Take Some Responsibility || Fathers of the Faith Pt.3 || Pastor Diego Mesa

Welcome to the Lesse podcast. Here at LESSE, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. Father, thank you for the next few moments. We

love you today and we honor you as the supreme father of fathers, and

we thank you for your love and acceptance today. Could you stand for the

reading of the word. It's going to go very quickly, this one phrase,

and I'm going to preach from this one word. Then, David said

to Abathar that day when Doeinga the Ediomite was there, I knew he would

be sure to tell Saul, I am responsible for the death of your whole

family. You may be seated today. I want to talk a little bit

about that one phrase. That's it. I am responsible. You feel in

the blank, what are you responsible for? To whom are you responsible?

I am responsible? And one of the strongest dominant characteristics dicks of a man,

a father, and a husband is this overwhelming responsibility. God has wired

us to have broad shoulders and to be strong in spirit and naturally to carry

on the responsibilities. Have you ever been walking and you've seen somebody who their

dog poops, but they feel no responsibility to pick up their dog crap.

Who's picking up the dog crap of the world? Who's responsible for doing that?

Have you ever sat down for dinner and nobody picks up the dinner plates

after them? Who's responsible for picking that up? Is that the is that

the woman's job? Is that the mother's job to pick up after Have you

ever gone to a movie theater and you had your popcorn and your giant and

I'm not talking about my wife to twenty four hounds slurpy and because she doesn't

do this, she always does this part. Do you do you leave the

trash there? Or do you say, man, I'm going to pick this

up and help the attendant and throw it away. I want you to recognize

that Martin Luther King will always serve as a hero of clergy and as civil

rights leader. But the amazing thing is, as you know, he died

at thirty nine years old. Would you accept the responsibility when you have an

amazing wife, little children, you have a great career as a pastor,

to take on a job that you will die in thirteen years four? Why

would a man do something like that and die at thirty nine years old and

start the civil rights movement at the age of twenty six. He felt an

overwhelming need to be responsible. And I love this quote that I'm going to

read to you right now about him. He says, we will have to

repent in this generation, not merely for the hateful words of bad people,

but for the appalling silence of good people. You would think that was written

last night. An You could be non violent, but you cannot remain silent

with all that's going on. And they're being bold and loud and defiant.

And we're just gonna play pacifistic lifestyles when this is an agenda that's creeping into

our home, going after your children, my grandchildren. No way, I'm

gonna hang around with MLKA because I think it's important. Here's some opening thoughts

about responsibility, some statements I'd like to make to you about what it looks

like. We want the blessing without the responsibility. We need to stop complaining

about the problems and start taking responsibility. And we want the joy of something

without paying the price of sorrow. Here are the destructive words of our society

when it comes to irresponsibility. Here are the three phrases I don't want to,

I don't have to, and I don't need to. And those three

phrases of irresponsibility are breeding an attitude that says this, don't bother me,

don't frustrate me, don't distract me, don't disappoint me, don't inconvenience me.

But if you're gonna get involved in anything worthwhile, then you're gonna get

hurt, and you're gonna suffer, and there's gonna be some sacrifices, and

you and I are going to be interrupted and we are going to be bothered.

To change the generation that's being destroyed before our eyes. There's a statement

called pool your own weight. And if you've ever heard that statement, it's

a rolling term. It's men and women that are in a canoe and you're

responsible for pushing or pulling your own weight. The problem and destruction of our

society is we've got too much weight because a generation that preceded us in a

generation now has not pulled their own weight, and it's now become overly a

burden and a weight to the generation that exists today. I want you to

watch this little screen and then I'll do the second half of my message right

now, watch this video. You want chads with a school zone violation.

I don't drive that fast, judge. I'm ninety six years old and I

drive slowly, and I only drive when I have to. I was going

to the blood work for my boy, he's handicap. You're taking yourself to

the doctor's office. Yeah, I take them for blood work every two weeks

because she's got cancer. You are a good man. You are a good

man. You are in your nineties and you're still taking care of your family.

That's just a wonderful thing for you. How old is your son sixty

three? Yeah, daddy's still taking care of him. Right. I only

cry one I after sir. I wish you all the best. I wish

the best for your son, and I wish you good health. And your

case is dismissed. David was David in the Bible was one man, but

the Bible says that he was responsible to his generation. In the Book of

Acts, the Bible also refers to Paul being responsible to Timothy, who did

not have a daddy, so Paul became his spiritual father out of responsibility.

