just realize how significant it is if your children can live from affirmation rather than for affirmation you actually empower them into the future because they know that they're not trying to seek approval from others if people are a an approval seeker they will blow with the wind you're not setting your child up to live well under peer pressure if they are if they are an approval seeker but if they live from a position of approval so they're already affirmed they're affirmed because of who they are that actually puts a rock under their feet it's exactly what the father in heaven did for the lord jesus when he got baptized matthew 3 17 this is my son that's identity whom i love is there in him i'm well pleased so this is this is this is a day of celebration and and the father in heaven did want to say how pleased he was uh with the lord jesus but there and then so the lord jesus was perfect so the father in heaven never had to have a bad day with the lord jesus but let's face it i got four kids they are not the lord jesus and they have bad days and when i was growing up i wasn't the lord jesus i definitely had bad days oh my goodness i had days that would have put gray hairs on on anyone's heads uh some of the choices i made growing up it is by the grace of god that uh i get to live hard the way that i live right now so when you set up your young people where they can live from a position of affirmation where they know they are loved irrespective then when they're out and about especially in those dynamic teenage years and where peer pressure really kicks in very strongly if your child has already knows and it's already established they are loved and if there are multiple loving and positive voices in their life they know they're loved they are less likely to blow with the breeze seeking approval from others peer pressure gets reduced on the back of a very secure identity and a secure placement so you go dads that's number one absolute and unconditional love for your children irrespective of the life choices that they make that is essential that's like that's just right there isn't it okay now when the kids are small and they're at home children actually need to learn to obey a home is the primary place where they'll learn about submission to authority in a loving environment and now this ultimately affects everything in their life the way we as adults roam around in society and our own attitude to authority will affect our capacity in the workplace it'll affect our experience of government it'll affect our experience with the police learning how to engage with authority is firstly learned at home where mum and dad have authority but it's in a loving environment now now authority without love can just be legalistic it can be authoritarian but as soon as authority is exercised in the context of love where it's firm and it's consistent where boundaries are lied where there are clearly expressed consequences if you cross those boundaries when a child knows they're already loved but here's is here are the rules of the family and good healthy families actually do have rules uh some research was done about about children and playgrounds where they weren't fences and and where there were fences and where there were fences children were prepared to play right out to the edge where there weren't fences children played in a much smaller area then they were looking for the boundary and and we do that in life as well now dads with regard to the exercise of your authority there's a genuine possibility that you are the biggest and strongest individual in your in your household that's not going to be universally true as of course but generally speaking dad tends to be physically uh the strongest and it's not uncommon for them to be the tallest well at least for a season my son's six foot five 198 centimeters he shot past me by the time he's about 15 or 14 something like that and he's way way stronger than i am but when the kids are little you tend to be the strongest person now the way you use authority it's really important that you use your authority to build rather than to destroy it's exactly what the apostle paul wrote in 2 corinthians 13 10. he said the authority the lord gave me is for building you up not tearing you down so the way you exercise that authority especially with it when your children are little you're big you're strong you probably even have the loudest voice i definitely had the loudest voice in my household i pretty much have the loudest voice in any household and but the way you use your authority is really really important so use it to build be consistent be loving be affirming but be firm children actually need that they need to know your yes means yes your no means no there'll be consequences if they cross the lines it actually makes them secure when you lovingly lead in that sort of way now small children when when you're when your kids are at that age they just need a ton of fun love and engagement it's really important for dads to be amongst it dads never ever think that that's somebody else's job never ever think that it's it's your wife or their mother's job no it's your job to be in there and to be amongst that now really smart dads if you want to be that dad if you want to be a great dad smart dads empower their children with age-appropriate decisions and consequences in other words we train our kids how to flex the decision-making muscle because they're going to have to flex it all their life unwise parents hold that back from their children too long because it's going to come and they're definitely going to be making all sorts of consequence decisions of great consequence so we're wise to empower them to flex the muscle of decision making like it goes right down to when they're little so my daughter amy and her husband nathan they have two children already gill and win gill's about two and a half wins uh i think win