Dad, Where Are You Driving Your Family? | Father's Day

Amen, does that get you excited? Who's ready to be in church today? Come on now. Come on. Man, welcome this weekend. Welcome to Faith Promise if you're live at a campus or if you're watching live or later online, God Behind Bars, Wynn Community Gatherings. I'm telling you, I'm so excited for this service. This is a service that knows how to get excited. This is a service that is ready for God's Word. Anybody ready for God's Word today? Come on. All right. Listen, I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you, I set a record last service of getting through the least amount of my sermon notes that I ever have, okay? So we'll see how far we get, but God's got something so special for us today because it is a special day. It is Father's Day. Now, I wanna take a moment and do some honoring. Now, I know when it comes to honoring, like clapping, cheering, celebrating, some of you guys don't wanna do it, okay? If you're wondering how I know that, I can see you. Oh, God in heaven, how are they? You know, I don't know why it's like that, but I need you to gird your loins, okay? Prepare yourself,

because we're gonna honor some people that need to be honored, and we're gonna do that together. I just believe today is one of those days we should lose our mind with honor and excitement. The first thing I wanna do, because this is Father's Day, the first person I wanna honor is our Heavenly Father. Just wait for just a second. But what a special opportunity it is for God to be our Father. He could've told us to call Him anything, but He chose to let us call Him Father. I don't know, maybe you've texted your earthly dad today, your stepdad, or maybe your dad's passed on and you've thought about him, but have you taken a moment to thank God in heaven? It says in Romans that He adopted you as His son or as His daughter. He's the only one that's known everything you've ever done or will do. He knows every thought that you've ever thought, and He wants you, and He accepts you, and He cares about you. He's sacrificed more than anyone's ever sacrificed so that He could call you son or daughter. So I don't know if you have today, but as a church, can we take five seconds and tell God happy Father's Day? We love you so much, God.

Thank you. Come on, give Him your best. Give Him your best. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God, for being our Father. Thank you, God. You're so worthy. Amen. Come on. Gosh, I love it. You know, a lot of churches are down on Father's Day. They're all up on Mother's Day, but they're down on Father's Day, but God is doing something. The men of Faith Promise, we will be up on Father's Day because our men of God are stepping up, but mostly because our Abba Father is worth honoring on Father's Day. Let me do another round of honoring, and again, hold off. I'll let you know whenever it's time so we can really give it our best, but if you're a dad, if you're a stepdad, if you step in that father role, would you just stand up? Don't cheer for him yet. Go and stand up right now where you're at. If you're online, stand up. Out of campus, stand up. I know it might be a little awkward.

I want you to stand up. Now, just let me paint the picture for us, man of God. In the Bible, God could have called Himself anything. He would have been justified. He could have said, only call me Yahweh. He could have said, only call me Savior. He could have said, only call me I am that I am. He could have said, only call me provider, Rapha, Jireh, Jehovah-Pirzim. He could have said all that, but the main thing He asked us to call Him is Father. When He taught us how to pray in Matthew chapter six, He said to start it out, my Father who is in heaven, holy be your name. Now, it's crazy that God lets us be His Father. Something that's even crazier to me is that He wheels around and lets us have that title for something that the enemy's trying to fight you, make it feel like stolen valor or something, that you're taking something you shouldn't have being a dad, but God says you are a dad. He says you are a father. He knows what's going on. Do you know the percentages of a baby being born with the sperm and the egg and all this stuff and the rampant abortions, all this, and yet you are a father with 18.2 million kids in the US that don't have dads. Faith, promise we are honored and we are blessed to have our dads.

I wish I could look every single one of you guys in the eyes and say the honor. I know you may not feel it. I know that you know you're not perfect, but God has set you apart to be a dad. Faith, promise. More than we've won the lottery. I'm telling you, statistically, kids that have a dad are better off than kids that have money and everything else. So faith, promise, like we've won the lottery, can we honor our dads? Thank you, God. Come on, come on. I love you guys. We love you guys. You're killing it. Thank you, Jesus. Amen, amen. All right, you guys can have a seat. We love our. Gosh, I love, I love dads. A lot of times dads get beat up at church. I love you. I'm proud of you. Your best days are ahead. I know that you've missed some things, but it's okay. God will give us back the time, the locust day. What a special day. I wanna do one more round of honoring.

