A Father's Walk

Anyways, can we pray again as we get ready to prepare our hearts for the word of God this morning? Join with me in prayer. dear Heavenly Father, God, we just come before you, in the name of Jesus. And Lord, we ask that you would quiet our hearts in your presence.

We ask Lord that you would. Help us to find our rest in you. Lord, we ask that you would forgive us of our many sins that we have committed against you. We come before your throne of grace, oh God, with boldness, it's in the name of Jesus through his shed blood, and we do so in obedience to you, Lord, we approach your throne boldly.

We ask Lord that you would give us eyes to behold you and give us ears to hear you speak to us. I pray, Lord, that if there is a person here today who is desperate to hear your voice, that Lord, you would grant grace, that you would grant ability. That you would help such a person, Lord, to hear you through your word, speak to them. Lord, we do ask for our fathers here this morning.

We ask Lord that you would bless our fathers, that you would bless us as dads. Lord, give us the grace that we need to be what you call us to be, Lord, it is A difficult, a high and a holy calling, and we need your enablement, Lord, so give grace to us. Lord, now help me as I seek to minister your word to your people, fill me with your spirit, go before me, Lord, and just use me as an instrument of your grace in the lives of these, dear people here, this morning. I pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. OK. So, here we go. It's appropriate, right?

It is appropriate for our purposes today to speak on the topic of fathers. It is Father's Day. So, once again, I would like to extend to every single one of you, dads, a very happy Father's Day, and may you be richly blessed in the Lord today. before we begin, I want to acknowledge three types of fathers here, biological fathers, fathers through adoption, and spiritual fathers.

When I use the term father today, I am referring primarily to biological fathers and fathers who have adopted. I speak to the choir when I say that fathers are extremely important. Fathers are important. If you are a father, you are important.

If you are a single man who at some point in the future will become a father, you will be important then. No, not just then, you're important now, but you'll be important then too. OK? And so fathers are important.

A Google search produces article upon article highlighting the importance of fathers to their family. Intuitively, we know that fathers are vital, and God's word assumes the importance of fathers and it provides ample instruction for us who are dads. Fathers play a critical role in the family, in the church, and in society as a whole. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world in which the ministry of fatherhood falls prey to attack.

As a result, we are eyewitnesses to the decay of families, the church, and the society in which we live. The enemies of fatherhood include the world, the flesh, and the devil. the world in which we live does much to undermine the importance of fatherhood. Attacks on biblical masculinity and traditional marriage serve to erode the landscape of biblical fatherhood.

Another enemy to fatherhood is our own flesh. The Bible presents a picture of what fathers should be, but the enemy of indwelling sin would seek to undermine our efforts to be the fathers that we know God wants us to be. In dwelling sin expresses itself in countless ways pride, anger, laziness, indifference, lack of vision, lust, and lying are but a few manifestations of the flesh that serve to undermine fatherhood. A final enemy to fatherhood is the devil.

Satan is at work behind the scenes, setting up traps and introducing destructive doctrines designed to destroy dads. His desire is for fathers to fail in their attempts to walk in a manner worthy of the call with which they have been called. Dads, be aware of the fact that you are in a spiritual battle in which the evil one will hold nothing back in his attempt to cripple you, to ruin your walk, and to take ownership over your children. The apostle Paul is keenly aware of this, and he holds nothing back in his exhortation to the Ephesians to walk in a God-glorifying manner.

In Ephesians 2:10, we read that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We are to walk in the good works that God has prepared before us, and those good works include our role in the lives of our children. Ephesians 4:1 says, I entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which You have been called. 4:17, we are directed to walk no longer as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind.

Ephesians 5:2 tells us to walk in love, to walk in love just as Christ also loved us and he gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:8 tells us to walk as children of light and in 5:15 we are told to be careful how we walk. Walk not as unwise men, but as wise. Paul is clearly concerned about the spiritual walk of his readers, and such a concern applies to those of us who are fathers.

