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Joshua chapter 24 verse 15. That's in the Old Testament, kind of close to the front

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of your Bible. It's the last chapter of Joshua. If you find judges, just turn back a page

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and you'll be there. Joshua chapter 24 verse 15 is where we will start. As I said

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when we talked about Mother's Day, I'm not just preaching necessarily to

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fathers today, but I'm preaching to men. This is a good service for us to talk

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about not only what it means to be a good father, but what it means to be a

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man, and that is something that is lacking I believe in our culture and our

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society today. So we'll talk about that a little bit this morning. Joshua chapter

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24 verse 15. I'll give you a little background here before we read the

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passage. God's people have been enslaved. God sent Moses to them to deliver them

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from the land of Egypt. They ended up wandering into wilderness for 40 years

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because they grumbled and complained and were quite disobedient. Eventually Moses

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died, but he had brought up one to follow him and that was Joshua. And Joshua kind

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of took over where Moses left off. And it was Joshua who was leading and had led

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God's people into the Promised Land. And God's people had seen the work of God.

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They had saw what God had done. They had seen his power firsthand. They had seen

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it time and time again. And so after God's people had made it into the

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Promised Land, Joshua gives them these words. He says you have a choice to make.

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You've seen the power of God and so you have a choice to make. Are you going to

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follow God? And that's what he's telling us in this passage. Joshua 24 verse 15.

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But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for

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yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors serve

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beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.

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But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Let's pray. Father God, we

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come to you today and I thank you for these fathers. I thank you for these men.

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I thank you for these families that are here today. God, I pray that your Holy

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Spirit would be among us, that you would speak to us today, dear Lord. There is no

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word that I can say that will be worth anything, God, if it does not come from

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you. So God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would take over now, that I would open my

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mouth and speak the words that you would desire for us to hear today. Let them

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have an impact in our life, God. Let them change our heart. God, I pray that your

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words would call us to be the men that we need to be, that we would be men of God,

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dear Lord, that we would be good husbands, that we would be good fathers.

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And I pray that you bless this service today all for the glory of Jesus Christ.

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And I ask these things in Jesus name, amen. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a

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gentleman and he was in the process of putting up a new fence. His old fence was

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old and they had been doing logging and the fence got destroyed and so he needed

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to put up a new fence and it got all his materials and he began to work and get

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all the old post up and and he began to measure and lay everything out and what

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he told me was, he said it was really easy. He said, my daddy built this fence

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years and years ago and he said as I began to measure and get ready to see

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where I needed to put the post, he said I didn't have to measure anything. He said

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because I found out really quickly that my father had measured everything so

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perfect that everything fell right into place and it made it a lot easier for me.

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And I told him at the time, I said you know there's a sermon in there somewhere.

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He said well you can use that story. I said well thank you, I'm going to. And I

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thought about that story and I thought what a beautiful example that is for

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fathers because the decisions we make, the things we do as fathers is going to

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determine how our children turn out. If we do things just right and have

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everything just perfect and leave them a perfectly straight line to follow, then

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when they grow up to be adults, they are going to have a perfect pattern that

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they can look at that's going to help them to be productive young men and

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young women in this world. I was doing some study this week on a lot of a lot

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of a lot of studies and research that's been done and you can find plenty of

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these studies if you look for them. But there is one thing that has more impact

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on how a child will turn out than almost any other factor. I think it's arguable

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that the most important aspect of a child and how their life will turn out

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is whether or not they have a good father or not. Whether or not they have a

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father who is in the home. Whether or not they have a father that is invested in

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them. Now you look up the statistics. You look at those young children that get in

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trouble and they commit crimes and more times than not overwhelmingly those

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children do not have fathers who are in their lives and do not have fathers who

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have been a good example to them. And so it is important especially for you young

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men that have young children, it is so important that you realize what it means

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to be a father. Because the things that you do men and maybe you young men that

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don't have children yet but maybe one day we'll listen to this. The things you do

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will determine how your children will turn out. Apples do not fall far from

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trees. There's some occasions where children grow up in bad homes with bad

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examples and turn out good but the chances are overwhelming that whatever

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you do your child is going to do. And you need to recognize that men. We need to

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recognize that that is men that God has called us to be the head of the

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household. That's a responsibility that men do not take seriously these days.

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Especially young men. We need a better generation of men than what we've got.

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Just a few days ago we celebrated the 80th anniversary of D-Day. If you want to

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look at what a man is you look at those men who stormed the beaches of Normandy.

