Sunday Morning, June 16, 2002 Bel Aire Baptist Church
Father¡¦s Day 2002
SLIDE 1
A FAITHFUL FATHER
1 Samuel 2:12-25
Introduction:
1. Over 200 years ago, when the United States Marine Corps was being formed, much time was given to adopting an appropriate motto. A Latin phrase was finally selected, Semper fidelis. Since that time, this simple motto has been ingrained into the mind of every U.S. marine. It means ¡§always faithful.¡¨
That motto is not only appropriate for marines, but also for all godly men. Our Lord, our wives, our kids, and our friends all expect and need us to always be faithful. We must be faithful regardless of circumstances, convenience or personal happiness. It¡¦s not easy to be a good marine. It¡¦s far less easy to be a godly man.
2. Why is being a godly man so difficult? It¡¦s because we have an adversary, a powerful enemy who is out to keep us from being faithful. He wants to destroy our families and us. Let me share with you men four strategies of deceit Satan has set up against you and your family.
SLIDE 2
„« He wants to divide your family SPIRITUALLY. Guys, he will distract you from praying with your wives and children, from reading Scripture, from discussing spiritual needs, from being active in church. He wants to take away God-given influence as the spiritual leader of your home. HOW ARE YOU DOING?
„« He wants to divide your family EMOTIONALLY. He wants to make you emotionally numb to your family. He wants you to come home, turn on the tube and give out. He wants you to ignore your family. He wants you to forget to kiss your wife and hug your kids. He wants them to think of you as distant and unapproachable.
„« He wants to divide your family SEXUALLY. He wants to fill your mind with images of ¡§Bay watch babes¡¨ and soft-core porn. ¡§I¡¦m just a guy,¡¨ you say. ¡§This is normal.¡¨ It may be ¡§normal¡¨ but its not godly and its not healthy. The next step is harder porn. Next, it¡¦s looking at women as sexual objects. Before long, when the opportunity presents itself you are caught in the trap of adultery.
„« He wants to divide your family PHYSICALLY. Satan has won his greatest victory when he causes you to move out. He wants your kids to be raised without your presence and influence.
3. The tragedy is, most people don¡¦t even recognize these strategies of the enemy. Faithful men understand them and develop counter-strategies to defeat him.
4. Men, I¡¦m preaching to you today. I want you picture in your mind a family picture album. As you open the book, you see pictures of you and your wife before she was your wife. You were so young and thin; she was so beautiful in your eyes. As you turn the pages, you see your wedding pictures¡Kyou were so nervous you almost threw up! Adjusting your bifocals, you see a picture of that first little house. Turn the page again; she was so big when she was pregnant. Oh, your firstborn. You¡¦ll never forget holding your first child in your arms that first time. Baby pictures, 1st birthday, 1ststeps, 1st grade¡K There you all are at Christmas, man those were fun times. Look at her, she was 16 then, so young, beautiful and full of like. There you are hugging your boy. He looks so handsome in his cap and gown. You¡¦re so proud that he finally graduated from college. Here¡¦s the pictures of the cruise you and the wife took fro your 25th anniversary. Remember those starry nights? Remember those romantic nights, you felt like newlyweds again. Turn the page¡K your first grandchild, a boy! Turn a few pages¡Kthere¡¦s a few more grandchildren. More Christmases, bigger Christmas¡K There¡¦s little jenny being baptized. She¡¦s 8, your youngest grandchild. All of them are saved, baptized and growing up right. You close the album praising God that somehow by His grace, even though you made many mistakes, in the end you didn¡¦t fail your family.
5. Men, your family is depending on you, on your faithfulness, on your standing against the schemes of the evil one. Let¡¦s learn four strategies for being godly men.
SLIDE 3
Be Faithful with your Energy and Abilities
SLIDE 4
Most men give themselves totally to their work
1. When men meet each other, the first question that is asked is, ¡§What is your name?¡¨ The second question is, what do you do?¡¨ As men, we identify ourselves not by who we are but by what we do. When someone as me question 2, I say, ¡§I¡¦m pastor of Bel Aire Baptist Church.¡¨
2. Think with me guys¡K we spend at least 40 hours per week at work, some of us a lot more that that. When we are not at work we are often preparing for work, thinking about work or having a stress-induced nervous breakdown because of our work!
