"Why We Need Godly Men" By Brother Andy Giebler June 18th,
2017
Amen. Please be seated. I'll tell you, that prayer, that is an important one, because, opinions? I've got plenty of my own, and they don't amount to much. And that's part of our ministry. I tell you what, as I stand up here, and as I listen to those that came up to share—I tell you, I thought I was preaching today. Vince, you shared a lot. Jason, I thought you were going to come up and preach the message. But, I do have a couple of things I want to share. And the title, if I give this a title, is, “Why we need Godly men.” And I say, 'Godly men,' because we have a lot of different ideas, and the world will tell us what's right, and wrong. But, I'm going to start with a Scripture. If we could all stand and read it, it's a simple Scripture:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
That's all of us. I know it's Father's Day; I know it's Men's Day. You may be seated. As we speak to men, today, we speak to, you know, a wide variety of people here, and we're affected by the world in different ways, and we see things in different ways. And, if I give this a sub-title, after we've all said this, that we all come short of the glory of God, men, sometimes we fall short. That's not me throwing rocks, that's just Bible, and that's part of being flesh. But, what do we do? What do we do with that? What do I do? Do I lay on the floor and wallow in it, or get up and say, “God, what do You got for me?” And we've got to have the eyes of Jesus, we have to have the eyes of God; we have to look the way that He would have us to, because, if not, we're going to look at the world. And, as we're talking about these things, it would be easy to point a finger at, you know, the neighbors down the street, or this town over here, or this society over here, or this group of people over there, instead of saying, “God, what do You have for me? Where am I falling short?” And I don't say it lightly, because I don't like to say I've fallen short, but, where have we fallen short? Vince, you used the Scripture, “Raise up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) We hang on that Scripture, sometimes, as parents, and, some of us, we stand back and say, “Well, I've done all I could do. They've got to make their choices now.” Which is a true statement, but, sometimes we let ourselves off the hook. Sometimes we fail to come back to this: We've all come short. And I say that to encourage us, because I know that I'm in a group of people here that are raising their children. I know we're looking at that one true God. But, we've got to be able to look and say, “Where can I change something, here?” because the world needs Godly men. We look at the way things are going now: We've got men who are mad at their fathers, because they were never there. And these same men are leaving their own children; these same men are leaving their own wives, and it's a vicious cycle. It's kind of where our society is right now. But, how do we deal with that? We have the love of God that can go beyond all that. So, what do we do? And, to those of you—I was going to say this later in the message, but, to those of you who are in that boat, who have been left by your father, I know it's—I can't fully grasp that, because I have not been there, but I do believe that pain is there. I've seen it; I've seen it in many men. Many men—I say men, not boys, not children—men who've been left by their fathers. But, Psalms 91:
Psalms 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
He that dwelleth... Someone made a comment on that, and it just stood out to me, on a radio program. We have a choice on our blessings, on whether we get them or not. You know, people say, “Oh, well, God's going to give us what He's going to give us, no matter what we do.” No, we've got a choice. He that dwelleth in the secret place. I mean, that's my choice. If I see a nice, big shade tree over there, and it's sunny out there, I have a choice to go stand under that tree. I have a choice to stand and feel the coolness of the shade, and I have a choice to get the blessings of God. And, again, I'm not taking lightly any man who has dealt with that. God is the answer. God is our ultimate Father. And this goes deeper into why we need fathers in our God, here in our church. Jesse talked about it: People see you, and the follow you, and they know what you're about, and they follow your example. And, as we stand up, and do the unpopular things, as the men of God, people will see us. We can be that light in the darkness. Because, without it, we have young boys who are looking for a father-figure, that's not in their home. They're looking to the gangs, they're looking to groups, they're looking to social groups, they're looking to political groups. They're looking to people who want to give them affection that's not right. We have young girls who are looking for a father-figure; they're looking for that man in their life. And, because they don't have it, they're going out, they're willing to be with any man, just to grab that idea of what a real man is, because it's not in their life. And we can be the ones. And, Malcolm, you stood up and said, last week, you were talking about men. Just because you're not a father, here, don't let yourself off the hook. We have men in this church that, they're not necessarily fathers, but they're mentors. They have the ability to see it, a young boy, a young girl, and share a kind word, an encouraging word. Take the time just to listen to them, because, sometimes our kids need that. I