Today is a great day for men - Father’s Day. Jesus would often use objects to get His truth into the hearts and minds of people, so they would remember it easily for long time and get the point. Fish, nets, fishing, bread, water, rivers, trees, fruit, vineyards, wooden board/pole, shepherd/sheep, etc.
So today we take an object - duct tape, something we use a lot guys - and see what truths God tells us as dads to live by.
You can do almost anything with one of the greatest things in life ever created - besides post-its - is duct tape.
ILLUS: When we were missionaries in Argentina they had a phrase that whatever it is that needs repair, you use wire and scotch tape and you’re good to go. But then, in the 90’s they were introduced to DUCT TAPE. I was a missionary of not just the Good News of Jesus Christ, but of duct tape. I would buy tons of it and bring it back to Argentina with us, then you could get it there in hardware stores and supermarts in our city. I used it everywhere and thy received the duct tape in their own lives and began to live by duct tape.
ILLUS: CURT WOHLEBER - AmericanHeritage.com:
"The original olive-drab version of the tape was developed during World War II for a specific purpose: The military needed a tough, waterproof adhesive tape to seal ammunition cases and other containers.
At Permacell, a division of Johnson & Johnson, a research team led by John Denoye and Bill Gross set to work on a cloth tape that would be similar to surgical tape but tougher and water-resistant. They came up with a strip of cottonmesh cloth coated with a polyurethane sealant on one side (making it waterproof and allowing the tape to be peeled off the roll) and a thick coating of rubberbased adhesive on the other. According to an undocumented tradition, military personnel called the stuff duck tape, either because water rolled off it or because of the layer of cotton “duck” cloth that formed its base. The amphibious vehicle known as the “duck” (from DUKV, the manufacturer’s classification code) may also have something to do with the name. Its use on ammunition cases led to another name, gun tape.
What made duck tape unique was its combination of a strong pressure-sensitive adhesive with a backing that could be torn by hand. Among countless applications, soldiers used it to mend boots, patch holes in tents, and strap equipment to jeeps and tanks. During the postwar housing boom ex-GIs found that duck tape was handy for sealing joints and insulation on ventilation and air-conditioning ducts. It changed from khaki to the familiar silvery gray and was christened, or rechristened, duct tape. Many people still call it duck tape, presumably because the two phrases sound almost identical. In the 1980s the Cleveland-based firm of Manco, Inc., capitalized on the persistence of the original term by marketing its tape under the registered trademark Duck tape.
Astronauts in the crippled Apollo 13 space capsule used duct tape to improvise a lifesaving carbon dioxide filter. Duct tape is standard equipment on the space shuttle and the International Space Station. According to a testimonial on the Manco Web site, mechanics once used duct tape to temporarily patch a small hole in the windshield of a passenger jet."
DUCT TAPE LESSONS FOR BEING A GREAT DAD
1. STICK TO THE MAIN THING
adheres closely to what it was designed to --- your main purpose is to adhere to Jesus Christ
John 15:4-5 - "...without Me you can do nothing..."
If you are dissatisfied (and we all are and will be when we seek it without Christ) then we will either become useless and lost or angry and unbearable. The Lord God Jesus Christ is to be front & center always -
Philippians 3:14 (HCSB)
14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14 (NKJV)
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
2. BE STRONG BUT FLEXIBLE
strong yet flexible --- we are to have a quiet strength (meekness)
Eph. 6:10-11
1 Tim. 3:2-3
2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NKJV)
24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
- Do your kids & wife see you as a source of strength? Are you strong yet flexible to do the wisest thing under a shifting set o circumstances? Do you keep major and minor things separate or do you have then mixed?
- Do you show self-control, even when you are stressed or angry, do you have the safe outlets in place to release it?
- Do you refuse to change just in order to prove a useless point? Or are you confident and secure enough in yourself that you can be flexible in areas that can be flexible?
3. HOLD IT TOGETHER
holds things together --- God has you as the leader in holding the fabric of your family together
1 Tim 3:4-5
4. DON’T GET EXPOSED TO THE WRONG ELEMENTS
breaks down to nothing if exposed to the wrong elements ----- so will you if you expose yourself to things that break down your health, integrity, reputation, your character, your walk with Christ, your relationship to your wife & kids
1 Tim. 4:12
2 Timothy 2:22 (NKJV)
22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
5. DON’T THINK YOU’RE THE PERMANENT SOLUTION
Duct tape is often used to fix things, but can only do so temporarily - you have to eventually use the only true & permanent solution --- you are not expected to be everything to everyone, and can’t be, you are pointing yourself & others to Christ alone
Gal. 2:20
We want to fix things - even people - and move on. Or we feel if we don’t or haven’t fixed it all right then we are a failure. Fulfill faithfully what you are called to do, but not what you can’t be or do. The only expectations are those that Gd says He has of you - don’t add more or add more than what He has given. And event he ones He gives you He said He is the strength and empowerment in you to do it, and not yourself. So relax. Chill. John 3:30 (NKJV)
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
God tells us that there is onlyone true thing that holds it all together..........
Colossians 1:17 (NKJV)
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Colossians 1:17 (HCSB)
17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.
Jesus is the one who truly holds everything together in this universe, including you - the Lord God Jesus Christ alone.
You be the dad that pleases God, even in yourimperfections.
Invitation:
- to receive Christ
- to rededicate your life to Christ
- to rededicate your fatherhood to the leadership of God & His Word