just turned eight months just uh recently now gil at two and a half when we babysit gil loves to go down to the park and there's a nice big park behind where we live and we can walk in the park and if he wants to shake my hand free and have a little bit of a run i know he's in a very safe environment and even at the play equipment when the play equipment's open it is again now uh he gets to play on the play equipment and i i let him take risks on that play equipment i kind of adopt a a uh a catching position i don't want him to really get hurt but i do want i do want him to take the risk where he himself is making a choice that he wants to step out onto something so i sometimes i invisibly kind of hover around him i'm ready to catch him so he doesn't really get hurt but i want him to make the choice not that long ago i i had gil down at the park and he spotted the drinking fountain the bubbler and uh and you could uh you could squirt water up in the air or it had a separate one where water went down for a doggie dish as well and i knew i had amy and nathan's full support in this because i've watched them do that as well if it was a freezing cold day it was probably about 13 degrees celsius this day but gill decided he wanted to play with the water so i just stepped back and for about a half an hour he played with that drinker fountain he squirted water up in the hair he squirted himself in the face someone put a stick in it so the water went about a meter up into the air and he was trying with when the wind blew it he was trying to catch it in his mouth and so he's literally he was so wet by the time he walked away from that water bubble after about half an hour he looked like he'd fallen into a swimming pool that's how wet he was and he played he played he played until he got to the point where he stopped and he realized how cold he was i'd already watched him starting to shiver and he just turned around to me it was like he couldn't walk anymore he put his hands out in front of him and then he threw his arms up to me it's like now i'm called par par got to carry me home because i'm so frozen and i'm so wet i just can't even take one step but you know what i didn't mind him making those choices i wanted him to flex his choice muscle i wanted him to be freezing and wet so he kind of connected the dots on a freezing cold day if i'm going to get absolutely saturated i'm going to feel really cold it's just he's flexing the choice muscle in an age-appropriate way and in a way that um it's not really going to be doing him any harm at all now daz you're also really wise if you activate your child's participation sometimes families can want to do everything for their children so they do all the cooking for their children they do all the cleaning for their children the washing the ironing they do everything for their children and it's just unwise your kids need to be participants in the household so like helping helping them to do their own washing or helping them to do their own ironing or like if their little iron might be a bit dangerous but helping them helping them with making their own lunch certainly with cleaning their own rooms i can remember so my son ben who's now married to nina dr nina they started dating when he was in year 11. and in year 11 he said to me do you think it's possible i've met the woman i'm going to marry i said look it's unlikely mate but it's not impossible well as it turned out they did so i can't even remember how many years they dated for probably six or something like that before they got engaged and and got married but i remember when ben was getting closer to that kind of marriage status and he said to me one day he's obviously living at home or not obviously but he was living at home and he said to me he said dad he said um do you think i'm ready to get married i said no and he said why not and i said every space that's your responsibility is messy his room was messy his car was messy if he had responsibility over it it was messy and i said you haven't learned to take control and to lead yourself just in your own spaces that would be a terrible thing to take into married life now he's so much about him and he's just an awesome guy so much about his character it really was ready to get married but you have never seen someone turn the corner so rapidly his room got cleaned up his car got cleaned up well i've got to say he's currently got it cleaned up temporarily and uh but that's all right because all of a sudden he he was connecting the dots between the way he was living and and the kind of an ultimate outcome and uh i actually at this point i want to pause and say uh thank you so much to pat papalia uh thank you to david field thank you for to wes rutherford and uh and um and coming up uh we've got the uh the kiesky stevenson clans coming together so to phil kievsky and of course all of your wonderful wives as well i'm celebrating the dads today those four dads you have prepared children of great character and faith who've married my uh children and duncan and courtney are going to get married november thank you to those men and to those dads for the incredible job you did in raising the sort of kids that you've raised now why is why's dads have their children engaged they get participation happening early it's not wise to raise lazy young people it's not wise to do everything for them get them activated and participating in in their uh their contribution to broader family life now wise fathers also and this is right up there for me as a follower of jesus wise fathers seek to impart faith and character to their children now that means living in such a way that you endear jesus and god and church to your children now why why did i add church there because i've never ever seen a christian person really thrive in isolation they thrive in community and i want all of my kids to have that sense of loving not only