JUN 21 2015 | Matthew 3:13-17

Sea Change Church · "Matthew 3:13-17" · June 21, 2015
Matthew 3:13-17
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

I'm going to be reading Matthew chapter 3, 13 through 17. And it says, then Jesus went from Gilead to Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to convince him to not be baptized. He said, I'm the one who needs to be baptized by you. Why are you coming to me? But Jesus replied, it should be done for all we must carry out all the God's requests.

And he convinced John to baptize him. After his baptize, as Jesus came out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. A voice from the heavens said, this is my dearly loved son who brings me big joy. Thanks, buddy. So before I ask Eric, man, I just got to say, and I mean this from my heart, you would be a great pastor.

And if, seriously, if God speaks to you about that, Eric and I would love to just talk to you about that. When I was about your age, actually I was 12 years old. Somebody told me I was going to be a preacher when I was 12. And I'm not saying that God is saying it to you, but think about it. And if you want to go into that route, we'd love to talk to you about it.

Because you really, I see God on you, man. I see God's anointing on you. And it brings me great big joy that you're here. So thank you, Augustine. Yeah. Well, hey, we've done a lot of welcoming and a lot of clapping, but we're going to do it again. Let's see. Looking at the Emmys. Let's welcome up our youth pastor who just celebrated six months here at the church, Eric Lindberg.

Right. So you're looking good today, man. You're looking good. Eric's going to be preaching. He had 12 pages of notes. I made him take it down to one. So I came here with six. You came with six, right. Eric, I just, you know, we wanted to talk a little bit. Today's Father's Day. And one of the things that Eric has is he has a father anointing on him.

Not just to be a father of his children, but it's a word that I gave him and others have given him as well. I just see it on him. And one of the things, when he started out as a youth pastor, he was just really bad at it. Okay. The first, right, kids? No, I'm just kidding. And about a month in, two months in, I just said, you know, I've talked to you about being a father.

Why don't you just act like a father? Why don't you just love them like a father would and care for them like a father would care for a group of his own kids? And he started doing that. And I noticed a huge change when you did that. Now, you're, how old are you now? 27. 27. So when you were 25, now you have, how many kids do you have? I have two stepchildren and one baby.

Okay. So you got three kids and a baby. Sorry. I just don't have little kids anymore. They make their, they make their breakfast, walk to school. When you were 24, your life was a lot different, right? When you were 24, what were you, what did an average 24 year old day look for Eric Lindberg? Well, I was super cool then. So, um, I wasn't, I wasn't, uh, you know, now I have baby throw up on me every day, but, um, I would go to, I'd go to youth group.

I'd volunteer there as a leader at our North coast Calvary chapel. I do drums there. I'd, you know, go on lots of trips. Hey, if I want to go on a mission trip, I'll go by myself. And, uh, I played lots of video games and I, um, went, went to church and I'd, I'd sleep in, which is something I don't know what that is anymore. Sleeping in. So, so things changed a little bit, I would say, I think.

Yeah. So lots of video games working at Starbucks. You want to go on a trip, you go on a trip. What's today look like? What's it, what's it, what's it look like getting out of the house on a Sunday morning? Now that he was an Insta dad. Okay. Insta dad, like immediately. What does it look like on a Sunday morning now? Well, I don't know where I am for like five minutes.

Cause, um, my hair's up and I'm just like looking around the baby screaming. Um, cause he's tired. He's not a good riser right away. So, um, just basically, you know, the usual finding your pants, finding your shirt, making sure there's no, the kids didn't draw on it while you were sleeping. I don't know the usual stuff. And then, oh yeah. Oh yeah.

I didn't know like where, Hey, where were these? Hey babe, babe, babe, babe. Where are my pants? You know, the usual husband, wife, um, talking and she always knows. So she's awesome. That's like a good, yeah. Awesome. And then, um, uh, so it's just, yeah. So it's just a morning, getting up, rallying, hurrying up, getting everyone ready. And then just literally rushing out the door, probably 15 minutes late.

