It reminds me one time about my dad. Happy Father's Day to all of you. But my father, one time, I got sick over at the old Cass High School, the one way over, you know, and my dad had to come get me. And the nurse had had me back there and I was having problems. Well, I didn't know back then that that was due to a surgery that I needed later on in life that actually corrected some problems that I never knew I had. But when I thought about my dad, I thought about a story I read this past week. where it was just the dad and his little dog. And they were in church, and she started getting a little sick. And so dad said, run back to the bathroom. The bathrooms were in front of the church, you know. And so she ran back. She said, I feel like I'm going to throw up. So the dad said, well, just go to the bathroom, and then come back when you get to Philadelphia. So she went on, and she was back very quickly. And the dad said, well, what happened? Did you get to Philadelphia? He said, no, I didn't really have to go that far. I saw this box that said, for the sick. And so I used it. Yeah. Today, I want to talk to you about gifts that fathers can give, amen. Fathers can give. Tonight, even though normally, a fatherless day, we wouldn't have a service, but I'm going to be coming on tonight, and if you're not there, you can tune in later. I'm going to be preaching on board time of the devoted father tonight out of Esther, Chapter 2 and some of Chapter 4. That's tonight. And if you don't get a chance to listen to it, then maybe we'll later on as well. But here at this point, if you have your Bibles, turn with us to Matthew chapter 7, verse 11. This goes exactly with what Sister Cheryl was praying about earlier, about our Heavenly Father, amen? And I really had prayed about it all week, and even I got up early this morning, and I began to pray, and I said, Lord, this is, I believe, what you want me to speak on this morning. If you're able to stand this morning as we honor the reading of the Word of God in Matthew chapter seven, verse 11, gifts that fathers can give this morning. I hope and pray each and every one of you, if you still have your father, that you treat them the very best today. Take them out. And don't worry, you guys, I'll see if I can get a little bit more from here playing on. But you need to take good care of these fathers today, amen? Let's read this morning as we look at Matthew chapter 7, verse 11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more shall your father, which is in heaven, give good gifts to them that ask him? You may be seated. Father, I want to thank you this morning, Father, for this special day that you have given every one of us to recognize, Lord, the fathers and how special they are. Lord, I realize, Lord, as I began to research this past week, Lord, that it is a very special place in a family that a father plays. Sometimes, Lord, that we don't have them around that, Lord, as much. They're taking care of everything and doing what they do best, Lord, to provide for their families. And, Lord, sometimes they are busy. But, Lord, I want to thank you for all of our fathers here this morning. Lord, many of us at one time in our young lives, we wanted to be just like our fathers. We wanted to grow a beard. We wanted to grow a mustache. We wanted to be able to stand tall like our fathers, and to go to work, and Lord, to do all the things that our fathers set an example for us, Father. And Lord, I praise you because, Lord, if our fathers love us the way they do, how much more that you love us as you tell us out of Matthew this morning. And Father, I want to thank you for the love and the gifts that you have given each and every one of us. And Lord, this morning, through our fathers, I pray that you'll help us and remind us how those gifts are so special, and they are the greatest gift that we can ever receive from anyone in this walks of life. And so this morning, Lord, we send blessings out to those ones, Lord, that many that are traveling, that are on vacation, and those that are here this morning, I say thank you for them. And I pray, God, that you would just make this a special day for our fathers as we honor them and lift them up and recognize their special and more what they do to each family to make it a blessing in the coming years. And Jesus is marvelous in my name. Amen. Amen. I thank God here this morning as each and every one of us are reminded that Father's Day is special. I didn't realize this until I was looking back. I tell Sister Sheila that every time I do a message, I kind of try to look at things and see if I'm missing something. One thing that I caught this time was that the Nixon, Richard Nixon didn't sign the proclamation until 1972 for Father's Day. Mother's Day was 1914. So Mother's Day's been going on for about 107 years, 107 years, where Father's Day's only been going on for about 49 years. Now, fathers, I'm going to tell you, I didn't realize that until you get to looking at that. But a mother, extremely dear and close to the heart of that child, they handle those first two years of a child's life. A mother nourishes and tends her child, and depending upon the mother's care and the concern that love continues through the mother, there's a great blessing that the father gives as well. I mean, I tell you, every day I realize some of