Malachi 4:5 "Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before
the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the
hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their
fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse."
• Scripturally speaking the global
church is a Father to their generation.
• Scripture was not just talking
about Elijah, or John the Baptist to declare judgment upon the earth but was
speaking of all ministry, and all ministers everywhere.
• Encouraging every believer in
Jesus Christ to proclaim guidance, correction and love into and unto all the
people of the earth.
• Each of us are called and
entrusted to rescue this generation.
1.
Be
a father figure to this generation.
1.
To
be fatherless means to be directionless.
1.
To
lack the guidance, the capability, the leadership and encouragement to fulfill
your destiny in this life.
2.
According
to the National Center for Fathering, directionless children:
1.
Are
more apt to live in poverty.
1.
4
times more likely.
2.
Are
at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.
3.
Experience
an extreme lack of physical and emotional health.
1.
Behavioral
issues and disorders, extreme aggression, even the suicide rates climb.
4.
Struggle
to experience Educational Achievement.
1.
71%
of High School dropouts are fatherless.
5.
Crime.
1.
Adolescents
living in intact families are less likely to engage in delinquency than their
peers through family processes: parental involvement, supervision, monitoring,
and parent child closeness; than non-intact families.
6.
Experience
and report greater sexual activity and teen pregnancy.
1.
This
culture has become so numb that according to romans322.com the 2017 year to date abortion
count in this country alone is at 754,857.
1.
They
happen every 29 seconds on average.
3.
To
each and every person under the sound of my voice I would say “Exercise the
leadership God has entrusted to you.”
1.
Christ
followers, rise up and lead this generation into truth, lead this generation
into purpose, and lead this generation into relationship with God.
4.
The
description of David as “a man after God’s own heart” was used first by Samuel when he
told Saul that his kingdom would not continue.
1 Samuel 13:7-14 NLT [7] "Some of them crossed the
Jordan River and escaped into the land of Gad and Gilead. Meanwhile, Saul
stayed at Gilgal, and his men were trembling with fear. [8] Saul waited there
seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn't
come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. [9] So he
demanded, "Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!" And
Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself. [10] Just as Saul was finishing
with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him,
[11] but Samuel said, "What is this you have done?" Saul replied,
"I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn't arrive when you said you
would, and the Philistines are at Micmash ready for battle. [12] So I said,
'The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven't even
asked for the LORD's help!' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering
myself before you came." [13] "How foolish!" Samuel exclaimed.
"You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. Had you kept
it, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. [14] But
now your kingdom must end, for the LORD has sought out a man after His own
heart. The LORD has already appointed him to be the leader of His people,
because you have not kept the LORD's command."
5.
We
learn from these scriptures that we are to wait on God, wait on His plan, and
provision no matter what disaster, disappointment, or demands we may currently
be facing.
1.
Follow
God's plan at all times and in all seasons.
1.
We
can either act as if the the skies are clear, our decisions are clear and our
next steps are clear or we can trust that God’s timing, and purposes are
perfect.
1.
Saul
wanted to do his own thing and add God's blessing upon it.
1.
Saul
basically said I don't needs God's Prophet, I don't need fresh direction, fresh
word from God, I don't need God.
2.
Then
when charged with disobedience he justifies himself and gives no sign of
repentance.
1.
It’s
not sin that destroys mankind, it is sinning without repentance.
2.
It's
falling and not getting up again.
3.
It's
refusing to turn away from the evil and turn only toward God.
Vs 14 “for
the LORD has sought out a man after His own heart."
2.
God
is not looking for a perfect people but a surrendered people.
1.
That
is exactly what God did when he raised up David.
2.
This
does not mean that David was perfect.
1.
Far
from it.
2.
He
was a strong willed, sometimes impulsive man who accomplished impossible things
and who also had some great failures.
3.
Sometimes
we learn from him by example, and other times we learn from him by contrast.
1.
In
Fathering this generation, we have much to learn about leadership from the life
of David.
2.
David
was an extraordinary leader, and in his last words, he describes the marks of
effective leadership:
2 Samuel 23:3-4 NLT [3] “The God of Israel spoke. The
Rock of Israel said to me: 'The one who rules righteously, who rules
in the fear of God, [4] is like the light of morning at sunrise,
like a morning without clouds, like the gleaming of the sun on new grass
after rain.'”
3.
Two
Pictures of Effective Leadership
1.
The light of morning at sunrise, without clouds.
1.
This
is a picture of hope.
1.
It’s been a long dark night, but the
spirits of everyone are lifted when the sun rises on a cloudless day.
2.
That’s
a picture of God’s mercy.
2.
Hope
producing leadership was what David provided for Israel.
1.
He
inherited a loose coalition of tribes who could barely defend themselves, and
he led them to become a great nation.
2.
The gleaming of the sun on new grass after rain.
1.
That’s a picture of refreshment.
1.
Good
leadership causes people to grow and flourish like grass after the rain.
2.
That’s what good, effective, productive
leadership looks like.
1.
Fathers,
that’s
the kind of leadership we need in our homes and in our families.
2.
Christ
followers, that's the kind of leadership we need in our cities, our nations, our
tribes and our world.
4.
Here’s what we discover in Scripture
about David:
3.
The
man after God’s
own heart gave better leadership in his work than he did in his home.
1.
