A Godly Father's Charge

Let me at the beginning here, first of all, just thank the Massaro small group for their

! willingness to do that memory work. We have been blessed in our series through the book of Ephesians

! with one person and group after another reciting various chapters of the book of Ephesians. It's

been our blessing, hasn't it? The wide diversity of individuals that have been willing to kind of

step up and do that very difficult, hard thing. I do want you to know that we are looking for one

more person, couple, group, family, whatever, to tackle Ephesians chapter 4. That is the only one

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

remaining in the current iteration, and I am...and you have Ephesians 4. Is it three that I'm looking

for? Well, it's my first mistake of the day. Okay. I'll try it this way. I need one other person,

family, etc., to volunteer to do whatever chapter I haven't decided needs to be done. Yes! But thank

you, Tom. It has been a great blessing, and so I need one other person, group, etc., to tackle that.

Second thing, we are taking care of some preliminaries. This is...I'm going to preach this

morning from Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4, which is God's explicit instruction to those who are fathers

Ephesians 6:4

that says, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and

admonition of the Lord. That being said, from the text, this book is an excellent, excellent, excellent

book. You want the title? What every man wishes his father had told him by Byron Forrest Yon.

What every man wishes his father had told him by Byron Forrest Yon. Okay? And I would encourage you

strongly to get the copy and read it and take it to heart. This copy belongs to Tim Bauer, and I want to

be sure that you get it right there. Yeah. Or what every woman wishes her mother? Father. Okay. Have you

started on that one yet? I have a copy of that one as well, but I will tell you, listen, what's it say in

Ecclesiastes of the making of books there is no end? Something like that? This is a good book, and it's a

good book with broad application. You know, there are some times that I recommend in my earlier life when I

was younger, I used to recommend some books that most everybody else said, yeah, I'm glad you're a

person. I'm glad you're a good book. I'm glad you're a good book. I'm glad you're a good book.

You know, but this is an excellent book. You'll be blessed by it. Now, take your Bibles and open in that book.

And go to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4.

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction

of the Lord. Let's pray.

Father God, this morning as we take the Word in hand, we're reminded that

that your Word is a lamp and a light, that your Word is settled in the heavens,

that your Word is the express declaration of your purpose and your will, and that it is the means

whereby your children may receive abundant blessings. We also understand, Lord, that

the comprehension and apprehension, the process of taking the Word and letting it sink into our life

and then letting it produce behavior that brings glory to Christ is not something that happens

just because we decide we're going to think about it for a while, but it happens because of the work

of the Spirit of God. Now, we want to be yielded to you. We recognize that you have things to say that are

supremely important, and we need to hear it.

And I pray, Father, this morning that as the Word is being preached, that your Spirit would drive it

firmly home in the hearts of all of those who are men and fathers today.

And those that are sitting here, perhaps, that do not know Christ, even as they listen to the wisdom

that you have for fathers, practical as it is, that your Spirit would be drawing them to recognize

the desperate condition of their soul, and they would call out upon the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved.

And we ask this in Jesus' name and for His glory. Amen.

Amen. It's kind of interesting that I would begin by recommending a book.

And it's a good book, but I want to tell you that that book is nothing compared to this one.

And this book gives us 20 short words that are absolutely at the heart of what it takes to be a godly father.

You get these 20 words right, you don't need forest yawn.

Now, am I saying that you wouldn't benefit?

In the multitude of counselors, there is safety, as the Proverbs recite.

There is benefit in hearing what God is doing in other people's lives.

But let me make this clear.

Get these 20 first and let them be etched upon your heart.

They are critical.

They're essential.

They're foundational.

And I want you to understand this morning that God is speaking explicitly and pointedly

to every one of you who are fathers here today.

Every one of you.

So let me begin by making the point as we look at the passage.

Dad, God's talking to you.

He's talking to you.

And I want you to understand, as I have often said,

that really the heart of preaching is making God's Word clear

and putting people on the spot of saying yes or no to God.

At the end, when you walk out of here, one of the things that I trust has taken place

is that the Spirit of God has taken the Word of God

and He's driven it clearly into the hearts of you who are men

and you are saying, yes, God, by your power and through the work of the Spirit of God,

I will do these things.

