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

Okay, so keep your Bibles open there in John 17 and once again Happy Father's Day to the fathers and of course I'm going to be preaching this morning on fathers and fatherhood and I, you know, we have a lot of examples of great fathers in the Bible but I just thought there'd be no greater example than looking at our Heavenly Father and so we looked at, we were reading through there John chapter 17 and the reason for this is because Jesus comes on the scene and this is a great chapter where He declares the Father, you know. When you read through the Old Testament, yes, we have the idea of God and the understanding of His fatherhood and His sonship are all there in the Old Testament but, you know, becomes clear in the New Testament, you know, the Trinity, especially the relationship between Father and Son is clarified for us, it's taught to us from the New Testament. You know, this is a doctrine of Jesus Christ and if you look at verse number 25 there, John 17 and 25, it says, And so Jesus makes a profound statement that the world does not know the Father and He has come to declare the Father, not just to this world but to His disciples and He's also come to show the love of the Father toward Him, you know, and that that love of the Father should be in His disciples as well, should be in His believers and so the title for the sermon this morning is The Heavenly Father's Example, The Heavenly Father's Example and so for this Father's Day, Father's, I want you to be thinking about our Heavenly Father, you know, and there's no greater example than He and if He is known as the Father, if Jesus Christ comes declaring He's not ashamed of the Father, then I'm sure they're going to be great examples that we can learn from the Heavenly Father that we can apply to ourselves in our fatherhood, okay? So listen, we're never going to be perfect, we're never going to do things 100%, you know, right? Your wife knows that, your children know that already, okay? But we look at the Father and we say, well, Lord, help me be more like the Father, help me show the same fatherhood that God the Father showed toward His Son and so the first thing that we notice there in verse number 26 at the end it says that the love wherewith thou has loved me, point number one is be a loving father, be known for the love that you have to your children, you know, fathers, if I were to ask your children, does your father love you? How are they going to respond? You know, will it be like, that's such a stupid question, of course he loves us or would the answer be, well, I don't know, you know, he doesn't show me much love, he doesn't tell me that he loves me, you know, but one thing is very clear here that the Son is willing to declare that the Father loves me, you know, brethren, fathers, you know, you ought to be known as a loving father, you know, your children should have no doubt how you interact with them, whether you're in a good mood, whether you're in a bad mood, they should have no doubt that my father loves me, no matter what, look at verse number 24, let's look at John 17 verse 24, Jesus says, Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world, thou lovest me before the foundation of the world, listen, before anything was created, there was love between the Father and the Son, okay, brethren, how can we understand this for ourselves? Well, you know, our life is busy, you know, we have a lot of things to do, we have a work to go to, we have things to be involved in, you know, within this world, but one thing that should never replace or one thing that should be unknown, you know, above all those things, you know, we can love many things, we can be busy with many things, but what you must be known for, fathers, is that you're a loving father, do my children know that I love them? Yes, have I told them that I love them? Yes, but have you shown them that you love them? Have you shown them that they're important in your life, that you care about them, that you think about them? And fathers, this is point number one, be a loving father, please go to verse number seven, verse number seven, and we're going to be focusing this sermon, you know, primarily in the book of John, especially there, John 17, but also in the book of Matthew, so as you have time, find yourself in Matthew, we're going to be flicking through a lot between John and Matthew, and then there are other references, I'll just read them out to you, but if you can just keep one finger in John, one finger in Matthew, it'll help you through this sermon. Look at verse number seven, John chapter 17, verse number seven says, Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. What else do we learn about the Heavenly Father? That the Heavenly Father to Jesus is one that gives, right? Point number two is be generous in your giving, be generous in your giving. Now there are two philosophies in this world when it comes to fatherhood and giving your children certain things, whether they're gifts or rewards, there's one idea that says don't give them too much, okay? Don't be generous to them, don't give them too much, they need to learn that they have to put the extra effort in in order to get something, right? And there are some fathers that are extremely, extremely strict. Now of course there is a time not to give, and I will go through that in a moment, but listen, you should be also known as someone who gives generously, that if your children need something, you're willing to give it to them, okay? You're willing to give it to them. And the other philosophy is, well, you know, well, you know, and you know, some people are like that, you know, I never got anything from my parents, you know, I had to, you know, I never benefited from them, you know, my father taught me that, you know, he's just not going to give me anything, and I've just got to find my own way