Welcome And Series Context

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode of the Midweek Podcast, brought to you by a Fresh Wind Church. Each week our team brings you new content to help you take steps towards Jesus and discover more in Christ. Today's episode is hosted by Pastor Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast. Pastor Ryan joined as always with Pastor Tim, and we are in, if you can believe it, Tim, week six of our series Signs and Glories. I think uh when you were uh you know trying to pull up this the notes for today, you're like week four, right? No, we've we've fought past week four already on to week six and cruising right along um in this series. And so uh this was uh a little bit of a special Sunday. Um we I man, I one of the cool things is I didn't force this, right? Um it was Father's Day Sunday, had a great Father's Day celebration at church. People were raving on the nacho bar. I kind of thought, man, we're it was killer. We're losing something not having the hot dogs. I thought apparently nobody missed the hot dogs. They're like, just give us the nachos. Um I had put in a special request for some queso and cheese or queso with chorizo, and Deb made that for us. It was phenomenal. And then I was like, man, pico would be really good. And Deb reached out to the Francos, and Christy Franco made some of the best pico I've ever had in my life.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

That was the best pico I've ever had. I don't need a spoon, I need a shovel. Right. I could have eaten it without the chips. Yeah, it was wonderful. Oh my gosh. I didn't know it was supposed to taste like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

It was it was amazing. And then I was putting, I mean, piles of jalapenos on my nachos, and one of the guys comes up and is like, You sure you can handle that? Cinnamon toast crunch is too spicy for you. You think you can handle all them jalapenos? Like, how about you just leave me alone? Let me live my life, okay? That's funny. Yeah, had uh had some guys raving on it. Um, and so that was uh that was pretty exciting. So thank you to all the people that helped um put all that together. Joy, she was one, she had to run around with me Saturday picking all that up after I had got home from the the camp out. And I man, you know, you talked about Teresa's like, don't sit on the couch, you know. Yeah, I walk in, Joy's like, whoa. She's like, You look rough, man. I feel rough. So we had to run around and pick all that up, and then she helped set it all up, get it all together.

Father’s Day At Church

SPEAKER_01 2:45

So all those people who were involved in that, and I'm sure I'm missing people. Um, but thank you guys for helping make Father's Day so special uh for for all the dads on Sunday. Um but what was cool is so we had that had that great Sunday. Also did a blessing of the bikes. Uh first time I think we've done something like that. So um didn't have a ton of bikes out there. I think we only had three, but it was cool.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Yeah, I couldn't get my bike running to get out there. So it was nice to be in the house.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

So uh yeah, if uh there's food involved, I'll be there. Cemento scrunch. Yep. We did all that, and then um you know, we had this Father's Day, you know. I was like, do I want to put John on hold so that we can do kind of a message geared towards Father's Day? But as I started reading through John chapter four and what we had and um what we were gonna lay out to do that week, I was like, man, you get down here to this Roman official who runs to Jesus um so that he can find healing for his boy who's dying. And I'm like, man, this is the Father's Day message right here. Right. So didn't even have to cancel it, put it on hold, nothing. We still got to do John chapter four. Um, Joyce was putting all the notes and stuff in so that we can you know get them online and all that stuff. Like, you're covering a lot of text today. Man, he was you were hammering it. I was like, man, I'm gonna have to read fast to get all this in. But yeah, got through the whole chapter. And uh I just thought, man, Lord, thank you for laying that out in such a way that we got to we got to hopefully you know encourage and challenge dads um on Father's Day. And I thought, man, this Roman, or I doesn't even say Roman, uh just as royal official. Um he's most likely Roman or at least serving in the Roman government. But uh man, he he provided a great example for what it looks like to do whatever it takes for your kids, and uh thought that was

John 4 And Living Water

SPEAKER_01 4:50

a good challenge for us. And so as we uh we dive in here, John chapter four, um covered a lot of ground, started with the woman at the well, and most of the sermon, you know, talked about that. It's that's the longest, I think, recorded discourse that Jesus has with anyone. Um, any one particular person is is with this woman at the well. Um and lays lays all that out for, you know, if you knew uh who was speaking to you, you would ask him, he would give you living water, and what does all that mean? And and then the whole town, whole village ends up um you know, coming to to faith in Christ because of this woman's testimony, and they all run out to meet him, and then they're like, now we we don't just believe because of what you said, we believe because we've seen him. And this he this is the savior of the world. And John is just man, he's expanding everyone's understanding. Jesus is not just for the Jews, man, he's he's for the whole world.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