Right on. Well, Hey, I'm going to pray over here. He is teaching on one of my favorite scriptures, Matthew 3, 17. It's something that I say to my children on a regular basis. I'm your dad. You have, you have belonging. I love you. You're beloved to me. And I'm well pleased with you. And he's speaking on that. Just put a hand out and we're going to pray for him.

And he's going to bring the word of God today. Lord Jesus, thank you for Eric. I am so glad that he is at this church. There is no other youth pastor. I would rather have doing our senior high. He is the man that you told me to bring to this church, God, and you were raising him up as the next generation of pastors. Now anoint his teaching, give him peace, let him have fun, and let him know how beloved you are.

He is to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Go get him. Yeah. Woo. Hi, guys. It's, wow, this is so awesome for me right now because like Adam said a few years ago, like, look where I was. I've told you guys, and it's like, whoa. I don't want to cry, okay? So don't let me cry, guys, because I want to so bad, and it just happens. Every time I talk about God and how he changed my life and looking at all those kids over there and how they're here for me and they love me, it's, can't do it, can't do it.

So I want to actually say some words today and just not emotions. So anyway, I'm just doing some research, guys, and I was reading a really great book that I wanted to share some results on. It was called The World Needs a Father. So I was like, hey, let me read that, okay? I found some pretty interesting things, and I don't want to dwell too much on it because it gets kind of be a bummer about men and fathers and how important we really are because this blew my mind and just what kind of lasting effect we leave on our kids.

But what he says just right away was like, whoa. He says right away, we are under a curse of fatherlessness. And I was like, whoa, that just hits you in the chest. Okay, we're under a curse of fatherlessness. So the book's called World Needs a Father. The author, Cassie, talks about going to these villages in Africa, and he interviews these people like, why are you here?

What did you run from? What was your situation? Oh, my gosh. I don't even want to talk about it because it's so sad with children and people taking children out of villages and bringing those children back to kill their own families. Like, it's just disgusting. And he says, his conclusion was the world needs a father. And one thing he says really well here is, it became clear to me that many governments come up with elaborate plans to help their nations recover, but no real renaissance is experienced.

No real transformation can happen unless fathers are united with their children. Right? And that's so true. A lot of, these are some statistics he said, and then I'll move on. But men commit 90% of all major crimes. This is in the United States. Men commit close to 100% of sexual crimes. Men commit 95% of burglaries. 94% of drunk drivers. 63% of suicides come from fatherless homes.

80% of rapists motivated to displace anger come from fatherless homes. 70% of juveniles don't have a father. 40% of all children do not live with their biological fathers. 40%. 85% of children with behavioral problems come from fatherless homes. 85%. 90% of homeless children come from families without fathers. 90% of homeless kids. 71% of children who do not finish school come from fatherless homes.

So men are leaders in whatever they do. And that research was done by Robert Lewis, Raising a Modern Day Knight. His book's called Raising a Modern Day Knight, by the way. But men are leaders in whatever we do. And in a specific neighborhood in Chattanooga, Tennessee, out of, this is, I wanted to mention this specifically. Out of 1,200 households, 32 homes had fathers married to their wives.

Out of 1,200 households, 32 homes had fathers. 50 others had a man at the home, which oftentimes isn't very much better. The rest, 1,118 households, nothing. Nothing. Okay? So, I don't want to get too bummed out about that. And I feel the silence, guys. But what I want us to remind each other about is that we have a father no matter what. No matter what.

And so, like Adam said, these are the three. I know we went on to the verse, the whole verse. And if you excuse me, I'd like to skip past all that and focus on this is my son whom I love and whom I am well pleased. Okay? So, we all have experiences with that. That means so many different things to all of us. Okay? So, this is my son. I love my son.

I'm well pleased with my son. If we only follow that kind of routine or formatting in our lives, whether it's being a son or daughter or being a father, man, that's a game changer. You know, like the book said, we're under a curse of fatherlessness. And I think that's one of the best things I've heard so far on just figuring out what's going on with 90% fatherless homes in Africa.

I think that's, we need fathers. We need men. And we have an awesome God. And I wanted to point something out about the Greek. And when he says, this is my son, me and Adam found this out together and it was awesome. We kind of looked at each other. But it's of me. The Greek root word when he says, this is my son, he's saying mu. I think it's mu or ma.

