(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

6. Destiny 3 5. Destiny 4 4. Destiny 5 5. Destiny 6 5. Destiny 7 11. Destiny 9 12. Destiny 7 13. Destiny 9 14. Destiny 10 15. Destiny 20 16. Destiny 21 17. Destiny 22 18. 19. 20. 20. 21. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Amen we want to welcome you to Verity Baptist Church this morning of course want to wish a happy Father's Day to all of the Father's Day We worship together as we sing together and as we learn from your word in Jesus name. We pray Amen Let's turn to song number 404 When the battles over song 404 sing it out on the first Father of the Lamb And shall I fear to know His cause Lord, what do you say His name And when the battles over We should never come Yes, we should never come Yes, we should never come And when the battles over We should never come In the name of Jerusalem Never ever come Never ever come Never ever come Never ever come Never ever come Then when the battles over We should never come In the name of Jerusalem 404 on the second Must I be carried To the skies On flowery beds At least While others There's a spot to win the prize and so everybody sees. Then when the battle's over, we should run around. Yes, we should run around. Yes, we should run around. When the battle's over, we should run around in the river and sail around. There we go. There we go. I won't you be proud. When the battle's over, we should run around in the river and sail around. All the last. Sure I must fight if the rain increases my love and joy. I'll bear the toll before the prince appointed by the lord. When the battle's over, we should run around. Yes, we should run around. Yes, we should run around. When the battle's over, we should run around in the river and sail around. There we go. There we go. There we go. There we go. When the battle's over, we should run around in the river and sail around in the river and sail around in the sea. Father's Day, we have a Father's Day verse there. Before we get into the announcements, I do want to just say, of course, thank you to all of you who have been praying for my family and I. As we've been away, we were gone for nine days. I think that's the longest we've ever been gone away from our church. We got back late on Friday night. I want to say, of course, thank you to all of you who are praying for us. Thank you to the men who preached the last three services. They did a great job. I'm thankful that we have men in our church that can stand up and preach while the pastors are away. Many of you have been asking what we did for the last nine days. Let me just tell you everything we did for nine days. We went to the Statue of Liberty. We went to Ground Zero, the World Trade Center Memorial. We went to Valley Forge. We went to the Lancaster Amish Country. We went to the U.S. Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the White House, the Jefferson Memorial. We went to Mount Vernon. We went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We went to the International Spy Museum. We did all that while preaching to 127 people at a conference, doing an all-day soul-winning marathon with 84 soul winners. We had 40 salvations, eight baptisms. I recorded eight different videos. In all of that, we did not miss one church service. We were in church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. As you can tell, even at our vacations, we are effective and productive. We run a well-oiled machine even while we're gone away. You guys have been asking, what have you been doing? It's like, man, where do we start? We've been doing a lot. We're glad to be back, of course, and we're glad to be with you all. If you look at the announcements there, if you open up your bulletin, you'll see our church service, Sunday morning service, 1030 a.m. We're glad you're with us on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for Church. Of course, Sunday evening service, 6 p.m. We invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study. If you look at our soul-winning times, our main soul-winning times are on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Then we have additional soul-winning times on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 2 p.m. If you'd like to go soul-winning this afternoon, there'll be a time there for you to be able to do that. If you're a first-time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church we're so glad you're with us. We have a gift we'd like to give you. As you walk out of the church building this morning, as you go through the main foyer or our secondary foyer, you'll see a little table set up, and on that table you'll see these little gift bags. Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest this morning. There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have, but the one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made. It's called Being Baptists, and it's a documentary that talks about what it means to be a Baptist, what makes us Baptists, and it talks about our Baptist history. We think you'll find this educational and enjoyable, so we want to give this to you as a gift. Please make sure you don't leave here this morning without grabbing one of those on your way out. If you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin. If you need a pen, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen. You're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well. We're not going to do anything odd with your information. We would like to just have a record of your attendance. We actually would like to send you a little gift, but we need your information to do that, so please take a moment to fill the card out. When we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song. When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering, and as the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate, or you can hand it to me after the service. I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out. I'd love for you to come by and say hello. If you look at the announcements there, of course, if you need to be baptized, please let us know. We'd love to baptize you. The baptistry is filled, the water is warm, and we have everything you need to be baptized. We've got baptistry robes and shirts and shorts and towels and hairdryers, whatever you need, we've got it. There's two ways you can go about it. If you'd like to speak to somebody about baptism, maybe you're not sure what baptism is or if you need to be baptized, on your communication card you can check off that you'd like information about baptism. Maybe you've already spoken to somebody, then all you have to do is at the end of the service, after the preaching, while we're singing the last song, we step out that door, one of our staff guys will meet you there and we'll get you situated for baptisms. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, we have a Sunday morning series called Journey with Jesus. It's a verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of Luke. We're going to take a break from that this morning. Being Father's Day, I'll be preaching a Father's Day sermon, and we have our Happily Ever After series as well that we're going through on Sunday night. I'd also like you to notice that we are a family integrated church. What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the church service. We never separate children from their parents for any reason, but we do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience. All of the rooms have comfortable seating. They have monitor sit-ups. You can watch the service and listen to it. So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service, or if you need some privacy, we'd encourage you to use the mother-baby rooms or the daddy rooms. If you're not sure where those are at, you can look at the back of the bulletin. It'll show you a layout of the church building. It'll show you where the mother-baby rooms are, where the daddy rooms are. It'll show you where all the restrooms are. If you look at the announcements there, of course, we want to wish all of the fathers a Happy Father's Day. We have a special service lined up for you today, and I'm going to be preaching a Father's Day sermon this morning, and we're going to have our children's choir, the older choir. They're going to be singing for us this morning after the offering in honor of Father's Day. And then we have a special gift, like I said, for all of the first-time guests, but we also have an additional gift for all of the men and boys in the service today. We have a Father's Day gift, but it's not just for fathers. It's for all men. And we have these Verity Baptist Church T-shirts that we had made, and you can see that they're very nice shirts, very good quality shirts, and we're going to have them in the main foyer after the