It's it's important for us to realize um the implications of him going through Samaria like that. I mean, according to the Jews, uh it's not just this uh half-breed thing that they're talking about. It's a uh a heretical these guys, they're worshiping up a worshiping at a different temple. They've they've got different uh priest than the Levitical line. They they are is they've taken what we do and they've uh made it up all by themselves. We have a lot of um Christian adjacent religions that are doing the same thing. We are you know, no, we're the same as you. No, you are not the same as us.

unknown 6:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

And um this is who they were, and the Jews, the Jews hated them. And and I use that word specifically, not as in they disliked them a lot. They didn't go there.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not not to be flippant, like they literally just hated those people. Right. I you know, I pointed out on Sunday they had Jericho Road was I mean it it was popular because it was the road that they used to get around Samaria to like wool go the long way.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

And it was it was a long way around. Yeah. And uh that was the basic uh way a Jew transferred himself from one to the other. It was like I'll I'll walk that 40 miles extra. I don't care, I don't want to be around those people. And so, and then Jesus just walks into the middle of them and then walks up to someone who he shouldn't have been talking to. Uh, he shouldn't have been talking to a lady by herself and engaging her like that, sending his disciples away so he can talk to her alone. Um, I wouldn't do that. You know?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

I I would say ministry advice, this is like 101. When we bring people on board, we're like, hey, we don't do this. You you don't meet at meetings alone with people like that. Jesus is like, hey, you guys go on in a town, I gotta have a conversation.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Um so we don't we don't want to be um judgmental on someone who gets in a situation and prays with a lady and and uh but and the reason we push back on that is not because someone will say something, it's just prayer is very intimate. And uh you pray with people

Why Samaria Changes Everything

SPEAKER_02 8:40

um and it it can people feel like you love 'em, you feel and things can get all crosswired pretty quick if your wife's not there praying with you. So um if you're in the ministry and and uh you don't want to you don't want to get involved in that because people open up to you and and then they you care about 'em and they think that care is this and it's not that and it gets all confusing. So just protect yourself and protect them too.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, that that's really what it's about is just protection. Um you know. Satan, he wants to to use any good intention thing, um, and get that all twisted up in people's minds and right um being in ministry as long as we have. Um, we've just seen that, you know. And so it's better to just uh protect yourself there. But Jesus, man, he's He's all in.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

He's like, oh, you guys, what you see is this woman who's a loose woman, and I see my first evangelist. So I'm gonna go speak to my evangelist, and you guys uh go get me a bite to eat.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

And I I love that John's like, when they came back, they're like, We're not even gonna ask. We don't know what's going on here, we're just not even gonna ask. Um man, what what struck me is you know, Jesus goes in and he starts, you know, he's talking about water and living water with this this woman at the well, and then his disciples come, and then he's talking about food, and then he's talking about a harvest. He's all over the place. Right. And everyone's got to be sitting there thinking, what on earth is he talking?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

When did you get a farm? What are we doing here? About this time, I think the the disciples are like, Oh, here we go again. I had no idea. Just let him get done, and then we'll ask him later. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Once you know, we're alone, we'll we'll figure out what he was talking about. But as I was studying this week, I could literally pictures Jesus, you know, the Samaritan are coming out to meet this Jesus who told this woman everything she ever did. And so they're already on the way. And the disciples are like, you need to eat. And that's when Jesus goes into this big thing. And then he says, Open your eyes and look. The fields are ripe for harvest. And in my head, I could picture the Samaritans, you know, coming up, cresting that hill, and they're just it's full of them. The whole towns come out, and Jesus says, Open your eyes and look, they're ready. And man, it was like it broke me. I'm like, these are the people that the the disciples and the Jews would do anything to avoid, to go around. And Jesus is saying, open your eyes and see.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Yeah. And then, you know, Jesus dies on the cross, he um raised from the dead, and Philip goes down to Samaria, and this schism is not dead, but these people were getting saved, and miraculous signs going down there. So the apostles go down to see what's going on. And uh I I love it that it was the apostles because they get to see the harvest, and uh they're like, okay, we're all in. They start laying hands on everybody, and it was just uh it's a great picture. Jesus said, This is my garden, this is my farmer, she's gonna do some planting. Philip, you're gonna come back down here later and and gather this all up. And it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

What does he say? You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

I mean, he just specifically mentioned it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

And I mean, right before, and then he says to the ends of the earth.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

But he's like He could have stopped and not said Samaria and then said the ends of the earth and gave him a good out. But Jesus knows what's in men's hearts. We studied that last time, right? And he's like, I better mention Samaria or they'll walk around.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Because I mean, to all the ends of the earth, Samaria would be included, but yeah, they'd be like, Well, Jericho Row doesn't run through there, so we missed it. Yeah, he's like, No, no, they're they're included. We're gonna we're gonna list it. Oh so what an amazing conversation that he has there with that woman. But then it was Father's Day, and you know, one of the things that struck me is, you know, and I know John wasn't writing John chapter four. You know, all those chapters, verse numbers were put in later. But I I think

Ministry Wisdom And Wise Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 13:30

sometimes it is weird where the stories break, and how come this story's included over here? And you know, why is that well?

