Father's Day at Faith

I want to invite you all to stand to your feet and I also want to say happy Father's Day to all the fathers in the room. Come on, if you're ready to praise God for all He's done for you, would you put your hands together with me? Hallelujah, we sing together. ♪ I wish I could tell you ♪ ♪ Wish I could describe it ♪ ♪ But I can't contain it, can't keep it to myself ♪ ♪ There aren't enough colors to paint the whole picture ♪ ♪ Or man enough words to ever say what I've found ♪ Sing wonderful. ♪ He's wonderful and beautiful and glorious and holy ♪ ♪ He is merciful and powerful ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ We declare the glory, we give Him all the honor ♪ ♪ He's altogether worthy, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ There's no one before you, and yes we will adore you ♪ ♪ And all of this is for you, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ Come on, if Jesus is your King today, would you lift up a shout of praise? Let's sing, I'm not letting the rocks crack. Come on. ♪ Not letting the rocks crack without joining the chorus ♪ ♪ You're running up notes to make the harmony ♪ ♪ It's the song of the angels, of all the ages ♪ ♪ It's all the earth and heaven's symphony ♪ Sing wonderful. ♪ He's wonderful and beautiful and glorious and holy ♪

♪ He is merciful and powerful ♪ That's who He is. Who we talking about, that's my King. Sing it. ♪ We declare the glory, we give Him all the honour ♪ ♪ He's altogether worthy, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ There's no one before you, oh yes we will adore you ♪ ♪ And all of this is for you, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ That's my God, that's my shepherd, my protector, that's my King ♪ ♪ My protector, that's my King, that's my rock, that's my anchor, my defender ♪ ♪ That's my King, that's my God, that's my shepherd, my protector, that's my King, that's my rock, that's my anchor ♪ ♪ He's my life, He's my King, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ We declare the glory, we give Him all the honour ♪ ♪ He's altogether worthy, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ We declare the glory, we give Him all the honour ♪ ♪ He's altogether worthy, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ There's no one, there's no one before you, and yes we will adore you ♪ ♪ And all of this is for you, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my King, who we talking about, that's my King ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He's my friend ♪ ♪ That's my God, who we talking about, that's my King, come on, sing Hallelujah! ♪ Come on, if you came to praise the King of Kings today, why don't you clap your hands together and we're going to declare that about Him as we lift up the highest praise, we sing ♪ Alleluia, you get all the praise, we sing Alleluia, you get all the praise, always ♪ ♪ Alleluia, you get all the praise, we sing Alleluia, you get all the praise, always ♪ ♪ I've got a God who is for me, and He's known for making the way ♪ ♪ And He fought the battle so I wouldn't have to, all glory belonged to His name ♪ ♪ And I've got a God who is faithful, far more than I could explain ♪ ♪ And through every season, in spite of my weakness, He gave me a song to sing, I came to praise ♪ If you came to praise, say that, I came to praise

♪ I came to praise That's why I woke up today One more time church, I came to pray I came to pray We say, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise We say, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, always I've got a king who is risen Oh, he put my shame in the grave Went to hell and back and now I never have to He did it all in three days I came to pray I came to pray That's why I woke up, say That's why I woke up today What did you come to do church, I came I came to pray We say, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise We say, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia You get all the praise, always I'm singing in the morning I'm singing at night I'm singing in the night Oh, that's how I fight I'm singing he's holy I'm singing it twice I'm singing he's holy the rest of my life I'm singing in the morning I'm singing at night I'm singing in the night Oh, that's how I fight I'm singing he's holy I'm singing it twice I'm singing he's holy the rest of my life I'm singing he's holy the rest of my life Hallelujah, hallelujah You get all the praise We say Hallelujah, hallelujah Always, always Hallelujah, hallelujah You get all the praise We say Hallelujah, hallelujah You get all the praise Always I'm singing

I'm singing in the morning I'm singing at night I'm singing in the battle That's how I fight I'm singing he's holy I'm singing his rights I'm singing he's holy The rest of my life Hallelujah, hallelujah You get all the praise Always Somebody clap your hands together What did you come to do? I came to pray Say it again, I came to pray I came to pray Make this declaration today Temple get out of my way Cause this is what we came to do, I came, say I came to pray Now somebody that came to praise him lift up a shout today Hallelujah Hallelujah He came to praise the God who's always been faithful Who's always been good, who's never lost a battle And if that's your testimony you can say this Christ is my firm foundation He's the rock on which I stand When everything around me is shaking I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus Why church? Cause he's never let me down He's faithful through generations So why would he fail now?

He won't Oh that's my testimony He won't He won't fail He won't fail He won't fail He won't Oh thank you God I believe He won't He won't fail He won't fail He won't fail He said Christ is my firm foundation He's the rock The rock on which I stand When everything around me is shaking Oh I've never I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus Who's always been good He's never let me down He's faithful through generations Why would he fail now? I know he won't. Oh, I praise him because I know he won't. Oh, I trust him because I know he won't fail. He won't fail. Is there anybody in the house that's still leaning on the everlasting arms of our God? Somebody that's still trusting that he's good and that he's faithful, that he's true? Oh God, see your people as we have hands lifted to you, as surrender to a God that we know has never failed us and never will. We love you, God, because we can testify this about you. Rain came and wind blew and my house was built on you. I'm safe with you and I'm gonna make it through. We said rain came and wind blew and my house was built on you. God, I'm thankful I'm safe. I'm safe with you and I'm gonna make it through. I'm gonna make it through. I'm standing strong on you, Lord, I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make it through.

