Joshua chapter 24 verse 15. That's in the Old Testament, kind of close to the front
of your Bible. It's the last chapter of Joshua. If you find judges, just turn back a page
and you'll be there. Joshua chapter 24 verse 15 is where we will start. As I said
when we talked about Mother's Day, I'm not just preaching necessarily to
fathers today, but I'm preaching to men. This is a good service for us to talk
about not only what it means to be a good father, but what it means to be a
man, and that is something that is lacking I believe in our culture and our
society today. So we'll talk about that a little bit this morning. Joshua chapter
24 verse 15. I'll give you a little background here before we read the
passage. God's people have been enslaved. God sent Moses to them to deliver them
from the land of Egypt. They ended up wandering into wilderness for 40 years
because they grumbled and complained and were quite disobedient. Eventually Moses
died, but he had brought up one to follow him and that was Joshua. And Joshua kind
of took over where Moses left off. And it was Joshua who was leading and had led
God's people into the Promised Land. And God's people had seen the work of God.
They had saw what God had done. They had seen his power firsthand. They had seen
it time and time again. And so after God's people had made it into the
Promised Land, Joshua gives them these words. He says you have a choice to make.
You've seen the power of God and so you have a choice to make. Are you going to
follow God? And that's what he's telling us in this passage. Joshua 24 verse 15.
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors serve
beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Let's pray. Father God, we
come to you today and I thank you for these fathers. I thank you for these men.
I thank you for these families that are here today. God, I pray that your Holy
Spirit would be among us, that you would speak to us today, dear Lord. There is no
word that I can say that will be worth anything, God, if it does not come from
you. So God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would take over now, that I would open my
mouth and speak the words that you would desire for us to hear today. Let them
have an impact in our life, God. Let them change our heart. God, I pray that your
words would call us to be the men that we need to be, that we would be men of God,
dear Lord, that we would be good husbands, that we would be good fathers.
And I pray that you bless this service today all for the glory of Jesus Christ.
And I ask these things in Jesus name, amen. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a
gentleman and he was in the process of putting up a new fence. His old fence was
old and they had been doing logging and the fence got destroyed and so he needed
to put up a new fence and it got all his materials and he began to work and get
all the old post up and and he began to measure and lay everything out and what
he told me was, he said it was really easy. He said, my daddy built this fence
years and years ago and he said as I began to measure and get ready to see
where I needed to put the post, he said I didn't have to measure anything. He said
because I found out really quickly that my father had measured everything so
perfect that everything fell right into place and it made it a lot easier for me.
And I told him at the time, I said you know there's a sermon in there somewhere.
He said well you can use that story. I said well thank you, I'm going to. And I
thought about that story and I thought what a beautiful example that is for
fathers because the decisions we make, the things we do as fathers is going to
determine how our children turn out. If we do things just right and have
everything just perfect and leave them a perfectly straight line to follow, then
when they grow up to be adults, they are going to have a perfect pattern that
they can look at that's going to help them to be productive young men and
young women in this world. I was doing some study this week on a lot of a lot
of a lot of studies and research that's been done and you can find plenty of
these studies if you look for them. But there is one thing that has more impact
on how a child will turn out than almost any other factor. I think it's arguable
that the most important aspect of a child and how their life will turn out
is whether or not they have a good father or not. Whether or not they have a
father who is in the home. Whether or not they have a father that is invested in
them. Now you look up the statistics. You look at those young children that get in
trouble and they commit crimes and more times than not overwhelmingly those
children do not have fathers who are in their lives and do not have fathers who
have been a good example to them. And so it is important especially for you young
men that have young children, it is so important that you realize what it means
to be a father. Because the things that you do men and maybe you young men that
don't have children yet but maybe one day we'll listen to this. The things you do
will determine how your children will turn out. Apples do not fall far from
trees. There's some occasions where children grow up in bad homes with bad
examples and turn out good but the chances are overwhelming that whatever
you do your child is going to do. And you need to recognize that men. We need to
recognize that that is men that God has called us to be the head of the
household. That's a responsibility that men do not take seriously these days.
Especially young men. We need a better generation of men than what we've got.
Just a few days ago we celebrated the 80th anniversary of D-Day. If you want to
look at what a man is you look at those men who stormed the beaches of Normandy.
