A Good Dad – Father's Day 2026 | June 21, 2026

Get a little dive action going, right?

That's good stuff.

Hey, is anybody else feeling like

yellow mixed with purple mixed with

blue is just the perfect Father's

Day color combination, right?

Love it.

Love it.

Hey, thanks worship team

for leading this morning.

And, um, I'm kind of

excited about Father's Day.

Father's Day's kinda taken on a

little new meaning for me this year.

Uh, if you've been around, you kinda know,

like, last weekend, married off my son.

First time we've done that.

That was kinda cool.

Hopefully, the last time

we do that with Josiah.

And he's off on his honeymoon.

He did send me a picture.

We haven't got a lot of stuff.

I do a little video snippet

on my birthday this last week.

It was he and his new bride, my

daughter-in-law, uh, eating Taco John's

in honor of my birthday, and that, I gotta

tell you, was the most touching ever.

So for me, it's not just Father's Day,

it's also Father-in-Law Day, right?

Like, kinda learning some

new stuff on all this front.

And Father's Day's a special, special

day, uh, 'cause dads are special.

And man, being a dad is an epic calling.

Now, I'll be really honest, on Mother's

Day, I do my best, but I've just,

I've never been a mom, and I don't

understand it from the inside out.

You know what I'm saying?

It's just not part of my makeup.

I, I love the mom at our house.

She's amazing, and moms are incredible.

And let's be honest, I heard a

stat this week, like, that Father's

Day gets about 10% of the play

that Mother's Day gets, right?

If it was, like, graded out, right?

Like, everybody celebrates Mother's

Day, but not as many people are

like, "Eh, Father's Day, whatever.

Here's a tie," right?

That kinda deal.

But dads, you're super important, and

the calling that God's given you is huge.

So at the risk of doing a lot of dad

joke puns, let's dive right in today

and take a look at Father's Day through

the lens of a little bit of, uh… I

mean, I hope I don't get underwater

in this, but some version of that.

Here we go.

Dive literally means this.

Dads, you have important

and vital engagement that is

critical to the life of your kid.

Don't miss this.

Dads' involvement, their

engagement, their conversation,

their interaction is critical.

You can look at all the stats

you want to and look at what it

looks like single parent homes

and dads not being in the home.

Like, the stats are overwhelming

and nobody wants to talk about

them, but dads matter so much.

It's why I have such a heart for

dads following Jesus, leading

spiritually in their home, because

that's what God's called us to do.

It's not tyranny, it's not

abuse, it's leadership.

It's carrying the mantle

of following Jesus.

As for me and my house,

we're gonna serve the Lord.

So we're gonna take a look at some of

this today as dads, and I wanna talk

to the dads, but also to those of you

who … Well, let's show of hands.

How many of you guys had a dad?

Okay, so you guys too,

pay attention, all right?

'Cause this applies because if you're a

dad or you had a dad, dad life is a pretty

significant thing, and there's a calling

here that may even apply across the board.

And you might even see a couple

places where your dad didn't

quite measure up, but it maybe

wasn't 'cause he didn't love you.

He might've had the same problem that

I have, that he's human, and he's

fallible, and he has a sinful nature

that he has to fight against, right?

And so we'll unpack a little bit

of this, but let's be nice to dads.

But dads, let's talk about diving

deep into the life of our kids.

Dads

Gotta go deep.

You gotta go deep.

I want you to hear this, dads.

It is super popular in our culture

to be the guy who works, comes home,

sits on the recliner, and drinks

beer while the house does whatever

it does under mom's leadership.

That's the picture of fatherhood.

If you watch sitcoms or you watch, I don't

know, Family Guy cartoons or anything

you want to in our culture, dads are the

idiot provider guy who wanders into the

house and then wanders out of the house.

That's what society has

painted the picture of dad.

But guys, listen, dads are called to be

epic warriors in their house, to lead

their family as champions for truth

and for justice and righteousness,

and that's not a mom's calling.

