- Sunday Service 6/15/2025

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Happy Lord's Day. Good morning, church family. Happy Lord's Day and also Happy Father's Day. We will now begin our service. Let's sing, I just want to praise. I just want to praise You, lift my hands and say, I love you.

You are everything to sing, I just want to praise. I just want to praise You, lift my hands and sing, I love you. You are everything to say, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Thank you. Thank you. I exalt your holy name. I exalt your holy name.

I exalt your holy name. All right. Good morning. Welcome to Brink Community Church. Fam 245, if you are part of the Fam 245 ministry, if you have been newly married since 2023, there is a bowling gathering fellowship that's happening on July 5th at 11 a.m. at Irvine Lane. So please sign up for that if you are part of that ministry and you want to participate in that.

Newcomers welcome lunch. Our welcome team is hosting another welcome lunch that's happening on June 29th at 1 p.m. at the Youth Chapel. So if you are interested in learning about what's going on in church and meeting some of the leaders, this gathering is for you. So please let them know so that they can prepare the lunch.

Okay. And then next round of membership class, I think this round is finishing either today or tomorrow or next week. But the next round is happening on July 20th. And then so the membership class is an eight-week course, an hour and a half during this session. So you'll probably need to attend the first service or the third service.

It's starting on July 20th, 9.30 a.m., and it's happening at the Youth Chapel. Okay. So please sign up for that if you're interested in becoming a member. And then finally, today is Father's Day. So hopefully you guys knew that. And so after service, you'll go. There's a station where you can go grab your gifts.

There is no picture station because we took it at Mother's Day, so we don't need another one. All right. So the men can go and grab your gift, and then that's just to kind of celebrate Father's Day today. Okay. I think that's it for the announcement. After our praise, our sister Claire is going to come up and give her testimony and be baptized this morning.

So let's pray. Father, we thank you for your constant blessing in our lives. Help us, Lord God, to give our heart, our finance, our mind, our lives, that it may all be given to glorify your name. Lord, we pray for guidance. We pray for softened hearts, open ears, that what we give to you, Father God, would truly be an overflow of gratitude and thanksgiving of our hearts.

May the offering that we give be multiplied 30, 60, or 100-fold for the sake of your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Let us all rise and spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us before we continue. Thank you. Come praise and glorify our God, the Father of our Lord.

In Christ He has in heavenly realms, His blessings on us both. For you and I, He said, His Son, He trusted us to be. And now we've been adopted through this sunny day. To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace. To the praise of Your glory, You are the God who saves.

Come praise. Come praise and glorify our God, who feds His grace in class. The name of sins are washed away, we take His side. Come praise and glorify our God, who feds His grace in the name of God. Come praise and glorify His grace in the name of God.

The name of God, who feds His grace in the name of God. The name of God, who feds His grace in the name of God. The name of God, who feds His grace in the name of God. The name of God, who feds His grace in the name of God.

When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I can never keep my hope, through life's fearful path. For my love is often gone, He must hold me fast. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.

For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast. If those He saves are hasty light, Christ will hold me fast. Precious in His holy sight, He will hold me fast. He'll not let my soul be lost, His promises shall last. But by Him at such a cost, He will hold me fast.

He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast. For my life, He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast. For my life, He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast. He will hold me fast.

He will hold me fast, till our faith is turned to sight, when He comes at last. He will hold me fast, till our faith is turned to sight, when He comes at last. He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.

He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast. And you may be seated. My name is Claire, and this is my testimony. One of the earliest memories I have of church was going to class on Sundays and attending Vacation Bible School as a child.

Growing up, I understood that Jesus is God. God sent His Son to die on the cross to wash away our sins, and therefore we are saved. I did not truly know Him, and had no desire to get to know who He is. I only knew God as I wanted Him to be.

Towards the end of high school, I had a falling out with one of the sisters and completely stopped attending church. At the time, I made a deal with God, that I would explore what the world had to offer and come back after two years. It was then that I fell deep into the sins of the flesh and strayed away from God.

I chased after worldly things and yearned for the validation of others. While I was away, I dealt with the loss of my grandpa. I failed to see him one last time before he passed. I blamed myself deeply for my lack of action. How could I let it get so bad?

