Father’s Day Sermon
Hebrews 11:6-10
June 2018
Open:
Talk about rewards. We all are motivated by rewards. Most rewards are enjoyed here in the earthly realm. Yet, God wants us to pursue eternal rewards. Dad’s, today evaluate what you’re chasing!
Are you focused on hobbies, personal achievements, success in your career?
God wants to bless you as you set your mind on eternal things. Get set, pursue the perfect prize in Christ... He’s more fulfilling than anything this earth promises.
Transition to passage in Hebrews 11:6-10. Start with sharing that ‘Men if faith’ are rewarded by God!
1. Men of faith are rewarded by God. V. 6
Not all men will be rewarded by God. God doesn’t reward everyone.
What do you mean?
First, you have to have Faith in God. God is only pleased by those who believe in him.
Second, draw near to God.
Men, when do you meet with God?
In the morning, in the afternoon, at night?
Get up, get with God In prayer and seek Him.
Third, believe in who God says he is!
Fourth, seekers of God are rewarded.
You won’t find God unless you intentionally seek him, daily!
We must start seeking eternal things, not just the temporal. God created men to lead. He created Dad's to be followed. In our families, all eyes are on Fathers. The habits, the traditions and the legacy you and I need to pass on to our children is one of a seeker of the Almighty. Let your children see you pray. Let your children hear you teach them the scriptures. Let your family know you love them and want them to passionately follow Christ. God will reward this type of man. We need men of faith. These men will be rewarded by God.
2. Men of faith are motivated by godly fear. V. 7
Noah had a healthy fear of God.
God gave Noah an impossible project.
No project like this had ever been assigned.
Ask: Do you think Noah was scared?
Yes, he was scared of disobeying God.
Noah had respect & reverence for God’s Word. Noah’s faith made him obedient to what God said to do.
Noah’s holy fear says, ‘I believe what God has said is going to happen so I better do what God has said to do.’
Noah had an intense faith in God. God had proved himself to be true to Noah, over & over again!
No one had taken on a project like this before. Noah is believed to have lived near the region of the Arabian and Syrian deserts. So it's quite possible that Noah was commanded to build an ark near a desert. Talk about having faith!
And Noah not only needed faith to commit to the project but he also needed to faith to stay committed for the duration. The length of time it took to build the ark isn't specifically stated but there was a 100 year span between the time Noah's first son was born to when he entered the ark.
So since Noah's three sons were grown and had wives it is estimated that Noah may have spent roughly 75 years building the ark. I would say it takes faith to stay dedicated to the impossible for 75 years.
It takes faith to believe that the earth would be destroyed and that two of each animal species would make their way to the ark I've been called to build.
Noah's faith allowed him to believe what would seem like an impossibility. Noah acted on the promise of what was coming. And that's all the evidence he had was God's word; nothing else.
For the entire time he spent building the ark we know of no further revelation or any sign given whatsoever that would lend credibility to God's original declaration. I'm thinking Noah may have had a pretty good idea when God gave him the measurements how long this project would take. 75 years is a very long time to stick with it. 75 years of fighting through people's criticisms; 75 years of being tempted to disbelieve; countless chances to get frustrated and throw in the towel.
Ask: Dads, do you fear God? Do you fear
Him enough to obey?
God wants us to have a reverential fear, not a terror. God is holy and awesome and thus we should fear Him. Our fear of God must result in obedience, otherwise, we're no different than the lost world.
Tell them: Dads, fear the Lord. Your sons future depends on it. Your wife needs a godly leader. Your church needs a man after God’s heart.
Your community needs a righteous man.
Your fear of God is shown through obedience. It changes you, your family, your church, your community & your World!
No big deal.
Trusting in the one thing he was given to go by; but it was enough to keep him dedicated for 75 years and beyond. Noah got a word from God and even though it probably didn't make any sense to him he acted on it. The fact that God had said it was all he needed to obey it.
Illustration: Great faith, the impossible, fearing God
Dr. Percy Ray was a church planter for many years with the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board. In the late 1940's, God told him to build a large assembly hall where Christians could gather. God told him to stand in the middle of the land in Myrtle, Mississippi, and start digging the footing for the 2,000 seat building. So, so he went out and started digging. Folks laughed at him.
That is until one day, a man came along and gave Dr. Ray a check to pay for the entire shell of the building; This man had been praying in Memphis, Tennessee, and God told him to ride down into northern Mississippi where he would find a preacher digging a footing for a building, and he was to give that man a large amount of money! Camp Zion stands today as one the great Christian assembly halls in America. Dr. Ray obeyed God, and the blessing came."
3. Men of faith take risks & obey God. V. 9
Fathers, act like men. -1 Corinthians 16:13
‘Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.’
1st Peter 3:20 says that God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. God waited patiently for the people to repent. God knew ahead of time that they wouldn't but I believe that's why God gave Noah a task that would take 75 years to complete-so the people would have plenty of time to believe.
By Noah's active faith in word and deed he was speaking condemnation on the world. He was proclaiming that God's judgment was on its way. The people had a choice to make: believe that this man building a huge boat in an arid place was really acting in accordance with the will of God or Noah was a crazy fool acting in accordance with his own misguided will.
God is no different today. The message of condemnation is there along with the message of salvation. And God is still patient. 2nd Peter. 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
Risk, Illustration-Closing.
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing, your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest danger in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live.
Charmed by their attitudes they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
Matthew 16:26, Gain the whole world, but lose your soul?
Close:
Men, there's never been a time you are needed, for your families, then now! Be a seeker of God. Impress His truths upon your family. Pray with them. Labor with them over struggles and let them know of your prayer support.
Be afraid of a holy God. Let that fear produce obedience. Fathers, you are the first impression your children have of what a father should be. Strive to be like your Heavenly Father. You won't be perfect; just be faithful.
Finally, take risks and do what God convicts you to do. Live with conviction and don't be fearful of the culture. Do what God leads you to and leave the results to men.
Call on Fathers to submit themselves to God. Encourage men that God will equip them to be the man He desires for them to be.
Close in Prayer.
Closing -here.