jesus and god but loving the church god god loves the church jesus loves the church his followers should love the church so he and i very deliberately decided to share in front of our kids stories that would build their faith that would build their character that would endear jesus and god in the church to our kids so that they in their own good time and under the guidance of the holy spirit would take that sort of step as well every now and then i hear a father saying oh i'm just going to let my kids choose for themselves about that sort of stuff a red flag goes up inside of me i'm like you do not let your children choose for themselves on the most important things can you ever imagine a dad saying oh whether or not my kid's going to go to school or not i'll let them choose for themselves oh like whether they're going to eat anything apart from junk food and lollies i'll just let them choose that for themselves no as parents we provide guidance and we lean in sometimes we even set really firm boundaries and i remember at one point when one of my kids got all grumpy about the faith and really wanted to throw in the towel and we simply said look as a family we do go to church each weekend and we and where i was pastoring then there were four services over the weekend i remember saying you can come to any of them that you want to come but you will come at least once and and so part of our that was just putting a boundary line in and uh so that person sat in the back row with their arms folded and looked very grumpy and took basically two year hiatus of disinterest and and animosity to the whole idea of faith uh before they came back around the corner and i just i want to say thank you to god and i say to each of my kids i'm very proud of you not only for the people that they are not only for their faith but for the sort of character that they've developed so dads don't just leave your kids to figure out deliberately this whole uh training and instructing function that speaks about in ephesians chapter six verse four you have a part to play in that and which included for me as a dad and of course this was shared with edie and my wife we when the kids were little would read them faith stories would pray beside their bed at night as part of getting him to get ready to go to bed all those sorts of things so path is passing on your faith it's exactly what it says in deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 9 but watch out be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live and be sure now listen to this and be sure to pass them on to your children and on to your grandchildren deuteronomy 4 9. now you your children's experience will largely shape so what they experience while they're younger will largely frame up the sort of youth that your parent i just want to say to you if you're having a tough time right now if if your child is in their teenage years they begin to think like an adult but they've still got the social graces of a child frequently it's never too late though to be introducing the unconditional love consequences and but affirmations and all that sort of stuff connecting with your youth trustworthiness and empowerment if they're trustworthy they get greater empowerment if they're not trustworthy they get a reduced empowerment and they really can get the head and heart around that as parents make sure you've got the courage to say no when you need to say no equally make sure you've got the courage to say i'm sorry when you get it wrong i can remember at one point shouting at one of my children i was tired i was exhausted they'd been very rude and and i shouted at them but i shouted so loud i watched them i like i i scared them and i and i remember walking out of the room and thought i have just made as big a mistake as what they did i thought they what they did was wrong because when they were rude but then i met them in their wrongness by shouting so i had to walk into the room after i'd kind of recollected myself and say look i got it wrong myself i'm really sorry that i shouted because that's that's just not the sort of dad that we want to be is it so these days with my kids they're all adults in their 20s and 30s three of them are married one's engaged to be married in just a couple of months and so now as a dad it's an entirely different role i seek to be generous i seek to be a friend i seek to be a model i seek to be a wise counselor i seek to pass a blessing across the generations i seek to be an example of a person who continues to walk by faith and who's prepared to take on challenges say come on dads let's be the dad let's be the dad who loves unconditionally let's be the dad who's principled and generous let's be the dad who teaches and trains their kids let's be the dad who's present let's be the dad who uniquely but not exclusively represents god to our children let's be the let's be the dad through whom our kids learn about authority and obedience and submission but where it would be in a loving environment so they feel secure let's be the sort of data creates an environment where authority and power are demonstrated in service and sacrifice let's be the dad who creates a platform upon which our children can stand and thrive beyond the time when they ever need to be obedient to us let's be the sort of dad who really demonstrates generous love especially to their mother so they can learn to love and respect their mum as well let's create an environment where our kids get to learn from a place of of approval that they are already approved rather than seeking approval let's be the dad that trains and instructs our kids in faith in the lord jesus so dazz i just want to say to you you've got this and while your past is already written you get a clean page every day so how about you however you take it up in your heart like take it on the chin if god's had a word of challenge or instruction for you today