I spoke with my sister about my struggles at the time. She reminded me that God can forgive, but her words felt distant. I couldn't comprehend how grace could reach a sinner like me. It took a while for me to live with my failures. There were times when I lost the will to live.

What kept me going was the promise of heaven. The possibility of not being able to be with God in heaven frightened me. Little did I know back then, it was God's grace to spare me, providing me comfort and strength at the hardest points of my life. After those years have passed, I went to explore several churches.

At the end of it all, I had left for nine years and decided that church was not for me. My heart had hardened and I was convinced that I could walk this path with God alone. My sister invited us to attend Burian's Easter service last year. I felt uneasy returning to church knowing the weight of my sins.

I was not ready to face God. As Pastor Peter spoke, my heart shattered into a million pieces. I realized how far I have strayed away from my first love. I had forgotten the meaning of life. The reason why we were brought onto this earth and called to be part of the body of Christ.

I left my sins to find me and became too ashamed to come to God. But all God wanted was my heart. At that moment, everything became clear. God was calling me home. When I was going through membership class and attending Sunday service regularly, I gained a clear understanding of who God is.

However, I struggled to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit within me. I grew frustrated, as I didn't understand why I wasn't burning with passion for Christ. After countless meetings with Pastor Mark, I came to understand that I wasn't truly surrendering my life and letting God lead. I kept trying to earn what was always freely given, thinking I had to be perfect to be loved by a perfect God.

But I'll never be deserving, and yet he still chooses me. I prayed and repented of my sins to God, and I was met with this overwhelming comfort of his grace. My desire now is to build my life upon his unfailing love, letting him guide every decision I make that my life may be a living reflection of his glory.

As Psalms 143 verses 8 to 12 says, "Let me hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Teach me the way in which I should walk, for to you I lift up my soul. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. I take refuge in you.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on level ground for the sake of your name. O Lord, revive me in your righteousness. Bring my soul out of trouble. And in your loving kindness, cut off my enemies and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. and thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke, sorry. First Timothy chapter three, one through seven. First Timothy chapter three, verses one through seven. It is a trustworthy statement. "If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pergnitious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.

But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? Not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into the reproach and snare of the devil." Let's pray.

Father, we pray for understanding. We pray for the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord God, to do more than just inform us, but to illuminate us. Open our eyes, Lord God, that we may see you, and that your children may hear your voice and follow you. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Okay. I'll explain why we are on this text. I know that Pastor Sung preached about the qualification of an elder before, a couple weeks ago. What does this have to do with Father's Day? Obviously, I'm taking a break from Luke to cover this today. As we wrestle with the thought of what does it mean to be a good father?

I remember, even just in a short period of time that I've been alive, just a shift in attitudes of what it means to be a good father. I remember talking when I was younger in college, talking to the older generation, asking them, what does it mean to be a good father?

And I remember, again, this may be different from culture to culture, but in my parents' generation, it was so strange to me when I heard it, but they said, you know, part of what it means to be a good father, a good Christian, is to sacrifice your children. That's what it means to deny yourself and pick up the cross, because your children are part of who you are, and your wife is part of who you are, so what it means to follow Jesus is that you don't pay so much attention to your kids, and it's almost kind of seen as worldly.

And even though it was a grown up in a Western culture, it was kind of a paradigm shift for me, but to hear that, and then watching that, and this was not just in my parents, but I was just seeing it generally, and they said, oh, okay. So their understanding of how they were taught to be a good follower of Jesus Christ, and to deny themselves also included their family.

And so obviously, many people in my generation grew up under that, thinking like, you know, the Bible clearly says that you have to be a good manager of your home, so I have to be a good father, and then the pendulum shifted. Now, in our generation, a good father means that your child's future is taken care of, you put money away for their retirement early on, that they get all the, you know, piano training, and violin training, and they play all the sports that you show up at every event, and if they're, if they're sad, and they don't have everything that their friends have, you're not being a good father, you're not a good provider.

And this pendulum has shifted all the way to the other side, and I don't know what the next generation is going to be, but if our idea of what it means to be a good father is that we have to look to the world and what they're doing, and to match what they're doing as what a good father or a good mother is, then we're going to be constantly shifting back and forth because the ground keeps shifting depending on the generation, especially today, because even what does it mean to be a man?