If I could just be a little bit selfish, I would like to honor my dad. My dad's the first senior pastor of Faith Promise. He pastored Faith Promise for 30 years. He's just a great man of God. The first father of this house. The best representation of Jesus that I had growing up. My dad was not all perfect, but my dad was all, all persevering. My dad is an incredible man of God. And if you've been at Faith Promise, if you're enjoying at all what God is doing at Faith Promise, whether it's been for 30 years or whether it's been for three weekends, we owe a debt of honor to Pastor Chris or Dr. Big Daddy. Can we just honor Pastor Chris? What a great man of God. I love you, dad. I love you, dad. I love you. Awesome. Well, hey, one of the things that my dad did for me that really set us apart was he taught our family about spiritual warfare. He taught us about spiritual warfare. One of the ways that my dad did that was through a book called The Screwtape Letters. Because spiritual warfare can seem confusing and daunting, and I get that,

but we have to understand that we are biblically, as far as God's concerned, is what he taught us, we are in a fight. There's a spiritual war raging. And listen, one of the best resources for us to grow in that is a book written a long time ago by C.S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters. So starting next week, we're gonna go, those will be our weekend message will be about The Screwtape Letters, okay? Spiritual warfare. Now, here's what I want you to know. And it's such a great opportunity launching off of Father's Day. Can I ask you, what's the last book you read as a family? What's the last book you read just a man of God or a woman of God? What a great opportunity to put a stake in the ground so I'm gonna lead my family. So you can order a copy of the book, The Screwtape Letters, or on the app, what we've done is if you open the app, you're gonna see a little box that says Screwtape Letters. And when you go there, it's got the whole, it's got the whole reading plan in it, like the schedule, and not just the PDF where you can read it, it's got an audible version of it right there where you can listen to it. There's no excuse. Well, can I just challenge you, give you something really practical?

As a family, change up your evening routine. After dinner, gather around the table, gather on the couch, either read or listen to that book together. There's gonna be some stuff you don't understand. That's okay. I want you to dive in. Come on, what a great opportunity to say, I'm gonna lead my family through this book. We'll talk about every weekend. It's gonna be so, so special. And it's gonna take us into the greatest season of harvest we've ever had in the fall. So spiritual warfare starts next week, but for you and your family, it starts tomorrow. Look on the app. We're gonna read this thing together. It's going to change your life. Now, speaking of spiritual warfare, one of the most important parts about spiritual warfare is believing that it's real. You really can't read the Bible without seeing the devil and demons and spiritual attack. Spiritual warfare is real. And can I tell you where my dad, growing up with my dad, where he thinks the most spiritual warfare is raging, where the devil is sending his most powerful demons, my dad believes it's in the Apple Maps app on his phone. He believes with every new OS, there's a new Principality of Darkness that's been downloaded in there just to rob him of his joy.

I'm telling you, you want to see that godly man. He's a man of God. You want to see him lose his mind? Ask him to follow Siri somewhere. Just the end of his driveway, he's gonna get lost and blame it on the device. Here's what my dad wishes would happen. And some of you guys have no idea what I'm talking about. My dad wishes we could go back to the days of printing off MapQuest sheets, okay? And handing them to me in the front row and yelling at me about the next turn. So instead of yelling at Siri, it's just to me, Zach, when do we turn? I don't know, dad! Sorry. Childhood trauma coming out. I'll save that for my counselor. It does seem like for men, part of the unwritten wedding vows, whether you're a husband or a dad, it seems like we get to be the drivers. We get to be the chauffeurs, especially on, I know it's not the case for everybody, but when I got married, I got something the internet calls a passenger princess. Actually, this is a picture of the last road trip I took with my wife. And this is in every trip. Okay, occurrence right here.

