Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Sometimes to get out of worship is tough because you can really feel the presence and really worship. It's how much you engage your heart.
[00:00:14] You know, the Father seeking people that will worship him in spirit and in truth. It's actually a response of worship of our own hearts, our own lives.
[00:00:26] But today being Father's Day, I want to talk about the substance of a Father, as I put it up here like this.
[00:00:40] So I want to talk about the substance of a Father.
[00:00:44] And to illustrate this, I want to take this chair.
[00:00:49] Now, why would you sit in this chair?
[00:00:55] You wouldn't sit in this chair because it has the appearance of a chair. Because this could be paper and have the appearance of a chair. And you don't sit in this chair because of its colour.
[00:01:12] That's not why we would sit in this chair.
[00:01:15] We sit in this chair because it has substance, okay? And substance is something that we have faith in. It means that you trust that this chair will hold your weight.
[00:01:33] But in the same breath, if I was to ask Paul to come and stand on this chair, we would start to question the substance of the chair or the stability of this chair.
[00:01:47] And if I had to say, paul, I'll put my son on your shoulders and then ask you to stand on this chair, we would definitely question the substance of this chair, the stability of this chair, and ultimately the stability of that chair is going to show what can balance or be stable above it.
[00:02:16] But if we had to say that this same chair was granite, so black granite, there's no more question about the stability of this chair.
[00:02:29] We know that it being black granite, it can hold anything.
[00:02:34] So it's not so much about the substance.
[00:02:38] It's now about how you can balance on the substance that would be the truth.
[00:02:47] In the same way God, when he created his kingdom, he created it with substance.
[00:02:58] So we know that it's not appearance that God builds upon, because we've got the example of Saul and David.
[00:03:08] So Saul had the appearance of a king, but ultimately, through disobedience, there was a flaw in his disobedience and he couldn't hold the weight.
[00:03:24] And so his substance was flawed.
[00:03:27] Whereas David, we see that his substance was formed in the wilderness.
[00:03:34] His substance and his obedience was formed when he was a shepherd boy. In obedience he killed the lion, he killed the bear. His trust, his faith in God is what formed and was proven substance. And ultimately on that, God could build his kingdom.
[00:03:57] When we look at Father Abraham, who generations came after, there was the promise of generations to Abraham, we see that his substance was what was was tested. He was tested for his obedience to God, whether up to death he would actually kill the promised Isaac before God. And he was willing to do that. He was willing to leave his homeland, everything he knew, his family, to go after the things of God. And that was the substance that God built his kingdom upon.
[00:04:39] So what is substance?
[00:04:42] Sub means underneath and stance to stand.
[00:04:47] It's the same idea as understanding.
[00:04:54] Substance is the essential reality of something, the part that gives it its true nature, strength, and value.
[00:05:04] If we look at Psalm 139, we were all given substance.
[00:05:11] It says, my frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in the secret, intricately woven in the depth of the earth.
[00:05:21] Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet, there were none of them.
[00:05:34] So God had a substance in you that he formed. Every day was written in the book. But it came from a substance, a foundation.
[00:05:48] In Proverbs 3:19, it says, the Lord by wisdom founded the earth. By understanding or substance, he established the heavens.
[00:06:02] Imagine the substance that can hold the earth and everything created and the substance that created the heavens. Now we're talking about the substance of God.
[00:06:15] What weight can God carry?
[00:06:21] Today, as we celebrate Father's Day, every family needs substance.
[00:06:29] A wife needs something she can lean on. Children need something they can build upon and trust.
[00:06:36] And society needs something strong enough to carry weight.
[00:06:42] God designed fathers to be that substance, a foundation upon which families are established.
[00:06:51] Today I want to look at three areas of God's substance that I feel are essential to fatherhood.
[00:07:00] Number one, stability.
[00:07:03] God is a rock.
[00:07:05] Stability is the everlasting rock. We'll look at that later.
[00:07:10] Number two, love. God is love.
[00:07:15] It's his very substance.
[00:07:17] And number three, blessing the next generation.
[00:07:22] God the Father blesses. And we've always seen that fathers carry a blessing to the next generation.
[00:07:32] But before we go into that, I want to look at substance, where it was lost, where it was restored.
[00:07:40] So if we go to Genesis 1, verses 27, it says, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female. He created them.
