The Type of Fathers we Need Today

Well this morning we're going to be in several places in God's Word as we are focusing our attention on Father's Day. Forgive me for that. You know my habit is to be in one place. Usually we're anchored in one portion of Scripture. I may reference other Scriptures or read other Scriptures, but I usually do not have you turn to many different places. So be patient with me this morning. I will have you turn to a few places. I'll reference some scriptures and read others as well, and it is always our habit to take notes. And when you're taking notes, you write those Scripture references down so that you can go back and study on your own.

But this morning we are celebrating Father's Day. It's part of our culture. I think that we know that by now. Father's Day is a secular holiday and it has found its way into the church. Now we would say that this is a good thing. Of course not all that comes into the church from the culture and from the world is good. I think we would all agree with that. But Father's Day as a holiday is a good thing. And we as a church can seek to make it a Christian day, a Christian event, a more godly biblical event in the life of our church and in our families.

Now you may say to me in your heart right now, "Pastor you did not recognize mothers with a message. Why Father's Day?" Well be patient. Next year we will reverse this approach. We seek to have the balance of addressing topics, topics like this, and it also staying true to our verse by verse studies. Now let's look at a brief history of Father's Day, some of this information you could be familiar with. But the origins of Father's Day can be found in European Catholic tradition. European Catholics were recognizing fathers in this manner as far back as the Middle Ages church historians tell us.

And then it was the Catholics through the Spanish and the Portuguese who brought this tradition into Latin America. Now most of Latin America celebrates Father's Day but they celebrated March, specifically March 19th. Now in America this honoring of fathers in this manner was mostly seen in Catholics until the beginning of the 20th century. After the turn of the 20th century there were those who sought to honor their own fathers, especially after Mother's Day began to gain in its movement and its recognition of mothers in our culture.

In 1910 a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd planned the one of the first organized Father's Days through the Spokane, Washington YMCA. She is noted by many as the founder of Father's Day as we know it. Now this was later adopted by her own Presbyterian Church and in her particular church the tradition continued for a few years but ultimately in her church it died out in the 20s. Now nationally there were others who were involved in the promotion of Father's Day. President Woodrow Wilson spoke at a Spokane, Washington Father's Day event in 1916. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge recommended that Father's Day be a nationally recognized celebration.

The movement continued to gain ground throughout the country and then in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation that Father's Day be recognized on the third Sunday of June. But it was not until 1972 that it was signed into law. Many of you probably remember when that took place. And this took place when President Richard Nixon signed the law making Father's Day a national holiday. Now what is the purpose of Father's Day? It is set aside to honor fathers and fatherhood. Now as a Bible believing church that's what we are. We're not dictated by culture or church tradition. We are letting the Bible dictate what we do.

But as a Bible believing church we can hitch our wagon to this. We can make this celebration a Christian tradition because it was God who gave fathers. It was God who gave fatherhood. It was God's invention. Our culture might not see it that way but we know that is the case. So we can take this cultural tradition and we can make it purely a Christian tradition. So this morning we seek to do two things in our message. First we would seek to honor fatherhood. In honoring fatherhood we go to the one who gave us the gift of fathers. We thank our Lord for the gift of fathers and fatherhood.

In worshiping Him we honor Him because all good things have come from Him. So in honoring fathers and worshiping Him in the gift we are worshiping our Lord. Now the second is instructional. We need to look into God's Word and see the type of fathers that we need to be. If we seek to make this Christian then we need to look into God's Word concerning the subject. Now this is a topical message again I will reference several Bible passages. I'll ask you to turn there. Now it's never my desire to make you turn so much that you miss what I'm saying.

If you would rather listen and listen attentively to the message you can get the scripture references later. Now this is an incomplete list of what we're going to look at. You can add to this list and I'm sure you can add some wonderful things. These are the things that were just on my heart in prayer this week as I sought to teach and preach what the Lord would have us to see. So let's look at our title of our message and then the I call them major truths of our outline. It's a simple title the type of fathers we need to be. The type of fathers that we need to be today. Now it's very simple. Number one we need to be fathers who love God.

We will be in the Gospel of John and 2nd Corinthians and then we need fathers who love their families. We'll go back to our Ephesians 5 passage and chapter 6 passage. We read that earlier and then we need fathers who love their church. I'll be a little more personal there. I'll reference some scriptures. We won't divide any verses like we will from the first portion of the message. So again we do encourage you to take notes because we want to receive all the Lord wants us to receive. Study the word. Digest what the Lord wants us to digest. So let's look at our first major truth. We need fathers who love God.