Oh, because my house is built on you. Christ is my third foundation. He's the rock on which I stand with everything around me shaking. Oh, I've never, never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. Oh God, because he's never let me down. Faithful through generations, so I will be. He won't. No, no, no, no, no. He won't. He's an unfailing God and he won't fail. He won't fail. And if you've got faith in a God that has never let you down, can you give him a praise right here? God, we praise you for you are good. You are sovereign. You've always been, always been faithful. We love you and bless you. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen. Well, praise the Lord, church. So good to see you in church this morning. God bless you and happy Father's Day to all the fathers in the room. Why don't you take a moment to just greet somebody near you, tell somebody hello that you haven't seen all week and we'll be right back to continue in service. God bless you. God bless you. Praise the Lord. Amen. How many are glad to be here today? Come on. Where are our dads? Come on. Let's celebrate our dads today. Amen. Come on. Third best holiday after Christmas and Easter. Come on. Praise God. I'm a little biased. Praise God. But we are thankful that you are here today. We are super excited. In addition to celebrating all of our dads that are here and those of you that are watching on the screen somewhere, we also want to recognize and honor some amazing people. And those are our first time guests. So, amen. So if this is your first time, we want to celebrate. Raise your hand so we can give you a warm faith church, Orlando. Welcome. Amen. Amen. Thank you for being here. Our ushers are coming by to serve you some information. And listen, if you didn't have the opportunity to check in with one of our amazing guest experience volunteers. We're going to encourage you to open your phone and tap the little badge that's in the seat in front of you so that we can get connected with you and share some information. We're not going to overwhelm you with text messages or things like that. We just want to connect with you and share some of the amazing things that God is doing here in and through our church and how you can be a part of that as well. And in addition to this celebration, we want to invite you to a guest reception at our connection hub in the atrium, amen, where we have some amazing guest experience volunteers that are there to answer any of your questions and provide some more information. And as we say here, now that you're here, you're no longer a guest, you're now family, amen. So welcome to the family, amen. We love you and appreciate you being here. Now let's turn our attention to the best news of the week. Welcome to Faith Church Orlando. Here's a look at upcoming events. Parents, if you're looking for a school that cares as much about your child's spiritual formation as you are about their education, then Faith Christian Academy is the school to begin building your legacy. At Faith Christian Academy, students are raised with excellence, character, and a foundation of faith that lasts. Serving preschool through 12th grade, we provide an environment where your child is both academically challenged and spiritually developed. Our programs include strong academics along with opportunities in science, technology, and fine arts. We also offer weekly chapel services

tailored for every age group, helping students grow in their relationship with God. Faith Christian Academy is now enrolling for the 2026-2027 school year. Spots are limited, so don't wait. Visit fcalions.org today to learn more about how to build your child's legacy. Exciting things are happening at Faith. Here's a look ahead. We encourage you to connect, grow, serve, and reach here at Faith. So stay connected through the Faith app or our website. Have a blessed week. Amen, amen. So make sure you stay plugged in and participate in some of those amazing events and activities. Well, listen, we're going to continue to celebrate and honor God with the bringing of our tithes and God's tithes and our offering, amen, our kingdom builder offering, amen. And we celebrate that because we get the opportunity to partner with God in doing amazing things for his glory. In a moment, you'll have an opportunity to give in a way that you choose best, whether digitally or physically. But let me tell you about this, that there are two lanes of giving, and the first one is out of obedience to God in his word by giving the 10% of our increase. And through that, you don't give to the church, you give through the church. And I just want to encourage you with that. And also we have our kingdom builders offering where it's above the tithe with the giving of our generosity. And I have two examples or two praise reports to share with you about each of those. First of all, recently at one of our monthly food pantry distributions that we have here on campus, that you support through your giving. A family came by and a lady received groceries and she was loved on and prayed for. And she experienced something here that day when she came to pick up a bag of groceries. And when she left, she says, I want to check out this church because if they're just as friendly and as loving as they are giving out groceries, I wonder what kind of church this is. And recently she came to church, amen. Now you may say, well, that's nice, but let me tell you, your giving helps somebody encounter Jesus. And it's things like that that we take for granted sometimes that even our consistency and our commitment in obeying God and giving, and giving generously, how it impacts people's lives. Another opportunity through kingdom builders, giving out of generosity, where this month we're focusing on supporting Whitecliffe with Bible translation to support the translating of the gospel so that people can read it in their own language. And you get to do that. We serve locally and we serve families here. We give out of generosity and we reach globally so that everyone can encounter Jesus. So thank you for your faithfulness and know that when you give God is glorified. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly father,

we thank you for the opportunity to partner with you as you are able to reach people with the message and the hope of the gospel. I pray God that you would multiply both the tithe and the kingdom builders offering. I pray God that you would. Exceedingly more than we could ever imagine or even ask for because we know God that whatever we put in your hands You will multiply and you will use it for your glory in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. God bless you as you get You Amen church, but can I invite everyone to stand to their feet and today? Can we just echo what it says in first Peter where it says praise be to our God and father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Come on, can I invite every hand in this room? Would you lift your hands to heaven? Lift your hands to your father and praise him For sending his son Jesus to be our Savior to bring us salvation Lord we give you honor and glory today for that We sing We were waiting without hope without light Till from heaven you came running there was a mercy in your eyes To fulfill the law and prophets to a virgin came the word From a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt Lord lift your voice and bring him praise today Praise the Father Praise the Son Praise the Spirit Three in one He's God of glory Majesty praise forever to the King Oh We worship you Lord We sing to reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost To redeem the whole creation