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That is what our country is lacking these days. Men we need to step up to the

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plate to be better examples. To be those who stand up for what is right and who

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stand up for what is good and who work to provide for our children and who give

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them a better example. And today's a good day for us to reflect and ask ourselves

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if we've done that or not. As men are we being good examples? Are we taking care

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of our wives and our children? Do you tell your wife that you love her? Do you

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tell your children that you love them? When is the last time you've done

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something good for your wife? Now I know it's Father's Day but we'll talk about

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wives a little bit today. Because our wives are important to us and you need

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to treasure your wife above all else. She needs to be like a precious jewel to you

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and even more valuable than that the Proverbs tells us. If we want to start

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being good men we need to start by being good husbands. We need to take our

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responsibility as husbands seriously. God calls us as men to be like Jesus Christ

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to be willing to give all for our wives. And so a good place to start if we're

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going to be good fathers and we want to be good men is to start by loving our

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wives. Now I want to tell you all about a holiday you may not know about it some

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of you men I'm gonna tell you about it it's called Good Wives Day. Now I don't

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know if you've man ever heard of this holiday this is quite a unique holiday.

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It's not said on any specific day of the year. It can happen multiple days of the

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year should you choose for it too. And here's how it works. You as a husband

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recognize that you have a good wife and you've been paying attention. Now here

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now listen you maybe you hadn't been paying attention you need to start

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paying attention because one day your wife's gonna be looking at a magazine

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looking on Facebook looking at something on TV and she's gonna say oh I love to

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have one of those oh I've always wanted one of those oh I've always wanted to go

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to this place. Hey here's where here's where you need to pay attention gentlemen.

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You make a note of that and one day just out of the blue there's gonna be a

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package that comes in the mail and you're gonna say hey babe there's a

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package for you today she's gonna say I didn't order anything and she's gonna

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open it up and it's gonna be that new blender that she wanted and she's gonna

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say what is this for and you're gonna say it's Good Wives Day. Now Michelle's a

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little spoiled every once in a while now she'll tell me she'll say is there a

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good wife's day coming up anytime soon but pay attention to these things men

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our wives deserve a little loving we need to pay them a little attention we

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need to pay them a lot of attention it's okay for us to love on them and spoil

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them a little bit maybe you're doing good maybe you had a good week a good

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month at work there's that vacation she wants to go on you get it all set up get

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somebody set to babysit the kids take her on that special trip a good place

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for us to start man is to be good to our wives and to love our wives that's a

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good place for us to start and once we love our wives we've already started to

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leave a good example because listen to this man especially young men how you

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treat your wife is how your son is going to treat his wife this is super

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important if you want your son to treat a woman good then you treat your wife

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good if you want your son to treat your wife like dirt and you treat her like

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dirt whatever you do is what your child is going to do boys or girls whatever

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they see you do every day is what they're going to do if they see you

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drink it every day they're gonna drink if they see you lied every day they're

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going to lie. If they steal, you steal it every day, they're going to steal. Now don't

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think, don't fall into this lie that your child's going to turn out different than you.

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Chances are your child's going to turn out just like you. So how's your life turned out?

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How are you doing? Today's a good day and it's okay for us to be honest. It's okay for

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us to be honest as men and say, I'm not doing too good as a husband sometimes. I'm not doing

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too good as a father sometimes. But here's the good news, you can change today. And so

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we have to be a better example for our children. And that starts exactly where we started here

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in Joshua chapter 24 verse 15. If you want to be a man that's going to have a good family,

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that's going to raise good children, if you want to be a good father, then you start by

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establishing your family on the Word of God. Now you have a choice today. The world has

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lots of things before you, lots of things you can do, lots of ways you can live, lots

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of examples you can leave for your children. The world has given you a choice. I'm telling

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you the Word of God, that God calls men to stand up and be the head of the household

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and give all for their wives and take care of their children and to be an example of

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who Jesus Christ is and to live by the Word of God, to learn the Word of God, to teach

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the Word of God to their families. This is what God calls us to men. We have a choice

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to make today. Am I going to choose the world? Am I going to choose the things I like, the

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things I want? Am I going to choose the way of God and am I going to choose my family?

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Joshua told the people, he said, you have a choice today. God's provided for you, God's

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blessed you, God's given you everything you need. There's other gods out there, there's

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other things you can worship, there's other things you can do. But Joshua said, today

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you have a choice. Men, today you have a choice as to what kind of man you're going to be,

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as to what kind of father you're going to be, as to what kind of husband you're going

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to be. Joshua said, you can choose whatever you want to choose. But listen to this, men,

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this is what Joshua said. He said, but as for me and my household, we will serve the

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Lord. That's where we need to start, men. That's where you need to start with your wives,

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that's where you need to start with your children today. You need to say, look son, look daughter,

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look babe, life is hard, but God is good. Look son, look daughter, there's people out

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there that are lying and that are cheating and that are stealing and that are throwing

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their life away on things of the world. But let me tell you that God is better and we're

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not living for the world, we're going to live by the word of God. Ask for me and my household,