Joseph could have been blessed all by himself, but he didn't forget about his

family that were still dealing with a famine and brought them into the land of

Goshen, and the Bible says seventy five of them were saved. Esther didn't

have to take responsibility for her people being exterminated, but she did. Jesus

took total responsibility by Donna the cross for all of mankind's sin. I want

to just tell you men this, you don't have to be perfect. I'm

not perfect. You're not perfect. The only perfect individual was Jesus Christ.

So in your responsibilities of life, nobody is asking you to be perfect.

So take that pressure and take that stress off of you today, your wives,

your children, your family, society, churches. Here's my statement to

you. You don't have to be perfect. All we ask you to do,

though, is be present. There's something about you in the room,

in the family, in the church that brings security. You don't have to

be perfect. Just keep practicing, Just keep getting better and better and good

or and good, or keep preserving through the most difficult times of your life.

Keep pursuing your family even when they're forty sixty seven years old, or

ever they might be old. Keep being proud of being a man and a

father and a husband. Keep proclaiming Jesus Christ to your family. Be the

protector, be the provider, and let your lips be used to praise your

family. Make your little boys feel good, make your little girls feel good.

So I'm gonna end with this. Now, I'm going to give you

a few things that men need to be about and things need men need to

do be responsible for. Men are responsible to be the king of their household.

You've heard this statement of many at times that men are king of the

castle. When I talk about king, I'm not talking about and in the

negative term of domineering or controlling or manipulating. But I am talking about the

king being one that sets the rules in his house. The rules are the

values of my home, the principles of my home, the ethics of my

home, the standards of my words that we don't often use today, the

integrity of my home. That is a man's job to set the rules of

the house. The man's job is to reign, to reign over the sins

of his life, to reign over the sins of his family, to make

sure the sins of the world don't creep in. He's to reign over the

works of darkness that come to steal, kill, and destroy the peace the

victory of God in the home. He is an individual that is to lead,

and he leads by example. That's what kings do. They lead from

the front and say, let me be the first to be the example of

selflessness or sacrifice. Have you ever seen ducks. There's a daddy duck,

and then there's a mamma duck, and then there's the baby duck. We

need the daddies to be the king, and we need the daddies to lead

their family. The second responsibility of a man, he is the priest of

his household. He's the priest of his household. He's to pray to his

God. That's the intimacy and communion that a man has with his creator.

He is to pray for his family, their struggles, their weaknesses, their

temptations. He's to pray for others, their hardships and what other people are

going through. And he's to pray the prayer of repentance that says, this

God, help me because I'm a man of emotions. And jails are filled

with men who can't control their emotions and they're angry because they never had a

daddy, And so my anger made me put my hands on a woman.

My anger made me rape a woman. My anger made me get violent and

become a thief and a robber, and jails are filled in The society knows

that, and the devil knows that, And you'll take the arsenal out of

a devil when a man is self discipline over his own personal emotions. You

know, we often think of a clergy call caller, and we often think

in terms of a Roman Catholic priest. But in actuality, it was a

Protestant that created the clergy caller in eighteen sixty five. But when you see

a clergy caller, it's supposed to make that individual's stand out. The caller

itself is a sign of purity, and it's a sign of separation. And

we need men to be the priest of their home, and where the caller,

men are to be the pastors of their household. The same way that

a shepherd will lay down his life, as we sang about in praise and

worship in Psalms twenty three, and he will watch over his sheep, so

will a pastor. He will share the show, the cariness and the love.

And let me say this, some real, real godly affection, affection

that I touch my children right, that I embrace my spouse in front of

them, showing proper affection. There's nothing like a dad's hug to a daughter

or to a son. There's nothing like the embrace of safety and security when

a father shows affects. I know it's tough because we've never had men show

us affection before. When I got around a pastor when I was young,

around twenty four years old, he was about six foot four and I'm five

eight and three quarters on a good day, and I was standing next to

him, and he put his big old arm around me and he hugged me

real close. He brought me close. And what I did is I pushed

back, and he said, why are you stepping away from me? And

I said, I don't even know. It's just I guess an instinct.

And he looked at me and said, who jacked you up? Who messed

you up that you cannot allow another man in a godly way to hug you?