I can't say that word. But it means of me. So God is saying to Jesus, about Jesus, this is, he is of me. He's not my son over there or over there. He is of me. This is a part of me. And guess what, guys? That applies to us. And at first it's like, naturally, I want to think, no, it doesn't. This is Jesus we're talking about. Well, let's go to a few verses that I wanted to focus on that kind of puts me in my place, I like to think, in a good way.

Galatians 3, 26 through 27 says, for in Christ you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. That's literally talking about putting on Christ. You're hidden in Christ. And it goes on to say, I don't have this verse up there, but no Jew, get this, guys. No Jew, Greek, Gentile, slave, nor free, nor is there male or female.

For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Do we need that just flying everywhere in the sky over our major cities? No male, no female. No Jew, no Greek. No children of God and no Gentiles, disgusting Gentiles. No, not even male or female, guys. If that doesn't talk about identity and apply to today's generation, like, right? I mean, this is identity. He's saying that this is my son.

You are his son. You are his daughter. Just saying those words is a rarity these days. You are my son, and I get to say that to my kids. And no matter how much I blow at or mess up, I get to say, you are my daughter. You are my son. And they need that because kids are looking for anchors. Because they need foundations, foundational things. And there's nothing more stable than an anchor.

And they look for that. And that's really convicting to me, too, guys, because I don't have a number one dad shirt, even though I'd like one, or a coffee mug. I do have a coffee mug that says dad. And by the way, I told Sage I would say this. Sage wrote me a beautiful letter today. It says, I love my daddy because he's very handsome. Now, I know she didn't know what she was writing, but it's sweet, and I'll always think of it.

And she drew a picture of me, and it was great. And so that's what life's about, man, just enjoying your family, loving your family. They want to know they're yours. And I'm talking to myself mostly, guys. If there's any kind of guilt in the air, I'm sorry. I don't mean to do that at all. That's not what I meant to do. So moving on from that, I'll do one more thing.

Dr. Vanderwalt, he's a psychologist that studies children. He says that in order to perform at peak level, the brain needs to be collectively well. Now, this is a term used in science. I don't really know what that means. But things like sense of belonging, identity, and meaning have a direct result on performance, especially at high levels of stress.

So these things are what make our children have identity and meaning, the way that we anchor for them, the way that we are stable for them. So, yeah. So that's kind of how I would realize that applies to me. Okay. So what? That's cool. That's great. Well, those are the verses for you. There's one more verse. Romans 8, 17. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we also be glorified with him.

So he gives us belonging. We aren't separated from him trying to be him. We are of him. And we make mistakes. But guess what? Jesus is perfect. And we are in Jesus. And God is our father. And he's a perfect father. So are we receiving the same exact blessings Jesus is getting from God? So we are entering into the relationship between God and his own son as sinners, as failures.

So I'm entering into Jesus's rewards that he's getting from his own father's love. Right? That's just something we will never understand. And as much as I was praying into this, I'm like, help me understand what it means to be a child of God. Help me understand what it means to be a child of God. And I'm not there yet. I want to be. But I'm not there as much as I would like to.

Because it's such an eternal truth that we'll never fully understand. But I feel there's levels of it. This one last thing. If God doesn't become your father. I like this. If God doesn't become your father, you'll never know who you are. He goes on in the book. This is so cool. He goes on in the book to talk about how he had his daughter draw a picture of God.

And you know what? Without the kids here, let's try it. I tried it. So I said, Sage, draw a picture of your dad. Or I'm sorry. Draw a picture of God. Guess who it looked like. It's crazy. It works, guys. And she says, Daddy, Jesus has a beard like you. God has a beard like you. God looks like you. I didn't even say one word. That's huge, guys. And so your parents.

Or your parents. Your kids are looking to you, dads and moms. At their idea of a God. God. And, um. Where did I write that? Oh. God. Okay. God. The absent father betrays an absent God. The disconnected father betrays a disconnected God. Some of these are going to hit you. The permissive father betrays a permissive God. The neglected father, the neglecting father, portrays a neglecting God.

