Make It Make Sense | If You've Seen Me You've Seen the Father | Drew Sherman

Let's stand together as we worship Jesus. ♪ I believe there is one salvation ♪ ♪ One doorway that leads to life ♪ ♪ One redemption, one confession ♪ ♪ I believe in the name of Jesus Christ, amen ♪ ♪ I believe in the crucifixion ♪ ♪ By His blood I have been set free ♪ ♪ I believe in the resurrection ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, when life is at its defeat ♪ All praise, Lord, we worship you. ♪ All praise to God the Father ♪ ♪ All praise to Christ our Son ♪ ♪ All praise to the Holy Spirit our God has overcome ♪ ♪ The King who was and is, nevermore will be ♪ ♪ In Jesus' mighty name, I believe ♪ ♪ I believe ♪ ♪ I believe in the hope of heaven ♪ ♪ He's preparing a place for me ♪ ♪ Far beyond what hearts imagine ♪ ♪ Ears have heard or eyes have seen ♪ ♪ I believe that a day is coming ♪ ♪ He's returning to claim His bride ♪ ♪ Light the altar, keep it burning ♪ ♪ See the Lamb who rose, a roaring lion ♪ ♪ All praise to God the Father ♪ ♪ All praise to Christ our Son ♪ ♪ All praise to the Holy Spirit our God has overcome ♪ ♪ The King who was and is and evermore will be ♪ ♪ In Jesus' mighty name, I believe ♪ ♪ No, I'll never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ ♪

♪ How could I ever walk away from the One who saved my life? ♪ ♪ No, I'll never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ How could I ever walk away from the One who saved my life? ♪ ♪ No, I'll never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Of the gospel of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ How could I ever walk away from the One who saved my life? ♪ ♪ All praise to God the Father and all praise to Christ the Son ♪ ♪ All praise to the Holy Spirit for our God has overcome ♪ ♪ The King who was and is and evermore will be ♪ ♪ In Jesus' mighty name, I believe ♪ ♪ All praise to God our Father, all praise to Christ the Son ♪ ♪ All praise to the Holy Spirit, our God has overcome ♪ ♪ The King who was and is and evermore will be ♪ ♪ In Jesus' mighty name, I believe ♪ ♪ In Jesus' mighty name, I believe ♪ ♪ I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, amen. ♪ Well, good morning and welcome to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God and happy Father's Day. Hope all the fathers in the room feel honored today. In fact, if you are a father, would you just raise your hand right now? If you see somebody with their hand raised, go give them a high five. We'll continue in worship in just a sec. All right, church, let's continue to worship this morning. All right, church, let's continue to worship this morning. ♪ We're gonna stay here until we encounter you ♪ ♪ Make us an offering, make us an upper room ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay here until we encounter you ♪ ♪ Until we encounter you ♪

♪ Make us desperate, tear our idols down ♪ ♪ Repentant, this is still your house ♪ ♪ Yeah, you meant it when you said you'd pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ So Holy Spirit come light a fire on the altar ♪ ♪ Fresh wind blow it through ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay here until we encounter you ♪ ♪ Make us an offering, make us an upper room ♪ ♪ We're gonna stay here until we encounter you ♪ ♪ Until we encounter who we wanna see ♪ ♪ We need a move of God, we need a move of God ♪ ♪ We need a move of God, we're hungry, we're desperate ♪ ♪ Lord open the heavens, make that your prayer this morning ♪ ♪ We need a move of God, we need a move of God in our hearts ♪ ♪ We need a move of God, we're hungry, we're desperate ♪ ♪ Lord open the heavens, fire on the altar ♪ ♪ Fresh wind blow it through, we're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we encounter you, make us an offering ♪ ♪ Make us an upper room, we're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we encounter you, fire on the altar ♪ ♪ Fresh wind blow it through, we're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we encounter you, make us an offering ♪ ♪ Make us an upper room, we're gonna stay here ♪ ♪ Until we encounter you, we need a move of God ♪ ♪ We need a move of God, yes, we need a move of God ♪ ♪ We're hungry, we're desperate, Lord open the heavens ♪ God, that is our prayer that you would open the heavens this morning. God, we want to encounter your presence in this place. God, we put you before anything else in this moment. We worship you now in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's sing this out together. ♪ Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine ♪ ♪ He's been my forthbring in the fire, time after time ♪ ♪ Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood ♪ ♪ And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough ♪ ♪ I trust in Him, I trust in Him, I trust in Him, I trust in Him ♪ ♪ Trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ I trust in Him, I trust in Him, I trust in Him, I trust in Him ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ ♪ Perfect submission, all is at rest ♪ ♪ I know the author of tomorrow is on my steps ♪ ♪ So this is my story, this is my song ♪ ♪ Praising my risen King and Savior all day long ♪ ♪ I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, never fail, never fail ♪ Now, we're joined together, we sing this out. I sought the Lord. I sought the Lord. And I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. And I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered.