Now I am not talking about so-called Christian men and I don't say that with a lot of sarcasm. I say that trying to differentiate between what is in our culture and what we see in the Word of God. See our culture is full of so-called Christian men. We live in a Christian culture. Now this is good and it is bad. Living in a Christian culture can have its good points but it can also be bad. We all know men who call themselves Christian but they are just like the world. They might be in your family. You might know them in your workplace. They could be your friends and your neighbors. Now I'm talking about Christianity as defined in God's Word.

Not cultural Christianity or church tradition Christianity. So we need fathers who love God according to God's Word. Now there are two passages that I want us to examine. I will mention some others but I want us to look at what fathers need to be according to God's Word. Fathers who love God. If you would turn with me to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. You know this passage. This is when Jesus is dealing with Nicodemus, that great religious man who came to Jesus at night seeking some very deep spiritual answers. Let's start with verse one. We will read quite a few verses.

I might skip over a few for the sake of time but John chapter 3 starting in verse 1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him, that's Jesus at night, and he said to him, "Rabbi or teacher, we know that you have come from God as a teacher for no one can do these signs, this that's miracles that you do unless God is with him." Verse 3, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" See, Jesus went straight to the heart of the matter. Verse 4, "Nicodemus said to him, 'How can a man be born again when he is old?

He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, the King James, verily, verily, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.' And Nicodemus answered him," or Jesus, "How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?'" Now out of John, I want to make our first observation and that is this. We need fathers who love God who are born again. Fathers who do love God, they are born again. Now some brief observations about Nicodemus. Now Nicodemus had many, many admirable qualities. These are obvious if we read the verses carefully. He was a deeply religious man. He was a deeply religious man and he was deeply committed to his faith.

He would have been one of the most religious men in his community, even in the land, because the scripture says that he was a ruler of the Jews. That meant he was one of the few of the Pharisees. Their Pharisees were noted as the most conservative in the Jewish faith. They would have had great portions of the Old Testament scriptures memorized. Most Bible scholars believe that they would have had the first five books of the Bible memorized, but many portions of the prophets. He would have tithed regularly. He would have prayed regularly. He would have never missed worship there at the temple.

So he was a deeply religious man, deeply committed to his religion and to his family. He was of the right people. He was a Jew. The Jews were God's chosen people. The Messiah, Jesus came forth from the Jews. He was a descendant of Abraham, so he was of the right people. He was of the right position. I've already referenced this. He was a Pharisee and he was a ruler in Israel and he worshiped the right God. He didn't worship a pagan God. He didn't worship all of these foreign gods that these foreign peoples around him worship. So he was faithful to his God. He would have been faithful to his family. He was faithful to his people.

He was respected in every way, but we see that none of these qualities ensured him that he was right with God. Jesus emphatically shows him very quickly in verse 3 that he had a great, great problem. Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Immediately, Nicodemus was frozen in his tracks. Now here we have Nicodemus receiving instruction from Jesus. Jesus' instructions, I want us to see what Nicodemus needed. Jesus knew all men and he knew exactly what Nicodemus needed. And he approached him according to his greatest spiritual need. I have broken down this in three ways.

First, he needed the supernatural. Nicodemus needed the supernatural. We see this repeated all through the verses, verse 3, 5, 6, 7, and at the end of verse 8, what does he say? "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again." We see this same thing in verse 5. And then in verse 6, what does he say? "Flesh gives birth to the flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the Spirit." And then at the end of verse 8, what does he say?

"The wind blows where it wishes," and you hear the sound of it, "but we do not know where it comes from or where it is going, so it is with everyone born of the Spirit." Jesus says, Nicodemus, you need something greater than your religion. You need a supernatural work of the Spirit in your life. He told Nicodemus what he needed was experiential. Verse 3, he's personal. He says, "I say to you, unless one is born again." That is personal. He repeats that same language in verse 5. But notice in verse 7, what does he say? "Do not marvel that I said to you." He's not speaking in general terms. He's saying, Nicodemus, what you need is experiential.

You need the supernatural and it is the experiential work of God of the Spirit in your life. And then also he needed the mystical. What does verse 4 say? Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old?" This is a mystery. Then in verse 8, what does he say? "The wind blows where it wishes," and you hear the sound of it, "but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going." What is Jesus saying? When one is born of God, it is like the wind. It is greatly mysterious. It can't even be explained. So this is what Bible scholars call regeneration. Jesus stops Nicodemus in his tracks.