3. Our work should be a means to an end. It should enable us provided for our family¡¦s physical needs and give us a productive outlet for our abilities.
4. Too often it is the other way around. Instead of work enabling us to use our energy and abilities to make a positive impact on society and provide for our families, our work comes first and our families second.
5. Even the most noble of professions must be secondary to our families. I don¡¦t know how many times I¡¦ve sat through countless late evening meetings to come home and find my children tucked in their beds without their father. If this church leads thousands of people to Christ and disciples them as His followers, and my kids grow up without knowing their dad, can I say my life has been successful? No, not at all.
SLIDE 5
The legacy of a man who gave himself totally to his work (I Sam.1-4)
1. Eli was a great priest of God in Israel. He offered the sacrifices for all the people and was well known by everyone. He was sort of a national pastor, the Billy Graham of his day, supremely successful and highly respected.
2. Eli had two sons who followed in their daddy¡¦s footsteps. They became priests too (1:3). What could make a father more proud?
3. While Eli¡¦s boys were growing up, he had been busy in his noble profession. He preached and taught the whole nation to worship and honor God, yet at the same time, he ignored his family.
SLIDE 6-8
1 Samuel 2:12-17
4. 2:12 says that his sons were ¡§corrupt¡¨ which literally means they were ¡§sons of evil.¡¨ Further, it says, ¡§they did not know the Lord.¡¨ Though their father led many people to know the Lord, he ignored his own sons.
5. Verse 13-16 tells us that when meat was brought as a sacrifice, they took the first and best portions for themselves. They robbed God. This is equivalent to a pastor taking what he wants from the offering plate. Note the commentary of v.17.
1 Samuel 2:22-25
6. V.22 speaks of how they ¡§lay with the women¡¨ who came to the temple.
7. In vv.22-23, Eli speaks to his sons about their sin, but does not stop them.
8. A prophet came to Eli from the Lord and pronounced judgment upon him and his household in vv.27-36, note especially vv.34-35.
9. See also what God said to the boy Samuel in 3:12-13.
10. God brought judgment not only on the sons, but also on the father because he put his work before his family.
SLIDE 9
The outcome of men giving themselves totally to their work
1. Men, when you are 85 ¡V years ¡V old, you will not wish you had spent mort time at work, you will wish you had spent more time with your family.
2. When you reach the end of your life, the important issues will not be how much money you made or what you owned, it will be knowing God and knowing your family.
3. We need to live right now with an eye to eternity.
SLIDE 10
Be Faithful with your Minds and Bodies
SLIDE 11
We must be faithful with our minds
1. Wives, I want you to know that every man, including your man is tempted sexually. Stop looking at him that way!
2. Sexual temptation begins in the mind.
3. We can overcome most sexual temptation in our minds. Let¡¦s look to 2 Cor.10:3-5. We must learn to ¡§bring every thought in captivity to the obedience of Christ.¡¨
4. Guys, we have to be aggressive in combating mental temptation.
5. When a magazine cover, a TV shows or movie, an Internet site, or whatever tempts us, it¡¦s time to do battle. James 4:7 says, Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.¡¨
6. Here¡¦s the best counsel I¡¦ve ever heard for combating temptation: The next time you look lustfully upon some woman, stop and pray for her.
SLIDE 12
We need to be faithful with our lips
1. A faithful, godly man is not a flirt. He doesn¡¦t make jokes about getting together with other women. He doesn¡¦t use sexual language with them.
2. A faithful, godly man always builds up his wife. He doesn¡¦t put her down in front of other people, even jokingly.
SLIDE 13
We need to be faithful with our hands
1. When I was a kid, Mom always said, ¡§Keep your hands to yourself.¡¨ That¡¦s still good advice today.
2. As a pastor, I need to have physical contact with people. I have already physically touched many of you before this service. Physical touch is great as long as it is appropriate!
SLIDE 14
We need to be faithful with our feet
1. Be like Joseph, run away when sexual temptation becomes strong. 1 Cor.6:18 says, ¡§Flee sexual immorality.¡¨
SLIDE 15
Be Faithful with your Time and Opportunities
SLIDE 16
Men are prone to filling their time with constant activity
1. I don¡¦t mean we¡¦re always busy; I like to be a ¡§couch potato¡¨ sometimes. However, most men work hard at their work and work hard at their play.