I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him, God. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail, never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Well, happy Father's Day to all our dads here today. Today, we celebrate you for sure. And hey, welcome to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God. And we're so glad that you're here today. My name is Drew. I'm one of the pastors here

and just wanna welcome you to this place. If you're a guest, I would love to connect with you in guest gathering right after this message. We love putting a face to a name and a name to a face and we have a gift for you. So we'd love for you to connect with us. And hey, can we welcome the men of the Allred unit today? Would you help us welcome them? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We welcome you in the name of Jesus. We're so glad that you're part of our team here today. Well, hey, over the past several weeks, we've been in a series called Make It Make Sense. And looking at some of the hard teachings of Jesus, some of the statements that Jesus makes that have been a little bit difficult to understand. And as we wrap up this series on Father's Day today, we're going to look at one of the most powerful things Jesus ever said about the Father. And this moment happens in the Bible in John 14. So if you have your Bibles today, if you have your Bibles, you can turn to John 14 or you can go to the Bible app. And this is the moment that happens in the upper room the night before Jesus would go to the cross

when the disciples are a little confused, honestly, a little afraid, trying to make sense of what Jesus has told them. And Jesus has told them that one of them in the room is gonna betray him. And that kind of trips them up a little bit. And then he says that Peter's gonna deny him and that he's going to leave them. And so they feel a little abandoned, a little overwhelmed. And one of them speaks up, Thomas. He says, Lord, we don't know where you're going. So how can we show the way? And Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do not know him. You do know him and have seen him. So they're trying to piece this together. And then Philip speaks up and says, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. In other words, Jesus were a little overwhelmed. Just show us what God really looks like. And into their confusion, Jesus gives them, I think one of the most stunning answers he's ever given. Jesus says, don't you know me, Philip? Even after I've been among you such a long time, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. If you've seen me, you know what God looks like. How can you say, show us the Father? So Jesus is saying,

if you wanna know what God looks like, look at me. They didn't have to search somewhere else for a picture of Father God. Everything Jesus did, every word, every miracle, every act of compassion, every expression of grace was the Father saying, this is who I am. And if Jesus is the perfect picture of the Father, then the clearest way to know the Father is to look closely at the life of Jesus. What did he show us about God? And more clearly we see the Father in Jesus, the more faithfully we can reflect Jesus to the people around us. Now, before I get into this, I just wanna say this about Father's Day, okay? Father's Day, you know this, it doesn't hit the same for everyone. For some, it's a great day of celebration. For others, it's a little complicated. And for some, it often carries pain. I know for some of you talking about father's brings up grief or disappointment or loss. Maybe your dad was absent. Maybe he was there physically, but not emotionally. Maybe he was harsh or unpredictable or left wounds that still haven't fully healed. Or maybe you're like me, you lost your dad. And even though you think about him all the time, days like today can feel a little heavy. Or maybe you're a father carrying the weight

of your own regret, and you're wishing you could go back maybe and do some things differently. I think every dad probably has moments where they wish they could do some things differently. Let me assure you, no matter the situation, the message is not about the father you had, this message is about the father you have. Your earthly father may have shaped your story, but your heavenly father defines your identity. And the good news of the gospel is this, Jesus didn't come to show you what your dad was like, Jesus came to show you what your father in heaven is like. So whether you had an amazing dad, whether you had a complicated dad or no dad at all, this message is for you. And I wanna answer the question, what did Jesus show us about the Father? How did He show that? He says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, how so? And I wanna give you five ways, if you're taking notes, I think this might be helpful, five ways that Jesus showed us the Father. And the first one is, Jesus absolutely showed us the Father's compassion. He showed compassion. One thing that we see in the gospels about Jesus is that His heart moved toward people who were hurting and He touched the lepers and He fed the hungry and He wept over the grieving