The emotional father betrays an emotional God. God. Those hit me. Right? Because we don't judge God on the basis that we should. We judge him according to the way we look to our fathers. Or a father figure. And I just want to remind someone in the room right now. That God is stable. He loves you. He's excited about you. This is for you. There's some of us who have a really hard time with this.

Okay? You have the best dad in the world. And you're still going to have a hard time with this. Because God is God. And he's unchanging. And it's about just praying into that supernaturally. God, help me understand this. Help me walk in this. Okay? Even if I don't feel it. Help me know it. And then he goes on to say, I love my son. So this is the son of me.

Mu or Mao. This is the son of me. The beloved. I love my son. The beloved. That's the word in Greek. And it's agapetos. Agapetos. Which agape is the root word. What do we know that is? Unconditional love. A godly love. Never changing. Always everlasting. Always going. Fulfilling. So guys, apply that to you right now. I am the son of God. I am of him. I am his beloved.

I am of him. And he loves me unconditionally. I love my son. Agape. A root word. Being beloved. We are unconditionally in love. Now, I've been going through these with these guys on Sundays. Where we just started going through the Psalms. And I call them the lyrics of life. Because they are Psalms. And what I am going through to music. Right? And so I am talking with them.

Kind of trying to get that with them. Understanding that on that level. That these are emotions. Very raw emotions. Very real things that are going on with these people. And I was on Psalms 23. And I didn't realize how awesome it was. And how really, really rich it is for us. And I think that applied today. So I wanted to share a few things regarding that.

It's a love letter. If we can get that list up on the screen. It's a love letter. It has so many riches. So many promises of his love for us. We know that he brings us fulfillment. I shall not want. He brings us to a place of peace. Green pastures. Still waters. He restores my soul. Guys, the soul. If you look into it. It's the mind. The will. The emotions.

He restores that. That hits me hard. Coming from the background that I've had of. Hey, Eric. You have all these things wrong with you. Well, when I read that. I have a dad who can heal that. Do I want to believe it? I do. Do I believe it? I don't think so. But that's not it. We're not even halfway there. He keeps us from fear. No fear. I will fear no evil.

Is what it says. He is always with us. Protects us. He is always comforts us. Say that again. He was always with you. He will always protect you. And he will always comfort you. That's his rod and his staff. He anoints us. He anoints us. And one thing I want to add about that. Is when he. So it talks about a shepherd anointing his sheep. Well, did you. I found out why they do that.

They literally do put the oil on top of the sheep's head. And you know why they do that? My son wants to run to me right now. Oh my gosh. So cute. I can't handle it. They rub the oil on each other. On the sheep's head. So they don't keep butting heads. So they can live together without wanting to fight all the time. Because they know it's just going to brush right off of them.

That was so cool for me. Because I'm a fan. I'm not a fan. But I'm a. My habit is to always create something out of nothing. I'm really good at it. If I don't know. If I don't talk to someone for a year. I have to apologize to them. Because something has festered. And made a cloud. And like started telling me things. And. But no. Like that's. He anoints us all.

We're all anointed. We're to avoid this. And that's the spirit by the way. We know that oil in the Old Testament is speaking of the Holy Spirit. And that's by the Holy Spirit. We can love one another. Right? That's. That's what that kind of implies. So he anoints us. Goodness and mercy shall follow you forever. So. He's our shepherd. He brings us fulfillment.

He brings us to a place of peace. He restores our souls. Our mind. Our will. Emotions. He keeps us from fear. He is always with us. Protects us. Comforts us. He anoints us. Goodness and mercy will forever follow us. Reads. That's all Psalm 23 guys. That's the most beautiful love letter. I tell these kids. If you're. If you were overseas. And your. And your dad wrote you a letter like that.

Like that'd be super nice. Right? Hey I got money. I got money in your account for you. I'm sending you. But when I went to Italy. My mom. My mom sent me like three boxes. And they all got there the last day I was in Italy. But she did it. And she sent me my jackets. And they never came. And it was really cold when I was in Italy. But the whole idea was.

That she. I knew that it was coming. I knew I was taken care of. I wasn't worried about going out and spending all the money for food. On my clothes. And all my clothes money on food. She was taking care of me. And she wrote me. Oh yeah. I put money in your bank free. Just in case you need it. Blah blah blah. Very well prepared. Good job mom. And. Do you guys understand what I'm saying?

