Sermon Transcript:Thank you so much, Chris for doing that. You'll see why we're doing that here in a minute as we are looking at the scriptures today, Psalm 27. But before we get there, I want to introduce to you a new series that we're going to be working through the next several weeks, and it's a series on fatherhood. Now, what's this series all about? And why are we going there? Well, the truth is, is that God revealed Himself to us as a father, we're probably familiar with that, whether it's through understanding of the Lord's Prayer, or understanding exactly how Jesus talked to his father in heaven and all these things. But the reality is that we have to come to grips with the fact that our earthly fathers shaped our view of God, for better or for worse, there's no doubt that as you consider yourself and to your neighbor to your left and right in this very room, or if you're listening later, many of us in the room may have had bad fathers, absent fathers, or mixed bag fathers. But whatever we find ourselves, we need to understand right from the get go that that has left a mark on us in terms of how we relate to God, and how we worship, and how we even understand this concept that God wants to be our Heavenly Father. I was probably better said that as we think about the American landscape, the current American landscape that we have just a wreckage that is all around us, because of the absence of fathers and real fatherhood. Now, that's not going to be a series that we're going to go on, we're gonna beat up on dads or anything like that. No. And it's not a political rallying cry of what we need good fathers in the home, although that's true. It's really just a recognition that as we consider our own lives, our lives as we try to interact with people in this world. And as we consider our lives as we are to interact with our Father in heaven, that we've got some real gaps, we got some real gaps in our relationship with God, primarily caused by a lack of a fatherly blessing. And as you consider your life, we're not going to ask for a show of hands, but I dare say that there would be few of us in the room that could raise our hand and say, Yeah, my dad, he was a reflection of my heavenly Father, and he gave me blessings. He was wind in my sails, as I strive to follow God and His ways in His kingdom and His Church. My guess is, if we were to ask for any show of hands, it that would be few and far between. And this is a problem. This is a problem in our Christian walk in our worship. And as I've already stated in our life, in general, we're gonna read a psalm together. But the reason why we had Chris sort of start us off by really quoting Psalm 27, a portion of that, and that one thing and that needs to be sung over us in worship in our lives, is because that's where the struggle really begins. And it's going to end there, too. But what do you mean by that, Pastor? What I mean by that is that we struggled to believe that we struggled to cry out to Abba, Father, many of us are thinking as I even introduce something like this a series or a topic on fatherhood, whether you're here just this day, or you stick was with us through the entire series, you're thinking, I don't want to go there. If I'm honest, Pastor, I do not want to go there even mentally, as I sort of go through what you are going to discuss this morning. And through the scriptures. I've buried those thoughts deep down, I don't want to resurrect them. No pun intended, right? But, or you're thinking now wait a second. I've shown him I've shown my dad, yeah, he never thought I'd mount anything, or he was never around or anything like that. So I've shown him, I don't need his approval. I don't need his blessing. This is not a big deal. It's just that in and of itself, that we're saying those things in our head and in our hearts, that reveals the very truth that we do need it and that we do actually care what he thinks even if he was never around or you never met him. It doesn't change the fact that we do need a fatherly blessing. You and I were designed and made to have a father's love and blessing. That's not fun to think about, especially as we think about the gaps in the holes that we may have. You might think Well Mom and I did just fine. And maybe you did or maybe she did. But that doesn't negate the fact that someone was still missing in your life or maybe the presence of your father caused real damage. Many of us are still thinking, I don't know. I don't even know what you're talking about. When you talk about a father's blessing. I don't know what that is. And I'm sure I didn't get it or I'm Not sure if I got it. And then you might think, are you sure we're supposed to talk about this pastor? Because? Is there any way we can get around it? Is there any way that we can just not go there? We talk about these father topics. Well, the way God presented in the New Testament by Jesus, this idea of our Heavenly Father loving and caring for us, he modeled for this. He modeled this for us, Jesus modeled us, for us, this idea that our Heavenly Father cared for him. And in turn, He cares for us. Yes, God has revealed as sovereign and Redeemer and Almighty in the great IAM, all those are true, but much more in the New Testament, Jesus makes sure that we understand that you can pray to your Father in heaven. Guys, think about this, even culturally, many of you in the room or maybe ex Catholics, or you have Catholic friends that you know, of the reason why you are calling your