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ask for me and you babe, ask for me and you son, ask for me and you daughter, we are going

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to serve the Lord. If you don't raise your kid, the world will raise your kids. You make

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a choice today who you want to raise your kids, but I can assure you, you're going to

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do a better job than the world if you start raising your family and it's established on

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the word of God. You got to make that choice today. I hope you make the choice, men, that

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you're going to stand up and you're going to say, but as for me and my household, we

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will serve the Lord. God gives some instruction here in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 through

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7. It's instruction to Israel, but it's good instruction to us too even though we're not

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under the same laws and things that they were. Good instruction nonetheless. Deuteronomy

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chapter 6 verse 4. Listen Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your

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God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that

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I am giving to you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk

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about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie

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down and when you get up. God says, okay people, I'm giving you my words. I'm giving you my

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command. Look, understand that I am God and God alone, there is no other. And you are

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to love me with all your heart. That's where we start, men. We have to start by loving

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God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is where we start. If we're

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going to be good men, if we're going to be good fathers, then we must establish our household

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on the Word of God and that starts by us saying, God, I'm a sinner. God, I hadn't done a

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good job. I haven't been a good man. But God, I realize my sinfulness today and God, I repent

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of my sins and I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And once we begin to trust in

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the Lord, what does God's Word say? Once we know the truth of God's Word, he says, take

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these words and repeat them to your children everywhere you go. Whether you're walking,

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whether you're laying down, whether you're going to the store, whether you're going fishing,

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whether you're going to work, whatever you do, repeat these words of God. Impart these

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words to your children. When is the last time you have shared the Word of God with your

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children? And maybe you say today, well, I don't really know the Word of God. It's okay.

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Praise the Lord. That's what we're here for today because we want to be restored as men.

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We want to toughen up. We want to act like men. We want to start to learn God's Word

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so that we can know God's Word. And once we do, then we begin to pour that over our children

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in every way we can. Every opportunity we get, every beautiful day we say, son, daughter,

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look at this beautiful day that God has given us. Every time we see somebody cheating somebody,

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you say, son, daughter, that's not the way to live. Every time you see somebody on the

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road that needs help, you stop and help them. You give your kids an example and let them

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know what it means to live by the Word of God. Live by the Word of God. Don't just tell

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them the Word of God. You can read them the Word of God every day, but if they see you

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living contrary to that, they're going to do what you do. Listen to this. I'll say it

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again. They're going to do what you do. Your kids will do what you do. If you want your

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kids to be better, then you got to be better. And if you want to be better, you got to trust

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in Jesus Christ and follow the Word of God. This is such an important thing. You say,

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man, you didn't get on to the women that hard. No, I didn't because it's the man's job to

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be the man. And you grandpas out here, you need to work on your grandsons because they're

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growing up in a generation that doesn't put much emphasis on the importance of what a

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man is and what a man should do. And you grandpas out here need to take your grandsons or young

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men that you may encounter and you need to start teaching them what it means to be a

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man. You need to teach them what it means to have responsibility. You need to teach

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them what it means to take care of their family and to grow up. We live in a society that

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doesn't want kids to grow up. They want kids to be kids until they're 30 years old. We

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need to change that to a society that teaches men how to be men. And that comes through

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the Word of God. There's nothing more important for you, man, than to be a good husband and

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to be a good father. And that starts on the Word of God. So you make a choice today. Ask

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for me and my household, who will we serve? Will you serve the world? Will you serve your

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wealth or will you serve God? If you're going to serve God, then you need to know the Word

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of God and you need to impart that onto your children. 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses

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13 and 14 says, be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong. Your every

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action must be done with love. Don't forget that part. Act like a man. You're supposed

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to be tough, man. That's what we're called to do. We need to toughen up. We need to act

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like a man, but don't be too tough. There's also got to be some love there. And don't

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fall into the lie that men have to be too tough that they don't cry. It's all right

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for a man to shed a tear. There might be some men in this room today or maybe some that

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didn't come today because Father's Day is not always a happy day. Mother's Day is not

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always a happy day. There's a day that we need to shed a tear and it's okay if you need

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to shed a tear today. It's okay if we need to mourn over our sins and over our failures

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as men, as husbands, as fathers. It doesn't mean that we're weak men, but we need to act

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like a man. And most importantly, we need to show love. We need to show our wives love.

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We need to show our children love. Now we're all different. We were all raised different

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and we may show love in different ways, but we need to show our kids what love is. You

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need to tell them. If you don't tell them, you need to tell them. You need to say, son,

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I love you. Daughter, I love you. Wife, I love you. The women and the children in our life

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need to know what love is. It's very important for us men. If we're going to be men of God,

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we have to be men of love. And that needs to be evident in everything we do in our life.