SPEAKER_02 13:37

The guy who put in the chapters and verses was riding all around the Christian realm at that time on a donkey doing it. So every time, you know, step in a hole, oops, okay, that's just another chapter, let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

So well, it's it was interesting to me because I'm like, you get down to the end of chapter four, and it's like, well, what does that have to do with what we were talking about earlier? You know, like shouldn't there be a chapter break? We're moving on to the next thing. And here it is, it just tacked on at the end. But then, and I don't know if I did a good job on Sunday laying this out, but I thought you did a good job on Sunday. Well, thank you. I was asleep, but it seemed like it was a good job. You and Chase. Chase, I got a picture of Chase on security duty out by the front door, he was passed out to. Sound asleep. Okay. Um chapter three. That's probably not a good advertisement for our security people sleep. Well, well, that was the text we got. Uh this is quite the security team you're running here. Um Chapter three proves to us that nobody's beyond the need of grace, right? You have Nicodemus, who's this religious man, and I mean he's devout. He's he lives the life that really most people would be aspiring to live. Right. And Jesus looks at him and says, uh, unless you're born again, you can't enter the kingdom of God. So even Nicodemus, and then you get chapter four, and the point was no one's beyond the reach of grace. And so he goes to a Samaritan woman and then the village, and then to this royal Gentile official, and all of them receive the grace of God. Um and it's like he is again, he's expanding this um in our minds. I'm not just for one group of people, I'm for the whole world.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

I like that because you're taking a you're taking a big bite of scripture and and connecting the dots. And we take such small bites, and and it's our culture, church culture. We want to talk about this, this verse talks about that, so we're gonna talk about this verse. But in these couple of chapters, we see a very um what's the word I'm looking for? Purposeful. This is this, and it it means the same thing for this guy who everybody would say, Well, that's a good good religious man, and it goes all the way down to this guy who worships another God named Caesar. So we you know, we and the one in the middle that worship God but in in her own way. Right, right. And uh so uh

Open Your Eyes To The Harvest

SPEAKER_02 16:30

he just goes born again is for all of 'em. Yeah. And then and lays that out for his disciples. John's laying it out for us. Look, it's um for the Jews first, but also for the Greeks. And in the Jewish mindset, just remember, a Greek is anybody else. They were um the you know, those other people. Those guys. It's for them too. And uh so we have a um we have a tribal mindset and the Jews the Jews' tribal mindset is uh off the charts. And um so it was the Arabs, it was the Romans, it was the Greeks, the actual Greeks. They had a they just had a term for them. The the not us, the Greeks.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

What is what is so cool is is Jesus lays all this out, right? We can't separate it from John's purpose. He said, I have written all these things that you may believe. And so everything he's doing, it's all very, very intentional. And so as you move through John chapter three, then into John chapter four, well, John chapter three, what does Jesus say? For God so loved the world. Well, then the story is with Nicodemus, and it's like, okay, in a Jewish mind, you're like, okay, got it, he loves us. And then you get to John chapter four, and you're like, well, hold on, wait a minute. He loves them too. He loves them too. And then, you know, I I I brought it out on Sunday. The very first people to call Jesus the savior of the world were the Samaritans. You know, and so John's saying, Yeah, when when he says for God so loved the world, he he meant those people. Okay, and he meant this guy down here, too. He he was for everyone. Um, for whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I John, I know that's Paul that says that, but John is preaching that same truth and he's walking us through it in his gospel. Man, this is so much bigger than than you think, guys. He's for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Yeah. And then he does his second sign, and we're back in Cana, uh, which is uh a no place. He's he's back there and he's teaching. He's teaching to the people who what probably most of them were recipients of his first sign, which was wine.

unknown 19:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

And they said, Hey, that Jesus is coming back. I wonder if he's got any of that wine, you know, because that was the good stuff. Right, right. And uh I'm sure the stories went round and round, the servants telling the story about Jesus turning the water into wine, and with all the wine he made, there was probably some wine left. And um so he's back and he's teaching them. And and you see when this guy approaches, the story's about the guy, but then Jesus is dealing with the people who showed up for tricks. You know? Here's this man, um a royal official, and he was likely a court officer in Herod and Tippus's regional government. Now, down in Capernaum, uh Herod had built a temple to uh Caesar, to worship Caesar, and he also had built a palace, and so this guy was probably down there. Uh Herod was a Roman, he had some Jewish blood in him, but he was a Roman. So he's down there serving Herod, probably running that place when Herod is off in his other palaces or in Jerusalem or or wherever he is. And uh so he's a pretty important guy. And he knows where

