I. A Word to Fathers 00:00
Today I’m going to talk about part two from last week. The first thing I want to say, though (and this is not necessarily a Father’s Day sermon; I don’t know if you remember, but I had the privilege this year of preaching on Mother’s Day as well, so I guess that was a gift to my parents, because they love me so much and they get to hear me on those days), is one thing about fathers, and who knows if it’ll show up later in the sermon.
There is an image of the father in our culture that we all know of: the big blundering fool, or the adulterer, or the drunk. Don’t be that. If you’re a father, you are called to be the light of the world, not only to the people around you but especially to your family. And if there’s one thing I can point to in the world that would make an enormous difference in our culture and our society, it’s if men would stand up and be the fathers they’re called to be. Because you know what? Mothers are taking care of their children. Statistically speaking, that’s who the children are with. And statistically speaking, the fault is at our door, us men, for leaving and abandoning that responsibility.
And we shouldn’t just think, “Well, I’m doing my job.” We should think, “Who are the young men in my life that I can pour into?” Because they’re so crucial to this mission God has of saving the world and redeeming the world. So that’s all I’m going to say about fathers for now. I’m sure you can draw out all the important points from there.
I’ll say one more thing: I’m really here today because of the fathers in my life. Not just my dad, although he is, as you all know, a marvelous human being, but because of people like Bishop Kessler, Father Conkle; even Ron has had to bring some correction in my life, as a good fatherly man over there. There are so many people in this room and in my history, fathers who stood and had integrity and loved me well and guided me. I just can’t imagine being the kid who doesn’t have that in their life. And that transitions right there: there might be somebody in your life who doesn’t have a biological father, but they need you to be a spiritual father in their life. So don’t just think in terms of biology here, although that’s important.
II. Let Me Sum Up 02:05
Last week I talked about quite a lot. This is my favorite movie up here, The Princess Bride, and there’s this great point where he’s trying to catch up the main character, and he goes, “Let me explain. No, there’s too much. Let me sum up.” So that’s what I’m going to do here. I’m going to sum up what happened last week, because there’s way too much to explain. I’ve got three lines here that I’m just going to read, and hopefully that’ll solve it for you.
How you respond in these chaotic, unprecedented times matters. You are at the center of God’s plans to heal and save our world. We are called as Christians to respond as meek, merciful peacemakers who hold on to hope in the midst of mourning, and hunger and thirst for righteousness, while understanding that we are poor in spirit and we need Jesus. We will maintain pure hearts and remain unafraid in the face of persecution. This means that we will not forget our response comes out of God’s strength and not our own. We will pray for our enemies. We will not sit in the seat of the scornful, on social media or otherwise. And we will focus on our own righteousness rather than calling down judgment on others. Remember: if everyone swept in front of their own door, the whole world would be clean.
So that’s a summary of what we talked about last week, and it came from my reading of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5 and 6. We talked about the Beatitudes, and we pulled some of the verses where he later expounds upon them.
III. Pearls Before Pigs 04:13
But today we’re going to narrow in on his conclusions, and that’s in Matthew chapter 7. It’s very, very important to what we’re doing in this day and age, and you’ll see that as it pulls out here. Chapter 7 of Matthew begins with the passage about taking the log out of your own eye before you try to take the speck out of your brother’s eye, which we read last week. But there’s this great verse Jesus tags on to that, which people don’t tend to read as a part of it. They just like to talk about “You hypocrite, don’t judge others, take care of your own eye.” But there’s this verse right at the end where he says:
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” Matt 7.6
Now, I like to read the Bible in a particular way. I don’t know where I learned this, but somebody taught me: I like to read myself as the dog or the pig in the scenario. We often like to think that we’re the wise man throwing out pearls, and all those pigs out there, all those dogs, are just trampling down our nuggets of wisdom. But think about it: maybe you’re the dog or the swine who isn’t listening to the wisdom God wants to drop in your life. I know I’ve had those moments where I’ve been so arrogant that I just didn’t listen to the wisdom of somebody trying to share in my life. Maybe it’s because I didn’t like them. Maybe it’s because I was too set on my own opinions. But for some reason I wasn’t open to listening.
Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist, has these twelve rules for life, and one of the rules, I think, encapsulates what I’m talking about right now. He says, “Assume whoever you’re listening to knows something you don’t.” That’s the posture we need to have when we’re engaging with people in the world. In fact, there might be something here that you never do: the rule assumes that you’re listening to somebody. Maybe you just don’t listen to anybody. Maybe you haven’t even gotten that far. So we need to listen, and we need to assume that they might have something to teach us.
There are many, many times in Scripture where the person you wrote off has the word of the Lord for the situation. We see it over and over and over again. In fact, Jesus and God were so desperate to speak to one prophet, named Balaam, that they used the donkey (Num 22.28). You don’t need to listen to your donkey, right? He doesn’t know anything you don’t know. Now, I’m stretching the point a little bit here, but my idea is: you may have an ass in your life that you don’t want to listen to, and God may be using them to speak to you. So pay attention. There might be something they know that you don’t. That’s a stance of humility.
I can’t stand it when people just go around on Facebook looking for that person they want to fight with because that person’s so wrong. Read, listen to people. Don’t be so concerned that your opinion is the one that’s getting heard.
And to flip it on the other side, let’s assume that there are dogs and pigs out there, because I promise you there are, who don’t care what you have to say, even if it’s from God Almighty himself. I think this piece of wisdom, “Do not give dogs what is holy, do not throw your pearls before pigs,” teaches us a little bit about how we engage on social media. Because if you’re disagreeing with somebody, or somebody’s saying something that offends you, and you start throwing in Bible scriptures or wisdom, they might come after you. It might not be worth it.
And if there’s somebody you actually have a relationship with, and you see something they post that is offending you (and I know I’m just focusing on the social media stuff, but this applies at any time: if you hear them talking to a friend and it offends you), have a private conversation with them. It might not be the place to do it, right in the middle of everybody else’s thing. Send a private message. Do something different. I do think we’re called to confront the people in our circle of friends who are saying things we know are not biblical. But don’t do it on their public Facebook page. That’s just wisdom, I think, and I got all that from that scripture: do not throw out what is holy before people who don’t want to hear it. Either way, we’ll move on.
IV. Ask, Seek, Knock 08:05
So how do we know what is true in the world? How do we discern? Because it’s so hard to know who to believe, what expert to follow, what person to listen to, who your inputs are. How do we know? In the next few sections Jesus teaches us some of the tools we need to discern truth. First of all, this is a message of hope, here in verse 7. This is our next scripture:
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matt 7.7–8
I know for a fact, because I felt this myself, that there are people in this room who have looked at the chaos that is the media and social media and the experts, and all the people giving you advice and news, and all the signs telling you what you’ve got to do. I know for a fact there are times when you just want to shut it off and not engage, because it’s too confusing. “How am I going to figure it out? I’m just little old me, and there are all these smart people trying to figure this stuff out, and they can’t even agree. So how am I supposed to know?”
Well, the message Jesus wants you to hear today is that he will be your answer if you seek him and you seek his will and his truth. He is the truth, the way and the life (John 14.6). He’s not going to let you get to a point where you literally cannot see.
Let me talk about that a little bit. We often treat God like he is confusing, like he’s trying to trick us. “Did I miss God on that? Oh man.” You just agonize over, “What is God’s will in my life?” God wants to bring clarity to your life. And if you’re having difficulty finding that clarity, then just walk it back: what in your life is distracting you from what God wants [you] to hear? Because the promise is, if you seek, you will find. Or maybe you just need to pull in one of your home group leaders or one of your priests. Maybe you need counsel. There’s wisdom in the abundance of counsel. But my point is: don’t just give up because it’s hard to understand what’s going on in the world. There’s a promise Jesus has given us: those who seek will find.
