The Father Heart of God

Well, first off, I just want to say happy Father's Day to all the dads in the room. Amen. Amen.

I'm not saying anything, but I think the moms got a louder clap last month. But, you know, it is what it is. I get it. I get it. I really do.

I understand it. Because we're going to talk about. I'm going to do something very similar to what Pastor Kevin did last month with Mother's Day, but I want us to kind of hone in this message when it comes to dads in the room. And I understand that Father's Day has to be one of the most popular holidays to forget. No, not really.

Not really. But there was. I honestly could only count one advertisement this month for Father's Day. So I give God praise for that one reminder. But honestly, today is a day that the Lord has made, and we should rejoice and be glad in it, and we should be glad in the work that God is doing in the fathers in this house.

Whether you are a dad or whether you're about to be a dad or whether you envision yourself being a dad. I believe this message is. Can be helpful to us. Even though the text that we're looking at does not speak to dad specifically, I believe that it is something that we can all draw from. But I also believe it's something that specifically for us dads, we need to hear.

Because at the end of the day, there's a lot of demand, as Kevin, who's leading worship, was calling attention to. There are things that we think about. There are things that we do here on this earth that, you know, take a lot of for us dads to do at times, because we are imperfect people. We are people that want to. For those who are in Christ to please the Lord.

Right? And as we go the direction God is calling us, especially as dads, I understand that this can be a challenging but most delightful blessing that you could ever walk in and understand this. I get it. Because there are so many demands, what a father walks in today's world. But I just want to share with us here at Legacy, and I just want to share with you, there are so many dads that I've had the opportunity of meeting with.

There are dads that Pastor Justin, Pastor Kevin, and all those on staff have had the opportunity to meet with. And can I just say that we see you. I wanted to make sure you know that we see you. We see the testimony you walk with. We see the heart that you carry to walk and look like Jesus and embody Jesus in your home.

We see you. We see the concern that you carry for your kids and your family. We see you as you carry the concerns for your wives. We see you. We see how you walk.

We see how committed you are. We see you. And as I say that, I say that not only because I am a dad, but I say that because I've walked along with some pretty impressive men of God. And I just feel so blessed to be a part of a church that is full of men of faith like you guys. And I know that everybody that's a part of the family can see and attest to your dads and say amen to that.

Because, you know, it's not easy being a dad in today's world. There's a lot of demand. There truly is, as they are on moms. And just in case moms, you feel a little jealous because I'm focusing on this message on dad. I just want to challenge you to watch last month's message with Pastor Kevin.

Just, just want to make sure. I don't want no trouble. You know what I mean? No trouble today. But at the end of the day, I just want to make sure that we are reminded too, as dads, there's a lot of demand on us, and I've said that a few times already.

But if we look at the natural scope of what is expected of a dad here on this earth today, I'm just going to read some things. That's naturally what is expected of us, and that's obviously being the financial provider that is sharing responsibilities for, of course, your child and the housework, keeping your children safe and healthy, being a source of love and affection, providing guidance and discipline, encouraging your children's dreams and their goals. Even though sometimes their dreams and goals may not match what your dreams and goals are, we're still called as dads to really encourage them. Amen on that. Right.

Okay, let's keep going. Sometimes when something breaks at the house, we're called to be the handyman. We have to be the main role model as a male role model for our children. And at times, even here in society, it demands us to be strong and stoic. At times.

Sometimes we may not show the emotion that's really going on in our hearts, but if we're being quite honest, there's a lot of things that come from the demands of not only raising your family, but there's going to work and providing and making sure the bills are paid, making sure everything is flowing, making sure that everybody has what they need making sure that the children are growing in a very respectful and honoring way, and then at the same time, trying to meet the demands of homework assignments and meet the demands of making sure that you're there for every single game or making sure you're there for every single specific achievement that your child makes. There is a lot that comes with it as dads. But can I just remind us of one thing, too?

We are called as dads to be the spiritual leaders of our home. And I know that we hear that a lot. I know that we understand that in a sense. But really what it's saying is when it comes to be. When it comes to the word love, we are supposed to be the leader in our homes.

When it comes to love, when it comes to nurturing, when it comes to compassion, when it comes to forgiveness, when it comes to all the attributes that come from the Lord, we are to embody that. And those are the things that sometimes, if we're not careful for what's going on in society, and we're drawing from a. Well, from society that can actually, you know, at the same time, coming together with the things that we feel that we have to accomplish here on this earth, can feel a little overwhelmed. But I want to read a scripture. I want to read a text to us, and that's in Psalm 103.