And when it's settled and it's done and my day comes to an end

and my life comes to a conclusion,

I want it to be said I did not do the things I shouldn't

and I, by your Spirit, did what I've been called to do.

So, in one sense, if I am faithful to my calling,

as you who are fathers are driving home,

your interested wife could kind of touch your shoulder or whatever

and say, honey, so what are you going to do?

And what you ought to say, as a man who has been convicted by the Spirit of God

and prompted by the clarity of the Word of God,

you say, hey, I got it, I got it, I am not going to provoke

and I will bring my children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

And from the back seat, some of you kids, go ahead,

you can say, hey, Daddy, what are you going to do?

And Dad should say, I'm glad you asked.

I want you to know I was listening, I even was taking notes,

and I'm not going to provoke.

And I'm going to bring you up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.

A little note to sell for you who are women, ladies in particular,

probably before you ask him that question,

you probably ought to kiss him on the lips and blow in his ear

and run your fingers through his hair and say,

honey, by the way, Pastor coached me.

I wouldn't be doing this otherwise, right?

But, hey, what are you going to do?

I mean, you know, hey, guys, get to it.

And so if she misses the boat and she misses it,

get her the CD, you know, make her listen to this and say,

hey, get with me, help me here.

Now let's get to the point.

What we find here in this passage in Ephesians 6, verse 4,

Ephesians 6:4

is God giving fathers an explicit command.

And words are important.

And the word that is used here in verse 4 is different than the one that is used in verse 1.

I want you to look back just for a moment.

It says, children, obey your what?

Parents.

Parents.

Now parents generally, what we're talking about when we talk about parents?

We're talking about a daddy and a mommy.

We're talking about both parties in this process.

But in this case, the Scriptures explicitly speak to fathers.

And I want you to understand that while mothers play a very important role in the lives of children,

she is not the one that God holds responsible first.

She is not the one that God looks to first.

The first responsibility for what happens in the lives of children in a Christian home falls on the Father.

By the way, I was thinking earlier this week as I was studying about the process whereby,

where Moses, towards the end of his ministry, he recited the law to the nation of Israel.

And one of the things that they would do is he would say,

cursed is the man that does blah, blah, blah.

And then guess what people would say at the end of that?

What would they say?

It was a Baptist amen.

Okay?

By Baptists.

I mean, Baptists are very reserved and hold those in abeyance.

You know, it's like we don't say amen very often.

But what, do you know what amen means, by the way?

It means what?

Right on.

That's what it means.

Yeah!

That's it.

And so we're looking at this passage, and I want you to understand that God is speaking,

and He's saying, dads, fathers, this is your responsibility.

And all the men in the congregation that are fathers said,

right on!

That's me!

I hear it!

I got it!

It's for me.

So to put it bluntly, God says, Christian dad, you're the one who is first responsible for

your child's upbringing.

That means that the Christian father cannot be passive, wussy.

He is going to be called to account, and he will not be able to say, well, I want you

to understand that I was out there banging the door, making it work, and doing my responsibilities.

I will never forget.

A number of years ago, I was in a funeral home, and I knew the family moderately well,

relatively new.

This was my first ministry, and I went to this calling hours, and here is this dear lady lying

in the casket.

She was a godly, wonderful woman, and the husband was standing there doing the thing

that normally goes along, and he says, I want you to know that my wife was responsible

for the spiritual well-being of our home.

Now, what's a pastor supposed to say in a moment like that?

I did my best to act like, yeah, right.

But I thought to myself later on, let me tell you something.

At the end of the day, God expects men to be the spiritual leaders in their home, and He

expects you, fathers, to be the one who care for the well-being of your home.

While there are certain other expectations that fathers are given by God, such as, it

says in 1 Timothy that a man that does not provide for his household is what?

Worse than an infidel.

God expects a father to be the one that provides for his family.

But I want you to understand that in this passage in Ephesians, it is quite evident that Paul

the apostle, as he knew what was going on in the church, he recognized we've got a bigger,

a more significant problem, a greater challenge to the well-being of the bride of Christ than

daddies who aren't showing up and doing their work.

We're concerned about what's happening spiritually.

And so he says, fathers, I've got some instruction for you.

And so I want you to think about this, dads.

You can write it on your notes.

I will give an account for obeying or disobeying a direct order from God.

