Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord - Dan Weaver

Good morning and greetings in the precious name of Jesus. It's I'd too like

to welcome those back that are back, and I guess that almost includes myself.

It's been a little while since I've been here on a Sunday morning at

least, and it's just well, there's just no place like home and more

than more than one way. And that's what I always say is the best

part of any trip is coming home. Has already mentioned this morning that it's

a Father's Day, and I have I have preached Father's Day messages in the

past. I don't know if I've ever preached on Father's Day here, but

I didn't look at that statistic. But I've never preached a Father's Day message

here specifically, or address the father's on Father's Day, and I thought I

might do that this morning in a in a way, I guess, I

think in a message like this, it applies to all of us because we

have a father, we have a heavenly father, and there's just a lot

of principles and truth that can be applied to our heart. I don't think

I'll be sharing anything new. In fact, it's just a lot of familiar

passages principles that that are just reminders to us. They were a good they

were a good reminder to me as I was as I was preparing, and

I just hope this can be a blessing to us this morning. So I'd

like to start with Malachi four, his familiar verses the end of the Old

Testament, and then I would like to go to the New Testament and read

again the fulfilling of this prophecy. So Malachi four, verse four, I'm

just going to read the last three verses says, remember you the law of

Moses my servants, which commanded unto him in horror for all Israel, with

the statutes and judgments. And so in a little bit we're going to go

back also to the commands of Moses on this subject. But it's interesting that

as he gets to the end, he harkens back to that, remember the

laws of Moses. And I think that is with all the statutes and judgments.

And I think sometimes as we think about the role of the Father and

the home and righteous living, like we talked about in Sunday School, that

we really focus on relationship. And you know, probably anyone that knows me

knows me well enough to know that I have a tendency to focus on relationships

too, and I think it's pretty important. But I also see a weakness

in myself that I tend to maybe let relationship come at the expense of this

verse and I think and in Sunday school, there was one question I had

that I didn't ask, and maybe the teacher next Sunday can write this down.

I'd like to hear some discussion on this. We're not going to go

there, but we talked about the tongue and the blessing and that we should

be and how a wholesome tongue, and then we talked about how the how

the fool doesn't like correction. And then it's not in a statement in there,

but the implication it has to be there is that the wholesome tongue wholesomely

corrects, follow that the scorner is getting correction from a wholesome tongue. And

for me, I can wrap my head around the kindness in the in the

correction of I mean, the kindness and the blessing and the speaking good things

and the words of wisdom from the wholesome tongue. I also have seen the

travesty of someone that doesn't listen to wisdom. But whether it's at home or

at work, or brother to brother, I find it very very difficult two

objectively kindly, I guess another way is how can maybe the simplified I should

say, is how can correction be a blessing? How can we bless others

with correction? Anyway, that was a bit off the subject. But while

we're driving by the law of Moses, my serve, and which commanded unto

him in horror all Israel, with the statutes and judgments, behold, I

shall send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful

day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to

the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I

come and smite the earth with a curse. And I think before we comment

further, we'll just turn over to Luke, Luke the One. And this

is the setting of this is when Zacharias the prophecy of John the Baptist uh

nasaraight was given, And we're just going to break into this. The Angel

announcing the birth of John the Baptist, starting at verse just verse sixteen and

seventeen and many of the children of Israel shall be turned to the Lord,

their God, and he shall go before him the spirit and power of Elias,

to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient

to wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

And so it has this idea of turning the heart of the fathers to

the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers. And there

again, I believe, on a daylight today, it's easy to get all

coesy hearted about it and think about how much of a blessing my father is

and to tell him that and to enjoy that coming from our children. But

this was talking about a day of the Lord. This wasn't talking about a

day of celebration. This is a condition that the heart of the children are

turned, hearts of the fathers are turned to the children, and the children

to the fathers. That connection and the thing in both of these it has

some really serious implications, a really serious results. The first one in Malachi

says, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. And I

think we don't have to be very observant. And here I go on relationship

again. And one thing I want to point out is this is talking about

obedience and relationship. See the first verse was about obedience and the commandments,

but this is about relationship, the heart of the fathers to the children,

and the children to the fathers. And it doesn't take much to observe when

there isn't this situation, when there's division and there's friction, there's problems and

its effect on the earth. But then in look one verse sixteen, there's

another very very serious I believe, consequence here in essence positive. It says

to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. To make ready a people

prepared for the Lord. And that's the result. Those two things are results

of that relationship. The father's hearts turned to the children and the disobedient to