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Our kids and our wives need to see that. If you ever wonder if you're doing a good job

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or something or not, ask your wife. She'll tell you. She'll tell you real quick if you

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need to change, if you need to straighten up, if you're not doing right, if your attitude's

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not right. Praise the Lord that we have good women, but we need to be good men to those

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good women. So we need to be those who say, as for me in my house, I'll serve the Lord.

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As for me in my house, I'll impart the word of God and the commands of God onto my family.

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And there's one more thing that's good for us to do, man, and that is to pray for our

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families. That is to pray for our wives and pray for our kids. I'm not talking about just

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silent by yourself. I'm talking about praying with them. When's the last time you grabbed

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your wife and you hugged her and you prayed for her about something? When's the last time

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you gathered all your kids around and said, let me pray for you? There's something beautiful

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about that. That needs to be part of our life. It needs to be part of our routine that as

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men that we are praying over our wives and that we are praying over our families. And

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when our children see that, it's going to change who they are going to be. When they

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see that my dad has a faith that's strong enough that he cares about God above all else,

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that he's willing to live by the word of God, that he loves me, that he corrects me when

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I need correcting, that he takes care of me, that he provides for my needs, and that he

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prays for me every day. When our children see that, it changes who they are going to

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be. It does. Men, you need to pray for your wives. You need to pray for your children.

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They need to know that you're praying for them and they need to know that you love them.

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You say, I don't know how to pray. Maybe we say that sometimes. We say, I don't know how

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to pray. I don't know what to pray. Well, I want to share with you maybe a good place

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to start today. Here's a prayer I want to read to you this morning. I think it's a good

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prayer. For this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and

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on earth is named. I pray that he might grant you according to the riches of his glory to

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be strengthened with the power in the inner man through his spirit, and that the Messiah

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may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established

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in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height

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and depth of God's love, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge so you may be

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filled with the fullness of God. What beautiful words there. What a beautiful prayer there.

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You know where that prayer comes from? The book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3 verses

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14 and 19. What a beautiful prayer that we pray for our families that God would bless

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them, that they would know God's love, that they would know Jesus Christ. These are the

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things that matter. Even if we don't know how to pray good, even if we don't know the

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words to say, you just pray your heart. You just say, God, I pray for my wife. God, I

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pray for my kids. God, keep them safe. God, keep them healthy. That's our prayer. There's

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probably a lot of parents in this room that have prayed that prayer many times. Just that

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simple. Pray your heart. What do you want for your wife? What do you want for your children?

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You want them to be safe and healthy and provided for and to know Jesus Christ as their Lord

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and Savior, and nothing else matters. That's what we care about. So, man, I challenge you

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today and I call you today to be men of God. To say from this day forward, ask for me and

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my household, we will serve the Lord. From this day forward, I will make every effort

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to be the right example to my wife and to my children. And when I fail, I'll let them

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know that I failed and I'll tell them I'm sorry. And when I see opportunities to teach

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them right from wrong, I'll teach them right and not wrong. We have to decide today if

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we are going to be men of God because that's what our world needs, maybe more than anything,

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is men of God who will stand up and show people what it means to be a Christian. Let us be

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those men who stand up for God today. Let us be those men who impart the word of God

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on our families today. Let us be those men today who pray for our wives and who pray

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for our children. Now, I'm going to do something a little different today. I've been on the

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fence about this. I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea, but we're going to do

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something a little different today at our time of invitation. I'm going to ask you all

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to stand up. And I'm going to make you feel uncomfortable today, man. I'm putting you

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on the spot. I'm just going to make you feel uncomfortable. But in a minute, the big boy

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is going to play a song for us. And what I want you to do, man, is I want you to take

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your wife by the hand, give her a hug. If you've got children, I want you to take your

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children. I want you to gather with them and I want you to pray over them as this song

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plays. Now, you can pray out loud for them. I would encourage you to. If you don't feel

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comfortable doing that, you can pray silently. When you're finished, just say amen so that

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they'll know that you're finished. But I want you to grab your wife. I want you to hug her.

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I want you to hold her. I want you to grab your children. And I want you to pray over

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them today. You get wherever you need to get to get comfortable. If you need to step outside

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of the pew or whatever you want to do. But I encourage you today, and maybe this is the

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first time, man, that you've ever prayed for your wife or that you've ever prayed for your

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children. But today, I encourage you, as Big Boy plays this song, pray for your wife and

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for your children. For those of you men today that may not have a wife or may not have a

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child here with you, I encourage you to pray for the rest of these men. I encourage you

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to pray for the ones who are taking care of their families and who are raising their families

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that you would pray that God would watch over them and encourage them and strengthen them.

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Pray for those fathers who may have lost a child today. But as Big Boy plays, we're going

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to take a minute today. Grab your wife. Grab your kids. And pray over them this morning.

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Big Boy.