The series, which began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six seasons doing 203 episodes.
It was a good family program because it exalted the dad of the home.
This church is blessed with some wonderful dads! You could go into any church in America and you would not find any better dads than you will find in this church.
We are blessed to have such dads and I am tremendously proud to pastor such a church.
But we dads live in a strange world!!!
Today we actually have men, in this transgender era, in which we live who are changing their sex to become women. (Who would have ever thought we would reach this level of sin in our nation.)
Illus: Speaking of transgender makes me think of the story of a man who was treated by a psychiatrist because he thought that he was a mouse.
After some weeks of psychiatric counseling he was finally healed and learned, that he wasn't a mouse.
• As the man walked out of the psychiatrist’s office he saw a cat on the street and ran back to the psychiatrist and screamed: "I'm scared! There's a cat on the street!"
• The psychiatrist replied "I thought you knew now, that you are not a mouse."
• The man answered "Yes, I know that, but does the cat know this too?"
Something we all know is that we live in a crazy mixed up world.
Illus: We have men today who compete in WOMEN’S sports “disguised” as women and once they win they act like they have done something outstanding.
And to add insult to injury these transgenders tell us they are what they are because God created them this way - a woman in a man’s body.
Listen, for those who will say God created them this way - they would have us to believe God is like us humans, that is, when God created these transgender people HE MADE A MISTAKE.
Isn’t that astonishing, imperfect people correcting a God of perfection who has never made a mistake!!!
God is omniscient; He does not make mistakes, never has and never will!!!
• When God created a man He knew what He was doing!
• When God created a woman He knew what He was doing!
In Chuck Swindoll's book, Growing Wise In Family Life, he asks these questions that concern men:
1) Remember when men were men?
2) Remember when you could tell by looking?
3) Remember when men:
-knew who they were,
-Liked how they were,
-And didn't want to be anything except what they were.
4) Remember when it was the men who boxed and wrestled and bragged about how much they could bench press?
5) Remember when it was the women who wore the makeup, the earrings and the bikinis?
6) Remember when it was the men who initiated the contact and took the lead in a relationship,
7) Treated women like ladies,
8) And modeled masculinity that displayed security and stability?
Then he went on to say something even more profound, "We need fewer spineless wimps who've never disentangled themselves from mama's apron strings, and more clearly, hard-working , straight-talking men who, while tender, thoughtful and loving, don't feel the need to ask permission for taking charge.”
I'm convinced:
• That most single ladies would love to have men like that to spend time with...
• And most wives long to have men like that to share their life with.
• Children especially like having dads like that."
Did you catch that last line?
"Children especially like having dads like that."
When children are born they do not know anything about life. When there is a dad like Joshua, THEY HAVE A DAD THAT CAN SHOW THEM AND TELL THEM HOW TO LIVE THIS LIFE TO PLEASE THE LORD!!!
When it comes to women the world has a way of rating women with numbers. For example,
• If she is beautiful and intelligent we rate her a number ten (10).
• As I preach to the Fathers in this congregation today I believe that if we used the number system as a measuring system the scripture puts before us a dad that could be rated a number 10 if we were to rate fathers like Joshua.
He is everything that God wants every dad to be.
WHO IS JOSHUA?
• Joshua is best known as Moses’ second in command who takes over and leads the Israelites into the Promised Land after Moses’ death.
• Joshua is considered one of the Bible’s greatest military leaders for leading the seven-year conquest of the Promised Land, and is often held up as a model for leadership and a source of practical application on how to be an effective leader.
As we look at the life of Joshua we can not help but believe God placed Him in the scriptures for us dads to pattern our life after.
If we had more fathers like him today the HOMES IN AMERICA would not be in the bad condition we find them today!!!
God placed us dads as the head of our homes.
Notice I said God placed the man as the head of the house.
I know that some in our society do not recognize that…BUT THAT IS THE WAY IT IS WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT!!!
• He is not the head because I say so; he is the head because God said so!!!
• Did you know there are over a hundred verses of scriptures in the New Testament that tells us that dad is supposed to be the head of the home?
Let me share with you a few...These verses tell us that he is the head and how he is supposed to love his wife.
• 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”
• 1 Peter 3:1, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;”
• Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”
When God made woman He took her from the side of the man, not the head of man.
That does not mean God loves men more than He loves women, it just simply means for a family to operate the way it should…THERE HAS TO BE SOMEONE AS THE HEAD MAKING THE FINAL DECISION!
Illus: For a company to be successful there has to be someone at the top making final decisions.
Since the man is the head of the home God is going to hold man more responsible than He does a woman!
There is no course that I know of that a dad can learn how to become a great dad but the Word of God gives us the life of this great man called Joshua to emulate a dad.
Dad, let us look at his life so that we can become what God intended for us dad’s to become.
For example, from the life of Joshua we see that…
I. HE PROVIDED AN EXAMPLE
We have too many dads today saying, “DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO.”