Do you understand that?

This is a direct order from God.

He is saying to you as a father, here's what I expect.

20 words, not much.

So let's look at it particularly.

Number one, don't provoke.

We're given a negative command first.

And provocation must have been enough of a problem that Paul recognized that something

need be said about it.

And in the ancient world, I want you to understand that provocation and cruelty was the norm.

You didn't have the children's services or anything like that to call on neighbors and

say, I think so-and-so is being unkind to his children.

In fact, in the ancient world, particularly in the Roman world, the father was the absolute

final authority.

When a child was born, that child was laid at the father's feet.

And if the child picked it up, or if the father picked the child up, that child was adopted

or brought into the family and accepted as his own and had the shelter and protection

of that dad.

All that a father had to do was not pick that child up.

And that child was then taken and placed outside and could be abandoned or left to be turned into

a slave or whatever else.

Did you know what the early church did?

The early church went into the marketplace and picked up a lot of those babies, and the

first orphanages were Christian homes.

And in the ancient world, cruelty and unkindness was normal, part of life.

And so Paul says here, he says, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath.

That word provoke means to stir up anger and inner resentment.

And in this case, it really is something that flows out of a father's ungodly behavior and

attitude.

Now stop just for a moment.

Could the most perfect father in the world have children that grow up angry and resentful?

And the answer is yes.

God the Father had offspring among whom I am one and you are one, who have had no problem

with anger and difficulties associated with it.

And the truth of the matter is, is that a perfect dad could create or have a child that

was angry and upset.

But Paul is concerned in particular that dads who are Christians, who are spirit-filled,

understand that they are not to be contributors to the child's difficulty.

And so mark also that the word here in the text, it says stop provoking.

You know what that's saying?

Dads were doing it.

It was going on.

So let me begin by helping you understand in the larger context of what we're looking

at.

Christian dads provoke children to anger most often when they're not spirit-filled.

Will you not forget that?

This passage is really about what spirit-filled living is.

And I trust that one of the things you do when you walk out of here is that, you know,

dad doesn't say to himself, I'm going to write on the chalkboard a hundred times, do not

provoke your children.

Do not provoke your children.

No.

No.

The first thing that you do is say, hey, I need to be spirit-filled.

I need to be spirit-filled.

I need to be spirit-filled.

Because if I'm spirit-filled, I will not provoke my children to wrath.

Let's think here practically about some of the ways that we may provoke children to wrath.

Number one, by being an angry and threatening dad.

By being an angry and threatening dad.

Let me read a couple passages to you.

And some of you sitting here may even know some of these passages from Proverbs.

So you may want to mark these down.

For one, Proverbs chapter 15, verse 1 says, a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1

Say that slowly.

A harsh word stirs up anger.

So if you are one of those bellowing, belligerent, angry, stompy, grumpy, you know, kind of attitudinal

dads, sooner or later your child will kind of tire of being intimidated by your attitudes,

and eventually you're going to raise a child like that.

proverbs 15 or 15 1 a harsh word stirs up anger let me have you look at another one proverbs chapter

Proverbs 29:22

29 verse 22 a man of wrath stirs up strife and one given to anger causes much transgression

isn't that a good verse to memorize let me let me give you the recitation again so you can look it

up on your own proverbs 29 verse 22 oh i know that verse i don't need it a man of wrath what stirs up

Proverbs 29:22

strife and one given to anger causes much transgression so as you are driving home and

your wife says what are you going to do and you're going to say i'm not going to provoke

i will bring them up you may also later on when the kids have dissipated you may say to your wife

if you have the nerve hey honey have you ever seen me be angry

it's fair question isn't it ever have you ever seen me go off on the kids

so i want to say to you fathers if you are here and and the truth of matter is is that you are one of

those moody grumpy loud bangy dads listen to me you may terrorize your children for a period of time

but you are building a bomb and the day is coming that it'll go up to your heartache well there's

another way that we can provoke our children to wrath and that has that is be by by being passive and not

a spiritual leader by being passive and not a spiritual leader now by the way is it easy for a

for a dad and a father and a husband to be a spiritual leader and all men in here said what

what'd they say it's not very easy it really takes the holy spirit's power because by nature

everybody smile so i can say it to you all know that you love me uh hey by nature men are tyrants or