You can't ask, like, what is a man? I mean, that's the ridiculous of our generation, that they can't even define what a woman or what a man is. That's just so ridiculous. So how do we in this culture, where we can't even define what a man is, define what a good father is?

The reason why I'm in this text is because the qualification of an elder, one of the qualifications is he needs to be able to manage his own household, and then verse five says, if he doesn't know how to manage his own household, how will he manage the church? So the home was a proving ground for the elder.

The home, the father is just a smaller leader in his own home, and he who does a good job qualifies for the elder. So all the qualifications that are mentioned here are directly related to what it means to be a good father. All the qualities that is necessary for the father is the same quality that is described as being a good elder.

And that's why I want to spend this morning looking at these qualities that Paul mentions here. And practically speaking, how does that apply to being a good father? Now, when we look at these qualities, depending on what the leader is called to do, the qualities may sound different. So if you're looking for a head coach, it may look very different.

He's going to lead, but he's going to lead for the purpose of winning a basketball game. And he may be harsh and disciplined. And you know, if you don't meet up to a certain skill level, you're going to have to be strong enough to cut them off. But his primary thing may not be nurturing.

He just needs to win the championship. So based on that, certain qualities that you want in a coach, your personnel, if you're a CEO of a company, what qualities does he need to have? If you're a president of a university, what qualities does he need to have? So based upon what he is called to do, the qualities may shift.

So in order for us to understand why these specific qualities are mentioned here, it's just a random set of maybe seven, eight, nine things. This is what leadership should have everybody. Or is there a specific thing that he is calling them to do that requires these qualities above the others?

And it is clear that that's the case. When Paul is writing this letter to Timothy, Paul is equipping his predecessor or his disciple to do what he was doing. So when he is gone, he would take over the task. And that task is to fight. To fight. He begins, and all throughout Timothy, there are military terms that are mentioned here.

He says in 1 Timothy 3:3, he says, "I command you." Right? "I command you." And it's a military term. He said, "As I was commanded by Jesus, now I, as your commanding officer, I command you." That same language is mentioned in verse 18, chapter 5, verse 7, chapter 6, verse 13.

In fact, the very description of our spiritual battle, 1 Timothy 1:18, it says, "Wage the good warfare." Chapter 6, verse 12, he says, "Fight the good fight." All throughout 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, Paul is using military terms because he is trying to ready this young man for spiritual battle.

He says, "You're going to go here, and you're going to fight these false prophets, false teachers, and you're going to command them to stop teaching these false battles. You're going to fight with them. Command them to stop doing this." So he has to equip Timothy and the pastors to get into this spiritual warfare.

So you'll notice the qualifications of an elder here are qualifications of a soldier. These are qualifications that is necessary to be able to engage in this spiritual battle. So I think for us to better understand that if you've ever watched movies or maybe you've seen videos where military commanders stand before their soldiers before they go into battle and they give a war cry, right?

For the sake of time, I'm not going to read any, right? But some of you guys know what I'm talking about. You have General Patton before, you know, he gets into the battle. You have MacArthur before he he comes in and, you know, in the Korean War. And so you have all these stories.

And then you watch these movies where the commanding officer gives a war cry and he rallies the men that we need to do this and make sure that you stay sober. We're going to protect our country. We're going to protect our children, our wives. And then you get the soldiers to rally up and to get them ready to fight the good fight.

That's basically what Paul is doing here in 1 Timothy. He's trying to get this young soldier to get ready for battle. And so I want you to understand that everything Paul says here is in the context of preparing the soldier for this spiritual battle. So the first thing that he says is an elder, again, when I say elder, elder is representative of the father, okay?

At least this morning, because he can be used interchangeably. A leader, a father, an elder, it is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is fine work he desires to do. Now, when you look at that, it aspires that he wants to be an elder.

He wants to be a leader. Negatively, we can look at that and say, well, that guy has an ego. He wants to be in the front and be recognized. He wants to be set apart as better than other people. And that's why you say, if you desire to be an elder, this kind of seems egotistical.

But that's not what this means. Someone who is aspiring is not aspiring for attention, aspiring to be an influence on other people. He's aspiring for for the role of an overseer, that he is caring for people. He is sacrificing. He's giving his life for the purpose of other people.