He says, "You are the most admirable man in Israel, but you lack one thing. You are not regenerated by the Spirit of God. This is the supernatural, experiential, and mystical work of God whereby God imparts new life to the lost or dead individual." Nicodemus was oh so religious, but oh so dead. We see this taught in many places in God's Word.

Listen to John chapter 1 starting in verse 12, "But to all who do receive him," there's man's responsibility, "his volition, who believed in his name," there's man's responsibility again, "he gave the right to become children, adopted heirs." But notice verse 13, "who were born," there's the same language, "not of blood, that is heredity, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, that is works, but of God." The abbreviation right here in John 1 is this, "You must be born of God." We see this in Paul's writings to the Ephesian church, Ephesians 2 verses 4 through 5, "But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses." Let me pause there, "Even when we are sinful and alienated from God, we are dead." What does he say?

He made us alive. That's not being born again. Together with Christ, by grace, this is a work of God you have been saved. That's what Jesus is teaching Nicodemus. But many of you might not realize why Nicodemus, Jesus was so perplexed by Nicodemus' lack of understanding. This teaching is found in many places in the Old Testament. There is language in the Old Testament that sounds exactly like John 3, exactly like John 1, and Nicodemus would have been very aware of these verses. That's why Jesus says, "Nicodemus, you don't understand these things?" Ezekiel chapter 36 starting in verse 26, verse 26-27, "What does God say?

And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit, my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." So what do we see here? We need fathers who love God because they are born again. Now the second observation I want to make here is we need fathers who love God, yes, because they're born again, but they're new creations. They're new creations. Go to our 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 passage. It might take you a moment to turn there, but if you would please do that.

2nd Corinthians 5, verse 17, if you get to Galatians and Ephesians, you've gone a little too far. Let's read this one passage together. "Therefore if any man is in Christ or be in Christ, he is a new creature or creation. The old things passed away, behold new things have come." Now this Corinthians passage tells us what a born-again man looks like. It's very descriptive. Now let me remind you of the Corinthian background. This will help us. The Corinthian church was full of divisions. Starting in chapter 1, verse 3, Paul addresses the divisions. It's full of immorality and worldly living.

They, the Corinthians, had brought the world into the church and then they were going out into the world as well. They also had people in the church whom Paul felt were not converted. They identified as Christian, but Paul did not believe meaning were converted. At the end of the second letter to the Corinthians, listen to what Paul says in chapter 13, verse 5. Again, he's writing to the church, "Examine yourselves to see whether you're in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test." Now a question before we go any further.

Does the Corinthian church sound familiar? I think that could describe many churches that we know of. Now here in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, we have a description of what a born-again man looks like. Now there are four characteristics I want us to see here. I want us to see here. Now first they are in Christ. Isn't that what the verse says? "Therefore, if any man is in Christ..." Now to be in Christ is to be united to Christ in faith. Now this in Christ language is seen in lots of Paul's writings. To be in Christ is to abide in Christ. We learned about abiding in John 15. To be in Christ is to abide in Christ and bear fruit for Christ.

We learned that those who do not bear fruit are cut off. They are not truly in Christ. So to be in Christ is to be one with Christ, in union with Christ, and a saving relationship with Christ. Then notice they are new creatures or creations. "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature." Now this word creature in the original language is used three different ways in the New Testament. In Romans 1, 20, we have the act of creating. In Revelation 3, 14, and Mark 13, 19, we have the sum of created things. In Romans 8, 38, we have a created creature or a thing.

Now this helps us see here that in 2 Corinthians, Paul is clearly saying that a true Christian is a new creature, a new creation. He has been created anew. Everywhere the word is used in the New Testament, it speaks to a new creation. Then third, notice all things have passed away. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away. This speaks of the old life of sin, rebellion, and self-governance that has been left behind through genuine repentance. Pride, self-reliance, and bigotry are left behind. Sexual immorality and debauchery is left behind. Religion and self-improvements are left behind.

The list goes on and on. This speaks of a repented life and a repented lifestyle, so old things are passed away. And then fourth, new things have come. Go back to the verse again. "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away. Behold, new things have come." The old life of sin is past. The new life in Christ has come. A new Lord and Master, a new set of values and morals based on the Word of God, a new purpose and calling in life, a new love for humanity, just like Christ, a love for kingdom work. This speaks of an entirely new life which can only be found in Christ.