And this is beyond just praying, although praying is important. There’s actually a principle here: God has made the universe such that it is revealed to us. I could go on and on and on about the foundations of science. All these Christian men thought they could understand the world because they believed Jesus when he said those who seek will find, because they believed that God wanted to make himself known in the world.
So you might be confused right now. You might not be able to see through the muck. But my promise to you today is: put in the effort and seek, because the answers are life or death for us. We’ve got to know what God wants in our life. And he wants prosperity. He wants abundant life. He wants to lead you through. He wants to shape you. Don’t give up. If there’s one secret in Christianity, it is this: never give up. Continue to follow him, because you will find what you’re looking for in Jesus.
V. How Much More Will Your Father Give 11:05
And then he follows up. He just said, “Ask, and it’ll be given,” and this is kind of his apologetic for why what you’re seeking will be given to you:
9 “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matt 7.9–11
So he says, “This is the principle: ask and it will be given, seek and you will find.” And he goes, “Duh. God loves you.” Why do you think he’s willing to meet your needs? Why do you think he’s providing for you? If you’re an earthly father (hey, Father’s Day, that’s coming up), if you’re an earthly father and you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so God? Don’t you trust him? Don’t you believe that he’s for you?
I think a lot of the time we don’t. We forget it. We treat him like he’s a dictator who’s got a list and he’s just checking it off: “Well, he didn’t do this, or he didn’t do that, or he didn’t read his Bible,” whatever. No. God is at the door waiting to give you direction, guidance, truth, healing, freedom. Those are the things God is seeking to give you, because he’s a good father.
There’s one thing I’ll say here. There was this great worship song I heard the other day, and it has this one line that says, “We’re marching on our knees.” I think it’s a fascinating idea, because where are we called to press into these things? You and I all have needs in our life. We might even have desperate needs. They might be financial or physical or emotional. You might have desperate needs in your life. So how do you fight for those things? One of the key ways we fight is by getting on our knees before the Father and praying. If you have a problem in your life that you’re trying to solve and you haven’t brought it up in prayer, then I would argue you’re not really trying to solve the problem, because the solution has to involve God.
We can do a lot by God’s grace. We might be able to make decisions in our life. I’m not saying that when you get to a stoplight you need to ask God whether to turn right or left. Maybe you do at some point in your life. But generally speaking, he loves for us to make our choices. He’s not going to decide whether you want pumpkin spice or vanilla in your coffee. But he does want to guide you on those issues in your life that are bringing pain or anxiety or fear.
My point in all of this is that when you look at the world, you can think it’s hopeless: “I will never understand what to do.” But God is dying, literally (he died), for the fact that he wants to meet your needs, bring clarity and truth and direction in your life. Now, that doesn’t mean you’re always going to know what to do all the time. He might allow you one step. He might guide you step by step. You might be in a fog where you really don’t know what’s coming up next. But the promise is that you can trust him, because he’s a good Father, and he’s not going to give you a stone when you ask for bread. He’s not going to give you a serpent when you ask for fish.
And so that’s the first principle of discernment: seek and you will find. And where do you seek? He made it very clear: you seek from the Father and his wisdom, because you have the Holy Spirit in you, and he can guide you in that.
VI. You Will Know Them by Their Fruits 14:44
The second principle has to do with false prophets. This is a little bit later in the chapter, in verse 15:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Matt 7.15–20
Jesus is so good at these examples. I just want to stop right there and say he just knew what to say. I don’t know; he’s God Almighty, he has the truth in him. But he’s giving you a really clear example that there is actually a way you can know whether somebody you’re listening to is a false prophet. And they don’t have to claim to hear from God to be a false prophet. There are plenty of atheists telling you that science is proving this who are false prophets. They come in sheep’s clothing. What’s sheep’s clothing nowadays? “I’m a health scientist,” or “I’m a politician,” or “I’m a whatever.” They have these labels they put on themselves. They’re the experts: “I’m going to guide you in the way you should go, and you should listen to me.” Well, we have an onus and a responsibility to look for who is the false prophet we’re listening to. And how do you do that? You do it by their fruits.
