Fathers Day 2023

God cares for both the widow and the orphan.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

A widow is a married woman whose husband has died. In the U.S. 30% of all older women are widows. That’s almost 9 million people. That number goes up remarkably when you consider how many women are functionally widowed through absenteeism, abandonment, and divorce.

An orphan is a child that has one or both parents missing during their development. Over a half million kids are in our foster care system. There are over 140 million orphans globally.

Widows are wives without husbands and orphans are children without fathers. Today men, for one reason or another, are making an exodus from the family. The question is, why.

Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:8-9 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

It’s the same question God is asking us today. Men, where are you?

Adam did die that day. He was separated from God, from his wife, from his purpose in the garden, from his kids (murder). He was a dead man walking.

Knowledge of good and evil – google tree / internet – now he knew first-hand what separation and death was like. It didn’t add anything to him – he now knew what it was like to be diminished un-recoverably in every way.

Sin brings death and separation from God. God didn’t create us to kill us, but to walk with us.

God is loving and desires mercy, but He also is righteous and just.

Ezekiel 22:29-31 The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Jesus came to revive, redeem, reveal, and restore humanity. Men as sons of God and priests. Father’s that would reflect the authority truth and love of our heavenly Father to their sons and daughters.

1 Corinthians 4:15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers.

To be a father means to be a male that develops into maturity and protects, provides for, and disciplines others in development under their care. Sound a lot like being a pastor.

Even if you had a bad example of a father, or no father at all, the good news today is that God wants to be your Father and to teach you how to be one.

In the 90’s Boys 2 Men were one of the biggest vocal harmony groups in the world consistently topping the Billboard charts and even receiving 4 Grammy awards. They recently went back on tour now in their 50’s. Are they now men II old men, or are they still boys to men. Many males in our society are 50 year old boys. Jesus came to call us to kingdom manhood and gives us His Spirit and supernatural power to do it.

John gives us a picture of what spiritual maturity looks like.

1 John 2:12-14
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.

I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.

I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

John 14:18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

We may be biological dads, but are we fathers?
Are we meeting the needs of our children?
Are we equipping our children for the battles of life. Are we teaching them to pray, are we teaching them to read the word, to take up the sword of the spirit and to do battle with the enemy?
Are we satisfied with knowing facts about God, or do we know Him?

Not just a provider, God created us to be the priests of our homes.

Widows – Women who were married, but whose husbands have died. How do we take care of widows? In the natural, but many are married and their spouse is spiritually dead.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

We need the Holy Spirit of God to wake us up, but we need to put in the work and get on our face until He does.

James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Without Him, we cannot, without us He will not – St. Augustine

As men, we are called to be leaders. To lead our wives and our children. To be priests of our home means that we are to lead our families into the presence of God.

We cannot lead others until we lead ourselves. Which is why it is so important that we get into Gods word and into His presence every day. We can lead because we are following Christ.

We can be a husband and a Father because we have a Heavenly Father that gives us an example.

Repent of sin and selfishness
Accept God as Father