Because I never received that. So I don't know how to interpret your

motive. But when you show godly affection, as the shepherd, when you

provide for your household. Now, you may not be the principal breadwinner,

and I understand that, and it's okay, and you need to celebrate that

your spouse makes more money than you. But at the end of the day,

you still need to provide the security, the budget, the goals,

the strategies, and you still need to work. You still need to have

a job of some form and some fashion. And you need a minister to

your family, whatever that looks like, to minister to your family, to

hold their hands and say, I'm not going anywhere. These are our problems

and I'm here to stay and we're going to solve them together. The last

two. You are the profit of your household. You are the Yoda of

your house. You are the voice of wisdom. You're the voice of reason.

You're the voice of rationale. You're the voice of teaching God's word.

You're the voice of discipline in your family's life. You are the voice of

warning. You are the visionary of the family. We want our kids to

go to school, we want them to graduate, We want them to go

to vocational school, military. We want them to go to higher education and

go to college. But we do want don't want them here be twenty one

years old, still living in this house doing nothing. We put vision in

them that starts when they're a baby. God has prewired them with their gifting.

It's up to every parent to discover by introducing talents, interests. Take

them and it will be revealed before you what they're calling and what their purpose

is. And last of all, you're the servant of the family. You

carry the towel like Jesus did, and you wash the feet of your family.

You are the one that sacrifices. And I know you know on this

Father's Day, you know there's Mother's Day. It goes like this Christmas,

Mother's Day. Father's Day is down here where Columbus Day is and Saint Patrick's

Day. Man, if women got treated the way men get treated on Father,

I don't want no socks and don't bring me no more soap on the

rope. But men can handle it because we're servants. And though we get

overlooked. Women get cards, we get texas, women get banquets, parties,

celebrations shut down this day it's Mother's Day. Let may of you know

what I'm talking about. Men get KFC will pick it up on the way

home from church. But that's okay because we're servants, and servants live accountable

lives. That's my last point. I'm accountable to God, I'm accounted to

my spouse, I'm accountable to my children, and I'm accountable to another man.

And a man that does not live by accountability is a man that is

about ready to fall and lives by deception and is a lone ranger out there

and will fall victim to the temptations of this world. He has to live

accountable life. I end with this story, true story, you could look

it up. Yellowstone National Park in nineteen ninety five reintroduced the gray wolf to

the park. The gray wolf had not been in the park for seventy five

years, was on the verge of extinction, and they brought it back.

When the gray wolf was reintroduced, it caused a ripple effect of socialization,

economical and ecological patterns, behaviors and cycles were affected by the gray wolf.

The population of coyotes began to grow, rabbits, mouse deer. It affected

weasel, beavers, foxes, badgers, bears, otters, ducks, muscrap,

all the fish life, and all the reptiles, The flowers began to

change. The grass life began to change, Bushes and trees began to change,

the soil itself began to change, and rivers were redirected, all because

of the gray wolf being reintroduced. If men would be reinduced just take their

place in the family, there would be a ripple effect that behaviors would be

changed, patterns would be changed, and cycles will be changed. Don't let

the devil tell you that you are replaceable. Amen, let's give a hand

as Pastor Adam and the team come forward. All right, hey, for

this next part of the service. What we wanted to do was something a

little bit more unique on our Sundays. Was you know, when we talked

about months ago for Father's Day and we knew we were doing Fathers of Faith,

we thought, what a great idea would it be to gather some of

the fathers we have in the church that have really led by exampleship in the

church, really led by their own character and their own quality. And they're

in the church, they serve, they lead. Many of these men you

may see them every Sunday in one way or another, but they're not on

staff. They're not pastors, they're not preachers or anything like that. These

are ordinary men who have said yes to the call of fatherhood, So ordinary

men in our church who have regular careers out in society. Because I have

learned over the years a lot of times the men who's more so new to

church, new to his faith, we'll look at the pastor or look at

the preacher and say, it's easy for you to say you're not mean.