If you have your Bibles, if you could turn to Psalm 103. We're going to read through verses one through 13 today. And that's where we're going to be focused in and hone in on this today. And this is going to be really an encouraging but reminding message. Nothing super sophisticated from this message, but it is a reminder to us all, especially as dads.

But like I said earlier, it may be drawn towards dads, but I believe we all can take from this text. Amen. And in verse 1 in Psalms 103, it says, Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits.

Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works righteous and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide Nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us, as a father shows compassion to his children. But let's remember, let's note that, because that's what we're supposed to embody. So the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Can we just say amen to this word?

You see, we have to. When we take a look at this word, we have to know that the writer is known to be King David. And King David has been through a lot of different things. And we understand the story of King David. He's a man after God's own heart.

We understand that about him. But he also ran into a lot of trials, tribulations. He walked into a lot of victories. He walked in some great moments and some mediocre moments and some very painful moments. And we have to understand in the first two verses, we don't specifically identify maybe what he is drawing from, but we can identify what he has lived and say that in these first two verses, he's saying, bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me.

Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all his benefits. When we look at the word blessed, it's a very unique word because it's not something that we can just bestow on God, but it's identifying and being, reminding to our life that we serve an amazing and good God. And what we do in our life is when we pray, please him.

We please him through our attitude of thankfulness, our attitude of being grateful, our attitude of walking in a mindfulness that he has been with us. And we are so grateful for all the things that he has done and bestowed. Everything that is within me, my life, my actions, and who I am, I give to you and give thanks and praise because you alone deserve it all. Amen. So we have to understand that King David is trying to draw us into and himself into the understanding that, hey, God deserves all praise.

God deserves all praise. But can I just share this as we talk about being a dad or we talk to the dads in the room and maybe if you're watching online, I can just share this and say, hey, there are things that are very confusing in this world. There are things that are very tough and to acknowledge in this room. There's things that are happening in our own personal lives right now that quite honestly can rob us from this ability of being thankful. It can just rob us from this ability of being grateful.

It can rob us. Life has its ways of robbing us from this thing inside of us to give God praise, glory.

I don't know if you're like me, that there are moments where I have bought presents for my kids and there are times where I don't know if they feel like they just deserve it and they just don't say thank you. But it happens at times, right? But whenever they do say thank you and they acknowledge where this gift has come from and they acknowledge the work that might go behind to get this particular gift from them, can't help but make any of us feel a little grateful and good. It pleases my own soul when my kids come up and say thank you. But as we as dads are walking and raising our kids and raising our families, and sometimes we look at the responsibilities that, you know, you want your children to walk in and live up to, we have to also be reminded, just like we sometimes want and desire that thank you that we have a heavenly Father who's there right now looking on our behalf, taking care of us.

We must remember to walk in thankfulness, walk in an attitude that is grateful. And I understand that life can throw some curveballs. But still the Lord is at work. And as Kevin was singing in the song just a moment ago, he's not done with us yet. And because of his faithfulness and because of his goodness and because he is a continuing working God, we can walk in this attitude of praise.

So, so that's the first thought. We as dads should stay in an attitude of thankfulness towards the Lord. And even as we looked in the first two verses, bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits.

Let's not forget that. Let's bless his name when we wake up in the morning, wake up blessing his holy name. Wake up giving thanks to God. Wake up with an attitude that wants to and desires to please God in everything that we do. Because as we embody that, that's something that's to be followed as we follow the Lord.

Then the prayer is that maybe those in the family will follow too.

But even as the workload, as family life, as busyness happens, don't forget to be thankful.

Even as King David continues to write in verse two, he even ends, forget not all his benefits. Which leads me to the second thought is remember what God has already accomplished in you and your family. Don't forget that God has already started working. He's continually working and he's going to work even in the future. He is at work in your life.

But don't forget the things that he has already accomplished your life. Let us not become numb to the fact that God has rescued us as dads that are leading our family out of so many different events. As King David writes, he says he is a God who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. You have to understand that King David identifies this, because that is something that King David has experienced.