So it's not just wishful thinking that he is living his life for the purpose of other people's benefit. So an individual who is aspiring for this is not just somebody who is hoping. In fact, if you're not a leader before you have a title, you're not a good leader.

The best leaders are the ones who are leading without the title, without the attention, without honor. And he is sacrificing and he's giving and he's living his life for the benefit of other people. He says, first and foremost, he must aspire for this. And that is no different for a father.

A good father is not somebody who is born and say, you know what, some good fathers were born and some bad fathers were born. He says, no, you must aspire to be a good father. You must prepare to be a good father. Because if you're going to lead your family, it doesn't just happen.

Just like anything else, if you want, if you're in a sports championship and you know that you need to have better stamina or you need to build up your muscles, you need to be faster, there are certain sacrifices that need to be made. There are certain techniques or skills that you need to hone in on and you need to have discipline.

You need to do this for a long period of time because you know the goal is clear that you need to win these games. And so you're aspiring for the purpose of competing in this game. So in the same way, the father must aspire, meaning that he needs to be intentional.

In our culture, because parenting and mothering is almost kind of a side issue. So you don't really take fatherhood and motherhood seriously until you actually become a father or mother. Then all of a sudden, you're just completely lost. What do I do? Oh my gosh. So first and foremost, he says, you must first aspire to be a good father.

In 1 Peter 5:2, he says, "Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God." Not under compulsion, meaning that this has to be part of your life. Right? As young men, or whether we are older, every single male has been created for the purpose of leading.

Who you lead may look different, but every single man in this room has been called to lead, to lead his home. And he says he must first do it intentionally. Read books. Meet other men. Older men that have gone before you who have experienced good and bad. Be discipled by them.

Ask questions. Someone who is aspiring to be a good father, preparing to be a good father, or trying to grow in being a good father, he says he seeks a noble task. And then he says he must be above reproach. Basically, above reproach means he covers everything. Right? When we look at that, how intimidating.

I read that and say, who's above reproach? Who has no faults? Who can qualify for this? So I remember when I first look at this, every time I read above reproach, you're just kind of like, above reproach. This is a standard that only Jesus will meet. So the only way that we can take this seriously is to say, oh, Jesus covers my sins.

And then just kind of move on. Above reproach. And that's a great thing to say. You know what I mean? But I've come to realize in the context of preparing a soldier for battle, this is probably one of the most practical things that you can prepare somebody to be a good leader.

And let me explain why. If your leadership is to build a fort and to protect that fort and make sure everybody is eating and taken care of, maybe these qualities are not as important. But if you're going to lead into battle, you must be above reproach. Because if you're going to take light into darkness, you're going to get pushback.

And when you get pushback, the way they're going to push you push back is to disqualify you. If you're the commanding officer and you say, this needs to be changed. This is what the Word of God says. And the first thing that they say is, what about you? You want us to be this way and that way, but what about you?

Or what about this aspect of your life? Immediately, no matter how noble your task, no matter how accurate you are to the scripture, if you have weakness that they can pinpoint to disqualify you, then all of your effort is nullified by that one statement. What about you? In 1 Peter 2:12, it says, "Keep the behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." You can be a commanding officer in one area of your life and then the other area of your life, you're weak.

And as soon as you push into the darkness, they're going to look at where you're weak and they're going to, you want to highlight what you're good at, but they're going to highlight what you're bad at. And so it's one of the most practical things that he tells us.

If you're going to engage in battle, you have to put on the breastplate of righteousness because you will be attacked, because you're attacking them. So I will build my church and gates of Hades will not prevail against them. So if you're going to take light into darkness, the darkness is going to push back in whatever weakness that you have to disqualify whatever message that you have.

So if you can be disqualified simply by saying, "What about you? Look at the way you handle this. Look at the way you treat people when you do this. Look at the way you do this." And as soon as that happens, it doesn't matter how right you are in the one area, if you're not above reproach, you will be disqualified.

You will not have a voice. You will not have authority to speak. So I realized in the context of spiritual battle, one of the most practical things that he tells Timothy is, "You have to be above reproach." Now, no man is going to live up to being perfect. He says, "No.

If you have weakness in your life and you sweep it under the rug, I guarantee you, your enemy is not going to leave it there. If you're compromising any other part of your life, you're trying so hard not to make sure that other people know because we all have a tendency to highlight our strength and then to hide our weakness.