So what fruits are we talking about? We’re going to take a little trip down the road in the Bible, to Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 19. I’ll read this; it’s a bit of a paragraph, and I’ll break it out and we’ll see the principles we’re learning here.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal 5.19–23
The works of the flesh: these are the bad fruits. Just key in; these are the bad fruits. That’s a really rich passage. We could talk for days on it. I’m just going to pull out a few things for you.
The evil things sound really familiar to what we’re seeing in the world. Things that cause enmity, strife, division, jealousy, anger: that looks like what we’re seeing in the media and in social media and a lot of the posts. All of a sudden that crosses out, let’s say, 90 percent of the content you see online today. You can just go, “Enmity, strife, division, anger, jealousy. Boom.” You’ve discerned a ton of negative things. Now of course, some of those posts that encourage these things have some truth in them. Fine. But there are other people you can find who are going to teach you the truth, who aren’t going to use it to encourage anger, jealousy, strife, division. That’s most of everything I want to say.
When you’re reading it, if you start to get angry, ask yourself, “Is this the post, is this something that I’m reading, or do I have something in my heart I need to check?” Because I don’t want you to put your head in the sand and not read anything. So be discerning. Trust that the Holy Spirit will guide you in that process. But look at the fruit. Look at the fruit.
I’ll just give you two examples. One: rioting and looting. That looks a lot like division, strife, anger and jealousy. Probably not what God wants you to do. On the other hand, things that are dismissive of the other people, that completely ignore and belittle the people they’re disagreeing with: that’s very clearly also going to create division, strife and jealousy. And you see that on both sides. You’ll have the conservative paper that will talk about “those stupid, ignorant people out there protesting because they’re so mad; racism doesn’t even exist anymore,” blah, blah. You can hear the tone of an article start to come out. And you can see it on the liberal side: “those crazy, racist, bigoted people; we don’t even need to listen to them, because they’re so stupid.” As soon as it starts belittling the people it’s talking about, that’s probably going to fit into this category. And beware: no matter how much you like the guy, no matter how much you like what he’s saying, beware of where it’s leading you. Is it creating more anger and division and jealousy in your heart?
Then idolatry is another one, and that one’s separate. Anything that’s encouraging you to put your hope and trust in something that is not God is encouraging idolatry. That means government programs. That means a political party. That means “If you just do this, then everything in the world will be better.” That’s idolatry. That’s putting your trust in a man-fueled program and not in God. We don’t look to the government for our answers. We don’t look to our politicians for our answers. We support those programs that are in line with what Jesus has taught us. We support those politicians who support the stuff we’ve learned in the Bible. Don’t fall for the trap of idolatry.
And if you’re afraid, because you’re reading all these things and you’re afraid you’re going to lose government support, or you’re afraid the wrong politician is going to win, or you’re afraid the culture is going to ignore your views, or it’s becoming so un-Christian, then maybe you have a little idolatry in yourself you need to look at. Because fear is not of the Lord. We can have concern. But if we ground ourselves in Jesus, then we know that our fate is not determined by the outside circumstances. We are called to stand firm in faith and not in fear.
And the last thing I’ll say about these evil fruits, these bad fruits (I’m tempted to skip it, because it seems obvious, but I think we need to say it): if there’s anything you’re reading that is encouraging you toward sexual immorality, sensuality, orgies or drunkenness, just cut it out. It doesn’t matter how good the TV show is. If it’s encouraging you to lust, if it’s encouraging you to drunkenness, if it’s encouraging you to negative morality, just cut it out. It’s not worth it. Be aware of your own heart.
That’s a Father’s Day message right there, because I’ll tell you (not that it doesn’t happen to women), that takes people out. When you allow that to fester in your heart, when you give yourself justifications to keep consuming material that’s encouraging things you know are wrong, it’s going to take you out. Don’t let it. There’s no reason. It’s not worth it. Entertainment is not worth your life. It’s not worth your family.
