Father Lessons

Yes, we welcome you, we welcome you, oh, thank you Lord. We welcome you in the house today, you are worthy of our praise, yes, Jesus, thank you, Father, for your mercy, thank you Lord for your goodness in my life, the life of my family, thank you Lord. Amen. Well, good morning, Altar Fellowship, we are so glad that you're here. Happy Father's Day. Today is a good day to be in the house of the Lord this morning, I just want to pray just before we get into worship, let's just pray together, let's close our eyes. Father God, Heavenly Father, we're just so glad to be here this morning, we have an opportunity to be here in the house of the Lord this morning, to lift our voice in worship, to surrender everything we have, this entire week, this entire month, the way that the year has been, Father God, thank you Lord for the opportunity to surrender our crown, to surrender all of our burdens unto the Father. Lord, thank you so much for your goodness. We are ready to receive a breakthrough this morning, we're ready to receive the Holy Spirit this morning. We're ready to say, Father God, thank you so much for your goodness, thank you Lord for what you're doing, thank you Jesus. Amen, amen. As we sing a familiar song this morning, let's not let it lose its impact on us today. If we would receive these words as we sing them this morning, and think about the significance of asking the Holy Spirit to come and rest on us. He's not in a hurry, He's not anxious this morning, He's just ready to come and rest on us, so let's receive that this morning as we sing these words. Amen. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. As the Spirit was moved over the water, Spirit come move over us. Come rest on us.

Come rest on us. As the Spirit was moved over the water, Spirit come move over us. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Spirit when you move you make my heart pound. When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving. I'm here and I know you will fill me. Come down. Spirit when you move you make my heart pound. When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving. I'm here and I know you will fill me. We sing. Fire and wind come and do it again. Open up the gates and have it on end. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Fire and wind come and do it again. Open up the gates and have it on end. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Come down. Spirit when you move you make my heart pound. When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving. ♪ You're here and I know You're moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know You will fill me ♪ ♪ Come now, Spirit when You move You make my heart pound ♪ ♪ When You fill the room, You're here and I know You're moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know You will fill me, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Come rest on us ♪

♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us, come rest on us ♪ ♪ You see, Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come change us, come change us ♪ ♪ Jesus, you see, you see, Jesus ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us, you're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us, you're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us, you're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us, you're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us, you're all we want ♪ ♪ You're all we want ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us, you're all we want ♪ ♪ Oh, you're all we want ♪ ♪ So come down, Spirit when you move you make my heart pound ♪ ♪ When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me, come down ♪ ♪ Spirit when you move you make my heart pound ♪ ♪ When you fill the room, you're here and I know you are moving ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me, yeah ♪ ♪ Come fill this up Lord, come fill this up Lord, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Bring a fresh wind, a fresh wind today, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come rest on us, you're all we want, you're all we want ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come rest on us, you're all we want, you're all we want ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit come rest on us, you're all we want, you're all we want ♪ ♪ Whoa-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ Whoa-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

♪ Come rest on us ♪ ♪ So fire and wind, come and do it again ♪ ♪ Open up the gates, let heaven on in ♪ ♪ Come rest on us, come rest on us ♪ ♪ Come rest on us, come rest on us ♪ ♪ So fire and wind, come and do it again ♪ ♪ Open up the gates, let heaven on in ♪ ♪ Come rest on us, come rest on us ♪ ♪ We need the Holy Spirit to rest on you. I want that today. Would you just lift your hands if you need to see that today? To rest on your home. To rest on your heart today. To rest on whatever it may be. Holy Spirit. Would you rest on us? You're all we want Jesus. Holy Spirit. Sing that Holy Spirit come rest on us. You're all we want. Holy Spirit. Come rest on us. You're all we want. You're all we want. Holy Spirit come rest on us. You're all we want. You're all we want. You're all we want. You're all we want.

Holy Spirit come rest on us. You're all we want. You're all we want. You're all we want. Fire and wind come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Fire and wind come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Fire and wind come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Fire and wind come and do it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. ♪♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us. ♪ ♪ You're all we want. You're all we want. ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, come rest on us. ♪ ♪ You're all we want. You're all we want. ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Come down, Holy Spirit. Jesus. ♪ ♪ Come down, Spirit, when you make my heart pound. ♪ ♪ When you fill a room, you're here and I know you are moving. ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me. ♪

♪ Come down, Spirit, when you move, you make my heart pound. ♪ ♪ When you fill a room, you're here and I know you are moving. ♪ ♪ I'm here and I know you will fill me. ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ If heaven is a welcoming this is our homecoming, yeah, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ You welcomed us in your house ♪ Come on, let's go back to that bridge. Let's sing it out together. ♪ Bright crimson rose draped over the ashes ♪ ♪ A wide open tomb where there shouldn't be a casket ♪ ♪ The children are singing and dancing and laughing ♪ ♪ The Father is a welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Roses in the wind, pushed up from the rims, come on ♪ ♪ Rivers of tears flow from the top of my head, yeah ♪ ♪ Families are singing and dancing and laughing ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Heaven joined in with a glorious sound ♪ ♪ And a great cloud of witnesses gathered around ♪ ♪ Come on, let's cross our finally found, come on ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Scarlet sands as a crimson cross ♪ ♪ An end not dealt, yet another one crossed ♪ ♪ An empty slate and an empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that snow hasn't slowed ♪ ♪ Scarlet sands as a crimson cross ♪ ♪ An end not dealt, yet another one crossed ♪ ♪ An empty slate and an empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that snow hasn't slowed ♪

♪ Scarlet sands as a crimson cross ♪ ♪ An end not dealt, yet another one crossed ♪ ♪ An empty slate and an empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that snow hasn't slowed ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord, thank you, goodness ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord, thank you, goodness ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ When the Father is welcoming it seems so comely ♪ Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You're more real than the ground I'm standing on. ♪ You're more real than the wind in my lungs Your thoughts define me You're inside of me You're my reality Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh I'm bad, I belong to you I'm bad, I belong to you I'm bad, I belong to you Yes I do, yes I do I'm bad, I belong to you You're closer than I, than the skin on my bones Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh You're closer than I, the song all night long Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Your thoughts define me, you're inside of me You're my reality

