Beach House - Week 3 (Father's Day 2025)

Man, what a what.

An incredible day it is to be in the House

of the Lord with you today.

It is I'm feeling a little juiced up.

So I just got back from from family vacation this

past week and UH and first one we took all

of our family together with the kids and all, and

it was it was fantastic. I want to just thank everybody,

every every team captain, every team member, everybody who who

makes things happen around here.

You don't know.

How much a blessing it is to me and to

my family to be able to go and UH and

know that someone will figure out the things that are

happening and I don't have to worry about those things.

Thank you so much for all that you do. Thank

you Chief for giving me the opportunity and for for

for building this team. And what an incredible place that

cornerstone is. I'm so excited to be with you this

morning to preach to you. This morning is Father's Day,

so all my father's Happy Father's Day.

Come on, give the father's a hand. You can do it.

Online if you're watching Happy Father's Day. It is a

day that we celebrate. Mother's Day was last month and

then here we are Father's Day, and I can't believe it.

It's flying by is I think I say this probably

every year, but it they just keep getting faster and

faster and faster. And I don't want to belabor that point,

but I just want to say that's all the more

reason for us to celebrate days like today.

I don't know how many more of these we get.

I don't know how many more opportunities that we have

to honor fathers and to honor mothers, and I want

us to make the most of it this morning, so

Happy Father's Day. We're continuing our Beach House series this morning.

We've been talking the past few weeks about how we

anchor ourselves in God's peace, and I believe that one

of the one of the biggest things that we can

do to do that is to understand the Father. I

felt the Lord encourage me to speak not only to

the fathers in the room, not only to fathers online.

I want every ear.

Open this morning because I think we can all learn

something about our heavenly Father, and we honor Chief said

it this morning in the ten at ten meeting.

We honor our earthly fathers on this day.

It's easy for us to forget that God, the Father

made it all possible. We sing songs like Jesus you Alone,

which is man one of my favorites ever, and it

gives Jesus the praise he deserves. But the Father sent him.

The Father planned that. The Father worked that out. In

the Father, Jesus spoke on his father's authority.

He was so connected. I think that sometimes.

We miss out on what it really means to have

a heavenly father when we look at the life of Christ.

That's the primary way that he refers to God Father.

He instructed his disciples to pray our Father in heaven.

He spoke on his father's authority.

You see.

To accept Christ is to accept that God is indeed

the Father. You know, there's something really special about a

father's love. When I'm when a man truly understands and

accepts that role, there's something really powerful there.

He can be the anchor.

He can be that solid foundation that his family needs,

that his community needs, that his nation needs. And no

earthly fathers are perfect, any any imperfect fathers out there?

You're looking at one still new to me, but many

of us can point out situations and circumstances maybe you know,

maybe you know some some some kids, or maybe you

know you're in schools our teachers see students all the time.

I'm sure you can think coaches. I'm sure you can

see situations where in earthly, a strong, earthly father would

have made all the difference, or at least a father figure. Look,

you don't have to be blood to be a father.

Is.

There is something really really powerful about the presence of

a quality father of father figure. And God has always

illustrated this to us when we look back the very

beginning in Genesis, he took the time the Father Jesus

had not come yet. The Father took the time to

come and walk in the garden with Adam and Eve

the way Scripture describes that that's like a regular thing.

He did it on a regular basis. He was with them,

and when sin separated us, he took it upon himself

to fix that so that we might be close to

him again. The Father has always chosen to be close

to his children, not only for our sake, but for

his joy. You are created to worship your Father. It

brings him joy to be close to you. And here

we've reached the core of my message this morning see,

fatherhood has many aspects. There are There are lots of

different things, lots of different sermons have been preached on

Father's Day about how to be a better father, how

to be there for your family, how to be better

for your kids, for your wife.

Man.

Fatherhood has lots of things going on. But I think

I believe that fatherhood is mainly about presence.

Fathers.

You can do a lot of things, but are you there?

Are you present? You might be there physically, but are

you present? Are you in gauged? Are you paying attention?

As we fathers aim to be what our families need,

and as we all aim. I want everybody to hear me,

as we all aim to connect with our heavenly father,

because he's pursuing you. It's just are we responding. Let's

look to scripture for a proper framework here of proper fatherhood.