the things that my father gave to me. And that was, I guess you would say, skills of just taking time to show me how to do. But I'm going to tell you, as I read this this morning, the very first thing that I thought about my heavenly father and my natural father is the greatest gift that I've ever been given. a lot of us think, we think right off the bat, you say, yeah, eternal life. That's right. But there's even greater than that. You say, how is it greater than eternal life? There's nothing better. Think of the thing that we don't think of all the time. What did, what happened to you when you got eternal life? He set up a residence inside of you, the Holy Spirit. Don't ever overlook the gift of the Holy Spirit, along with salvation, that each and every day, if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit that gifted us, And it speaks to us even when there's times that we don't know what to do or say. It's the gift of the Holy Spirit that we have with us all the time that helps us through the circumstances of life, amen. And so I thank God, Jesus, he gave us the greatest gift that anyone could ever give us, amen. And I think of this, I think of this as I read this, that yes, if your father can give you good gifts, your natural father, how much more, every time, every day, that our heavenly father wants to give you the very best from his storehouse, amen. And so I thank God, the gifts that he's longing to give to each and every one of us, amen. You know, God, he gives us a beautiful sunrise every morning that we can gaze upon. I said earlier this morning, you know, I just took a little time and got out of the bush and watched that rain yesterday. But she's, you know, and I told her, I said, they probably coming today. When I am watching the rain, I wish I was doing something else. I won't be able to do something else. Amen. And so, but the heavenly father gives us the gift of his presence because he knows that we need peace. That only he can bring to us, amen. And so I wanna do this now. Fathers, this morning, and each and every one that I'm looking at, I know that there's like four fathers that are sitting here this morning. But I wanna do something. I remember hearing this from a rally, from one of the men's rally years ago. And I know that you don't have your children or everybody ready, but you've got your wife beside you. And I know that because I'm looking out for that. But Facebook, you as well, and also a sermon I'll give. I want you to turn to somebody next to you when you're following your wife, and I want you to introduce yourself as you think that your father would introduce you. Okay, now I'm gonna tell you, I'm pausing right now. Nobody on Facebook can hear or see this, but I know, I mean, don't be embarrassed, but maybe it's just who you are. Maybe there was a nickname that your dad always called you, and that's exactly what they would say, okay? Now, my wife's down there, and what I'm gonna do to be fair about it is I'm gonna go down here, and I'm gonna do the same thing. Now, this is unusual. This is my son. And each and every one of us, maybe we have a nickname that your father would do that because we're just reaching back into the memories of our fathers. Maybe they're right here with us, but yet in a sense, we always, I don't know about you, but even Jesus set the example that he wanted the approval of his heavenly father. Every one of us at one time, or even in our life, we always wanted the approval of our father. We wanted to be able to have his approval and say, you know what? I'm proud of you, son. I'm proud of you, daughter. Amen. Our fathers are that. And so Jesus desired the approval of his father in heaven, and he received that approval, praise God. And so fathers, they always give the very best. They give things to the children that they need. They don't give things to the children that will bring them harm. I've never, never, ever heard of a father that really would give something to their children that would ever bring any harm to them whatsoever, amen. I remember we got a motorcycle, and if I ever had an accident, it wasn't because my father gave me that. It was a Sears motorcycle. My brother and I both got it, and we had to share it. Amen. And so we rode that around. I had another one that a small one there. It was called a Gemini. They don't make them anymore, okay? Oh, boy. Anyway, but think about all the good gifts the Heavenly Father gives. The gift of the Holy Spirit that is far greater than any of the other gifts that we ever have. But this morning, what I'm going to talk about is in the acrostic, and I've done this before, but not like this, is as our Heavenly Fathers are a blessing, I want to talk about the important gifts of our Fathers today that we have in an acrostic. Because we realize that as we spell Father, the L stands for faith. In 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8, the Bible tells us, But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Now let me give you some really, really to break that down. That's King James. They might be somebody out there that don't really quite understand that, but let me tell you from the, I guess I've got an NIV version up here. If anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse down unbelievable. Boy, that's pretty harsh, isn't it? And you know, and