I guarantee if you're in spiritual battle, they're going to do exactly the opposite. They're going to highlight your weakness and they're going to sweep your good under the rug. So if you're going to engage in spiritual battle, you have to put on the full, full shield of righteousness. To be above reproach.

To be able to come before the Lord and say, "Search me and know me. See if there's any hurtful ways in me." Not simply so I can feel better. In order to engage in spiritual battle. In order to be effective. Are there any ignoble things? If I want to be used for noble purposes, he says, "Get rid of the ignoble things in your life." Ignoble thoughts, ignoble feelings, ignoble pride in the way we deal with people.

He said, "Get rid of those things because that is going to disqualify you in whatever battle that you engage in." Above, in being above reproach, he says to the soldier, There's six categories and I'm going to go down them quickly. What areas of our life do we need to be above reproach?

First and foremost, he says he must be a husband of one wife. Now he's not saying that as long as you're not a polygamist that you can be a good leader. Obviously that's not what he's saying. He said you must be devoted to your wife. Devoted. In other words, first and foremost, the proving ground of an effective soldier is where he has been placed first.

If you're not a good soldier, first and foremost, with what is close to you, you're not going to be effective outside. So the first calling of a husband is to be a good husband before he's a good father. The best thing that you can be for your child is to be a good husband.

Every single person who enters into a Christian vow is that from this day on, she will become my church. As Christ gave himself, not just his free time, not just the extra money, he gave his life in order to purchase the church by his own blood. He says, "Husbands, you are called to do this." First and foremost, is her well-being.

Is your presence in the life of your wife causes her to love Christ more? Or does your presence in your wife's life act as a stumbling block to knowing God more? We are called to sacrifice, to lead by sacrifice. The greatest gift that you will have in life, outside of knowing Jesus Christ, will be from your wife.

If you live your life selfishly for your own purpose and you're constantly frustrating her in her walk with God, 20-30 years later on, you'll have a wife that is going to become a stumbling block to you. But if you live your life sacrificing for her, giving as Christ loved us, then the fruit that comes from your wife, you will be the greatest beneficiary.

So first and foremost, he tells the soldier, "You must be above reproach, but an area where you must be equipped is with your wife." Are you the Christ figure in your marriage? If you say, "I don't do what I do because my wife isn't doing her part," then you're not the leader.

Leader basically means you're the initiator. If your job is contingent upon her doing her job, then you're not the leader. The leader is the one who initiates. Despite. Despite how she may be. Now I know this is a high calling. This is a high calling. This is not just something that we can do in our flesh.

And that's why the Bible tells the wife to honor your husband. Submit to him so that he can be a better leader. Because what he has been called to do is to give his life for the sake of his wife. And if you bear fruit with your wife, you will bear fruit with your children.

But you're not going to bear fruit with your children despite the fact you're not bearing fruit with your wife. So first and foremost, you must be above reproach at home. Secondly, you must be above reproach with your money. He said you must be free from the love of money.

Don't get it wrong. The Bible is filled with rich people who uses their wealth for God's glory. Barnabas was a rich man, right? Sold his property. Lydia was a rich lady. There are countless number of people who are wealthy who used it for God's glory. There is no there is no talk.

There is no passage in the scripture saying that wealth is evil. He said it is the love of money. Where you think that money is your answer. In 1 Timothy 6:9-10, "But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction." He said it is the love of money.

It's when you think that the money is your answer to your peace. Money is the answer to your children, to your wife, to your present circumstance. You don't have to be living in a in a filthy rich house or you know a million dollar car or it's your attitude toward money because the scripture says wherever your treasure is there your heart really is.

We can say all we want about what we believe and you know I'm passionate for this but you want to see where someone's true heart is look at the money. Because that's what the scripture says. And you know who knows that better than anybody else? Your wife and your children.

You can become a respectable man outside because they don't know. He said but if you really want to disciple people they will see how you are with your money. And so he says he must be free from the love of money. Love of money isn't like oh I want money.

You know and everything I do I pursue money. No. Are you stingy? Are you constantly discontent because you don't have enough? Are you worried that the stock market went down and it kind of rattles your whole life because of that? Your whole mood and how you treat people is based upon how much money is in your bank account?