Grace For Nicodemus And Outsiders

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Canaan is, or Cana is not Canaan, but Cana is a little town and his son is sick and it's about twenty miles away, mostly uphill. He doesn't send a servant. He goes, My son is sick, and I'm gonna go. Right. Now he walks into kind of a loaded atmosphere, and I love the way you presented it on Sunday. Um he shows up and says, Hey, my son's sick. And and then Jesus speaks. I think I think you're right. I think he was speaking to the people. Share it to us how you did on Sunday, because that was a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Well, it seems yeah. So he shows up and goes, Jesus, my son is sick. And the way that that's written in the Greek, it's like this continual thing. Like he's like, Hey, can you please? He's pleading with him continually. Please come, please come, please come. My son is sick, my son is sick. And so there's this desperation in this father, Lord, I need you to come. My boy is he's gonna die unless something happens here. Which makes what Jesus says next like, golly, man. Yeah. Because as as soon as John writes what this guy comes and says to Jesus, the very next verse that we have is Jesus told him. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe. And it's like, what? Dude, this guy's like, he just wants you to heal his son. What a why would you say that? Why have you got to be so rough? But again, where is Jesus when all this is happening? It's in Cana, where he had turned the water into the wine. And I think the the crowds are out. They want to see some more tricks. You know, we watch the Incredibles at uh the father-son or father-kid campout thing that we did. And one one of the times he comes home, he's all frustrated, he picks up his car and he's getting ready to slam it, and then there's that little kid on the bike. Yeah. Well, the next time he shuts the door, that kid's sitting there and he goes, What do you want? And he goes, I want to see something amazing. That's the people of Cana, right? We want to see something amazing. Like, do that water and the wine thing again. That stuff was great. You know, do something. But Jesus knows, we learned this John chapter 2. He knows what's in man. He knows everything. He knows how the conversation's gonna go with this dad. Right. And yet he looks and it says, unless you people, unless all the people gathered here, unless you see signs and wonders and all this miraculous stuff, he says, You you won't believe. You won't believe. And then he said something to this dad that just man, it

Back To Cana And The Setup

SPEAKER_01 23:30

rocks you. He says, Go, your son will live. And it scripture says the man believed what Jesus said and departed. And so John calls this the second sign. Why is it here? So that you may believe. That's what John's whole gospel is about. I put this here so that you may believe. And yet, everybody there who heard this exchange between Jesus and this official, none of them get to see it.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Right. Man, the the correlation to the water and the wine is just it's amazing here. We're back in Cana. Um, so remember what I said when we taught about that. You got where is important, who is there is important. So who's there? The people of Cana is here this time. Now they're paying attention, you know. The disciples are there, Jesus is teaching them, and this is an important thing. You want tricks? Go home. Your son's healed. You're you're gonna listen to truth, not tricks. It just basically says, no, I'm I'm not a pony. I'm not doing tricks for you. And um, but I am gonna do a miraculous thing right now. You just don't get to see it. Just like you didn't get to see the last one. Only the servants got to see it. It's amazing. I I it's if I was from Cana, I'm like, how do I get on the good side of this guy? You know?

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Well, you want, yeah, you want him to do something. Let us see it. Yeah. And you would want, you would think, is this dad? I mean, he's he's walked 20 miles with his son's life hanging in the balance. I mean, imagine like, what if what if my boy dies before I get home? I'm not even gonna be there when he takes his last breath. That's the kind of desperation this guy is in.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

You would think How much of that 20 miles did he walk?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

You know what I mean? He must have been exhausted by the time he got there.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