And I believe at certain points of our lives, as we have led our homes, or maybe those who are here today have been walking and maybe there are things internally that have been bothering you, that you've been walking in flesh, in and to the point where you know you had to go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, but yet. Yet you still feel that the Lord hath redeemed you, forgiven and loved you through the mistakes, through the shortcomings of our life, he has continued to love you, he has continued to forgive you, and he continues to forgive us. He is someone that we find satisfaction in. And there's so much in this world that we can think that we can find something satisfaction in. But there's nothing like the satisfaction that you can find in Almighty God, who can meet the needs of your internal soul.

He can meet the needs of what's going on internally in us, in our minds, in our lives. He can bring true satisfaction to us with his good, with his good works, with what he does for us, what he deems for us as necessary and good and righteous. He satisfies us with his righteousness, with his justice, even to all those who are oppressed.

The Lord works righteousness and just for all those. The moments that we have felt that way in our lives. Now I understand that we can take a look at this and to identify where did this happen. But we have to look at the gospel. And the gospel is very clear that God sent His only Son for all of us.

We wonder sometimes where we see this forgiveness. We sometimes wonder where we can find this healing. We have to remember the work that Jesus Christ did on the cross for all of us was out of the attitude and the love of our Heavenly Father. We must be reminded that he did something that we could never ever do. The work and the life that Jesus lived on this earth was perfect, did not deserve the death that he got.

But the Heavenly Father sent him for us anyway. Why? Because he loves you. Why? Because he wants to bring connection to us.

And that's what we can find here is as we are reminded today, don't forget the accomplishments that God has done for you or your family. I believe that there are things that we pray for. There are things where we've asked God to come in and rescue us financially, whether it's emotionally, maybe it's with our flesh and the things that we're struggling with. And then all of a sudden, God then responds, let's not forget what he has done. Let us walk in this continual, reminded mindset that God has brought us through a mighty long way.

And he continues and continues and he continues to do it.

You see, there are so many challenges that David, he went through and, you know, through the deliverance that, you know, David has felt in many different areas. He still faced numerous challenges. He including the battles, rebellions, and personal sin in his life. He experienced the forgiveness and restoration of our Heavenly Father. And I know that sometimes we look at the story of King David and say, you know what, we're not in that realm.

But I believe in some areas we face these challenges head on. We face it and sometimes, like I stated earlier, the demand on the Father and the demand of what we are to walk in and walk like and how we are to have strength in the midst of all of that. Sometimes it's not what's really going on in our heart and our soul and our mind. Sometimes there's a lot of fear. Sometimes there's a lot of things that we want to run away from.

There are things that we get scared of. But I just want to remind us this morning who we find our strength, who we find our hope, who we find this healing in, who we find our forgiveness in. As we continue to walk, as we continue to lead in our homes. I want us to be reminded of that. And quite honestly, even when we hear the word rebellious, some of us dads have walked through some rebellions in our own home, whether lighthearted or whether very discouraging.

But I want you to take heart from this text that God is working. God is with you. He's the God who satisfies you. He's one you can find Satisfaction in He's the one who can heal. He can heal all the diseases at stakes.

And even if you look deeper in context, like there's physical healing, but then yet there's this internal healing that needs to happen in what's going on in our lives. God is faithful to work in us and through us.

And I know that, you know, we look at life today and we find ourselves in many different positions, predicaments. And as we sometimes walk in a position, maybe we feel a little overwhelmed. There's one thing that I want to make sure, and this is the third thought, is lean and trust in God's abundant nature.

Lean and trust in God's abundant nature.

As we heard earlier, there are some of us who are walking and we feel like we have to fix it all. We have to be at all at home. And I admit today, sometimes I can walk in that at home. And sometimes there is this dilemma in my soul that if I even make a mistake and the kids see that I make a mistake, sometimes I don't say sorry the way that I should. Sometimes I don't say, I love you as much as I should.

And I try and I try and I try and I try to live up to a mantle that I can only get from God. And I think that's the reminder this morning. The reminder this morning is when we walk, when we talk, when we pray, when we acknowledge who he is. Let us lean and trust in God's abundant nature, his characteristics, who he is. It says in verse 8, 13, it says, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

Message for us today that is very similar to what we heard last month with moms is really to abide in this, to trust in the characteristics, his abundant characteristics. To trust in the Lord in all things, to abide in him in all things. When we feel weak, let's walk in Him. Let's trust and abide in Him. When we fear so many things, when we're walking in a place where we feel alone, let's remember his steadfast love, meaning his faithful or continued love.

Sometimes when we feel like we're in trouble with God, let's remember that he's forgiving.

Let us remember his compassion.