That's her and Biscuit. That's our youngest child. And in the back, Rachel's three other kids look the exact same way. It's like she gives them like NyQuil lollipops before they get in the car. Everybody takes a coma and just waits for me to get there, okay? But seriously, seriously, I do wanna ask. Dad, where are you driving your family to? What destination are you taking them? Is where you're driving your family where it really matters? We're all going somewhere. On purpose or on accident, we're all going somewhere. And listen, a wrong turn to Disney or a wrong turn to the beach, it might be frustrating, but it's not a big deal. You can take the next exit, you can turn around, you can get rerouted. But a wrong turn in eternity is final. A wrong turn in relational example leads to divorces and insecurity relationally later. A wrong turn financially leads people to be bound up to the God of mammon and bound up to greed and to no tithing and no generosity. A bad example physically leads to broken down bodies and lethargic and low energy and living a life less than what God has called us to. A poor example spiritually leads to pain and frustration

that is really inarticulatable. It's so deep, it's so diverse, it's so dynamic. So dad, father, can I ask you, where are you driving your family to? You may say, well, I'm not sure. What can I ask you? What destination does your celebration point to? What destination does your correction, your time, your money, where does all that point to? Hey, can I just encourage you? Let's not drive our kids to a 4.0 GPA. That's good, but let's not drive them there. Let's not drive them to a great batting average. Let's not drive them to having all the cool clothes and looking good and not drive them to loving the Lord, not drive them to loving people, not drive them to having a quiet time, knowing how, not driving them to knowing how to win people to Jesus. Listen, those are the destinations. A great GPA, a good batting average, friends, clothes, all of those are off ramps. All of those are sights to be seen on the way to hearing, well done, good and faithful servant. Dad, where are we driving our families to? It matters. One day we'll all stand before the Lord and give an account for the lives that we live and the leadership that we gave. Now, before we take a moment and be equipped to win, because some of us are like, hey, gosh,

I'm already convinced, let's get after it. And we're gonna get after it today. But before we get equipped to win our world, I just wanna take a moment, slow down, and just acknowledge that there's some father pain at church today. It was 18.2 million kids in America that don't have their dads. That's enough kids to fill New York City twice. It's enough kids to fill LA, Los Angeles, four times. Conservatively, it's one in four kids that don't have a dad in their life. It's brutal. Can I tell you, and maybe you have your dad and you still have father pain. Maybe your dad passed away. It's your first day. I talked to a family, their dad's deployed right now. This is a big deal. Can I just tell you, if you have some father pain, that's not God's design or desire for your life. Sin and the devil's attack on God's plan, it leads to pain. And one of the greatest attacks the enemy is driving right now is that on dads. I listen to a bunch of sermons every week and Josh Howerton is a pastor I listen to almost every week. He says the birthmark of a believer is a bullseye. And dad, can I just tell you,

you have a bigger bullseye than most. Because the devil knows if he can take out the dad, he can take out the family, he can take out the church, he can take out the neighborhood, he can take out the state, he can take out the country, he can take out the world. Dad, I'm telling you, and maybe I didn't ask for this. This is before what you've asked for. This is what you were designed for. So can I just tell you, if you were abandoned, God wants to hold you today. If you were abused, God wants to love you today. If you were lied to or let down, to give you a truth and a comfort that you can always count on. He has all that for you. If I could just tell you one more thing before we get into our time together, and this is gonna hit everybody a little bit differently. So I need you to ask the Holy Spirit how you need to interact with this statement. And it's this, you need a father. Just like your car needs gas or electricity, if you're one of those people. Just like your body needs food, your soul, it needs a father. It was designed to have a father. And maybe you've taken the bait of Satan, and you say, I don't need a dad, I don't need anybody. Can I just tell you as far as the biblical design

for your life, you are heading towards loneliness, lack, and let down. If I give you an example, I'm reading such a good book right now, it's called Extraordinary Transformation by a guy named Nito Cubane. And this guy's at the top of his field, he's a college president, he's worth a couple million dollars. A lot of things that we wish that we had. Just top of the field, all this stuff, and for a little over three decades, a little over 30 years, he's been talking to CEOs. And one of the questions he always asks CEOs is if you had a perfect world, what would you have? If you had a perfect world, what would you have? These people, they've got money, and they've got businesses, and they've got all this stuff, and they all give their answers. And Nito says, I would have a dad. All these things that we're striving for, all these things that we're sacrificing for, all these things that we're staying away from home late for, all these things that we're staying up at night wishing we had, this guy that has them all said in a perfect world, I'd have a dad. So for our last 20 minutes together, would you just take a moment and ask the Lord to restore your heart to its original design? Your heart's original design