priests a father, right is because you understand that he's a go between between you and God, and He speaks for God. So we understand this culturally, and we need to understand it biblically that literally hundreds of times in the New Testament, Jesus wants us to understand that we have a father, again, I don't know what context you grew up in, or this is maybe your first time at church. But when we were taught about the Lord's Prayer, well, how are we taught our Father who art in heaven, primary way, the relationship between us and the God of the universe is express is that between a father and a child, and you might think, man, I'm not sure I can accept that. And that's a hard pill to swallow this morning, Pastor, I know it's a new year, I know I should go to church, I'm glad to be here. But this is a hard pill to swallow because of, as we're gonna think about and talk about in this series, some of the damage that's been done. And I just want to pose this question to you if you're even struggling with this concept, even if you can be shown this biblically. And even if you can be shown the hundreds of passages just in your gut right now your responses. I don't know what I think about that, or I literally do not like that. Think about how the enemy loves to work. That is Satan, the serpent, the devil, he loves to distort good things, or he loves to destroy. Remember what Jesus said, The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I've come that you may have life and having to abundance, don't us think, if the devil was going to mess us up in our relationship with our Heavenly Father, if he was going to mess us up in our relationships with others, that he would go after the very vital relationship that was so important to how God would relate to us? I think so. Because here's what we need to understand that we are sons and daughters of a father who loves us and gave His Son for us. That is the simplicity of the gospel. And so you're thinking, Well, why are you saying I can't go back? You're thinking just like Nicodemus did in John chapter three, where I quoted some summary of John 316. And you're thinking, how am I supposed to go back into my mother's womb? When we were here? We're most of us are well into adulthood. And Nicodemus was asking the same question, am I supposed to go back to the birth canal? And he's like, No, you were born once, through the breaking of water through the birth canal, you and I must be born of the Spirit, which is where we're heading this morning, because it's really all about worship. But you think about man, Pastor, what about the relationships, the loss, you don't understand the wounds, the hurt, the neglect, I'm not here to say I understand some of it. Good earthly fathers are meant to be a reflection of our heavenly Father, not perfection, or we're gonna learn throughout this whole series is that we do have a perfect Heavenly Father who loves us, we've got to get rid of some of the hindrances that are hindering us from worshipping Him and freely in spirit and in truth, but the reality is, we do have a perfectly Heavenly Father. And the reality is the way God set it up, is that we all have a father, for better or for worse, we didn't come here into this world, just through one individual, it took two. And what was meant to occur, the way God set it up is that we were meant to have an earthly father who was a reflection of our Heavenly Father. But many of you may have or had a bad dad, an awful dad, a deadbeat dad and abusive dad and neglectful dad, all of that. And you would say, more, or many of you may have had what's called a mixed bag.You know what I'm talking about where there was some good stuff, but there was some not good stuff. That would be my story. I have a mixed bag in terms of my own father and how he conducted himself and treated me there's some good stuff in there, my father, he taught me how to swing a hammer. I'm the son of a contractor, he taught me how to fix a lawn mower. I mean, he was an old farm boy and tractors and all that he took me on some trips, I had some great experiences with my father, but I had some not good stuff in there, too. It was his way or the highway, you had to jump through certain hoops for any sort of love, praise or approval. And here was the deal. Even if you got up to those hoops, or jump through those hoops. The goalposts was moved, the hoop was actually moved on and on and on, and I gotta do this, and I gotta do this never gonna do this. It was never ending. And the praise never came or disapproval of any decision that I was to make not just as a child, but well into adulthood. Any decision you make towards a career towards a spouse, or any even small decision like that will be wrong, because it's not what I would have done or not what I would have made and for sure, I never had any sort of blessing where there was any sort of sense in which you are my son, and I am well pleased in you. So I had a mixed bag in terms of my own earthly father. Now here's the deal about mixed bags. I don't I don't like mixed up items. I don't like mixed bags. You know, I'm talking about where there's good stuff and there's bad stuff. I think about this in terms of right now. along the highway since we had an Amazon distribution center. Have you noticed that people are trying to sell us mystery Amazon boxes? Have you seen this on the side of the street? It's like $20, come get a mystery Amazon bucks. I'm here to tell you as your pasture. This isn't