That is what our country is lacking these days. Men we need to step up to the
plate to be better examples. To be those who stand up for what is right and who
stand up for what is good and who work to provide for our children and who give
them a better example. And today's a good day for us to reflect and ask ourselves
if we've done that or not. As men are we being good examples? Are we taking care
of our wives and our children? Do you tell your wife that you love her? Do you
tell your children that you love them? When is the last time you've done
something good for your wife? Now I know it's Father's Day but we'll talk about
wives a little bit today. Because our wives are important to us and you need
to treasure your wife above all else. She needs to be like a precious jewel to you
and even more valuable than that the Proverbs tells us. If we want to start
being good men we need to start by being good husbands. We need to take our
responsibility as husbands seriously. God calls us as men to be like Jesus Christ
to be willing to give all for our wives. And so a good place to start if we're
going to be good fathers and we want to be good men is to start by loving our
wives. Now I want to tell you all about a holiday you may not know about it some
of you men I'm gonna tell you about it it's called Good Wives Day. Now I don't
know if you've man ever heard of this holiday this is quite a unique holiday.
It's not said on any specific day of the year. It can happen multiple days of the
year should you choose for it too. And here's how it works. You as a husband
recognize that you have a good wife and you've been paying attention. Now here
now listen you maybe you hadn't been paying attention you need to start
paying attention because one day your wife's gonna be looking at a magazine
looking on Facebook looking at something on TV and she's gonna say oh I love to
have one of those oh I've always wanted one of those oh I've always wanted to go
to this place. Hey here's where here's where you need to pay attention gentlemen.
You make a note of that and one day just out of the blue there's gonna be a
package that comes in the mail and you're gonna say hey babe there's a
package for you today she's gonna say I didn't order anything and she's gonna
open it up and it's gonna be that new blender that she wanted and she's gonna
say what is this for and you're gonna say it's Good Wives Day. Now Michelle's a
little spoiled every once in a while now she'll tell me she'll say is there a
good wife's day coming up anytime soon but pay attention to these things men
our wives deserve a little loving we need to pay them a little attention we
need to pay them a lot of attention it's okay for us to love on them and spoil
them a little bit maybe you're doing good maybe you had a good week a good
month at work there's that vacation she wants to go on you get it all set up get
somebody set to babysit the kids take her on that special trip a good place
for us to start man is to be good to our wives and to love our wives that's a
good place for us to start and once we love our wives we've already started to
leave a good example because listen to this man especially young men how you
treat your wife is how your son is going to treat his wife this is super
important if you want your son to treat a woman good then you treat your wife
good if you want your son to treat your wife like dirt and you treat her like
dirt whatever you do is what your child is going to do boys or girls whatever
they see you do every day is what they're going to do if they see you
drink it every day they're gonna drink if they see you lied every day they're
going to lie. If they steal, you steal it every day, they're going to steal. Now don't
think, don't fall into this lie that your child's going to turn out different than you.
Chances are your child's going to turn out just like you. So how's your life turned out?
How are you doing? Today's a good day and it's okay for us to be honest. It's okay for
us to be honest as men and say, I'm not doing too good as a husband sometimes. I'm not doing
too good as a father sometimes. But here's the good news, you can change today. And so
we have to be a better example for our children. And that starts exactly where we started here
in Joshua chapter 24 verse 15. If you want to be a man that's going to have a good family,
that's going to raise good children, if you want to be a good father, then you start by
establishing your family on the Word of God. Now you have a choice today. The world has
lots of things before you, lots of things you can do, lots of ways you can live, lots
of examples you can leave for your children. The world has given you a choice. I'm telling
you the Word of God, that God calls men to stand up and be the head of the household
and give all for their wives and take care of their children and to be an example of
who Jesus Christ is and to live by the Word of God, to learn the Word of God, to teach
the Word of God to their families. This is what God calls us to men. We have a choice
to make today. Am I going to choose the world? Am I going to choose the things I like, the
things I want? Am I going to choose the way of God and am I going to choose my family?