Oh yeah, you're my reality I'm bad, I belong to you I'm bad, I belong to you I'm bad, I belong to you I belong to you I'm bad, I belong to you I'm bad, I belong to you Oh yeah, yeah, yeah I belong to you I'm bad Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh, I belong to you You came running down my prodigal road You came running with a ring and a rope Grease is the collision on the way back home To the arms of the father that you let go You came running down my prodigal road You came running with a ring ♪ With a ring and a rope ♪ ♪ Grace is the collision on the way back home ♪ ♪ To the arms of the Father who won't let go ♪ ♪ You came running down my rotten corridor ♪ ♪ Yes you did, you came running with a ring and a rope ♪ ♪ Grace is the collision on the way back home ♪ ♪ To the arms of the Father that won't let go, yes ♪ ♪ You came running down my rotten corridor ♪ ♪ And you came running with a ring and a rope ♪ ♪ Oh, grace is the collision on the way back home ♪ ♪ To the arms of the Father who won't let go ♪

♪ Oh, I belong, I belong to you ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, I do, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I belong, I belong to you ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, I do, Lord, I belong to you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I belong to you ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, I do, Lord, I belong to you, Lord ♪ ♪ Your thoughts define me, you're inside of me, you're mine ♪ ♪ Your thoughts define me, you're inside of me, yeah ♪ ♪ Your thoughts define me, you're inside of me, you're mine, yeah ♪ ♪ Your thoughts define me, you're inside of me, you're mine, yeah ♪ ♪ Your thoughts define me, you're inside of me, you're mine, yeah ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Draw me close to you ♪ ♪ Never let me go ♪ ♪ I'll lay it all down again ♪ ♪ To hear you say that I'm your friend ♪ ♪ You are my desire ♪ ♪ No one else will do ♪ ♪ Cause nothing else could take your place ♪ ♪ To feel the warmth of your embrace ♪ ♪ Help me find the way, bring me back to you ♪ You're all I want, You're all I ever needed You're all I want, Help me know You are near Draw me close to You, Never let me go I lay it all down again, To hear You say that I'm Your friend You are my desire, No one else will do Cause nothing else could take Your place, To feel the warmth of Your embrace Help me find the way, Bring me back to You You're all I want, You're all I ever needed You're all I want, Help me know You are near

You're all I want, You're all I ever needed You're all I want, Help me know You are near You're all I want, You're all I ever needed You're all I want, Help me know You are near Help me know You are near Help me know You are near Help me know You are near You're all I want, You're all I ever needed You're all I want, You're all I ever needed You're all I want, I know that You are near You're all I want, You're all that I ever needed You're all I want, I know that You are near You're all I want, You're all I ever needed Just like Abbey saying, I know you're near, I know you're near, because your word promises that you're enthroned on the praises of your people. Your word promises that when two or more are gathered, there you are with us, you're here. You're here Abba, you're here Abba. So just tell him you love him, tell him you love him with your song, Jesus we love you. Come on raise your voice to him this morning, we love you Jesus, you're all we really want. Oh tell him you love him, we love you, we love you Jesus. Come on two more minutes, tell him you love him. Oh tell him you love him, we love you, we love you, we love you Jesus. You're all I want, tell him he's all. You're all I ever needed, you're all I want, I know that you are near. Sing your own. You're all I want, you're all I ever needed, you're all I want, I know that you are near. You're all I want, you're all I ever needed, you're all I want, I know that you are near. I know that you are near. I know that you are near. Come on if you feel him near today give him a shout of praise, Jesus.

Sing your own. You're all I want, you're all I ever needed, you're all I want, I know that you are near. You're all I ever needed, you're all I ever needed, you're all I ever needed, you're all I ever needed. Well I got good news for you this morning. It's Father's Day. And like James Vega prayed it so well this morning in men's prayer, it's his day. It's the Father's Day and maybe this morning you don't have a father in your life to celebrate and I pray and hope that you do. But I got good news for you, it's his day and the Father is always good. The Father is always there and the Father is always able. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 says, See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we, that's all of us, that we should be called children of God. I don't know what your earthly family looks like but I know that your heavenly family is perfect. It's amazing. It's miraculous and he loves you so. In that next sentence it says, and that is what we are. I would say that's who we are. We're children of God. The father adopts you and he grafts you in. Isn't that good news this morning? So happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Yahweh, we love you. Happy Father's Day to all the dads in the room. Keep going. Man, it's hard to move on from that. I don't ever wanna move on from that, right? Let's just take a moment and say thank you.

Just thank you to the king. Thank you, Yahweh, for sending your son. Thank you, Yahweh, for laying your life down for us so you can show us how it's done. You led the way to the cross so we could lay our lives down for others. We love you, Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, if you can, you can be seated across the room this morning. Wow. So beautiful. I see so many dads, so many grandpas all across the room with their kids and grandkids having a great day. I hope you guys give your waitresses a great day later when you head out to eat. As we continue this morning with our worship, we're gonna read the word out of 2 Corinthians 8, if you wanna open with me, 2 Corinthians 8. Verse one, I'm reading out of the NIV. It says, and now, this is an exhortation for you and now, this is an exhortation from Paul, a letter to his people. He says, and now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty

welled up in rich generosity. And I read that verse in verse two. I think it's so striking, right? In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing sorrow? No, it says their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty. You know, and I think oftentimes in our Western culture, you know, growing up in the wealthiest nation on the planet, it's hard to imagine that those two things could intertwine, right? That you could have overflowing joy after a severe trial in extreme poverty. But then, look what they did. It welled up in rich generosity. Verse three, Paul says, for I testified that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own. In other words, they didn't put it on their credit card. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people and they exceeded our expectations. They gave themselves, first of all, to the Lord and then by the will of God, also to us. So what Paul is saying here is that these people, after going through severe trial and famine, they welled up in extreme joy, in their extreme poverty and then gave abundantly and they wanted to serve the Lord but then they all said, no, we wanna bless you, Paul, in your ministry too and they gave overwhelmingly