And he gets there, and you would you would want something. Human nature is you want to see something. Like, Lord, heal my son. Okay, I'll heal him. He's he go home. He's he'll be fine. Give me some sparks. Do something.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Little blue light, maybe, or uh, or uh some kind of holy prayer or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Sprinkle some water, give me some of that oil you guys are always talking about. I'll take it home with me. Do something.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Right. Give me a reference. And it's always just faith.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Well, imagine how shocking it must have been to all those people from Cana who came out looking for some signs, looking for some tricks. We want to see something. And then this royal official who's not most likely not a Jew, is there, and when Jesus says, go, your son will live, he says, Okay, and turns and walks away in faith. He believed and left. And the people that, man, it had to be convicting for him because they're like, Well, this is what we came out for. Right. And this guy believes and walks away in faith, believing that what Jesus said is gonna happen. And he left. He doesn't have the right religious system, he doesn't read the right books, you know. Like, he doesn't have any of it. He just believed Jesus and he left. And I'm just like, my challenge on Sunday was like, man, dads, this is who we need to be. Right. We need to be the kind of men who take Jesus at his word, like those servants in uh uh in the at the wedding.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Do what he tells you to do, right is what Jesus' mom said. Do what he tells you to do. They did, there was a miracle. And Jesus said, Go home, your son will live, do what you're told to do.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

And he did it. And on the way home, I mean, before he even got there, his servants come running to meet him. Hey, your boy, he's good. He's he's well, yeah, and he's smart enough to ask, when do you get better? Like, well, I'm about one o'clock. And he goes,

Signs Seekers Versus Real Faith

SPEAKER_01 27:50

And that was the exact moment. That was the time Jesus said that he was gonna be okay. And and what I love is this man believes, his whole house believes. I mean, they get to see the miracle, right? The miracle takes place 20 miles away from where Jesus was standing, which what does that say about him? Right. Like, you know, we did we did that blessing of the bikes, and uh John was like, listen, uh, this is this is good, but I'm gonna need a specific blessing for my bike. And and the truth, man, we we feel that, right? Like, I need something specific for me. I need you to be there. This has got to be. And it's like, Jesus did this, and it was 20 miles away. And he just said, He's gonna live. That that's this is the God you serve. Right, he is limitless in his capacity, in his ability. And so he can do something 20 miles away. He didn't have to show up, he doesn't have to wave nothing around. He's well. And 20 miles away, people got to experience a miracle because a dad believed and walked in faith.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

And three days later, the word comes back. Somebody went to confirm them on business and figured out that that kid, that guy's son was healed, comes back home and says, he did it right in front of us, and we didn't get to see it. What's wrong with that guy? You know? We we want to see something too. Guess what? We live in Cana. God is doing some miraculous things across this planet, and we're always looking for a miracle, we're always looking for God to step in, we always want something to happen, and it's happening all over the world. And we're hearing it secondhand, but it's still God doing miraculous things, and he's still saying to us, even though that might be happening in South America or Nigeria or um even in um Iran right now, even in Gaza right now, God's doing some miraculous things. I mean, just off the wall miraculous things. And we're over here, and God's saying, hey, just just remember the tagline. Do what I tell you to do. Do what I tell you to do. You want to see the supernatural, do what I tell you to do. One of the problems I think we have is the terminology, I don't want to I don't want to be a cynic, but I guess I am a cynic. A lot of times we say, pray for me, I feel like God's leading me to do something. And sometimes I think what we're saying is this. I'm deciding right now whether I'm gonna do what I'm told. That's what the the Holy Spirit's leading me to. So I want to pray about that. We gotta change, we gotta change your attitude. If you want to see the supernatural, you gotta change your attitude. Lord, what do you what do you want me to do? Lord says something, then we just do it. We turn around and we walk back home.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

That's our mantra here, right? We say yes before we get even get started. We say it almost every single Sunday. Um, and this is a guy who who did that, live that out. Yeah, he did. We say yes before we even get started. I haven't seen the miracle. Gotta raise those vision funds. That's right. Um he didn't see the miracle yet. He didn't, he just Jesus said, Go home. He's gonna live. And he did. He said yes before he even saw it. I love that about him, and I think men in particular, and I mean women too, but Sunday I I really challenged the men. This is who we need to be as fathers and dads and grandparents. We need to be the kind of men who will stand up and do what Jesus says, will step out in faith and will live in obedience. The stats on it are staggering. I was shocked.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

If uh both parents are in the home, I think

The Father Who Believes Jesus

SPEAKER_01 32:20

74%. Something like that, yeah. And if it if it's only the dad, that number only drops a couple percentage points. But if it's only the mom, it drops all the way down to like two or three percent. And I was like, what in the world? Why why is that so drastic? God has called us as men to be the spiritual leaders in our home. And unfortunately, I think too many times men have just abdicated that role to our wives.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