Well, we wanted to bring out some us so that you could hear and

have a conversation that aren't pastors, that aren't preachers, that have been in

our church and have led by that example. So I want to invite my

four fathers that are going to be up here with me today, and I'll

introduce them here in a second. So come on up, and they come

on all sides now, So thank you having I'll introduce them and we'll have

some conversations. What I have here is some some father themed questions that regard

our faith raising, our children being married as Christian fathers, fathers who are

looking to faithfully lead in their family and serve their family. And so let

me just first let's say this. I'll introduce them and I'm gonna have them

share a little bit about you know their children, how many children they have,

and stuff like that. But I'll give you a little thoughts on on

me knowing them. But I often get asked guys when I go places and

maybe someone will meet me for the first time, and somewhere in some shape

people will have a conversation. And when we talk about church and pastoring,

you know, some way, shape or form, sometimes someone will ask is

your church large? And I'll give them an idea, And sometimes I'll just

say a size right, I'll say, oh, or you know, ten

thousand members, twelve thousand members. Whatever day I'm feeling, and whatever dice

I rolled that day will be dependent. And what Easter looked like that recent

easter, you know, is what I'll say. But it always what many

people who don't go to church or aren't religious, they'll say, um man,

that's a lot of people. Surely you don't You don't know everyone,

You don't know all of them. And my response every time is I know

all of those that want to be known. It's always my response. And

you, gentlemen, are fathers and men in this church, among many others

that we have in our church who have made themselves to be known by by

really just your value and you may not feel that way, but your value

of your presence at services and on Sundays. And so just to give an

idea, this is uh, this is mister Jerome, and he serves right

now really in kids because your daughter is our kids director Alyssa. So Alyssa

is your daughter. And um you you were You heard my wife's exhortation how

in twenty twenty we lost her father and mister Jerome, you you were,

uh, mister Tom's best friend. And so as long as I've known my

wife, you've been in their life as best friends and family. But to

me, one of the biggest things that you've done over the years is,

um, as Tom has gone home to be with the Lord. You really

you really said, you know what, I'm gonna make sure that as my

best friend his family, that those kids aren't going to have a grand not

not not going to have a granddad on their side. So you've really stepped

in on my wife's side of the family, and you're at all of my

son's soccer games, and you've stepped in as that honorary grandfather on my wife's

side. And I just thank you for that and and to me, that

just shows part of your character, um, and who you are and and

and your leadership and your yes to God and then and then right here I

have philed many of you guys know film from the front. He's in our

dream team and me, guys, no films love film. You're faithful all

the time, every Sunday ever since you decided to make ALFC your home.

Uh what year was a mean? Because it wasn't too long ago. It

was years ago, about three years ago. Yeah, you guys could turn

all your Mike's on now you flee, so a little over three years ago,

and like, I don't know, it feels like on day two of

you visiting you like we're like, yeah, I'm gonna serve everywhere and be

a faithful presence in between you and then your son Nathan, who serves in

our in our media. You've just become a very present smile for so many

of us. I know there's days that I even have that are that are

difficult. That just me seeing you in just the small encouraging words that you

say and and how much you love all of us when we walk in at

the front door. We thank you for that. And to me, that's

why you have a value as a father. Is is your empathy and your

empathetic heart in the way that you lead those things incredible. And then Nick,

my brother Olakomata, Yeah, you're in a dream team too as well.

And this is Nick Gooseman you may or you may know him more so

You're you're usually stationed, is right there kind of towards where it starts to

elevate. But um, your son is Gabe aka Zane Hurricane in children's church.

And then your daughter is Ida, who's our lighting designer. Does any

problems with the lights? Yeah, yeah, see his daughter if you don't

like any of the lights. And so you know, over the years,

what stood out to me is ever since your kids first started, I was

their youth pastor you know, ten years ago, and immediately you could tell

your DNA was on your kids because of how much they loved the Lord and

how much they decided to serve right away and love Jesus. And to me,

you can many times see the example of a father by the way that

their children are. And I think if you meet Gabe and Ida and your

other children, it's very easy to be able to see what kind of parents

that they have and how much they have loved. You know, one just

got married, Ida just got married about a couple months ago, and then

Gabe gets married this Thursday. And so, you know, just me being

blessed enough to be a mentor to gabs life. I think mentoring is easier

when a son and a daughter has a great relationship with their father. And

so just being able to be a mentor to Gabe's life for me is great

because I get to just be a cherry on top to the Sunday that you've

already built, you know, with your son and your kids, which makes

it all that much easier to be able to do those things. So thank

you so much for your example. And then um, my brother over here

Jimmy, who serves in our abundant youth with the teenagers and he's one of

our junior high basketball coaches at our at our United Christian Academy. Do you