Our message this morning is entitled A Father's Walk, and we will consider nine needs of a father, nine needs of a father that will help him walk in a fruit bearing and successful manner. Our text for today is the book of Ephesians. We will not focus on one verse per se, but we will consider the big picture of Ephesians, and we will apply, some of what it says to fathers specifically. And this is not a message for fathers exclusively, so if you are not a dad, please do not tune out.

There is something very important that I believe God wants for you to hear in the message this morning. Part of what we need to embrace is the fact that it takes an entire church to raise fathers. who raised their children to the glory of God. Also implied in today's message is the fact that fathers cannot raise their children in a vacuum.

Fathers need the help of the church in their own life and in the lives of their children whom they seek to raise for the glory of God. And with these thoughts in mind, let's now consider 9 needs of a father that will help him walk in a fruit-bearing and successful manner. 9 needs, needed number 1, fathers need gospel truth. Fathers need gospel truth.

Now, the 1st 3 chapters of Ephesians is primarily, as, a proclamation of the gospel. the apostle Paul proclaims gospel truth to the body and in particular, he is preaching gospel truth to fathers because he knows that such truth is the fuel for the Father's fire. No gospel, no fuel. In the first three chapters, fathers are hit with a tsunami of gospel truth and fathers, please take note.

You are blessed with every spiritual blessing, 1/3. You are chosen before the foundation of the world that you should be holy and blameless before him, 14. You are predestined. to adoption as sons, 15.

You are recipients of God's kindness and you are showered with the grace of God, 15 to 6. You are redeemed through the blood of Jesus, your sins are forgiven 17 to 8, and such sins would include those that you have committed even in your role as a father. The Spirit of God indwells you, 114, and you have been empowered by God Himself 119 through 20. You are no longer dead in your sin, but you are alive to 1.

God has been merciful to you, he loves you 24, God has made you alive and you are saved 25, you are raised up with Christ, you are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm 26, you are God's workmanship, 210, you are united with Christ, you have a basis for hope to 12, you are brought near to God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2:13, you have peace with God, 2:14, and you have direct access to the ultimate Father who is in heaven, 218. You are a saint and a family member of God's household, 219, and you are a dwelling of God in the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit of Almighty God.

Self indwells you 222. You are a fellow heir and fellow member of the body and a fellow partaker of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel 36.

And so take note of the fact that the apostle Paul proclaims in written form, gospel truth to his readers. Paul knows that fathers need the gospel and so he ministers it Truths to them. We talked much about preaching the gospel to ourselves here at Cornerstone and rightly so, but here we are reminded that fathers need others to preach the gospel to them as well. This is what Paul is doing for the Ephesians and by way of extension in particular to the fathers, he is preaching the gospel to them.

Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church. Fathers need gospel truth and we serve them well whenever we in a timely manner minister such truth to them. Let us move to the 2nd need. Number 2, fathers need prayer.

Fathers need prayer. Now, the careful observer will note that Paul's gospel proclamation is accompanied by gospel prayer. The first prayer is found in Ephesians 1:17 through 19 where the apostle Paul declares, I am praying and beginning in verse 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, revelation in the knowledge, this word speaks of intimate relational connection, revelation in the knowledge of Hi, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened and essentially what he is praying for the Ephesians is that they be able to behold the Christ whom he is preaching to them.

I want you to behold him, he says, so that, and this is the reason he says so that you may know, 1, what is the hope of his calling, number 2, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and 3, what is the surpassing greatness of his power to you who believe?

I want you to understand these things. The second prayer of Paul to the Ephesians for the Ephesians is 3:14-19 where he declares, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you according to the riches of His glory. To be one, strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, so that 2, Christ may dwell in your heart through faith, and that 3, you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all of the saints, what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that for you may be filled up with all of the fullness of God.

And so here we see how Paul couples his proclamation of the gospel with prayer.