is one that can receive love from a father. And there's a lot of us, we don't even know how to do that. So could we take a moment and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us? God, we come before you right now, we ask, we help us. Will you soften our hearts to hear from you today and to do whatever you tell us to do? Whatever you have to say, we're gonna obey. God, it's in your name we gather, and you and me pray in all God's people said, amen, amen. One of the greatest joys in my life is to be a dad. And can I just tell you something? I just wanna speak a little different than I usually speak. There's a lot of stuff I'm not good at. I'm telling you, a lot of stuff. I practice golf more than most, and I am terrible. There's a lot of things that I try at and I'm not very good at. Can I tell you, I'm a great dad. Can I tell you that like my daughter, she's 12. She's probably shared her faith individually away from us about 30 times. My kids know the word, they know all this stuff. Like they are going the way that they should go. Spiritually, relationally, education, all those things. Can I tell you the number one reason why that is? I am not a lot of things, but can I tell you one thing that I am? I am a man of prayer and a man of the word. I'm not a perfect man.

I lose my temper. I get sad. I get down on myself. I have a lot of doubts. I'm a man of prayer and I'm a man of the word. As I've studied, as I've looked, as I've processed, can I tell you something I know to be true? Is that fathers who win where it matters and take their families to destinations that matter are men of prayer and men of the word. I know it. I know that to be true. Everything else flows from that. So today, if you wanna be the father that God's called you to be, or if you need a relationship with your, we all need it. But if you're today, I don't have a dad or my dad died or I have this father wound, wherever it might be, you wanna be close to your spiritual, your heavenly father, your first father who knew you since the very beginning. Prayer and the word are the way into his presence. The devil so attacks him. He attacks him because he knows it's how we connect with our heavenly father. And so I actually had a different message for today, but actually I just wanna share with you how I'm praying. I wanna share with you the prayer outline that I'm using right now. And literally, last time I got through the header

in one verse. So I just wanna tell you this, on the app, if you scroll down on the homepage, there's something called prayer outline. And it has my whole prayer outline on there. And I'm telling you, it is changing my, you're gonna feel just about 10 minutes of it. And I'm telling you, I pray that you are more hungry for prayer than you ever have been before. And so I wanna tell you, this is not a sermon I had to prepare. This is what I do every day as I interact with the Lord. And so I want you to take some notes, or you can go ahead and go to the app and open up the prayer outline. That's what I'll be using. This is my journal. And so I just wanna start here. Listen, I've gotten the privilege to disciple hundreds and hundreds of students and adults and all that kind of stuff. Can I just be super bold with you? I have not found any better way for prayer than journaling. I just haven't. Especially men, they give me such sass, like, oh, I feel like a journal, eh. And I'm like, hey, that's exactly how they sound. That's how you sound whenever you sass me. And I'm like, well, how do you pray? And they're like, well, I pray on my way to work.

And I'm like, how many birds did you flip on the way to work this week? And they're like, one, two, that's too many. If I said, hey, when are you talking to your wife? And you said, well, I talk to my wife in between the really important things. Like going to work, going to the gym, going to my hobby. I call her in between the important things. Would that go well? I don't think that our prayer life fits in between other things. I think it gets to be its own thing. Does that make sense? It's a big deal. So I'm just gonna be bold. If you, and we're gonna talk in a moment about the thought of I'm bad at praying, which is a huge lie of the devil. But I'm just gonna tell you, I've been discipling people since I was 16 years old. I haven't found a better way to pray and to help others pray than journaling. So this is what I do in my journal every day. The first thing I do is I write the date at the top. Every time I write the date at the top, and that might not seem like it matters. There's two reasons why it matters. I'll tell you the first one right now. I write the date at the top because just like a couple of days ago,