fathers, their number one job is being a provider. But also that essence of faith. Faith in God and a gift that fathers should give by example. Every one of us that we ought to show that. You know, my father, he got saved later on in life. And he heard me say some things about my family. We're not crystal clean or perfect like no other family. But I thank God we had our things. But I thank God we did love each other. And our father always, one of the things that I got from him is he put confidence in us. And I thank God as a father, an earthly father, that we teach our faith from, they learn that from their fathers, amen, to be able to have that passed on to their children, amen. And so a father who does not have faith gives and sends his children out into the world with something that's missing. And so faith in God's word is a gift that fathers will be given. And so each and every one of us, faith is something that in a variety of different ways that fathers can give because God's word speaks to our deepest needs. Each father should love God's word and they ought to be able to see it sometime or another. that the father is reaching for the word of God and their sharing with their families. That's the faith that we can at least see. The faith in one's self is a gift that fathers can always give to their children, amen. It's extremely important for children to have confidence in themselves. And so a father should encourage his children to develop that self-image, amen. Children can have a high self-esteem if they see that love and that assurance that the eyes of their parents have as well. And so faith in the future is a gift that fathers can always give. And many times, there is some fathers that's negative and critical of circumstances in which they find themselves. But instead, fathers should seek to instill that confidence, that hopefulness in the minds of their children. So the importance that we see, the gift that fathers can give is the crossing of hell, which is faith. But also, A, is acceptance, amen, acceptance. I know when I was little, I didn't want to go to school. Wait, man. And man, I hated to go to school. It took before the second grade before I really even got used to really leaving the house. But my mom, I guess I was a baby. I didn't realize this, but my Aunt Cheryl, she said that my mom, when I would cry, my mom would always run and go up and she says that, Basically, as my sister, my brother, they cried as well. My mother loved every one of us equally. But I said, well, you know, I asked her, I said, do you think that she loved them more than she loved me? You know, how many kids don't ask that? Hey, have you ever thought that? And I did. I asked her, I said, well, let me tell you something, if this makes you feel it. She loved all y'all the same. But I remember sometimes that when you would cry, that she would break out running to go get you. And she'd pick you up in your arms, and you'd quit. You know, I thank God that fathers have that same sense of acceptance as well, because they teach us that through acceptance, they manage. That we have that faith and security and a father that can pick us up and that can secure us, amen. And so I thank God each and every one of us when we realize that it's easy to get rejected in life today. But I thank God each and every one of us when we go through life, if we accept our own uniqueness and face life with a good self image. I believe that the father portrays that better than anyone else can, amen. And so I thank God. My father actually left us when I was three years old. And so as I'm talking to you, I'm talking to a Mordecai. That's the nice message. That's a stepfather. Thank God for stepfathers. Thank God for stepfathers, because Mordecai was the father that, or my father was my dad. And my real father was never there for me. My real father never instilled any of the things that I'm saying to you this morning. But my Mordecai, my stepfather, I called him Pop, and he was there. And I thank God he taught me how to use my hands to work, and those that have confidence to do things. And it was through him that I made the choice to go into the military, amen, because of what his life, I won't say about his life, I've told some of you about that, but I won't say that on here, behind the pulpit, you know what I'm talking about, amen. And so, but I thank God, he really gave me a strength of acceptance uh... used to go forward and i think i'll probably do that and so uh... you know stepfather out there if you're a stepfather or you're a stepmother amen you have done some tremendous things with your kid that you may not realize that now maybe later on somebody will realize it they'll come back and say you know you sure have been there for me and so i thank god not only faith and acceptance as we spell father but time Teeth, the teeth, poor father. Time, there are many different ways that we can spend a word of love, and time is one of those ways that we spend with that man. When we spend time, I spend a lot of time with Pop. As I say his name, you know him talking about, man. And man, we put a lot of time in together. And man, I'm gonna tell you, I saw him do some things that took incredible patience, that even when he'd come down with Parkinson's and he had to shake real bad, I wanted to reach over there and take care of him, and