in life. That's not how we see the Heavenly Father with Jesus Christ. The Heavenly Father is willing to give Jesus, you know, what he needs. He gives him many things. He's very generous toward Jesus. But then you have the other side of it, right? Well, you don't want to spoil your children rotten, you know, you don't want to over give, you know, you don't want to reward their wickedness necessarily, right? And you know, you don't want to encourage them in wicked behaviour, you don't want to encourage them to think that, well, you know, everything's cheap, and you know, whatever I want, I can get, we're going to raise spoiled children as well. But what we see with the Heavenly Father, he's willing to give things to the Son, and his disciples know the Father gave all these things to his Son. So let's try to wrap our heads around this. We do need to be generous in our giving. And now please go to Matthew chapter six, let's have a thought about what this giving looks like. Matthew chapter six, please, verse 25. Again, keep one finger in John, and one finger in Matthew. We're going to be going through these two books. Matthew 6 25, which says, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, not yet for your body, what ye shall put on, is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment. So what are the things being mentioned here? Food and raiment, water, food, raiment, right? Verse number 26, Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them, are ye not much better than they? Are they not much better than they? So what do we notice here? That the Heavenly Father provides food, water, raiment, all right? That's what His priority is, when He wants to give us things, He wants to make sure that we have the food, that we have the raiment, okay? What are these? These are our necessities. This is what we need to live, right? These are not our wants, these are needs. We all need food and raiment to live in this world. And Father, the first thing that you need to understand in your giving, you need to make sure that your children are well fed. You need to make sure that your children are well clothed, right? It shouldn't be a point where they don't have clothing, they don't have food, okay? Fathers, that's why your command is to go and work. That's why your command is to go and provide. It's not to pay for the internet subscription, or the Netflix subscription, or whatever it is that you desire, all those things. No, the primary things that your children need is food and raiment, okay? So the necessities must be provided for. And I stress this because I know of a large family where the children grow up and the children hate their parents. Honestly, they hate their parents. They hate their upbringing. And you ask them, what is it? What's so bad about it? And I've heard it said multiple times, we were always hungry. We were always hungry. Yes, they had dinner, but it's some small portion, and because they were a large family, they could only give so much. They were always hungry, and I think about that, and I never want my children, I mean, they're always going hungry because they're teenagers and stuff like that, but I never want my children to think, hey, where's the food on the table? Why isn't Dad providing? Or it's because he became a full-time pastor. Well, you know what, if I can't provide as a full-time pastor, it's my job to go and get some other job, okay? Make sure that the tables, they have food, they need it to grow, they need it for their bodies, they need it for their minds, right? We see the Heavenly Father cares for the necessities, he cares for the food, he cares that they have the arrangements, and so this is priority number one when it comes to providing for your family. Listen, if you love your children, aren't you going to want to give, make sure they have full bellies? There's no greater joy that I have, there's no greater joy that I have knowing that my children go to bed with a full stomach, okay? And just this morning, Matias was having breakfast and he had like a sandwich, and I said, what's in that sandwich? It had all this cheese. He goes, oh, it's three slices of cheese. I'm like, well, okay. You know, if it makes your belly happy, okay, might as well just go have your three slices of cheese in your sandwich, right? You know, this gives me joy to know that they can be provided for, right? We see that this is number one when it comes to being generous in their giving, we see that the Heavenly Father wants to make sure that we have the necessities in our lives. Please go to the next chapter now, Matthew chapter seven, verse seven, Matthew chapter seven and verse number seven. And this is how you'll know whether you should give things to your children. I'm concerned they're going to get spoiled rotten, okay, or, you know, have this idea. This is how we know, this is the idea here. Matthew seven, seven, it says, ask, and it shall be given you. Hey, this is to our Heavenly Father. This is, look, if you just go and ask your Heavenly Father, He'll give it to you. Is that what your children think of you, dads? You know, I have a need, I'm going to, I know who's going to give it to me, dad. I'll go ask dad, he'll give it to me. Is that the attitude your children have, or they have like, oh man, he's not going to, ah, I can't go ask dad. Maybe I'll ask mum, okay, maybe she'll work her way around dad. No, look, ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, for everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, and notice the next phrase here, how much more shall your father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him. Hey, does the heavenly father want to give you good things? Absolutely. If you go and ask him is he going to give it to you? Absolutely. But what's the condition? Can you ask anything brethren? Can you just desire the lust of your heart, just every little thing you