and He stopped for the outcast and the unwanted. And that's the Father. He's not indifferent. He's not annoyed by your pain. His heart moves toward you. And dads, your compassion, when demonstrated, teaches your family what God's compassion feels like. And I've had to learn this myself because compassion, maybe it was not always my first response early on as a dad, especially when I was coaching my boys in football, if one of them got down, instantly the dad voice would come out and you know that voice, it's louder than it needs to be. It has way too much confidence behind it. And it somehow sounds exactly like your own father. Get up, walk it off, or my favorite, rub some dirt on it, which by the way is terrible medical diagnosis, right? Rub some dirt on it has never once appeared in a Mayo Clinic article, not one time. But dads have been prescribing it for generations. That kid could be limping off the field with his helmet sideways and we're over there acting like we went to medical school, right? And then I picture Jesus watching all this and He's healing the lame and healing the blind and stopping for the hurting. And I'm yelling at a seven-year-old and shoulder pads that weigh more than He does. It's humbling because somewhere along the way, I had to learn that compassion isn't weakness.

And if Jesus showed us the heart of the father, then the father's first move toward hurting people is not irritation, it's tenderness. But it's also a reminder that compassion is something we grow into. And I can attest to this. When I was younger, I didn't cry all that much. If I cried, it was few and far between. I mean, somebody had to be born, die, or throw a game winning touchdown for me to get a little misty, right? But now I'm gonna turn 60 this year. I cry about everything. Like it's unbelievable. A bride walking down the aisle, I can't get through a wedding without crying. A kid hugging his dad at the airport. Those military reunion videos, anybody else? Holy cow, I'm just like bawling. You know, the end of a Pixar movie, I'm just saying. Like sometimes I don't even know what I'm crying about. I just hear piano music in a commercial and I think, here we go. You know, I recently cried like heavy watching a Chevy commercial. A truck driving down the dirt road and somebody's grandpa smiles and I'm done. Like I'm just wiping my eyes thinking, what is happening to me? Is this compassion or do I have low testosterone?

I don't know. But I just cry all the time. And even my wife, like recently, you know, we're watching something on Netflix and I'm over there and just like, you know, and she's like, are you okay? And I'm like, are you watching this, you know? And she's like, yeah, I am. This is not a thing like you think. Anyway, but maybe that's the point. Maybe the older we get, the more tender our hearts become. And maybe compassion isn't weakness. It's a sign that God is softening us to see people more like he does. And Jesus showed the father's compassion. Jesus also showed, this is really important, the father's presence. One of the things we see about Jesus throughout the gospels is that he was with people. He did not love, heal, or lead from a distance. He was in the thick of it. He walked with the disciples. He ate meals with them. He traveled with them. Jesus noticed what others ignored. He stayed in the storm with his friends. He didn't run away when things got tough. And that's the heart of the father. God isn't far away. He's not unreachable or uninvolved.

We can go back to the beginning in the garden. God created the garden because he wanted to dwell with us. And this is pointed out over and over again in scripture. In Exodus 25, as the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness, he basically says, hey, have them make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell with them and I will live with them. In Ezekiel 37, God promises, I will make my home among them. I will be their God and they will be my people. And then Jesus shows up and he continues this trend. John chapter one, so the word, that's Jesus. Jesus became human and made his what? His home among us. He was full of unfailing. love and faithfulness. And then look at the promise that's to come when Jesus returns again in Revelation 21. I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among his people and he will live with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them. So from past, present to future, God and his son have always wanted to be present with their people. From Genesis to Revelation, God's heart has never changed. He wants to be with his people. And I just wanna challenge you dads to be present in the life of your children. And I would just say this, I've always said this and this is kind of my opinion,

like this isn't really in the Bible, right? But I've always said that if a group of aliens from outer space would come and watch your family or the average family on earth, and if they couldn't speak our language, but they just watched our habits and our customs and our mannerisms and our actions, I bet they would conclude that like getting kids to events on time was a matter of life and death, right? Like it's life or death. And making sure the kids got the peewee football practice on time and if they miss one night, oh my goodness, the consequences are devastating, right? Like that the kids have to be in club baseball and play 72 games in 81 days, you know? Or they're just gonna blow up if they don't do that. And maybe they would assume that humans also have to be separated because they never seem to do anything together and they're just running around and it's just rush, rush, rush. And I think it'd be reasonable to think that that's what they would conclude. Now, none of us believe that. Well, we don't wanna live like that. We don't subscribe to it. But I would submit to you that that's very much the trend in the culture that you and I live in. Kids today tend to be experience rich and relationship poor.