sometimes, I know it's gonna shock you, sometimes I'm in a bad mood. Sometimes I get frustrated. Sometimes I get sad. Sometimes I'm short with the people that I love the most. Sometimes I doubt, I even doubt what God said he's gonna do. And guess what? Usually when I open my journal, there's been two, three, four days between the last entry. It's not that God went anywhere, it's that I went somewhere. It's not that God stopped talking, it's that I stopped listening. That's why I do that. I'm not just being legalistic, I'm trying to hold myself accountable. I'm not gonna have more accountability at work or at the gym than I have in my prayer time. Does that make sense? It's just not gonna be that way for me. So I write the date, and at the top, I write this. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And I write beside it, Revelation 4.8. That's where that verse is found. Just to give you a little bit of what's going on, in that verse, John, the Apostle John, he's getting a revelation, he's getting a view into heaven,

and he gets to look into the throne room of God. And what's happening is these seraphim, these angelic creatures, are flying around God and saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And they've been, as far as we know, they've been doing that since they were created. And you may think, gosh, have they gotten bored? No, it's because they have a true revelation of God's presence. Actually, it says with every revolution, they get another revelation of God's glory, and they cover their eyes, and they say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. The reason I put that in my journal is I ask the Lord, Lord, would you align where I'm at with heaven? So I say what they're saying in heaven, and I say, God, would you align my office, would you align this couch, would you align wherever I'm at with heaven? And guess what? Guess what, sometimes I have to say it more than three times. Sometimes I, because I say it out loud, like a goober, wherever I'm at, I say it out loud, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, and guess what, sometimes I don't mean it. Sometimes I say it, and I know it, because when you say it out loud, you know if you mean it or not.

And so sometimes, I don't say it three times, sometimes I say it 20 times, because I came into God's presence, and I'm sad, or I came into God's presence, and I have doubt, and I say holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And if you start saying it, you're gonna feel something build in you. Yeah, you might be sad, yeah, you might have doubt, yeah, you might be anxious, but you start saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. I'm not anxious first, I'm a child first. This isn't too big, God is too big. And the most important sermon I preach is not to you, it's to me. And it starts with holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. I do that to align my prayer time and to align the room with heaven. I'm telling you, you feel all right, don't you? This changed your life, this changed your family, this will connect you with your heavenly Father like you've never experienced. The next thing that I put at the very top, right after that, is I pray, please Abba, or please speak Abba, your son is listening. My word for the year, we do words and verses for the year,

that's my verse for the year. My word for the year is hear, H-E-A-R. I wanna hear from God more. this year. And so that verse, that 1 Samuel 3, 10 verse in the Bible says, it says, "'Please speak, Lord, your servant is listening.'" I live in the new covenant, the new Testament. So I say, please Abba, Father, your son is listening. I tell him, I wanna hear from you. I wanna hear from you. I don't just wanna talk. It really is not a journal. This is not a diary. This is where I talk with the Lord. I want to hear from you. And again, sometimes I don't mean it. And I have to do some work on myself. When I write it and I don't mean it, I try not to move on until I mean it. And I'm telling you, we all in January, we like to do words and verses for the year and growth plans. This has helped me more than ever to keep it top of mind, to keep it in front of me. I'll tell you, it just starts flowing. The next verse I go to is Psalms 100 verse four. Now this has been a game changer. Psalm 100 verse four, you may have heard it. It says, I enter into your courts with praise and thanksgiving.

Now, I've been praying this for about a year and a half or so, and I was using this verse for praise and thanksgiving. But about six months ago, guys, this is where I got hung up last service. I'm writing that and I write Psalms 100 verse four. And I said, I enter into your courts. And I just stopped. It was like my pen just stopped, and I couldn't move it. And I just had this revelation. I can't start praising yet. I can't start thanking you yet. I just, imagine if you walked into your friend's house or you walked into your father's house, something like that. And you start talking about other things. God, I love how you decorated the place. I love this or that. And then talk to the person and say, oh my gosh, you're here. I'm so glad to be with you. I start, I say, I enter into your courts and I stop. And I say, God, I get to be with you today. If you read this journal, genuinely, you would think it was a child's journal for two reasons. One, because of the penmanship. But I say that it's writing in tongues because I'm more spiritual than you. But the second reason is because of the simplicity of what I say. I say, I love you most. Sometimes I just say that over and over, I love you most.