guys do pretty well this year at United Christian Academy in basketball? You guys

undefeated? You went undefeated, man coach Jimmy, and and um and so

you serve an abundant youth. And for me, you're you're one of my

good friends in the church and and um, you know you you consistently Justin

here's in the front in the front row. And um, all of your

kids at such a young age, now, I mean they they they they

they love the Lord. And what I love about them is is they love

their mom and dad. Like you know, when I talk to the boys,

Justin, Jada and Philip, I mean, they have so much love

and respect. Many of us will remember on the Mother's Day video, Philip

was the one who said, my mom has given me everything, you know

in that video and he had that really soft, tender moment, and the

boys say the same affections with you. Seems to me like you guys are

their best friends. And so that's what always inspires me with you as a

father's is how much time you spend with your boys. You know you just

um, I don't want to give too much, but you know you've recently,

you know, there's you've had a lot of opportunities in work, and

a lot of them you said no to because it would take away time from

being available for your boys and being in their ball and life. So you've

even said no to some promotions, uh, to to be able to be

more active and as active in their life, and I really respect that and

appreciate that. So giving a little introduction about the men and uplifting them a

little bit, I want you guys each briefly to speak for a moment.

How has being a father influenced your faith and your relationship with God? And?

Um, why don't you go briefly? I'm gonna have you each answer

that, but before you do, just let us know how many kids you

have and what their ages are. So I'll start right here with you,

mister Drue m Jerome Wilson. I have three kids. They're they're all college

graduates, all Division one athletes, and they love the Lord first and foremost.

What are their ages? Remember? Yeah, twenty nine, twenty five,

and twenty two. There we go. So, how has being a

father influenced your faith in relationship with God? It's helped my faith to grow,

you know, as as time has passed, I've seen that God's plan

works, you know, daily, So as I tried to do my best,

me and my wife to execute God's plan on raising him, I could

see things happening in a positive direction to get to where this point is right

now, where I could sit on the stage and have something to say about

it. Yeah, go ahead, Phil. I have one son. He

is twenty eight years old. My wife and I went through some of you

guys have gone through, just fertility challenges. So we had our son.

Later I was thirty years old and I became a dad and just kind of

that whole experience. We worked so hard to get pregnant and then she and

I are there, they present us with this little baby, and we kind

of looked at each other and we're kind of like, I was, shoot,

what we do now? And I was like, so I just had

that real overwhelming sense just to protect and wanting to prosper and thrive and and

and then being saved get that same insight. That's what God the Father wants

for me to have success and to thrive and to protect me. Yeah,

and that's great, that's great, Thank you so much. I have one,

two, three. I have two oldest sons from my previous before I

came to the Lord, and I have three um with my wife Rachel.

And what inspire me and influence me is my sons and my daughters serving me

here and and I'm so grateful to God for God leading them. I took

my part as a dad when um I used to do Bible studies at my

home, and and not only them, you know, Crystal, my niece,

and uh and Brian and um others that used to be with me.

So I see how God moved in my life. And I truly believe when

Joshua con front of his people and made his declaration that me and my house

will serve the Lord, and I'm so proud and grateful for that. For

them, that's great, thank you. I have three boys. Justin is

fifteen, Jaden will be thirteen in a couple of weeks, and Philip is

nine. So three boys, all pretty young, but in terms of what

they've taught me, or what being a father has taught me about God himself,

the second that I had Justin and looked at him for the first moment

I was a young father. I was twenty five, and looking at Justin

just gave me so much more insight as to the love of the Father for

me. You know, the Bible tells us that, you know, if

us being evil don't withhold anything from our kids, how much more God doesn't

withhold from us as a father. So just being a father gives me a

whole new insight into what God, the way God sees us and his love

for us. I think it really makes a huge impact on me. Yeah,

that's great. Thank you. I'll muna start right here with you.

Feel I got a question for you. What role does attending church play in

your family's life and how do you prioritize it our priority? My wife and

I were both saved and we got married, and God was always number one

in our lives, and I think number two and number three is where it

can kind of get fezzy and kind of cause problems. We made God number

one, but number two was not ministry, was not church. Number two

was my wife and our marriage. Our family was number two, and then

number three was always ministry. And with that balance we really thrived. So

we were always hands on, we were always serving, and my son grew

up just seeing that as normal. But he always knew if there was going

to be something, I was not going to put being at a church meeting

or something ahead of something with family, right, And with that kind of

balance, he grew up very healthy, just having a stability but also knowing

it was expected. This is his baseline. You're going to serve, You're

going to give because this is what we do as men and women of God.