prophetic. Don't fall for it. Okay? Because if you do that, what you're gonna do is you're gonna pay 20 bucks, and you're gonna open it up and everything. Now there's gonna be more good stuff in here than not, no, there's not, there's going to be the value of less than $10 worth of good stuff. And everything else is going to be junk. I don't even like half the stuff that I intentionally ordered off of Amazon, much less do I need someone else's mixed bag of junk. Think about this in terms of candy. You know, when I was a kid, I used to be okay with a mixed bag of candy. And I'm talking about where you would sort of get excited because it was candy, you'd get your hands on your and you dig in and you would find the candy that you liked. And you'd begin D daddy and sort of leave the rest behind? well into adulthood. I can't even take the mix candy anymore. I don't know if anybody else is there as an adult. I can't do it. I can't dig through around the Reese's and the KitKat to get to the Snickers. It's too much effort. Just give me the good stuff. I just want the snickers or the Hershey's at a minimum. I don't want all those other candies that I don't like. And don't get me started on the mix that simple tray at parties. These are so so so bad. Where does it go wrong with a mixed vegetable tray. It goes wrong when you go and pick one out at the store. That's where it goes wrong. And then what do you do? What do I do if I bring the mixed vegetable tray to a party? I bring it out and I set it in the middle of what meatballs on one side. Nice hotdogs on the other spread out from that is nachos with cheese, maybe some good tamales always got stuff in what did you bring you brought a vegetable tray. So then you think for a variety of reasons. I'm going for the vegetable tray today. If you've been there, if you've been there at a party where your significant other punches you you need to go for the vegetable tray. So then you do it. And what ends up happening you first start with those carrots you grab the carrots, what's the first problem with the carrots? They're frozen? How did the carrots get frozen in the vegetable tray because when they stored the vegetable tray before they brought it, they pushed it to the back of the lettuce crisper and it got frozen in the frigerator. Then what you have is you have celery with brown tips at the end. Why? Because it was cut days and days and days it goes anything No no, the ranch dressing will be okay. So then you have the little thing of ranch dressing I'm talking about it's like a tablespoon or two max of ranch dressing. So you're the first one there if you're the first one there you really get all the ranch dressing whether you meant to have a little or not. She poured out there. He said good. I got to the vegetable tray first and I got the ranch dressing. But guess what? It's bad because it's not Hidden Valley. It's some sort of off brand no name stuff. And so then some of you are thinking No, no, no. The cheese and the crackers will save the vegetable tray. No they don't. Because what happens you go for the cubes of cheese. And somehow even though the carrots were frozen the cheese or lukewarm room temperature, the little cubes, and somehow they're dried out and hard on the outside. It wasn't even good cheese to begin with. Now we have the lukewarm cheese and the crackers. They're soggy and cold. And there's never time How many of y'all have ever been to a party? I'll ask for a raise of hands. How many of you have ever been to a party where everything else is demolished? All all everything else is the man All this in what is left? What is left? That broccoli that never had a home? No one was going to take it. What is the point of all this? Nobody likes? Nobody likes a mixed bag. Where do you go wrong? You go wrong when you see the vegetable tray in the store, leave it. Let it be someone else's mistake to bring to the next party. Mixed bags, they hurt us too. It's not just the idea of well, you had a good dad who did some good things. But no, wait a second, there was a lot that was left to be desired. And there's a lot of gaps in our lives with relationship with God and others. So let's see how the psalm is dealing with this because I love how Psalm 27. And really all the Psalms. Many of them are written about 1000 BC before Christ, and you're gonna see how God and even how you relate says it hasn't changed. And so here's, here's how Psalm 27 begins, it says, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear, the Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? So he's trying to convince himself as he's praying and writing these out, when the wicked advance against me to devour me these are bad things. It is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besieged me, my heart will not fear, though war break out against me, even then I will be confident one thing I'll ask from the Lord, this only do I seek that I may dwell on the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, you see it, you see what we just did what we just listened to, and worship and praise. And what is it to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple, David's writing this where the temple is not yet built, he's viewing a tabernacle, he's looking forward to his son, and others building the temple. For the day of trouble, he will keep me safe in his dwelling, he will hide me in the shelter of His Sacred tent, and set me high upon a rock, then my head will be exalted. Above the enemies who surround