We see this same reality taught in one simple verse in Paul's letter to the Galatians. Listen to Galatians 6 verse 15. "Neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision." Let me pause there. Paul's dealing with the Jew- Gentile controversy. Circumcision refers to the Jew, uncircumcision refers to the Gentile. So what is he saying? So neither Jew counts for anything or Gentile, but a new creation. I like what the commentator Albert Barnes says of this verse, the Galatian verse. "The fact that a man is created anew or born again continues, constitutes the real difference between him and other people." This is what Christ requires.

This is the distinction which he designs to make. So here we see a big difference between cultural Christianity and Bible Christianity. Now the cultural Christians, they are many. That is one of the downfalls to our Christian culture. The born-again Christians, they are few. Now let's be honest, in our evaluation around this, in our families, our neighborhoods, our workplace, the born- again are few. There are many who profess Christ while the new creatures in Christ seem to be few. Now I want to make application here in two ways. First we have to see that there can be some among us who are not born again.

That is one of the issues we deal with in the church today. People come into the church and they have this form of cultural Christianity. They have decided to follow Jesus. They've made that decision. They've been baptized, but they've not been born again. New life has not been imparted from God. They're not born again. They might be clean and good and moral like Nicodemus. There wasn't a man that could measure up to Nicodemus, but he needed to be born from above. And there could be someone here. You might know all of the Sunday School answers. You might be as moral as Nicodemus, but you've still never been born from God.

You've never been born again. New life from God has never been imparted to you. Then second, this is the type of father that you need to be. This is what you need to be. You will never be the Christian father God wants you to be unless you're born again. Listen, it's like baseball. If you miss first base, you're out. I told this illustration before. I remember growing up my brother grew a little faster than everybody else when he was in Little League. And man, when he was a head taller than everybody, I mean he could pitch faster and hit better and run faster. One time he hit one.

I mean, well, he drove it all the way to the fence and he rounded first base and then second base. And then that third base coach rounded him around third and all the way to home. And what did he have? And inside the park home run. But as the crowds were cheering and the team was going wild, real quietly out in the infield, the umpire just simply said, you're out. He'd miss first base. There are many so-called Christian men. They have missed first base. You'll never be the Christian father God wants you to be unless you're born again. Now let's move on. I want us to see our second major truth in our outline and we'll begin to move faster.

Number two, we need fathers who love their families. Let's go back to our Ephesians passage. We need fathers who love their families. Verse 23, "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church. He himself being the Savior of the body." And then he goes on the list how the father should love his wife all the way down to verse 30. And then verse 4 of chapter 6, "And fathers do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Now here we find ourselves in a familiar portion of Scripture. Many know verse 22. If you look back up, what does it say?

"Wives be subject or be submissive to your own husbands." And this verse is invokes anger in some, it invokes great discussion in others, but to those of us who simply believe the Bible, listen, this is just teaching that we submit ourselves to. Whether it's verse 22, 23 or the remainder of the verses. Now let's face it, if we ran from all of the difficult teaching in the Word of God, we run as soon as we got to page one. But that's not us. We submit ourselves to all teaching in God's Word. And this Scripture is also familiar because I've taught from this passage before. And I'm sure I'll teach in this passage in years to come.

I'm sure that one day we will go through the book of Ephesians. To be honest with you, I have a short list of books that I want to preach through and Ephesians is on that list. Now I want to center on some truths here that focus on responsibilities for a husband and the father. And if you're a father you need this. If you're a husband and not yet a father you need this. If you're a male you need this. And to be honest with you, all of us need this teaching. First we need to see the proper, familiar order. Look at the proper order of the family.

Verse 23, "For the husband is the head of the life, as Christ also is the head of the church." Now before we look at the entire verse, we need to see a key word. We need to examine this word. This word is head. Go back to the verse. "For the husband is head of the wife." This word literally means master, ruler, or chief. Now in this verse we see an authoritative order. The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. The comparison between the two must be examined. Christ is the undisputed leader or master of the church. And the husband is the undisputed leader or chief ruler of the home.

But there is another verse that I think we should bring into this discussion. First Corinthians 11 verse 3. Notice what Paul says to the Corinthians. "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." Now there's something important you need to see here. Just as the wife is subject to the husband, the husband is subject to Christ. Really and truly the Ephesians 5, 23 passage kind of lets the husband off the hook some. But not this 1 Corinthians 11, 3 passage. So we see this is God's determined order.