That's a dad calling.

And dads, I want you to hear this.

You have to go deep with your kids.

Your kids are bombarded, bombarded

by truth claims and lies and

deception and social media

stuff from every angle possible.

The world is coming hard, and the enemy

is coming hard against everything that

Jesus has called us to in truth, right?

And the reality is, dads,

you're that line of defense.

You're the guys who God has positioned

in the household to be the one who

helps understand and filter, who

helps give guidance and wisdom.

And dads, you gotta go deep with

your kids, and that means really

uncomfortable conversations sometimes.

That means awkward moments sometimes

'cause it's a whole lot easier to

let somebody else go deep, right?

Check out Deuteronomy.

You guys probably know this

passage better than I do.

Deuteronomy 6, 6 through 7 has this

picture of what it looks like to

try to be a dad leading your family.

The call is this: "These commandments that

I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home.

Talk about them when

you walk along the road.

Talk about them when you lie down.

Talk about them when you get

up." What's the scripture say?

It says, "Dads," and just so you know,

this was addressed to the men of Israel.

Dads, talk about the

commandments of the Lord.

Go deep in conversation with the

eternal truths that matter, dealing

with sin and sexual morality and

walking in this life of abundance and

possessions and navigating everything

that these kids gotta walk through.

Dads, we gotta talk

about God's principles.

Oh, and we're supposed to

talk about it when we're home.

And then also when we're away, and then

maybe when we're asleep or awake, right?

Now, God's not saying sleep talk.

What is he saying?

He's making a very simple principle,

dads, and it's this: We are to talk to

our children and impress upon them the

commandments of the Lord all the time

There's not a time that's not either home

or away or asleep or awake, all the time.

And as dads, one of the biggest issues

I think in the church in America is

we see a whole lot of dads handing

that responsibility to the moms to

talk about the Lord and to nurture

faith while we're busy providing and

carrying the heavy weights of fatherhood

and, and, uh, life and business

and provision, all those things.

Listen, you can take your kid to 1,000

basketball camps, you can take your

kid to 1,000 different job interviews,

and you can get him into all the best

education, but if he isn't following

Jesus, there's a day coming when you're

gonna stand before that throne of God

without your child there, recognizing

what in the world was I pouring in?

What in the world was I trying to

train up my children to do and be?

This is the most meaningless and hopeless,

that they receive everything in this world

that it has to offer, and yet don't have

a walking, powerful relationship with

Jesus Christ as they enter into eternity.

That's, that's… Let's be honest,

biblically, spiritually, and

eternally, it's epic failure as a dad.

It's epic failure.

And I'm not trying to beat anybody

up, 'cause I know a lot of us

here have had epic failures, 100%.

And Jesus is the, is the epic

God who loves us and brings

us back from that space.

But listen, whatever you're chasing,

dads, you gotta talk to your kids

about the Lord, and that needs to be

the priority of your conversation.

Not about their driving, not about

their favorite sports team and how it's

going, not about their crush in school.

About Jesus, about the Lord, about

their walk with him and where that's at.

You've got to go deep with your kids.

And sometimes we don't

because it's scary, right?

It's a little scary.

It's uncomfortable, right?

Sometimes we don't 'cause we

just really don't want to.

We would just really rather do

anything else but talk to our kids

about really hard topics, right?

Because sometimes it's really difficult.

But dads, we are called to be courageous,

to be strong and courageous 'cause

the Lord our God is with us, right?

And he's gonna give us the strength

that we need, but we have to step

out in courage in conversation.

And even if you don't want to,

you've gotta be willing for the

sake of the eternity of your kids

to speak and to talk and to try.

You know what's crazy?

Dads are so afraid, and kids are so

afraid, of serious conversations together.

When you wade into that space, another

pun, I'm so sorry, when you wade into

that space, something really cool happens.

Like, there's vulnerability and

there's, there's awkwardness, but

there's authenticity in that space.