as they were able. Verse six, so we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you, see that you also excel in this grace of giving, in this grace of giving. And that is my exhortation to you this morning. See that you also excel in this grace of giving. I hope that that first part one day is written in some sort of church history book about the altar fellowship, that this was a people, no matter what happened, they were overwhelmed with joy. In severe trial, in Hurricane Helene, we were overwhelmed with joy. We were bursting at the scenes with people that wanted to serve. We were bursting at the scenes with people that wanted to give and we are a church of generosity. So let that grace be said of us, a grace to give, amen? So as we give this morning, I'll ask the ushers to come. We'll receive the buckets. There's a few ways you can give. It's up on the screen. There's a QR code you can scan if you wanna zoom your phone in. There are envelopes that you can fill out for a cash check or card in the back of your pew and you can always use the altar fellowship app.

So if you're giving this morning, just raise your hands and we'll just pray that God would bless your offering and your household in Jesus' name. Father, we thank you. who would give us an earnestness and a grace to give. Father, I thank you for the examples that we have here in your words. So many examples, Father, of people giving as they are able, Father, and I thank you for those who are giving as they are able this morning, Lord. I pray that we would be cheerful givers, Lord, not out of pressure, not out of obligation, Lord, but out of joy and love for you, that we love you just like you loved us, that we would want to give, just like you gave to us. Father, I thank you. Bless every man, woman, and child that's giving this morning. Thank you for the little ones that are grasping it early. I pray that our children would grow up with the joy of giving, that it would be normal for them, Lord, that they would understand the weight of your glory and want to pour into what you're doing around the world, in Jesus' name. Bless every household this morning, Father. I pray that they would have enough to meet their needs and to bless others around them, in Jesus' holy name.

And all God's people said? Amen. We'll be receiving the offering up front. All right, amen, you may be seated. All right, amen, you may be seated. So good, so excited to celebrate Father's Day today with all of you, and we've got some special plans. I hope you guys are ready. It was the spring of 2022 that my life changed forever. My wife began to feel contractions late at night, and they got close enough together that it was time to rush off to the hospital. We're having a baby. And later, well, really late that night, into the next day, my firstborn son, Jason, was born. Yeah, and that was the moment that I went from being a son, a husband, to finally being a father. And it's such a special blessing, and that day changed my life forever, honestly. I've never been the same since. And so today, this Father's Day, we have the special privilege of honoring the fathers, the dads here in the house, and we're gonna talk about the father heart of God. But first this morning, if you are a dad, if you're a father in this room, would you please stand so that we can honor you? All of them. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Dads, we say that you are needed, you are strong, you are important, you're a vital piece of this society. Please don't ever shrink back. Don't leave your responsibilities, don't leave your children, and stick this out until the end, amen? Thank you for what you do, all of the men. Again, let's honor the fathers, so good. And if you, I would now like to invite up some incredible fathers and men at this house that I strongly honor and look up to as we begin the message this morning. Please welcome Pastor Zach, Elder Kashif, Jacob Coyne, and James Vega to the stage. Woo! Good morning, y'all may be seated.

All right, I don't got a lot of time, so I gotta move quick. I'm gonna begin in Deuteronomy 32, verse six. You don't need to go there, I'm just gonna read it out for you. Just to give some context, though, Deuteronomy, it's the retelling of the law to Israel, and so Moses is communicating this, and actually, I'm gonna start a little bit earlier, just so this way you can hear something here. So Moses starts in verse four, he says that the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. And then going down to verse six, there's something he says that he says, do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? What I wanna focus on is the verse, or the next part of that verse, which says, is not he your father who created you, who made you and established you? In Deuteronomy 32, this is the first time that we actually see God being revealed as a father, and it would come to Moses. For the longest time, I don't know why, but I thought it was actually David, and just looking and searching up the scriptures, Moses is the first person to get the revelation on God as a father.

Now, if you know anything about my life, I didn't really have a dad figure growing up. I had several men come into my life. My father left at the age of, I was around seven or eight years old, and then after that, my mom would try to fill her life with other men who were just really godless and wicked people. And just three months ago, I had the privilege and the honor of welcoming my son Shiloh. I'm so grateful for him, I'm so thankful for him, actually last night we were watching, if any of you are familiar with Sight and Sound Theatres, we were watching the David play and shout out to Gabriel Wilson because he writes really, really good music. But one of the songs that Gabriel wrote is this song called All Creation Sings and there's a part in that song where, man I'm trying not to cry even saying this, but there's a part in the song where he just starts to sing, and just like the heavens wide, I was fearfully and wonderfully made, and in my mother's womb is all creation sings to you. And I just sang that over Shiloh last night and like Hannah and I are just sobbing, weeping over our little boy because he is fearfully and wonderfully made. But here's the thing, if you knew anything about like, if you know me internally, I was freaking out about becoming a father. I was very, very nervous and a lot of the reason for that was because I didn't feel like I was prepared, you see I didn't have the right people or men in my life to show me what a father should be or what he's actually like. And what I found in my life is that Moses actually went through something very, very similar as me. You see, we don't know because scripture is silent on this, but we don't know if Moses ever knew his father Amram. We do know that he had a father figure in the Pharaoh of Egypt, but this person, just like my life, he was surrounded by wicked and godless men, men who would worship other

gods, men who would enslave, you know, people that he thought were lower or more inferior to him. And Moses did not have a proper father figure until he turned about 40 years old. When he's 40, he runs away from Midian after he murders an Egyptian and he marries a woman named Sapphora and Sapphora's father, Jethro, becomes his father-in-law. And then it's from Jethro that we see like him giving wisdom and advice to Moses. And I feel that God uses the things that we experience on earth to give us insight and revelation into who he is. You see, we find in the scriptures where there are moments where Moses is becoming, you know, tired and fatigued because of, you know, judging all the people. And what happens is the Bible says that his father-in-law comes to him and gives him wisdom that he implements and from that his load work, his burden becomes lighter. And so I think that from this verse, from Deuteronomy 32, that the revelation that Moses would get for God as a father, it would actually provide the framework for generations and generations and generations after him on who God is as a father. Men like David who would write all throughout the Psalms of God as a father. Men like the prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, who would communicate God's heart to his people as a father. And then ultimately we see this reality within Jesus that Jesus would, you know, when he says like, when you pray, pray like this, our father who art in heaven. Or things like, you know, when you go into your prayer closet, pray to your heavenly father in secret. And then even on the cross where he would say, father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And so ultimately what Moses got from the secret place, from the place of revelation is what would provide the foundation and framework for generations after him. And here's the thing. Some of you, there are some of you men in here who might not feel equipped. You might not feel like you had the proper father figure in your life. You might have grown up without a dad, just like me. You might've grown up with a man who was in your life, but he was much less of a father.