Fathers need prayer. He prays that the believers would behold Christ in order to comprehend the gospel blessings that belong to them, and he prays that the believers would experience transformation through the gospel. Brothers and sisters, we do well to follow Paul's example by praying similar prayers for the brethren, and we do well to offer such prayers on behalf of the fathers of Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church. I ask you, When was the last time you entered the throne, the throne room of Almighty God and you prayed these types of prayers for the fathers of Cornerstone.

Hear me when I tell you that we as fathers need such prayers to be prayed for us. And so let's move on to the 3rd need. Number 3, fathers need a big view of God. Fathers need a big view of God.

We have already seen that Paul proclaims gospel truth to the fathers, such proclamation should shape how a father views his God. We have Also seen that Paul prays for the Ephesians to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. Clearly, Paul knows that fathers have a need to behold their great God through the eyes of faith. This is further supported by what Paul declares immediately after his second prayer.

His second prayer is a magnificent 4-part prayer in which he prays for his readers to experience inner strength, the indwelling Christ, immense love and fullness of God. Paul presupposes, he presupposes that there may be some in the audience who struggle to believe that such a prayer on their behalf will ever be answered. There are some who might conclude that they will never experience such fullness of God. Perhaps there are fathers who have failed countless times and they cannot fathom the experience of fullness and so take careful note of what Paul goes on to say in chapter 3 verse 20 when he says now to him.

Now to him who is able, he is able to do, able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think according to the power that works within us. You see the apostle Paul is saying, God is able. He is here directing the attention of doubters to the divine. Get your eyes off of yourself and look to the divine, look to God, embrace the fact that the God who spoke all things into existence, who protected his people, part of the sea and by His power raised his son bodily from the dead.

This is the God who can so work in your life so that you can walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. He can cause you to experience fullness, yeah, even in your role as a father. Paul knows that his readers need a big view of God and thus he declares that God is able, he is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we could ever ask or think, there is no measure to what God is able to do. Therefore, fathers can be filled with fullness, and brothers and sisters, fathers need to have a big view of God, and fathers need for this view of God to be spoken to them from within the context of the local church, yeah, even as Paul speaks such truth to the Ephesians and directly to the fathers as well.

Well, need number 4, fathers need examples to follow. Fathers need Examples to follow implied in what we have already learned is the fact that the apostle Paul serves as an example of godliness for believing fathers to follow. Paul's ministry flows from the gospel, prayer, and the belief in God's ability to fill his people with fullness. As fathers, we do well to follow in Paul's footsteps.

We should minister the gospel to. Our children, we should pray for them and we should instill in them a big view of who our God is. In chapter 41, we gain greater insight regarding the example of Paul and the passage reads, Paul writing, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you, I beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. For the sake of the gospel, we see.

The imprisoned Paul embracing sacrifice. We see a man with divine perspective refusing to complain about his personal lot in life. He was not a complainer. We see a man focused on the spiritual well-being of others and he's urging such folks to walk in a manner worthy of their calling and in short, we see in Paul, an example that we do well to follow.

I believe it is worth noting that for all we know, Paul was likely an unmarried man. And there is no proof anywhere that he ever had children. Yet this man is an instrument of God's grace and ministering to the Ephesians and included in that audience are fathers. A bit later, there will be the direct address that all of Ephesians applies to when Paul eventually gets to fathers.

He will get to fathers. The following points here are worth noting. First, God is pleased to use single people to minister to fathers. Second, folks who aren't single should be open to the input of singles.

Third, parents, including fathers do well to allow themselves to be encouraged and even instructed by singles. Fourth, this requires a great deal of humility on both sides, and perhaps this is one reason why Paul's very first description of the worthy walk is humility. It is very important for singles to exercise great humility whenever they express their thoughts and offer counsel to those who are married. And those who have children.