The Lord speaks about these people in Matthew 23:4–5, we read, “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.”
Notice, when the decision was being made when Joshua was preparing the children of Israel to enter the land of Canaan he made it clear that his first priority went to those with whom he had immediate and direct control. That was him and his "house."
God is not going to hold us dads responsible for things we do not have control over. But He is going to hold us responsible for that which we do have control over.
Listen, as I look and see some of the crazy mixed up things in the world that we see and hear about...all I can do is pray for them.
Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 – without apology, “As For Me And My House We Will Serve the Lord.”
Joshua would not allow an evil society to pressure him or persuade him.
He said very firmly, “AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE…”
Today society has almost pushed TODAYS DADS out of the home.
• For example, when it comes to abortion we often hear in the conversation that this decision should be made between a woman and her doctor.
• REALLY! What about the husband if it was not for him there would be no decision to be made.
Today society pushes the man aside as if he does not exist.
When it came to Joshua, he refused to be pushed aside, He told them, “God placed me here to do a job and I have made up my mind what I am going to do.” (Paraphrase) He said, “AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE ARE GOING TO SERVE THE LORD.”
Dads are very different from Moms.....we have to be the "strong and sometimes unemotional...even though things may be falling to pieces, we are expected to always be the one to be able to make good, rational decisions.
Joshua told that crowd that they could do what they thought was best…BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE IAM GOING TO DO WHAT I THINK IS BEST!!!
Joshua identifies three classes of gods other than the one true God they could serve:
(1)The gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river.
This refers to the gods that the people worshipped during the time of Abraham’s father, Terah, in Babylon.
There were a number of gods people worshipped there but two of the most prevalent were:
1. Tammuz and his mother Semeramis, (Se·mir·a·mis) who was revered as the queen of heaven (and who was also known as Astarte), the goddess of fertility. So basically it was the worship of sex.
2. They also worshipped the zodiac, which may very well be why the tower of Babel was built in order to better follow the movement of the constellations.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see how those same kinds of gods exist in our culture today with people allowing their lives to be directed by their sexual appetites and their horoscopes.
He said also you can worship…
(2) The gods your fathers served in Egypt.
The Egyptians were pantheistic, making gods out of just about everything imaginable – the sun, the moon, the Nile River, even flies.
And one of their chief gods was the calf.
Today, we see a similar kind of worship where people have made gods out of the things that God has created and worship the creation rather than the Creator.
Certainly the New Age movement falls into this category.
(3), The Gods of the Amorites.
The Amorites had an essentially pragmatic approach to worship.
They wanted abundant harvests so they worshipped a multitude of gods and engaged in practices which they thought would promote fertility and growth.
What Joshua said to those dads in his life time I must say this to the dads in our life time, “You need to make up your minds who you are going to serve…THE LIVING GOD or the false god of this world.”
YOU CAN NOT SERVE GOD AND THE FALSE GODS OF THE WORLD AT THE SAME TIME.
We have always had what is known as God chasers.
Joshua was saying you can chase after any of these gods BUT AS FOR ME; I AM GOING TO SERVE THE LORD.
He provided GUIDANCE FOR HIS FAMILY.
II. HE PROVIDED SPECIFICITY FOR HIS FAMILY.
Joshua was specific, he said clearly, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.
Now all dads are not that specific.
Here are some things that men say that I will attempt to translate for the women here today...taken from THE MEN’S THESAURUS (men don’t always say what they mean)
Ladies, please allow me to translate for your future benefit:
• When a man says “IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG TO EXPLAIN” He means: "I have no idea how it works"
• When a man says "TAKE A BREAK, HONEY. YOU ARE WORKING TOO HARD’’ He means: "I can’t hear the game over the vacuum cleaner"
• When a man says, “THAT’S INTERESTING DEAR. He means: "Are you still talking?"
• When a man says: "IT’S A GUY THING,” He means: "There is no rational thought pattern connected with this, and you have no chance at all of making it logical"
• When a man says "CAN I HELP WITH DINNER?" He means: "Why isn’t it ready yet?"
• When a man says "UH HUH, SURE HONEY,” or “YES, DEAR," He means: Absolutely nothing – It’s a conditioned response.
• When a man says "YOU KNOW HOW BAD MY MEMORY IS." He means: " I can remember the theme song to ‘Hogan’s Heroes’, the phone # of the first girl I ever kissed and the vehicle identification numbers of every car I ever owned – but yes, I forgot your birthday."
• When a man says, ’OH, DON’T FUSS, I JUST CUT MYSELF. IT’S NO BIG DEAL" He means: "I have probably severed a limb, but I will bleed to death before I admit I’m hurt, so get over here and help me!"
• When a man says ’I CAN’T FIND IT.’’ He means: "It didn’t fall into my outstretched hand, so I’m completely clueless"
• When a man says “I HEARD YOU.” He means: "I haven’t the foggiest clue what you just said and I am hoping desperately that I can fake it well enough so that you’ll not spend the next 3 days yelling at me."