I wanna be close to you. I wanna hear you. I love you. How's your morning, Abba Father? I pray that you're getting worshiped today. I love you. Sometimes you know what I do? Sometimes you know what your pastor does? I write down, Lord, I'm ashamed to come in today. Sometimes I say, Lord, my head is hung low. I'm sad, I'm doubtful, I'm afraid, I'm disappointed. And as I get it, before I do anything, I start getting there. And this is why we have to be men and women of the word. As I start to get into his presence, I say, God, I wanna be close to you. The scripture comes to mind that paints the reality, not my feelings, but his word paint my reality. When I come in with my head hung low and I look like this, walking to his presence, because even here, maybe even more, he wants me in his presence when I feel this way. And I walk in, he reminds me of 1 John 1, 9, that says, if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. And I feel myself standing up a little bit more. And now I remember Romans 8, 1, that says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And I stand up a little bit more. And then I remember Romans 8, 14 to 17, that says that I'm adopted son of the most high King and the Holy Spirit cries out within me, Abba, Father, and before I know it, I'm standing up fully looking my Abba, Father in the eyes and say, I've entered into your courts. I know who I am because I know who you are. I know that you want me here. I know that you care about me here. I know that I can do all things through Christ because I'm in your presence and you love me. Just be in there. And I do all that before I praise him, before I thank him. But then I do praise him. I tell him, you're the alpha and the omega. That means you're the beginning and you're the end. You're my provider. I say, you're my creator. And I look out and where I'm at in my office, I can usually see the sun rising. And I say, you made that. But you know what, God, you're my creator. I know you made the sun and the sea and all that stuff, but there's only one thing that you got down and you put your hands on. There's only one thing that you molded. And in Genesis 1, 27, I'm making this in my image. Man and woman, I made them in my image. And I breathed the ruach, the breath of life inside of them.

And I stood them up and I made them. All the things that scientists don't understand, God understands. When they look out and they see that galaxies are still reproducing because God's word continues to produce and they can understand, the creator understands it. He's my, I say, creator. I say, savior. Jesus, you were in heaven. It was perfect there. You came to earth. As a baby, gross, that would be the worst. And then you live the perfect life, why? To die on the cross, to go to the grave, to be resurrected, to go to heaven again to make a place for me. You're my Savior. You sit at the right hand of the Father and you intercede for me. And I just praise Him. You're my sustainer, Holy Spirit. You never leave me, you never forsake me. You're right there, I just praise Him. I enter His courts, I praise Him, I thank Him. I write it down. I write it down so I'll run out of stuff to write down. I'm writing down people's names, I'm writing down faith problems, I'm writing down all this stuff.

Just writing it down. I'm telling you, it rewires my brain, truly. Scientifically, it shows that it rewires our brain when we're grateful. Now, y'all didn't listen fast enough, so that's all I had time to share with you at the outline. I'll do more sermons on it, because I hope you can feel how much it would change your life. I do just want to speak into, just for a moment. Most people, when I ask them about prayer, they say, I'm not good at praying. I just want to take a moment. And you probably felt, at one point, you weren't good at praying. Can I just ask you to think about that for a second? I have three kids, Valor, River, and Jael. Let's just take Valor. Valor's five. Unless you say, I haven't seen Valor in a couple days. Two or three days, I haven't seen him. Valor, I mean, Valor, Valor, where you at, Valor? I'm looking, their room's upstairs. Valor, I go up there, Valor. And you can, him and his brother hide like a herd of elephants. You always find them in hide and go seek. Imagine I find Valor, and he's in his closet. He's crouched down. I said, hey, buddy, what are you doing?

He said, I'm hiding from you. I said, why? He said, I'm ashamed. I messed up. I did something I wasn't supposed to. I don't know how to fix it. I didn't think you'd want to talk to me about it. I think that you can feel that's wrong. If it's wrong for me and Valor, why do you think it's right for you and God? It says in Luke 11, 11, that if we, me, Zach, if we are who are evil, and I am, know how to give good gifts to my kids, how much more so our Father in heaven would give good gifts to those who ask. He wants to talk to you. And anything that says otherwise is a lie from the devil. I'm telling you, he wants to talk to you. And so I'm gonna give us an opportunity. The Lord's gonna give us an opportunity. We're gonna wrap up our time together by dads, I'm gonna ask you to lead your family through communion. Some of you guys, your stomach's just wadded up and you regret coming to church today. It's gonna be okay. Well, Zach, I don't know the scripture. It'll be on the screen. Well, Zach, I don't want to. Too bad.