I've had some awesome, awkward

conversations with my sons over

the years, and they've had awesome,

awkward conversations with their

dad over the years, and I wouldn't

give those up for anything.

And those have been more meaningful

to me than a lot of conversations

I've had with anybody else- Because

it's real, and it's deep, and it's

about the stuff that really matters.

And sometimes it's just been willing to

try and fail endlessly or, or pathetically

or just bomb in an effort and laugh

together about how awkward that was, and

pick up from there and try some more.

But that's what it's about, dads.

You gotta be willing.

Is it difficult?

Yes.

But you gotta be intentional,

you gotta be strategic, you can't

quit, you gotta lock in, okay?

This is critical.

Dads, you've got to go deep.

It's important that your engagement,

it's important that your involvement,

it's important that your voice,

it's vital in the life of your kids.

You've got to go deep.

Let's steal this for just one second.

I know dads got grilling to get to, but I

wanna say something really important here.

The second thing I wanna just throw

at you to think about, dads, and maybe

just to sit with you in a moment.

And I don't mean that dads

have this worse than anybody

else, but let's be real honest.

As a dad, we deal with intense pressure.

We could do this by a show of hands,

how many you guys feel pressure?

Listen, if you feel no pressure as

a dad, you're doing something wrong.

I just want you to know that, right?

If you aren't concerned about the

spiritual development of your kid,

if you're not concerned about his

or her future and where they're

going and what's gonna happen, and

taking care of them, and leading…

Like, if you don't, if you don't feel

anything, we should probably chat just

a little bit, because you're probably

chasing yourself instead of chasing godly

fatherhood and what that looks like.

Even when your kids get older, right?

God calls us to be mentors and

coaches and influencers for the truth.

There was no, like, timestamp, just for

the record, on that whole, like, you

know, teach them about the commandments

of the Lord when they walk or when

you walk in or when you're at home.

Like, it wasn't like once they walk out

of the house, good luck sucker, right?

We're supposed to continue to be an

influence for the truth of God's word.

This idea of pressure is, uh, is

something that I feel like as a dad, like-

We, we rock at this.

I mean, of all the things I've ever

talked to you guys about, if you

don't understand that you're dealing

with intense pressure, dads, you're

just probably comatose, right?

And you're … So wives, just kinda

little elbow real quick, 'cause

if you're awake and you're a dad,

you know what pressure is, right?

You know it, and it's heavy.

The weight of the world is crushing.

The weight of trying to raise

our kids, it's crushing.

Jesus recognizes this.

He says over in John chapter 16 verse

John 16:33

33, He's telling the disciples about

what's coming and what to expect

and, and, and the challenges, right?

And He says, "I've told you these

things so that in Me you may

have peace." He's trying to help

us maintain perspective, right?

And He says this: "In this world,

you will have intense pressure." He

actually used the word trouble, I guess.

"In this world, you will have

trouble," which you sure could define

as some intense pressure, right?

It's gonna happen.

There's pressure.

"But take heart," He said, "because

I've overcome the world." Now, I wanna

take you into this image of diving a

minute because- Kind of some cool things

as you explore pressure and diving.

I'm not a big, um, diver.

I like to be on the boat above the

water, not under the water as much.

And when you get deeper and deeper,

there's more and more pressure, right?

If you're gonna go deep in your

conversations with your kids and your

relationships with your kids, it's

gonna be more and more pressure, right?

So there's more and more

pressure in deep-sea diving.

In fact, people die because they,

they don't decompress properly,

right, and they come up too quick or

there's compression issues with the

amount of pressure they're under.

And so it's a dangerous thing.

And in diving, there's this really

cool concept called equalizing.

Now, my wife, who took like one semester

of scuba in college for a credit, likes

to tell me she knows a lot more about this

than I do, so if you have any questions,

please see Jamie, the certified scuba

diver for like three months at Anderson.

But, uh, equalizing is a legitimate term,

and it's a, it's … Like, check this out.

This is kind of crazy.