You did not despise the cross for even Your suffering you saw to the other side Knowing this was our salvation Jesus for our sake you died Aren't you grateful for his sacrifice? Sing praise Praise the Son Praise the Spirit Three in one Oh God of glory Majesty Oh praise forever to the King of Kings You rose all of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good For the Lamb had conquered death Come on And the dead rose from their tombs And the angels stood in awe For the souls of all who'd come To the Father Come on this is goodness church we sing And the church of Christ was born Then the Spirit lit the flame And now this gospel truth of God Shall not kneel For the Lamb had conquered death And the dead rose from their tombs And the angels stood in awe For the souls of all who'd come

To the Father Come on we all sing In his freedom I am free For the love of Jesus Christ Who has resurrected me Oh if you're free in Jesus name Give him praise for it Oh praise the Father We praise the Son We praise the Spirit We praise the Son We praise the Spirit We praise the Son We praise the Spirit Praise the Spirit He is free in one He is God of glory Majesty Oh praise for Oh praise for Christ All the kiss of ♪ Forever to the praise of Father all the people sing ♪ Christ Yeah ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit ♪ Let's you know God forgiving ♪ Praise the Son, hallelujah, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty, oh praise forever to the Father ♪

♪ Sing praise forever to Him, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ Come on church, give Jesus all the praise you've got. Hallelujah, we praise you Jesus. We thank you Lord. Hallelujah. Come on, if you believe he's worthy today, say amen. Amen, amen, well God bless you church. You may have your seats today as you check out this video. You ready? Nope. My favorite memory, went speed boating. You went to go see the gators. Not to be whatever, you're the only black people who were on the boat. Nobody else is freaking out except for me and you. The speed boat guy was just like, he's only ever tried to jump on the boat like two or three times and he did. A lot of my favorite memories with my dad are coupled with laughter. I mean, you're always doing something. No, that's not true. Yeah, no it's true. Back when we lived in Puerto Rico, there would be like a lot of hurricanes. I'd wake up and you'd be right beside me and you'd be like praying. I felt very like comforted. My dad for me is like my biggest role model. Someone being there for me.

I felt very seen by you and I felt very cared for. And it was very important for me that you were there. What was your favorite birthday? It was when I was 25 and I had a stocking. We did it at an outside park. It was cloudy, but they said it was gonna pass over. So we get everything set up and what have you. And then- When we were starting to do the birthday cake, it started pouring. We're all stressed worrying about the water and she didn't care at all. Well, I cried. Oh, two sides of the story, I guess. You knew it was a zipline to take the sky tram to get up to the tallest mountain. And he said, today you're going to see Jesus. Jesus is gonna receive you down there when you get to the next ramp. I was crying. I remember I was so afraid. And then he just looks at me and goes, the only thing you need to fear is fear itself. And I remember that phrase carried on in other places of my life where I'm like, wait, what is there to be afraid of? I think my dad's the best dad because every new season, every hobby, he's always there. He never misses anything.

I don't have to rely on myself or on other people. I know I can rely on my dad because he's always right there beside me. Never once in my entire life have I ever felt like I couldn't do it. You're able to make me feel like I'm unstoppable. That is something that not everybody is so lucky to have. When I was her soccer coach, she scored her first goal and she turned around and looked at me and she had tears in her eyes. And I start crying because I'm an emotional father. It was probably, it's a core memory I'll never forget. Literally anything that I do, you're always there. And I'm so grateful that I can always look for your iPad or your phone. I didn't get to experience those things. My mom was a single mom. My father passed away early in my age. My favorite part of being a dad is that I get to do that with my child. The things that you accomplish through my guidance just gives me so much pride and joy that I said, wow, you know, this is the legacy that I'm leaving. Being a dad is one of the greatest gifts that God has given me. I didn't know that I can enjoy something so much. I always knew that I was called to be a father. It's just like a answered prayer, but also like I'm fulfilling my calling.

She's as silly as she is. She's so filled with joy and she brings so much joy to all of our lives that I don't ever want her to lose that. Who can not laugh first? I win. Being a father is probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. I was building a church and you called me up. Dad, I've got to read this to you. You're the best dad because you do this and you do that. There's guys looking at me and I'm crying with pride and joy and happiness because those are the words that a father wants to hear. Isabella, for example, when she was born, she grabbed my finger and that for me, you know, changed my life. It was like unbelievable. I'm not proud of you because of what you do. I'm not proud of you because your name is at the job. I'm proud of you because of who you are as a person. The conversation might start off Batman Superman, but it ends daddy. Let me just pray about it. But daddy, I got you because you are my rock. Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Bobby. She just licked me. No, you're not saying Happy Father's Day. That's what she said. She said, Happy Father's Day.