And I know that even as I share this, even as I share this today. I know, I know, I know for some of us, this is a hard day.

For some of us, this is a very difficult day. Why? Because we live in a broken world with many broken things and sometimes broken relationships. And in these broken relationships, maybe you had a father that the relationship was broken, broken, it wasn't healthy. And even me sharing this is kind of triggering something in you.

Maybe there's something happening in your heart and your mind saying, I know you're saying all this, but I never experienced that. Some of us are walking through a pain. And like myself, I had my dad until I was at the age of 26. And sometimes I still wonder what his advice would be to this day on certain subject matters. I still wonder what he would think about my two sons.

I still wonder what he would do in spending time together. Even at the age that he would have been at. I think about that.

For some of us, this is difficult because we are the dad. And some of us acknowledge the brokenness in the relationship.

Some of us acknowledge the hardships of what's happened in the relationship, whether it's a son or a daughter who's walked away, whether it's the inconsistencies of our own personal lives that have hindered the relationship, or maybe it's because of the loss of a child.

This can be difficult.

But I'm reminded of what Isaiah says in chapter 12. There's a well that you can draw. Draw of salvation, that it speaks of a well. And I can only imagine or say that the well is eternal.

There is a source that we have that we can draw from. And here can be the dilemma. The dilemma is this, that we can either draw from the source of pain, hurt, trauma, dissatisfaction. We can draw from all of that. And at the end of the day, when we draw from these attributes, it only brings us down even more.

We can draw from the well that never, ever, ever runs dry. We can draw from who he is, a strength that we need in every situation, a hope that never runs out, a love that is eternal and. And everlasting.

My hope today is when we think on the things of the Lord, when we talk about the attributes of God in all of this. My hope and my desire is that we always make it a point to draw from the Source of our Heavenly Father.

Because in him you do find refuge. In him you do find strength. And to you dads who are doing the best you can, but you're running into trial and tribulation and pain and hurt I share with you today, you do find refuge. You can find refuge in.

You can find his steadfast love.

If you feel that you can't ever experience it again because of things that have happened. His love is forever. And we know that because of the work that he sent his only begotten Son to do for all of us. His love is here for us.

The reminder is he is for you guys. He is with you. He is there to guide you, to strengthen you, to empower you, to remind you of his goodness, to remind you of how faithful he is. He is there.

But my prayer is that you draw from his source and not the source from the experience that you had. We can learn from it. Don't draw from it. Can we say Amen to that today? I just want to pray for us this morning.

But before I do, I just want to share these thoughts again. For those who are dads, I want us to remember this.

As much or as busy as you get, or whatever's happening in your life, find a way to embody an attitude of thankfulness in your home.

Find that way through the scripture reading, through the prayers that you have by leading your household. Because I know how sarcastic this world has become. I know how demanding or how cynical at times this world can become, and it can just take away from that ability. But I want to challenge you dads to stay in an attitude of thankfulness. Also be reminded of what God has already accomplished in your life.

And also understand that he's faithful enough to continue the work that he's already started in you.

And then thirdly, lean and trust in God's abundant nature.

Can we pray?

Heavenly Father, we do thank you.

We thank you for your love that is everlasting. We thank you that it's steadfast. And in so many different areas of our life, where sometimes we don't feel it, you are still there. You're always there.

And there are so many opportunities, Lord, for us who are dads, to take from a source, not only even us dads, but really all of us here in service, we have opportunities to take from a source that will only bring us more pain and harbor more anger and harbor more things of our broken world. But guide us, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, guide us to always be reminded of the Source as everlasting.

And just like David poetically shares this psalm. May it be something that reminds us every day of how we wake up and how we walk through the day. May it acknowledging, reflecting on you, reflecting on the things that you're continually doing or have done.

I ask Father that your Holy Spirit, if any person has walked in here with any hurt or even any pain or even struggling in this, the sense of this message, I pray that you would begin the work of healing in their heart hearts.

I pray for the fathers who are walking through a disconnected relationship.

I pray for all of those maybe who have relationship with their dad, who have disconnection in their relationship. And I ask Father, that you would bring comfort in all. You would bring peace. Bring peace to those who have lost either a father or a child.

Bring peace, a peace that passes all understanding.

And as we walk, Lord, out of here, may we walk in the confidence understanding that you, you are with us. You are for us, and you're not done with us yet. For the work that you're doing is continuous and that is the source we draw for you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.