You might feel like, okay, maybe I'm in a place where I just really don't know how to be the father that I'm supposed to be in life. But I promise you, James 1 5 says this, if any of you lack wisdom, you should ask God and he will give it generously, favorably without any fault. You see, if there are people in here, if there are men in here who feel like you just, you're not being the person that you need to be, the father, the man that you need to be for your children. I'm. I'm here to tell you today that God himself will equip you. He's here in this place to reveal himself as a father to you. And that from that revelation, what you get in your heart and in your mind, that you can take those things that God is teaching. You can take the things that God puts into your life and you can use them to be the foundation for your children and their children's children. Amen. So before I close out here, I would like, if you are a first-time father, would you go ahead and stand? Like if you had a child just recently and it's your firstborn. All right, so we got a couple. Also, I'm gonna add this as well. And this is gonna take some vulnerability, but I'm okay with that, because I like vulnerability, I'm an open book. If you are a father who feels like you didn't have the right kind of example growing up,

or if you feel like you're ill-equipped being a father, or if you feel like you could be a better father, go ahead and stand as well. And I just wanna pray over you guys. Yeah, come on. Yeah, no shame here. There's literally no shame. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So Father, I thank you so much for these men. I thank you for the men who have recognized not only their need of you, but their desire to want to be better fathers to their children. And I thank you, God, that in the same way that you gave Moses revelation, in the same way that you gave the prophets and so many men wisdom and revelation, God, I ask right now in the name of Jesus that you would mark and baptize these men with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you. That from that revelation that they get from you as being the father, God, that you would just begin to move in their lives, God, that you would move in their hearts, that you would move in their minds and in their actions, that they would be able to be equipped to be the best fathers that they can be. And so that their children would know the Lord, and that their children's children would also know the Lord.

We thank you, Jesus. We thank you that you've revealed to us who the father is, that when we see you, we see the father. And so we thank you for that. And I pray all these things in Yeshua's name. Amen. All right. I think Jacob is next. Yeah. So good, Kashif. So good. Well, I recently became a father of our fifth girl. We named her Clara Joan. There she is over there with Mariah. So beautiful, so smiley. And I'm really honored to speak today on being a father. I am a girl dad for life, it seems. And I'm proud of it. So I'll talk about kind of a crazy girl dad story in just a couple minutes. Right now, most of my kids are in class right now, and they're learning about the names and titles of God. And if they were to do that every single week in kids' class, it would take over two years to finish, because there's over 100 names and titles for God in Scripture. Did you know that? The most important one, Jesus makes it clear, that the most important title for God is father. It's father.

In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus starts with our father in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. God reveals himself to us as a good father. And that's what changed my life when I was 16 years old. I was rebellious, I was a prodigal, I was sinning left and right, I was given into every single peer pressure you could imagine. But at age 16, I met the father. I met a father who found me, I met a father who forgave me, and I met a father that fought for me. And that's what I wanna talk about in my portion right now. I wanna talk about God the father that's a fighter. How many of you believe that God is a fighter? He's not a weak God, he fights for us, amen? And I'm gonna read out of Deuteronomy as well. We got a little trend here. Deuteronomy chapter one, Moses is encouraging the Israelites because they're nervous. They're constantly nervous while they're in the desert. And here's what Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter one, verses 30 through 31. He says, the Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you just as you saw him do in Egypt. and you saw how the Lord your God cared for you

all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. I love that, he's a fighter and he's a father. Moses is saying God's got this sword in one hand and he's got you, on the other hand, on his shoulder. I wanna show you a picture that my oldest daughter, River, she made a few months ago. We hung this up on our wall. It's Jesus right here, yeah, there it is on the screen. It's Jesus with a shepherd's staff and a sword and I love the little lamb, I feel like that represents all of us. Jesus fights for us while he leads us and that's what I've experienced in my own relationship with God. Time and time again, he has fought for me to stay faithful to him and if he, as a father, fights for me, that means I, as a father, need to have some fight in me, right? I gotta have some fight in me. If I'm a representative of the father, if I'm made in the image of God, there better be some fight in me as a man and I discovered that recently. It kinda just came out of me and it was a little bit of an embarrassing moment, so I'm gonna tell you about when I discovered that there was quite a bit of fight in me. I keep it reserved and low,

but it could come out like a bear sometimes. So we're in Walmart and as a girl dad, here's what I've discovered. If you take your kids to the grocery store or Starbucks or anywhere, for that matter, you're gonna get some comments. I mean, they're all next to me, all these beautiful girls, people will be commenting. They're gonna have their own commentary to you. They're gonna warn you, oh man, here comes trouble. Oh, it's the starting five of the WNBA's next team. There they are, there they are. But something, something got to me at Walmart on a particular day. This man comes up to us and he says, oh brother, I am so sorry, I'm so sorry for ya. And I was like, why, why are you sorry? Where's the son, you gonna keep trying for the boy? I think we're good, I think we're, I'm pretty blessed as a girl dad, uh-huh. I'm feeling the blood getting hot. And he's like, no, seriously, I'm so sorry. You know, there's a shotgun aisle here in Walmart. I should buy you a gun, man. And I'm like, you know what? You should just keep walking, just keep going. And he's like, no, no, seriously, I'm just so, stop talking, sir, stop. And he's like, no, no, I'm just being, you're not funny. You're not funny, keep walking, stop talking now.