Two
Realms of Leadership.
1 Samuel 22:1-2 NLT tells us what David did well: [1]
"So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers
and all his other relatives joined him there. [2] Then others began
coming-men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented-until
David was the captain of about 400 men."
2.
That’s a pretty desperate team: Distressed, those in debt and the discontented.
1.
David
turned this motley crew, into an army of fighting men, who were fiercely loyal
to him.
1.
That’s leadership, and in this David is
a picture of Jesus Christ who takes us with all our distress, all our debt and all of our
discontentment.
1.
If
you commit yourself to His leadership, He will make you one of His mighty men.
1.
Or
women, have you seen Wonder Woman, exactly, she bad!
3.
If
only David had applied the same effective leadership skills in his family.
1.
One of David’s sons,
Amnon, was
attracted to David’s daughter Tamar, he tricked her and then he raped her.
1.
It
was a terrible tragedy of abuse in the royal household.
2.
Do
you know what David did?
1.
Absolutely
nothing.
1.
The
family needed crisis intervention.
2.
The
family needed spiritual reformation.
1.
Amnon
needed to be confronted and corrected.
1.
If
David had both intervened and confronted Amnon, it would have been like the "the
light of morning at sunrise, without clouds" for his family.
2.
But
he stood back and did nothing.
2.
David had another son, Absolom.
1.
He
was Tamar’s
biological brother and determined to take revenge on Amnon.
1.
The
Bible tells us that Absolom did not say a word to Amnon for two years.
1.
That's
dysfunction.
2.
The
family needed crisis intervention.
3.
The
family needed spiritual reformation.
2.
Trouble
was obviously brewing.
1.
Do
you know what David did?
1.
Absolutely
nothing.
1.
If
David had helped Absolom deal with his anger, he would have been like "the
rain that brings grass from the earth."
3.
Then one day Absolom took Amnon’s life, and then he fled.
1.
He
became an alienated son with a grievance against his father, and do you know
what David did about that?
1.
Absolutely
nothing!
1.
Here
is a man with marvelous leadership skills, but they were invested in his work,
utilized in his past, not in his family.
2.
This
family needed crisis intervention.
3.
The
family needed spiritual reformation.
4.
I’m
not just talking about our individual homes but the House of our God!
1.
Are
you a part of that broken body?
1.
God
needs you!
2.
We
need you!
3.
The
church can not be what it's supposed to be without you!
4.
A
Challenge for Effective Leadership.
1.
Will
you commit before God today that with His help you will give effective
leadership in your home?
2.
In
His church?
3.
In
His world?
1.
The
kind of leadership that is hope filled, refreshing.
1.
Your
family may be difficult and even dysfunctional right now.
1.
But
your calling is that your wife, your children, those around and about you will
feel hope because you are there, effectively leading them.
2.
Your
calling is that they will flourish and grow because of the way you are guiding
their lives.
1.
Your
calling, is calling you out.
2.
Your
calling, is calling you to lead.
1.
Every
where you go and in every thing you do.
2.
That
may mean setting some new standards, some intervention.
1.
It
may mean sitting down with them and saying, “I have to tell you that I have
failed God and you by not giving the leadership you need in this family or life.
I’m sorry. We have
to get on a different track and when we do, it will be for our good.”
3.
Talk
with other Christians who can be a model for you.
1.
Refuse
to let life just happen around you.
1.
Fathers,
I challenge you to determine that you will give effective leadership to your
family.
2.
Christ
Followers, I challenge you to lead in every thing you do with purity, passion,
perseverance, prayer presence, pursuit, all to influence people.
4.
A Promise from God.
1.
What
if things have not worked out as you had hoped?
2.
Right
now, you are not the person you want to be.
1.
Look
at God’s
promise to David in:
2 Samuel 7:11b “The Lord declares that He will make a house for
you-a dynasty of kings.”
1.
David
had experienced God’s grace in his life, but God wants him to know that there is more to
come.
2.
You’ve
settled for less than.
1.
We’ve
settled for less than.
5.
When
you look at your life, your family, your work, your church, and your world,
what you see is a work in process.
1.
Imagine
that your home is in the middle of being remodeled.
1.
If
the contractor doing the work were to abandon the project, it would be a
disaster.
1.
But
you know that what you see now is not the final outcome.
1.
The
way you live with the mess is by leaning on the promise that the contractor
will complete the job.
6.
When
God began His work in your life, He committed Himself to finishing it.
1.
Put
hope into that.
2.
There
is more mercy, more grace, more forgiveness and more guidance available.
3.
There
are more things that He still has to do in your life, in your family, in His
church, and in the world.
1.
God’s promise is stronger than
death. 2 Samuel 7:12-13
2.
God’s promise is greater than sin.
1.
If
God gave up on you every time you sinned, His purpose for your life would never
be complete, and His promise could never be fulfilled.
2.
You
may feel that you have made a royal mess of your life; no doubt David felt that
many times.
3.
But
God’s grace in Jesus
Christ is greater than your sin. 2 Samuel
7:14-15
3.
God’s promise lasts longer than time.
1.
That
is why He has sent His Son Jesus into the world.
2.
There
is hope for every person and for every family in and through Jesus Christ. 2 Samuel 7:16 NLT
Romans 3:22
NLT “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this
is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”
