A Father to the Fatherless

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

The text: the ark comes home

The cut opens with him already at the pulpit, turning the handclap into his first text: "Why'd you clap with your hands? Why don't you turn it into a Psalms 47 and one path, and clap — clap your hands, all ye people, and shout unto God with a voice of triumph. Somebody lift your voice right now, if you've got some praise. He's worthy." He honors the house: "It is a distinct honor to be here today. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God has ordained us, and so I'm glad to be in the will of God, but I'm glad to be with you people. And Pastor Young, thank you for the invitation... I agree with you, Reverend — you're one of the coolest 50-year-olds I know, man. Bible says in the book of Proverbs that a hoary-headed man, or a white-headed man, that has gained his white hair in wisdom, wears it as a crown. Bishop, you wear your crown well. Amen. And I love this family. They have perfected the scripture, in my opinion, where Paul said, 'I serve God with my mind.' I leave every time I'm in their presence challenged. And as he said, I'm just an old redneck from Mississippi, and so y'all gonna get some redneck preaching today. Hallelujah. Ma'am — again, if you have your Bibles, the book of 2nd Samuel chapter 6 and verse 9. The Bible says: 'And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the Ark of the LORD come to me? So David would not remove the Ark of the LORD unto him out of the City of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the Ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household. And it was told King David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the Ark of God. So David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with gladness. And it was so that when they bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the LORD with all his might, and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of a trumpet. And as the Ark of the LORD came into the City of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart. And they brought in the Ark of the LORD and set it in his place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.' Amen. I want to tie back into the story here in just a few moments, but if God will help us, I want to preach to us a sermon that the Lord has laid on my heart: A Father of the Fatherless. A Father of the Fatherless. Would you help me right now by lifting your hands and your voices to heaven, ask God that He would move in a mighty way?" After prayer he frames the familiar storyline: "It is my personal opinion that this story line that I have read to you today has probably been preached and re-preached more than any other story line in David's life, with the exception of David fighting Goliath. We preach about it all the time, and it's a good Sunday-night message. You come to church, we talk about how the Ark of God comes, and undoubtedly we believe the way that it should come in. It's important that the Ark of God, or the presence of the Lord, comes in on the shoulders of the priests. How can you be saved lest you have a preacher? I believe it's important that it will only come — the Spirit of God will only come into our presence by the way of sacrifice. The Bible says that David would go six paces and sacrifice unto the Lord. We understand that the Ark of God, or the presence of the Lord, if you will, will only come into our presence if we bring it in by the way of sacrifice... It is only one natural reaction. Where I come from, it's just good manners that you say thank you when God does something for you. And so it was David's reaction — as it should be ours — is that when the presence of the Lord comes in, and God touches and heals and delivers and sets free — whatever God does in that moment — that it is our responsibility to tell God thank you. Hallelujah. When we preach about all of this, it's really good preaching. But may I pry at your mind and ask you the question, just for a moment: Why was the Ark of God ever gone? We always preach about the return, but the truth of the matter is, nobody really wants to talk about how the ark of God left."