want, and your parents should give it to you? No. If that's you, you're going to be spoilt. You know, why are rich kids spoilt brats? Why can't they work? It's because they get everything given to them, whether it's good or whether it's evil. But one thing we notice here, when God gives us things, he gives it because they are good, right? Which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him. So, fathers, this is how we know whether we're going to spoil our children or not. They come to us, they ask us, dad, can I have this? Well, first of all, you know, the question is, can you afford it? Now, when it comes to the necessities, you should be able to afford them. I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about other things right now, right? And then you need to make a decision, well, yeah, we can afford this. But number two, will this be good for my children? Will this be good? Okay? Will this benefit them? Will this help them? You know? And if it doesn't, if you say, well, no, this will just corrupt them. This will just corrupt their minds. You know, dad, can I have, you know, a computer? Dad, well, you know what, there's a lot of wickedness on the computer, all right? You know, does that mean I'm just going to give them those things? Now, you need to assess those things, right? You need to work out, well, there can be good things, you know, with that stuff, or there could be wicked things. But you need to make a judgment call, you know? Is this something that will benefit my children? If they do, hey, why not? You can afford to give it to them. Praise God, if you have the, you know, the finances to be able to give something to your children, be known as a father that is willing to give, be generous toward your children. You know, another thought that I get in my mind is, you know, just with relationships and people that I know, you know, I know children who would say to their father, when it comes to strangers, when it comes to other people, he is so generous. You know, they say, well, you know, I know this family member, they needed thousands of dollars, they needed tens of thousands of dollars because they're in a difficult situation. And my dad came through and he just gave them that money, right? I mean, to the strangers, to everybody else, my dad is a great guy. But when I came to my dad, he gave me nothing. When I came, he would not give me anything, you know? And I know people like that. It's such a sad thing because, listen, when it comes to your children, you should be someone that is willing to be generous, to give. They ought to know, hey dad, I need something, can you give this to me? Son, is it good for you? Will it be good or will it be wicked? If it's good and we can do it, why not? Let's give those things. You know, let's be generous in our giving toward our children. If you can flick back to John chapter 17 verse 5, John 17 verse 5, and I kind of touched upon this at the beginning. It says, and now, oh father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Now we already saw that the father loved the son before creation, before everything was created, right? For all eternity. But we see here that the father had the same glory, the son had the same glory as the father before the world was. Point number three is get to know your children. Get to know your children, okay? Get to know, you know, a father of 11. They're all different. They all have different personalities. They all think differently. They all behave differently. You know, I love seeing children grow up and gain knowledge and sometimes to see how they react to a certain situation. I personally enjoy that, you know? And I realized, you know, just for myself sometimes I'm busy and I wish I could give my children more time, but this is something that we must give our children. We must be able to spend time with them. When it came to eternity past, the father enjoyed, you know, was glorified in the son and the son was glorified in the father. Hey, they enjoyed each other's company in eternity past. You know, fathers, do you know your children? Do you spend time with your children? You know, is it when they come, you chase them away? You say, well, I don't have time right now. Now, look, it's important as a father and, you know, this is something that, you know, I keep trying to work at is time management, right? There's a time for work. There's a time to interact with people that are not my family, but I also need to give my family time to my wife but also to my children. You know, if God's given me 11 children, that means I have to be able to spend time with each one of those children. You know, none of them should go without knowing their father quite well and their father knowing them. If you can please go to Matthew, back to Matthew chapter 6. Go to Matthew chapter 6. Get to know your children is point number three. Spend time with your children. Matthew 6 verse 7. This goes back to, you know, asking the father things that you need but it says here, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them. Look at this, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. What do we learn there from the heavenly father? Now, I know he's God the father. I know he knows all things, right? But he's there to be an example for us and listen, even before his children come and ask him, he knows what they need. He knows the situation. He knows all about them, all right? And so, fathers, you know, it should be no surprise to us when our children come and they have certain needs, they have certain requirements. Why should it be no surprise to us? Because we should be spending time with our children. We should be getting to know them, right? We should be understanding what is it that they need coming up. They might need, you know, my kids play soccer. Sometimes they need, because they grow, they need new shoes, right? It's not like, well, of course