And the husband is the key, and the key to spiritual health in the family rests on the shoulders of the husband. We cannot ignore the proper order of the family. And second, we see that husbands are to love their wives. Verse 25, "Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her." Here we see the manner in which husbands are to love their wives. Just as Christ also loved the church. This is the husband's responsibility. He is to love her with an unreserved sacrificial selfless love. Jesus gave everything for the church, even his life. And this is the benchmark. This is the standard.

This is the measuring rod. The expectation for every born-again husband is found right here. Now in loving her, we will see the husband do certain things out of these verses. First he will see to her sanctification. Verse 26, "Then he might sanctify her." Now if you look at the verse in its entirety, there is an assumption of true salvation in the heart and the life of the man and the wife. Now let me pause here to say, no one can ever be sanctified until they are born again. Salvation is a historical event, and sanctification is a process. But notice the instrumentation, or the instrument used for her sanctification.

It is the Word that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. See, the Word of God is instrumental in sanctifying us as we walk with God, as the husband as the sea to her sanctification through the Word. Second, he is to nourish and cherish her. We see that in verse 28. "So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. Who who loves his own wife loves himself. He is to do this as he would his own body. He is to do this as Christ does to the church." And then our third observation, we see husbands, they are to nurture their own children. Look at our chapter 6, verse 4 passage.

"Fathers, do not provoke your children anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Now here in this verse, we have three commands. The first is negative in tone, while the other two are positive. Now let's examine quickly these commands out of this verse. First, the husband, the father, is not to provoke their children. What does he say? "And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger." Now this speaks of unneeded severity or unreasonable commands and demands. This speaks of disciplining the child out of anger, also an unnecessary punishment or punishment out of anger. Now you have to understand the context.

In Paul's day, in both Jew and Gentile homes, fathers rule their families with a very dominant and an authoritative manner. Rigid domineering authority was the rule of the day in most homes. Many needs of wives and children were overlooked. Their desires were seldom considered. Women and children were seen more as property with very few rights. So this command was needed in the church in that day and it is needed today. Then the second command, which is more positive, Christian husbands are to discipline their children in the Lord, but bring them up in the discipline. Now the King James reads nurture.

Now this word in the original can be translated discipline. This speaks of training, of education, which would involve correction and chastening. This would involve not just the education of the mind, but the morals and the character as well. Now notice the key word here. This discipline is done in the Lord. This speaks of a relationship to the Lord. And then third, the Christian father is to instruct them in the Lord. You see this at the end of the verse, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This literally means putting in the mind. This involves instruction, admonition, and even warning.

The approach here is that the father was to put in his children, in his mind, the things that are on the mind and heart of God. He was to put these things in their hearts and in their lives. Now this teaching can be found all through the Old Testament scriptures, especially back in Deuteronomy chapter 6. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 we have what Bible scholars call the Jewish confession of faith. This would have been repeated twice a day in good Jewish homes. I want to point out two verses here. Deuteronomy 6, 6 through 7. And these words that I commanded you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. The commands of God were to be talked about inside the home and outside of the home. They were to be discussed from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. They were to be the perpetual conversation in the home, in their lives, and in the lives of the children. So here we see the great responsibilities of the father. He is head or master of the home. He used to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He used to care for her, nurture her.

He used to care and train his children and discipline his children. Now in what manner must these things be done in the ways and the Word of God? Now truthfully there is a truckload of application here in these verses. I'll make application by asking you a few short questions. How is your family order? Man, are you the whole ruler of your home? Now I don't mean with an authoritative fist, but are you the ruler and the chief manager of your home? Or is the role reversed? Do you love your family? Do you love your wife? Do you love your wife like Christ loves the church? Or do you love your other family more than you love your wife?

Do you love others in your life more than you love your wife? Men, do you provoke your children to anger? Do you over discipline them? Do you discipline them out of anger? See this provoking them to anger does more harm than good? Or do you go the opposite? Do you just not discipline them at all? And what about training and teaching? Do we train our children in the home? Do we train our children as we are going out the day? This speaks of a perpetual training from sun up to sun down in all areas of our life. And do we train by example?

I've had many conversations with young people who humbly said, "My parents have taught me this, but I've never seen this in their life." And do we discipline and train them by having them in a Bible believing Bible teaching church? Now as we move faster, our third major truth in our outline, we need fathers who love their church. We need men and fathers who love their church. Now the church can be seen in four ways when we examine the church. The church is invisible, invisible. The church is universal and local. Now the invisible church is the church as God sees it. The church throughout all time.