And the last thing I’ll say here: ask yourself the question as you read these things, “Is this manipulating me to think or feel in a certain direction?” Now, my point here is not to make you fearful of the content you consume. But it’s a good question to ask yourself, especially when you feel that emotional response: “Oh, that’s so good,” or “Oh, I’m so angry,” or “Oh, I can’t stand that they’re doing that.” Is this manipulating your emotions to get you to believe a certain way? We talked about this a lot last week. Make sure you know what your inputs are, because if you’re inputting trash, you’re going to output trash. If you’re inputting these bad fruits, you’re going to output these bad fruits. And make sure the Bible’s a regular part of your diet. Because if you don’t have any protein or veggies in your diet, then you’re going to get fat and you’ll probably get sick. It’s the same type of thing we’re talking about. Make sure you’re eating from the Bible on a regular basis.
So the second principle is: you will know them by their fruits. And you know those posts that encourage you toward love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Those are important things. I think you do know, because I think the Holy Spirit within you can alert you to that. Pursue those things. If you find somebody you particularly like (there are some podcasts out there I love, there are some good authors out there), find those people who are going to pour that stuff into you. You don’t just have the Bible. You also have lots of people in the world who are putting out amazing, good Christian value. They don’t even have to call themselves Christian, but great content that encourages you toward those things. “Good things shine” is what I wrote. When you read that thing that’s encouraging to you, it’s so obvious, often, in this world full of gray and dark content.
VII. Lord, Lord 23:12
So: first, seek and you’ll find. Second, you’ll know them by their fruit. Third, we’re going to talk about this, verse 21:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Matt 7.21–23
I’m going to rewrite this real quick. I’m going to rewrite Scripture, which is a dangerous thing to do, but just go with me for a second and see if this fits. “Lord, Lord, did we not retweet the hashtag in your name? Did we not read all the right books? Did we not go on the marches and the protests? Did we not vote for the right candidate? Did we not support your holy country of America? Did we not do all these things in your name?” Insert your own level of arrogance and pride right there. Where’s the thing you think justifies your actions?
Because I’ll tell you, the key in this is “I never knew you.” If you don’t know Jesus, then it doesn’t matter what you do. No matter how good the works are that you’re doing, no matter how good you are, no matter how much you affect the world, if you don’t know Jesus, then… Paul calls his own good works rubbish, feces (Phil 3.8). He goes far. He’s like, “It’s just a pile of dirty rags.” It reminds me of when he also writes, “If I do all these good things but have not love, then what does it profit me? Then I’m nothing” (1 Cor 13.2–3).
So ask yourself, “Do I know Jesus? Am I spending time knowing Jesus?” You can’t say, “I know Jesus,” and never talk to him. If I had a cousin or a brother and I said, “Yeah, they’re my cousin, they’re my brother, we have a good relationship,” and then you say, “When was the last time you talked?” “I don’t know, ten years ago, for five minutes.” That’s not a relationship. You might be linked by blood. You might be in the kingdom of God. But you definitely aren’t developing your relationship with him if you don’t spend any time with him.
Now, my point here isn’t to shake my finger at you and say, “You bad people.” My point is: you are missing out if it’s all about the things you do and not about the person you serve. If it’s all about the things you do, and you’re trying to get your life in order so that it looks the way you think it should look, then you’re missing the whole point. If you make it about him, then guess what? Life, abundantness (I don’t know if that’s a word), righteousness, peace, joy. There’s so much he wants to do for you, and he never stops. Every day of your life he wants to meet you and bring you into that place, from glory to glory. He’s changing us (2 Cor 3.18). We limit our scope of what he can do in our life, and we limit the scope of what he’s called us to do. But if you keep those things in mind and you pursue him, he will lead you there.
And the last thing I’ll say about this verse, and then we’ll wrap up: he equates never knowing Jesus with workers of lawlessness. Do you know why? Because elsewhere he says, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commands” (John 14.15). So it’s not just about feel-good devotion time. It’s also about listening to where God wants to lead you, and going. Hear and obey. And it’s good. It’s not a condemning word. It’s like, “If you do this, guess what? I’ll take care of you.”