The idea is this: that the pressure on

the inside is equal to the pressure on the

outside, thus the term equalizing, right?

And so as a diver, the internal

pressure that you're experiencing

versus the crushing pressure around

you needs to be equalized, otherwise

you get crushed and you die, right?

It's not that complicated.

But I want you to understand this

is not a biblical principle at all.

Dads, hear this, right?

We're diving.

We're under pressure.

We're facing things that are hard and

difficult, but this is not something

that scripture teaches us at all.

In fact, it's kind of the opposite.

It says this in 1 John 4:4, that,

1 John 4:4

"Greater is He who is in you than

he who is outside in the world."

See if you get this concept, dads.

The pressure of the Holy Spirit pushing

out against the forces of darkness

is so much stronger than anything the

darkness can bring to bear on you.

You should not and do not need to be

crushed by the pressure of your life.

And as that weight gets more and more

crushing, there's a good chance it's

because you're not connected to the

pressure and the power of the Holy

Spirit on the inside that pushes against

that pressure so that you can stand.

Because God's promise is that

greater is He who is in you.

Higher is the pressure in here.

More powerful is the pressure in here

pushing out against the darkness than

the pressure coming at us, and yet we

see so often the crushing weight of life

and people succumbing to it, but it's

not because God's not strong enough.

It's not because the pressure and power

of the Holy Spirit isn't enough to

overcompensate for anything coming at us.

The opposite is what scripture teaches us.

You have the ability to stand.

You have the ability to stand

through the power of the Holy

Spirit no matter what you're facing.

But you gotta choose to stay

connected to that power, right?

And keep that pressure inside of you

building through your relationship

with Jesus rather than choosing

something else that's gonna take

it away and then you're crushed.

Diving is a interesting image,

and especially I think this idea

of the mental pressure of diving.

When you're going diving, and I

don't mean like lightweight scuba fun

with your friends, touch a dolphin.

I mean like deep, deep, deep sea diving.

Man, there, there is anxiety

There's anxiety, right?

What's, what's around me?

What's gonna happen?

What, what's going on?

The circumstances around

my dive become critical.

There's panic that can set in.

Fear and anxiety lead

to this panic, right?

That we're just literally overwhelmed

by everything going on around us, and

terror begins to grip our very soul.

And I was researching this, and I

was like, "This is a really cool

concept somebody stole out of the

Bible, I think," 'cause there's

this 30-second diver technique.

Now, I don't know if you've

tried this, but check this out.

This is, this is kinda cool.

How to handle mental pressure in diving

in just a little 30-second snapshot.

Check out these principles.

Number one is this: stop moving.

Stop moving.

Stop flailing around and

frantically reaching and grasping.

Dads, can I say this?

Under the pressure that we walk

under in this crazy world that

we're living in, trying to walk in

and navigate, stop flailing around.

Stop grasping at everything

you possibly can.

Stop trying to make everything

happen and fix it all and make

stuff a- align as you need it to.

Stop moving.

Be still.

Wait upon the Lord.

He's bigger than you.

He's bigger than your circumstances.

He's greater than the pressure.

And all you're gonna do in your

flailing is get yourself more

panicked and more overwhelmed.

Stop moving.

Be still.

Number two: fix your eyes on

something that's a fixed point.

For divers, they'll look at their watch or

a glove, and for 30 seconds they will not

remove their gaze from a fixed point as

they stop moving and they fix their eyes.

What does scripture teach us?

We know, right?

Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author

and the perfecter of your faith.

That's what we're supposed to do.

Dads, stop flailing around.

Stop grasping everywhere.

Stop being frantic, and

fix your eyes on Jesus.

Stop.

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

And the third principle is this: breathe.

Just breathe.

Now, I don't know if you know this or not,

but the, uh, the Hebrew word ruach here

For breathe.

And the Greek word, uh, pneuma for

breathe is also the word for spirit.

Specifically the Holy Spirit is

our very breath that we breathe.

What a picture, dads.