We can only see a tiny piece of the puzzle and we see the church here and now in our time. And the church is universal. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 says that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. God has given the church universal apostles and prophets and teachers. This relates to the church universal. Then we see the church local. A house church is called a church in Romans 16 5. Another house church is seen in 1st Corinthians 16 9. This is the church that met in the home of Priscilla and Aquila. We see references to the local church all throughout the New Testament teaching.

In the book of Acts, it is the beginning of the church being born through the ministry of the Apostles. The book of Romans is written to a church. Paul never visited Rome and he writes to this church. He never visited that church. And then 2nd 1st and 2nd Corinthians is written to the Corinthian church. It goes all the way through the New Testament to the book of Revelation. Now today for us, we need to see that we desperately need men, fathers, husbands who love the church. Now I'm not just talking about the church universal, but I'm talking about the church local and I'm talking about this church, God's church, and Nolabep's church.

A few comments I want to say here and then we conclude. We need men, we need fathers who will serve this church. I'll simplify that. We need born-again men who will serve this church. There are great examples of laymen all throughout the scriptures. We can focus on the Apostles too much sometimes. One of the greatest examples of a layman is the man of Papyrus in the book of Colossians. He served the church in evangelism. He served the church as a great prayer warrior. He served the church in apostolic teaching.

Paul learned of the Colossian church from Papyrus and it was Paul who wrote this apostolic letter to the church all because of the influence of this layman. He served more than one local church. Paul said he was burdened for the church at Heropolis and Laodicea. What a layman. More specifically, we need born-again men who can teach the Word of God to our children, to our teenagers, to our adults. We need born-again men of God who will become the future deacons in the life of this church and we need born-again men of God whom God will raise up to be elders in the life of the church at the appointed time.

And we need born-again men of God who will help with the various ministries that we maintain and those that we seek to develop. One of our men in our church prays just about every Wednesday night for men of God to come and lead. Second, we need fathers who lead their families to be faithful in the local church. Yes, you should be the leader of your home. Yes, you should instruct your wife and your children. Yes, we believe that a born-again husband and father can lead their family. The church cannot take the place of the leadership of the home, but the family is incomplete without a healthy local church.

If God has led you here, then He has given you God-called men to lead you. God called brothers and sisters to come alongside you. Look at the ministries of our church, the pulpit ministry. The Word of God is faithfully taught. Look at our newly formed adult small group ministry, great Christian fellowship. The Word is taught and discussed. Look at our children's ministry. We pour the truth of God's Word into their life and we pray over them diligently. Look at the ministry we have to teenagers. We love them and teach them the Word and pour the truth of God into them. And look at the leadership that God has given you.

I am not exalting myself nor Brother Keith, but we are not charlatans. We're not here to hoodwink you. We're here to serve you and we are God's appointed men over the church to lead you. And we need men of God, husbands, and fathers who will serve the church starting with this local church. And you can't serve the church unless you start with your local church. I want to ask you a couple of questions. Men, are you faithful in plugging your family into this church? This is not a guilt trip. This is not a ploy for more numbers, more heads and fingers and toes. We love you. We serve you. We pray for you. We serve you in your life.

And I'm not saying that worry is a good thing, but we worry for you spiritually. A better way to say it is we're always concerned and burdened for you spiritually. That is the burden that we have for you. Are you as fathers plugging your family into the life of this church? I know Christians who would love to be in this church. They tell me so. They just live too far away. And it's not because of me or Brother Keith. It is because of the work that God has done. Now this thing is really very simple. We should take over this thing called Father's Day. Fatherhood was God's idea.

The world should look at us in this church and see that God has a plan for men and has a plan for fathers. And the world should look at us and see what godly men and godly fathers look like. Now as your pastor, I want to close with three questions and three challenges. First, are you a born-again father? Are you a born-again man? I ask that really to all. Has new life been imparted to you? Have you been born from above? Have you experienced the miraculous, experiential, supernatural work of the new birth? If that's not happened to you, you might be culturally Christian, but you're not born from above.

Are you leading in the home as you should be? Listen, we're all lacking in some of these areas. Are we leading in the home as we should be? Are we leading as we are going? Are we leading by example? Are we leading by word only? We should examine our home life and ask God to show us our strengths and our weaknesses. And are you leading your family to a solid commitment to this church? Now the three challenges. Will you seek to be this type of father first in the home? Will you seek to be this type of father second in this church? And will you seek to be this type of father third in the community?

Now in John 17, we have learned that the world sees us as valid when we live according to this book. May the Lord help us in this greatest of jobs that seeking to be the men, the husbands, the fathers you want us to be. Let's pray.