the wisdom of the just. Now go back to Moses teaching Deuteronomy again,

very familiar passages. Deuteronomy five, verse twenty nine. I'm going to read

that, and then the first nine verses for now of chapter six. And

remember Deuteronomy is that recounting of Moses before they went into the land, or

before he died and Joshua took the Israelites into the land. It says and

says in verse twenty nine, Oh, that there was such a heart in

them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments, and that it

might be well with them and with their children forever. This is the Lord

speaking, Oh, that there was such a heart in them that they would

keep the commandments, and that would be well with them. Verse two of

the next chapters similar to that, I'll read chapter six. Now, these

are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God

commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land, whether

you go to possess it, that thou mightst fear the Lord, thy God,

and to keep all his statutes in his commandments, which I command THEE

thou thy son and thy Son's son, all the days of the life,

and that the days may be prolonged. Here Therefore, o Israel, and

observe to do it, that it may be well with THEE, and that

that he may increase mightily, as the Lord, God of the fathers,

hath promised THEE in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hero Israel,

the Lord or God is one lord. I should point out that this

is this is the great commandment. This is this will is the creed of

Israel in the Old Testament. These next two verses Hero Israel, the Lord

our God is one lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with

all thine heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

And these words which I can manly this day, shall be in thine heart.

And I shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of

them when I'll sit us in that house, and when I walk us in

that way, and when I lie us down, and when I would rise

us up, and thou shalt bind them about for a sign upon thine hand,

and they shall be a frontlet between the eyes. And I shall write

them upon the post of the house and on thy gates. As I mentioned

in twenty nine and verse two, it was a fear me and keep my

commandments. And it says our own days will be prolonged, and it affects

generations. It goes on to our children and our children's children, and talks

about observing to do it. It's action. It's not just mental assent to

the commandments and then the Great Commandment. And it's interesting, it's interesting there's

this creed of Israel, and we tend to think of Israel as law,

and it was there's a lot of truth to that. But this creed of

Israel is actually about relationship with God, and there it brings that thing of

relationship and obedience again together. That disobedience hinders relationship, and to say,

oh, we have a great relationship, but disobedience is that it's an oxymoron.

And we see that all through scripture. But then it's not just this

and Moses he says that this goes from generation to generation. But then he

said, he gives this command teach it diligently, teach it diligently. We

talk to him, we teach it. You know, we say more is

caught than taught, and sometimes maybe we use that for an excuse in our

own minds and our busyness that we don't teach. I believe example is important.

But teach teach them diligently to our children, and teach him. And

it includes talking when they'll sit us, when they'll walk us, when they're

lias, when now rises. In other words, in other words, it's

it's more than just a time for teaching, which I think is important,

but it's a lifestyle of teaching. First, he says, teach, and

then bind them, bind them for a sign upon thine hand and as a

frontlet between nine eyes. And I suppose you you're aware of the of the

Jewish practice of this, and some, even the more observant Jews, do

this today. They have the philakries where they bind this command on their hand

or on their forehead, especially during prayer. And we can look at that

and say, well, that's a little weird, maybe, but do we

bind? Is is our relationship with God always at the forefront of our life,

in our relationship, And I think that's this is the This is the

portion of of what is It says to teach diligently, but there's an there's

an aspect for this is the portion of what is caught. It's what you

have in your heart, what you what you rules your life, what's important

to you or to me, And now shall write them upon the posts of

thy house and upon thy gates. It's something that's an advertisement. Not just

our family knows, others know. I believe this is very familiar and practical

Testament scripture. It's instruct and it's too easily for me to quickly just read

over it and not realize or or not recognize the significance of this. And

if we don't follow it, but it goes on. Firse, I'd like

to read from ten to twelve now, and it shall be when the Lord

thy God, shall have brought THEE into the land which thou he swear into

thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give THEE

great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and house is full of

all good things which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou dignist not,

vineyards and olive trees which thoull plant est not. When thou shalt have

eaten and are full, then be aware lest thou forget the Lord. Now,

when we read those two passages of scripture, and we try to put

ourselves in the setting of where Israel was, and we think of our our

lives and put ourselves in the setting, which side of the Jordan are we

on? Are we have we just come through forty years of hardship, and

and we're looking to this finally crossing into Jordan. Or have we eaten and

we're full? Are full? We could ask the question what characterizes America today?

Where's America? Which side of the Jordan is America on? Or which

side of the Jordan are Anabaptists in general? But I'd like to ask what

characterizes Halsey Midnight Church. What side of the Jordan are we on? Have

we eaten and are full? Do we have riches? Do we have things

wells that we dig? Not vineyards and olive trees that we planted, not

benefited from generations? In fact, I don't know if I should admit this,

and especially not in public, but I've been one of these that have

not really taken much stock and genealogies until one evening. I've found the Mormons

have done a tremendous job of research on that, and they have this genealogy

family tree. It's an app on your phone and you put on it.