VIII. The House on the Rock 27:15
And we’ll get to the last part here, which is the promise. We just talked for two whole sermons about all the things God wants to do in our hearts, all the ways he wants us to behave, all the ways he wants us to conform to his will. And here’s the promise, right here in verse 24, as Jesus concludes. This is the conclusion of his Sermon on the Mount:
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matt 7.24–27
The point is, all that stuff I said about how God wants to transform you from glory to glory is important. But what Jesus is highlighting here is that there are storms coming your way. There’s a day when evil and malevolence and tragedy are going to come knocking on your door. But if you hear these words and do them, if you focus on what Jesus has told you, if you develop with him, then when that happens you will actually be able to stand in the day of trial and tribulation. You’ll have a rock to stand on. If you instead put all your hope in the government or policies or philosophies or the ways of the world, that’s just shifting sand. It’s going to change with the times, and when the storm comes, they’re not going to support you.
Now, I just feel I need to emphasize here that that’s not a doomsday prediction. That’s actually an encouragement to you: there is nothing in this world that can come against you if you stand on God’s word. There is no need to fear, because if you stand on God’s word, no matter what you go through, be it even death on the cross, God is able to redeem that. And in the end, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
We can’t even fathom the balance of eternity. We look at the world, and sometimes we start to think it’s 50 percent bad, 50 percent good, and that’s if we’re feeling optimistic. We can look at the world and think it’s mostly bad and we’re just holding on to our good and valuing the little things in our life. And God looks at the world and he goes, “I created this. And guess what? The bad is so insignificant in the balance, in the scales of eternity, that you will forever be singing hallelujah to our God,” because we will see it.
Why do you think they’re singing that up in Revelation? It sounds kind of boring, singing the same song over and over again. But man, they are so impressed with the goodness and the glory of God that all they can bring themselves to reply is, “Hosanna! Hallelujah! Blessed is he who came in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the Lamb who was slain!” They just constantly sing his praises, because it’s mind-blowing. We just don’t get how good he is.
So all this stuff is not a burden to put on your back to weigh you down: “Oh, I’ve got some anger and jealousy. I should feel so bad about me. I’m not really that good of a Christian.” It’s actually: stand up tall, because God is on your side. And he will bring even you… If I look at myself sometimes, I can just devalue: even you, worthless, lazy, evil guy. Man, you arrogant prick, even you God can redeem, if you just give it to him, if you just press into him. And he can make you the man you’ve been called to be, the woman you’ve been called to be. And it won’t just affect your world. It’ll affect your family for generations to come.
The works my grandparents did in loving people well and following God throughout their lives have affected my parents, my uncles and aunts, my siblings, myself, my children. And that work goes on for generations, on into eternity. We get so lost in the little things we encounter day by day. Hold on to hope. Stand on the word. God is for you; no one can be against you (Rom 8.31).
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, I just thank you that you have given us these words, Lord, that we find in the Bible, that you’ve given us these principles, and that we can hold on to hope. I thank you that you came and you didn’t just give us words, but you actually demonstrated your love for us in that you died and rose from the dead, that we might have life and life everlasting. I just pray that as we go throughout our days, these wouldn’t be just words that we think about, that we were encouraged by at a certain time, but that we would live the life you’ve called us to live, that these would become actions in our life; that we would know how to discern, in the midst of a chaotic world, the will of God for us in our life; that we don’t have to get the whole picture, but we can follow you step by step, and that you will lead us from glory to glory, and on the day of trial we will be able to stand on the foundation that you’ve built in our life. Thank you, Lord, for all the fathers you’ve given us, Lord, and we just pray that a spirit of fatherhood would inhabit the hearts of the young men here and the old men, all of them, Lord; that you would encourage that spirit of fatherhood in our hearts on this Father’s Day. In Jesus’ name, amen.