cowards would you agree with that and this business of being a godly humble spiritual leader

we don't get naturally we need help help help help

being passive and not a spiritual leader i think about jacob yes the patriarch jacob you know what kind

of dad he was he was not the best model that's one of the reasons why when i read in the scripture

and says the god of jacob help you i think yes i need him because i'm jacob by the way jacob remember

one of the cases is his daughter diana was raped and he didn't do anything he just kind of sat around

well we haven't and his sons came home and guess what they did they took it into hand and solved the

problem in a very negative way and it was a mess so dad if you sit around and be a wuss i gotta guarantee

you eventually it's not going to work well i think about david when he found out that incest had taken

place in his home and he wasn't willing to deal with it eventually absalom railed against him third

a dad may provoke his children to wrath by being an absentee

it's no secret that part of the rot in israel was found where men had no faithfulness and

commitment to their wife just being a sperm donor to various women is not the same as being committed

to one woman and staying with her and working with the process of raising godly children it takes a lot

of work playing favorites that's another specialty remember joseph by the way what did his brothers

dislike about him besides the fact that he had the coat of many colors he was his daddy's favorite

and we know that playing favorites is something that will get you in trouble we find it in scripture

and so dad if what you want to do is you want to create heartache for your children just go ahead

and play favorites and can i tell you something i was thinking about this this morning um every person's

different there will never be a duplicate of any of us i mean god is infinitely creative when it comes

to snowflakes and people am i right and so you are who you are and so thinking to yourself well i really

like my son that is you know six nine and can slam dunk he's my money child have you ever heard the

phrase money child how many of you know what a money child is a money child is the child that you're

hoping will make so much money that he will buy you a house and a car and a hummer and you know money child

and so you happen to love on the kid that is you know he is the future doctor in your family and

what's the other one well he may be a specialist in digging ditches and you're thinking that's not my

kid you know don't play favorites by the way judith and i only had four of them and i can tell you

every one of them is radically different

there's another way and that is neglecting discipline neglecting discipline i pity the child

i really do i pity the child who has been allowed to be sassy and disrespectful to their parents

i wish i could tell you that i didn't see that in our congregation but i do on occasion i'm sad

when i see parents that let their children go off and nothing happens and how do i know that nothing

happens everybody smile everybody look at me so you know i'm talking to you

the reason kids don't put their finger in the light socket over and over again is because somehow or

another there's something that takes place between action and consequences with light sockets do you

understand that in a previous life that means when i was younger i used to be a wallpaper hanger i hung

wallpaper and uh one of the things that goes with hanging wallpaper is that occasionally you have to cut

around a an outlet you follow an outlet and if you put your razor blade too deep into the outlet get

what's guess what happens does anybody else know besides me

electricity courses through that wet blade and the wet handle and it gets your attention

you know and one of the things that i remember on more than one occasion is saying out loud to myself

that was stupid and and i'll tell you there would be there would be days that would go by where i

didn't have the same experience now when i see children do the same same same over and over and over

i am figuring out that somehow or another the parent who is involved directly with that child is letting

them go i gotta tell you you raise an angry child when you don't help them learn that they're not the

center of the universe god expects parents to be the ones who deal with misbehavior and discipline

their child when they're wrong i think about that passage in first kings where it talks about one of

david's sons here's what it says it says his father had never told him no

now there's some of you are saying well i'd say i'm no all the time you know how it is no don't do

that no don't do no no no you know i i'm not talking about just saying the word i'm saying deal with it

right and all god's people said that was really encouraging we got kind of 28 participation on it

an amen okay well let's go to the nowhere we're dealing with this disciplining and anger

disciplining and anger

can repetitious misbehavior cause parents to become angry fathers in particular

is there anybody that will rave their hand at me and said i had to deal with anger in my home i had

to my anger earlier in my life i have to confess that as a young father my anger got the best of me on

occasion later on what i learned was helpful is that when something happened i would say to my

my children my sons seemed to be the ones that really tweaked me um i would say to my sons in

particular go to your room and pray about this do you know what i was doing well what was i doing

i was going to the room the other room i was like oh lord please let me let me be objective here let

me think let me pray just uh because being angry doesn't take a specialist do you understand that

it just takes listen to me carefully takes a fool a man who cannot control himself