Under the pressure that we're facing,

and can I just say moms and teenagers

and preteens, the pressure and the

weight that we're carrying, the emotions,

the, the panic, the fear, the anxiety,

the overwhelmingness, stop moving.

Stop.

Fix your eyes on Jesus and breathe in

And out the presence of the Holy Spirit

and be calmed by the peace of God

Because greater is he that is in

you than he that is in the world.

There's nothing pressing in, there's

nothing in this pressure that can

destroy you if you're connected to him.

It's a pretty powerful picture I don't

know how good we are at that, dads.

It's easier for us to

keep moving and fix stuff.

It's really hard for us to bounce around

everywhere visually and look at the next

situation or stare at every circumstance

coming at us, and it's really hard to

just breathe in the presence of the Holy

Spirit and be calmed by His presence

instead of try to fix it ourselves.

But that's a pretty cool picture,

and that's all from secular

diving, just so you know.

But I'm pretty sure they stole it

right out of the Bible, or maybe

divers are Christians, I don't know.

That's kinda cool.

Okay, dads gotta go deep.

We deal with intense pressure.

I'm just gonna throw two quick

ones at you 'cause I know we're

running short on time here.

Uh, this right here, vital oxygen supply.

I'm pretty sure you've figured

this out, but as you go scuba

diving, kind of a big deal.

As you go deep sea

diving, critical, right?

You have to stay connected.

This imagery of deep sea diving

with Tom's helmet, check out this

little cord right here, right?

I don't know what other priorities

this dude has down at the ocean floor.

I don't know what other things he's

really concerned about focusing on or

making sure he's got working or connected

in his life, but I can promise you

that that little yellow cable right

there which contains his air supply,

if it's not number one, he's not number

one as a diver let me tell you, right?

He's not gonna last long as a diver.

At the bottom of the ocean floor, under

all the pressure that we navigate,

having a connection to that oxygen

supply is the most important thing.

And dads, let me just say to you, for

all of us, there's a lot of distractions.

There's a lot of things we chase.

There's a lot of pull

and tug in this life.

But if we could learn a lesson from

this diver, being connected to Jesus

and our relationship to Him is critical.

It's life-sustaining, and without it, it

results in crushing death and destruction.

And maybe you can fake it in this

life for a little bit, but eternity

awaits, and scripture's really clear.

This is our… I mean,

Jesus is our lifeline.

It's not a cheesy cliche.

It's literally the truth.

Divers understand this.

And dads, I don't know what other

priorities you got going on, but if

any of them are more important to you

than your connection to Jesus, you're

gonna be in peril and in danger.

And E, let me throw this one at you.

The E stands for illumination, which

I know, I know, it's not a I, I know.

But it's Father's Day, so I

figured I'd get away with it.

Plus- Let's be honest, you'll probably

remember it now if I put illumination

on there, you wouldn't even care.

So, uh, I also could have done this, I

could have gone with enlightenment, 'cause

it's really just about light, right?

But illumination, let's

stick with that for a minute.

'Cause here's the crazy thing,

when you get into the ocean and

you start to go really deep in

the ocean, it's dark, right?

It's dark.

And it's not that I'm afraid of the

dark, I'm probably okay in the dark, I

like the dark when I'm sleeping, but I

gotta be honest, the things that lurk in

the darkness are a little intimidating

at the bottom of the ocean floor

for me, and darkness is terrifying.

Scripture says, "Men love the darkness,

but they hate the light." And naturally we

have this desire to hide from the light.

But let me tell you, at the base

of the ocean floor, staring up into

the dark abyss, we need the light.

And dads, know this truth: your

word, the word of God, is a lamp

unto my feet and a light to my path.

And I was thinking about this, you

know, dads, you might be really good

at starting your day with, like, five

minutes quick in the word, lighten

my path for the day, let's go.

But can you imagine being at the

bottom of the ocean floor, and you're

there and you're like, "All right,

I'm gonna turn on my flashlight for

five minutes and see what's going on.