Yeah, that's great. I say that to say, like over the

years, you know, you can really if any of us been in church

long enough, you can really survey generally what happens to a man who takes

serving his community as a priority. You meet their children, their children,

have a sense. Because we live in an age where everything is me,

me, me, me. We have a social media snapchat, TikTok,

Instagram, it's all about you, and whether it's in church or in some

other capacity. A father who leads in church, a father who leads in

his community, being involved in this community. Children learn at a very young

age, Oh it's not all about us, It's not all about me.

And so that's why I say that there was important question for you to answer,

because all of you men, all of your children, and most of

them are grown, all of them serve. Now they all are doing something

bigger than themselves in one way or another, in church or either out of

state. What they're doing. Your son is out of state in college,

but still actively going to church, tending online, all these things like that.

You can see the principles in a child when the parents recognize this world

isn't all about us, and so I think that's a beautiful thing to note.

But given that, Jimmy, you have the youngest children, so you

have the teenagers, which I think there's other parents who have maybe kids my

age or other teenagers who are who are genuinely just pretty fearful in the age

that we're living in right now in terms of what's happening online and the effects

they have online, having teenagers being exposed to stuff that none of us could

ever dream of. So for you, with your boys, what challenges has

you faced as a Christian parent in raising your children in society or even the

effects that society is trying to implicate on them. Yeah, I mean they

we live in a very different time than when we grew up, right,

and I think recognizing that and recognizing the fact that I was just at the

youth Beach Day yesterday and it was like when we had a youth beach day,

everybody would go because that was the only time that you could connect with

people. We didn't have our phones constantly with us texting and face timing us.

So today's generation, they're they're battling that piece that overstimulation of connection,

and like you said, the social media where they have to look and present

a certain way and they see certain lifestyles. So I feel for my kids.

I get it. It's not easy. And then add on top of

that that I think the enemy really goes after our kids right now. I

mean, there's there's an entire agenda attacking kids today to mess with their minds

and their hearts regarding who they are, right, gender ideology, you know,

the fact that they think that pleasure is the only thing that matters,

right, that I'm gonna do me So being able to teach my kids,

I have to do one thing, really a lot. It's easy to set

rules and disciplines in your house when they're at this age, right, It's

easy. The hard part is how do I. I can't control what they

like, I can't control their attitudes. I can't control their personalities. So

I have to say, you know what, I had to truly believe that

God cares and loves my kids more than I do, and that he has

specific design and relationship for each of them, that he's in control. There

it did two things for me. One, it freed me it's not all

on me, right, And the second part really is it allows me to

be able to point them back to Jesus all the time. They know,

I mean, my kids know. It's like if we're asking whether to do

something or something is right or wrong, we never say, well, here's

what we think as parents. We say, Okay, what does the Bible

teach, here's what it teaches, and where can we go because that's our

foundation and they know it. One thing that came up recently with secular music,

right, it's easy to say in my house, we don't listen to

it period, Like it's easy to say that as a rule, but I

can't control what's in their AirPods or what they hear when they go to school

or whatever it is. So we took it back to the Word of God

and we started talking about what that means. And my kids are receptive to

it because they know that I'll walk the walk as well. So really,

living in this society, don't put pressure on yourself overdue pressure. Point them

back to the Word of God. Create the environment that you can create around

them, constantly, put them in church whether they like it or not,

ask them to serve, push them. Those are the kinds of things I

think that could really press back against the culture that we're facing right now,

and above all, you pray for them constantly. Yeah yeah, yeah,

yeah, that's great. Thank you me. I I was at your house,

like, like we're having dinner, you know, months back, and

Justin was out at the mall with some friends. So I will I won't

tattle on you too much, Justin. But you and I were having a

conversation though, Jimmy. But it inspired me into a thought which I've been

massaging out more and more, which was we were talking about this balance of

what do you let your kids do, what do you not let your kids

do? And you have teenagers. I don't, so I'm trying to get

as much information as possible. And I know one of the big things that

you had said in that moment was you just said, right now, what

I'm trying to do is leave the door open for an open dialogue with my

son, said, I don't want him to feel like he has to keep

secrets from me, which led me to this thought, which is what I

tell parents with teenagers now, which is this, whatever conversations you refuse to

have at the dinner table, their friends will have with them at the lunch

table. And that's the reality we live in today. And so I hear

from parents all the time. We're just trying to shield them. We're trying

to bubble. Then we're trying to You can't. You can't. It's not

I mean, unless you lock them in their room and homeschool them and don't

let them go it just if they have a smart device, if they're going

to school, private school, Christian school, public school, it doesn't matter.

