Fatherhood is not for the faint of heart.It is full of awesome joys but also awesome responsibilities. Father’s are to set the bar for their children, but sadly, over the last few decades the bar has been dropping like the ball in Times Sq on New Years Eve! It’s time for father’s, men, to live up to the role to which God has called them. Love your wives as Christ loved the church. Let your children know and see that! Spend time in prayer, seeking God’s wisdom for your children, your family, yourself. Don’t be afraid to discipline your children. They need boundaries, limits, and sometimes a spanking. Whoa, don’t let Dr. Spock hear that! Provide for your family but provide more than just the physical needs and toys to keep them occupied. They need you, your attention, your presence, your love, kindness, and gentleness, and your unconditional forgiveness. Our Heavenly Father has provided us salvation through Jesus, He will provide all our needs (not necessarily our desires), He gives us unconditional love, and is always there when we need Him. You want to see society change? This is the standard we need to attain with our families, wives, and children. God set the bar, now we need to be men and live up to it!
Rather than get in trouble by loosely paraphrasing, I’ll assume you all know the parable of the prodigal son. Let’s look at a couple of it’s major points. First, just as the father immediately forgave and restored his wayward son, so will our Heavenly Father do to anyone who asks Him. There is none, no not a one, who hasn’t sinned against Him, and there is none, not a one, He won’t forgive and redeem. Don’t ever count anyone out, as long as they have breath there is hope. Second, the older son was so offended by his brother’s sins that he could not rejoice when his father forgave them. Does the church portray what I’ve always called the Prodigal Son Syndrome, do you? Are we more concerned with pointing out the wrong doers in the world or saving them? How many politicians with opposing views do you pray for? Do we rejoice, as the angels in heaven do, when someone, no matter how heinous they may have been, gives their heart to the Lord? Do we smugly turn our backs on the wicked worldly, knowing they’ll get what they deserve or do we pray for their salvation? Prayer is the most powerful weapon on earth. Let’s all make sure we don’t have that older brother attitude. Then we need to start to seriously use the powerful weapon God has given us and be ready to rejoice as the prodigals start coming home!
Are you a good tree or a bad tree? That question came up in one of the many confrontations Jesus had with the Pharisees. In this particular one, they accused Him of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons. While He was soundly rebuking them, He made a couple of statements we need to consider. “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who doesn’t gather with Me, scatters abroad.” Many people, priests, and pastors have done much harm in the name of Christianity. They have caused many to be “scattered abroad” most likely never to return to the Lord. Are you a gatherer or a scattered? You are either on the Lord’s side or you’re not, there is no middle ground. You can’t straddle a picket fence. Next, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Our words define us. What words fill your mouth; words of encouragement, kindness, praise or words of criticism, coarseness, controversy? We are meant to be good trees bearing good fruit with nary a doubt of whose side we are on. Granted every piece of fruit we produce may not be perfect, we will always be in need of pruning, but strive to be that good tree. Want a little inspiration? Remember the bad trees will be cut down and thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Makes a little pruning sound pretty good!
After the Jewish people were led in captivity to Babylon and everything seemed hopeless for them, the Lord used Jeremiah to deliver some encouraging words. “I know the plans I have toward you, plans of peace, not evil, to give you a future and a hope … you will seek Me, and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart, I will be found by you …” Our lives teeter on a precarious balance, and whether by our own doing or uncontrolled circumstances, they can be turned upside down in a heartbeat. We can feel like we’ve been dragged off into captivity! So, what do you do when that happens? You know that God still loves you, you know He wants the best for you, you know He has a plan for you. So you seek Him with all your heart! Let no amount of tragedy deter you. The worse it gets, the harder you seek and He “will be found by you.” As we honored our graduating students yesterday there was no better advice we could give them as they head off into their lives. In all aspects of your life, seek God’s plan first. You may think you have a good one, but I venture to say His is better. Whether graduating high school, college, or well into retirement years, we all walk a tightrope through life. Continually seek His balance, listen to His leading, and if you slip off the tightrope, you know that He is the best safety net ever!
“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice,” encouraging words from Paul to the church at Philippi, ones that should be resounding in every Christian church today! Christians should be the most joyful people on the planet. We know the risen Savior, we know He redeemed us, we know we are going to spend eternity in heaven with Him, and we didn’t do a thing to earn that privilege, He did it all for us! Sure we all have troubles from time to time, but we need to look past the temporal to the eternal. God loves us, He wants us to share our problems with Him so He may give us His peace that passes all understanding. Stop sucking on lemons and and let the world see your joy! Come to church smiling, leave with a bigger smile because you have been singing His praises, hearing His Word, and spending time with your brothers and sisters. If we are going to attract unbelievers to the Lord, it will be with a smile not a pious pout! Remember the words of Nehemiah, “… the joy of the Lord is our strength!” Start flexing those muscles and rejoice!
When Paul wrote in Ephesians, husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies, he was setting the bar pretty high, especially for someone that wasn’t even married. Then he takes it up another notch and says we are to cherish our wives as the Lord does the church! I dare say the majority of Christian men have failed in that area, I know I have and I apologize. Men don’t always realize how difficult it is and the amount of responsibility their wives have in running a home and raising children, but the Lord does. He knows that mothers are the ones who shape the world. And children, you are to obey your parents.in the Lord for this is right. Sadly, every child has not had a Godly mother to nurture them, love them, pray for them, but whether you had a mommy dearest or the dearest mommy, you are commanded to honor them. Our wives and mothers deserve all the love and respect we can give them, not only because the Lord commands it but because they do deserve it! A mother’s love is a powerful thing, be very thankful if you have received it!
Fatherhood is not for the faint of heart.It is full of awesome joys but also awesome responsibilities. Father’s are to set the bar for their children, but sadly, over the last few decades the bar has been dropping like the ball in Times Sq on New Years Eve! It’s time for father’s, men, to live up to the role to which God has called them. Love your wives as Christ loved the church. Let your children know and see that! Spend time in prayer, seeking God’s wisdom for your children, your family, yourself. Don’t be afraid to discipline your children. They need boundaries, limits, and sometimes a spanking. Whoa, don’t let Dr. Spock hear that! Provide for your family but provide more than just the physical needs and toys to keep them occupied. They need you, your attention, your presence, your love, kindness, and gentleness, and your unconditional forgiveness. Our Heavenly Father has provided us salvation through Jesus, He will provide all our needs (not necessarily our desires), He gives us unconditional love, and is always there when we need Him. You want to see society change? This is the standard we need to attain with our families, wives, and children. God set the bar, now we need to be men and live up to it!
Rather than get in trouble by loosely paraphrasing, I’ll assume you all know the parable of the prodigal son. Let’s look at a couple of it’s major points. First, just as the father immediately forgave and restored his wayward son, so will our Heavenly Father do to anyone who asks Him. There is none, no not a one, who hasn’t sinned against Him, and there is none, not a one, He won’t forgive and redeem. Don’t ever count anyone out, as long as they have 
After the Jewish people were led in captivity to Babylon and everything seemed hopeless for them, the Lord used Jeremiah to deliver some encouraging words. “I know the plans I have toward you, plans of peace, not evil, to give you a future and a hope … you will seek Me, and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart, I will be found by you …” Our lives teeter on a precarious balance, and whether by our own doing or uncontrolled circumstances, t
“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice,” encouraging words from Paul to the church at Philippi, ones that should be resounding in every Christian church today! Christians should be the most joyful people on the planet. We know the risen Savior, we know He redeemed us, we know we are going to spend eternity in heaven with Him, and we didn’t do a thing to earn that privilege, He did it all for us! Sure we all have troubles from time to time, b
