Good morning Jesus good morning Lord, I know You come from heaven above, Thy Holy Spirit is on the Throne, good morning Jesus good morning Lord.// Faithfull, faithfull, faithful, faithful, faithfull faithful is the is the Lord 2x.
Excellent Father we thank, for this great day, for all You have done for us, thank You for watching over us and keeping us in Your safety Lord. Thank You Father for preserving us and protecting us from the evil. Bless be thou Name forever.
Beloved, how was service yesterday? Fine I suppose? We bless God. Let us shout ‘happy Father’s day’ to all the fathers in the house. It was their day yesterday and so many of us whose Father has been call to glory observed a minute silence for them in our heart. I also had a witness in my heart that I am best position to call God my Father and He will everything my dear daddy would have done for me if he were to be around. I believe God will do much more than that. Praise the Lord.
Today is devoted to our fathers in the house. It is for all for us as well because we have one or two things to learn also.
We start by finding out ‘who a Father is and their roles in our lives?
A father is a man who is a parent of a human being, or a male animal that has produced offspring. It can also be a man acting as parent. A man who brings up and look after a child as if he were its father. It therefore means that a Father can be biological or by the way of adoption or a male that has an offspring but we are zeroing in human being because that were we belong though we will refer to this ‘male thing’ towards the end.
For easy understanding of our discussion today we will be using two personality in the bible for further our illustration. One from the Old Testament and another from the New Testament. Praise God.
In 2 Sam 18, we have the account of King David and Absalom his son once again. Call it a tale of a ‘rebellious son.’ When Absalom raised up against his Father David by announcing himself king in the stead of his Father, King David ran for his dear life with some members of his household in spite the treason committed by Absalom.
When eventually David re- gather his troops and defected the forces of Absalom. We saw David pleading for the life of Absalom to be spared by his men if found in spite of the treason committed by him. However, when the news of son’s death was brought to him, David responded by inconsolably weeping and mourning for his son, crying out, “O my son, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son.” (vs 5-9, 31-33).
In Lk 15:11-32, we have the prodigal son and His Father narrated to us. Call it a tale of a ‘reckless son.’ An inheritance is usually pass-on at the demise of a Father or the owner of property or anything under consideration, but this was not the case here, this son walk up to his to ask for what belongs to him. And his Father granted his request and few days after, this young man gathered what belongs to him and took a journey into a far country and wasted his substance with riotous living.
After spending all, their arose a famine in land and he went on job hunting, which he finally secured one with a farmer to take care of swine but he will not spare him any of the swine food to eat. When he came back to his sense he decided to go back to his Father as a hired servant rather than died of hunger. And his Father seeing him ran to meet him before the ceremony of “ kezazah’ will be performed according to the Jewish law and he will be separated from his community having lost his inheritance among the Gentiles.
The truth from both tales shows first, in spite Absalom’s traitorous plot against David, he was pained by his death and would rather die in his place. The prodigal son’s Father never wrote off his thoughtless and profligate son, he never stopped longing for his return. He received him back with a warm and heroic welcome when he eventually returned and protected him from the lash of the elder brother.
Beloved, from both tales we can see the love of a Father displayed. The fatherhood of God was displayed both in David reaction to his rebellious son Absalom and that of the prodigal Father. As He was in the beginning so He is now. God is a God of relentless grace and uncompromising pursuit.
In spite of how far we stray and how flat we fall, He is still on the lookout for us. He never gives up on us, he keeps reaching out to us, even in our wrong, headedness and eccentricity.
In our study today we are going consider more about the love of our heavenly Father whose desires that none of us should perish but rather come to the true knowledge of whom we are in him and Him in us:
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”—Galatians 4:6
The word father conjures up different images for everyone. To some it brings the picture of love, laughter, respect, and acceptance. Unfortunately, others associate the term father with fear, rejection, and disappointment. That is why it is so important not to take your understanding of your heavenly Father from your experience. Take it from Scripture.
You undoubtedly had an imperfect earthly father, perhaps even one who brought you harm. But, as in all of your Christian life, the key is not to understand the Bible based on your experience, but to understand your experience in light of the Bible. God is your model of a father in the truest sense of the word.
