What makes a good father? Well, according to the Scriptures Pastor Curt used yesterday, a good father is a pattern of good works, shows integrity, reverence, and incorruptability. He seeks God for wisdom, he listens, he is slow to speak and slow to anger. A good father loves and respects his wife and teaches his children to do the same. He instructs his children in God’s Word. He sets boundries for his children and disciplines them when they disobey. He provides for his family and he is firm in his faith. A good father is a blessing from God. Not all of us have had good fathers and there may be some scars, emotionally and physically that heed to be dealt with. Not all of us have been good fathers, but it isn’t too late to make amends and be the blessing your family deserves! Being a father is an awesome responsibility, one not to be taken lightly, but it is also an awesome privilege. Our Heavenly Father has set the example for men to follow. Seek His help, let Him teach you. Be the person you want your children to be. If you’ve been given the gift of fatherhood, use it wisely, and one day you will hear the greatest words an adult can say to you. I love you Dad!
People, parents, peers, can be some of the biggest discouragers. They have the tendency to judge by worldly standards and if someone doesn’t meet or live up to them, then they’re failures, haven’t got what it takes, will never make anything of themselves, but not so with God. He sees us through His eyes, He knows what we are capable of doing. Amidst all his protests and reasons why he wasn’t able to, God knew Moses was the one to lead His people out of Egypt. God knew a young shepherd boy was capable of slaying a huge warrior and becoming a great king. He could see that a teenage girl was worthy to deliver and be a mother to His Son. He knew a religious scholar, full of zeal for Judaism and his people, would be the perfect candidate to evangelize the world for Jesus. Think about that. Paul was probably the most unlikely person to be a Christian missionary, but God knew him, saw him through His eyes, not the world’s, and He used him to turn the world upside down for the Lord! So what about you? God knows you, knows what you are capable of, do you? Have you asked Him? He’s not going to ask you to turn the world upside down, already been done, but there may be a few apple carts that only you can turn over! Maybe it’s time to ask God what He sees in you. There may be an eagle just below the surface of the canary waiting to soar!
Ever play with Legos? Of course, everyone has played with Legos one time or another. They are pretty cool, how the engineers designed so many sizes and shapes and colors to mesh together perfectly and be made into fantastic structures. Not all the pieces are the same, wouldn’t be able to build much if they were. Some pieces inevitably, fall off to the side until they are painfully discovered by the bottom of your foot (some pieces just are like that) and returned to their needed place in whatever you are building. Ever look at the church like a complicated Lego kit? We are a living building, made up of all sizes, shapes, and colors, with some prickly pieces, yet all are fitted together, all important pieces to the whole, all are one in the Son! Our trust, our acceptance of Jesus, the cornerstone of our faith, enables each of us to be one of the Legos in the building. Anyone can walk in a door and sit in a pew, but only acceptance of Jesus makes us a part of God’s family and heirs of His promises. If you don’t truly understand what next Sunday is all about, if you’ve never truly given your heart to the Lord and have a personal relationship with Him, please talk to one of the Pastors. It’s time to be a part of His family, it’s time to put your Lego in place, it’s time to be one in the Son!
When someone says, “I sure hope I get into Heaven,” they probably won’t! God doesn’t want us to hope we’ll get into Heaven, He wants us to know we’ll get into Heaven. Hope isn’t some vague, unsure longing, but a solid sense of expectancy God wants to instill in us. Jesus came to give us that fulfilling hope through His life, death, and resurrection. If by faith you believe in Him, accept Him as your Lord and Savior, repent of your past sins, become His disciple and get baptized soon after, you’ve done everything He’s asked. Your hope is now in “nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness,” which is more than enough. Your hope, your expectancy, is in His promises, and He fulfills His promises. In times of trouble, His peace will comfort us. When things seem to be chaotic and out of control, we can trust that they will work out for good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose. When we feel down trodden by the world and its tribulations, we know He has overcome the world! We don’t have a vague, timid hope. We have the hope, the expectancy, of our Heavenly Father, our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit, and the confident knowledge that one day all things will be fulfilled and we will be with them in our Heavenly home!
One of the most foolish statements a person can utter is, “Well, at least when I get to hell all my rowdy friends will be there.” Really. Must be one bunch of bad dudes partyin’ down there huh, but guess what? Nobody’s that bad and there ain’t any party going on down there! Those bad dudes are going to be sorely disappointed. We have an awesome God, who, with fine artistry, created mountains, streams, forests, oceans, seashores, intricately designed birds and flowers, animals, people, sunsets, and platypus ducks, and that was only temporarily until He brings in the good stuff! A Heavenly home with streets of gold as clear as glass, gates made of pearl, walls adorned with precious stones, jasper, sapphire, emerald, topaz, amethyst, to name a few. It is a home of safety and security, a place where there is no sin, no death, a place of no tears, and best of all, a place where we will see Him face to face! My finite mind can’t begin to comprehend infinite things, and truthfully, it doesn’t need to. I know what God’s Word says, I see the unbounded beauty in this creation, I know what He has done in my life, so I can confidently trust that whatever awaits will be so much more than I could ever imagine. Why would anyone not want to live there? Personally, I want to see all my rowdy friends in Heaven too. I want them to know the peace of accepting God’s grace and forgiveness now, and for them to spend eternity on Heaven’s golden streets. That’s what I want for them but it is still their personal, individual choice, one only they can make. So let us all do what we can to help our friends, rowdy or not, make the right choice. Heavenly party or weeping and gnashing of teeth, it’s a choice everyone must make.
We are given many instructions on what is expected of a leader in the church by Paul in his letters to Timothy and Titus and by Peter in his first letter, but none clearer than the words of Jesus in Mark 10. “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve …” It is no small responsibility to be a leader in the church, one that should not be taken lightly, and I have no doubt any who abuse that responsibility will one day be held accountable, but do you see the drastic difference of being a leader in the church as to being a leader in the world? Church leaders are to serve, not be served, to be humble, not lord it over people, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money! If Congress was run like that we wouldn’t have to worry about career politicians! Actually there might not be any politicians at all! There is a high standard to be a leader in the church, but isn’t that the same standard the whole church is called to be? Shouldn’t the church be full of people able to step up to be an elder or deacon if asked? People who aren’t perfect but are trying to be like Jesus. Are you ready? If not, why? “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” It’s the humble in spirit, the servants, He wants to lead. Whether as a leader or not, He wants to use you!
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team