And let me let me say something here, because this is a supernatural thing. If we preach this to a group of feminists, they would all freak out and burn our church down and probably burn us in it. Um, that women don't have an outsized influence on their children like men do. I mean, they would freak out. There would be rioting in the streets, and and I get that. I actually feel that. You know, but this is a supernatural thing. God has put men in charge of the home. And it it's it's your spiritual duty and he gives you influence over your kids. Um it's a spiritual thing. And if you're growing up in a um a fatherless uh home, then God steps in and will be that father for you. But it doesn't it doesn't ever switch over to the mom. It's him or it's your or your dad. And it's very important that we understand that this is a supernatural setup. It's not a physical, mental, psychological, um, cultural thing. This is a supernatural thing, guys. You can't get out of it, there's no way out. You can't just say, well, that doesn't really make a lot of sense. There's something wrong with those statistics. No, this is a God thing. Yeah, He puts you in charge. And if you ask most theologians if um when Eve offered the apple to Adam, if he would have took it and threw it on the ground and said, No, we're not gonna do that, they would say they would have been safe because he was placed as the leader of the home. I don't know how to I don't know how to parse that, so I'm I'm not even gonna try. But there is an outside spiritual influence that you have on your kids. Yeah. And uh now you you raise your kid alone without your without a wife, um your kids are gonna struggle. Moms bring stability from a whole different area, but they they all make they all make one person. And you're your dare I say responsibility is the spiritual part.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Yep. We don't wanna we're not trying to diminish the the value that a mom brings um to the home or even to the spiritual life. I mean, I one of the the primary reasons that I'm in ministry today, following Jesus today, is because of the influence of my mom, you know. Um she brought me to church. Every time the door was were open, I was there, you know. Um, and I've shared on the podcast some of

A Miracle Twenty Miles Away

SPEAKER_01 36:00

my earliest memories are are going to tell my mom goodnight. And she's, you know, in bed, Bible open, a lot of times asleep, but she she had it open. And and I remember, man, that was it was important to my mom. It was the last thing she did before she went to bed. She she opened her Bible and was reading it. Um and man, I it's been great. You know, my dad didn't attend church a whole lot when I was growing up. A little bit more of a creaster, you know, Christmas, Easter sort of attendance. Um, but man, the past 10, 15 years, uh my dad's been a faithful attender, comes every Sunday, serves on our parking team. Um man, he's he's just been so faithful. And I appreciate and value, like I said, I don't know that I'd be here if my mom didn't have that level of influence and and her devotion to her faith. I don't know that I'd be here if it wasn't for her. But I'll I'll tell you, and again, not to diminish moms in any way, but there's you know, my dad'll text me after a sermon or something, and man, son, I'm so proud of you. I I don't I don't even have words um for it. I just got one of those texts not too long ago. Um I don't I don't even have words to express how proud of you I am. And man, when your dad says something, it it I'm 30 something years old. You know, it still matters. Guys, you have this responsibility that God, like Tim said, God has given this to you. And I I don't I tried to challenge our dads um on Sunday, and I man, I I had them come all up front. I I went crazy. Very, very rarely ever ask every anyone to come up front, let alone a whole group of people. I I thought, man, this dad walked 20 miles so that his son could could be healed. We can walk, we can walk up here. And not that there's anything overly spiritual about being at the front of the stage, you know, that God's not there more than he's anywhere else, but it's this heart posture of I'm standing up and I'm I'm doing something here. Right. And I wanted dads to feel that like it's a little uncomfortable. There's gonna be all these people watching me, there's gonna be people behind me looking at me while I'm standing up there. But I wanted dads to make a decision.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

This matters more, and

Say Yes Before You See

SPEAKER_02 38:30

it's it's a biblical thing too. I know it's not just us, you know, posturing. Every time something happened in the old testament, the Lord would say, Build an altar here so you remember. Build an altar there so you remember. And sometimes when we come forward in church, we're just uh simply marking a time where we made a decision, grabbing a stone to build an altar. Right. That's that's very important um to us um spiritually and in our in our psyche too. Um now when we we we talk about this, we're talking about people who are spiritually engaged with their church. Um we're not just talking about people that come. Um we're talking about men who who take worship seriously, and that's that's who we want you to be, and it gives a it makes Jesus and God important. It sets him as a priority, and and your sons and daughters were will probably fall away during college if they go and you know, hang out with their friends until they're about twenty-five and around thirty, and they're like, Man, we gotta get back to church, and they and they come around. But I I want you to know that um it's not just about coming to church. This is not this is the statistics we got, because this is the only statistic that we can get. Um a man doesn't usually come to church on tradition. Uh I think women women do, and some men, but most men come because it's worth something to them. It's a personal I'm going. I don't care what you do. You know? And that I don't know if that makes the spiritual difference, I'm not sure. But um when men make that decision that worship um worshiping Jesus is important, it puts a profound impact on your family. And we don't want you to come to church just so your family will come to church. We want you to come to church because you want to be here with your Jesus. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