You put in I put in myself, my wife and our parents, I

think it was, and just filled it all the way back the fifteen hundreds

generations. You can look back. It's not there's holes in it, it's

not complete, and there's probably even some mistakes, but back into Switzerland and

Norway and Germany and you can follow those trails. But generations of Anabaptists,

and I didn't. I'm not where like Felix Mons and George Blorock and those

were trying to figure it out. All that myself. We have a tremendous

spiritual benefit for these generations of study and applying truth. But Moses clear back

on the other side of Jordan from what we are today, recognize that or

there's a threat, and so we could say, well, maybe it was

better if we just stayed on the other side of Jordan, if they just

stayed on the hard side. Well, I'm not sure. I think maybe

it is better. Things are harder for us. But it was God's will

for them to cross into Jordan. It was just not God's will that they

forgot Him, that they forget the Lord. So I already I already went

past it. But I suppose it's okay to give my title at some point.

But my title comes from back in Luke. Prepare the way of the

Lord. That's that's my title, with the idea of preparing our children for

the Lord. And believe that affects others. So what is the role of

the Father. I believe it's the earthly father's responsibility to represent God to their

children and to lead them to Him. And of course that's being a godly

example, that's teaching, as we said. But I'd like to just present

a thought that comes from Ted Tripps shepherding a child's heart. He talks about

shaping influence, shaping influence. I believe fathers are responsible for the shaping influence

in their children's lives. And there's things like roles in the family, how

you resolve conflict, response to failure, family history, how we excuse or

punish wrongdoing, and why these things matter. So when a child is born,

they are not accountable directly to God. They're accountable to the father,

and we take that role. The statement I just read this is the father's

responsibility to represent God to their children, and they lead them to Him.

So they're responsible to us. We provide for them. We provide for our

children, We give them security and love. Like some of these things we're

going to look at a little further. But there comes a time when our

authority, so with responsibility comes authority. Equal It comes a time as our

child gets older, our authority decreases. And our goal is so that their

authority is to God, that they're under God. So God is an influence

that in their life, but not their authority when they're born. But our

goal is that they come under the authority of God. And so basically it's

just if it was on a graph one. As influence increases and that's how

we we Another way to say it is that rather than by authority we influence

our children. Our influence increases as our authority decreases in a child's life,

and as we transfer that authority from I don't know if you quite say one

hundred percent to God, because I think there is a sense of father authority

there. That's probably a debate. But as we transfer that authority to God.

Ted Tripp says that transfer is never easy, and I think there's aspects

of truth to that. As we transfer it. Sometimes it's never easy because

of us, because I think it takes the wisdom of God to know when

to let go some things, when to let God be the authority in our

child's life when we should be the authority. We can be like Eli who

gave the Bible. Says, Eli restrained them not and he wasn't using authority

he should have. I think sometimes maybe we don't allow the God awareness maybe

to develop in our children's life. I'd like to look at the again,

a very familiar verse. If he's in six verse four, I take three

points from this verse and he fathers, provoke not your children to wrath,

but bring them up, and then nurture and admonition of the Lord. I'm

going to start with the nurture and end with the admonition, and go do

the provoke not to wrath in the middle nurture. And I believe that this

is this is key to this is key to bringing up families in the Lord,

to preparing the way of the Lord, of turning our hearts to the

children. The thing of love and security. And you know, I don't

know. Providing love and security hits so many aspects of life. And I

don't know if providing security for our children is part of love or or offering

them love is part of security. I'm not sure. But I actually moved

this around on my outline quite a few times. I'm still not sure,

but it just seems like you can't separate them. And one thing I just

remember this was when my oldest children were little, at the Tangent church one

evening, one of my children, I don't had time aUI I don't remember.

She was crying and I picked her up. I was trying to comfort

her, trying to get her to quit crying. A bit embarrassed about it.