tell you, as a dad, sometimes the hardest thing is, when you know you're right, when you walk in, you see the situation isn't right, I want to put my foot down, and say, “This is the way it's going to be.” But that's not necessarily the way to do things. Sometimes you've got to stop and listen. You can tell your kids all kinds of stuff, but, if you don't understand them, you're not going to say it in way that they can understand it. You're not going to give them what they need; you're giving them what you want to give them, I'm giving them what I want to give them. The thing is, our youth are crying out, and we've got people that are young couples, just getting married, that need that Godly example. And, we've been married seventeen years, and I, every day, I've got to learn more, I've got to learn to grow more. Our daughter's out of the house; we have grandchildren now. And, even more so, I see the need to minister to my daughter: I can't just rest and say, “She's made her own decisions now.” You know, Pastor Paine shared a message one time, talking about giving up on people that God's not ready for us to give up on. And that just struck me like a ton of bricks on my head, because, you know, there's a few of us who have had children that grew up in the church and they're not abiding here now, and it disappoints us, but we can't give up on them. We're still their parents. They make their own decisions, and the choice is theirs' now. They don't live under our roof, but, still, we have our children at stake and our grandchildren. Sometimes, we tend to look at ourselves as men and say, “Well, I've failed.” I can't get up from this. We can look throughout the Bible and see a whole list of men who failed, but got back up and God used them. One, specifically is King David. King David was an adulterer and a murderer and he caused a lot of pain in a lot of people's lives, but he came back to God. Now, that isn't to say that when we come to God and we get forgiveness, it's just going to be all right. Yeah, we can gain that forgiveness, and start doing the right things, but, don't be under an illusion, there's still a price to pay; there's still things that we have to deal with. I grew up in a real sheltered life; I grew up as a preacher's son, and, in our household, divorce was something that wasn't talked about. It wasn't something that was an option at all. It was something that, to my mind, it just was not something that was even—crazy people did that; not in my family, not in the people around me. I got a rude awakening when I joined the Navy and got out of my little sheltered little own that I lived in. And then came back, and realized what I was blinded to, there. Realizing that there are people that, that's their reality. And, we can come back to God, but, we still have mixed—we still have two families; dad's over here, mom's over here, both remarried. They may have had a time when they had fallen away from God, and they got right with God; it doesn't change the fact that, now, the kids are living over there, and it takes even more of being that father to minister. That's when we can give up. That's where fathers can easily throw up their hands and say, “Well, it's out of my hands now.” No, it's still your responsibility. I've got a list of four things, things that we want to focus on, as men of God, as fathers: A father should be a protector. That's not going to be popular. A father is not going to be popular when he takes his children from, maybe, the music that they want to listen to. We're surrounded, in our society, by music that—and this is adults and youth—that just want to grab onto it, because it's all about getting rich, it's all about having the cars, and having all the women hanging off your arm, and having the gold chains hanging off your neck, or whatever it is. And seems to be the lifestyle, and it doesn't matter if it's rap, or hip-hop, rock and roll, country... It's there. And, sometimes, we have a radio station, “Aw, that's the oldies channel; that's okay,” and I'm not talking about the style of music; I'm talking about what they're talking about. I'm talking about are they talking about, you know, just going out and finding a woman to just jump into bed with, or doing drugs? Or, whatever it is, that's what the majority of our music is about these days. Fathers, we've got to protect our kids from that. And we can't protect our kids from it if that's what we're listening to. We've got to protect them when that TV's on. That's a pipeline for the world—you know Hollywood is nothing but a bunch of snakes; all right, I'll say it that way. They want to tell us how to live our lives, and we watch this television, and it's all a cotton picking script. They can make that screen say anything they want. They can make the story go however they want, and they can manipulate our lives with what they put as what they call entertainment. And I watch movies; I'm entertained by it, but, you've got to have the realization that there are some things out there that are actually being used—and I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but there are people out there that don't want us to live as Christians. They don't want us to accept that the Christian way of living is right. They want us to say, “Whatever feels good, do it,” and they're promoting it by what they put on that television. I don't think they all have hidden agendas, but some of them do, and, as fathers, we're not popular when we say, “That movie's not a good movie,” “Hey, that television show is not righteous,” “That activity you want to go to; that's not a good place to be,” “You want to go hang out with your friends who are having a keg party; it's not a place to be. Is that someplace where you can show the righteousness of God?” That's what men of God have got to stand up. Now, as that protector, I'm going to quote another Scripture:
Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Provoke not. That's something that, as men, we have to question, sometimes: “Am I speaking upright, or am I provoking, or, am I promoting, lifting up?” Because we've all seen, probably been there, you know, where a child is unruly, you say stop. They keep doing it, and you say stop, and this goes on for a while, and, instead of taking charge of the situation, and working with the child in the way the child needs to be worked with, we get frustrated, and, whack! And, sometimes—I'm not against that if it's needed, but, is that swat out of frustration, just because, “All right, I'm going to be the dad and stop this right now,” or, because, you know, you just lost it, or, is it because the child, you just needed to get their attention? Because sometimes that's needed as well. But, provoke not your children. Sonia's laughing at me; she's going to make me tell a story on her, here in a minute. Our granddaughter, Lily, was acting up. And, Sonia was a little frustrated, and she said, “I'm going to give you to three. One—” whack! Sorry. She was laughing at me; I knew that was what she was thinking so I had to tell the story. But, as you—I'm going to read that again:
Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Admonition of the Lord. There's a time to take charge; there's a time for admonishment.
A Godly father is a provider. And, when you hear the word, 'provider,' you hear this: “Yeah, he's a good man. He's a good father. He takes care and he provides for his children,” as far as monetary things. And we have to find pleasure in knowing that, men, we're created in God's image. I'll use the example of Abraham, Jehovah-Jireh, provider. When he went to go sacrifice his son, because that's what God told him to do, he said, “My son, God will provide Himself a sacrifice.” He's our provider, Jehovah-Jireh. He sees, He provides. He knows what we need before we even ask for it. He knows what we need before we even put it before Him. He's our provider. That's the model we have to look after, the provider for our family. Yes, it's about things, it's about an example. We are that provider. He must be a promoter, as a Godly father. Sometimes we've got to promote things other than ourselves. We have to promote our children; we have to lift them up. We have to show them the ways that they can do things. We have to lift them up, because, if we're just lifting ourselves up, that's all it is. And Satan is as a roaring lion; he's ready to devour, if we fall asleep on the job. If we don't take time to promote our children, and show them how they can live righteously, how they can do things in the right way. And, the last point: As a father, we're a priest. We're a priest of God. and, what does a priest do? What a priest does, he comes before God, for the people. Vince, you shared this: Our children, they have the ability to hear God, but, yet, we are in that stead, until they come to the decision as an adult, and are able to make it on their own. No, that doesn't make us God, but we have the responsibility to show them God We have the responsibility to speak Truth and life to them. It also means we have to be prayer warriors. As priests, we have to have a prayer life. We have to have a time when we're coming before God, and, as the priest had all the adornment and the stones on their shoulders and the things on their chests, all the things to remind them of the people. We have to wear those things for our children, for our families, for our wives; we have to bear that responsibility. And I know it can sound like all this is something you have to do as a burden, but, it can be a joy, because, when you wear that burden, and you see things that are righteous come out of it, then you have the joy of seeing God's will being done in those around you; not because I'm anything, but because God is faithful. But we have be that priest, that faithful prayer warrior, the one who comes before God whenever I see my wife has a need, my children have needs, my grandchildren have needs. I could rush in, and say, “I'm going to be the hero.” That's what guys like to do. Guys like to be the hero. Guys, we're wired funny. We like to hear—guys go a lot further on being encouraged, and hearing how well we, how good we do things, instead of hearing how bad we do things. That's just the way we're wired. We want to go in and we want to be the one. You tell us, “Hey, you did a good job carrying in those two bags of groceries,” I'm going to go back and grab six more, and see how many I can carry at once. Put one on my foot, one on my head... We're wired for that, but, yet, we have to be the intercessor; we have to be the priest that goes before God. Sometimes we take the time to go back and look at our faults, you know? Some of us have some things that we deal with in our lives, some things that we just can't seem to shake. Our sins. Sometimes we think our sins are our biggest problems. The sins aren't the biggest problems; it's that you don't take them to God. That's the biggest problem, because, if all I do is wallow in my sin, it's not going anywhere. Then I go back to doing the things that used to do, just because I can't shake it off. But our families are dependent on us.