is worse than a city without walls and if your children would admit to your anger being part of your

parenting style there is a spiritual problem going on in your life and the solution for that

is first of all if you're a child of god to humble yourself and confess and forsake it and ask for

the spirit of god to help you if you're here and you don't know christ you need jesus because nobody

but jesus can change the heart well we understand don't provoke don't provoke don't provoke don't provoke

well let's talk about bring them up it says there bring them up in the discipline and instruction

of the lord god gives us a positive command and god expects fathers to do this work of bringing them

up and i want you to understand that bringing them up involves more than feeding them and seeing to it

that they're at the bus stop at the right time the way the spirit of god puts this is that christian

fathers are the ones that are primarily responsible for their children's spiritual maturity and progress

christian fathers are the ones that have primary responsibility for their child's progress

should your wife help of course you should she is your helper that's her her divinely appointed

responsibility but at the heart of it you're the one that god expects to be the one who does the work

should teachers help yes should a family youth pastor help and the answer is what yes but let me tell you

the way we are hardwired in this fellowship is that at the end of the day if there's something going on

guess who's going to know about it it's going to be dead it's going to be dead and the one that is

principally expected to be the one that works through that challenge is not the the pastor that does the

counseling or or the the youth leader that works in the situation or or the teacher or the coach it's

the dad that's the one that's responsible i want you to understand that a christian father is to nurture

and admonish discipline is the other word that is used here and and the two words refer to a very robust

activity that is demanding and really cannot be really delegated

entirely let me give you three illustrations from the bible of how this plays out for one

to nurture to discipline and admonish means to live the truth and teach in the flow of life turn

over in your bible to one of the critical passages on parenting in the book of deuteronomy go back to

deuteronomy chapter 6 we're going to look at it and by the way let me suggest dads if you're sitting here

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

this morning hey listen do christian fathers need to be encouraged and dealt with in this area and

what do all of us say yes yes yes one of the things that i would do is encourage you to memorize this

passage in ephesians chapter 6 verse 4 20 words you can do it with your eyes closed and then if you

Ephesians 6:4

want to kind of step up the food chain go to deuteronomy chapter 6 deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention Deuteronomy 6:4–9

through 9 here is moses making a very interesting statement to the nation of israel he says here

oh israel the lord our god the lord is one in other words god's talking to you buddy he has something to

say you better pay attention verse 6 it says you shall or 5 it says you shall love the lord your

god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might so where is the starting point

of being an effective father where is it it's loving god it's having a right heart towards god

and loving him by the way if you love him will you be one of these frumpy stompy guys that's always

bellowing and acting like he's a tyrant in his home what's the answer from all of god's people

no if you're full of yourself and not full of god you're going to be a little demagogue in your home

and a tyrant that temporarily your children will be afraid of but eventually guess what they grow up

they leave and they say i've had it with that level of anger deuteronomy says this you love the lord

and then you get this word in your heart and then you are to teach them diligently to your children

and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk in the way

and when you lie down and when you rise up what's it saying listen dad the best way to teach your

children is to be living it so that as life plays out

you take opportunity to help them understand what life with god looks like

so how do you work to nurture and admonish

well one you make certain that you are living the truth and that you're teaching it in the flow of life

second you take advantage of teachable moments turn over in your bible if you would exodus chapter 12

Exodus 12:26

verse 26 you're in deuteronomy it's just a short jump but back in deuteronomy chapter 12 verse 26

Deuteronomy 12:26

after the uh the passover had been implemented god gives some instruction to fathers here's what it says

verse 25 and when you come to the land that the lord will give you as he has promised you shall keep this service

in other words when you're where you're going and i get you there and you're having the passover

verse 26 and when your children shall say to you what do you mean by this service you shall say

it is the sacrifice of the lord's passover

do you understand that that teachable moments are going to happen in your home

that's the way life is

there are there you can sometimes lecture to your blue in the face and it doesn't make a whole lot of a sense

but then something happens that kind of opens the window of opportunity

and you have an opportunity to step in and say

hey

you know what

here's how this connects and

man

this is

this is important

teachable moments take advantage of them

third

and i'm going to give you a broad survey of the book of proverbs can i tell you that i think proverbs is a very very very