All of these things are reflections of money. Again, I think God has called us to be responsible. Right? We should take care. We should invest well. We should think about the next generation leaving an inheritance. All of these things are mentioned in the Bible. But how we treat money is exactly the way you're going to disciple your kids.

You can say all you want but where your heart is is where your people will be discipled. Are you constantly calculating? Are you constantly desiring things and experiences? And you need to have money to have these things. So he said you need to be free from money. You know why you need to be free from money?

Be free from money. You know why you need to be free from money? Because if that area of your life, you're not above reproach. As soon as you come and you declare righteousness in one area, your enemy isn't just going to say, "Oh my gosh, he has the truth.

He quoted scripture. So we're done." That's not what they're going to say. What about you? You're unrighteous with money. I may be unrighteous with my time, but you're unrighteous with money. I may be unrighteous with my speech, but you're unrighteous with money. And so if that remains your weakness, trust me, the enemy will constantly poke at that to nullify whatever cause that you are so strong in.

Your enemy will be equally strong to point out that you have no voice. So you must be above reproach. If you want to be a good soldier, because we're engaged in battle. If you're not engaged in battle and there is no enemy pushing back, no concern. But if you're going to shine the light in the darkness, the people who don't want to get out of darkness are going to highlight your weakness.

And they're going to minimize your strength. Third, you must be above reproach under pressure. Again, this is one of the most practical things that you can learn. And I believe that this is true in any circumstance, but especially in battle. And I've learned that when you're in an emergency situation, people act differently.

Now, I don't want to get into any specific experiences that I've had, you know, but you can imagine like that's part of the reason why you have to get trained to carry guns. If you have guns is because not because you need to learn all the safety and all the stuff, all these things are necessary.

But when you have an active shooter and you're not calm, and you overreact, that gun that's meant for your safety can actually be very dangerous. In fact, majority of the people who get shot, get shot by their own guns. Every quality that is mentioned here being temperate, prudent, not addicted to wine, pugnacious, gentle, and peaceable.

All of these things are characters that get revealed when you're under pressure. When you're not under pressure, when you're living in peace, watching Netflix, hanging out, visiting with your friends, everyone is temperate, everyone is prudent, everyone is gentle, everyone is peaceable. But as soon as you get attacked and there's a pushback, they don't agree with you and then they're pointing out your weaknesses and or maybe they're slandering you.

And you're not patient. And you have a right to fight back, but you're not gentle, you're not peaceable. Usually the biggest damage happens as a reaction to something, reaction to something. There is a proper time and a proper way to fight. But if we're not peaceable, if we're not gentle, if we're being pugnacious, and if we're not being temperate, if we're not being prudent, sometimes our reaction does more damage than good.

That's why he says in the context of battle, you don't tell a soldier, you go in there, as soon as you hear the gunshot, get up and just shoot. Imagine if they were trained that way. If they start shooting, you just go and you know, forget all your training, forget all your commanding officers, you just grab your gun and and run toward danger because that's what a good soldier does.

Imagine what would happen in battle. That's when you need to stay calm. That's when all your training, that's when you need to listen to your commanding officer, that's when you need to follow rules, when the bullets frying. And so that's why it says if you're going to go into battle, you must, you must be self-controlled.

All of these qualities are qualities you can summed up in self-control. So if you're going to be a good leader in your home, you must not react when your money goes up, when your money comes down, when children obey or disobey, when things go right or don't go right.

You must be consistent. In Ephesians 6:4, it says, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." I remember the first time I read this, I said, "Something's wrong here." The children are the ones who provoke the fathers. You know what I mean?

Tell the fathers not to provoke. Do you not know our children? Does Paul not have kids? Tell the father not to provoke the kids? The wisdom behind this is because we're in leadership. The men lead their home. So if we overreact because they're disrespectful, if we overreact and do not practice patience and grace, our leadership can do more harm than good.

It is the same at church. It is the same at home. And so he is tempering somebody. He said, "I'm giving you the authority so that you can use your authority in gentleness and patience to care for your children, even when they deserve it. They don't deserve it. But if you wield your authority because you have power and you don't know how to control yourself, you're going to end up provoking them." I say, "Oh, that's very practical." Because this is a very practical thing to give somebody who's leading.