[00:07:58] So when Adam was created, he was made perfect in his substance. His substance would have reflected the Father's love perfectly. His substance would have would have reflected the Father's stability perfectly. He was the perfect creation.
[00:08:25] But then we see that sin came in.
[00:08:29] Sin is what corrupted the substance. But there's a definition of sin. Sin is missing the mark.
[00:08:36] Whereas iniquity is a twisting out of the image of God. And it's iniquity that actually flows through generations.
[00:08:50] So we see this in Exodus 25.
[00:08:55] It says visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.
[00:09:05] So what is a generation? Generation is 25 years to 30 years. So if we're talking three to four generations, we're talking about a hundred years of living.
[00:09:17] So if we had to just take a picture frame or time frame of the last hundred years that we've been in existence, let's look at how the iniquity, the twisting out of the image has affected the fathers in the home.
[00:09:37] And one thing, if you want to take the stability, if God is the rock, if you want to take the stability out of a household, then the attack would be on the fathers because they are there to carry the essence of God, the stability into the household that the family can build upon.
[00:09:57] So there has been a major attack, and you'll see that in the next.
[00:10:04] There's been a major attack on fathers in the last hundred years. Well, since Adam.
[00:10:10] But here's a time frame from 1914 to 1945. This is the lost father's era.
[00:10:21] So for 30 years, there was World War I and World War II, where fathers went to war.
[00:10:30] There was trauma, there was fear.
[00:10:34] There was a disconnect between the father and families. They were completely removed and millions of fathers were killed. Millions of fathers were injured. Millions of fathers carried the trauma of war for 30 years.
[00:10:55] From there we go 1945 to 1965, and this, this is 20 years.
[00:11:06] They're coming out of war.
[00:11:08] Fathers returned to the homes, but they were emotionally disconnected.
[00:11:12] There was such trauma.
[00:11:14] They didn't know how to connect with their families in the home. This is when addictions started to rise. We see addictions, we see trauma, and ultimately the father was silenced because the mother had been holding the primary role in. In the home for years.
[00:11:37] This led to 1960-1970, the hippie movement.
[00:11:47] This was a generation that, because of war and seeing the effect of war, they were looking for a sense of belonging, a place where they could be loved, a place of peace, a place of community.
[00:12:03] They sought family and acceptance in this community of the hippie movement.
[00:12:10] And ultimately it was a rebellion against the traditional ways of the family home.
[00:12:17] They broke free from the normal traditions of a mom and a dad.
[00:12:22] Sex outside of marriage rose.
[00:12:27] That was the hippie movement.
[00:12:29] Then we go 1970 to 1980s, it went into the punk movement.
[00:12:37] And this was complete rebellion.
[00:12:41] They didn't want to identify with tradition. They dressed in all sorts of ways to break down all traditions and all forms of authority.
[00:12:52] They rebelled completely against authority.
[00:12:55] The message was clear. No future, no authority and no trust.
[00:13:02] In this time from 1915, in 1915, one in a thousand people got divorced.
[00:13:12] From 1915 to 1980, there was 430%.
[00:13:19] That's a five fold increase in divorces from 1915 to 1980.
[00:13:28] From 1980 to the present, we saw the rise of gang culture.
[00:13:35] This is where we saw the mafia. This is where we see gangs with fathers. Gangs are families.
[00:13:42] You come and join the gang. There's initiation rights, the same initiations that, you know, we see in the Jewish culture. When a son reaches 13, there would be a blessing. There would be initiation rights to join gangs.
[00:14:05] And gangs they give fathers and they give substitute families.
[00:14:12] Then 1990s to the present, it moved from the question of how should I live, how do I fit into society, into who am I?
[00:14:26] And this is the identity movement. This is the rise of social media, this is the rise of information.
[00:14:35] This is the rise of seeing where you feel you fit in.
[00:14:39] And you can choose where you want to fit in. There's a complete breakdown of the family structure, complete breakdown of society. People are warring against the warring against, you know, whether they are male or female. They are warring against all forms of authority politics.
[00:15:04] This is the identity movement that we live in today.
[00:15:11] So this is a hundred years, four generations that we've just spoken about.
[00:15:16] And God says, I will visit the iniquities of the fathers for four generations. You just think about how much sin is there, four generations. But it came from one cracked foundation, and that was Adam. That is where iniquity started.