Scriptures: Psalm 47:1; 2 Samuel 6:9-17

How the ark was lost

"It was in the book of 1st Samuel that we see the beginnings of a very faithful man of God, a prophet of Israel — in my opinion, one of the most coveted prophets of the Old Testament. His mother Hannah has been barren for years, and we see that this young man, when he is born, is given to a man by the name of Eli, to be raised in the house of God. Hannah has prayed, 'God, give me a son,' and when she finally does have her son, she returns him, as she said that she would. And so in this we see the beginnings of this great and powerful man. But while I am of the belief that he has that resume, he also seen one of the worst things happen in Israel's history. He's seen the people begged for a king, and he anointed that king — but that was not the fall that I'm talking about. He's seen that king fail miserably. He began to fail God in the most terrible ways. And I could go into all of that, but that's not even the worst thing that Samuel has seen. But it was in the very setting of the miracle of his birth that Samuel has spoken. In the next chapter we see — the next chapter after Samuel's birth — we see that there is an unnamed prophet that comes to Eli, and he speaks of the knowings of the sins of Hophni and Phinehas. They perverted the use of sacrifice and their own bodies. And God speaks to Eli and said, 'Didn't I plainly set you out? Didn't I choose you? Didn't I do all of this stuff? And yet you kick at My sacrifice which I have commanded. And you are going to be cut off.' And I am sure it was in fear that Eli left the presence of the Lord. But nevertheless, his sons continued in their sin. And it is brought up again — God recurringly brings up this judgment to Eli — through the voice of the prophet that I'm talking about here today. Samuel is brought up, and he hears the voice of God. Goes to Eli: 'I heard something. Did you call me?' 'No. Go back to bed.' Time and time again, to the third time, he said, 'Look, just say, Here am I. Stop getting me out of bed. I'm tired, man.' And so, as the story goes, Samuel begins to hear from God, and there is a prophetic word that goes forth that we can find in chapter three of the same book, in verse 11. God said something is going to happen that is going to cause the ear of everyone that hears it to tingle. Judgment's going to be poured out, and that's going to be really bad. And so Samuel walks away, understanding that there will be a day that the judgment of God will be poured out upon Israel. And so Samuel begins to grow, and times go on, and finally that great and terrible day that Samuel has been dreading begins to unfold. The Bible says that the people have set up for war in Ebenezer, and the Philistines in Aphek. And the time comes that they begin to make war, one with another. And the Bible tells us that the Philistines begin to prevail over Israel. And as they do, the elders said, 'Let's call for the Ark of God. Let's bring the Ark of God into the camp, and surely God will bring us victory through this.' We know the story: that they sent to the people of Shiloh and said, 'Bring the Ark of God.' And Hophni and Phinehas came as well. And they began to shout for the battle. The Bible says that the Philistines were afraid, and that they began to shake in their shoes, if you will. And someone stood up and gave them a pep talk and said, 'Equip yourselves like men, and fight.' And so they began to fight against the Israelites. And this time it didn't happen like every other time. Pastor Young — this time there was something different. God allows the Israelites to lose. And the ark of God is lost. And so here is the story, the preset of the scriptures that I read to you today in our opening text. Samuel watches in horror. No words can describe the feeling that he is having, as the Ark of God is being lost. It is a loss that is so devastating that years would roll by and people would refuse to visit or even restore the Ark of God. The Bible says it remained in Kirjath-jearim for 20 years. Nobody wanted to revisit the day that the Israelites actually lost. Nobody would had talked about the day that they brought the Ark of God — which was supposed to be their greatest banner — into the battle, and it was lost that day."