I'm not your father. Happy Father's Day, Dad. Oh, thanks, son. Oh, come on. Let's, let me join. Let me just join the chorus. We've already said it a couple of times in these services, but I want to just say also Happy Father's Day, and I thank you for sharing a part of your Father's Day with us. It really means a lot to me. I mean, I joked last week that some churches report a lower attendance on Father's Day, but not us. We're breaking the mold today, so thanks for being in the house at every location. Let me mention our locations, because we got services right now linking up with this service, our Michigan Street campus, our Red Bug Lake campus, our Narcoossee Road campus. Today's service is streamed at the Central Florida Reception Center. You know what we do. Come on, everybody. Let's do this together, and let's give God praise for what He is doing at every location, and thank you so much for spending a part of this day with us, and this is going to be a meaningful service for all of us, but I do have a word that's going to just speak to all of us, especially you that are following Christ, and it's going to be a word that helps you, but I'm going to gear some things also to the dads as well, and for the dads, we do have a gift at every location. It's a little leather keychain that says, Best Dad Ever, and we're going to get into what that phrase means to us, but the keychains are at all of the photo booths, so if you're after service, you want to pop in and get one if you're a dad here and you're present here. Before I get into the word, though, I'm going to ask for Pastor Jan and Pastor Jesse to come join me at the front and on platform, and it's with a bit of mixed emotion that I invite them up today, so they have served as our family pastors for about four years

now, and I love this couple so much. I have been connected with them much longer than four years. Jana spent a lot of her growing up years here at this church, and so four years ago, they moved here all the way from Australia to come on in this assignment as family pastors, and so they've been praying a lot about transition and what the future would look like. Also, there are some health issues with Jesse's mom. We've been praying for her, and so they feel like that God is kind of speaking to them, and with some of the family dynamic, it's kind of put a little bit of acceleration on it, and so today's actually their last Sunday with us, and yeah, thank you. I feel the same way, and they're actually about a week or so from now, they'll jump on a plane and fly all the way back to Australia and relocate there, and God's going to open up really cool doors for them, and I want to say this, though, about their time serving here at this church. Their time here has been marked with passion and with excellence, and they have led with really a pioneering spirit, and they have made such a profound impact on us as a church and a lot of the things that you see around here, and they have made a profound impact on the church, but also on a lot of us as individuals, and I am so grateful for their time here, and I wanted to have them come today because I wanted to pray over them. Any move and transition and stuff, if they were moving to Cleveland, that would be worth praying for, but we're talking about a transcontinental move here back to Australia, and so, will you join me in praying for them, just God's richest blessing on their life, and yeah, stretch your hand towards this at every location, put your hand towards the screen, and would you pray with me? Lord, in Jesus' name, we just pray right now for Pastor Jesse and Pastor Yanna and God, their kids, we just pray, Lord, that your hand of sovereignty would continue to be on their life, and Lord, I pray that as they make this move, God, that they would see every favor of God, Lord, that you would just open every right door, God, that you'd just provide for them, that you'd give them wisdom, God, as they continue to serve you, and Lord, as they continue to put their hand to ministry, Lord, we saw just so much ministry flourish, Lord, as they put their hands and their hearts to it, I pray, God, that that

would just multiply, and that, Lord, that that would continue over their life, and I just speak blessing, Lord, we thank you for their obedience to you, and we just bless them now as this church family, God, we send them off with all the love we know how to give, in Jesus' name, amen, amen, give them a big and if you would, group hug. Love you guys. All right, now I gotta try to preach after that, but so grateful for them. James chapter one, I'm gonna share today from James chapter one, and I guess the title of message is the perfect dad, and I'll get into kind of what that means in just a moment. But James chapter one, verse 16 through 18, it says, so don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Now look at verse 17, look close here. Whatever is good and perfect is coming, whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word, and we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. Now the reason why I start off today this Father's Day message with that verse is because I understand that Father's Day can be a bit of a mixed bag. I get it that some individuals and some families might find it very, very easy and very excited

to celebrate Father's Day, and yet some, that same day is maybe met with some challenges and some emotions, and maybe we've lost a dad, or maybe we didn't have the dad that we felt like we could have had, or maybe somebody wanted to be a dad and was never been able to achieve that. And so I get it that there is a lot of emotion at play here. The reason why I just read James chapter one, verses 16 through 18, is because the one common ground, come on, that we can all find here as children of God is that we have a good, good Heavenly Father, and every good and perfect gift that we receive comes from Him. So come on, can we just give praise right now to a Heavenly Father that deserves all the, let that mark our Father's Day, that God, we are grateful for you, Father God, and for the gifts that you provide and that you've made. James said, he made us his chosen possession. And so that is something that we can all celebrate and that can mark all of our Father's Day today. And with it being Father's Day, I just thought this would be a good day for a couple of dad jokes. Is that okay? I would never do this any other day. But can I do a couple of dad jokes real quick? So like, what do you call a woman who is standing in the middle of a tennis court?

Annette, that's what you call her, Annette. Middle of a tennis court woman, Annette. Thank you, all right. Let's try another one. What's the difference between a sock and a camera? A sock takes five toes. A camera takes fo-toes. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Some complete straight face, just like. And then, but my favorite reaction is this one. Some of you just give you that. They just do the, no, not gonna do it. All right, let's get into the word.