My girls look at me like, dad, are you okay? Mariah's face is beet red, oh my gosh. She's looking at me like, you better stop this right now. So I don't even, I was silent the rest of the time. We went in there to buy like a pool. It was in the middle of summer or something last year. We're buying a little blow up pool at Walmart. I am silent, I'm shaking like this. We buy the stuff, we get in the parking lot and I'm like, guys, I am so sorry. I think one of the kids was like, dad, that was awesome. I don't recommend you do that to people in public. That's not a very Christian thing to do, but it was good for me. I realized I have fight in me and I will always fight for my five girls and however many kids the Lord gives us. I will always fight for them. I will fight against the ways of the world for them. I will fight to be a present father for them. I will fight to provide for them. I wanna pay for all those weddings that they're gonna have. I will fight against my own self. I gotta fight the flesh. I gotta fight against my own laziness, my own apathy. I gotta fight against my own selfish ambition. I'm here for a reason and it's to be a father. If the most important name of God that Jesus gave us was father, that must be the most important title in my life, father.

And I gotta fight for that. I grew up thinking, man, it'd be so cool if I can have this title and that title, preacher, pastor, author, influencer. I have all these titles I wear. None of those matter to my kids. The only title that matters to my kids is dad. And will I be a good one? Will I fight for them? Will I love them through and through? Will I forgive like the father forgives? Will I find them when they wander? Yes, because I am a father. And I wanna pray for all the fathers in the room today that God would give you that fight that he has. A sword in one hand while he carries us on the other. So I wanna pray for you this morning. God, I just pray that first of all, you would fight for us in this room. Lord, if there's anyone in this room that's been wandering, anyone in this room that is hurting today, Lord, would you fight for them? Would you win them back, God? Would your love come and chase them down and rescue them this morning? God, there's nothing like your embrace as a father, and I pray that you would embrace every man and every woman in this room this morning. And Lord, I pray for the fathers, that you would give us that fight,

that we would fight against the flesh, we would fight against sin in us, we would fight against sin in our own home and in our own children, we would fight to stay present, we would fight for that one-on-one time, we would fight to play with our kids. Lord, help us to fight to be the best fathers we could possibly be for our kids. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much. That's good. That was a louder thump than I expected. Good morning everybody, happy Father's Day. I was preparing my notes yesterday, and my oldest daughter Hazel, Hazel Sophia, she says just, like, why do you need to prepare? Tell them Yahweh loves them, goodbye. So that's the message we got today. Yahweh loves you, we'll see you later. But no, I just wanna honor the pastors for allowing me to come up here and to speak to all of you today. So I hope that whatever comes out, the Lord has it in hand and you guys receive from it, so. I'll try to hold it together. So throughout my life, I didn't really have a very good stream of luck when it came to fathers.

I had a pretty bad luck string that I had, and I wanna talk to you guys about three of them today. My biological father, he was around until I was very little. I was about seven years old when he left, and I didn't see him for about a decade, right? And so I went a decade without really seeing him. I might have seen him a handful of times. And he tried to come back into my life later on, and he still has access now, but I still don't see him very often, you know? And I started to ponder the things when I got asked to come and talk to you guys. What did my father teach me? And I was confronted with the reality that the only thing my father ever taught me was how to run away, and how to abandon the thing that I love most. And unfortunately, that just continued. I continued to get other fathers in my life that taught me equally as damaging things. My grandfather, you know, I called him Papa. Other than teaching me to play cards, he taught me how to hate. You know, he was an old man, a hard man from an older era, and he taught me how to hate everybody who was different from me, or had a different opinion than me, or who thought or believed differently than me. You know, and finally, I had this boyfriend, the only boyfriend my mom ever had,

who taught me how to kill. When I was 11 years old, he tried to kill my mother in front of me, and I was helpless to do anything about it. You know, and so I'm pondering, like, how do I tell this room full of people that Yahweh is good when I've had this experience that just kind of says the opposite? And, you know, I learned every bad thing that you could ever learn from the people who were supposed to teach me things like how to hunt, how to fish, how to write a love letter, how to change my tires or change the brakes on my car, you know, teach me how to shave. No one has taught me how to shave yet, so no worries there. You know, but they were supposed to teach me those things, you know, walk me through my first breakup, and walk me through how to steward my children, and how to steward my soon-to-be wife, you know? And I missed all that. And so for a long time, I struggled specifically with Yahweh as the Father, you know? I fell in love with Jesus when I came to Christ, and I never looked back, you know? I knew that Yeshua had died for me, and it was really easy for me to relate to who the King was in my life, but it was very hard for me to see Yahweh as anything other than the Creator. You know, it was hard for me to see Him

as anything other than the Judge of the Eternal, you know? And I kept seeing in Scripture over and over and over again this theme that Yahweh's supposed to be my Father, and I just couldn't see it, you know? And so I struggled for that, or with that for a really long time. You know, you fast forward a couple years, I'm saved, I'm becoming a father now, and I'm trying to, like, figure it all out. I'm trying to. get it done the best way that I know how. I'm using the scriptures and some of the men around me to try and undo the things that had been taught to me very early. And eventually that led us to coming to the altar. But prior to getting here, I was on staff at another church and I was the youth pastor there and I loved those kids. You know, I was fathering them and so I felt a real heaviness to that role in ministry. And so before moving here, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't, you know, chasing Matty Montgomery because that's what most people think. And so for 10 months or so, I drove up here, which where we lived was three hours away. So it was three hours here, I would come here for men's prayer and then I would drive three hours home because I was on staff at this other church.