The conversations at the lunch table would blow your mind. What is being

talked about today? What they know? Yeah, the things that they know.

It's like I didn't know that until I was in college. Yeah,

the things you know. So and we're talking about my nine year old now,

you know, Philip. So if you try to shield them from everything,

all you're doing is tricking yourself or you're deceiving yourself because they're good at

faking it too. They know what you want to hear or what you want

to do. So being able to converse with them. I tell my oldest

all the time, I can't decide what you like for you. I can't

decide your attitude and your personality for you. But what I can do is

guide you and I can give you my counsel, and as long as he

has that respect for me, where he listens to me and he trusts my

leadership. And that's a big one. Earning trust. Parents I think don't

do a great job earning their kids trust, and I think that's important as

well. So that's that Uma. You got some money. Yes, as

a as a teenager, my kids, I couldn't have been. I don't

remember my teenage life. I was born in the and raised in the streets

of New York City, and my father's would pastors all their lives, and

when I was raising a pentecost home. But when I reached a certain age

of sixteen, and there was twenty in my family, and we lived in

a building where the church was downstairs and the rest of the three floors that

we had was our home. And every service, I think we had the

church every day, I don't remember, but my dad would stand downstairs and

as we come down, he would make us go in inside the church instead

of going out to the street. And I was already attracted to the world,

and when my dad would take the pulpit, I would sneak out of

the church and I would be gone and when I should come home late at

night, my dad would be waiting for me, and not only him,

but what he had in his hand to kind of shim. But my kids

today, what I learned was when I gave myself to Christ, I learned

to be a leader in my home where I planted the seed in them of

the word of God. And really I hadn't. I haven't done anything for

them to be where they had today, And I think God was taking care

of that because when they were teenagers, they were school good kids going to

school and and come in to church. And I remember when they were growing

up in our church and Spanish church, my wife would be the children's teacher,

and they were so what they were being taught by my wife at our

church. And when they came to Abundant ten years ago something like that,

they came first before me. And when I came here, I saw that

they were being taught well and raised well in this church because they were good

teaching activities for the youth. Where we came from, they didn't have all

that. And I will let them stay here because I saw how they were

growing in Christ and here by being taught so the teenage life. I didn't

have with them like many other fathers because I came to the Lord at an

older age, so I've never experienced that in their growth and the youth because

they were already in the ways of God. So I mean I could be

here all day test the plan. That's great, Thank you, nick um

Uh. Mister Jerome, tell me, um, what do you consider to

be the most important lessons or values you're trying to impart your desire to impart

to your children as a father. Those values the first and foremost. To

trust God, you know, follow his plan. He has a plan.

He the Creator, So why would you not go to the Creator to get

help with the creations? So it only makes sense. You know, you'll

go to You'll buy a Honda knowing that the manuals in the glove compartment and

they're trying to give you insight on how to operate that vehicle and maintain it

correctly. So why would you not do that with your children? Yeah,

I think a lot of people will just have kids. They think it's cute,

they think it's wonderful, but don't have that understanding that they are the

priority and that you follow God and let God guide you. That's what me

and my wife did. We let we didn't know. We weren't, you

know, authorities on raising children. We just went to the source God and

use the manual and it says train up a child in a way it should

go. So we did some training. Ye. Yeah, So just like

sports, you know, you're going to be trained in what you're supposed to

do to maximize your ability to live a good life, to be God fearing

kids. You're fearing people. That's great, Thank you. All right,

we'll close with this last one. I'll give it to you Pheel. The

last question right here, what advice would you give to other Christian fathers who

are striving to live out their faith as men of God. You left the

softball to me, right all right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Gentlemen,

you genuinely desire to be good fathers, and I think you compare yourselves

a lot to other people and by what you see, and you're just seeing

the outside and you're seeing a facade, and you judge yourself deficient, and

you look at your own life and the things you've tried to do, and

you get frustrated. I think part of the problem we as men. One

of the things we struggle with is we overestimate the amount we can get done,

the effectiveness we can have in the short term. We think in a

short period of time we can do this much, but we underestimate what we

can accomplish in the long term. Your faithfulness, Like let's just say,

you've heard several of these men talk about praying if you would make it.