Joshua told the people, he said, you have a choice today. God's provided for you, God's
blessed you, God's given you everything you need. There's other gods out there, there's
other things you can worship, there's other things you can do. But Joshua said, today
you have a choice. Men, today you have a choice as to what kind of man you're going to be,
as to what kind of father you're going to be, as to what kind of husband you're going
to be. Joshua said, you can choose whatever you want to choose. But listen to this, men,
this is what Joshua said. He said, but as for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord. That's where we need to start, men. That's where you need to start with your wives,
that's where you need to start with your children today. You need to say, look son, look daughter,
look babe, life is hard, but God is good. Look son, look daughter, there's people out
there that are lying and that are cheating and that are stealing and that are throwing
their life away on things of the world. But let me tell you that God is better and we're
not living for the world, we're going to live by the word of God. Ask for me and my household,
ask for me and you babe, ask for me and you son, ask for me and you daughter, we are going
to serve the Lord. If you don't raise your kid, the world will raise your kids. You make
a choice today who you want to raise your kids, but I can assure you, you're going to
do a better job than the world if you start raising your family and it's established on
the word of God. You got to make that choice today. I hope you make the choice, men, that
you're going to stand up and you're going to say, but as for me and my household, we
will serve the Lord. God gives some instruction here in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 through
7. It's instruction to Israel, but it's good instruction to us too even though we're not
under the same laws and things that they were. Good instruction nonetheless. Deuteronomy
chapter 6 verse 4. Listen Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that
I am giving to you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk
about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie
down and when you get up. God says, okay people, I'm giving you my words. I'm giving you my
command. Look, understand that I am God and God alone, there is no other. And you are
to love me with all your heart. That's where we start, men. We have to start by loving
God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is where we start. If we're
going to be good men, if we're going to be good fathers, then we must establish our household
on the Word of God and that starts by us saying, God, I'm a sinner. God, I hadn't done a
good job. I haven't been a good man. But God, I realize my sinfulness today and God, I repent
of my sins and I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And once we begin to trust in
the Lord, what does God's Word say? Once we know the truth of God's Word, he says, take
these words and repeat them to your children everywhere you go. Whether you're walking,
whether you're laying down, whether you're going to the store, whether you're going fishing,
whether you're going to work, whatever you do, repeat these words of God. Impart these
words to your children. When is the last time you have shared the Word of God with your
children? And maybe you say today, well, I don't really know the Word of God. It's okay.
Praise the Lord. That's what we're here for today because we want to be restored as men.
We want to toughen up. We want to act like men. We want to start to learn God's Word
so that we can know God's Word. And once we do, then we begin to pour that over our children
in every way we can. Every opportunity we get, every beautiful day we say, son, daughter,
look at this beautiful day that God has given us. Every time we see somebody cheating somebody,
you say, son, daughter, that's not the way to live. Every time you see somebody on the
road that needs help, you stop and help them. You give your kids an example and let them
know what it means to live by the Word of God. Live by the Word of God. Don't just tell
them the Word of God. You can read them the Word of God every day, but if they see you
living contrary to that, they're going to do what you do. Listen to this. I'll say it
again. They're going to do what you do. Your kids will do what you do. If you want your
kids to be better, then you got to be better. And if you want to be better, you got to trust
in Jesus Christ and follow the Word of God. This is such an important thing. You say,
man, you didn't get on to the women that hard. No, I didn't because it's the man's job to
be the man. And you grandpas out here, you need to work on your grandsons because they're
growing up in a generation that doesn't put much emphasis on the importance of what a
man is and what a man should do. And you grandpas out here need to take your grandsons or young
men that you may encounter and you need to start teaching them what it means to be a
man. You need to teach them what it means to have responsibility. You need to teach
them what it means to take care of their family and to grow up. We live in a society that
doesn't want kids to grow up. They want kids to be kids until they're 30 years old. We
need to change that to a society that teaches men how to be men. And that comes through
the Word of God. There's nothing more important for you, man, than to be a good husband and
to be a good father. And that starts on the Word of God. So you make a choice today. Ask
for me and my household, who will we serve? Will you serve the world? Will you serve your
wealth or will you serve God? If you're going to serve God, then you need to know the Word
of God and you need to impart that onto your children. 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses
13 and 14 says, be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong. Your every
action must be done with love. Don't forget that part. Act like a man. You're supposed
to be tough, man. That's what we're called to do. We need to toughen up. We need to act
like a man, but don't be too tough. There's also got to be some love there. And don't
fall into the lie that men have to be too tough that they don't cry. It's all right
for a man to shed a tear. There might be some men in this room today or maybe some that
didn't come today because Father's Day is not always a happy day. Mother's Day is not
always a happy day. There's a day that we need to shed a tear and it's okay if you need
to shed a tear today. It's okay if we need to mourn over our sins and over our failures
as men, as husbands, as fathers. It doesn't mean that we're weak men, but we need to act
like a man. And most importantly, we need to show love. We need to show our wives love.
We need to show our children love. Now we're all different. We were all raised different
and we may show love in different ways, but we need to show our kids what love is. You
need to tell them. If you don't tell them, you need to tell them. You need to say, son,
I love you. Daughter, I love you. Wife, I love you. The women and the children in our life
need to know what love is. It's very important for us men. If we're going to be men of God,
we have to be men of love. And that needs to be evident in everything we do in our life.