And like I said, I'm stubborn. I don't think it should take anybody that amount of time to figure anything out, but you know, to each their own. But in that time, Yahweh answered a prayer for me that nobody knew about. A lot of the youth got to hear this at youth camp this week. For a long time, I prayed for someone to teach me how to skin a deer so that I could teach my sons how to skin a deer. You know, I tried to make it happen with other church members, with friends of mine, brothers in the faith, people that I served with, you know, spiritual leaders in my life. I just tried to make that happen because I felt this hole in me that I wasn't gonna be able to give that to my kids. I had hunted men my entire life, so that was not really hard for me to figure out hunting, but to skin a deer well and to prepare it. And so, you know, as Pastor Matty says all the time, like to roast what I kill, like that was a skill that I just was in fear of not having. And one day, if you know anything about Pastor Matty, he is never late to men's prayer, never. But one day he was, and that day was because he hit a deer on the way into men's prayer. Now, this is my favorite story about Pastor Matty because he shot and killed the deer that he hit with his boys in the truck in someone's yard. And so, you know, he was convinced

that he had to roast what he killed and that he needed to bring that deer to men's prayer. So he brought that deer to men's prayer, and man, we skinned it right there in the parking lot at Rose Chapel. Some of you were there, you know, with the knives that were in our pockets, which were dull, and it was just a terrible experience for efficiency, but man, we skinned that deer. And I remember looking at him in the bathroom, and in that moment, Yahweh had given me something that no one had been able to give me, that I hadn't been able to create or curate or orchestrate. You know, he let me skin a deer with Pastor Matty. And he started to undo a thing in me that had been obscuring my vision. I prayed that this morning, you know, like my vision of Yahweh had been so blurred. You know, I had put what I had seen the men in my life do to me and in front of me and against me. I saw that, and I just put all that on Yahweh, and I refused to see him for who he really was. But in that moment, he gave me a gift that nobody else could have. And I saw for the first time in 30 years that the creator of the universe loved me like his own son. Skinning the deer with Pastor Matty was awesome and a great opportunity, but it would have meant nothing

if I hadn't been praying that prayer silently for over a decade. And so I wanna encourage you guys this morning. I know that there are men and women in this room who have similar stories to mine. Kashif talked about his story with his dad, you know, and it's unfortunately a common occurrence that our fathers fail us. But I wanna encourage you, since I decided to come here, since my relationship with Pastor Matty was cemented in that day, since I decided to go where Yahweh was calling me and come to the altar, he has undone every wrong that man has ever done to me. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I am, I'm so proud to say that I'm surrounded by men, men like Pastor David, who has taught me how to serve, and man, how to live in faith. And men like Elder Rich, who's taught me how to change my breaks, say your mama jokes, and pray like no one I have ever heard pray before.

I'm surrounded by men like Pastor Zach, who taught me how to write a love letter without using the words to the King of Kings. Papa Bailey, who has shown me how to just go where the Spirit leads you, no matter what's going on in the room. And men like Elder Anthony, who has shown me to see, he's taught me how to see the face of the King in every word of scripture. Everything. My fathers and the men who were charged to steward my life failed to do, has been undone and is continuing to be undone in this place. And given back a hundredfold anything I ever could have expected. So, you know, be encouraged today. It is Father's Day and it might be hard, but you have to be where Yahweh has asked you to be to receive what only he can give you. So, I love you. I love you all. And happy Father's Day. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

Woo! Woo! Woo! Amen. Hey, happy Father's Day, everybody. I have had the immense privilege and honor of being a father now for 16 years. My oldest daughter on Friday, it was her birthday. And the Lord, you know, he knew. I grew up with four sisters and then I married a half-German, half-Mexican woman and I have three daughters. I'm that manly, it took that much estrogen in my life to keep me on the right path. You can imagine what it's like at my house. Two teenage daughters and a half-German, half-Mexican wife. Anyway, man, I'm so thankful to be here today. And I wanna share with you guys a story. I haven't shared this story, really, I don't think ever publicly. Maybe some of you know this story. But my dad was a pastor. And we were born outside of Nashville, Tennessee. He was a pastor there in the Assemblies of God. And when I was five years old, my mom was pregnant with my first sister. And one day we came home and the house was empty. There was a letter, a key, and a ring left on the dining room table. And being the oldest five-year-old,

you know, oldest son, oldest kid, five years old, I don't remember much about that day, but I remember my mom breaking down and I remember her telling me to go get the neighbor. And I remember learning that my dad had packed up his stuff and left and walked away from the faith, walked away from the church, abandoned my mom, who was pregnant with my sister, and abandoned me. And, you know, it was really disorienting, as you can imagine, being a five-year-old, having to just kind of grow up without a dad. And I don't remember much of the next couple of years. I remember on my sixth birthday having a panic attack because we were gonna go see my dad for the first time in a year. And the last thing I remember him buying me was a Ninja Turtle shirt, and it was dirty. And I remember my mom and I getting in a, she was like, you're just, stop being so emotional. And for me, I didn't realize this until I was probably 35 years old, that that was the first time where the seed of performance was sown into my heart, because I thought at six years old, if I could wear the last thing my dad bought me, maybe he would love me enough to come back home. And you can imagine, like, six years old. And I remember in our little, tiny, as soon as we got church,

we had like Sunday night, Wednesday night, we were at church all the time. I remember there was a young man, he was, I don't know, he was like a young adult. His name was Scott, and he would pick me up, take me to McDonald's, and put Legos on the car, the seat of the car, my mom's car for me. And I'm thankful for men like Scott, who step in to be, to father young boys who don't have one. So if you've ever played that role for anyone, thank you. My kids, actually, a couple years ago, we took him to Nashville and he got to meet him. We call him Uncle Scooter. And he's married and has an amazing family. But I remember one night, my mom had signed the divorce papers, and the power of the Lord just broke out in our little church in Nashville. And I found out the same time in Memphis, my dad, for the first time in over two years, walked back into the church he grew up in. And the power of the Lord broke out there. And I remember, I was really confused. All of a sudden, my dad's back around, but he wasn't at home. He was forced to sit by guys like the elders in our church. And he submitted himself through the power of repentance and reconciliation to the leadership of the church there. Now, mind you, my dad was a very successful pastor,

worship leader. I mean, he was like on his way, you know, to the top, whatever that means. And for like a year, he would just show up early, stay late, him and my mom would not really interact. He was like a new convert. The men in that church treated him like a brand new Christian who needed to get his life together. So I remember that, you know. seven, eight years old. Then I remember one night, it was a Sunday night, standing next to my dad in a tuxedo. I spilt communion on my shirt because my parents renewed their vows and reconciled their marriage. And at the same time that they were reconciling their marriage, a lady's car broke down in the parking lot and she walks in and sees a wedding celebration happening, says, my car broke down, comes to the altar and gives her life to Jesus. It was like the most amazing thing. And so that's a little bit of my story. And my dad, my parents are still married. They've been married over 40 years. I have five siblings. The Lord has done a complete restoration to my family. My dad just retired in January after 42 years of ministry. He's finishing his doctorate.