allow it to be a source of joy and encouragement if you've had a great affirmation from god today but dads let's be that dead okay good on you god bless let's pray together father in heaven thank you so much that you provide us with unique and wonderful challenges and experiences in being fathers and we find that that being a father we get to be like you you are described as our father in heaven what a beautiful and wonderful honor and privilege that is the father i want to pray blessing right now father strengthen those who are feeling like they've failed a little bit pick them up make them resilient give them a chance to start again in jesus name wash them clean and give them a fresh start because you know them and you love them and you're for them in their fathering in their dad's role so i pray blessing on them for all the dads who've done a great job father today i bless them in the name of jesus i celebrate them but they have a great joy in the heart for the contribution they've made to this world and the parenting of their kids so we say thank you lord it's in jesus name we pray amen well come on church as we sing together may this be a prayer over your life this morning god is doing a new thing so come on let's sing this out [Music] in the crushing in the pressing you are making you are [Music] so i [Music] when i trust you i don't need to understand [Music] make me a vessel make me an offering make me whatever you want me to be i came here [Music] jesus bring you wine out of me [Music] you are making you want [Music] breaking make me an offering make me whatever [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] today [Music] [Music] [Applause] so make me a vessel make me an offering make me whatever you want me to be i came here with nothing but all you have given me jesus [Music] [Applause] jesus me [Music] make me [Music] whatever [Music] jesus [Music] me [Music] jesus bring me [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus bring you on jesus bring your wine [Music] [Music] me jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] that there is [Music] make me a vessel make me an offering make me whatever you want me to be i came here with nothing but all you have given me jesus bring you one out of me jesus bring me [Music] jesus bring you wine out of me [Music] in the darkness we were waiting without hope without light so from heaven you came running there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the lord prophets to virgin came the word [Applause] [Music] god [Music] of kings [Music] [Music] [Applause] knowing this was our salvation jesus foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] till that stone was moved for good for the land that conquered [Music] [Music] come is [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus christ [Music] is [Music] of [Applause] we've got a great word from pastor dale this morning it was great wasn't it a word in the season i'm sure for so many of you to be that dad guys be that dad that god has called you and you created you to be and isn't a privilege to invest in the lives that god has placed in our care hey can i remind you too if you found that messenger or blessing and a word in season perhaps that's a great message that you could share with somebody else so perhaps you could go to our youtube channel this week across my youtube channel or even our crossway facebook page and you can share this service and this message you've just heard with your dad or with someone else in your family because i'm sure it will be a blessing to them just as it was for us this morning hey just a couple of things i'd like to bring to your attention and hey hang in there with me won't you because after these two or three notices i'd like to bring to you we have a really special treat at the end of the service as we close our service together a worship song which includes a whole myriad of special faces our crossway kids so that'll be coming up shortly as we close the service but just a couple of things by way of our kids next sunday is big step sunday that's a really important day in the life of our children so parents you are invited to come with your children to big step sunday the idea is that you would choose one of two sessions one at 10 45 am the other one is at 12 noon come to one of those because you will experience and hear all about god's plan of salvation for your kids and they will be given an opportunity to invite jesus into their heart and take that big step in their life and so there'll be more information coming to you via an email this week you can also go to the website where you'll find the zoom link as well and that zoom link will come to you via email throughout the course of this week so make sure you set that as a priority next sunday big step sunday a life transforming moment for your children talking about life transforming moments we also have alpha coming up in a couple of weeks time so alpha starts on monday the 20th of september of course because of the restrictions that'll be online via zoom but we've experienced that over the last few months and those who've come on zoom and done alpha found are really accessible and very much a user friendly experience so make sure you register for elf if you've got some questions about the faith that you've got some friends and family that are exploring our journey towards faith make sure that you register via our website you'll be given the zoom link there as well so 7 15 on monday 20th of september hey today we launch our annual missions appeal titled the least of these let's check that appeal out there [Applause] hey everybody this year we're doing an international missions emphasis in september normally we'd do it at christmas time we're giving it a run by doing it in september this year our theme is for the least of these you know crossway has 71 national and international workers in 25 countries