Scriptures: 1 Samuel 3:11

Fifty to seventy thousand orphans

"I won't go a step further and say that there was an even greater loss than just the Ark of God. This was a bloody battle. Nothing could cover up the fact that thirty thousand men lost their lives in one battle. That's more than the USA lost in Okinawa in the entirety of the time that they were there. And the Israelites lost thirty thousand young men in one bloody day. They were someone's brother, someone's sons. And if history serves as correct, these were young men that were married. They were someone's husband. And again, if history serves us correct, most of these men had children — meaning that they were someone's father. And so I want you to picture with me, for a moment: there are adults that are mourning the loss of the Ark of God. But at the same time, in the city of God's people, there is a certain cry that goes out. It's not the cry of an adult, but it's the cry of children, between three to seven years old, that that night their mother came into their home and looked them in the eye and said, 'Daddy's never coming home.' Can you imagine the sound of mourning, as these young people realized that today is the day that I become an orphan? I can't express to you the joy after going home, when I've been gone for a couple of days, when my children see me and they are excited to see me — and daddy's home — and the hugs and the kisses, and so on and so forth. Any father here can agree that there's not a joy like that in the world. But as far as — I cannot express that — because I am lucky enough to still have my father. He just turned 51 last week. If I could just even — I can't even imagine the pain and the tears and the loss of not having a father. The only glimpse that I have into that is through the eyes of my precious wife. His father died — her father died when she was 15 years old. And what I can tell you, from sitting with her: there's a lot of tears. There's a lot of pain. There's a lot of grief. There's a lot of 'I miss you, Daddy's.' And wow — again, I want you to picture this. I'm trying to paint you a picture this morning. The sound of the mourning that is coming from the children, as they realize, 'I will never see Daddy again.' Nobody's ever gonna tell them, 'You're the most beautiful young lady.' Nobody's gonna tell them, 'You're the strongest young man.' Nobody to pick them up when they fall off their bike and scratch their knee — nobody. Daddy's gone. And so now, because of that — most likely they will live in oppression. They will live a life where nobody will want to be around them. They'll most likely be brought up in poverty, because there's no provider in their home. And the sad thing about this is: at this point in time, nothing is said to encourage these young people. Saul doesn't have any words. Samuel doesn't have any words. I wish I had time to preach the entire thing, but I don't. We can see that later on down the road David becomes king. And this is where we pick up here today. After seven and a half years of being king, David gets an idea. Says, 'I'm going to bring the Ark of God back home to its rightful place.' And so, with shouting and the sounds of a trumpet, he begins his trek towards Jerusalem. And he goes six paces, and he makes sacrifices unto the Lord. He strips off his kingly garments, and how the band begins to play. David is — for lack of a better term — having high Sunday-night church, and he's just having a good time in the Lord. He sees rejoicing, because the presence of the Lord — the Ark of God — is finally coming home. This is a day to be glad and rejoice. This is a day to shout. This is a day to run the aisles. This is a day to blow trumpets and do all of this stuff."