you need new shoes, right? Let's go and get those shoes that you need to be able to play. Let's go. You know, I understand the needs that each of my children have. Can you truly say that, parents? Can you truly say that, fathers, about your children, that you know your children, you know their needs, you know what they're interested in, you know what they love, right? You know their favorite things, you know what they like to eat, you know how they like to spend time with you, you know these things, do you know all these things about your children? You know, and I feel like that if you did a test on me, how well do you know your children, Pastor Kevin? I feel like I would fail. I'd get some, right? But I think I'd get a lot of it wrong, right? Because, well, number one is a lot of them, right? But number two, you know, it requires effort, it requires you to turn off the computer, to turn off your phone, right? To set aside work, not think about work anymore, to make time and say, well, child, you know what, come here, let's spend time in fellowship, let's play a game together, let's spend time together, you know, let's sing praises to the Lord together, you know, whatever it is, brethren, we must find time and get to know our children. Back to John 17 and verse number 4. John 17 and verse number 4. And this is my favourite part of this sermon because, you know, as a father with many kids, I need them to pitch in around the house, all right? They need to lift their fingers a little bit and get some work done, right? Point number four is give work to your children. Give work to your children. Don't let them be idle. Don't let them be idle. They'll get into problems, they'll get into sin, they'll get into wickedness when they're idle. Give work to your children. John 17 verse 4 says, I have glorified thee on the earth, and I love this, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Who gave work to Jesus? Who gave work to the Son? It was the Father. The Father said, Son, get to work, right? The Father is giving direction to the Son. And that's why we believe in the Trinity because we see how Jesus is under the authority of the Father. But listen, the Father was not interested in Jesus being idle. He gave Jesus work to do. The first work he got him to do was to create all things, right? To create everything. Jesus Christ, the creator of all things. But we see he even gave him work to come, the redemptive work, you know, to give us salvation. And not only, not only did the Father give the Son work to do, but the Son is able to say, I have finished the work. Oh man, that's music to my ears. Kids, can you go do this? Dad, we finished it. Praise God. Sometimes my kids don't tell me they finished it. I'm like, guys, what are you doing? Oh, we finished it ages ago. I want to hear you say you finished the work so I can give you something else. All right. I don't want you guys to be idle. You've got work to do. And fathers, we need to teach our children. We live in a generation of, man, of lazy bums. Honestly, self-entitled jerks, you know, that think everything will just be given to them. We should be, we saw, hey, we should be parents that give, you know, that we're generous without giving. But at the same time, you know, we have to have a balance and kids need to learn how to work. All right. They need to learn how to be, do something, right? You know, start functioning, you know, before they can be great employees, before they can be productive, before mothers know how it is to be busy with children, you've got to teach your children how to be busy. You've got to teach your children how to do work, but not just how to do work, to finish the job, finish the work. That's the greatest part of giving someone work, right? When you're an employer, you want nothing more than the employee to finish the work. You don't want things going on forever, never getting done. You know, Jesus Christ said in Luke 2 49, and he said unto them, this is just as a child, 12 years old, how is it that you sought me? Wish you not that I must be about my father's business, business. Where does the word business come from? From being busy, right? Busy, busyness. He says, look, my father in heaven is keeping me busy. I must be about, I must be about my father's business. You know, I would, you know, if my kids are mowing the lawn at the front, you know, I would love nothing more if a neighbour said, hey, you know, kids, you should be out playing. I want them to say, hey, I must be about my father's business. He's given me work to do. I need to finish this before I can go out and play. Okay. I need to finish the work that my father has given me. And, you know, we might say, well, you know what, of course, Jesus is God is going to do the work of the father. Of course, that's, you know, expected by God, you know, it's expected by Jesus who is perfect. Well, what I also love about Jesus is, you know, he not only did the work of his heavenly father, but he did the work of his earthly father, of his stepfather. You know, in Mark chapter 6 verse 3, the question gets asked, is this not, sorry, is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, speaking of Jesus, the brother of James and Joseph and Judah and Simon are not his sisters here with us. And they were offended at him. And so, listen, when people looked at Jesus, they said, look, that's Jesus, the carpenter. You know who else was the carpenter? His stepfather, Joseph. Joseph was the carpenter. And he's the son of the carpenter. What do we learn there? That not only did Jesus get busy with his heavenly father's business, but he got into his stepfather's business. He got into his, you know, family business, if you were. You know what, that means that Joseph got Jesus, who's the oldest son, hey, come and help me in the business. I'll teach you a few things. I'll teach you how to be a carpenter. And Jesus is like, yes, sir, I'll