[00:15:36] And that flow is still there. It's getting worse, it's getting worse.
[00:15:41] But the substance was restored.
[00:15:46] We see that this is exactly why God the Father sent his son, was to restore the image of the Father. The image of the Father for generations had been taken out.
[00:16:02] But God sent his son.
[00:16:05] In John 14, verses 8 and 9, Philip said to him, Philip said to Jesus, lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.
[00:16:17] Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me? Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father.
[00:16:29] So Jesus came to restore that image, that substance.
[00:16:35] If you saw Jesus, you would have seen the Father. He was the perfect image of the Father.
[00:16:46] As fathers, it is important that we gain a revelation of who Jesus Christ was.
[00:16:56] In the Bible, we can look at what Jesus pointed to in the Bible.
[00:17:03] And I'd actually like you to do a little bit of homework.
[00:17:09] From Matthew 5 to Matthew 7, we see how God Jesus is always pointing to the Father.
[00:17:19] And in Matthew 7 he says, Whoever takes these words of mine is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. So if we want to build our house on the rock, we have to take these words of mine. Well, where do these words start? They start in Matthew 5.
[00:17:40] And in Matthew 5 he's talking about the character of the kingdom. It goes from the Beatitudes, which is, blessed is the poor in spirit, therefore its salt and light, reconciliation instead of anger, purity instead of lust, faithfulness in marriage, integrity in speech, loving your enemies.
[00:18:02] And then it ends with being perfect, as your Father is perfect.
[00:18:08] Then in Matthew 6, living before the Father, giving in secret prayer and the Lord's prayer, fasting in secret, storing treasures in heaven, trusting God rather than money, seeking first the kingdom and not worrying because the Father cares for you. So everything pointed, all the teachings pointed to the Father, the image of the Father.
[00:18:36] Matthew 7 the kingdom's wisdom. Do not judge.
[00:18:43] Remove the plank from your own eye. Ask, seek, knock the golden rule, the narrow gate. Beware of false prophets. Not everyone who says, lord, Lord. And then it ultimately ends with doing the Father's will.
[00:19:04] In Matthew 7 he says, those who do and obey these sayings of mine will build their house on a rock. We're talking about substance. We're talking about understanding who the Father is, who the image of the Father is.
[00:19:21] We have another example where we all know the example of Peter, where Peter, first, a fisherman, he sees Christ. There's a miracle. He's asked to throw his nets on the other side. There's a miracle.
[00:19:36] Both boats are full. He needs help to try and take in the catch.
[00:19:42] And then when he realizes who Jesus is, he goes and he falls at his feet in the revelation and he says, depart from me, I'm a sinful man.
[00:19:52] So Jesus will expose the corruption in your substance.
[00:19:57] That's what happened when he fell before God. When he fell before Jesus, when he had the revelation of Christ, he said, depart from me, I am a sinful man. It was exposed fully his sin in his substance.
[00:20:11] The second encounter is when Jesus says, who do you say I am? And Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He saw that he was the image of the Father. He saw who Christ was, that he was the Messiah.
[00:20:31] And he said, on this revelation, I will build my church on this rock. He got a name change from Simon to Peter. Peter, Cephas means rock.
[00:20:43] And he said, on this revelation, you see, Peter took on the substance, the form, the understanding of a rock.
[00:20:53] His identity now was firm in Christ, who was the rock. And he said, upon this I will build my church.
[00:21:03] It is so important for fathers to gain a revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:21:12] So I want to look at the three pillars or pegs of the Father's substance. Number one, stability.
[00:21:22] In Isaiah 26:4, it says, Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
[00:21:35] That means that the substance of God is never going to change. It's something you can completely put your faith in. It is unchanging. It is something you can build your life upon.
[00:21:48] But how, as fathers, do we bring this rock into our home?
[00:21:56] We need to look at what the Father has as his foundation.
[00:22:01] And in Psalm 89:14 it says, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
[00:22:11] So God's throne, his government, is stable because it rests on the foundation.
[00:22:17] It's not wealth, it's not power, its righteousness and justice.
[00:22:25] In Isaiah 32:17, it says, the work of righteousness will be peace.
[00:22:33] And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Assurance to me means stability.
[00:22:43] It's a sure thing.
[00:22:45] Quietness and assurance forever.