and when we do this appeal we additionally give 20 of whatever is raised to a third party this year we're going to be giving that partnership to gia and to work that they do in bangladesh we have partnered with ga before in fact we built and paid for the ministry center right up there in the north and mayman singh and so we're going to partner further with them this year hey crossway great to share with you as the executive director of global interaction our international mission agency for our australian baptist movement i know full well the heartbeat of crossway for the city nation and nations a church community totally invested in what god is doing around the world and thank you for the opportunity that global interaction has to partner with you in this year's for the least of these missions appeal the portion of funding that will come to us will support an amazing work in south asia among the b people we don't identify who those people are because of security reasons but they are one of the poorest least rich people around the world they face incredible challenges with poverty natural disasters the lack of services that we take for granted and in the midst of that the pandemic on the ground we have global attraction workers working with local christian partners seeking to make a difference by word and by deed by word and loving action bringing the hope of jesus to people in need this is a nation where crossway has partnered the past our senior pastor here dale was at the opening of a global interaction building that continues to be a ministry hub across the nation this exciting project will allow us to develop a studio to develop local resources in the local language to disciple people to build up leaders to share the hope of jesus in ways that make sense to people on the ground we'll be developing local resources we'll be training leaders in areas of community development through the studio and learning hub we can only do this with your support the learning hub is even more vital in the midst of a pandemic where people can't travel where most people haven't been vaccinated where most people don't have what we would take for granted with the covert pandemic around us so thank you for leaning in thank you for partnering with us thank you for being co-workers and investing in this vital project as using technology we take the hope of jesus to some of the most needy and vulnerable people on the planet thank you and god bless you our target this year is three hundred thousand dollars you know our international workers are placed in some of the toughest environments of the world genuinely putting their life out there for the sake of the gospel it's not a big thing for us to demonstrate a generous spirit so with a target of 300 000 let's help to resource those 71 workers in 25 nations come on crossway let's be generous dig deep and god will bless you as you do well what a great opportunity to contribute to the awesome work that we're doing globally in relation to mission again a reminder three hundred hundred thousand dollars is our target i reckon we can reach out over the next few weeks can also remind you that your contributions your financial contributions are not tax deductible so keep that in mind won't you you can find the link there on our website you can see a link there on the screen in front of you you can click on that link and go to there now and contribute also you can qr code so if you want to scan the qr code on your screen in front of you it's that easy you can even do that now as we speak as we kick-start our campaign so thank you for your anticipated generosity now speaking of your anticipated generosity thank you for your continued generosity and your consistent giving as you bring your offerings to our general offerings each week i know you're doing that online right now you set up your electronic deposits your direct debiting thank you so very much for doing that because the mission of god that is placed in our hands continues to unfold and we're still hearing great outcomes and great stories as a result so let's continue to be faithful in our giving as we bring our offerings to the lord each week as i mentioned just a few moments ago we're going to finish the service now with a really special song in honor of this special day and in honor of our father in heaven oh i've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like but i've heard [Music] that you're pleasing that i'm never [Music] who you are [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] searching [Music] [Music] is [Music] you are perfect [Music] too [Music] [Music] deeper still [Music] me who you are [Music] [Music] [Music] you are perfect in all of your ways [Music] [Music] well our father in heaven you are indeed a good good father and we love you we thank you so much that you are in our lives we thank you for the forgiveness that you bestow upon us when we get it wrong we thank you that you love us unconditionally we thank you for your favor and your grace the assurance of our salvation and we thank you that you inspire us to be the men and women of god that you've called us to be may indeed we stand up to that mantle as we press forward in these coming days and weeks we thank you for this service today and again we thank you for our earthly dads and most importantly we thank you our heavenly father in him name we pray amen well crossbow it's been great to be with you today again happy father's day to our dads out there have a great day won't you and to our birthdays campus can i remind you that we're going to gather together on wednesday at 7 30 for our church-wide prayer gathering on zumba great to pray together have a great day and we'll see you next time at crossway online you

Channel: Crossway Church

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Length: 70min 51sec (4251 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021