It is equally important for the married and the parents to practice humility by receiving, the good input that singles may have to offer to us. And so Paul, a single man, he serves as an example of godliness that fathers can follow. And before moving on, I would also add that we as fathers benefit tremendously from the example of godly fathers themselves. In a broken world where increasing numbers of young dads have never eyewitnessed godly fatherhood, we as a church serve them well when we model for them what biblical fatherhood looks like.

Well, let's turn to the next need. Number 5, fathers need support from their wives. Fathers need support from their wives. It is worth noting that Paul in Ephesians 5:22-33 addresses marriage before he addresses parenting.

This makes sense for the following reasons. First, marriage ideally comes before children. Any sexual relations between a man and a woman prior to marriage is fornication, and it is forbidden by God. Second, marriage between a man and a woman is a critical context in which God's image is reflected.

God created marriage to be an environment inside of which his image can be on display and reflected. Third, marriage. Between a man and a woman is designed to put the gospel on display. 4th, the gospel grounded love between a husband and wife is accompanied by a physical union through which children are birthed.

The marriage relationship is designed to be the context in which children are raised to the glory of God. God desires for children to see God's image reflected and the gospel displayed in their parents' marriage. Therefore, Paul addresses the marriage relationship before dealing with children and parents, and in the marriage, Paul begins with wives. He begins with.

Wives, a keen observer notes that whenever two parties in a relationship are addressed, that the one under submission is spoken to first. Here Paul addresses wives before husbands. Next, he addresses children before fathers. Finally, he addresses slaves before masters.

And so why would Paul do this? Why would he address those under authority before going after the ones who are in authority? And perhaps part of the answer is that Paul knows that authority is best practiced when submission is embraced by those under such authority. Regarding marriage, wives out of the overflow of being filled with the spirit are instructed to be subject to their husbands as to the Lord.

They are to arrange themselves under the leadership and the authority of their husbands. Later in 5:30. 3, they are told to hoeo their husbands. This Greek word speaks of fear and is translated in this passage as respect.

Wives are given the difficult challenge of relating to their husbands as to the Lord. It is there, it therefore makes perfect sense that Paul will immediately address husbands and 3 times command them to love their wives. Wives find it easier to honor their husbands whenever they feel genuinely and sincerely loved. A wife who submits to and respects her husband demonstrates support.

When we couple this with the fact that wives are designed to be their husband's helper or completer, then it follows that part of what she is called to do is join her husband and support him in the task of raising their children to the glory of God. Fathers are served well when they have the support of their wives and children are served well by moms who model submission and respect to their husbands, wives and moms, you wield enormous power. Behind many a great father is a godly wife who supports her man.

Here at Cornerstone, we are tremendously blessed by such women.

We are blessed that we have older women who by experience are able and willing to disciple our younger women in their roles as wives and mothers. I know that this is Father's Day, but one way of celebrating this special day is to say on behalf of those of us who are fathers, thank you. Thank you, wives and moms who so faithfully support us in the challenging task of raising our sons and our daughters to the glory of God. And before moving on, I would like to address our single parents.

We know that you support biblical marriage as the ideal context in which to raise children, yet the Lord has ordained for you to labor on behalf of your children as a single parent. We want you to know that your labor does not go unnoticed and that you are some of the heroes. That we look up to We appreciate how so many of you connect your lives to others and in so doing provide for your children the examples of marriage that is important for them to see and we trust that as single parents you are served well as we labor together with you on behalf of your children.

Let's move on to need number 6.

Fathers need obedience from their children. Fathers need obedience from their children. Ephesians 6:1 says, children, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. And then as we get below the surface and look at the heart of the matter and speak about motivation, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

I need to be careful here. I am not saying that fathers need obedience from their children. So that they as fathers can walk in a worthy manner. You may have children who are very difficult and who from time to time disobey you, and that does not negate the fact that you in fact can walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you are called and the fact is That fathers cannot use their children as an excuse for their own lack of godliness.