He's actually preaching this morning in Lake Tahoe, California, and the Lord is good. But I wanted to share a couple of things with you guys as I sort of unpack my story. Malachi 4, 6, it says, and he will turn the hearts of the father to their children and the hearts of the children to their father, or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. What's so interesting about that is that's the last sentence of the Old Testament. The last sentence is this prophetic promise of restoration, okay? So then we flip over to Matthew. Let's go to Matthew chapter four. Matthew four, so the first three chapters of Matthew tell us of the genealogy of Jesus, his birth, baptism, John the Baptist, he's sent to the desert. In the middle of Matthew four, verse 12, it says, Jesus begins to preach. We're gonna jump to 17, and this is what he preached. It says, from that time on, Jesus began to preach, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. So as I was reading this this last week, I saw that the last words of the Old Testament were a prophetic invitation to restoration, and the first message of Jesus was repent. So we see this like prophetic declaration and this invitation into repentance. And what I've seen from my dad, and what I've seen in my own life,

is repentance is not just a one-time thing. Doesn't just happen, it didn't just happen the day that my dad and my parents reconciled their marriage or that day in Memphis when my dad walked back into his home church. It happens daily. And sometimes, I think, as men, it has to happen all the time. Because repentance doesn't mean to just be sorry, it actually means to change the way we think. And if we're ever going to be the man, husband, and father living in our full kingdom, purpose, promise, and potential, we have to give ourselves to the invitation of a life of repentance. The word metanoia, that's what that word means, to change the way we think. And I was thinking about, I was on a run yesterday, thinking about the story of the prodigal son. And how it says, in the middle of his mess, he came to his senses, or he came to his right mind. His mind was renewed. And sometimes I feel like we think that repentance has to be very somber, you know? It's like, oh, forgive me, Lord. Sometimes repentance, the best thing you can do is repent in the middle of whatever mess you're making. Right, just, you're already in the mess, you might as well just let it all out there. And I love that we see, in verse 17, Luke 15, 17, he came into his senses.

And I'm here to say, repentance is hard, it's messy, it's not easy, but it is necessary if we're gonna be the type of man who possess the promises of the kingdom. Which Jesus says, repent, for it is at hand. So everything that the Old Testament promised, the restoration of fathers to sons, Jesus is saying, it's right here, but first, you have to change the way you think about everything. Because as men, as sons and daughters of God, we cannot afford to be thinking anything about ourselves that the Father himself has not said or spoken over us. So we need to change the way we think. Paul writes in Romans 2, 12, he says, do not be conformed, do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That word transformed, you could look at it like the word metamorphosis, to actually make a major change in the appearance or physical form. I love neuroplasticity that the Lord has given our brains, the ability to rewrite and remap itself, because that's what the power of repentance can do. And so I wanna wrap up here, if you are taking notes, a couple things you should write down. For every prophetic promise, there is a prophetic warning. So I got three warnings and one promise. What you do not reveal, the Lord will not heal. Right, that thing you've been carrying around, men, fathers, that little thing that you're like,

it ain't a big deal, you gotta lay it down and he'll meet you there. Dad, by the time he was 13 years old, he had had three stepfathers. So I can, I mean, I give the guy grace. He didn't know how to be a dad, because nobody showed him. And so what you don't heal, you will bleed onto those who never cut you. Come on. So what you do not reveal, the Lord can't heal. What you do not heal, you will bleed on those, on others who never cut you. Number three, one generation's tolerance becomes the next generation's captivity. You know, when I got married, I was 20 years old when I got married and did not realize the depth of the father wound that I carried in my heart. And, you know, like many young husbands do, we just replicate what we saw. And it wasn't until coming to the altar where I was able to finally confront the hidden things in my own heart and say, okay, I repent, Lord, I'm gonna change the way I think about everything. And as I got better, my whole life got better. As I changed, my marriage changed, my parenting changed, my friends group changed, my appetite changed. Because I'm here to say this, that when you're in the kingdom,

a generational blessing is stronger than any generational curse. And it is through the power of repentance. And so, fathers, my life is a testimony of what it means to live out daily repentance, both as a son, because like I said, as my dad got better, our relationship got better. He and I have a better relationship now than we ever have because he submitted himself to a long road of repentance. Eugene Peterson calls it a long obedience in the same direction. And I'm here to say, as a father, my life is a testimony of repentance, that as I have gotten better, my marriage has gotten better, my family, my children, and the Lord has rewritten my future that what the enemy meant for evil, the Lord has turned it for good. And Revelation 19.10 says a testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy. So what he's done in me, he will do in you, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Wow, so good.