Experience rich and relationship poor. And some of that has to do, and I'm not trying to lecture or put anybody through guilt today, but sometimes we tend to evaluate our parenting based merely on the experiences. I want my kids to experience things that I never experienced and I want my kids to have things that I never had and I wanna give them a better life and we gotta get the best schools and the best grades and we gotta drive the best cars and man, we need the nicest clothes and vacations need to be meaningful and man, everybody's gotta get to gymnastics on time and we gotta get to soccer on time. Oh my gosh, the football banquet's tonight. We gotta get to that and oh my gosh, we have to get to Six Flags. We haven't been there in two years. We're terrible parents, you know? But we don't eat dinner together. We don't pray together. And as a father, sometimes we wake up one day and we realize we kept our kids busy but we didn't give them much of ourselves. You gave them a whole lot of experience but very little of you. And honestly, I think what your kids need more than anything is your presence,

just knowing where the father is. I had a decent basketball career. I played in high school and I played just a little bit in college but I can still remember when things weren't going well in the court. I grew up in Indiana. In Indiana, basketball is, there's not, I mean, there's not a whole lot to do so basketball's a big deal. It's very big in Indiana. In fact, I grew up in a town, just outside of town of 5,000 people but we had three high schools in town. So if you do the math, but when we played basketball, I'm not kidding you, you can ask my wife, like there would be somewhere between two and 3,000 people at every one of our basketball games. It was crazy how many people came to the basketball games. And I can remember, I always knew where one person was. I always knew where my dad was. And sometimes I would use him to help me recenter myself. So if I had committed a turnover or perhaps took a bad shot, I might look at him and he would always be there to kind of settle me down a little bit. And if I did something great, he would be the biggest cheerleader in the whole place. My dad was loud and proud.

And he was definitely not perfect. In fact, I'll tell you one story. My mom's probably not gonna like it that I'm telling you this story. But when I was in the seventh grade, my dad, we were playing back and forth and my dad and this other guy, his name was Jim, they start yelling at the officials and I can hear him yelling at the officials. And I will tell you, they were, I mean, there were bad calls so it was justified. But anyway, I can remember vividly. That was 49 years ago, but I remember like it was yesterday. Anyway, so, but I remember, I just remember that dad was yelling and then Jim was yelling and Jim said something he shouldn't have. And the official turned around and he kicked both of them out of the gym. My dad got kicked out of the gym and my mom was very much not happy with it. But what was great is we went in for the halftime speech, come out in the third quarter and I look up in the balcony and there's a man in a trench coat with a hat on and sunglasses. And he was still like that. I looked up at him, he just went. Because my dad just wanted.

to be present. And as a dad myself, I've always tried at all costs to be there for my kids and the things going on in their lives, but I also don't want them to be relationship poor. And so I think it's important that we practice presence. Being there is the most significant thing. The third thing that Jesus showed us about God is Jesus showed us the Father's patience. When you look at Jesus in the gospels, one thing is unmistakably clear. He's incredibly patient with people. He's patient with Peter when Peter speaks first and thinks later, which was most of the time. He's patient with Thomas in his doubt. He's patient with all the disciples who never seemed to really understand fully what he was saying. He's patient with interruptions, patient with crowds, patient with the fearful, patient with the stubborn, patient with the slow to change. Jesus, if you look at the gospels, he never treated people like problems to manage. He walked with them. He taught them. He stayed with them. And that's the heart of a father who loves his kids. It's definitely the heart of Father God. I love what Peter says about the Lord in 2 Peter 3. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promises.