service. So as soon as the service is done, if you go out to the main foyer, there'll be some tables set up there. The tables closest to us will have the shirts for the men, and the ones closest to the wall to where the screen is will have the shirts for the kids. So please make sure you go by and grab a Verity Baptist Church T-shirt as a Father's Day gift from us to you. And again, it's not just for fathers. It's for all of the men and boys in the service today. For Mother's Day, we gave T-shirts to all the ladies in the service. So for Father's Day, we gave T-shirts to all the men. So make sure you do that. Stop by there after the service. If you look at the announcement, we have the Young Men's Workshop coming up. This is on this Tuesday, June 21st at 10 a.m. This is for young men ages 8 to 17, and their dads are invited to a workshop to learn the basics of how to work with their hands. And if you'd like to sign up, you can do that on your communication card. We're going to have lunch for you, so we'd like to know if you're coming so we can prepare for you. And if you have any questions, you can see Brother Joel Usher. He's the one setting this up for us, and he can answer all of your questions. And the boys, they're not going to want to miss it, the project for this week. I don't know if I can announce it. Brother Joel, can I announce what it is? I should not announce it. Okay. For liability reasons, we can't announce it, but boys are not going to want to miss it. So make sure that you are here for that. We have a baby shower coming up for Miss Rebecca Lunsford this Saturday, June 25th at 3 p.m. And Miss Rebecca's having a boy, and she's registered on Amazon and Target. It is a potluck, so if you can, please bring a dish to share. And if you'd like to attend, you can sign up on your communication card. Usher's dinner and training. If you are an Usher, we'd like you to sign up for this dinner on June 28th at 7 p.m. And if you are not an Usher, but you may be considering becoming an Usher, you can also come to this as well, and you can sign up on your communication card. It is training for the Ushers, and then an appreciation dinner as well. So make sure you take some time to look at that. VBC Church Picnic is on Monday, July 4th at 3 p.m. The address is there for you, and we'd love for you to join us, of course, for the Church Picnic at 3 p.m. on 4th of July. We're going to have fireworks, so you won't want to miss it. And if you are able to grill, or if you can bring a grill, please let us know on your communication card that you can help with that. We also have sign-up sheets in the foyer. There are sheets that you can sign up to bring a side dish or dessert, so please make sure you go by there. Red Hot Preaching Conference is just right around the corner, July 14th through the 17th, and last year we had 564 in attendance the first night of the Red Hot Preaching Conference, so we've got a lot to prepare for. You'll notice in your communication card you have an additional little card there for volunteer opportunities. I'll go in detail with this tonight, but if you want to take a look at that and start thinking about areas you can help us with the Red Hot Preaching Conference, that would be great. No choir practice today due to Father's Day, so practice will continue next Sunday at 5 p.m. for the choir and the orchestra for Red Hot Preaching Conference. Upcoming cleaning crew, you can check for your name there. We appreciate your faithfulness. There's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of June. Today is Ezequiel Nitesko's birthday, June 19th, and tomorrow is Miss Eva Rodari's birthday and also Miss Melody Gonzalez's birthday. Both are staff wives here at our church. They have the same birthday tomorrow, June 20th, and Brother Evan Smith's birthday is June 24th. Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at. I do have one birth announcement to give this morning, and of course every birth announcement is special, but this morning's birth announcement is personally special for me because 11 years ago when we were just getting started starting Verity Baptist Church, I knocked on Brother Montel Johnson's door and I got him saved. It took him a little while to come to church, but Brother Montel and Miss Lindsey have been faithful church members here for the last six years, and when Brother Montel and Miss Lindsey started coming to church, the last child they had was Madison, and when they came, they weren't even married, and as a result of, of course, getting saved, getting discipled, being part of our church, they got married, they had more children, they learned that children are a blessing, and they had Uriah and Jeremiah, and of course Miss Lindsey just recently gave birth to another child, and this is special for me because they've honored me by giving my middle name to their, as their son's middle name. My name is Roger Othniel Jimenez, and my middle name, I was named after one of the judges in the Book of Judges, and so it is my great honor to announce the birth of Onyx Othniel Johnson, who was born at home on Saturday, June 11th at 703 AM, weighing 8 pounds 7 ounces, 20 inches long, and baby's doing well, Miss Lindsey's doing well, and he's my namesake, because they said if it wasn't for our church and this ministry, he wouldn't even be here, so praise the Lord for that, and we appreciate that, of course. I think that's it for all of the announcements, so let's go ahead and take our Chorus of the Week, and we're going to sing His Eye is on the Sparrow as we prepare to receive the offering. His Eye is on the Sparrow, and we'll go ahead and sing it out on the first. Why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows fall? Why should my heart be lonely? And want my heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is He. His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I know He watches me. His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I know He watches me. Good, let's sing it out on the second. Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give ways to sigh, when hope within me dies, I draw the poster to Him. From here He sets me free. His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I know He watches me. His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I know He watches me. Amen. All right, at this time, the children's choir, the kids that are going to be singing for us, can go ahead and get up and start making your way to the place where you need to be, and we'll have the ushers come up, and they will help us with the offering at this time. And I'm probably going to just call the baby off now, if that's okay. Brother Montel brought the baby into my office this morning so I could see him, and when he walked in, the baby began to coo and got excited, so he leapt in the car seat when he came in, so praise the Lord for that. Let's bow our heads and have a little prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank You for allowing us to gather together today. Lord, thank You for all of the children in this church and the blessing that they are. Lord, we pray that You bless the children's choirs they sing for us today. We pray that You bless the offering. Lord, we thank You for all the fathers that are here representing their families and leading them in the way of the Lord. I pray that You bless each and every one of them. We ask that You meet with us as we open up Your Word and study the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now we're going to have our children's choir sing for us. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24. If you do not have a Bible, raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. Joshua chapter 24. We will read the entire chapter as is our custom. Joshua 24. Keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible. Joshua 24, the Bible reads, And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, and I gave unto Esau, Mount Seir to possess it, but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and Aaron and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them. And afterward I brought you out and I brought your fathers out of Egypt and he came unto the sea and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with the chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea. And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt and he dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites which dwelt on the other side of Jordan and they fought with you and I gave them into your hand that you might possess their land and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab arose and warred against Israel and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not hearken unto Balaam therefore he blessed you still so I delivered you out of his hand. And you went over Jordan and came unto Jericho and the men of Jericho fought against you. The Amorites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Girgashites and Hivites and the Jebusites and I delivered them into your hand and I set the hornet before you which draped them out from before you even the two kings of the Amorites but not with thy sword nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor and cities which ye built not and you dwell in them of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted not do you eat. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve and whom your father served that were on the other side of the flood were the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and the people answered and said God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods for the Lord our God he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage and which did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all way wherein we went and the Lord drove out from before us all the people even the Amorites which dwelt in the land therefore will we also serve the Lord for he is our God and Joshua said unto the people he cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins if ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you and the people said unto Joshua nay but we will serve the Lord and Joshua said unto the people ye are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you the Lord to serve him and they said we are witnesses now therefore put away said he the strange gods which are among you and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel and the people said unto Joshua the Lord our God we will serve and his voice will we obey so Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statue and an ordinance in Shechem and Joshua wrote these words in a book of the law of God and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord and Joshua said unto all the people behold this stone shall be a witness unto us for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us it shall be therefore a witness unto you lest ye deny your God so Joshua let the people depart every man unto his inheritance and it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun the servant of the Lord died being a hundred and ten years old and they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timat Serah which is in Mount Ephraim on the north side of the isle of Gaius and Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua and which had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel and the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt buried they in Shechem in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Amor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph and Eleazar the son of Aaron died and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son which was given him in Mount Ephraim lets pray Father God Almighty thank you for this day thank you for this opportunity to come together please bless pastor bless the message let it bring glory and honor to you in the name of Jesus Christ I pray Amen Amen Alright well of course today is Father's Day and I'm going to be speaking on the subject of Father's and Father's Day and we're celebrating Father's Day and you're there in Joshua chapter 24 in Joshua 24 we see this man Joshua and he is giving a speech to the children of Israel and it's really his farewell address he's getting ready to die and in verse 15 we find this very famous passage of scripture Joshua 24 and verse 15 the Bible says and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are well but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and of course this is a great passage for fathers to be aware of and just by way of introduction I'd like to begin by stating the fact that fathers are extremely important fathers are extremely important within the family unit they're extremely important for society and the word of God says that studies proven and just by way of introduction I'd like to read to you some statistics that have came out in regards to fathers one of them says this according to the US Department of Health and Human Services 71% of teenage pregnancies resulted from homes with no father present adolescent girls who have a close relationship with their fathers are more likely to delay a physical relationship with a member of the opposite sex and adolescent girls whose fathers were present during their childhood are less likely to become pregnant according to the US Department of Health and Human Services 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes according to the US Department of Justice 70% of youth in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes 85% of all youth in prison come from fatherless homes 75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes fatherless boys and girls are twice as likely to drop out of high school twice as likely to end up in jail and four times more likely to need help for emotional and behavioral problems and all that to say this fathers are important and families need fathers and unfortunately many fathers are missing in action and today I'd like to preach to you on the subject of what every father must do and we of course been going through a series for the last several couple months on the subject of the family and this will be included in that series what every father must do because too many fathers are AWOL they're missing in action here's another stat for you there is an estimated 64.3 million fathers across the nation and only 26.5 million of those fathers are married to the mother of their children and living with their own children here's a quote it says a generation ago an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father today an American child can reasonably expect not to and unfortunately fathers are in many ways as a society dropping the ball and they are not doing what they're supposed to be doing the Bible talks a lot about the subject of family about mothers and about fathers I'd like to just show you from the Bible this morning what it is that every father must do and of course being father's day we'll focus in on the fathers today if you're taking notes I would encourage you to take notes especially if you're a father on the back of your course of the week there's a place for you to write down some things and I'd like to give you four statements four things that every father must do if you're going to succeed as a father what are the things that you must do as a father number one and if you're taking notes you can write this down fathers must of course first take the lead fathers must take the lead and fathers must begin by taking personal responsibility they must take responsibility for their spiritual for their personal spiritual well-being I want you to notice here again in Joshua 24 and verse 15 notice what Joshua says he says and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord the context is about serving God he says choose you this day whom ye will serve whether the gods on the other which the your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell notice what he says is a famous statement this is this statement is hung in many Christian homes and often times Christians will buy different decorations for their home and this is a portion of scripture that will be hung on there he says but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord this is a statement of a of a husband this is a statement of a father this is the statement of a leader he's the leader of a nation but he's a leader of his family and he says you know in regards to me and my family we're going to serve the Lord but I want you to notice that he begins by saying but as for me see a leader and a father must take responsibility for their personal spiritual well being keep your place right there in Joshua if you would Joshua 24 and flip over with me to the book of Genesis the very first book in the Bible should be fairly easy to find Genesis chapter 18 keep your finger in Joshua 24 because we're going to come right back to it Genesis chapter 18 see dad you need to take the lead fathers must take the lead but what that means is that you as a father must first the leader means that you go first it means that you are the one in front when it comes to spiritual matters you need to be able to say like Joshua but as for me see he made the statement but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord but he could also make the statement but as for me I will serve the Lord and dads need to step up in their spiritual walk and take personal responsibility for their spiritual well being if you're there in Genesis chapter 18 I want you to notice verse 17 here we have God the Lord speaking to Abraham Genesis 18 and verse 17 the Bible says and the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do