1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Like I said, as men, we like to be the one with the spotlight on us; we like to show off how macho we are, but that Scripture says that He will exalt us. I don't have to exalt myself. I don't have to show off. I don't have to make out how good I am; God will exalt me. In His righteousness, because, I put my ares on Him. Sometimes that's not an easy thing to do, because I want to take it on myself. I want it to be me, and I want to puff my chest out, and say, “Look what I did.” That's not what the priests were called to do. They were called to go before God, and they were called to tell the people what, “Thus sayeth God,” not what, “Thus sayeth Andy Giebler.” Parrish, where's that Scripture you read, be sober and vigilant... Oh, it's the next verse; so we'll move on to verse eight:
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Vigilant. Sober. Not doing things that take your mind to a different place. We're talking about intoxication of alcohol, but it could be anything, anything that takes your mind to a different place, so you're not focused on God. It could be anything. One more Scripture:
1 Timothy 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Without wrath and doubting. Just turn it over to God, because that's where it's at. And, I'll tell you, this day we call our Father's Day; This is a day, you know, it's a Hallmark day. It's one that the world wants to make money off of. It's the one they want to—I know we pale in comparison to Mother's Day, and our women are worth it. That's the big one. But this is still that, in the same vein of, what the world wants to do on that one day that they come together, and they say we're going to promote our fathers, and the rest of the year, it's all about everything but. And I want to say this again: If you're in a position where you say, “I've fallen,” maybe you've raised children, and maybe you haven't done what you're supposed to, for a time for , or your children are doing something, and you're like, “How do I jump into this now? How do I talk to my children who are grown? How do I talk to my grandchildren? How do I get into that?”
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Let God be your Father; rest in Him. And, every day, I draw closer to, taking the time to—I get up in the morning, and, I know, sometimes it's not easy, and I am not a morning person—sometimes my prayer to God is just, “God, help me wake up.” But, if I try to get on my knees first thing in the morning, I'm going to find myself there ten minutes later, passed out asleep. But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. I get up in the morning, and I get in the car, and the first thing I want to do is turn on my radio, hit the talk radio button. But that's when God says, “Hey, you've got an hour between here and where you go to work. What are you doing with it? And that's my time. Turn that radio off.” It doesn't matter whether it's something right or wrong you're listening to, it's just the fact that God wants that time. God wants that. And it doesn't have to be just that; whatever time God's dealing with you. You get in the mode where—we say we want something... It's the same with our health, you know? How many of you say, “I want to go on a diet. I want to exercise; I'm going to get up and do some stretches...” and we don't do it? We know we need to do it, and we even know the benefits of doing it, but, even more so—that's a fleshly thing; when God's Spirit is saying, “Hey, you know what? I'm going to bless you if you do this.” We wake up in the middle of the night, and God says, “Hey, get up and talk to Me.” And we get up in the morning, and say, “God, I want to come talk to You,” and hit the snooze button again. Or I get home from work, and I want to jump into whatever it is I want to do when I walk in the house, instead of just getting on my knees and saying, “God, am I going to do? What do You have for me?” And, as I wrap this up, I want to ask our men to stand—our fathers. I'm sorry, our fathers. I'm going to ask Parrish to come up. And, men, if you could come forward in the altar. I'm sorry; fathers, I meant to say fathers. I'm going to ask Parrish to pray. I'm going to step up here, with you, as a father. I'm going to ask Parrish to pray with us as we come together, and bind, as men, as fathers. Jason, as you started preaching this morning about listening, being what God wants us to be.
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