do that, even though you're my stepfather, even though I'm the God and the creator of all things in my position here on this earth, I am under your authority. And yes, if you give me work to do, I'll do the work. You know, he did the carpentry work and fathers, you know what, if you have certain skills, you know what, it takes many years to develop skills. You know, if you've got some trade, you know some things, you know how to change a tyre, you know how to change the oil in your car, you know how to build a computer, you know how to do these things, teach your children how to do these things. You know, bring your children up, teach them the things you've learnt now, so they can better themselves, they have a greater future ahead of themselves as well. Teach your children, your trade, whatever it is that you know. Alright, please go to John chapter 8 now. John chapter 8, and I've already kind of gone into this point, because point number 8 is teach your children, right? Point number, sorry, point number 5 is teach your children. Point number 4 was give work to your children, so we know we ought to give them work, but as I was leading into there, we need to teach them the job. We need to teach them how to work. Teach your children is point number 5. Teach your children, so you're turning to John chapter 8 verse 27. I want you to pay attention to this. They understood not that He spoke to them of the Father, then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. Wow. Was Jesus taught? Yeah. The Son was taught. Who was He taught by? The Father. The Father taught the Son. Listen, Jesus did amazing works. He spoke amazing sermons, right? I mean, if not for Jesus, we would not be here this morning praising Him, okay? But who taught Jesus these things? Why is it that we can give Jesus glory and worship and honour? It's because the Father spent time teaching His Son. You say, what does that look like in eternity? I have no idea, okay? But all I know is that Jesus was taught by the Father. This thing is very clear. So if God the Father has to teach His Son, then brethren, if He's our example, then don't we need to teach our children? Oh, we'll just chuck Him into the school system. Are you teaching your children? Our mum will teach, and that's mum's job. Are you teaching your children though? Fathers, you are to teach your children. If we expect them to work, you need to teach them how to work. You need to teach them how to be productive. Please go to Matthew 12. Matthew 12. Matthew 12, 46. You know, our children should be extensions of ourselves. I've only got two arms, I've only got two legs, all right? But with my 11 kids, it should be like I have 13 arms. It should be like I have 13 legs, right? I mean, you know, children are like the arrows in the hand of a mighty man, okay? A mighty man is good, but if he's got no arrows, all right? But the more arrows he has, the greater he can accomplish. The greater he can be at war, right? The more children you have, you should be able to do more with the children. They should be an extension of you, all right? As you teach them things. Matthew 12, 46. It says here, while he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. Then once said unto him, behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother? And who am I brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother, okay? So I want you to notice that, okay? Jesus says, my family are those that do the will of the father. Fathers, do your children do your will? Are they the extension of you? Are they your 13 arms? Are they your 13 legs or whatever it is that you have? Are they doing the will of the father? Are they concerned, what does the father want me to do? What does dad want me to do this morning? Are you giving them direction? Are you guiding them? Do they know the will of the father? Do fathers, do they know your will or they have no idea? What are you doing today? I have no idea. What does dad want you to do? He wants me to get my schoolwork done and then he wants me to muck around and play. Whatever it is, brethren, whatever it is are my chores. That's the will of my father. I need to get my work done. That's the will. I've got to read my bible. That's the will of my father. He wants me to read my bible so I can know God better. You know, your children must know the father's will, okay? And if they know your will, they're going to be able to carry out your will. They will be the arrows in the hand of the mighty man. They will be the extension of what it is you want to accomplish. But in order for them to know your will, you have to provide them clear instructions, clear directions. Teaching your children is point number five. If you can turn back to John chapter five. John chapter five. When it comes to teaching your children, you must also set an example, okay? Monkey see, monkey do. Is that the same? Monkey see, monkey do. All right, so do you want your children doing what you're doing? I hope so. I hope, you know, I hope you're a great father. I hope you're a great example, but are we always great fathers? Do we sometimes do things that we don't want our children to do? You know, that's where the saying comes, you know, do as I say, not as I do. But that's not how we should be. We shouldn't be thinking like that. We shouldn't tell our children do as I say, but not as I do, okay? Now your children already know. If they're old enough, they already know dad sometimes makes mistakes. They're already growing up going, I thought dad was the greatest, amazing, most powerful man that ever existed, but they eventually realized, actually, my dad's just a sinner. Actually, you know, my dad sometimes doesn't do what he says he's going to do. He doesn't accomplish what he's going to do. And so listen, you know, we need to, you know, obviously set a good example for our children. And look at John chapter five, verse 19. It