What I am saying here is that fathers need for their children to be obedient in order that the children walk in a worthy manner. This should be the desire of every father that their children are saved through the power of the gospel and that they live to the glory of God. What this means is that fathers must proclaim the gospel to their children. Fathers must call their children to repent of their sin and to entrust their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, and fathers must direct their children in the way Of the Lord and such direction demands obedience.

The father's ultimate goal should be that his children live to God's glory, but if such a goal is to materialize, fathers need obedience from their children, young person. If this is the goal of your father for you, then you do well to obey. Please know that you are not commanded to obey when your father asks you to do anything that is wrong. The assumption is that your dad desires what is best for you and that your dad is asking you to do that which is right and that which would be helpful to you and that which is good for you.

It is also important for you to know that there will be times when you will be told to do something and you might not understand why. If you are not being asked to sin, then you must obey. Often your father has good reason for what he asked you to do, and you do not always need to know the reason why. What you need to know is that God commands you to obey, and this is true in our relationship with our Heavenly Father as well, is it not?

That sometimes God gives us command and we don't necessarily know why, but we are called to trust in God and to do what he tells us to do, and by and by, there comes a day when oftentimes we look back and there we understand, oh, that's why. I thank you Lord for directing and guiding me. Similarly with children, it is important for you and it is commanded of you to obey your parents, to obey your father in the Lord, and children, you will notice that the apostle Paul gives good reason for your obedience.

First, it is right.

That's enough. It's enough to know it is right, it is the right thing to do. But second, he says that it may be well with you. Do you want your life to be well with you?

Then obey your parents, obey your dad, and third, that you may live long on the earth. If this is to happen in your life, then your father needs for you to obey him in the Lord. And so we move to need number 7. Fathers need concrete instruction coupled with personal obedience.

We as fathers, we need to be told very explicitly what we must do. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I can be pretty dense. I am ignorant, I am weak. Oftentimes I don't know what in the world to do.

I need concrete instruction. I need it to be laid out for me, and I need, I need to be told very directly, this is what you, Carlos, need to do. And I need for that concrete instruction to be coupled with my personal obedience. Earlier in the message, the matter of marriage was highlighted as an important context in which fathering takes place.

Fathers who are married are given concrete instruction regarding their role as husbands. The apostle Paul commands fathers 3 times to love their wives. He commands fathers to love their wives as Christ loves the church. There is the example.

There is the one to model our love after. And he makes it clear that the father's love for his wife is to be loaded with the agenda of washing her with the words so that she might be presented before Christ blameless. The instruction is clear. Husbands, love your wives, love your wives, love your wives.

One of the greatest gifts. that you can give to your children is to love your wife with the purpose of presenting her before Christ holy and without blame. This is the type of concrete instruction that fathers need, but there is more. Paul provides concrete instruction to fathers regarding their children when he says in chapter 6, verse 4, and fathers.

There we have the direct address finally up until that point, much of what we have been talking about can be directly applied to fathers, and everything is assumed and finally the apostle Paul hastens to the place where he's wanting to go here in addressing the fathers, and he begins by saying, fathers, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. But bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. It cannot get any more clear than that. Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up, raise them up in the discipline and in the instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's concrete instruction to fathers begins with the negative and then it Shifts to the positive. He tells fathers what not to do before what he tells them what to do. He starts with the put off before he hastens to the put on, and I love the fact that Paul does not just tell fathers what not to do, but he directs them in the things they are to do. He gives to them a vision of the positive things that are their responsibilities to do and in Paul's direct address to fathers, there are many things that he could have said.

But he goes straight to where the rubber meets the road. He aims directly at that which fathers are most likely to struggle. Fathers need to be told, do not provoke your children to anger. Implied is the fact that fathers often provoke their children to anger.

There are a number of ways that we as fathers are guilty of this. It begins with our failure to embrace and to live out of the overflow of the gospel, and the following is a list of 25 ways that we can provoke our children to anger, 25 ways now. Don't think that you're gonna write all 25 down. I will not give you the time to do that, so just don't even think about it.