I have three main points. I don't know if that

helps you remember or if that helps you take notes.

I have three main points this morning. I don't normally

have three main points, but here they are. Starting with

number one. God is God to all, but he's Father

to those who have accepted Jesus. If you don't believe

in Jesus. If that's where you are this morning, you're

in the right place. First of all, I'm glad you're here.

But if you don't believe that he's God, my father's

still God. That doesn't change. But to those who have

accepted his son Jesus, he is your father. Let's turn

to Romans chapter eight. We're gonna start in verse eleven.

Romans Chapter eight. Starting in verse eleven, it's gonna be

on the screen if you don't have your Bible with you.

He says this, If the spirit of Him who raised

Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised

Christ Jesus from the dead, will also give life to

your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you

Verse twelve. So, then, brothers, sisters, we are debtors, not

to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For

if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the spirit you put to death the

deeds of the body, you will live. For all who

are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to

fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit

of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abbah. Father,

the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we

are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs

of God and fellow errs with Christ, provided we suffer

with Him in order that we may also be glorified

with Him.

To see.

For those who've not accepted Christ, God the Father is

still God. But when one that accepts Jesus, when you

have that salvation moment, when you say, Jesus, I want

you to be the Lord of my life, forgive me

of my sin, God doesn't God's status doesn't change. He's

still God, but your relationship changes. We talked last month

in our series about belonging to God's family, and we're

adopted into God's family as sons and as daughters, and

that gives us access to the Father that we would

not have.

Without Christ.

If you were not with Christ's joint heirs with him,

if you were not children of God, you don't have

the same access to Dad. Not everybody has the same

access to my earthly Dad that I have. I'm his

only son. You could still talk to my Dad. He

might still help you out, he might still pour wisdom

into you. He might still lead you and goide you,

but you don't have access to him the way I do.

And the same is true here.

You don't have the same access to God the Father

until you accept Christ. You know, in the Old Testament

there aren't as many references to God as father when

we look back in the Old Testament books. But it's

because God sent Jesus to make a way back to

him that allows us to interact with him on that level.

They didn't have the same access that we do now.

If we go back and read those stories now, thinking

of Christ through the lens of Christ, we go back

and read those Old Testament stories, we can see the

Father taking care of his children all the way through,

but they weren't able to see it and understand it

until Christ. God desired to be in that kind of

relationship with humanity from the very beginning, and right there

in verse fifteen, we cry Abba, Father Abba. It's an Arabaic term,

and Jesus used to refer to the Father. It's a

special term. It indicates a close relationship, not just servants

in the father's house, but sons and daughters.

Cry out abba. It's close, it's intimate.

It's connected this relationship to God via Christ. It saves

our souls, but it also allows us to truly live here.

It's not just about eternity. It's not just about heaven.

It's about right here. Eternal life begins.

Now.

We cannot understand salvation truly, hear me. We cannot understand salvation,

nor can we live it out responsibly. The salvation is

not just about getting, it's about being responsible with what

you've been given. We cannot understand it or live it

out responsibly without acknowledging God's status as Father. And if

we are as children, then we're fellow heirs with Christ

and the Kingdom of God.

And an air.

Doesn't just get to do whatever he or she wants,

and air has responsibilities.

There's a kingdom to think about.

We cannot inherit the kingdom unless we maintain our relationship

with obedience, which brings me to my second point for you.

Note Takers number two. Submission to the Father as his

children requires obedience. Dad's instructions. They are what they are.

Sometimes we don't understand them, sometimes we don't like them,

but Dad's still Dad. Turn with me to John chapter fourteen.

We'll see what Jesus himself says about this very thing.

John chapter fourteen, starting in verse twenty one, our Lord says,

whoever has my commandments and.

Keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father,

and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

Verse twenty two Judas not a scariot different.

Judas said to him, Lord, how is it that you

will manifest yourself to us and not to the world.

There's a difference, Jesus answered him. If anyone loves me,

he will keep my word, and my father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our home

with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep

my words. And the word that you hear is not mine,

but the father who sent me.

You know. Say to say we.