Some people think, no, he's being patient for your sake. He doesn't want anybody to be destroyed. He wants everyone to come to repentance. God's patience is not passive, it's purposeful. Now, I'll be honest with you. Patience has not always been my strongest trait. Like the other day, our preaching team was at lunch and we were talking about this book by John Mark Comer called the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. And I think I was the only one in the table that hadn't read it. And so they're talking about this incredible book, Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, a book about stopping and slowing down in life. And before I could even stop the words coming out of my mouth, I said, guys, I don't have time to read that. Why don't you give me the cliff notes, right? Like you check that out, but you can send me the summary. But think about Jesus who kept walking patiently with his disciples, even when they were missing the point, even when they were asking the wrong questions or struggling to understand what he was saying. And that happens often as a dad. There are times when your kids are missing the point, they're asking the wrong questions, and sometimes we lack patience. And I'm just reminding you that the more patient we come, the more clearly we reflect the heart of the father. My son, Landon and I are doing a podcast right now

called the Gaining Ground Podcast. I would encourage you to listen to it sometime. In fact, we did a Father's Day episode that gets released later today. And I'd love for some of you men to catch that. I think you'll be real encouraged by it actually. And in our most recent podcast, Landon asked me, dad, if you had to do parenting all over again, I mean, I don't get to, but if I had to, if I got to do parenting all over again, what's one thing that you would want your kids to know? And I had to really think pretty long about that and hard about it. There's a lot of things that popped into my mind, but I think I would tell them, don't hide your pain from me. Please don't hide your pain from the father. Make sure you let your father know if you're suffering. Because if my son or daughter is going through pain, I wanna know about it. And I might not even be able to fix it. In fact, I probably can't fix it. But I would love to sit in that pain with them. And I just think sometimes we hide our pain because we worry that our parents won't understand or they won't be patient enough. And I just wanna speak to young people in this room, like students, I wanna encourage you, man, don't hide your pain from your parents. Man, share your heart. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there a little bit.

I know sometimes there's a little bit of guilt behind it, or sometimes there might even be some shame behind it. You'd be surprised how compassionate and how patient your parents might be with you if you'll just humbly share your pain with them. But I also wanna encourage you, don't forget to take your pain to your heavenly father as well. Don't forget to do that. And above all, make sure that after you pray, that you tell somebody about your pain. If for some reason you can't tell your parents. And as parents, listen, we need to be patient with our kids when they do share these kinds of things. Just like our heavenly father is patient with us. How many times have you poured your heart out to God about something you were shamed of? And the heavenly father listened to your prayers and responded. And that's an area that I wanna grow in. We start a new series next week called Cultivate. And it's a study of the fruit of the spirit. We're gonna study the fruit of the spirit all summer long. All summer, we're gonna learn about love, joy, and peace, and patience, and goodness, and gentleness, and faithfulness, and self-control. And next week, we're going to study patience. It's the first one. And guess who's preaching that message? Not me.

My son, Landon, is preaching that message. And I assigned this to him. I just want you to know this in advance. He's actually preaching at a church in Missouri right now, so he's not here today. So I wanna do a little pre-work here together, okay? I assigned, I said, son, I want you to teach on patience. And he said, dad, I don't know how wise that is. I don't actually have any real life experience in that area. And I said, I know, this is why it's gonna be fun. I want you to do this, okay? Because hearing Landon preach on patience is gonna be like hearing the kid who used to sneak into our closet, open up all his Christmas presents early, and then try and rewrap them, explain the spiritual discipline of waiting. And I am so pumped about this, to learn about patience from a guy who never once could even wait till December 25th to open up his gifts. This is gonna be fun, all right? Are you in on this with me next week? Let's do this, all right? I'll make a prediction. I bet he crushes it, don't you? I bet he crushes it. All right, here's another way. Jesus showed the father's sacrifice.

Jesus showed the father's sacrifice. If there's one word that captures the life of Jesus, it has to be sacrifice. He washed feet. He served instead of being served. He laid down his rights, took up a cross, and gave his life so that we could be free. Jesus did not talk about love. He proved it by what he was willing to give up for us, and that's the father. He is generous beyond measure. He does not hold back what is needed for the good of his children. He gives, provides, he pours himself out in love. I love Romans 8, verse 32, since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, wouldn't he also give us everything else? Like dads, the sacrifices you make speak loudly even when no one says a word. Your family may not always see it in the moment. They may not fully understand the weight you carry, but they're being shaped by it. They're being formed by the early mornings and the long workdays and the quiet burdens you carry and the things you fix and the bills you pay and the choices you make to put them ahead of yourself. And sometimes sacrifice looks big, but most of the time it's just in the small things, like turning down your own plans

so you can throw in the backyard or coach or go to a piano recital or show up at practice or simply be present when it matters the most. Every time we choose to lay down our comfort, our convenience or our own agenda for the good of someone else, we give an earthly glimpse of the heart of our heavenly father. Sacrifice says, you matter enough for me to give something up and that's exactly what God has done for us. So Jesus showed us the father's sacrifice. There's one more thing, and this is probably the most significant and the most important. Jesus showed the father's truth. Jesus didn't just speak the truth, he embodied it. In this John 14 passage that we started with, he says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one came to the father except through me. Truth was not just something Jesus taught, truth was standing right in front of the disciples. And when you follow Jesus through the gospels, you see truth on the move, truth that heals the broken, truth that confronts what is false, truth that calls people out of darkness and into freedom, truth that does not merely inform but transforms, and that's the father. God's truth is not harsh, it's healing.