You know, this is what I'm gonna do God, I'm gonna endeavor every

day. I'm gonna pray for my wife, I'm gonna pray for my kids.

You know, I'm gonna spend I don't know what, five minutes,

ten minutes. You don't have to impress God. I think with the length

of time, let's him impress him with. You know, from this day

forward, I'm gonna take I'm gonna go for the endgame, and I'm gonna

be faithful in this day after day. Your kids are gonna start to see

that, your wife is gonna see that, You're gonna build the stability in

your family, and they're gonna start coming to you. Look, my son

is twenty eight years old now, and I don't know why he did this.

Just a week or two ago, I was working from home and for

some reason, and he felt he had to come into my office and make

this proclamation to me. And he said, you know what, when I

need to talk to somebody about relationships, I go to so and so.

When I need to talk about a girlfriend, I go to so and so.

Home Like, okay, okay, this is really interesting, thank you.

But he said, when I need healing, when I need somebody to

pray for me, I come to you, Dad, because there was a

legacy of faithfulness and consistency built there. So, gentlemen, you've only just

barely met us. And I think it would be easily to say that,

Okay, you guys all had it so good. But every one of these

men can testify of the trials and the tribulations, the temptations, the failures

that they've had to go through, and yet they just kept their eyes on

the Lord and they kept moving forward. They were playing the long game.

And if you and I do that, you're gonna be excellent fathers. It

gonna be the fathers that you want to be. Amen. Amen, thank

you, Thank you. Pastor Phil. I think me and Pastor Diego are

out of a job right now after that moment. Can we give it up

for our dads. Appreciate you guys so much. Thank you. Appreciate all

you dads. We're watching online. We're in this room. Um, we're

gonna leave here together, so don't leave yet. I'm gonna give it to

Pastor Diego. He's gonna come and he's gonna close us out. He looked

surprised by that, but it was on the service order. I'll tell you

that, I'll give it to Pastor Diego and he'll close us all out.

We'll leave here together. Wasn't that rich? And I mean it was good.

We hope that the men were lifted up today. But you know what,

it would be wrong for us to end a service without giving people an

opportunity to get right with God. And we could do something like this and

feel ministered to or helped or comforted or inspired, but that's only going to

last you a minute. If you don't have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ,

you could be like me. I grew up in religion. I went

to eight years of religious school. Church was a place I visited. But

when I left that church, I acted the way I wanted to act it.

I talked the way I talked. I did what I did because there

was no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. There was no sense of conviction or

consciousness to live for him. There was no purpose of why I'm here on

this planet and what I'm really called to do. And there are a lot

of men as well as women that are struggling, struggling with purpose and struggling

with identity. And Jesus said, this, I am the way the truth

in the life you're trying to figure out the way. You're trying to figure

out the truth and your trying to figure out the life to live. And

Jesus said, I'm it, and I can help you find it through me.

So today, if you're willing to end all the wandering and the wandering

and the confusion and the frustration and the heartache, then come to Christ today.

That's it. Or you need to rededicate your life to the Lord because

you've just kind of been plain Christian. When I count to three, I'm

gonna ask you to raise your hand like this. Why, Because there's something

liberating when you're unashamed to raise your hand. There's a mutual sign of surrender.

And if Jesus could die naked, Martin beaten on across naked for you.

Then the least you could do is acknowledge him to say, I need

help, I want prayer. I want to give my life to you on

to rededicate. Here we go all across this auditorium. But really, really,

some of you men need to raise your hand today because if you want

to lead your family, this is the first decision you need to make.

One two one two three. Raise your hand wherever you are all across this

auditorium. I see those hands. God love you, God bless you.

I want to lead you to prayer. I'm gonna ask you to meet it

from your heart to say, dear Lord, Jesus, you know who I

am, you know what I've done. Right now in front of all these

people, I ask you to save me and to deliver me and to heal

me. Through Jesus, I'm born again. Jesus died on the cross,

and now I will follow him, not just for a moment, but for

the rest of my life. Amen.