he don't do it. We rebuilt the old four-barrel Holley carburetors with all the pieces, and he was shaking, amen. Then he talked to me, man. I said, man, you ain't got some patience to do this. And we rebuilt engines and rebuilt cars. Like I said at the time, I had all the classics at my fingertips at a young age, amen. All of them Mustangs, all of the Chevrolets. I'm sorry, I hate to say it, but I've been around every one of them when I was a youngster, that I wouldn't have neglected out of any of those things of life that were a tremendous blessing that young kids love, a great amen. And so thank God. But sometimes our grandfathers give more attention than our fathers because They can get a little bit more time. They can get a little bit more time than the father. The father's trying to take care of everything. They're trying to provide. But I thank God our children are going to realize how precious it is when we have time with our parents and especially our fathers as well. It takes time to teach our children the things that they should know. And for a father to train his children as well. And so we see faith, the L. The A is acceptance. The T is on time. The H is for, it stands for help. The gift that fathers can give, amen. The psalmist always said, my help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth in Psalms 121 too. And so our Lord is the greatest helper anyone can ever have. However, much of this help comes through our earthly fathers as well, amen. My father, he taught me how to take a cool spring out of the cup of supreme when I was in Colorado. And he talked to me, he told me over the phone. He said, this is how you do it. So I went and hitchhiked to the junkyard, and I have a uniform on. Somebody had mercy on me and picked me up. And they brought me back and dropped me off over off of a cabin, which runs right through Colorado Springs. And I had this big old pull spring. I'm telling you, that big old spring. I put that thing out on my right where I hit a black ice and a curb with a little jack. Now, don't try that at home, mother fuckers out there, because that's very difficult to do. But I was desperate. And I thank God for a father that could tell me over the phone just about anything. He said, make sure you do this. Make sure you do that, or you're going to get hurt with that big old lamp. Right out in the parking lot, I changed that thing out, put it, went down, had it aligned, realigned. I thought, man, Father, how much help that you've been. Like, how much more each and every time. If you ever called and wrote down on the list how many times you said, Dad, I'm gonna kill him. Dad, I'm gonna kill him. Dad, I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna tell you why. Hey, this man got a ten-foot, but he'll feel a lot of charges. It'll fill a lot of jaws up every time there's a need. I need help, I need this, I need this. Every time help come up for somebody, we want somebody to come up with it. How many times have we asked dad for the help of all the things that we've asked our fathers for, our children? It teaches us always that he has a heart of love and affection, and he's always there for us when he helps us, amen. And as we look at our gifts that fathers can give, amen, we look at the need, amen, encouragement that they always can give us. Everybody needs encouragement, amen. Particularly the members of our own household, they need that encouragement. And each father needs to be a constant source of that encouragement to the wife, to the children, amen. The father gives his wife affection and support. The children look at that and they see that how he maintains that love and affection within the family, amen. A father gives that encouragement to their children, amen? And so they need to be the cheerleader in the family, so to speak, that encourages every one of them to set high goals for their lives and to rejoice in their steps of achievement toward these goals, amen? And so I thank God for following us. That approval again, just like Jesus wanted the approval for what he did. And what was it? That heavenly dove began to come down. The heavenly dove began to come down and to speak. And it began to speak on behalf of Jesus as he was at the baptismal, where John the Baptist was there. And I'll tell you, Jesus didn't need to be baptized. He was the creator of everything. But then he set an example for all of us. That's exactly what our fathers do. They set an example of encouragement for us, praise God. And I thank God each and every one of us when we go through life today. Looks like I'm gonna make good time. I'm almost at a quarter to. The E is for encouragement, and lastly, the R, the most special of the father, the rock. He's the resource. He's the reverent example of everything in the family, amen, because a father should be a source of strength to his family, amen. A father can serve as a rock of defense in times of struggle and difficulty for the children. You remember me telling you that time, my dad, now we used to pour. Johnson's painting was about, oh my goodness, about an hour and a half dry. And during the summer, we'd get up and we'd put these heavy steel girder frames down on sidewalks. Then we'd run a curb machine as well. And I'd run a curb machine with a concrete truck behind it and a mow that had its tracks. It would go