And I'll take number one, honestly, in the beginning. If you'll come just to get your family here, honestly, I'll take that, and I think that'll make a huge impact in your kids' lives. But and I also think as you get here and you're around the things of God, you you can help it, man.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

Um if you do what I tell you to do, which is meet together and uh worship me, you'll get to see what I'm doing. Right, right. And you get to see that at church. I preached not too long ago. I said I grew up in a culture that when you deal with God, you dealt with them on Sunday at the end of the sermon during the invitation. That's where you made all your decisions for God. You didn't do it at home. You didn't, you know, who's who's got time to be dealing with all the crying and snot and all that kind of stuff at home. Nobody wants to do that there. There's a safe place to do it, and it's at church after the sermon. And um, and God doesn't always make us wait to that, but I tell you what, God is dealing with people after the sermon on Sunday afternoons. So um, if you want to see God working in people's lives, go to church, watch Him do it.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

And uh so we can beat that and beat that and beat that, but there is a purpose in that.

Why Fathers Shape Family Faith

SPEAKER_02 42:10

The word father is a huge word, and you're a father, and that puts you in a in a different position than anybody else. Jesus is his favorite word for God was father. Father, father.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Um He said, I think we wrote it down somewhere. Okay, I think 120 times that word is used in John's Gospel, which is more than the other three gospels combined. Right. I mean it just talk about outsized influence in John's gospel, father is it's all over. Yeah. So fathers.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

Um your kids are your responsibility. I don't care where they are. I don't care if their mom hates you and fights you every time you try to see them. You need to fight for your kids. This is your call. This is your call. You want to, oh, you know, I don't know what my call is. Well, here's one of them.

unknown 43:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

This is your call is to be a father like the father was to Jesus. That's who are you to be to your kids.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

Doesn't matter how old your kids are. You could have grown children. And if they're even if they are following Jesus, but especially if they're not, they need a dad who will take this responsibility seriously and invest into their spiritual life and development. And if you think, well, I've squandered my opportunity, it's a lie from the enemy, man. Uh, you get serious about your faith and get serious about Jesus and watch what God will do in your family as you say yes to him. Absolutely. Um let me give you kind of four four challenges. Um, and I'm gonna do this real fast because we are running out of time quickly. Yeah, we are. But four, four challenges. Um That I think we can take home as as dads in particular from this official who came to Jesus. Number one, he noticed the need at home. Oh man. Ow. Yeah. Let's stop. We it's man, it's just so easy to check out. Um, you know, and this is something Joy constantly challenges me on. Like, hey, when we get to the dinner table, I don't want any phones there. You know, we need to put those up so that we can be with our kids. Um, she's challenging like if your kids walk in the room, close your laptop. Like, listen to them, engage with them.

SPEAKER_02 44:37

Show them the laptop screen first and then close it.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

So they know this was important.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Uh no, that it wasn't something they're trying to hide from. Even today.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

You're a cynic over here, brother. I think Ty got up at seven in the morning. She's like, You need to go out and talk with Ty. And I'm like, It's seven in the morning. I'm trying to sleep. Um, but man, we need we need to be engaged at home. And this man, he didn't send his wife, he didn't send his servant. He noticed the need with this kid, and he took it upon himself to go. Um, and so that's number two. He took the long walk. Um he he did the hard thing here. And man, that's one of the things, you know. My what I said earlier, my dad didn't didn't go to church a lot when I was growing up, but my dad taught me to do the hard things. Um he modeled it for me, uh, showed me what it looked like to be respectful, um, how to how to treat women in particular. Um, you know, you you stand up, you give them your chair, you hold the door open for them, you know, all the I learned that from my dad. I learned how to do a job that sucks and that you don't want to go to because my watch my dad do it every day. Um this guy he took the long walk because his kid was worth it. He said, Man, I whatever it takes, I'm I'm gonna do this thing. Um, and man, we need to be that that guy who we're here for the long term. I'm not in this for the quick win. I I'm here the whole time, and as long as it takes, whatever I gotta do, I'm gonna do this thing.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

And it's important that these two things go together. When you notice a need, you gotta do something. Can't leave it to your wife, can't leave it to uh the school teachers to handle the bully or whatever. You gotta go and meet with that principal. You gotta go. Talk to your son or your daughter or whatever it is. So when you when you see the need, then you take the long walk.