me at his sacred tent I will sacrifice was shouts of joy, I will sing and make music to the Lord. I told you where we were going this morning, where we were going to start in the series on fatherhood. And it's now point number one, which is ongoing to worship. So you and I have to decide for ourselves individually, and corporately are we going to be men and women, sons and daughters of our Father who worship him? Just very clearly, like goes back to John, chapter three? Have you been born again, have you and I've been born at the spirit where the very spirit of God now lives and reigns in us to where we now are what compelled to worship and talk to our Heavenly Father this way. Worship is important, it is the connectivity of to the God of the universe. Now, some of us right now, we're struggling with all this because we don't even trust God. We've had the whole father deal, and it didn't go good for us. And so we're thinking, Wait a second present help in time of trouble. That's not my story. No one helps me, no one comes through for me, I take care of myself, I have to do it. I'm the only one that I could ever count on. And again, what is that saying that saying more about you and your relationship with God and others than it is about the God of the universe? Because yes, I understand that your experience but have you leaned on the father? Have you ever started the journey of worshipping? Have you ever been there where you say, Yes, single minded, wholehearted one thing I asked the Lord, I would just gaze upon your beauty that first and foremost that I didn't be caught up in who you are, first and foremost. And then that leads us to prayer. That leads us to prayer that leads us to acknowledgement that yes, I'm afraid. Yes, there are some people surrounding me yet I will praise you God. But he's not out of the woods and he knows it. So then he begins to pray and plead and where does he go? The psalmist says this, hear my voice when I call Lord, be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says if you seek His face, your face, Lord, I will seek I don't know where else to go. Do not turn your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me God my savior, though, who, though my father and mother forsake me,some translations say abandon me. Even if that happens, even if that's true or not true, even if I feel that even if that's the reality, what will you do, Lord? Will you abandon me? Will you forsake me just like he did know, says very clearly the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, Lord, lead me in the straight path because of my oppressors Do not turn me over to desire my foes for false witnesses rise up against me spouting malicious accusations. We've all been there. We've all been there again, with very few exceptions in the room where you maybe had a Christian dad who was a reflection of your heavenly Father, we've all been there we've had things hurled at us that were not true by people who were supposed to love us. So at least my second point this morning is, I've got some problems, we've got some problems, you've got some problems, we've all got some problems, because here's what ends up happening is we understand very clearly when we have enemies without right even think about this in terms of war, get your gun, we've got to go shoot them, we've got to go take care of them, we got to go take care of business business over here. But what happens when we have enemies within, and you and I have been there to where we have this just this rage inside of us, we have this confusion inside of us, we have this turmoil inside of us because of things that have been done to us, mainly because it seems like we have nowhere to turn. Because we say to ourselves, even my mother and my father have abandoned me, I'm in the pits, I'm in the dark, I'm in depression, whatever word you want to say. And it seems like you and I have nowhere to turn in. It's just us and our thoughts and our feelings. And we feel like we're silly, because you have a roof over your head or you have a job or you have somebody that loves you. But you're thinking, Wait a second, I'm still hurting, I've still got some problems. And what you and I need to start to start on our journey is you and I need to just realize and really receive the truth that the Lord has not abandon you. He has not abandoned you, wherever your father was, in this whole range, whether he was absent minded, and that caused some things for you, or whether he was abusive, or whether he was a mixed bag. The Lord has not abandoned you and me, which leads to the last part of this song. And how does it go? It says this right here. I remain confident of this. How does he remain confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Third and final point, I want to say this one is we can and will see the goodness of God in this life. Here's where most of us sort of get bent out of shape is that we think this is my lot in life. I've got some issues and things that were done to me. But I've also got some of my decisions that I've made. And so yes, I know that the Lord will ultimately take this away in glory. But I'm going to be stuck with this in the here. And now. And I want you to know, based off these promises that I'm reading to you in Scripture, what did it say at the end of Psalm 27? When he gets to the end of it after he sort of walked through all this worship, but then he's also walked through all these questions and problems and pain. He says, I remain