[00:22:49] As fathers, our first responsibility is to look at the lawlessness in our home and address that. It's to establish righteousness in our homes. Whether it's music, whether it's videos, whether it's character, whatever it is, we are always looking to establish righteousness in our homes. That means in our workplace as well. We don't want to bring the instability of work into our homes, so we need to establish righteousness.
[00:23:26] Number two is love. 1 John 4:8 says, he who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
[00:23:39] And this is obviously reinforced by the greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord your God and to love others as yourself.
[00:23:46] But fathers are responsible to ensure they bringing a tangible love substance into their home.
[00:23:55] Your wives need to be loved. Your family needs to be loved. Your children need to be loved.
[00:24:01] So the second substance is love, and the third is bless and affirm your children and wife.
[00:24:12] Proverbs 18:21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
[00:24:22] As fathers, we've been given authority.
[00:24:26] We've been given authority to speak over our family, to speak a blessing or to speak a curse. And we need to watch our words because they carry weight and power.
[00:24:38] We should be encouraging our wives so that they walk in the fullness of what God created them to be.
[00:24:46] And we should be encouraging our children in identity. If you look at the blessing of the Father, there was always a spoken name over a child and then there would be prophecy over that child and they would bless that child.
[00:25:03] So fathers, we carry a blessing.
[00:25:21] So just to recap, although we live in a fallen world, today the fallen world is going to continue. We've just looked at the last hundred years. We've now got an identity crisis.
[00:25:35] Those are for people that do not know Christ.
[00:25:39] As fathers, we have a responsibility to bring substance into our households. The substance of God, the image of God needs to be restored. And that starts with us as the fathers. We have a responsibility.
[00:25:57] We will ultimately stand before God, responsible for our families, and he will ask us, were you faithful?
[00:26:06] Were you faithful? Were you obedient?
[00:26:09] Obedience we've seen, is what proves the substance.
[00:26:14] And the weight of what a father can carry or a person in God can carry is only proven by the obedience. It's your yes to God.
[00:26:34] So today I want to.
[00:26:38] I want to put the call out to anybody who does not know Jesus. Maybe, maybe you haven't given your heart completely to Jesus.
[00:26:50] Maybe you've been on the fence, maybe you don't understand.
[00:26:56] But just like what Ludwig said, you are ready to be baptized when you have faith. It says we are justified through faith in Christ.
[00:27:10] So if there is anybody here who hasn't welcomed Christ into their heart and wants to do that, if you want to come forward, you can come forward. But if you just want to pray a silent prayer with me, inviting Christ to come and re establish the substance of who he created you to be and that he would come and be the substance that you can build your life upon.
[00:27:40] I want you to close your eyes now and pray with me long.
[00:27:48] Father God, we.
[00:27:50] We come firstly before you today as your family.
[00:27:56] And we want to thank you, Father, for gifting us your son.
[00:28:01] We thank you for Jesus that walked on the earth and showed us the image of a loving Father. We thank you for the teachings, the kingdom that gives us pegs and footholds that we can build our lives upon.
[00:28:17] Father, I want to lift every person in this place or that is listening now.
[00:28:27] Lord, any person that has a desire to know you more, that is not committed fully to Christ and his ways.
[00:28:37] Lord, I want to lift them up to you now.
[00:28:40] And Lord, I pray that you would come into their heart.
[00:28:44] I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would come upon them now that you even breathe understanding of a new revelation of who Christ is.
[00:28:52] I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would be the substance that would come under them right now that they can build their life upon.
[00:29:01] Lord, you are the rock of salvation. You are the one that restores us because you love us.
[00:29:09] And Lord, I pray that you would come and restore each person who has faith for you right now. Lord Jesus, that is inviting you into their heart. Lord, we are led by our hearts.
[00:29:22] We invite you into our hearts. We invite you, Lord Jesus, to become the substance on which we all build our lives upon.
[00:29:31] And Lord, I raise every father in this building right now and I ask that you bless their substance. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would come and make them stable as a rock.
[00:29:44] I pray, Lord, that you would make them loving because they know that you first loved them.
[00:29:50] And Lord, I pray for a blessing to to be established on their lives that they can bless the generations that come after them.
[00:30:00] Father, we thank you so much. We thank you for this time that we've been together. We bless you, we love you.
[00:30:08] We thank you. In Jesus name, amen.