Love someone and then fail to act on that is

just foolishness. It's a lie. You can't say that you

love someone and never show it. Can. Love that doesn't

have action is not love. It's wishful thinking. We don't

We don't get God to love us by being obedient.

But when we keep his word and we keep his commandments,

those are proof of our love.

Toward him.

When Jesus says that he who loves me will be

loved by my father, and my father will love him,

he's not threatening you.

He's promising you.

Those that will devote themselves to Christ can be certain

that God is on their side. There have been many

times I have not agreed with my earthly father, but

I've never doubted that he's on my side. I've never

doubted that he wanted the best for me. And the

same is true for you and your heavenly father. You

may not get it, you may not understand it. You

might be mad at him, you might run away from him,

but he's always on your side.

It is a little bit.

M Not only that, but God promises to make his

home with the one that loves and keeps his word.

And this change we.

Think sometimes we think, well, if I keep his commandments,

he'll love me more.

It's not that it's not a change of more or

less love.

The change that happens for the believer, for the child

of God, it's one of depth loves you more when

you follow his commandments.

It's that you get closer to him.

You look more like him, that relationship becomes stronger.

It's not something you earn. It changes you.

And Jesus makes it clear that those who do not

love him are easily identified because they don't keep his commandments.

And again, it's not an ongoing transaction. The Father already

loved us so much. You know the scripture, right, Father

loved us so much that he sent his only son, Jesus.

And Jesus already paid it all. Your debt has already

been paid. It's already done. There's nothing you could have

done to earn it or deserve it.

It's been paid.

You don't have to keep following commandments in order to

make sure your debt's paid is paid. We cannot move

God to love us more by doing a better job.

That doesn't mean that we don't do a better job.

That's not the reason we do a better job. The

more that we and others, the more we fall in

love with Him, the more we find ourselves proving that

we are his children. If you're not looking more like Christ,

if you don't find yourself following more commands and working

on those things that don't look like Him, then I'm

wondering which direction you're moving in. It's an easy way

for you to understand what is happening in your soul?

Am I following his words and commands? Am I trending

in the right direction? There have been many times, and

I'm sure you can relate father's parents. We tell our

kids to do something, and then you tell them again.

Then you tell them again, and you tell them again,

and somewhere along the line, somewhere along the line, you

don't have to tell them as many times as you

used to. Maybe at the beginning it was Okay, don't

do that, don't do that, don't do that. A few

years pass, and then it's hey, don't do that, and

they don't, and then eventually you don't have to tell

them verbatim the exact instruction. They understand what you expect,

they understand what you want, they understand what is right.

Over time, they trend in the way you're teaching them.

You don't have to be I'm saying that to say

you don't have to be perfect at this. You don't

have to be a perfect kid. You just need to

be trending in the right direction toward your father. And remember,

he is our father, not a stoic commander standing way back,

barking orders. He's not a far away disconnected God that

gives us these hard tasks without any support. But even so,

the best fathers have clear expectations for their children. Fathers,

if you want to do better, look at I know

some of y'all are.

Older than me.

How could I tell you? But I promise you as

a son, we want to do better. Make your expectations

clear before you expect them. If you will make that

expectation clear, then you can properly discipline. But if you

don't make it clear, how do your kids know what

to do. The best fathers have clear expectations, and good

children are accountable for their actions, which brings me to

number three. Our heavenly father commands us to do many things,

but he never asks us to do any of them

without him. He is present, and at the end of

the day, all the commandments lead us back to drawing

near to him. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter thirteen.

Let's look at some instructions. The writer of Hebrews says,

let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality

to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember

those who are in prison, as though in prison with them,

and those who are mistreated. Since you also are in

the body, let marriage be held in honor among all,

and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will

judge the sexually immoral and adulterests. Keep your life free

from love of money, and be content with what you have.

For he has said I will never leave you, nor

forsake you. He can confidently say, the Lord is my helper.

I will not fear what can man do to me?

Verse seven. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you

the word of God, Consider the outcome of their way

of life, and imitate their faith. So there's many places

in scripture we can go all over the New Testament

and find where these promises are woven together with instructions.

But I particularly love this passage because the writer of

Hebrews It draws upon that direct wording God spoke to Joshua,

I will never leave you nor forsake you. He draws

back on these old promises to show us that God

has been trying to do this for all time, and

he's still trying to do it with you.