confident that I will see the goodness of God. What when I die? When I glory someday Way LA in the distant future. No. But while I am still alive in the land of the living. Many of us are like, do you remember when Lazarus died and Jesus went to visit his friends? And they were still sort of just like us thinking? Oh, yeah, I know that we'll see him again, at the resurrection. And Jesus is trying to say no, no, no, while you're alive. You're going to see Lazarus come to life. And I'm just here to say to you, even though you're thinking right now, Pastor, the wounds, they're too big, like, like, like lots and lots of damage has been done. And in fact, I can even go back further to my grandfather and his grandfather. Now. The when the wounds are too big, and they're too deep. You wouldn't understand and back no one understands. I've been on the pills. I've been to the psychiatrist. I've been to the psychologist. I've been to the counselors. I've been to the therapist. And I'm here to tell you that the Father Himself, He sent His Son, and what did he say in the first Trinitarian act as we see Jesus going to be baptized? What did the Father in heaven say the Spirit came down as a dove. God opened up the heavens and what did he say? He said, This is my son with whom I what I love, and with whom I am well pleased. It's already been done for us. It's already been modeled for us. It's already been shown to us what will happen? He said, No, no. I got the wounds. Pastor. What about my wounds? When Jesus came to earth and he was with us for three years. I know he hung out with us but what ended up happening He got some wounds. He got some wounds, really big, deep wounds in the side in his hands. And what did those wounds become? What did they become? Did they stay wounds? Did he stay in the grave? Did he stay in the tomb? No, the wounds became scars. And we know that we all struggle with this because Thomas himself said, I don't believe it. I don't let me see the scars. No, no, that's Jesus. That's the guy who I saw have the wounds. And now they've been turned into scars. Guys, we know about bleeding out. Some of y'all are in, you know, military or border patrol, or some sort of enforcement, law enforcement, government enforcement, where you see battle, you see wounds, and we know that we don't keep our wounded out there. Right, we don't keep them out there leading and advancing the charge, we don't keep them out there on the battlefield. Why? Because you've got to go get healed up. If you're bleeding out, pull him or her in, let them get healed up. But you and I both know that those wounds become what, over time, they become scars. And I'm telling you, there are so many of us in this room that are bleeding out, we're bleeding out, people around us know it, you know it in your heart of hearts, in your darkest moments and your highest moments when you try to pray. And you can't quite get there through that ceiling of even addressing God as your Father in heaven, as you've never really crawl up into your father's lap and called out Abba, Father, and felt like there was anybody there to hear you or to care for you. But I'm here to tell you, that you and I do not have to stay there, we do not have to continue a legacy of destruction. If that was your heritage and story, you and I do not have to continue a legacy of even mixed bag, where we told ourselves the same laws that our dad told us well, I you know, I taught him a few things I taught her a few things are, you know, I provide a roof over their head or, you know, I didn't get drunk too often running too bad, or I'm gonna let it go. That's all leading to death. You and I must be born again. You're not going to be worshipers, not just at the king, not just of our Redeemer, but we must be worshipers of our Father in heaven. And Jesus showed us and taught us how to do that. Now if you're thinking my I don't even know where to start. I'm listening to the pastor, I care what you're saying. But I don't know where to start. Think about where the psalmist was, think about where you and I ought to be this morning. Cry out to the Lord in the midst of your fatherlessness because you and I got big gaps and we got small ones. And here's what I'm telling you this is the final point is what I'm telling you, God will come through, he will come through he didn't want his blade now. He didn't want us bleeding out forever. He will turn those wounds and scars and you will be able to hold your head high. You won't ultimately drown. Even if your oppressors surround you even if the mockers surround you even if no one else understands or get it that there is a God in heaven, who will not leave or abandon or forsake you. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that you didn't leave us here on this earth wondering if anybody cares. Because you care. God, I pray for those in this room that had really really horrendous fathers. And then a topic like this hurts on multiple levels. I just pray right now that they lean in. They stick with you that they that they truly cry out to you gotta I need help. I need help because I don't want to keep doing this. I'm gonna keep going down this way. Help us to be men and women who see ourselves as sons and daughters of a father who one day will say to us even if no one else here on this earth says it. Well done. Well done, daughter. Well done, son. Enter, enter into the kingdom that has been created for you. As he says in Christ's name, Amen.

Ver todos los episodios