and I want you to notice this is God speaking about Abraham and I want you to notice what he says in verse 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed of him notice the first part of verse 19 he says for I know him this is God speaking about Abraham and he says I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken this is an amazing statement in my opinion to read God looking down at a man named Abraham and he says here's what I know about Abraham that he will command his children and his household after them and they shall keep the way of the Lord and here's the question I have for every father in the room this morning every husband in the room this morning every leader of a family in the room this morning can God say of you I know him I know that he will lead his children I know that he will lead his household I know that they will keep the way of the Lord I know that they will do justice and judgment and that he's going to follow in the ways of God see fathers must begin by taking responsibility for their personal spiritual well-being dads must take the lead and what that means is when we're going to lead others it means that we must go first we must have a walk with God we must love the Lord we must be serious about our spiritual walk so fathers must take responsibility for their personal spiritual well-being but of course fathers must also take responsibility for their families spiritual well-being notice again there in verse 19 he says for I know him that he will what is it that God knew about Abraham here's what God knew about Abraham that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord I love these statements see with with Abraham God knew that with Abraham it was not up for debate in Abraham's house whether we were going to serve the Lord or not it's the same thing that we saw there with Joshua if you go back to Joshua 24 in verse 15 where he says but if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers serve that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell notice again the last part of verse 15 but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and say what do we need in America today being Father's Day thinking about fathers and speaking to fathers what do we need in the United States of America what do we need at Verity Baptist Church and I will tell you this what we need in America what we need in this city what we need in this country what we need in this church is men that have children that have wives that are leaders in their home we need men to stand up and decide that they're going to take the lead spiritually in their home and that they're not just going to make it something they hang up on their wall somewhere and look we've got that verse hung up on our wall at my house as well but they need to make it a goal in their life but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord we're going to take the lead we're going to serve God and it's not up for debate he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him you say what is it the fathers need to do the fathers must take the lead they need to take personal responsibility for their spiritual well-being and they need to take responsibility for their families well-being they need to be interested in their wives spiritual development their children's spiritual development their own spiritual development listen to me dads you need to be the one that is setting the temperature spiritually in your house it shouldn't be your kids deciding whether we're going to go to church or not I mean it shouldn't be your wife deciding you say well you know my wife doesn't want to go to church my kids don't want to go to church hey you're the leader you're the boss you be like Abraham and command your children your household after you and say no we're going to serve God together as for me and my house we will serve the Lord develop the influence that you need to develop develop the respect that you need to gain from those that follow you and decide I will take the lead fathers must number one this morning take the lead I'd like you to notice secondly this morning you're there in Joshua if you just flip over to the book of Judges Judges chapter 7 not only must fathers take the lead but secondly fathers must set the example and all of these things are intertwined fathers must take the lead fathers must set the example and by the way let me just say this this is not just for fathers in any position of leadership one of the most powerful and probably the most important thing that anybody can do in any position of leadership whether you're a husband a father a pastor whether you're just the boss at a secular job you're the business owner you're the manager the greatest thing you could do as a leader and every leader must be able to set an example I love in Judges chapter 7 in verse 17 we have the story of Gideon and I love what he says in verse 17 as he was leading his 300 soldiers into battle Judges 7 in verse 17 the Bible says and he referring to Gideon said unto them his followers his soldiers notice what he says I love this I mean this is just kind of leadership if you want to know what leadership is you can find it in just a couple of phrases in this verse he says Judges 7 17 and he said unto them notice what he says he says look on me and do likewise every leader should be able to say look on me and do likewise every leader needs to take the lead but they need to along with that and in order to do that they need to set the example and every great leader should be able to say look on me and do likewise Hey Dad you ought to be able to look at your sons and say sons look on me and do likewise you ought to be able to look at your wife and look at your daughters and look at anyone else that might be looking at you for leadership and say, look on me and do likewise. Gideon said, look on me and do likewise and behold when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that. Notice what he says, I love it. He says, as I do, so shall ye do. That's what leadership is. Leadership is setting the example. Leadership is saying, just do what I'm doing. Just do what I've done. Just look on me and do likewise. As I do, so shall ye do. Paul said it this way. He said, follow me as I follow Christ. In Acts 1, in verse 1, you don't have to turn there. I'll just read this for you. In fact, if you would, I'd like you to turn to Proverbs, Proverbs 23. In Acts 1, here's what the Bible says about the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke, the author of the book of Acts under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, said these words. He wrote the former treaties referring to the Gospel of Luke. He says, have I made O Theophilus? And here's what he said. He said, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. The Bible says that everything Jesus taught, he did. I love how it says, all that Jesus began both to do and teach. See, first Jesus set the example. He did what he taught others to do. That's what a great leader does. A great leader is able to look at those that are following him and say, look on me and do likewise. Every father should be able to look at his children. Every husband should be able to look at his wife and say, as I do, so shall ye do. Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23. Look at verse 26. Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 26. And again, this is for all leaders in all leadership positions. We're focusing in and applying it to fathers this morning. But notice what Solomon wrote down in the book of Proverbs. He says, my son. He says, my son. By the way, the book of Proverbs was primarily written by Solomon and it was primarily, we understand that it's scripture and it's given by the Holy Spirit of God, but it was primarily written by Solomon, a father, writing some things down to his son, giving some instructions to his son. He says, my son, give me thine heart. But notice what he says. He says, and let thine eyes observe my ways. What was Solomon saying to his son when he said, let thine eyes observe my ways. Here's what he was saying. He was saying, look on me and do likewise. He was saying, as I do, so shall ye do. He was saying, I'm taking the lead. I'm setting the example. Hey dad, you need to be the example of a Christian man that your children can look up to, that you can look behind and say, look on me and do likewise. See, it is the example of a godly father that will bless your children. Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 7. Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 7. Notice what the Bible says. Proverbs 20 and verse 7. The Bible says, the just man walketh in his integrity. The just man walketh in his integrity. He takes the lead. He does what's right. He's honest. He has character. He has integrity. He doesn't lie. He tells the truth. He walks with with God. He walks righteously. Notice, the just man walketh in his integrity. And then notice what the Bible says. You see a colon there. His children are blessed after him. You say, what does one have to do with the other? Well, here's what you need to understand. A just man walketh in his integrity and as a result of his integrity, his children are blessed after him. Fathers should be able to look at their children and say, as I do, so shall ye do. By the way, if you set the right example, you won't even have to say those words. See, your walk talks. Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. So you can sit there and tell your children, do this and do this and do that, but while you're doing something different, that's called being a hypocrite. Your children see that. They understand. They know whether you actually love the Lord. They know whether you actually walk with God. They know whether your Christianity is just a facade. It's just fake. It's just something you do on Sunday mornings just to put on a show and check off a list somewhere. Hey, they're not dumb. They know. Fathers must take the lead. Fathers must set the example. They must walk in their integrity. Go back to Genesis if you would. Genesis chapter 34. I'm blessed, of course, to have my father and my mother as members of my church, our church, Verity Baptist Church. I'm thankful for that. Thankful for the godly heritage that I was given. I'm thankful for the fact that I was raised in a Christian home, and you've heard me tell this story before, but when we grew up, when I was growing up, we grew up in the Bay Area, and we were poor. You know, everybody says they're poor, but we were actually poor. You say, how do you know the difference? Well, here's how I knew the difference. At the time, I didn't know we were poor, but looking back on it as an adult, I'm like, wow, we were poor. You say, what do you mean by poor? I mean like my brother and I slept on couches in the living room till we were, I don't know, 12 or 13 years old, you know, because we didn't have a house that had rooms to fit us, you know, and I bring that up to say this, as a result of sleeping on a couch in the living room for my childhood, I don't know how many memories I have, I have many memories, hundreds of memories, I'm sure, of being woken up at 5 in the morning, 5.30 in the morning, by a light in the kitchen, which was right next to where we were sleeping, and looking in and seeing my father at 5 in the morning with his Bible open, reading the Word of God before he goes, before he went to work, and I'm just here to tell you that there's something about the example that a father sets for his children, even without words, even just by your walk and your integrity. See, the Bible says that a just man walketh in his integrity and his children are blessed after him, and that, I've just got to ask you the question, what are your children learning by watching you? What are your sons learning about how to treat their future wife based on how they see you treat your wife? What are your daughters learning about how they should be treated by their future husband based on how they see you treat their mother? What are your children learning about how to treat their future fellow church members based on how they see you treat and talk about your fellow church members? What are your children learning about how to treat and feel about their future employer based on how they hear you talk about your employer? What are your children learning about how to serve God based on how they see you serve God or not serve God? What are your children learning about being faithful to church as they watch your faithfulness or lack of faithfulness to church? What are your children learning about how to treat their future pastor and their pastor's wife as they see you talk about your pastor and your pastor's wife? I'm just asking, what are your children learning? Because I'm afraid that a lot of children are learning a lot about hunting and sports and all sorts of manly things that men are into, but dad, are you setting a spiritual example for your children? Are you showing your children what a man looks like who walks in integrity, who lives an honest life, who doesn't steal, who doesn't cheat, who tells the truth even when it hurts him, who does right? Are you walking in integrity because the Bible says that a just man walketh in his integrity and his children are blessed after him. Fathers must take the lead and fathers must set the example. Every leader should be able to say look on me and do likewise. What to God that every dad in this room could look at his children and say hey when it comes to Bible reading look on me and do likewise. When it comes to church attendance look on me and do likewise. When it comes to soul wedding look on me and do likewise. When it comes to prayer time look on me and do likewise. When it comes to being a hard worker look on me and do likewise. What to God that every dad would be able to look at his wife and look at his children and look at anyone that's looking up to him in leadership and say as I do so shall ye do. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. I said number one this morning that fathers must take the lead. Said number two that fathers must set the example. Thirdly this morning I'd like you to write this down. Fathers must provide and protect. Fathers must provide and protect. I'd like you to go to Genesis 34 if you're not there. While you go there let me just read to you from 1st Timothy 5 8. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this. The Bible says in 1st Timothy 5 8 but if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house he had denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. You know fathers you have been given the God-given responsibility of providing for your children physically for their physical needs. Years ago we had a group of guys in our church that got wrapped up in this there's this movement called men going their own way. MGTOW. It's all these men and if you really look into it what you find it's all these guys that can't get a date and they're just bitter at women and angry at women and they make statements like well we're never going to marry a woman because she'll just divorce you and you'll have to pay child support. They're big things. They're against women you know asking for child support. You know and people would come to me ask me about this and these guys would ask me about it and my thing is this look you're not going to get any sympathy from me on paying child support because you know what that's your job and and and the fact that she has to take you to court to make you do your job says something about you and your lack of character and your laziness because God said that you're supposed to provide for your own and especially for those of your own household and when you don't you're worse than a heathen you're worse than an infidel. So fathers should provide and it should not be forced it should not be court ordered. It should be something you do out of character and integrity because God gave you those children to provide. So you should provide but you know what not only should you provide you should protect. Your job that is to protect. Now if you're there in Genesis 34 I'd like you to notice the story. The story kind of highlights this idea of protection and there's lots of stories we could look at in the Bible I won't take the time to do it but Genesis 34 verse 1 the Bible says in Dinah the daughter of Leah which she bear unto Jacob this is Jacob's we all know that Jacob had 12 sons but he also had one daughter her name was Dinah. Bible says in Dinah the daughter of Leah which she bear unto Jacob went out to see the daughters of the land. These are worldly friends she's going out to see the daughters of the land not God's people and when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite prince of the country saw her saw Dinah he took her and lay with her and defiled her and I'll skip some of this he wants to marry her after this act of fornication verse 5 and Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter now his sons were with his cattle in the field why don't you notice this and Jacob held his peace until they were come Jacob heard that his daughter had been defiled and the Bible tells us that Jacob held his peace what did he do he first of all failed to protect her and then once she'd been defiled he failed to stand up for her do anything for her he Bible just tells us he held his peace he didn't say anything he didn't do anything he didn't protect her listen to me dad your job is to protect your children and it's interesting to me because and again I won't take the time to go through this whole thing but the Bible says if you look