Now.

We quote that part never leave, never forsake We quote

that often, but we should consider that every time in

scripture that phrase appears. It's in the context of God

giving commandments. See before he said it straight to Joshua.

Moses says that to the Israelites in Deuteronomy, in the

context of giving commandments. But that doesn't mean that God

leaves you when you're not actively working. When you're not

working on his commandments, God doesn't go, oh, you're not

working right now, I'm out.

He's still with you. You actually can't escape.

Psalm one thirty nine, Starting in verse seven, the writer

David says, where shall I go from your spirit?

Well?

Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend

into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed

and see O, you are there. If I take the

wings of the morning and dwell in the up utmost

parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me. God is everywhere,

But you notice he's always quick to encourage us that

he is near when the task is at hand.

When we come up.

Against something we need to make a decision, when we're

facing a battle, when there are commandments being given, God

is quick to remind us I am with you because

we forget. But the real reason that he reminds us

when the task is at hand. Is because God the

Father is always moving on purpose, not by happenstance, not

by chance, not flippantly. God is always moving on purpose,

and He has chosen to include us, his children, in

that process. And I love these commands here in Hebrews

because they give us great insight.

And what matters most to the father.

You want to please your father, find out what matters

most to them. Fathers you want your kids to please, you,

show them what matters the most to you. Don't just

tell them, show them, encourage them to follow the things

that are good and lovely and from heaven. The things

that you care about the most, your kids will care

about the most. And that's true for mothers too, but

especially for dads. What you care about the most, what

your culture is, gets carried on and passed down. So

if you like unholy things, what do you think will

happen to your children? If you are interested in things

that are worthless and temporary, what do you think your

children will be into. What you care about the most

gets carried on. So I love these commandments right here

because it tells us what God cares about. Relationship, connection,

taking care of those in need, dedication, faithfulness, contentment. Fulfilling

these commands it requires effort, of course, fulfilling every command

takes effort, but almost all of them are like eighty

percent done. If you just show up, if you just

be present, the bank can get ready. Clint Us See

right here, he says, show hospitality to strangers. Be present

with the stranger and give them comfort. Get in their situation.

Remember those in prison and those who are mistreated. Get

in and get in their situation as though you're there

with them in prison. Be present in their pain. Let

them know they're not alone.

Presence.

Let marriage be held in honor. Let the marriage man

be undefiled. Be present and engaged with your spouse, because

your attention can be.

Turned elsewhere if you don't.

That's a different sermon. I'll let Chief preach that one.

I think.

Keep your life free from the love of money that

means ambition, climbing the corporate ladder. Be free from chasing

the temporary things. Why Because the people, the situations, the

things that you're currently involved in, they need your attention

more than you need. To ensure your security. You have

a heavenly father who owns it all. You can afford

to be present. Let him do what he does. You

be you and be present. Your family needs you, Your

spouse needs you, your kids needs you, your church needs you,

your community needs you. Your job needs you. To be

present because the things you care about get carried on.

These are all things for all of us, but our

earthly fathers, we got to especially take note. There are

so many things happening in the world. Dennis and I

were talking about it this morning. If you scroll for

a little while, it's like a new event, like every

other hour, war rumors of war, craziness, madness, rioting. One

thing I see that trends across all of those situations

is that kids get caught up. Kids get caught up

in the ambitions and the plans and the wars that

their parents wage.

So we have a decision to make Earthly fathers.

Are we leading our families to care about the things

that our father cares about? Are we modeling how to

genuinely be present? If you don't show them how, they'll

never know. Because I promise you, this is not teaching

them presents. This phone is not teaching them presents. The

tablet's not teaching them presents. The news is not teaching

them presents. The government is not teaching them presents. I

got love for teachers. My wife is one. But our

schools are not teaching them presents. They're trying to get

them to go home. They're trying to get them through

the content. Oh, check all the boxes, move them along.

Nothing else is going to teach them presents. Only you can, Dad,

And if you don't know how, let your heavenly Father

teach you, because he's.

Really, really good at it.

I included verse seven in this passage he was thirteen

seven because I want to further drop that point that

you should remember your leaders. It's okay to imitate faith.