That this is. We can apply this to us. And this. Very. Very peaceful in that. Just reading over that every day. I'm sure we'll do amazing things. So we need to be taking pride in our children guys. I know Pastor Mark. He. And one of his sermons I'll never forget. He's like. I would go to see these kids. And you know. He's around a lot of kids. And he'd go in the rooms at our old church.

That Adam worked at. And I went to. And he'd go in the kids rooms. And they'd be drawing all these kind of animals. Creative animals. And then. Their dads would come up and be like. What's that supposed to be? And they'd be like. Oh it's a dragon dad. Eating a clown. You know. And then he'd be like. I don't see. Where's the dragon? Where's the clown? It's like.

And Mark. And this is just. It'll change everything. And Mark goes in there. And he goes. Whoa. That is the coolest dragon. Eating a clown I've ever seen. That's awesome. Just. Right. And I'm guilty of this guys. I. We misjudge our own kids. We act like they're supposed to be adults. Or teenagers. And just. No. We just need to love what the fathers love. Following this simple thing.

Will change my life. And I'm not there. But I want to be there. And I pray that I will be there. Just love. Giving them. Telling them that you're my son. And Adam says this every night too. Like. Before they go to bed. Hey. You're my daughters. And I want you to know. I love you very much. And I'm very well pleased with you. Every night. Before bed. And you know.

Me and. Me and Misty. My wife try to do that. With the kids. Whenever we can. I'm very proud of you. You look very beautiful. There's a lot of things I say. That I shouldn't say. Because I'm not perfect. And I'm growing. And God knows. I need help. And I know you can relate as well. But that's okay. Because the core. The foundations. The bare bones. Is very basic guys.

But so impactful. There's a quote from a guy named Francis Chan. Is anyone who Francis Chan is? He's awesome. He said this. He said. At first I was like. How do I take this? But he's like. A man is defined by his strength. Whoa. Nah. I don't think so buddy. And he's like. No. No. No. No. No. Not physical strength. But he does say. That if you lose to your wife in arm wrestling.

It's pretty much a sin. I think. But. No. I'm just kidding. He said that. But. Write him an email. If you're mad. But what he's saying is. What he's saying is your strength. And that's so true. Because what that. What that means to me is those moments. You're like. I'm like. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. You know. And Adam knows those moments. I've told him plenty about.

But you're just. You feel it. It's welling up. And it's just. You can't even breathe anymore. But. But just knowing that. That's how you're. That's how your strength is determined in those situations. That you have a choice. That we now have a choice. To love like God loves. To love like your father in heaven loves. And that's scary. Because choices always freak me out.

But this is simple enough for me. I think. I love. This is my son. I love my son. He's of me. He's my beloved. So he says. I'm. Francis Chan says. A man is defined by his strength. That he quotes. Which I didn't even know about this verse. First Corinthians 16. 13. Let's. Let's take a look at that. See what that says men. Got it coming up. Anyway. I'll read it to you.

Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Look at that. First Corinthians 16. 13. And that's not like. You know. We. You know. Adam's talked about the depiction of men in Hollywood and all this stuff. And that's. That's garbage. Because I can see that guy walking down the pier. You know. With his cool. Like hair. Slicked back. And his. You know.

Buffness. Or whatever. But then I see a guy. Like. Kids. Like throwing up. And he's trying to grab his kids. And he's trying to like. Get everyone out. In the car. And the babies are screwed. That's a man to me. Because that's a strong man. Who's not in it for what he gets out of it. But he's in it because he loves his kids. And we're all capable of that.

Whether receiving it. Or giving it. So I don't mean to make anyone like. Oh man. I bought it. Because guess what? You don't blow it with God. Because he gives you his love. You experience the love he has for his own son. You receive that love. As Jesus. We walk in the power of Jesus. We walk in the sonship. And the privilege of Jesus. I can give you these verses again if you want.