Do you know how many years that this country has been celebrating Father's Day? I think sometimes we think maybe, oh, it's 75 years or 100 years. We think it's this long thing. But actually, Father's Day has only been kind of a nationally recognized holiday in the United States for 54 years. That means some of the dads, a lot of the, of course, a lot of the grandfathers here have been alive longer than this practice has even been happening, this idea of a Father's Day. So yeah, it started kind of around in 1972. And Mother's Day, now, on the other hand, had almost twice as long of a runway. So Mother's Day's been going on for 112 years, Father's Day for 54 years. You know what that means? It means we gotta treat dads twice as good as we, come on, no, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. Happy Mother's Day, happy Father's Day. Happy to all the Christians, amen. But I like what Billy Graham said about fathers. Billy Graham, great evangelist, said, "'A good father is one of the most unsung, "'unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most "'valuable assets in all of our society.'" And I agree with that. And so we read in James chapter one, I'm gonna go read a little bit earlier now

in James chapter one. And we're gonna pull some truth out of these verses, verses two through eight. So dear brothers and sisters, when trouble of any kind comes your way, consider it an opportunity. for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. Now that's a power-packed statement. You're gonna be perfect. That's why we titled this message The Perfect Dad. We're gonna get into kind of what that means. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking, but when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver. For a person with a divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world and they are unstable in everything that they do. Now the word perfect just showed up there in that passage and it shows up seven times in the book of James

and really the word perfect and that idea of perfection kind of becomes one of the key themes of the book of James. And so what does James mean when we talk about what it means to be perfect? We will take a deeper look into that because when we talk about being a perfect dad, we understand that there's really not any perfect dads. I mean, I know what it's like to be a perfect dad, but the only, I'd say the time at which I was perfect, I would say that first hour as a dad. I think I was pretty close to being perfect, maybe the first 30, I don't know. I don't know how many minutes it was that I was perfect before I made a dad mistake, but as with all of the dads in the room, none of us are perfect. And so maybe that's not even the goal. We'll get into kind of what that goal should look like for us of what it means. And it's not a comparison. It's not, when we talk about even being the best dad ever, we're not saying that you're better than somebody else. No, we won't be the best. I wanna be the best dad that I can be. I wanna aim for some perfection. And I may not hit it all the time, but I want that to be my target. And I think that's really what James is getting at here. And the good news is is that your kids are not looking for perfection out of you.

Come on, they're looking for genuineness out of you. They're looking for somebody who's gonna persist and be present. And so maybe that's something to be aiming at as well. But how do we at least aim for perfection as Christians, certainly as dads? First thing I would say this would be to take on the trials. That's what James said. Take on the trials. Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles, some versions say trials of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. Now, sometimes these trials hit us because we're dads. I mean, when you take on as a parent, right, you're not just your own trials now that you're taking on, but you're taking on the trials of your sons and daughters. You're taking on the trials of your kids. I heard one person say one time that a parent is only as happy as their least happy child. And isn't that kind of true? It's like as a parent, it's not just my trials. Now when my kids are maybe having a rough time in school or when my kids are having a rough season of their life or when my kids are having some sort of relational issue, man, I feel like in my heart it's my relational issues. And so we take on the trials of our kids. I'll never forget one time I was at a baseball game. My oldest son was probably about 10 and he was pitching in that game

and he had pitched several innings. He had pitched quite a while and he was starting to get tired and so he walked a batter and then he walked another batter and then this kid that was playing third base, and so I was sitting kind of on the third base side and this kid was playing third base. I still remember his name. His name was Jamie. Jamie, if you're here today, I love you and I'm sorry for the story I'm about ready to tell. But Jamie was so frustrated with my son for walking players because he wanted to win the game. And so he started getting all mad and showing it. He was going, gosh, come on, throw a strike, Isaac, come on, what are you doing? And so then he threw another one and walked another batter and he's like, oh my gosh, and he turns around and he's throwing his arms around, he's throwing his glove down, just throw a strike. And then Isaac maybe hit a batter or something like that. And oh my gosh, what are you doing? And finally, I was sitting there on the side and I had taken all I could take. His trial had become my trial and I got up to the fence and I said, hey, Jamie, and he looked at me like, who's yelling at me from the crowd? I wasn't yelling, I was just instructing him with passion and I said, hey, why don't you try encouraging

your teammates instead of tearing them down all the time? Exactly, he didn't feel that same goosebump feeling from that thing. And so he took all of that mockery that he was directing towards my son. the game he directed all that mockery to me and so he would Isaac would throw a pitch and Jamie would look at me and go oh way to go good pitch that way to go is that what you want is that something better is that something better and I'm over on the side going do you know who I am like you can't talk to me that way I was worried the Lord was gonna send a bear out of the forest and I'm like what's going on here that's an old testament bible joke sorry uh no and so in a very real way my son's trial became my trial but listen if Jamie had never started started yelling at me it was already my trial and that's what it is when we when we step into that calling as parents we're taking on extra trials and James says when those come that those can be met with joy and sometimes we we face trials because we're parents sometimes we might face trials because of the parents we had or because the dad that we have and maybe some of you were in that position where um you were put through some things and because of the father that that you had and I would just I would say this I'm not certainly making light of any of that but those trials that James is talking about like especially in the original language it's talking about how those trials are coming from without like we can't control what's going on outside and so that's where the trials are coming from and what James said is as trials are coming from without that we can have a joy from within a predisposed I'm going to have joy in my life so that even when I come and face the trial that I can't control I can't control that but I can't control me and I can meet it with the joy of the Lord which gives me strength to endure whatever trial I'm going through so we can find a way to bring joy into that trial like like joy can be a set up predisposed uh area of our life and I would say this to to dads be a source of joy to your home I can remember what it was like pulling up sometimes after uh maybe I'd be in the office here all day at church and I'll be coming home and my wife would have been there with the kids all day and she would be like her discipline tank would be running on empty at this point because she had been trying to corral those kids all day long and so uh sometimes I would get a text from her and say I've been telling the kids they better not they just wait till their dad gets home