It's not condemning, it's restoring. It's not meant to crush you, it's meant to lead you home. And dads, you and I are called to speak the truth and love to our kids. Your voice carries weight. Your words help shape what your kids believe about themselves, what they believe about life, and oftentimes what they believe about God. That's significant. Your guidance helps set direction. Your consistency builds security. And even when it seems like they're not listening, your words are settling deeper than you know. Long after the moment has passed, truth keeps echoing. But this is not just for dads, this is for every one of us. Every follower of Jesus is called to speak truth and love, to live with integrity, to stand firm in a world that keeps shifting back and forth. Because when truth is carried with grace, it does more than win arguments, it reveals the Father. So here's Jesus, he's gathered in this room, and he says, anyone who's seen me has seen the Father. Jesus showed us the Father's compassion, presence, patience, sacrifice, and truth. And if Jesus reveals the Father, then as followers of Jesus, we're called to reveal Him too. Not perfectly, not flawlessly, but faithfully. Because everything Jesus did was the Father saying, this is who I am.

And everything we do becomes an opportunity to say, this is who He is. All right. So I'm gonna leave you with one more thing today, okay? Because you got some business to take care of. We've got kids that need sponsored. We got pictures that need to be taken. But before we do that, I wanna leave you with a number. 13,392. 13,392. That's how many days I've been a dad as of today. Do you know what that means? It means I'm getting old. When I think back over those 13,392 days, I know that not all of them were my best days. There were days I wasn't as attentive as I should have been. Days I didn't always give the best advice. Days I didn't set the example that I wish I would have set. But if I could look back and hope for one thing, it would be this, that I hope I didn't give the best example for one thing, it would be this, that I hope enough of those days pointed my children to Jesus. I hope enough of those moments taught them that the most important decision they'll ever make is to follow Him. And dads, I just, I don't want any of us to waste the days we still have. Because the truth is, you don't know how many days you have.

And moments quietly become days. This is what I know to be true. And days quietly become weeks. And weeks quietly become months. And months become years. And before you know it, a whole season of life has slipped through your hands. I'll be honest, when I think about my own kids, I know there were moments that I reflected the Father well and moments that I didn't. There's only ever been one perfect Father. That's our Father God in heaven. And there's only been one perfect Son and that's His name, His name is Jesus. And by the grace of God, I can still show up and I can still grow and I can still ask for forgiveness and I can still speak the truth in love and I can still love well. I can still make the moments that I've been given count. And so to the dads here today, let me say with all my heart, your kids may not remember every lecture, every rule, every piece of advice. They might not always appreciate every correction in the moment, but they will remember this. They'll remember who showed up, who believed in them, who encouraged them, who walked with them, who sacrificed for them, who spoke truth to them, who reflected Jesus to them. And as I close, I just wanna say this to every person in the room.

This is not just a Father's Day message. This is a calling for all of us because someone in your world is longing to know what the Father's like and they may never open a Bible, but they can watch your life. They may never hear a sermon, but they can hear your words. In fact, did you know this? People would rather see a sermon than hear one. And you can do that every day of your life. They may never understand the heart of God until they experience his compassion and his presence and his patience and his sacrifice and his truth through you. So by the grace of God, let's make the days we have left count. Let's show up, let's love well, let's speak truth with grace. And when people look at our lives, may they catch a glimpse of Jesus and through Jesus, they'll see the Father. Can I pray over you today? Lord, thank you that of all the ways you could have revealed yourself to us, you chose to reveal yourself as a father. What a blessing that is. And I pray that you would help us to show the patience and the compassion and the care and the concern and the sacrifice and the tenderness and the truth of the Father. And I just pray for every dad in the room today. I pray that today would be light

and that today would feel easy and not heavy. And I pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. Hey, happy Father's Day, I love you guys. Thank you.