He must be above reproach in the way that he handles outsiders, strangers. The word hospitable basically literally means love of strangers. He says the disciple of Jesus Christ is not simply because he practices love because everyone practices love with people who are lovable. Everyone practices love with people who are capable.

Maybe there's going to be a payoff. You can't raise your children that way. If you raise your children thinking that if I sacrifice for all this, one day they're going to pay my bills. You know, they better buy me a car. You know, they better do this. And then it feels like, "Hey, you know, I've sacrificed all this for you and you're not doing this for me." You know what I realized?

And I'm sure most of you will agree, especially the older men in this place. Love tends to go down. And then if it goes down hard enough, some of it may splash up. Right? Oh, they remember Father's Day. Oh, they got me a tie, you know. So some of it splashes up.

But the natural flow of the water will go down. So if you take good care of your wife and take good care of your children, your children will learn to love their children and their wives. And that's when you know that you've done your job. The love of strangers.

We love not expecting anything back. We give simply because they need us. And that's the way Jesus loved us. He didn't come because he saw diamond in the rough that nobody else recognized. And, you know, took us out. We were so precious already, but nobody knew but Jesus. That's not what the Bible says.

We were dead in our treasure. We were blasphemers when he came. And even after he came and died for us, we constantly still struggle. And we have to constantly remember. Remember when the Son of God died for you? Don't forget that. Don't forget the gospel. How do you, I don't understand.

How do you forget the Son of God died for you? And yet, that's why we say, oh, you got to preach the gospel to yourself because we keep forgetting that the Son of God died for me. Just even saying that, isn't that ridiculous? If somebody died for you, you're going to forget?

If you're in war and your buddy took a bullet for you and he died instead of you, you think you'll ever forget? You think at some point you're going to get caught up in living your life and say, oh, I completely forgot that the only reason why I'm here is because my friend took a bullet for me.

You think you're going to forget? And yet we do that to God all the time. We forget. Remember, you are here because the Son of God died for you. He took our penalty on himself, what you and I deserved. And yet, he did it. And we come every week to remember, to celebrate, and to recalibrate.

Don't forget, don't forget, don't forget. That's why he birthed the communion. So that you and I won't forget because he knew we would forget. And yet he loved us, perseveres with us, sustains us. And then at one point, he will glorify us. So he says, we need to be above reproach, even the way we love.

Not only when people deserve it, but especially when they don't deserve it. And then finally, we must be above reproach for an extended period of time. I can run a marathon. I can. If they shorten the race to half a block. Right? Anybody can run with all their might for a short period of time.

But the marathon is what it is because it's long. And you can't just decide one day to wake up. You know, I just had, you know, two pounds of KBBQ last night. And I woke up, had Denny's Grand Slam breakfast. And I said, you know what? I want to go run a marathon this morning.

No, you have to train. You have to sacrifice. You have to watch what you eat. You have to put on the right clothes. And you have to prepare to run the marathon. He says in 1 Timothy 3:6, "Do not lay hands for newcomers, so that he will not become conceited and fall into condemnation incurred by the devil." You know why newcomers said don't lay hands on newcomers?

Because he doesn't know his inability yet. So as soon as he finds some success, it's going to go to his head. I must have done something. And that's how you know if somebody is qualified or not. As soon as he desires to touch God's glory, you know he's not mature enough yet.

He's not mature enough to handle the glory of God because he's going to look at the glory of God and think that somehow he had something to do with it. And the very fact that he's even thinking that disqualifies him. There's nothing that will humble us more than when we strive to be a good father.

Nothing he says here, It's like I did such a perfect example. You know what I mean? I want you to examine my life and do everything I did. And if you do that, your children are going to turn out perfect. Right? Not. I can think back at the years that I've been a father.

And if you asked me, "What would you do different?" I don't have to think long. Because that list is in my head constantly. I wish I had that time back. I wish when kids were that small. I wish when they were younger, when they were in elementary school, when they were little kids, when they were junior high school, teenagers, I wish I did this.

And I think most parents, most fathers rethink constantly because it's so important to us. Nothing causes us to feel helpless more than this responsibility of being a good father. And we come to realize that this task is beyond us. And it forces us to pray. It forces us to cling to God.

It forces us to come before God and say, "God, if you do not help, I cannot. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me what to do. Help me what to say. Help me to push. Help me not to push. Help me to be patient. Help me to be more disciplined.