down to verse number seven it says that the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it and the men were grieved and they were very raw I think about this Jacob hears that his daughter has been defiled and he held his peace the brothers hear that their sister has been defiled and the men were grieved and they were very rough because he had wrought folly in Israel in line with Jacob's daughter which thing ought not to be done I mean the the brothers are upset no reaction from dad now the brothers Simeon and Levi they devise a plan and I won't go into the whole story they end up killing Shechem and all the men of his city and that's that's not right I'm not saying that was right I just want you to notice when Jacob calls them out for this in verse 31 the Bible says and they said their response to Jacob was should he deal with our sister as with in harlot I want you to understand something dad the fastest way to get your children to turn on you and to be bitter towards you is for you to fail to protect them and when you if you fail to protect them to not even acknowledge it to just keep quiet about it to just hold your peace by the way this is the exact same thing that happened to David remember David when he heard that Amnon had raped his half-sister Tamar his daughter David's daughter the Bible says that he was very rough but he did nothing about it and as a result if you remember Absalom Tamar's brother after two full years took matters into his own hands killed Amnon and then as a result of growing bitter towards his father David he started a civil war in an attempt to take his father's kingdom why because David failed to protect his daughter his children Jacob failed to protect but I'm just here to tell you that your job is to protect those kids my family and I were recently in a subway we're eating lunch and there was two young teenage girls working at the counter and one teenage girl on a break having a lunch break we sat down to eat and some ghetto loudmouth guy walks in and I mean he's just loud and ghetto you can tell he had no money and he starts he you know he thinks he's a mack daddy or something I don't know what he thought and he starts talking to this girl and he's being real loud and and I'm facing behind him but I'm listening to this thing I look up at my son so they're both looking at him and I'm thinking myself you know and he starts getting really loud and obnoxious and and and you start kind of thinking like is this gonna become a bad thing and I I have a CCW but I wasn't caring at the time and I thought to myself if this guy starts going crazy you know I don't I don't have a weapon on me but you know I was just looking around like well I can stab him with this spork you know and and I'm you know I'm just listening to this whole thing and and and he ended up just I don't know said a few things and then he just left but but I thought you know my wife and I were talking about this and we're talking you have these three teenage girls at the subway and they're literally just vulnerable to any guy any jerk just walking in and trying to talk to them and being obnoxious and trying to hit on them and and there's literally nothing they can do about these the girl doesn't sit there and kind of talk to my hoping you'll go away because if she says something rude to me might blow up and and they're literally unprotected you said well if he blows up they can call the cops so they can show up 35 minutes later I'm just here to tell you dad and by the way every man it's your duty as a man to protect those around you not a matter if it's your daughter or not you're find yourself in a restaurant some guys getting out of control it's your job to step in and help fathers must provide and they must protect it's our job men to protect not to hurt not to injure not to take advantage of the ladies and the children around us it's our job to protect them you find yourself on a ship and it's going down it's women and children first if need be men go down with the ship that's how it's supposed to be men stand up and men are strong men have courage and men protect their families so what is it that every father must do number one fathers must take the lead the two fathers must set the example number three fathers must provide and protect lastly this morning I'm going to give you the last one go to Ephesians if you would Ephesians chapter number six in the New Testament you have Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Ephesians chapter number six fathers must take the lead they must set the example they must provide and protect lastly this morning fathers must bring them up bring them up you said bring them up what bring them up how bring them up to what for the Lord Ephesians chapter six verse four this may be the most famous verse in the Bible regarding fathers the Bible says any fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord see the Bible tells us dad see it's not your it's not just that your job is to go out and and make money and provide for the physical needs of your family although that is your job it is not just that your job is to make sure you have a gun or have a bat or have whatever or have muscles or whatever to be able to protect physically protect your family that's part of your job too it's me you know you better make sure you're ready to take a bullet for your wife and take a bullet for your children and protect them but your your job is also to help raise those children it's not your wife's job alone to raise those kids no no the Bible says that you are to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord you say well what does that mean exactly and I'd like to break those two words down nurture and admonition because those really are the two key words when it comes to a father's way of raising his children how does a father bring them up to bring children up for the Lord let me begin with this word he must admonish them admonish if you would go back to Proverbs I'm not sure if you kept your place in Proverbs I meant to tell you keep your place there if not if you open up your Bible just right in the center you're more unlikely fall in the book of Psalms right after Psalms you have Proverbs Proverbs chapter 4 see the Bible says that we as fathers are supposed to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord two words are given to us nurture and admonition you say what does that mean admonish or admonition is defined as to warn to reprimand to give counsel or to give advice see that your job is to admonish your children what does that mean that sometimes you have to give them advice sometimes you have to give them counsel sometimes you have to give them warning some but sometimes you have to reprimand them I mean it admonish falls on all of that it's positive and negative it's reprove rebuke exhort it it sometimes it's hey I don't think you should do that I don't think you should be making that decision let me give you a warning about that young man let me give you a warning about that young lady sometimes it's reprimanding them and rebuking them it's admonished you say what does that mean it means that that your job is to open your mouth and communicate with your children you say well why does God feel the need to tell us because God kind of highlights this a lot throughout the Bible this idea of fathers communicating fathers communicating with their children go to Proverbs 4 look at verse 1 notice what the Proverbs say Proverbs 4 1 here notice the idea of communication here ye children notice the instruction of a father fathers should be instructing children should be listening and attend to no understanding notice what a dad says he says for I give you good doctrine that are you teaching your children doctrine are you teaching them the Word of God are you teaching them that that what we believe that salvation is by grace through faith are you teaching them about eternal security that once you have it you're you're secure in Christ and you cannot lose it are you teaching them about the King James Bible are you teaching them about soul winning are you teaching them about the standards and separation are you are you teaching them what we believe see kids don't need to just be told what to do they also need to be told why we do it why we believe the things we believe why we educate the way we educate why we dress the way we dress why we act the way we act why we don't go to certain places and do go to certain places why the King James versus the NIV hey why so winning they need to be taught these things and that it's your job you say faster no that's your job hey I will help you but I've got them for three hours a week you've got them all week long he says I give you good doctrine forsake ye not my law notice verse three he says for I was my father's son tender and only beloved in