So good, I'm just fired up. I was trying to take notes at the end there and I had to stand up. What a beautiful morning. I just wanna share, you know, my oldest son is four, Jason, and he's so sweet. He has these dark, just beautiful eyes. I love him so much. His eyes look like his mama's and I just love him and I can tell he's made by both of us. But he's also a wild, wild boy. He has 100% testosterone 100% of the time. He doesn't get tired as much as I hope that he does. And there are times that we struggle to keep him under control at four years old. It's also hard to keep him at times from breaking and destroying everything that we have in our house and to get him to listen. And sometimes I tell him, I've been telling him the last couple of months, I'm like, Jason, I think we're gonna have to take you to the doctor soon. He's like, why daddy, I'm not sick. I said, because your ears don't work. So there was something that happened recently. You know, now at his age, he doesn't take a nap every afternoon anymore. And my wife got some wonderful motherly advice from other women in the church. And I said, well, just make sure

that he still has a quiet time. So you get a small break in the afternoon as you're caring for the little one. So he spends an hour in his room and he can play and go wild in his room. He can make a mess and do whatever he wants to in there as long as he's not destroying the place. And I came home from work just a few weeks ago and Nicole, my wife, she said, hey, honey, she said, I'm so glad you're home. She said, don't freak out. I'm like, what happened? She's like, he was doing so good, okay? He just finished his quiet time and he, well, you'll see. I said, okay. So she said, go into his room and just promise me you're not gonna freak out. I said, okay. So we left the spoon on one side and I went to the room and he found the only marker that we forgot to remove from his possession. And he had covered every wall and every piece of furniture in his room with scribbles, with a marker. And I was like, oh man, I'm so glad my wife told me not to freak out. Man, sometimes we need our wives to put some sense into us in those moments. And so while he's so beautiful and so sweet, he's also not perfect.

And yet at the same time, I would do absolutely anything for that kid. I love him so much. And so I had to come to my senses and talk to him about how we don't draw on the wall or furniture. We've gone over this multiple times. And so I needed to instruct him as a dad and correct him in that. But then like it. It really gave me the father heart of God because I thought, man, as much as God loves me, I have been so imperfect for 37 years of my life, and yet he loves me so much, he'd do anything for me, just like I would for Jason. And so I got on my knees, and instead of whooping him and sending him his room for six hours like he probably deserved, I said, come on, we're gonna do this together. And we got the rubbing alcohol and sprayed the wall and the furniture, and we scrubbed that mess for an hour until most of it came off. And it's not perfect, but I think about what God has done for us, like in our mess. He didn't make us go to the cross, he went. He did it for us, and we're imperfect. And he did it for all eight billion of us, and he'll do it again. He also, my son Jason, when he was two years old,

the doctor said, hey, you guys need to have him go see an eye doctor, he's got, it looks like he has strabismus, which is a, it's an eye condition where one or both eyes, they're pointing the wrong direction most or all of the time. And it was getting quite noticeable that there was something wrong there. And the ophthalmologist said, yeah, we can try some simple remedies, like eye patches and some therapy, and sometimes that will just correct itself. So we tried that for a while, and he'd walk around with a dinosaur patch over his eye, looking all crazy. And it didn't work, it didn't work. We prayed countless times, and that didn't change anything. And so then they said, you know, he really needs to have surgery, they can really correct that, they cut both eyes, and they move, actually, the nerve in the eye to straighten them out. And so I remember we went to the children's hospital, you know, it's my only son, and my heart's ripped out of my chest, right, and you know, they give him some toys in the children's hospital, but then, you know, they gave him a special medicine, something very yummy, and this is gonna knock him out before he gets the full-on anesthesia. And they said, you know, just hold on, because he'll start to get woozy, you know,

and eventually he'll kind of pass out. And so holding him, you know, and he's starting to get a little loopy, and then he does, he starts to, you know, kind of go out of consciousness. And I remember that moment when I had to hand my boy, my only son, whom I'm well-pleased, to hand him to those surgeons to take him to a room where I won't see him for a couple hours. And I just remember thinking, like, man, God, if something happens to him, I don't know if I'll make it. If he doesn't come out of this, I don't know if I'll come out of this. And I just began to, like, understand what it must have been like for Father God to turn his own son over for me and for you. What a father, what a father. And he knew that Jesus would rise again. He knew that he was also God himself, but he did it. And he saw him there on the cross dying for your sins. There's not anything that he wouldn't do to get you to be with him forever. That is a good father. And that is the father that we have, all of us, every single one in the room. If you put your faith in Jesus, he gives you the right to become a child of God. And so you just heard from four incredible dads. Man, these guys are amazing. You just heard what the scripture says

from front to back about fathers. So men, this morning, let's be men of God. Love our spouse. If you're married, love your spouse well. If you're not, pray for a godly one that you get to serve for the rest of your life. If you're a dad, show up for your kids. If you haven't shown up, repent, fix it, get it right. You heard from Pastor Zach, it's possible to redeem. It's possible to redeem. And if you've got a dad here in the room today or a dad you can call on the phone, a spiritual father in your life, someone you can honor or bless, do that today. If you guys enjoy steaks and great food or tacos, I'm getting tacos, whatever you're doing today with your family, I pray that it is a beautiful time. Dads, we love you. What you do is holy. What you do is holy. I told the men at men's prayer this morning, we're not gonna get up here and start barking and stuff and do like what pop culture would say men do. You just heard what men do and it is holy. What real men of God do is holy and it's so necessary. So men, we honor you. Can we just honor the fathers in the room again? Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, let's bow our heads and pray. And I want you to just bring to the forefront of your mind your father, if you want to pray for him, a spiritual father, a dad, a grandpa in your life, maybe there's several. I know many of us up here mentioned several different father figures in our own lives, and so let's just pray for them in our life and bless them. Yahweh, we thank you for showing us the holy example of what it means to be a father. And Yahweh, I just pray right now that you bless every father, every... spiritual father in this house this morning, every spiritual father that poured into our lives, Lord.

Guys who poured into us when we were young, guys who are pouring us now in our older age, Father. Lord, I pray for all of us here in the room that are dads. Lord, I pray you'd give us wisdom to bless our sons and daughters, Lord. And for the generations that'll come after them, that they would be able to tell that their dad loved Jesus, that they would be able to say that their dad brought them to church, that their dad taught them how to pray, their dad taught them how to love a wife in Jesus' name. And Yahweh, I pray that the men in this house this morning feel honored and empowered to do the holy work of fatherhood in Jesus' mighty name. And all God's people said. Amen. Well, men, fathers on the way out, there are some awesome meat sticks for you guys, just in case you're not getting steak today. Please grab one. Bless another father on the way out this morning. We love you, and we'll see you next week. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