But we are clothed. He looks at Jesus when he looks at you. Some of us need to hear that again. I love hearing that. He doesn't see Eric. Thank God. He sees Jesus. Right? That's awesome. Same thing to you guys. That's exciting enough. For me. We have a choice. We want to be men for our children. We definitely. I don't need to say anything about this. But we definitely see a lack.

You know. As the guy in the book says. It's a curse. And we're seeing the lack of it. We're seeing the effects of it. It seems like this whole generation. The whole struggle of generation. We've kind of moved on from the normal drugs. And partying. And it's now. It's. Who even are you? You know. They don't even have a chance to run out of the gate. And make decisions.

Just from the beginning. Questioning who they are. What they're going to do. With who they are. It's sad guys. Like I think that's terrible. I mean. How. And then we wonder why people are confused when they grow up. Even though we live in this generation. And it just. It breaks our heart. It breaks Adam's heart. It breaks my heart. And just. You see it everywhere.

And it just. And the whole idea. Of just God standing there. With his arms open. Like. I have so much for you. I have the love that I have for Jesus for you. And we still just. Oh. Like. This is our favorite illustration. But. You're walking down a path. And then there's. You know. And then there's the slaughterhouse. And then there's the. You know. Candyland castle.

And then you're walking. And there's a virgin. You're like. Oh. A candy. Oh. A candy. Oh. A candy. And it leads straight to the slaughterhouse. Because we don't look up. We don't see where it's going. Like. We're too consumed with the right now. What's next. This going on. And we just can't see. Oh. Don't want to go down that route. And it's sad. And that's what our culture is.

You know. It's the smoke and mirrors. It's the distractions of the father's love. Which is so obvious. And so heavy. Moving on. He is well pleased. He's proud. This is the son of me. The beloved. In whom I delight. This is the son of me. The beloved. In whom I delight. So I don't. Looking at that. Okay. So what does it mean to delight in a relationship? Well.

I have a son. I have kids. And. You know those moments. Where you just. You just feel like you're made of clouds. You're just like. Like. I like looking at the father's faces. And pictures. With their kids. Because. Like. You know. Instagram's blowing up right now. But all my friends. Who are new dads. Just seeing their face. Like. That's. That. I can't describe delight.

But we see that that's what it is. A proud father. Guys. Just. Just seeing. Just seeing our kids. Loving them man. And. And just. And. Well. There's things that get in the way of that. Yes. But who cares. Look past it. Remember. Your first love. Remember. How you feel. Hi baby. Pointing at me. Oh. That's what I'm talking about. Well pleased with my son. He gets trapped in a chair.

I don't know how he does it. He gets stuck in a chair. And he's just like. Like the saddest little face. But I'm not worried. I enjoy him. So whatever you're going through right now. Let that be. Encouraging. That there's a chair. You're in a chair right now. And. It might be a little tightly. Molded chair. And it may seem like. There's no way out. But. There is.

Because guess how long it took me. To get my son out of that chair. Like. Not even one second. And he was losing his mind. He's in the. You know what I'm talking about. The high chairs. With the bars. Coming down. It's hilarious. He's like. Has one foot over one. And he's lifting over the other. And he's like. I can't get out. And I'm just. I laugh. It's cute.

I delight in that. I delight in his troubles. I delight in his frustrations. I delight in his attitude. My kids' attitudes. Because it's cute. And. And that's the same with us. I think. Is we're hilarious. To God. We're in our little chairs. Every day. Like. Just. It's. Think about your problem. Compared to God. It's hilarious. Like. We go. God. You need to show up man.

Oh my gosh. God. You need to show up. And he's just like. Probably just like. Trying not to laugh. Like. This is so cute. Like. You're strutting around. You're being all nasty to people. You know. I'm in the bathroom. And someone walks in. Hello sir. I'm fine. You know. Just like. That's funny. God delights in you. He thinks you're adorable. Let's say that. God thinks you're adorable.

He loves you man. Oh. This is that relationship. And it breaks my heart. That people don't experience that. On earth. But guess what. There's no love. Like. God's love. Like. The father's love. And what I've seen. Is people who grow. Grow up. With a lack of father. In their. In their life. I have. I. Those are the people. That are the most blessed people. I've seen.