and it was always funny like being in the parking lot trying to psych myself up because part of me was like I missed them like part of me I want to come into my wife be like they didn't do anything to me like I don't know what they did to you but I ain't got no baggage here I don't have any but yet I'm coming in having to be like okay it's discipline time it's heavy timing so that right that that tension I'd be in the car like psyching myself playing eye of the tiger being like come on get ready for this fight let's go in here let's take care of business I just want to sometimes dads we we have to be disciplinarians and that's good and that's part of the calling I would just I would just warn you against this dads don't fall into the trap of just being a disciplinarian come on be a source of joy in your home let your family see that even when you are met with trials you do it with a joy in your heart that the trial does not change your character no the trial reveals your character so that's why we we set in our hearts no I'm gonna have an attitude of joy in my life that's gonna be who I am that's gonna be what I bring to whatever I'm facing so we're gonna have to take on the trials what does it look like for us to aim for perfection at least well also we're gonna produce some perseverance and we know that that's even while the trial why the trials are coming because verse three and four James says you know that when your faith is tested and when James says that phrase faith is tested it is the same original language phrase that they would talk about like testing metals so they would heat metals up in a fire and all of the impurities would go away and it would be left with just the purity of the metal and now we know that this is gold because it survived the fire and so that's what James is saying there's like when your faith is tested in other words your your Christianity is going to survive the test oh come on I got to say that to somebody you feel like you're going through a test right now can I tell you this the Jesus in you is going to survive the test there may be some there may be some behaviors that get burned away let it burn away come on your faith in Jesus is going to stand the test dad you gotta believe that and then when you are when your faith is tested it says that your endurance has a chance to grow so let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed that's when you'll be perfect and complete needing nothing what does James mean here when he says you'll be perfect I thought there was that nobody was perfect well part of what he's saying here is that there is a sanctification that can come. And now, you don't hear very many people preaching

about like Christian perfection, like it's not a popular message, I understand that. You'll hear a lot of people preaching the opposite, where I mean, you're just gonna, you're gonna mess up every day, so just keep on messing up, but just love Jesus. James is not preaching that. James is talking about a Christian perfection, that's his words, not mine. It means maturity, that's part of what that meaning is. But it's also this entire sanctification. It's like this purity of intention. It's like I can be saved enough where the desires and the intentions of my heart become pure. And I would say this to all Christians that are hearing me right now at every location, on a screen, somewhere else. Listen, do you truly hold this unwavering faith that Jesus is enough to fully cleanse you from sin and also set you free from sinful desire? Now, if you don't believe that, I want you to start to kind of tap into more faith because Jesus is enough, come on, to save you completely from your past and to break off whatever needs to be broken off your life, and that you can have freedom from sin's power. That's really what James is talking about. But he also says that in that, it develops this perseverance, perseverance. So it's not about being better than some, best dad ever.

Not about being better than somebody else. It's about just being there, come on. Like, if you finish in this, you win. Dads, can I just say that? If you finish, you win. I don't know if you've ever watched this TV show, I'll watch it, we've watched a season or two, it's called Alone. Anybody ever seen the show called Alone? And so, not a ton, but it's on one of the nature channels or something, and they take these 10 or 12 survivalists and they fly them up to this extreme weather place up in maybe Canada or somewhere, crazy, snowy weather, and they drop them off in different spots. And so they don't ever have any interaction with each other, and they don't have any interaction with anybody, just alone, that's the name of the show, Alone, and they have to survive. And so they're out there trying to build shelter, they're building fire, they're out there trying to find something to eat, and they videotape themselves every day, they have to do that for so many hours, and so that becomes the footage that we are watching from our couch while they're just trying to stay alive. And the thing about the show is that you don't ever know how everyone else is doing. Now, the person who lasts the longest, the person who doesn't give up wins, but they don't know how everybody else is doing. So you might be feeling like on your last,

like, I can only make it three more hours, and you just don't know if there's still nine people left or if there's only one other person left. How many of us, that would kind of change your mentality, right, man, if I'm one of the last two, then maybe I can make it two more days. If I'm one of the last, but they don't know, and so sometimes you'll be watching it from home and there's two people left and this person's starting to think about calling the emergency phone to give up and you're going, don't give up, you might do this, you might make it, but they just don't know. And as I'm watching that, as I'm thinking about perseverance as a Christian, can I tell you, come on, you win if you just keep going, just don't give up, and let me say that to the dads in the room, maybe there's some dads that you've been going through some trials and you've been feeling weak and you've been ready to just throw in the towel and give up, can I tell you, come on, don't give up, you win if you finish. And here's the great thing, you don't have to do this alone. You don't have to do this alone. See, when God allows tests to come in our life, James already said it, God allows tests to come in our life because it's going to bring out the best in us. Now when Satan tempts us, he's doing so to bring out the worst in you.