the side of my mother he noticed he taught me also and said unto me let thine heart retain my words keep my commandments and live I wonder how many dads could say to their children let thine heart retain my words say why does God emphasize this idea of communication I believe the reason that God emphasizes because unfortunately the average man stinks at communication and if you don't believe it ask your wife the average guy just really does not communicate well at all I mean I get text messages from a lot of guys and I'm just thinking myself like good night I can see why your wife hates you I kind of hate you and I'm not even married to you just the way you talk and the things you say he taught me also and said unto me let thine heart retain my words keep my commandments and live go to Psalm 78 if you would if you go backwards from Proverbs to Psalm Psalm 78 that are you admonishing your children you're warning them reprimanding them but also giving them counsel giving them advice Psalm 78 I love Psalm 78 when it comes to a passage of Scripture in regards to fathers I think Psalm 78 is probably my favorite Psalm 78 verse 1 says give ear O my people to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth this is God speaking to his people he says give ear the great Heavenly Father telling his children give ear O my people to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old but I love verse 3 when it says which we have heard and known so God says hey listen to what I have to say God says but then we're told in verse 3 what God has to say we've heard and known I love this phrase and our fathers have told us that when you're gone what will your children say that you told them my dad talked a lot about sports you grew into football what a waste I hope I hope when I'm gone my children will say about myself and my wife that we taught them the Word of God that we taught them to love the Lord that we taught them to serve God he said which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us we will not hide them from their children showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he had done for he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children that the generations to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children we just spent some days in Washington DC and of course there's a lot of paganism in Washington DC but one thing that we noticed as we were going around looking at these monuments is that the Word of God isn't scripted everywhere in that city we went to the Lincoln Memorial and we're reading my wife read out loud they have the of course Gettysburg Address and they have the speech that Lincoln gave at his second inauguration and she read it out loud as we were there reading it to the children of course listening in and my kids commented his inauguration is like he's preaching a sermon he's like quoting the Word of God and making points about God and the Bible and obviously not every American has been a Christian and I understand that but our nation was founded on concepts of Christianity in the Bible and the Word of God did play a role in the beginning stages of this nation but that is not the country you and I live in today and you said what happened what happened is Psalm 78 some fathers failed to make them known to their children some generations to come did not know because a dad did not arise and declare them to their children that it's your job to admonish to speak to communicate to warn to reprimand to give counsel to advise your kids fathers must bring them up you say how do you bring them up you must admonish but I want you to notice it's not just admonish it's also nurture keep your finger right there in Psalms we're gonna come back to it go back to Ephesians chapter 6 see dad your job is not to be some drill sergeant in your house and just barking orders that's not leadership this is why God tells us in Ephesians and look men men we're rough and we're whatever you know and we I think men we struggle with this sometimes we can just be tough and rough God says in Ephesians 6 4 and you fathers provoke not your children to wrath provoke not your children to wrath in Colossians you're there in Ephesians if you flip over to Colossians Philippians Colossians Colossians chapter 3 Ephesians Philippians Colossians we're almost done Ephesians Philippians Colossians 3 21 fathers provoke not your children to anger notice lest they be discouraged fathers provoke not your children to anger the Bible says lest they be discouraged if you go back to Ephesians 6 4 it says any fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord what does that word nurture mean it means to care for to encourage to to help with the growth and the development is the same idea from the word nourish to give nutrients to strengthen see that is not just your job to admonish and to tell your kids what they're doing wrong and how to do it right but it's your job to admonish while you nurture both these things have to go hand in hand you need to admonish which means to give counsel to advise to reprimand toward yeah it's your job to sit there and communicate with your children what they're doing wrong and how to do it right and what the right thing is to do but that has to be coupled with nurture with care and love and by the way that's true of all leadership whether you're a husband or a boss or a pastor we don't just sit there and reprimand we admonish and we nurture that we provoke not our children to wrath that we provoke not our children to anger lest they be discouraged go to Psalm 103 Psalm 103 dad you got to love your kids you guys spend quality time with them some 103 in verse 13 some 103 in verse 13 the Bible says like as a father pity it's that word pity it means to have compassion to have love as a father pity at his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him that should be the characteristic of your parenting that is that you admonish and you nurture that you have compassion you pity your children go back to Proverbs 29 if you would you're there in Psalm to split back to Proverbs 29 look at verse 21 here we have a verse that doesn't have to do with fatherhood necessarily there's an application made to fatherhood but it's about a servant about an employee Proverbs 29 in verse 21 the Bible says he that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the lane and here's the key word delicately he said what is it saying here's what it's saying a man could enter into a relationship with a young man a child that he's not physically related to it's an employer relationship he's a master and a servant and yet because of his gentleness and because of his delicacy the Bible says he that delicately bring that bringeth up remember your father's provoking out your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord this man is delicately bringing up his employees in the nurture and his servant in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and as a result of his delicate loving the admonition and nurture of this servant the servant becomes like a son to him he that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the lane but yet there's many examples like with the one we saw David and Absalom where sons end up hating their dads they're actual physical related to their dad and I'm not gonna sit here and tell you the reason for all of those situations obviously there's lots of reasons that that could happen but I believe that one reason has to do with this word delicate listen if you're in leadership you got to learn this word delicate you want your employees to hate you you know if you're a pastor you want your church members to hate you want your wife to hate you want your kids to hate you disregard this group word delicates see delicate you know who were delicate with people we care about he that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him because his son we have will have him become his son at the length go to Proverbs 23 Proverbs 23 we're gonna look at Proverbs 23 and a verse in Malachi will be done Proverbs 23 so what is it that every father must do fathers must number one take the lead they must take responsibility for their personal spiritual well-being and for the and responsibility for their family spiritual well-being number two fathers must set the example every leader must be able to say look on me and do likewise and fathers should be able to look at their children and say as I do so shall ye do but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord fathers must provide and protect must provide for the physical needs of their children and they must protect the physical needs of their children lastly fathers must bring them up for the Lord in the nurture and admonition those those are coupled together of the Lord see that when you do all this when you take the