And anointed. Like. God loved. To make his children. His children. Like. I know a friend. And he's good at everything he does. He didn't have a dad. And he. He got through. And he worked. But he's just so blessed. Man. He's anointed. He plays one worship songs. And everyone's like. Like crying. And bawling. It's just. God takes care of his children. Loves them.

So closing now. I just want to read this last verse. It's. This is. We have seen. A little bit of perfection. Delighting. What that looks like. In the garden of Eden. Remember. Adam lived in that perfect relationship. With God. We only lasted three chapters. In the Bible. But it was still there. Right? For at least one chapter. Adam and Eve was walking. We can see.

The perfection that they lived in. That God walked with. Man. In the cool of the day. We see that. There was no fear. No sickness. No distraction. There was no question of worth. There was no evil. It's easy to imagine. Laughter. The awes. The new sights. Of everything. Oh. My dad's showing me this world. He created for me. New taste. But we didn't make it three chapters.

No. What happened? Let's read Genesis 3. We know the story. We can have our kids remind us. It's tempted by the fruit. And he said. This is Adam. I heard the sound of you in the garden. And I was afraid. Because I was naked. And I hid myself. This is the most powerful thing. That someone has told me in the past year. This is what God says. Our dad says this.

Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree? Of which I commanded you not to eat? This is one thing that I got some spiritual counseling. She's awesome. She's a powerful lady. She used to be a witch. Man, she brings it. Okay. This is the first thing I was telling you. Well, I deal with this and this and this. And she said. Eric. Who told you that?

Whoa. So. And that may not mean a whole lot for you. But for those of you that really understand that. Ask yourself. Who told me that I have this issue? Who told me? And you know what? I'm not knocking any issues. There are very real issues. That are out there with our, you know. Physically. Biologically. I understand that. But you guys know what I'm talking about.

I think. Who told you? You know? Like. Like this is. This is. You see. God's. Imagine it. Just God's chest. Getting. Who told my children. That they were naked. You know. You know. If someone sinned against my son. Go show me where he is. Right? That's right. Dads. Go show me where he is. Let's do it. Let's go have a chat. No. He takes his son walking. The father's heart is so broken.

Because this. His son walks up to him. And says. Dad. I'm afraid. I'm naked. Wait. You know. It's like. Sage coming home. Saying. Oh. I look ugly today. One of the girls said. I looked ugly today. Because I had a mark on my face. Who. Who told you. You know. Who told you that? No. You are beautiful girl. You are beautiful. Don't listen to that. Right? It's nice to hear that.

We stop hearing it sometimes. Actually. We. We don't really hear it anymore. Some of us are very blessed though. Hear that all the time. But who told you that? So I want to. Just throw that out there. Who told you. Because you are made perfect in Christ. We are clothed in Christ. We're receiving that same love. God gave to Jesus. And I don't read anything about Jesus.

Just completely having a meltdown. Saying. I have no worth. I have no this. What? Everything he did. He did for the father. Father. So Jesus. I listen to this awesome sermon. Was our big brother. Leading us to the father's love. Because he came down. To do what the father told him to do. And he encouraged us to do the same. Follow me. I'll show you dad. I have the best visual that I love to use.

I'm wrapping up. Black Friday. Me and my dad went for a bunch of years. Black Friday. And I just. I remember. Just seeing. How ridiculous. Everyone is outside. Just like. Like their face all up against the glass. Just like waiting to go in. To buy like. Five dollar off TV. At four in the morning. Or something. And then like. And then I just get this visual.

Like. They're all like. Crowded around. They're like. Oh. We want to live. We want life. We want abundance. And we want all that. And then you just see Jesus. Inside the store. Just. Right. Just hands open. My children are coming to me. Or God. God. The father. My children are coming to me. Okay. Jesus opens the door. And everyone gets. Mowed down. Running for the TVs.

And the shiny things. They follow their. Oh. Oh. That's sparkly. I'm gonna go over there. You know what I mean? And Jesus the whole time. Or God. I'm sorry. God the father. The whole time is this. You guys have access to me now. Come take it. You have life abundantly. I want to be your dad. And he wants to be your dad. He wants to be our dad. Pray into that guys.