It's in the Bible. If you don't model it, how

will they know. If you don't know how, find somebody

who's modeling it, Imitate.

It and it becomes yours.

Can you think of a few people that have spoken

into your life, Maybe some people that have really spoken

the Word of God into your life. Maybe they're in

this room. Maybe that's a maybe for some of us,

that's a long list of people. For some of us,

maybe that's one person. Maybe it happened a few minutes

ago in the altar.

But if you're like me.

I think of a ton of people, a few strong

women in there too, and I love them. But I'll

be willing to bet that at one point or another,

everybody in this room, everybody watching online, at some point,

we've all had a man who stepped into a fatherly role.

He didn't have to be your real dad. I know.

Some of us don't have that to fall back on.

Some of us don't don't have that experience. Maybe it

was bad, and I'm really sorry, but I'm sure that

you can think of a coach, or a teacher, or

a pastor, an uncle, a brother. Somebody stepped into that role,

taught us what was right, modeled it with their actions,

helped us when we failed, and remained as a pillar

for us to lean on, even if only for a season.

Can you think of that person, those people? Because the

truth is, nothing brings things back into order like the

presence of a father. That presence makes all the difference.

It's no coincidence that God has allowed himself to be

portrayed that way. He chose that he wrote it. He

chose to portray himself as a father, because a presence

of a strong father makes the difference. It's not just

cultural bias from when these things were written either. God

let it be that way, far beyond those ideals in

that culture.

Jesus himself would not have so.

Heavily reinforced that idea by talking about his father if

it didn't mean anything. I don't want to downplay mothers.

We need mothers. You can't come into the world without one.

I don't mean to down brothers and sisters. I don't

mean to downplay friends that are like family.

We need all of that.

We all have a responsibility to be present and consistent

and be followers of Christ. But there's an extra mandate

on fathers. Hear me, I'm almost son. If the buck

stops with you, it better start with you. Everybody wants

to be the buck where it stops right. Every guy

wants that. I feel every dad wants to be buck

stops with me. It can't be if it doesn't start

with you. You have to lead first, be present, and

make your presence effective, not boisterous, not overwhelming, not talking down. Now,

there's times to get loud, but that can't be your

only volume. But you need to be consistent and confident

as you remain rooted in God's promises and in motion

toward his goals.

For all of us, would you stand.

With me across the room as we enter into this

time of worship together and we're gonna baptize some people,

we're gonna celebrate. But for all of us, may we

continue to seek our heavenly Father's presence. May we rightly

honor him.

The Father he is.

It is there in the presence of God that we

find the fullness of joy.

I want it, I need it. I believe you do too.

It is there in the presence of the Father that

we find strength and we find confidence. Jesus Christ's sacrifice

and victory over death were to reunite us with the Father.

He sent his Holy Spirit. You know, Jesus ascended.

He said, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell my Father, I

ask my Father to send his.

Holy Spirit to ensure that we could.

Continue his work. Make no mistake, he is with us always.

So let's make that proud. Can we can we make

him proud? Because I don't think there's any.

More joy for a father.

Then when you can look at your children and see

that they're becoming who they're supposed to be. God wants

to look at you and see that you're moving in

his direction and becoming who he wants you to be

and makes his heart proud and happy and joyful. So

we're going to enter into a time of worship and

it's a simple song, just we're just going to exalt

him for who he is. And in these next few moments,

our alter team, if you want to be ready, that'll

be great.

In these next few moments as we sing this song.

I don't I don't have a particular alter call for you,

but I want you to just to exalt your father

and if you got if there's issues there, if there's

problems there, let's fix them.

Let's fix them right here together.

Well, let's live him up this morning that he might

encourage us and strengthen us and instill that confidence in

us that we might go and do his work and

make him proud.

As the altar team.

Comes, the band's going to sing, let me pray for you, father.

I thank you, father, I thank you for all the

things that you've done. But more than that, I thank

you for who you are, because you are faithful and true,

powerful and close. You see it all, and yet you're

present in every moment. Thank you Lord for loving us

so much. Thank you for being the best father we

could imagine, and far more than that. Have your way

in this place as you work in our hearts. Drew

all your children close that we might make you proud.

In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray Amen.