• When a man says "YOU KNOW I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE ELSE" He means: "I am used to the way you yell at me and realize it could be worse."
• When a man says, "YOU LOOK TERRIFIC!" He means: "Oh please don’t try on one more outfit, we’re late and I’m starving."
• When a man says, "I’M NOT LOST. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE.’’ He means: "No one will ever see us alive again."
• When a man says, “I don’t think I can go today.” He means: Shopping is NOT a sport, and no, I am never going to think of it that way.
• When a man says, “I don’t remember saying that.” It’s because he means: “Anything I may have said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all past comments become null and void after 7 days.”
• When a man says, “that’s not what I meant.” He means: “If something I said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, I meant the other one.”
Notice, Joshua was not ambiguous, he said, AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE
He did not say, “I will go home and see:
• What the kids think about this…
• What the wife says about this…”
He said, “FOR ME, I have decided what I AND MY FAMILY AM GOING TO DO.”
A. HE WAS IN CONTROL OF HIS FAMILY.
Today parents are being told we have no say so in what our children are being taught in the public schools.
Some parents are being taught that when the children are at school they belong to the school and they have the right to teach them:
• The acceptance of Evolution
• The acceptance Homosexuality
• The acceptance of transgenderism
And parents need to be quiet and go along with what is being taught.
Joshua was in charge of his family. He said, As FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.” No if and ands or buts about it, we will serve the Lord.
THAT’S LEADERSHIP!!!
He was clear…
B. WHO THEY WERE GOING TO SERVE
Some dads need to make up their mind on what God they are going to serve. They are teaching their children to serve:
1) The god of sports
2) The god of recreation
3) The god of money
4) The god of Materialism
Joshua’s life reveals LEADERSHIP, “As FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.”
We are to provide for our family’s SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP!!!
1 Timothy 5:8, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
This verse of scripture is often used to imply that dad’s job is to provide food, clothing, and housing. And this verse does teach this, but it also teaches that we dads are to provide SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP.
Illus: Here is the sad confession of one father.
• I took my children to school but not to church.
• I taught them to drink but not of the living water.
• I enrolled them in Little League but not Sunday school.
• I showed them how to fish but not to be fishers of men.
• I made the Lord’s Day a holiday, rather than a holy day."
• "I taught them the church was full of hypocrites and made the greater hypocrite of them and me.
• "I gave them a color TV but provided no Bible.
• I handed them the keys to the car but did not give to them the keys of the kingdom of God.
• I taught them how to make a living but failed to bring them to Christ who alone can make a life."
Illus: A dad left his home to go to the local liquor store. As he walked in the snow he was leaving foot prints behind. When he almost reached the liquor store he looked back and saw his son walking in his footsteps.
He stopped immediately because he could see was leading his son to live like him.
The strongest influence in a life is the life of his parents. If this is where are leading them.
Illus: A young girl asked her pastor, “How can you know what the man will be like twenty or thirty years from now if I was to marry him.”
The pastor very wisely said, “If you want to know what he will be like 20 or 30 years from now take a good look at his dad. He will probably be the same.”
The same thing applies to a young woman, look at her mother, she will probably the same.
Conclusion:
Can you imagine what hell is going to be like? There will be children screaming and hollering at their parents saying, “The reason I am here is because of the example you put before me.”
This world in which we live is a crazy mixed up world. Your children are looking to you for guidance and as an example how they should live.
Let me close with an example of a good dad.
Illus: One man said of his father, "Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me. There were 8 children, all probably under the age of 12.
You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean.
"The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night. One could sense they had never been to a circus before. It promised to be a highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be.
“The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, ’You’re my knight in shining armor.’ He was smiling and basking in pride, looking at her.
"The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly said, ’Please, let me buy 8 children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.’ THE TICKET LADY QUOTED THE PRICE.
The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped and the man’s lip began to quiver. The father leaned a little closer and asked, ’HOW MUCH DID YOU SAY?’ The ticket lady again quoted the price.
"The man didn’t have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his 8 kids that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?
Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground. (And we were not wealthy in any sense of the word) My father reached down, picked up the bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, ’EXCUSE ME, SIR, I BELIEVE THIS FELL OUT OF YOUR POCKET.’
"The man knew what was going on. He wasn’t begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking, embarrassing situation.
He looked straight into my dad’s eye, took my dad’s hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with quivering lips and a tear streaming down his cheek, replied, ’THANK YOU, THANK YOU. THIS REALLY MEANS A LOT TO ME AND MY FAMILY.’"
Brethren, the man telling the story about his father, said, "My father and I went back to our car and drove home. We didn’t go to the circus that night, but I will never what my dad did that night!”
Joshua was a wonderful dad for all of us dads to follow. What a father that man was! What a godly illustration of Christ! Thank God for all fathers who have been godly illustrations, godly examples to follow!
I. HE PROVIDED GUIDANCE
II. HE PROVIDED SPECIFICTY