Father. My father. I'm starting to do that. I'm on this new trip. I'm like. My father in heaven loves me. Adam reminds me all the time. My father loves me. I don't care how today went. My father loves me. Just such great discipleship right there. Your father loves you. Everything you need. And the devil wants us to create. Wants to create this pseudo God.

This disgusting God who is distant. Whose love we have to earn. Who isn't pleased with us until we do something about it. Disgusting. Always at unexplainable odds. I don't know. I just don't feel right with God today. Guys. We've all said that. I say that almost every day. But it takes a reminder. Unfortunately the truth is here. Do I want to look at the truth?

What Jesus said to the man sitting by the pool for 30 years. Do you want to be made well? Do you want to know that there's a father who cares about you? Oh but I'm ugly and I have no. Do you want to feel the opposite of that? Do you want to know the truth? Or do we want to hang out in our feelings for all day? Invite other people to join us. I'm a fan of that.

Hey. Come be bitter with me. Misty. Come be bitter with me. Come be upset about this thing someone said four days ago with me. You know. Oh I hate it. She's just like. You are a man of God Eric. You're just going to be awesome. No stop it. Like no. I want to be upset right now. Right? It's funny. But it's so true. Right? It's not in the moment. It's funny. But.

It's like no. That's not. God is not distant. We don't have to earn his love. There's nothing you could do. Whether you're Pastor Adam. Or you're the man down the street who worships Satan. God loves you the same. And closing with this guys. This is a cool last. I mean it this time. Psalms. Psalm 68. 4 through 6. Sing praises to God and to his name. Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.

His name is the Lord. Rejoice in his presence. Father to the fatherless. Defender of widows. This God whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families. He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun scorched land. He rides the clouds. He set you free. He's here to make lonely people. Put them in families.

He wants to give you a father. So what if we believe that guys? That's all I wanted to say. What if we believe that? What if we believe that God gave us everything we needed? What if we believe we are a new creation? 2 Corinthians 5.17. We have a renewed mind. Romans 12.2. What if we believe he will meet all our needs? Philippians 4.19. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

So I'm a new creation with a new mind and God promises my father to meet all my needs and I have the love of Jesus because I'm in Jesus. He says I am the I am. He's complete. Jesus said he's complete seven different times in the New Testament. Come to me afterwards and I'll show you where they are. I wrote them down. But anyway, let's have the worship team come up then and Pastor Adam for the blessing.

But guys, let's just walk into that. Walk into that, right? Like Adam is so good at this of just knowing that we are children of God. And you can do all the schooling in the world. You can be the most theological sound person in the world. But it doesn't matter unless you don't know the father. Right? All right. Well, look. I just want to say one to you guys and gals that are in the youth group.

This youth pastor loves you. And his wife, I mean, he talks about you regularly. Talks about you like he loves you. We sit at Panikin. He gets all teary eyed when he talks about you. And this is the truth. He'd take a bullet for you if he needed to. I'm not making that up. He would take a bullet for you. And he's a man that loves you guys. And stick with him.

Support him. He's doing a good job. Thank you, Eric. I thought it was funny as he was preaching. He kept touching stuff on the desk and, like, knocking it over the whole time. I'm like. So I'm going to get you a bigger pulpit, dude. Was it not big enough? I want to say real quick. I was raised in a half of my life in a single parent family. And if you were from a single, if you're a single parent right now, don't despair because God takes the righteous.

And it says he puts them in families. And God fathered me. And he's continued to do that. And so take a word of hope that God is the father, the ultimate father. And he's going to sort it out. And I come from a family where my father left when I was three years old. And I figured it out. And so take hope. God is good. And he's righteous. And then also, the other thing, too, is, you know, we're living in a society that validates fatherlessness.

We're saying that families don't need to have dads. I can't get with that. I can't get with it. Sorry. If I wasn't a Christian, I couldn't get with it. We're living in a society that says family doesn't need a mom. It's okay. We validate that. And I understand that there's broken families. I understand that there's single parents. And I totally get that.

But it's different when you say, hey, we're just going to celebrate it. You don't need a dad. What's the difference? I can't get with it. Scripture can't get with it. That's the truth of God's word. The world needs a father. Father.