2. We have an intense urge to fill that limited time that we have away from work and responsibilities with some sense of accomplishment.
3. Don¡¦t get me wrong; a diversion from time to time can be healthy. I¡¦m talking about an obsession, where we spend all our waking hours waiting and dreaming of when we can get away to do what we like to do.
4. The trouble with most of these activities is that they take away precious time and opportunities with our families.
SLIDE 17
Time is ever fleeting away
1. My Children will never be this age again. Right now, they light up whenever I walk into the room. They love to sit in my lap, read stories and play games. I¡¦ll have the rest of my life to hunt and fish; I¡¦ll never have little children again.
2. Dads, we get so busy doing pointless things that we fail to capitalize on the time and opportunities we have with our children. As in the case of Eli, even the work of the Lord is not as important as time spent with the kids.
Someone told me of overhearing two little 4-year-old boys talking. One asked, ¡§Do you have a daddy.¡¨ The other boy nodded his head yes. ¡§Does he live here? I don¡¦t ever see him.¡¨ The other boy responded, ¡§No, he doesn¡¦t live here, he just sleeps here.¡¨
3. Dads, let me ask you a hard question: On an average, how much time do you spend with your kinds in a day? A quick dinner before you sit down in front of the tube? An hour or so on Saturday? Now how much time do you spend working or on other interests?
4. One study suggests that fathers only spend about 37 seconds of personal interaction with their middle-school kids every day. A few minutes before school? Another study reported that preschoolers watch between 30 and 50 hours of TV per week. Who is raising our children?
5. Eph. 5:16 says we are to be ¡§redeeming the time, because the days are evil.¡¨ That is especially true with our families.
SLIDE 18
Be Faithful with your Soul and Spirit
SLIDE 19
Godly dads usually expect to raise godly kids
1. Turn to Prov.22:6. This is a familiar verse to many, ¡§Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.¡¨
2. People often quote that verse to mean that if you take your kids to church, pray before meals, and love honestly, they will turn out all right.
3. That¡¦s a misinterpretation. One of the greatest delusions is to suppose that our children will become devout followers of Christ just because they have Christian parents. It is possible for mothers and fathers to love and revere God while systematically losing their children.
4. I have talked with dozens of parents, heart-broken because their kids turned their backs on the parent¡¦s faith and values, they always say, ¡§We took them to church¡K¡¨
5. Day, as the head of your home, as the spiritual leader of your family, you must realize that the church is not responsible for bringing your child to the faith, you are! The church is here to assist. Your kids are your responsibility!
SLIDE 20
A father¡¦s greatest responsibility is to pass on his faith to his children
1. That¡¦s where Eli failed, remember.
2. Dads, for those of us young children, we should be praying and longing for the day when they accept Christ as Savior. After our kids are saved, we should take personal responsibility to disciple them, to spiritually lead them in the faith.
3. It¡¦s impossible to lead someone close to God when you are not there yourself. One old preacher said it¡¦s this way, ¡§You can¡¦t anymore lead someone to be closer to God that you are than you can come back from somewhere you have never been.¡¨
Have you ever watched a RELAY RACE? You know, the sprinters run a quarter way around the track and then pass a baton to the next man. Dads, in the same way we are to pass on our faith. A grandfather passes it to a father, who passes it to his children who passes the baton on, generation after generation. In a relay race, the most difficult part is the PASSING OF THE BATON. That¡¦s where it gets dropped. How are you doing a t passing the baton?
SLIDE 21
How can we be faithful spiritually?
1. By modeling a Christ-like life. What you do is far more important that what you say.
2. By taking spiritual leadership in your home. Talk about God. Establish a family devotional time or Bible study.
3. By praying with and in front of your children. Their most basic understanding of the significance of prayer and a personal relationship with Christ is what they see in you.
4. By making worship a priority. Most of us will not let our kids miss school unless they are deathly ill, yet many of us can find any number of reasons for missing church.
Conclusion:
1. Semper Fidelis, always faithful¡Khow are you doing,
2. Dad? If the photo album of you life with your family were to close today, would you be pleased with the job you¡¦ve done?
3. Most importantly, do you know Jesus as Savior; all else is irrelevant without Him.