Anything else? It'll be on the screen. But before we take communion together, I just want to stop and remind us what communion's for. Jesus told us to take communion, which is a cracker and juice. And when we do it, we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made. And I don't know if you ever stop on Father's Day. And think of the sacrifice that God and Jesus made so that we could have a right relationship with God. Can you imagine letting your son sacrifice himself when he doesn't deserve it, just so you can have a relationship with people that don't deserve it? But it says in Romans 5, 8, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The heavenly Father let Jesus die on the cross so he could pay for our sins. And I know you still have questions, but guess what? You're always gonna have questions. Stop having paralysis by over-analysis. Guess what? My kids don't understand a lot of stuff. They don't understand how food always shows up. They don't understand that when they flip the lights on, the lights come on for a reason. They don't understand. But guess what? They don't have to understand that stuff.

Why? Because Dad understands that stuff. Dad understands it for them. And right now, I bet there's 100 people, that you feel drawn into a relationship with Jesus right now, drawn into a relationship with the heavenly Father, and you still have questions. And listen, we're gonna walk with you. We will help you answer those questions. But first and foremost, just know. that God, Abba Father, has the answer to those questions. Now it's time for you to start a relationship with Him. And if you wanna start a relationship with Jesus, your life can never be the same. You wanna have your Abba Father with you, not someday, but every day. Right now's the time. And we're gonna pray a prayer to declare that He's our Lord. And I wanna ask you to join. If you bow your head and close your eyes with me, if you're ready to start a relationship with God, let's do it together right now. I wanna say, Jesus, I know I've sinned, but I know You came and died on the cross to pay for my sin, because You love me and You want me. I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth that You're my Savior, be Lord of my life. With heads still bowed and eyes still closed, hey, if you prayed that prayer today,

your life's never gonna be the same, but we wanna give you some next steps to take. If you just raise your hand up boldly, if that's you, you prayed that prayer today, go and raise your hand up high, that's awesome. Come on, be bold. Come on, we're not in a hurry. Awesome, people raising their hands, give us one second to get these out, just one second, praise the Lord, awesome. Thank you, God. Just one minute, let's get these out. Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. Just give us a minute, it's worth waiting for. You'll be okay, you'll be okay, just one more second. All right, amen, amen. Hey, promise, can we celebrate with the people that gave their life to Christ today? Awesome. But hey, last thing we're gonna do as we worship this last moment is we're gonna take communion. And hey, dads, I know you may be a little anxious about this. Listen, the scripture's gonna be on the screen, and maybe all you do is read the scripture and thank God for breaking His body and spilling His blood so that we can be saved. Can I just tell you, you can do it, you can do it. It's not about knowing all the answers,

it's not about information, it's about transformation. You can do it. But hey, maybe you're here today, you don't have a dad. Maybe your dad passed away. You're just in a hard spot. There could be some men up front that would love to walk you through communion if you would like that. Not only that, but if you have some father pain right now, your dad left you, you never knew him, he died. There's some men and women that would love to pray for you. We're a family here. We're a family. Do not take your pain home alone. That's not what God told us to do. So here in a moment, I want you to lead your family in communion. The scripture will be on the screen. You want somebody to lead you, come up front. We have people that'll help you do that. If you need prayer, hey, if you're a sixth grader, you need prayer, or if you're a big burly man, and you're just tired of that hurt, and you wanna think about joy when you think about your father, your father in heaven, why not come and get prayer today? Why not have the faith that he has that for you? Will you stand as we prepare to respond? Prayer team, come forward. God, go ahead and stand up, all campuses.

God, right now, we come before you, we stand. We're prepared to take communion. I pray for our fathers as we lead our families in this moment, that it would just be a shift in who we are and how we lead. God, I pray for the people that need to come forward, that they would be humble and obedient, and obey whatever you have to say. God, we would never be the same. Why would we come into your presence and expect to be the same? That's religion. A relationship is coming in and expecting to be different because we had time with the God of the universe. We love you so much, let me pray, amen. Prayer team, come forward, let's respond.