In the back of the church before church starts, making a lot of

noise, and Edwin bond Trigger was there that evening. I think it was

maybe at ordination or some special service. I'm not sure, but he was

there so and generally only for a special event. So and he just he

comes up to me and commended me forgiven my child's security. And I just

I don't even know if I was that much, I don't know, but

I just I know I remember his words he said. He said, if

you always give your children security, you'll do well. But that was the

thought of it. As long as you as long as you give your children

security, they'll be they'll trust you. And that was that was the idea

of it. And I took that to heart. And I'm not saying I've

never failed in it, but I've found it to be true. And this

comes in a lot of ways, some very practical ways, like be having

an orderly home, having a schedule, having expectations. You know, we've

started out with a verse about keeping the commandments. And he didn't just say

keep my commandments. Is keep those commandments we gave you. And I think

sometimes I've found this out in my first year of teaching school. It's,

you know, lack of experiences. You just don't see a lot of things

coming. And it seemed like I was making a new rule every half week,

and pretty soon I couldn't remember which ones I made, and that doesn't

give security. Finally, we have to back up and the list doesn't have

to be long, but the expectations should be definite. That gives security,

an atmosphere of peace, not tension. I Love your Wife. That's also

an Ephesians, just the chapter before husbands Love your Wife. And I don't

know if there's anything. I don't know if there's anything that undermines the feeling

of safety in children, like friction between mom and dad, that friction,

you know, I've it seems like many people I've run into when they've come

to that, they if their parents were divorced, that was just it was

trauma. In fact, that trauma with some is worse than a parent dying.

And you know, we're Mennonights, we don't divorce, so maybe we

don't have this problem. But I think maybe sometimes we have virtual divorce and

just go ahead and fight and just stand a home and keep it on going.

And that doesn't bring peace. Love your children, of course, don't

have tension, and if there's I would say from my observation, almost always

when there's tension, when there's a authority tension between parents and children, the

parents have carry at least some responsibility. And so if we're leading the home,

and it's our responsibility, we should be leading in repentance for that.

Listen for needs of our children. That takes time. It takes some family

time, and we can focus on maybe quality time and doing something special with

them, but there's nothing to replace just taking time. And because I have

found for myself that I don't find the needs in the ruckus of life.

I find it in the quietness, and so we need to make time for

that. Of course, this also applies to physical needs, housing, food,

medical needs. Don't leave need vacancies in your child's life, but it's

okay to leave some want vacancies. Provoke, not do, not offend,

And we covered maybe some of this, but selfishness, anger, yelling,

losing our temper are things that provoke our children to wrath or inconsistency. There's

and we touched on that a bit already, but that inconsistency either saying one

thing one time and something else another time, or saying one thing and doing

another requiring things of our children that we're not willing to require ourselves. We

may give to ourselves a past. Also, just simply passiveness is another thing

that provokes children to wrath, or maybe this is things that give insecurity would

be another way of putting it, not just not leading out. And it

seems like the push the push is for in society today is for men not

to be leaders. And I think there is an aspect where we can get

this idea that, oh, we're the king of a home and everybody's here

to serve us, which can be very selfish. But Jesus taught servant leadership,

and I believe we should be following that example in our home and simply

not giving clear, not being clear in our directions. I like to also

think just a little bit about admonition, training and love and discipline, and

the purpose of discipline, I believe is at least twofold is to Proverbs twenty

two to six is to train up a child in the way he should go,

and when years old, he will not depart from it. And the

second is to clear the conscience, to keep the conscience clear. And I

think that's very important in preparing the way of the Lord for our children,

that we, of course first operate with a clear conscience and then pass that

on. I think of another Nazarites announcement and judge of thirteen. Remember first

the angel came, and Manoah asked and treated the Lord and asked the man

to come again, and he hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and Manoah

went to him and said, how shall we order the child? How shall

we order the child? And how shall we do unto him? And I

believe that that's where we should be in asking God. And as right is

separated unto God, have we committed our children to God, separated them unto

him as if we'd given our children to him, certainly we should be seeking

his direction. And as fathers, we cannot lead children to God when we

are going away from God. And as we're preparing the way of the Lord,

I think it should be our desire to be like Zebede with John and

his brother in the boat, and Jesus comes along and calls them, and

they immediately laughed and followed him, And that is success. I think a

lot of the things I talked about, especially start as maybe think it focusing

on younger. I am recognize that I'm still a father. My children are

older and in a time of life we're enjoying a lot rolls change. Sometimes

the children are instructing me and influencing me in a positive way. But we

still have that role to be a leader, godly example, to warn and

to bless, and we still play an important role on into adulthood. And

just by the way, Will had a topic and I thought maybe I ought

to just have him come up and spend half the time giving his topic here

that he had a Fellowship meetings. It was very well done. Is speaking

to fathers with older with youth older children at the fellowship meetings there. It

is recorded and it's on Halsey's website, and I would really encourage you to

or in the podcast, really encourage you to get that part of the message

that we missed this morning. And closing, I believe we should all be

daily asking the same question that Judah did in Genesis forty four, Verse thirty

four says, how can I go to the Father and the lad not be

with me? Set a song,