The song David wrote on the road

"And as David is walking down the road, he begins to write a song. We find that song in Psalms chapter 68. I imagine — I'm just trying to picture it in my own mind — it's David. We know how he is. David can write a song about a shoebox. David can write a song about anything. Ma'am, he's having a good church. Takes off his kingly garment, and he looks at the Benson — 'Hey, I got it. I got it. Y'all write this down. Let God arise. Let His enemies be scattered. Let them that also hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. And so let the wicked perish before the presence of the Lord.' And I imagine David's having them — people are rejoicing and shouting along with him. 'Hey, that's good lyrics, David. We can shout about that.' And all of a sudden, David comes to a halt. Because he sees a young lady that's crying. But it's not tears of joy — it's tears of pain. And David thinks to himself, 'How in the world can anyone be upset on a day like today? Today's the day to rejoice. Today's the day to reach out. Today is a day that we should run the aisles. Today is the day that the presence of the Lord is going home.' I don't know, but maybe David shrugged it off and kept going. And he began to write: 'Let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God. Sing praises to His name. Extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by His name JAH, and rejoice before Him.' And David looks — as women are dancing in the street, men are crying because the Ark of God is finally home — and again he meets eyes with a young man. But this time, again, it's not tears of joy. It's tears of sorrow. And Pastor Young, he looks at his arm, and his armor's all beat up. It's old armor. All of a sudden it dawns on David that this is a young man that his father probably died in the battle when the Ark of God was lost. The young lady he'd just seen crying — it was probably — the reason behind it was, the last time they've seen the Ark was the day that they were told, 'You will never see your father again.' To everybody else, it was a presence of the Lord. But to them, it was the presence of pain. To everybody else, it was an example of God's power. But to this young lady, to these young men — somewhere between 50 to 70 thousand children — it was a marker of the day that they became an orphan. And so, as David is singing about God's greatness and God's power, he all of a sudden, in his poetic greatness, stops and looks at these young people, and he says: 'Father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.' You see, friend, David had a New Testament revelation: that you might have lost your earthly father. You might be an orphan. You might be all alone. You might feel forsaken. But I've come to tell you, on a Sunday morning, that you don't have to leave the shouting and the dancing to everybody that's got it all together. David was looking at those young people, and he said, 'I know you're broken up, and I know you're hurting. And when you see everybody else around, it's hard to understand why they're shouting the way they're shouting. But just let me tell you something: He's not just the God of the rich. He's not just the God of the well-to-do, and the ones that got it all together. But He's a father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.' Friend, I don't know what that means to you. But what that means to me — as he was reaching back through twenty-seven and a half years of brokenness and hurting, and he was looking at an orphan and saying, 'I know you're hurting. I know you're crying. But let me introduce you to a God of heaven and earth that is greater, that is stronger, that can reach you where you are.' Hallelujah. He's a father of the fatherless. Can I preach about it for a little while? I understand, because I am a father. That is — I feel like having church today. But it's my job to be a provider. Hallelujah. Can I preach to somebody that's got some bills stacking up on the table? He's a father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows. Simply what that means is: my God is a provider. Didn't He say that 'I am the LORD your God, that shall supply all of your needs'? I'm preaching to somebody right now — that I have a God that's such a good God — my Dad is such a good provider, that He can rain bread out of heaven. He can bring water from a rock. He can airmail you food by a raven. He can make the clothes on your back stretch, and the shoes on your feet stretch. He can feed 5,000 with just two fish and five loaves. I'm — know a card — that's a Father of the fatherless, huh? He'll make a way even where there is no way. I don't know about you, but I can flip back over my life and see where I needed a provider, and Daddy showed up, and Daddy made a way. Hallelujah. I'm telling you: I don't know what your need is, but I know who does. I don't know how to answer your prayers, but I know who does. I don't know how broken you are, but I know who does. And He's a father of the fatherless. He sits high and He looks low, and He can reach you where you are. 'Preacher, you don't know what I'm going through.' I don't have to know what you're going through. I know who Jesus is, and I know He's a provider. I know He just knows how to show up." His own children carry the provider point: "I am the father of a six-year-old diva. I have a young piece of dirt, with noise, that we call a boy. It's wild and crazy. And then I have a dainty little girl at six who's already trying to figure out how to wear high heels. My wife just — I'll be honest with you, I'm not a shopping guy. Bass Pro, Cabela's, I'm there. Dillard's — I'm gonna sit in the truck. Since I am — somehow or another, Pastor Young, my wife roped me into going into a mall not too long ago. And I walked in there, and they messed up, because they had little diva buggies. My little girl had her a buggy, and she was happy about it. This is the way Emma shops: she looks, she says, 'Oh, that's Pentecost. I can wear it.' No matter what size it is — just fill the buggy up. And I got tickled and walked over there and said, 'Baby, who's gonna pay for all that?' She smiled and she said, 'Daddy, you are.' I said, 'What if Daddy ain't got the money?' She said, 'Well, you see, you got that little plastic thing in your wallet. You put that in there, and that's how you pay for it.' I wish to God, as children of God, we have the same revelation as a six-year-old girl does. I don't know how God's gonna do it, but I gotta know He's God. He's a provider. He could show up. He can do — anyway, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And if God owns all that, He also heals — if he — don't think for one moment that He can't take care of you. He's a father of the fatherless. He's a provider. I'm telling somebody today: you've been sitting back and watching everybody else. It's your time. You need to get involved, because He's a father." Israel after the Red Sea is his mirror: "Bishop, it amazes me how much like the children of Israel we are. I didn't see this in the Premier Study Bible — maybe you should let me write a commentary. Exodus 15 and 8: when God had delivered the children of Israel across the Red Sea, Moses started singing a song, and he said, 'With a blast of Your nostril, You parted the water.' I told you he's gonna get some redneck preaching today. That literally, at face value, says God sneezed. I mean, God stepped to the bow of heaven, said, 'Hey, Gabe, watch this.' Wow, did you see that? And then the children of Israel had the gall to stand on the other side and say, 'Well, I don't know how we gonna eat.' You mean to tell me God just sneezed and parted the water, and you can't believe Him for a little bit of bread and meat? Let me put that in 2019 terms: you mean God brought you out of darkness into His marvelous light, God delivered you from drugs and alcohol, God brought you out of false doctrine — I got — and now, just because you got things a little overriding, you can't shout and dance because you have a couple weeks where you don't have as much money as you wanna have? Is wrong with you? You need to grow up in the Holy Ghost. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not the strongest man in the world. At my house, Dad is the biggest, baddest guy that there ever was. And you tell them any different, and I'll show you how big and bad I am — freaking out how to leave my house. We still have to fight 'my dad is stronger than your daddy' — not because I told them, just because they believe it. And as a father, it's not just my job to be a provider. But let me just tell you, it's my job to be a protector."