But what you can do is if there's one or two points here that jump out at you, feel free to write that down and to take it home and to think about it and to pray about it. So here we have it, 25 ways that we can provoke our children to anger. One, lack of marital harmony. Lack of marital harmony.

2, establishing and maintaining a child centered home. 3, modeling sinful anger. 4 habitually disciplining in anger. Anger, anger.

5, scolding. 6, being inconsistent with discipline. 7, having double standards, not practicing what we preach, telling the kids to do as we say, but to not do as we do. Number 8, being legalistic.

not relating to them out of the overflow of the gospel, but throwing at them things to do, things to do, things to do, law, law, law, law, and hold it in this high standard without giving to them the gospel which is the power that they need to obey the things of the Lord. Number 9, not admitting. You're wrong and not asking for forgiveness. Number 10, constantly finding fault.

11, parents reversing God-given roles. If you are a man, then be the man. If you are a woman, then be the woman. Husbands, love and lead, wives, submit and support and help.

OK, and so parents need to, to relate to each other according to their God-ordained roles and that's gonna help in your efforts to not provoke your children to anger. Number 12, not listening to your child's opinion or taking his or her side of the story seriously. 13, again, ways to provoke them to anger, 13, comparing them to others. 14, not Making time to, to just talk, 15, not praising or encouraging your child or encouraging them enough, 16, failing to keep your promises, 17, chastening in front of others, disciplining and scolding and chastening and correcting them excessively in front of others, 18, not allowing enough freedom.

19, allowing too much freedom. 20, mocking your child, 21, abusing them, physically, emotionally, 22, ridiculing or name-calling, 23, unrealistic expectations, 24, practicing favoritism, and 25, child training with worldly methodologies that are inconsistent with a God-glorifying gospel-centered Bible-based approach. These are just some of the ways that we can provoke our children to anger, and I will be the very first here to admit that I have violated some of these things. I am guilty of having committed these things.

You, you can go to my, no, don't do this, but you could, if I would give you permission, go to my children and ask, and they'll be, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he's blown it, he's blown it, he's blown it. Brothers and sisters, this is why we need God's help. This is why we need the church. This is why we need one another to help us to be what God calls us to be.

This is but a shortlist of ways we provoke our children to anger, but as we continue in the passage, we are told in concrete terms what we are to do as fathers, we are to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, our The ultimate goal for our children should be that they embrace Christ as their savior and live their lives to the glory of God, and God has entrusted our children to us in order that we strive towards such a goal. Again, fathers need concrete instruction and implied is the need to obey such instruction.

So let's move to the next thing that fathers need. Number 8, fathers need to engage the battle.

Fathers need to engage, to actively engage, to get in and to participate in the spiritual fight that we are in. Ephesians 6:10 tells us the apostle Paul writing, finally, he says, be strong in the Lord. Fathers applied to you, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers.

Against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, Paul says, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm. We already know that fathers are included among the believers that Paul is writing to. Fathers are called here to put on gospel armor and to engage the battle.

Now think with me for a moment about the imagery that Paul uses. We must put on armor. We are in the middle of hostile territory. We have enemies that seek to come after us and to do harm to us, and they are firing their flaming darts at us.

A soldier goes into war with a purpose that he along with his fellow soldiers defeat the enemy and win the battle. He is not merely concerned for himself but for his fellow fighters. Above all, he is concerned for the great. cause.

He sees himself on the good side and holds nothing back to defeat enemy forces. He will lay down his own life if it will help the greater cause. He is willing to die in the place of his fellow soldiers whom he loves. Fathers, you are in a battle.

I ask you this morning, are you engaged? There are enemy forces that seek to destroy you, and they seek to destroy your family. The devil would like nothing more than to take your children captive and bind them with the chains of sin. You are in a battle and you must fight.