And so what is the difference? The difference would be, I guess, our values when we're going into the test, that predisposed joy in our heart when we're going into the test. My values matter, if I value comfort more than I value character, then a trial is probably gonna make me better. If I value reputation more than I value being reliable, then a trial's probably gonna make me spiritually insecure. If I value immediate happiness more than I value long-term holiness, then trials are gonna bring out a rebellious spirit in me. If I value the temporal more than I value the eternal, then trials are probably gonna make me angry. But when I value God's very best for my life, when I value God's... presence on my life, and when I value God's word, now a trial, I meet a trial with joy, and now that trial is producing a perseverance, and when I finish, come on, I win. It's all about our values. So we want to persevere. We take on the trials. We build some endurance in our life. Thirdly, what's it look like to aim at perfection? We would want more wisdom. That would be the third. Like to want wisdom, verse five, James said, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God,

and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. See, you're not having to do this alone. There is a source of strength. There is a source of wisdom. When James talks about wisdom here, when poetic literature in the Old Testament talks about wisdom, it's not talking about wisdom like wisdom is some sort of elite mental capability or like a man just so intelligent, so much smarter than everybody else. That's not what the Bible's definition of wisdom is. No, a biblical definition, when it talks about wisdom, is having like a practical skill for righteous living. It's not this abstract philosophical stuff. It's like can I take what I know from God's word and implement and put it into practice in my life? So for a dad, wisdom might be how to deal with one of my kids when they're acting out a little bit rebellious. For a dad, wisdom might be, I feel that there's some distance happening in my marriage and I need to figure out what we need to do to get together again. For wisdom, a dad might be, hey, we're going through a lean financial season and we're gonna have to figure out what we're gonna do budget-wise and how we're gonna make this work. So wisdom might look more like that,

where it's some practical steps. Man, we need the wisdom of God. I wonder if, let's do this at every location if we could. Would you, if today is your first Father's Day as a dad, first Father's Day, 2026, is your first Father's Day as a dad, would you hold up your hand, wave at me real quick if that's you, first Father's Day as a dad? Yeah, awesome. Why don't you do this? Stand up if that's you. Stand up for me at every location if it's your first Father's Day as a dad. Would you stand up real quick? Stand up for me, thanks, thanks, thanks. First Father's Day, awesome, and baby. At locations too, stand up, first Father's Day. Awesome, thanks guys. Stay standing if you would. I want you to stand because I wanted the rest of the dads to remember when that was you. One of the dads on the video said, when you grabbed my hand, everything changed. I still remember what it was like. That first time I held my first child, and I think the thing that kind of overwhelmed me was like, I was like, it's time to step up. Like, it's not just me anymore. Like, my decisions affect a whole different generation now.

So even right then, I felt this inadequacy. And what are we supposed to do when we feel that inadequacy? To all the first year Father's Day dads, I would say, what are we supposed to do? We ask God for wisdom. I want to take a moment in this service and just pray for you guys, for God's just outpouring of wisdom on your life at every location the first year dads are standing. And so, would you join me in praying just real quick? Father, in Jesus' name, I just thank you for these gifts. And I pray for wisdom, God, as they may be facing all kinds of questions, and maybe they don't feel like they're cut out, maybe they don't feel like they're enough. I just pray, God, you give them your wisdom. And God, surround them with people that can help them, be examples to them, and pray a blessing upon their families. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, thanks, guys. You can be seated, and we can give all of our first year dads, right? Dr. Ken Canfield wrote a book called The Heart of the Father, and in that, he gave kind of four practical pillars of what it looks like to be maybe a dad who's operating in God's wisdom, a dad who's maybe aiming for the right things.

And I just wanted to kind of bring those out real quick. And they hit in this acronym called I CAN. And I think every dad can do these four things, I CAN. And so, in that, the I stood for involvement. Like, just be involved, simply being physically, emotionally present in the mundane, yes. Like, day to day, just be there and be involved. One of my phrases that I've always tried to live by is like, wherever you are, be all there. Like, you're at home, like, be involved. But maybe it's also big monumental moments in their life. The C stands for consistency. Providing predictable, stable environment. Like, again, the dad who's, maybe it's just perseverance. Like, maybe that's the aim, and just being present. But the consistency to be there. The A stands for awareness. And this might be a thing where you're praying and saying, God, give me discernment to be aware of what my family's going through, to be aware of, and maybe asking the right questions, or listening to the conversations, and watching a facial expression of your son or daughter as they're talking about something. And you might see some hurt and pain in there that's a couple levels down. Just praying that God would help you be aware. And the N stands for nurturing. And I would just challenge dads with this. Don't let moms be the only ones

bringing a nurturing presence to your family. But be nurturing, be stimulating growth, and being affirm, offering verbal affirm and encouragement, and be patient through their failures. And I just love that this was under the acronym, that's why I pulled it out today, is I Can. And I wanted to tell all the dads, you can do this if you ask God for his wisdom as you're doing it, amen. And the last one, if we go back to the book of James, chapter one, the last one I think is, we're trying to aim for perfection at least, would be to, we have to defeat doubt. Doubt is so dangerous. James talks about it in verse six, but when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, he says. Don't, don't waver back and forth. For a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea. It's blown and tossed by the wind. Waves have no internal support system. Waves have no framing. Waves have no internal support. No, waves are just a result of the wind. And so the waves are gonna go wherever the wind tells the waves to go. And so James is saying, we can't be like that. Dads, we can't be that unstable source

of strength in our home because if we're wavering, then our homes now are just being tossed. If we come into leadership in our home and we haven't decided what we stand for, if we come into leadership in our home and we're just blown and tossed by the waves of culture, then it's gonna create insecurity in our family. Now, James says, don't waver in that. Don't be like that wave. He says, such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord for their loyalty is divided between God and the world and they are unstable in everything that they do. We must do everything that we can to eliminate and to defeat doubt in our life. Man, the enemy loves when we start to doubt God coming through, when we start to doubt our own relationship with God, when we start to offer prayers and we're doubting the prayers before they're even out of our mouth, we're doubting that God's gonna hear them. Where does that come from? Doubt is literally to be torn in two different directions. Like if we define biblical doubt, it would literally be we're trying to judge between two things and I don't know which one I'm choosing. It's the picture of a person that's just being pulled two directions at the same time.