Now I'm just gonna shut it off,

walk around in the dark for

a while." That'd be stupid.

Nobody'd do that, right?

And yet, that's what we

do with God's word, right?

We're in the midst of walking under

all this pressure, the darkness

all around us, and we take a couple

minutes with God's word, and then

the rest of the day, hey man, we're

just on doing our own thing, right?

I powered up for a couple minutes.

The word of God needs to be present

in your life throughout the day.

And how do you do that?

Maybe some of the music you listen

to, maybe some of the articles

you're reading, maybe more scripture

popping in from time to time.

There's a lot of tools at our disposal.

But a diver would be an absolute fool

to turn on his flashlight, see for

a second, and then just shut it off

and walk around in the dark, right?

And I think I could say a follower

of Jesus would probably be a

fool to open up the light, let it

illuminate his path, shut it, and

just start off on his journey.

So how can you keep God's

word present before you?

It's a good question.

It's my gift to you on Father's Day.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Dads, your engagement is important.

It's vital, and it's not easy.

We're navigating deep stuff, super deep

stuff, and we need to, and God's equipped

us to do it, and He's called us to do it.

And the pressure that we're

under, man, it's crushing.

But we're not equalizers, man.

The Holy Spirit is not

the great equalizer.

He is the great champion who

makes pressure look pathetic.

He is mightier and He is greater, the one

in you, than everything that you face.

And maybe steal those

techniques from those divers.

Stop, fix your eyes on Jesus, and breathe.

Breathe in the power of the Holy Spirit

and the presence of the Holy Spirit,

and let that give you strength to then

continue, under the pressure we face, in

that dive, connected, right, for sure,

to that vital supply of oxygen and life

through our relationship with Jesus, and

constantly staying in the light, the power

of His Word illuminating where we go.

Dads, you're awesome.

Super thankful that you're

a part of our church family.

Super thankful that God's placed

you in the families that you're in.

Your kids need you, your wives

need you, your grandkids need you,

your nephews and nieces need you.

And the cool part of the family of God

is this: that you are a surrogate dad

to all the other young men around you.

So be that dad, right?

Shine the light, and help walk

in the midst of the pressure

and the weight that we carry.

If you're a dad, would you do me a favor?

Would you stand up for a second?

We're gonna pray in closing, and we

just wanna pray over all of you dads,

'cause you guys don't have an easy

calling and you don't have an easy task.

But God has equipped you and given you

the strength to be able to navigate this,

but also to have a pretty epic treasure

hunt in this crazy, dark world, maybe

rescuing people who are lost at sea, maybe

bringing out some pretty awesome things

in the lives of your family and your kids.

Thank you for what you do.

Thank you for what you do.

All right, let's pray.

Father, thank you for these men.

Thank you for the opportunity and

the gift and the calling to be a dad.

It's not an easy thing.

You know the pressure,

and you know the weight.

You know the challenges and,

Lord, you know all of it.

And more than that, God, you

know us from the inside out.

You know our imperfections.

You know our insecurities.

You know our fears.

But thank you for the power of your

Holy Spirit that resides in us-

God, I pray for all of the dads in

our church, all of the aspiring dads

in our church, Lord, all the dads in

our community and our culture here.

God, I pray that you would draw them to

you in a powerful way, that you would

give them strength, that you'd give them

courage, willingness, and intentionality.

Lord, I pray that you would help them

to be able to stop and to fix their

eyes on you and breathe, trusting

that you have a way through the panic

and the terror and the circumstances.

God, thank you for these men, and thank

you for their heart to try to be fathers

that model just a little bit of who

you are as our perfect heavenly Father.

I pray blessing over them.

I pray that you would watch over them

and protect them, that you'd guide and

direct in everything they have going

on, and God, that you'd give them an

incredible day, valued by their family

and cherished by their heavenly Father.

And empower us this week to be men on

mission, who live out what it looks

like to follow you with greater power

in us than everything around us.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.