Help me. Anybody who has aspired to be a good father naturally will get humbled. So if you are from a home where your father may not have lived up perfectly, it's because they're just like you. They struggle with their flesh, they struggle with their pride, they struggle with their discipline, just like anybody else.

But they've been given the task to lead. Be gracious to them. Be gracious if they weren't perfect. Be gracious if they weren't as giving. Be gracious if they weren't as patient. Be gracious because they desire it. They just didn't get A's in every aspect of their lives. And then for the fathers, I want to leave with an encouragement.

Because at the end of this, we say, yeah, it's great. You know, let's gear up. Let's fight. Yes. You know, and those are the new fathers, right? You got babies at home and say, I'm going to be this kind of a father. I'm going to do this for my kids.

And I'm going to be this kind. And you say all of these things. 10, 15 years go by and you're going to be exactly where we're at. Oh, shoot. I shouldn't have done that. Or maybe I should have done more of this. And the longer you are, the more, the longer this list is going to go.

But it is the grace of God that causes us to persevere. If I dwell on all the mistakes that I've made as a father, I would be defeated. I messed up, right? Not that I say, oh, I was such a bad father, but I wish I had this stage or this thing.

I wish I knew what I knew now when I was 20 years ago or 30 years ago. And I play that in my mind over and over again. I don't know if this is true of other fathers. Every once in a while, I have a memory. And I do.

You ever have those kind of memories where you can't erase that memory from your head? And he's like, oh, man. I wish I had that moment back. But there's a reason why when Jesus sent the disciples, he said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

It's been given to me. So go, therefore. Because it's been given to me. Now I give to you. Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Behold, I am with you to the end of the age. I am with you.

Our Heavenly Father is with you. The calling that he has called you, despite your weakness, despite our failures, I am with you. Don't let your past failures and weaknesses dictate what kind of father you desire to be going forward. God has called us to a tremendous task, to lead.

It's that example. And as God has ordained this, he asked the women to support your husband. They have been called to lay down their life for you. There's not something that we can do in our flesh. There's not something that we can do in our flesh. So we need your help.

So on this Father's Day, let's hear the challenge of the war that he has called us to. But let's hear it and practice it in the grace in which he has called us to. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your mercies. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for the high calling of what it means to be a father.

Lord, you know our weaknesses. You know our regrets. But we pray, Father God, that we would have faith and confidence that your grace is sufficient for all things. So we cling to you. We cry out to you for our children, for our wives. Strengthen the men in our church, Lord God, that we may be your ambassadors to our homes, that Christ may be exalted, that this dark world will know the light that has come into the world, that there is hope and salvation in Christ and Christ alone.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's all stand up Let's all stand up for the closing praise.

Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up Let's all stand up And if you have not loved me first, I will refuse to store.

And if you have not loved me, I will refuse to store. And if you have not loved me first, then let me turn over the cross. And I began as the display, you suffered in my face. You brought around, you sent for me, now all I know is grace.

Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my love. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my love. Now Lord, I will be yours alone. Now Lord, I will be yours alone. And that's so long, I'd see the strength to hold a walk. Hallelujah, Jesus is my love.

Hallelujah, Jesus is my love. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my love. Hallelujah, Jesus is my love. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my love. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my love. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ.

Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, all I have is Christ. Let's pray. Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and the great and deep love of God of God our Father, strengthen us, revive us, encourage us, that we would not dwell on our sins, that we would not dwell on our past mistakes, but that we would dwell in the empowering grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the agape love of our God the Father.

Lord God the Father, would strengthen us, that we may say with confidence, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Help us, Lord God, to be a light in our homes, in our church, in our communities, and in the world, Lord God, for the sake of your glory.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Then he called and killed his eyes He came to the earth He had a new home He had a new day done Turned by my father An empty grave is there to me My Savior lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives All here is God Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because he lives Sing together God the uncreated one God the uncreated one The author of salvation The author of salvation Who wrote the laws of space and time Fashion words to his design His fashion words to his design Though a new manger's host revere Hung the stars like chandeliers Numbered every grain of sand He holds the heart of every man He is king forever King forever He is king forever He is king forever He is king forever He is king forever God of fortress and strength, God of fortress and our strength, the rock of the earth.

- Sunday Service 6/15/2025

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