That is doubt. How do we defeat doubt? We decide where our loyalty lies. We decide where our number one loyalty lies and I just wanna challenge every dad in this room, every someday dad, every father figure, I wanna challenge you in this room. Decide now that your loyalty is on the word of God. Decide right now that my loyalty is here and I want to look like God's picture and when I'm in my home and when I'm working with my and dealing with my family, I want to be God's picture of what this thing looks like. Loyalty more to the home maybe than even to the workplace or more loyalty to the family than to whatever other relationships you have in your life. Decide now what that loyalty looks like. I wanna end this service by doing something that I think will be incredibly special at every single location. And so I'm gonna ask for everyone to stand. I'm gonna ask for all of our dads to come and step forward to this front. If you're a dad, if you're a stepdad, if you're a grandfather, if you're a father figure to somebody, we're not trying to be exclusive here. If you, I want you to step out and come. and just do me this favor. I know some of you are like not sure,

but it'll be fine. Just would you come forward with us all together. You're not doing this alone today, so come on at every location. Our campus pastors are gonna come and lead this prayer time. But come on dads while you're coming and while we're waiting on them all to make their way to this front, maybe I have time for another dad joke. No, I'm not going to. Come on up dads. Thank you guys for coming. Oh, I love this. Come on, manpower right here. I love it. Come on. And while the rest of these dads are making their way to this front, I feel so strong to keep emphasizing not that you don't have to do this alone. You can't do this alone. And you serve a God who wants to help you and give you wisdom. Maybe the real tragedy is that some of us haven't even been asking God for wisdom. We're gonna do that today. Not only do you not have to do it alone, you can't do it alone. And we need each other.

And I'm really praying for a greater connection amongst one another, amongst us men at this church. And for me, that would be something that would mark our church in a unique way, that there is a greater connection, one with another, because you'll find strength. You wanna talk about trying to endure, you'll find the ability to endure when you got somebody kind of right there doing it with you. And forgive me, but I believe in impartation moments. I believe in moments where we pray and we pray together in our faith. I just believe that sometimes God sparks something different. I think sometimes we can walk away from moments like this and go, actually, I'm doing this. Actually, God's real and God showed me something. Like, I'm sorry, I believe in those moments and I believe we're gonna have one of those moments right now. And so I wanna pray a prayer of blessing over each and every one of you. I wanna pray James chapter one over your life. And so, would you just join me? Matter of fact, dads, why don't you just grab somebody on the arm or just make a point of contact with somebody around you, just to signify that we are doing this together. And let me pray a blessing over your life. Church, you can join me in this prayer right now. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray for these,

every man in this room right now. And I pray, God, that as they go through trials and the trials will come. And God, there are some right now that are going through trials. There's a man here that's going through something. If I brought him up and he started to share the level of trial he's going through, tears would fill every eye in this room. And so I just pray, God, for strength as they walk through the trials that they are walking through. And I pray, God, that the trial would produce the right things, Lord, that there would be a deep-seated joy of the Lord that would be their strength. And I thank you for perseverance. I thank you, God, for the finishing work of Calvary. Lord, you began a good work in us and you are faithful to complete it. And so we will finish and we will win because we finish. And so I just thank you for dads that are gonna persevere, God. That's part of that aiming at perfection, just to be present and persevere. So God, I thank you for producing something that is so strong in our life. Even right now, God, give us strength. Lord, some dads, it felt like they just weren't, they were ready to give up, just throwing the towel.

And I pray, God, for a new perseverance to come. Lord, I pray right now for wisdom. Come on, there are some men here that are facing decisions and they just literally don't know what to do. They don't know which way to turn. They feel like they're being pulled in multiple directions. Lord, I pray that wisdom from on high, wisdom that only God can provide. Lord, give us supernatural, sovereign wisdom to make decisions, I pray, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. And God, finally, we just thank you, God, for the defeat of doubt. And I would come against, Lord, a dad that doesn't believe in his own prayers. Oh, God, I pray that these men would start to know that their prayers bring a profound impact. And I thank you, God, for restoring a prayer life because we've doubted it too long. Lord, some of these men doubt their own relationship with you. And Holy Spirit, I ask you to seal right now every relationship with you. Lord, anybody in this room that's outside of a relationship with God, and we just doubt as whether or not we can even have access to that. Oh, by the blood of Jesus, you have access. And so, we just receive right now a relationship, a strong relationship with you, God. We ask you to forgive us, and we believe,

and we defeat doubt in Jesus' name. Lord, doubt in what's going on with our family and how our kids are gonna be raised and what they're gonna do. to turn out to be. Lord, know when we ask you for wisdom, we do so without doubting that you are helping us, that you are guiding us, that you are directing us. And so we thank you and we bless you. You are a good, good father and we thank you for your help in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right. Awesome. Amen. Hey, love you guys. Maybe meet somebody, hug somebody before you go. And then at the photo booths, we have the little gift for you guys. Love you guys. God bless you. Have a wonderful Father's Day. Thanks for spending part of it with us.