You are not just fighting for your own life, but for the lives of your fellow soldiers. You are fighting for your wife and you are fighting for your children. Arrows are aimed against you. Paul knows this.

Thus he says, put on the whole armor of God. A study of the armor makes it clear that the armor is gospel armor. You are to put on Christ, he is your armor, he is the one who protects you, he is the one who will see you through the battle, you need Christ. The Lord Jesus says, apart from me, you can do nothing, and so you need Christ, you need to put them on, you need to put on the, the whole armor of God.

And Paul tells his readers that in the middle of their battle, they are to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. You need to be clothed in the gospel and you need the word of God, and you need with that to do battle and to battle on behalf of yourself and your family and your children. Well, with those thoughts in mind, let's move towards the last need. Number 9 Need 9, Fathers need God to work.

Fathers need God to work. At the end of the day, for argument's sake, we could do everything right. But though we do everything right, We are still 100% dependent upon the Lord to do what only the Lord can do. I don't know about you, but I like to be in control.

I like for things to go the way I want them to go. And there are times in my fathering in which I have a hard time. Because I have to surrender that to the Lord, and there's that part of me that desires control, and I want things to go the way I want them to go, and there are times in which I fail to realize that God is up to something bigger. And there's times in which I failed to go to God and say, God, please help.

In Ephesians 6:18, we read the apostle Paul says with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all of the saints. This is another way of saying you got to pray all of the time, you got to pray for all kinds of people, all that would include your own wife and children, pray for them. In exhorting the Ephesians to pray for the saints, Paul underscores the fact that believers need God's help.

We are dependent upon God to help us accomplish anything of eternal significance.

Paul goes on to ask his readers to pray for him. He says in verse 19, and pray on my behalf, pray for me, guys, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in change that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, that I may speak it as I should. I need God's help, I need God's grace.

I need you to pray for me. If I'm gonna preach the gospel, I need help, and if the gospel is gonna have any effect in the lives of anyone that I have to do with, I need God to help. Paul recognizes his own need for God's help in proclaiming the gospel in a bold and appropriate way. His two prayers for the Ephesians that we looked at earlier in this epistle underscore again the fact that we are totally dependent on God to do what only God can do.

As fathers and as a church, we are totally dependent upon God to work in the hearts of our children. We must pray for our children that God would save and sanctify them to the glory of God. A pastor in New York was considering stepping down from the ministry. He found the ministry difficult and to make matters worse, his precious first born child decided to abandon the faith.

His young adult daughter left the home and dedicated herself to a lifestyle of depravity and degradation and sin and evil, and Pastor Jim failed in his attempts to win his daughter over. One evening, Jim got alone with the Lord and he wrestled with God in prayer. And he sensed in his spirit, the Lord telling him to surrender. And to trust.

2 years went by and nothing changed. One evening during the church's prayer meeting, a prayer warrior slipped a note into the pastor's hands, and the note read, quote, I feel deeply impressed that we should pray for your daughter. Jim thought it through and he agreed to interrupt the prayer meeting. That evening at the prayer meeting, Pastor Jim shared his burden with over 1000 folks who were in attendance, and he asked one of the elders to lead in prayer.

The pastor describes what happened in the prayer meeting that night and he says, quote, Do where the apostle Paul declares in one of his letters, I travail like a mother giving birth until Christ is formed in you. Well, suddenly, the prayer meeting that night became a labor room. The people that evening cried out to the Lord on behalf of the soul of the pastor's daughter. That night when the pastor went home, he said to his wife, It's over.

It is over. What's over? If there is a God in heaven, what I just experienced tonight, it is over. Our girl is coming home.

The next day, The pastor was shaving when his wife came in and she said, Christie's here. And you better go downstairs. With shaving cream still on his face, Pastor Jim went downstairs, entered the kitchen. And he saw his daughter on the floor, on her knees, weeping.