says here, then answered Jesus and said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeeth the Father do. Jesus says, look, what I do, I saw my Father do. That's how I know what to do. I saw what the Father's doing. I said, I'm going to do the same as him. That's what this, you know, monkey see, I don't want to say about Jesus, monkey see, monkey do. You know, the idea is there, right? He sees the Father. He says, I'm going to do the same. Look at this. For what things soever he doeth, the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Likewise. So not only did the Father, God the Father teach Jesus Christ, but he also set an example for Jesus. He says, Son, do as I do. Son, do the works that I do. Brethren, this is part of teaching your children. It's not just telling them what to do. Go wash the dishes. You know, go mow the lawn. You know, go throw out the garbage. You've got to show them how to do it. All right? You know, some people are visual learners. They need to see. I know sometimes, you know, it depends, I guess, on the situation, but I'm a bit of a visual learner. I need to see. I need to get the big picture. Oh, that's how it's done. All right? And Father's, you need to set that example. If you want your children to be successful, productive, you know, doing your will, you need to show them yourself. Okay? You need to set the example. You need to be a do as I say and do as I do, Father. Okay? Just as Jesus saw the Father do, he did the same things. Now, the next point that I have, point number six, is apply the correct form of discipline. Okay? Apply the correct form of discipline. I'm not just saying discipline your kids. That should be a given. Okay? I know that the world, I know the unsaved world, we need to tell them discipline your kids. Okay? But a child of God, a Bible-believing Christian, you should already know you have to discipline your kids. Okay? That should be a given. But you need to make sure you apply the correct form of discipline. Okay? Don't take what the world tells you to do with your children and think that's going to work. It's not going to work. Do what God tells you to do and it'll work for you. You know, you'll have success. The Bible says in Hebrews 12 six, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? So what do we see here? The Heavenly Father, he considers you his sons. You're his sons, right? We're children of God. And if you're children of God, he's going to chastise you. He's going to discipline you. And the Bible says that if he doesn't do it, then he doesn't love you. He does it because he loves us. And fathers, we need to discipline our children. We need to chastise our children. Point number one was to love your children. Well, disciplining them is part of loving them. If you don't discipline them when they do wrong, that's not showing love. That's not loving your children. Discipline is love. How do we discipline? What's the proper measure? Well, Proverbs 13, 24 says, he that spareth his rod, hateth his son. Listen, if you're not using a rod, if you're not using an instrument to discipline your child, it says you hate your child. We already saw that the Heavenly Father loves us. He chastises us. You know what he uses? His rod, right? But hear that love of him, chasten of him, be times. Be times means early, all right? As soon as they do something wrong, you're chasing them, okay? You don't wait weeks after weeks and then correct them. You take care of it immediately. As soon as your children do something wrong, and what is it that you do? You cannot spare the rod, meaning use the rod. Use that instrument. That is the proper method of discipline, and I know this world will tell you it's child abuse. You know what? That way of correction literally takes seconds, seconds, whack, done, done, maybe two times, bang, bang, whatever it takes for everyone, right? It's done. Your child cries. Say sorry. Sorry. I forgive you. Wipe your tears. It's all over. Let's move on. Let's forget about it now. Don't do it again. That's it. It's done. Listen, the world's form of discipline goes on for hours and hours and days and weeks. No, brethren, we discipline, we forgive them, we move on. We don't bring it up anymore, okay? We take care of it with the rod, all right? The world will tell you, you know, I've already preached on time out in the past. Forget that for a minute, the time out idea. That's not going to work, but the other idea that comes from the world is, you know, take away their privileges, all right? You know, and I really said, hey, we need to be generous fathers. We need to give our children things that are good for them. So how can it be consistent that if your child does something wrong, that I'm going to take away a privilege? I'm going to take away something that was good for you. Oh, you did wrong. You can't do this now. Hey, we were going to go bowling, but now that you did that, we're not going to take you bowling. All the other kids can go bowling, but you can't. Is that how God deals with his children? Is that how he disciplines? No. He applies the rod, okay? We repent from that. He forgives us and we move on with life. We don't just hang it over their heads indefinitely. You don't take away something that is good for them, you know, and withhold it. That's what the world teaches. Let's not do that as Christians, fathers. Let's not do that, right? If you can please turn to Matthew chapter 5. Go to Matthew chapter 5. That's your opinion, Pastor Kevin. No, it's not my opinion. We're looking at the example of the Heavenly Father. Matthew 5 verse 44. Matthew 5 44. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Look at this. That ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven. Now, notice this. For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Does God still give good to those that are unjust and evil? Does he? Yeah, he does, doesn't he? He still does good to them. He doesn't take away their privilege because they were wicked. He doesn't take away something that was good, you know? No. Listen, when he comes to us, he's going to chastise us because we're his children. He's going to bring judgment because we're his children. But there's a coming day where the wicked, the ungodly, the sinners will also be judged by God. That judgment is coming. Don't worry about that, right? It'll culminate at the great white throne judgment. But listen, for now, he's willing to do good even to those that are evil, even to those to those that do wrong. He's not going to take away the privileges. He's not going to, well, you know what? I'll make the sun rise on my children because they've been, they're righteous, that, you know, they've got the righteousness of Christ and I won't make the sun rise on them. He sends the rain to the just and to the unjust. Brevin, you know what? When you got a bunch of kids and one of them does something wrong, you never discipline them by saying, well, so and so will get this but you won't because you did wrong. That's not right. You don't take away something that is good. If it's good, give it to them. We already saw that, right? And the proper form of discipline is to chastise them with the rod, right? Let's say I use the bowling examples. Kids, we're going to go bowling. Get ready. You know, for me, 10 kids get ready. One kid doesn't get ready. One kid's messing up, right? Whatever. He doesn't get himself ready. And I'm like, well, you know what? I'm going to discipline you. Well, you can't go bowling. Oh, okay. God make of the sun to rise on the good and the evil. All right. So what do you do? Hey, let's get that rod out. Let's apply that rod. Hey, you know, get yourself ready now. Cry the tears. Say sorry. Let's move on. Let's go bowling now. Let's have fun. That's what you do. Once it's all forgiven, it's forgotten. You don't hang it over the heads, brothers. We go and enjoy ourselves. We go and enjoy that which is good. You know, James 1 verse 17 says, every good gift, notice that again, the good gifts, all right? What we want to give our children are things that are good for them. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God's desire is to give us good gifts. Okay. Taking away privileges. That's not, that's taking away good gifts. That's not how the father behaves, our heavenly father. And so we need to make sure we follow after his example. Please go to Matthew 26. We're done with John. You don't have to keep a finger in John anymore. Matthew 26, and verse 51. I've got two more points, but they're very quick points. We'll get through them quickly. Matthew 26, verse 51. And this, of course, is when Jesus Christ is arrested on his way to Calvary. And the Bible reads, and behold, one of them, which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck a servant on the high priests and smote off his ear. Of course, that's Peter who cut off the ear of one of those that are arresting Jesus. Verse 52. And Jesus said unto him, put up again thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Now look at verse 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? So point number seven, brethren, fathers, is provide protection, safety, and stability for your children. Okay? Safety, protection, stability. This is your role as a father. Listen, this is Jesus' weakest place, right? When he's arrested, about to be tortured, about to be put to death, and we know, listen, the father could stop it. Jesus could ask and ask for 12 legions of angels right there and then. God could put a stop to this completely, but we know that Christ came to do this work. Okay? But what do we see? We notice that even when Jesus is at his weakness, he goes, look, I know my father can protect me. I know the safety in my father. I know he can look out for me. I know he wants to protect me. Fathers, that's how you ought to be with your children. That your children know I have stability with my dad. Okay? That there's safety with my dad. He's going to protect me. He's going to back me up. Right? He doesn't want me to be hurt. He doesn't want me to be injured. He doesn't want me to go without. I know that I have safety and protection from dad. That ought to be you, dad. Remember, your wives are the weaker vessel. They can provide protection to some extent, but really the safety and protection must come from dad. You are the one who is stronger. You need to teach your children how to protect themselves. We live in a wicked world. I don't mind my kids here on the Sunshine Coast going to the park on their own. I don't mind that too much, but even then, I'm a little concerned. But down in Sydney, I'm not going to allow them. Down in Sydney, leave my kids alone on the streets. When I was a kid, I was left alone on the streets. My dad would leave me alone. It was a different time. It was different. And even then, there were weird things going on. But today, you cannot trust this world. And my kids sometimes are like, dad, you're too strict. Just let us have fun. Understand, yeah, you might not get, listen, I want every good gift for you. The last thing I want is for you to be abducted, for you to be taken, for you to be killed. I want my children to know my dad's going to do everything he can to give me safety, give me protection. He'll look after me. I believe, and I haven't done this with my boys yet, but I really want to at some point. I want to teach my boys, especially my boys, but even the girls, a bit of self-defense. I'm not talking about, you've got to be careful because I remember Christina did karate, for example, and I think she had to get through meditation and stuff like that. A lot of that taps into the new age and Buddhism and those kinds of things. You've got to be careful about that stuff. That doesn't mean that you can't teach your children how to defend themselves, how to fight, how to be aware of a dangerous situation, not to go from point A to point B with somebody that might be hostile towards you. There are many things that we need to teach our children how to look after themselves. We live in a very, very wicked world and our children need to know about, hey, it's a weaker world, but if I stay close to dad, he'll keep me safe. He'll keep me protected. So that's point number seven, provide protection, safety, and stability. Now, if you can please turn to Matthew chapter 20, we'll end on this one, Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20. We'll read the passage first and then I'll tell you what point number eight is. Matthew chapter 20 verse 20. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children and her sons, worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, what wilt thou? She saith unto him, grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom. Listen, this is something good. You know, sometimes people read this and they think the mother of the Zebedee's children, you know, she's out of line or something. Listen, she wants her children for all eternity to be right next to Jesus, on the right hand on the left hand. I mean, that's something awesome. Every mother should want that. I want my children, not just on this earth, but for all eternity to be close to Jesus. That's something good that she's asking for, right? Nothing wrong with that. But look how Jesus responds in verse number 22. And Jesus answered and said, ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, we are able. So what he's saying is this. Listen, yes, if you want your children to hold high positions close to Jesus Christ, close to his throne, right, on right hand, left hand for all eternity, you must understand that the person that actually gets that privilege is the one who has suffered for Christ, right? Can you drink of the cup that I shall drink of? You know, Jesus Christ went through a lot, right? So those that actually, you know, I mean, the people that really lose their lives for Christ, you know, truly lose their lives for Christ, truly suffer in this world for Christ, they're going to be the ones that have the greatest authority, you know, in, you know, in these times. But anyway, so he's asking, you know, mother, are you sure you want your kids to live this life, you know, where they're suffering for me, like in this way, the same way I have, you know, are you sure you know what you're asking for? Anyway, that's not so much a point. The point is the next one, verse number 23. And he sayeth unto them, ye shall indeed, you shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. But it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. Wow. Listen, Jesus is God, right? I mean, He's the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He's been given all power in heaven and on earth. But you know what, even Jesus knows that the ultimate authority, the ultimate decision belongs to the Father. He says, man, yeah, you know, this isn't something that I cannot do. This is not my decision. This is the decision of the Father. Point number eight, fathers, be clearly in authority in your homes. You need to be clearly the one in authority. It's a shame for people to say, well, I know his wife wears a pant in that house. I know he's afraid of his wife. I know that, listen, wives are great. Love your wives. Listen to your wives. Give them what they need. Honour your wife. Praise God. Love your wives. But fathers, you have authority. Men, you have authority in the house. That should be clear. Hey, that should be clear with the children. Jesus says, this is not mine to give. Only the Father can give this. Jesus knew who had ultimate authority. He gave it to the Father. And listen, fathers, we need to teach our children that Dad's in charge. Dad holds the authority in the house. Dad makes the final decision on those matters. Now the smart father, the smart husband will seek advice from his wife. Will ask the children what they think on certain matters. But at the end of the day, it's the father's choice. It's the father's decision who gets to sit on the right hand and on the left hand. You know, and you know, wives, this is so important, mothers, do not undermine your husband's authority in the house. You know, Dad's got a rule in the house, but when he's at work, we can just do whatever we want. When he's at work, you know, don't worry about what Dad said. That's undermining your husband's authority. And fathers, you must demand authority. You've been given that right by God. Okay. And children need to learn that when it comes to making decisions, they need to go to their parents. They need to go especially to Dad. You know, and you know, you don't just make plans with other kids in the church. You know, hey, I need to run that by Dad. I need to run that by my parents first. That's the right approach. We see Jesus says, hey, I need to run this by Dad. It's up to Dad what he wants to do. It's up to the Father who he sits on the right hand and on the left hand. He said Jesus was very well aware of the authority he was under. He knew there were certain things that he could not decide on, but the Father certainly could. Okay. And so fathers, you must be clearly in authority by the example that we see in God the Father. So let me go through those points one more time. The title of the sermon this morning was The Heavenly Father's Example. Let's go through those points again. Number one, be a loving father. Point number two, be generous with your giving. Number three, get to know your children. Number four, give work to your children. Don't let them be idle. Number five, teach your children. Number six, apply the correct form of discipline. Number seven, provide them protection, safety and stability. And number eight, be clearly in authority. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father.