Four Challenges For Dads

SPEAKER_01 46:40

And then number three, this man took Jesus at his word. Um we talked a lot about that, but your kids need to see you say yes to Jesus and walk in obedience. I don't think there's any greater thing uh that'll mark them than a dad who says, Hey, this is what Jesus told us to do, and we're gonna do it this way. Why in all the other families? This is what scripture says. We're gonna walk in obedience to it. Um, or when your kids bring something up to you, um, dad, I don't know what to do about this, don't just give them your opinion. Open God's word and see what God's word says. Even if you already know what God's word says, open God's word and let them see you go to God's word for the answer.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

So that they know, man, when something's going on, when my dad doesn't know, he turns to the scriptures. And when they're in their 20s and in their 30s and raising their own kids, when they don't know the answer, where do they where do you think they're gonna go? Man, well, my dad didn't know, he he went to the word of God, and I guess I'll open it. Maybe it'll be the first time in 20 years that they've done it, but it'll make it'll mark them, it'll make a difference. And then number four, he brought his whole house with him, man. Um I love this. He not just him that believed, his whole family came to faith, and it started with this one dad who took a long walk because his son needed some help, and and he believed Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

And I guarantee you that dad didn't say, you know, Jesus is offering this to all of us because he loves us all. He was like, this is the guy. Yeah, this is the king of kings, this is the Lord of Lords, this is a decision you need to make. I'm telling you, this I have I'm older than you, I'm your father, I'm wise, but Caesar is never gonna do this for you. Um, any of these other Roman gods are never gonna do anything like this for you. This is the God you should serve.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Well, and it's likely that he had already tried all of that. Oh, yeah. Sure. I mean, sure. Jesus was probably not the first option. I mean, his boy's so sick that he's like on his deathbed. So they've tried the doctors, they've tried the pagan gods, you know, whoever they got over there. He's done all of that. Jesus for this guy, because again, he wasn't a Jew. Jesus was just new on the scene, you know. This is sign number two. Um, I doubt Jesus was this man's first option.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

But by the time he got there, when he gets home, he goes, It's him. It's him. It's him. And man, what did Joshua say? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 49:21

Right. There ain't no nobody's outside of this. We're serving the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

And that man, it's something I've told my kids. As long as you live here andor I pay the bills, that's my rule. As long as you're under my roof or I'm paying any of your bills. If you want free from this uh obligation, you gotta be paying your own bills and live on your own. I said, I can't make you believe the scriptures. I can't make you have a relationship with Jesus, but I can expect and demand that your life looks like this. And the day you don't want that to happen is is fine. It'll break my heart as your dad. But you got to get your own house and you got to pay your own bills. Right. Because my expectation is we will serve the Lord. And God has laid some things out for us, and our lives are gonna look like that. Yeah. And man, we need some dads who will one live that way and two, hold their families up to that standard. Absolutely. And so, man, this is uh in particular for you, and again, moms, hopefully you can take a lot out of this too. But um, man, I I'm challenging us. Let's quit shirking this responsibility. It's time we we understood the role that God has given us. We took it serious and became the spiritual leaders in our homes. And man, just just imagine the generational impact that could happen if we saw 60, 74 percent of kids in our church carry their faith into adulthood because their dads got serious about this.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

And wives and kids, listen to me here. If you love Jesus, um and well, you know, I'm a Christian and you know, I'm trying to walk with Jesus, help your dads. Don't challenge them. We'll see. We'll I'll do this, see if dad freaks out, and well, you know, see if he's really gonna lead us like Jesus or whatever. There's so much of that going on. I am so sick of it. You are a family, you're a tribe. How any of you do is how all of you do. It's not um it's all for one and one for all, is what it is. Three musketeers.

Family Cooperation And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_02 51:40

Come on. Your family uh should be important to you, you shouldn't be uh out there setting uh setting a bar higher. You should be helping your dad over the bar, um cooperate with him and uh and have a great life. Yep. A family who prays together, not only stays together, but they stay in fellowship with the Lord together. That's right. So you pray for us. You got me first. So I was almost I almost had you. Father, I want to thank you for this. And Lord, I pray that our our families will see the importance of this and they'll encourage their dad to take them to church. Yeah, they'll encourage their dad to seek you, they'll encourage him to do that. And Lord, I pray they will cooperate with what you are trying to do and our dads. Father, this is uh uh Father's Day. I'm glad we we get a chance every year to talk about moms and dads. Um because it's it's the nuclear family that makes life worth living. And there's so many people out there who don't have one, and I pray that um you'll be their family. And Lord, I pray that you'll fill those gaps for them. You have a high view of humanity, one that um you have a high view of men, and um one that we don't ascribe to anymore. We're all just the same, and uh we don't have any outsized responsibilities of anybody else. But Lord, that's not true in your kingdom. And Lord, I pray that we'll live by your kingdom rules and not our own. In Jesus' name.

unknown 53:40

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

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