As he got closer to his daughter, she grabbed her father's pant leg and she said, quote, Daddy, I have sinned against God. I have sinned against myself. I have sinned against you and Mom. Dad, forgive me for my rebellion, Dad.

It's different Christie would go on to ask, Who was praying for me? Who was praying for me, dead, Tuesday night? Her father responded, why? Why do you ask?

Because Tuesday, God woke me in the middle of the night and he showed me that I was headed to hell. But God also wrapped his arms around me and showed me that he loves me. And that night, Daddy, I surrendered my life. To the Lord Christie's life was transformed and over the next 4 years, she completed Bible school and married a godly man who would eventually enter into full-time Christian ministry.

Pastor Jim's story illustrates for us that as fathers in a church, we need the Lord to do what we are powerless to do. We are completely dependent upon the Lord to move in the hearts of our children and to reveal Himself to them and bring them to a place of repentance and belief and to cause them to grow in respect to their salvation and to be sanctified and to live to the glory of God. And to conform them into the very image. of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As fathers. We need the gospel. We need prayer, we need to be prayed for. Obviously, we need to pray ourselves.

We need a big view of God. We need examples to follow. Look for those examples and model your life after the examples of godliness that you see. We need support from our wives.

We need obedience from our children. If our children are to be all of what God wants them to be and to walk in a worthy manner, we need for them to be obedient. So hear that young person. We need concrete instruction coupled with personal obedience.

We need to engage the battle and not to sit back and to watch others fight this good fight of faith, but we must together engage the battle on behalf of ourselves, on behalf of our families, as fathers, on behalf of our children. And at the end of the day, fathers may do everything right. But fathers have a final need. And as we talked about, fathers need God to work.

I want to ask you if you would be willing. To close with me in prayer. And let us ask God to work. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we just come before you.

Again, in the name of Jesus. And Lord, we acknowledge, we confess our ignorance. Our weakness Our sin and our depravity. And we know, Lord, that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle.

And Lord, we know that Satan would like nothing more. Than to lay hold of our young people. And make them his own. And Lord, we come together as a church in the name of Jesus, and we ask, Lord, that You would bless our efforts.

That Lord, even despite our weakness, that Lord, you would show up. And that God, you would work in a mighty way in the lives of our young people. And that God you would cause them to lay hold of a vision of who you are. Help them to realize, Lord, how great you are.

And help them, Lord, to see that you died on the cross for them, and whether they're saved or whether they are unsaved, whatever, just reveal yourself to them and cause them to be saved and then cause them to be sanctified and cause them, Lord, above all things to want to live their lives for your glory. Be with our fathers here, Lord, and give grace to us and empower us and help us, Lord, to be the man that you want us to be. Lord, help us, fill us with your Spirit to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that we could ask or think.

You are the God who is able, and we pray, Lord, that you would show yourself strong in our lives, in the lives of our children, in the lives of the families here.

Lord, I think of brothers. And sisters in Christ who are struggling. As parents in their marriage. And Satan is seeking to have a field day.

And we, Lord, we pray in your name that you would show yourself strong. That Lord, you would grant repentance, Lord. That Lord, you would bring healing. Restoration.

That young people would rise up and call their parents blessed and live for your glory, that fathers that we would be, the fathers you call us to be, to be like you, God. It would strengthen the families here. You are a good god. And we thank you that you died, that you bled your blood on the cross for us, so that through you, Lord, we have forgiveness, that through you, Lord, we can hope to experience fullness, we yield ourselves to you, we surrender ourselves to you, we lay ourselves at your feet and we pray, Lord, use us.

To accomplish your purposes. Bring healing, Lord, to the families and to the churches across this nation, so that, Lord, your people can make a difference in the world in which we live. And Lord, as we prepare to give to you a small portion of what you have given to us, and as the ushers come forward to receive the offering, Lord, we lay this offering at your feet and we pray that you would use it to accomplish much for the glory of God. And we pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.