one more very good book for parenting

by the way

teach about people

teach about relationships and teach about sex

can i say that again slowly so you know i said it

teach about

people

teach about relationships

and teach about sex

song of solomon and proverbs have a great deal to say about sexuality about purity about relationships about marriage

god has all kinds of information there in the bible for you as a parent to rely upon and by the way listen to me

if you decide that the appropriate time to teach your children about sex is when they're 16 and you give them the keys to the car and you say don't have a mess

you're way too late

you're way too late because the world has already filled their mind with all kinds of wickedness that has nothing to do with god's purpose

you know who invented sex by the way

everybody smile at me so you know i'm talking to you

god planned it

and he meant it for a wonderful wonderful thing

and so it's not something that you as a father ought to say to your son the night before his wedding

now son

you know i've been holding off to talk to you about this

but now here's something you need to know

that's not it

daddy

you should be the one who talks in particular to your son about how god made you

and he should have a clear understanding of the blessing of sexuality

long before can i say this slow

long before he begins to pay attention to little girls

now do all boys pay attention to little girls at the same pace

no

so if you're kind of one of those absentee daddies or you're one of those absent daddies

that every now and then just has these little solar flares

you're missing the boat you need to pay attention to how god made your son

and you need to be talking to him about relationships

you need to be talking to him about people

you need to be talking to him about sex that's your job

it's not your place to be negligent on that area and let the enemy fill your boy

or your girl with all kinds of ideas about what sex is that are not from scripture

and not from god

finally you look at the passage in ephesians chapter 6 4 it says this

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

of the lord

what's that saying

a christian father's ministry is under the headship of the lord

where does it come from

of the lord

where did i get that idea

that you as a parent should be the one teaching your children about sexuality

where did i come up with that

by the way it's not in the public school curriculum

that says by the way

we're going to leave the matter of human sexuality

to godly parents to take care of instructing their children

how many of you found anything like that in common core of the test going out

no no no no no no

they're not going to teach that

they're going to teach we'll do that job for you

god says

hey

dad

it's the nurture and admonition of the lord

i'm the one who's over all of this

and you are there as my divinely appointed

assistant

that's your job

so let me circle back

preaching

aims to make god's word clear

and bring god's people

to say yes or no

to god

so dad

if you're a believer this morning

whether or not

i did it

right or wrong

in terms of

the clarity

let me make this point

he expects you to obey him

fathers

do not

provoke

bring them up

in the nurture

and admonition

of the lord

and so you're a believer

if you're here this morning

and you're a believer

and the spirit of god

is taking the word of god

and he is driving it

firmly home

you

in righteousness

would say

lord

listen

i need your help

and i'm going to go on notice

when i'm driving home with my wife

i'm going to say

listen

from here on in

i'm going to work at this

i need help

i need prayer

and i am going to improve

in bringing my children up

in the nurture and admonition

of the lord

i am not going to be an angry person

now by the way

wife

if he loses it

don't have a meltdown

in front of your kids

that's where you blow in his ear

and kiss him on the lips

and say

honey

you get another chance

but dad

you need to be humble enough

to say

i need god's help

and i'm going to do it right

and if you're sitting here

this morning

in this business

of being a godly father

there's just a disconnect

it may be

that the real disconnect

is between you

and the lord jesus christ

the truth of the matter is

is that he came into the world

to save sinners

and if you're sitting here

and you do not know christ

as your savior

this business of relying

upon the spirit of god

to help you grow

and change

it's not going to happen

it's not going to happen

until you come

with a broken heart

and say

i am a sinner

who stands justly condemned

before a holy god

i am convicted

of the blackness

and the darkness

of my own heart

and i desperately need

christ jesus

to save me

and i know

that he

hears the cry

of a broken

and contrite heart

and i come to him

and ask him for salvation

let's close our

eyes and bow our heads

as we close

our father god

this morning

as we take the word of god

and we hear it

speak to us

explicitly

and clearly

we pray that we would be

a people

that say

thank you god

for loving us

and making your word clear

that fathers here

would be convicted

and with humility

would cry out

and say

spirit of god

work in me

and help me

to be the father

that i need to be

that those who are here

that do not know christ

would be drawn to the cross

that today would be

the day of conviction

and repentance

to the glory of christ

we ask this in your

precious name

amen

you