lead when you set the example when you provide and protect when you bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord here's what you gain with your children is influence is that you get to influence them that when you speak they listen they they know it's coming from a position of love and that you're looking out for them one thing I try to we tell our children I try to instill this in the hearts of my children I hope it's getting in there I try to we try to tell my wife and I try to tell our kids look there's nobody in this world there's nobody in this world that cares more about your well-being than your father and your mother so sometimes we tell you things you don't want to hear but we're not telling you that because we're just trying to be mean to you we actually care about you see fathers we must endeavor to not lose our children's hearts having influenced the biblical terminology for that is to have their hearts Proverbs 23 and verse 26 remember what Solomon said he said my son give me thine heart give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways every goal the goal of every father in this room should be this to have his children's hearts you say I don't know how to do it how do I do it here's how you do you take the lead you set the example you provide and protect and you bring them up in nurture and admonition don't forget nurture see I don't have my children's heart you probably failed somewhere in that equation either have not taken the lead you've not set the example you've not provided you've not protected or you have failed to admonish or you have failed to nurture that's it you say I want my children's hearts well here's the thing before your children will give you their heart and look by the way just know this when they're little babies and they're born and they're little toddlers children they you got their hearts it's when they start getting older there's these pools for people trying to steal their hearts steal the influence from you malachi view what chapter 4 you say how do I ask my children for their heart you don't ask them for it it's something that happens you say how do I get my children's heart here's how it happens that you must endeavor to not lose your children's heart you say how do I do that by endeavoring to turn your heart your heart your heart your heart towards your children first malachi chapter 4 and verse 6 this is speaking about the work that God will do notice and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse notice before the heart of the children is turned to their fathers the heart of the fathers is turned to the children see that here here's the truth can I just be honest with you your kids know whether your job your career your business your hobbies your sports are more important to you than they are they know that they may never say that you may never communicate that but innately they know that they know when your heart is turned from them towards something else but here's the good news your wife and your kids and your servants and anyone that calls you a leader will also internally and innately know when your heart has been turned towards them and when the heart of a leader when the heart of a husband when the heart of a father turns towards his wife and towards his children their hearts turn towards him my son give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways but here's how you do it you turn your heart towards your children and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse that's about our heads in our word of prayer Heavenly Father what do we thank you for fathers and what I thank you that our church is filled with some amazing fathers great fathers obviously none of us are perfect and we could all do better be better and Lord I pray you'd help us to be better I pray that you'd help us to take these lessons that we've learned today for those of us that are dads to take the lead to set the example to provide and protect to bring them up and nurture and admonition what I realized that there are things in people's past that cannot be changed in those areas we just give the advice that Paul gives forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before but I pray for the men in this room that have kids in their home right now they still have the opportunity to turn their hearts towards their children to turn their hearts towards God and to ask for the heart of their wife and their children pray you give them the courage to do it in the matchless name of Christ we pray amen we're gonna have brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song we'll prepare for baptism this morning so we'll sing as we prepare for that let's turn to song number four hundred and seven four zero seven four hundred and seven we're gonna sing it out on the first we'll sing it out on the first we'll sing it out on the second we'll sing it out on the fourth we'll sing it out on the sixth we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh we'll sing it out on the seventh oh oh the song 401 401 on the first set my soul oh oh all right well we have several baptisms this morning the first one is shinu her and of course shinu is the oldest son of brother danny and miss march and shinu's getting baptized today shinu have you accepted lord jesus christ as your personal savior all right shinu by your profession of faith i baptize you my brother in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost buried in the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life all right and we have a whole family getting baptized today are we going to start with arthur arthur come on up want to hold my hand there we go come on all right we have arthur gauge coming for baptism go ahead and have a seat right there there you go and arthur have you accepted lord jesus christ as your personal savior all right arthur by your profession of faith i baptize you my brother in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost buried in the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life all right and we have arthur's sister coming also come on up this is violet come on up go ahead and have a seat is that good all right violet have you accepted lord jesus christ as your personal savior all right violet by your profession of faith i baptize you my sister in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost buried in the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life all right next we have mom coming michelle go ahead and have a seat all right no problem let's go ahead and take a picture all right we have miss michelle gage coming for baptism michelle have you accepted lord jesus christ as your personal savior all right michelle by your profession of faith i baptize you my sister in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost buried in the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life okay and lastly we have the leader of the whole tribe dawn john john gage come on up thank you have a seat let's get a picture okay all right we have john coming for baptism it's a beautiful thing to be baptized on the same day with your whole family and john have you accepted lord jesus christ as your personal savior yes all right john by for your profession of faith i baptize you my brother in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost buried in the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life all right well thank you very much everybody for being here let me just say again happy father's day to all the fathers in attendance with us today don't forget to go buy the main foyer and get a t-shirt ready about the shirts t-shirt we have them for all the men all the boys they're good quality shirts and we think you'll like them and don't forget also if you'd like to sign up for the fourth of july picnic to bring a dish a side dish or dessert that's also in the foyer if you're an usher we need you at the ushers meeting we want to train you up before red hot preaching conference so please communicate with us let us know if you're going to be there for the ushers for um also for red hot volunteer opportunities you have those cards you can fill those out give them to me or whoever at the end of the service if there's anything we can do for you please let us know want to encourage you to be back tonight 6 p.m for the evening service and we hope that you have a great father's day brother matt would you mind dismissing us with a word of prayer let's pray heavenly father lord we thank you for the sermon that was preached to us this morning lord i pray that all of us fathers would take these things to heart lord and apply these things to our lives i pray lord that you would be with the be with us the rest of this day be with the soul winners that go out bring us back to church safely this evening do you see me pray amen so you