Your heavenly Father was willing to pay any price in order to save you (Rom. 8:32). Your heavenly Father is always ready to meet your needs (Luke 11:11–13). Your heavenly Father loves you so much that He is willing to discipline you to bring you to Christian maturity (Prov. 3:11–12; Heb. 12:5–10).
Even when you rebel against Him and reject His love, your Father continues to do what is best for you (Rom. 5:8). He does not make His love for you conditional upon your love for Him. He loves you even when you are not loving Him (1 John 4:19). He has made you His heirs and reserves a home for you in heaven (Rom. 8:15–17).
This is what a father is like biblically. If this has not been your experience, it can be now. There is One who has adopted you and who wants to love you in a way you have never experienced. Take comfort and strength from Him—your heavenly Father.
Further, we are going to see in the next exposition, one man apart from father Abraham, who showed his family a way to Lord in person of Noah. He had a godly influence in his children, in-laws and his wife. It is so sad in our days we see husbands, who do not believe in the ministry of their wife same with the wives because of what the devil is doing in the homes. The children grew up to be rebellious other than godly children.
Can we start now to exact godly influence on our children instead of provoking them to anger and get them discourage (Col 3:21). Let’s get going:
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you [alone] are righteous before Me in this generation.”—Genesis 7:1
The children of Noah faced a significant decision. They lived in a world where everyone blatantly disregarded God. Wickedness was the norm. No one would have condemned Noah’s sons for living evil lives like the rest of society—no one except their father. In a world rampant with ungodly attitudes and every form of wicked behavior, they were fortunate to be Noah’s sons.
When their father invited them to spend the next hundred years building an ark in obedience to a word from God, Noah’s sons had to choose whether to believe those around them or to trust their father. They chose to join their father. What a wonderful testimony of Noah’s godly influence in his home! How fortunate for Shem, Ham, and Japheth that their father refused to compromise his integrity, even though everyone else in his society had done so.
Your life has an influence on those around you as well. Your spouse and your children are profoundly affected by your choices. Your coworkers, your neighbors, and your friends will all be impacted by your life. As the world tries to persuade people to follow its standard, your life should stand in stark contrast as an example of a righteous person. Your life should convince those around you of the wisdom of following God. Do not underestimate the positive effect that your obedience will have upon those close to you.
Beloved, two things to take out from the above teaching is first- the love of God on us as His children. Secondly an admonishment to the Father and parents in the house.
Beloved, do why to why the Father of the prodigal son ran when he saw his son? He probably ran in order to get to his son before the entered the village. The Father runs – and shames himself – in an effort to get to his son before the community gets to him and so his son does not experience that shame and humiliation of their taunting and rejection. It is assumed that the villagers would have followed the Father and witnessed what took place at the edge of the village between the Father and the son. And after the emotional reuniting of the prodigal son with his Father, it was clear that there would be no ‘kezazah ceremony; there will be no rejecting of this son despite what he has done.
Worthy of note is that while Absalom rode on the chariots of pride and committed treason against his father; the prodigal son repented and return to the Father willing to be counted as his servant.
Beloved, it important to stress the loved of heavenly Father on us his creation. He brought into this world for a specific purpose and he has a unique plan for your life. God love for you made him to Jesus to die so that you will life. Jesus death on the cross abolish the kazazah ceremony for you. you are not cut off from God but You are engrafted to the vine so as to bear more fruits in Christ Jesus.
Finally to the fathers (mothers as well) in the house, we must realize that we also share in God’s Fatherly nature. Our disposition to our children must be that of loving, understanding and forgiving Father. We must acknowledged our own vulnerability and imperfections, as we discipline the children in our care. Our goal must be remedial and restorative and not an assertion of our parental authority and retaliation for bruised ego.
We want to quickly refer to male thing as we promised earlier, when a father have offspring without plans to train and cater for them, then you are just a male figure in their lives rather than a father and the bible strongly condemn such attitude (1Tim 5:8).
Once again we say to all the fathers in the house “happy Father’s day”. Be that man that will release your wife and children to be what God has created them to be rather then forcing them to live out your dream.
This week is declared blessed in the name of Jesus. Go and conquer for the Lord. Be strong in all your undertaking in Jesus Name. Be that man that woman God has made You to be in Jesus Name.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
