Father Figure Series

(I entered stage left, dressed as Joshua, the son of Nun, and carrying a Ram’s horn – or Shofar. There are several websites that will allow you to hear the sound of the Shofar, but I found that I was able to make a reasonable sound from the horn with very little effort. I used the musical notations from “The Ten Commandments” with Charleston Heston - as the people began their procession out of Egypt - as my model.

I entered from the side of the auditorium, down on the main floor in front of the stage, and blew the horn as if alerting the nation of Israel – first toward stage right, next toward the back of the stage and lastly toward the audience - allowing the last notes of each cadence to linger. Then I faced the audience and began my presentation)

That is the sound of the Shofar. It is the horn of a ram that God commanded to be used to call the people of God to worship and to war.

I’ve heard it many times.

It’s purpose was to call God’s people to specific responsibilities.

And I have listened to call of the Shofar

And I have listened to the call of God Himself.

(placing Shofar on a nearby surface to be used later)

My name is Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim.

I was born in Egypt in a time of trouble

My father had died a slave in the chains of a wicked nation. (1)

(pause)

But then a man named Moses – along with his brother Aaron - came to our people. They said that God had sent them to free our people from their slavery and to stand before Pharaoh and demand: “Let MY people go!”

From the moment I saw him, I knew that this Moses followed God…

And I knew that this Moses was a man I wanted to follow.

At every opportunity, I got as close to him as possible.

Whenever he spoke to Pharaoh, I stood in the crowd.

Whenever he kneeled in prayer, I knelt as well.

I waited outside his tent in the morning,

I brought him food and water

I ran errands

And when he spoke to people by the campfires in the evening, I asked questions about this God he’d spoken with. This God that he had met on the side of mountain and who spoke to him from a bush that was on fire, but never burned up.

In time, I became one of Moses’ closest and most trusted associates.

In fact, I became like a son to him.

And he became like a father to me.

(pause)

Today – for you – is Father’s Day.. and I have come to share what I know on this topic.

Being a father is difficult… I should know I am one.

But all that I’ve learned of being a father I learned at the feet of Moses.

And the first thing I learned was that a Godly father desires to have a child that he can trust. We are driven by the passion to not only have our children grow up to be save and successful in life… but also that they would grow up to do us honor. To make us proud. To be able to be trusted with the future we’ve placed in their hands.

But trust is not an easy thing to give.

For trust must be earned.

When we were encamped at the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses ascended (I ascended the steps on the left side of the stage) to the top of that mountain to spend several days in God’s presence and receive the Law engraved on tablets of stone.

(Pointing to floor in front of the stage and coming back down the steps)

I pitched my tent at the base of the mountain and waited there for him to return.

Moses left the Israelites in the care of his brother Aaron. He trusted Aaron and believed that Israel was safe in his bro’s hands. But on the 40th day, as Moses came down from the Mountain, and stood near my tent we heard a terrible commotion in the camp.

And I said “There is the sound of war in the camp." Exodus 32:17

To which Moses replied: "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear." Exodus 32:18

When we reached the camp, there the people were dancing and singing and worshipping… a golden calf! A graven image! They were already disobeying the direct command they had heard from the very voice of God not more than 40 days before.

It was a golden calf… made by the hands of Aaron himself.