Our kids and our wives need to see that. If you ever wonder if you're doing a good job
or something or not, ask your wife. She'll tell you. She'll tell you real quick if you
need to change, if you need to straighten up, if you're not doing right, if your attitude's
not right. Praise the Lord that we have good women, but we need to be good men to those
good women. So we need to be those who say, as for me in my house, I'll serve the Lord.
As for me in my house, I'll impart the word of God and the commands of God onto my family.
And there's one more thing that's good for us to do, man, and that is to pray for our
families. That is to pray for our wives and pray for our kids. I'm not talking about just
silent by yourself. I'm talking about praying with them. When's the last time you grabbed
your wife and you hugged her and you prayed for her about something? When's the last time
you gathered all your kids around and said, let me pray for you? There's something beautiful
about that. That needs to be part of our life. It needs to be part of our routine that as
men that we are praying over our wives and that we are praying over our families. And
when our children see that, it's going to change who they are going to be. When they
see that my dad has a faith that's strong enough that he cares about God above all else,
that he's willing to live by the word of God, that he loves me, that he corrects me when
I need correcting, that he takes care of me, that he provides for my needs, and that he
prays for me every day. When our children see that, it changes who they are going to
be. It does. Men, you need to pray for your wives. You need to pray for your children.
They need to know that you're praying for them and they need to know that you love them.
You say, I don't know how to pray. Maybe we say that sometimes. We say, I don't know how
to pray. I don't know what to pray. Well, I want to share with you maybe a good place
to start today. Here's a prayer I want to read to you this morning. I think it's a good
prayer. For this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and
on earth is named. I pray that he might grant you according to the riches of his glory to
be strengthened with the power in the inner man through his spirit, and that the Messiah
may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established
in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height
and depth of God's love, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge so you may be
filled with the fullness of God. What beautiful words there. What a beautiful prayer there.
You know where that prayer comes from? The book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3 verses
14 and 19. What a beautiful prayer that we pray for our families that God would bless
them, that they would know God's love, that they would know Jesus Christ. These are the
things that matter. Even if we don't know how to pray good, even if we don't know the
words to say, you just pray your heart. You just say, God, I pray for my wife. God, I
pray for my kids. God, keep them safe. God, keep them healthy. That's our prayer. There's
probably a lot of parents in this room that have prayed that prayer many times. Just that
simple. Pray your heart. What do you want for your wife? What do you want for your children?
You want them to be safe and healthy and provided for and to know Jesus Christ as their Lord
and Savior, and nothing else matters. That's what we care about. So, man, I challenge you
today and I call you today to be men of God. To say from this day forward, ask for me and
my household, we will serve the Lord. From this day forward, I will make every effort
to be the right example to my wife and to my children. And when I fail, I'll let them
know that I failed and I'll tell them I'm sorry. And when I see opportunities to teach
them right from wrong, I'll teach them right and not wrong. We have to decide today if
we are going to be men of God because that's what our world needs, maybe more than anything,
is men of God who will stand up and show people what it means to be a Christian. Let us be
those men who stand up for God today. Let us be those men who impart the word of God
on our families today. Let us be those men today who pray for our wives and who pray
for our children. Now, I'm going to do something a little different today. I've been on the
fence about this. I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea, but we're going to do
something a little different today at our time of invitation. I'm going to ask you all
to stand up. And I'm going to make you feel uncomfortable today, man. I'm putting you
on the spot. I'm just going to make you feel uncomfortable. But in a minute, the big boy
is going to play a song for us. And what I want you to do, man, is I want you to take
your wife by the hand, give her a hug. If you've got children, I want you to take your
children. I want you to gather with them and I want you to pray over them as this song
plays. Now, you can pray out loud for them. I would encourage you to. If you don't feel
comfortable doing that, you can pray silently. When you're finished, just say amen so that
they'll know that you're finished. But I want you to grab your wife. I want you to hug her.
I want you to hold her. I want you to grab your children. And I want you to pray over
them today. You get wherever you need to get to get comfortable. If you need to step outside
of the pew or whatever you want to do. But I encourage you today, and maybe this is the
first time, man, that you've ever prayed for your wife or that you've ever prayed for your
children. But today, I encourage you, as Big Boy plays this song, pray for your wife and
for your children. For those of you men today that may not have a wife or may not have a
child here with you, I encourage you to pray for the rest of these men. I encourage you
to pray for the ones who are taking care of their families and who are raising their families
that you would pray that God would watch over them and encourage them and strengthen them.
Pray for those fathers who may have lost a child today. But as Big Boy plays, we're going
to take a minute today. Grab your wife. Grab your kids. And pray over them this morning.
Big Boy.