around, and what we had to do is drive these tens in a new community, and we'd put the curbs down. And my dad, one time, was just walking across there, one of the places there, where we had the asphalt, and we put the curbs. Before you put the asphalt down, you put the curb down, but it was on another street that we parked on. He was walking down through there. Next thing you know, he sat on this round stone. He bounced about four or five times down through there. I said, man, I thought, Lord, I felt so sorry for him, amen. I thought of that when I thought about being the rock. The rock ain't for him to step on and trip and bounce, but it's for us. He is that rock. He is our defense, amen. In times of our struggle and difficulty for our children, amen, it requires faith and commitment and effort. Availability assesses children. My father brought a brand new truck, a Ford truck, that color Supreme that I had in high school, about to play out. Now, of course, I had a little old four-door Toyota Corona that me and my brother built the engine, picked the engine up, it was just aluminum block, and set it down in the back. We were just teenagers. And I used that, but I needed something better, dependable to go to Colorado in. And so I had that color Supreme that I had from high school. Man, that thing started to play out on me. So I did a deal with City Motors here in Cartersville, anyway, man. Well, I thank God, because I was a serviceman. They let my parents drive that old Cup of Supreme all the way back to Cartersville in a brand new Ford Ranger. They'd come all the way in into Colorado. And I thought, Lord, I needed that so bad at that time. My finances were just on the soldier's pay, praise God. And so, man, here many, many times that I can say that my father was a resource in so many ways that he came through. He was available to help me in many times of opportunity, amen. And also my father was an example of reverence as well, amen. Not at first, but when he met Jesus, finally things began to change in his life. to be receptive to what his will is for us in the future. Amen. And so life is so much better When we acknowledge what God is doing in our midst, amen, because Father set the greatest example as parents, amen. Every one of us, no one that we're loved and cared for is better than any material possession that you could ever receive in this walks of life, amen. We have a heavenly father that gives amazing gifts as well. Maybe there's something that you need this morning that's lacking. Maybe you feel like you're alone, something is not happening the way that you should feel that it's happening. You're missing out on something. When was the last time that you went to that father? You've got that natural father that ain't nothing to heal the 90. But what about that heavenly father? There's nothing to heal the 90 as well. He wants the very best for you this morning. Just sit there and think for a minute. What is it? That if that father that's with you now, if he can't provide it, what would that heavenly father provide for you this morning? There's nothing that he wouldn't want to give you. He don't always have it when you want it, though. And it ain't always what you say that you want that you get, but you will receive what you need and the time that you need this morning. And so as we get ready to close out, give your children the gifts of faith and acceptance and time and help and encouragement. and readiness because they all rock and they all the resource that we have. And the best way to teach the Children to serve God is for the father to show them how it's done. And I believe that the role of father must never be underestimated because his influence cannot be overstated in that family. Praise God. My father is a plus, and I thank God in the lives of everyone that they're around each and every day. That's how he is this morning. Father, I want to thank you for the message Lord, it's a simple, but it's a powerful message that you have told us that there's nothing that you wouldn't deny your children. Just as a father, Lord, that he wouldn't want to just give them just anything. He wouldn't want to give them his love. And this morning, Father, I want to thank you for this special time that is set aside for all of our fathers. Lord, for these men that are here this morning, and Lord, what they mean to their families and how special they are. The love of being able to see the representation in that family each and every day. Lord, I pray today, let it be a special time. Lord, they may not have asked for anything, but Lord, I'm gonna ask for all of them this morning. Lord, give them the very best that you have in your storehouse this morning, that they're needing in their lives this morning. Lord, whatever that might be that relates You are the very best, Lord. Whether in finances, whether in health, Lord, in progress, in their families' lives, Lord, whatever it is that they got on their plate this morning, Lord, I pray, God, that you provide the very best that you have to offer to each and every one that is tuning in, that's listening, and that's here this morning in their lives. Lord, I thank you for them, and I thank you for the love that has been shown. Lord to their families by this wonderful father that loves and cares as you do us in Jesus's marvelous mighty name. Amen.