Scriptures: Psalm 68:1-5; Exodus 15:8

The protector: Silver Dollar City, and a tornado in Tennessee

"I wish I — in my spirit right now, the Spirit of the Lord: you know, I got a Daddy. It's common knowledge. You need to look at the devil today: 'You've been messing around in my family.' I'm just gonna preach it how I feel it today. What — look, we had a couple days off. I was able to go to Silver Dollar City, and it was a holiday. We can only have one job: get the kids some food. That's it. That's all I had to do. Bishop, just feed the kids. Got it. But you see, there's this thing about amusement parks and six-year-olds: it turns their brains to Jell-O. They don't speak English. They don't understand commands. They just — they lose it. And so I went right straight, and then we went right. And I can't express to you the ice-water-in-the-vein feeling of realizing that, in a park with 50,000 people, I just lost my daughter. I told my wife, I said, 'You come here, and you hold Jameson. I'm going to find Emma.' I began to run in the direction I thought she might have been. Couldn't find her. Came back and looked to other places. All of a sudden, over the sound of the rides and people laughing and having a good time, I heard a little voice. I'm gonna tell you something: you might think you're strong, but I'da ate up two grizzly bears to get to where that little girl was at. Let me just tell you: we're all the time thinking that God — we got it all mixed up. We're all the time thinking that God is attracted to our trouble. God's not attracted to trouble. Don't bother God — there's always trouble. But David said, 'This poor man cried, and God delivered me out of my trouble.' God's not attracted to your trouble, friend. God's attracted to your cry. I'm telling you, you ain't gotta be in the middle of — your hands like having hot church. But it seems to me that we always got the same ones involved. I ain't never been here before. I can guarantee you the ones that are running right now — well, I'm — I guarantee you the ones that are jumping right now — yep, that's your jumpers. The ones that — what — that's the ones that usually do that. You can count on it, every Sunday morning. But this psalm that David was writing wasn't to those people. I'm — getting your corn pants right now — this song David's writing, it wasn't for the well-to-do. It wasn't for the ones that had it all together. I know everybody here's got it all together, so I'm just preaching to preach. The ones that rolled out of bed that morning and couldn't figure out what they wanted to eat — it was for somebody that was broken and hurting. For somebody that got up on a Sunday morning and put their tie on with tears rolling down their face. Put the bobby pins in your hair, thinking, 'I don't even know why I go to church. Like, everybody else gets preached to but me. Seems like everybody else gets a miracle.' But I need a father. Got a reason to shout. I got a reason to rejoice. Got a reason to dance. He's a father of the fatherless. No, it don't matter if you've been chewed up by the world, spit out by society, laughed at by church folk, walked around by the so-called priests of our day — you've been adopted. And if you're not, there's adoption papers all over this altar right now. Matter of fact, we got a — we got over there, we can wash you off. Come on, help me, somebody. As a seven-year-old boy, I remember — I'm trying to quit, I promise, I'm hurrying — as a seven-year-old boy, I remember I stayed with my grandmother during the summer. It was right around the time my dad was transitioning to become a full-time evangelist. And my grandmother — prayer warrior. Okay, everybody in Selmer, Tennessee knows Maw-maw Thomas. 'Maw-maw Thomas'll pray for you in Walmart. She ain't bashful about Jesus.' It did — some of you — get my — I'ma leave that alone. I remember I was staying with her for the summer, and she came in the room where me and my brother and sister was sitting, and she said, 'Kids, y'all go get in the bathtub and pray.' I'm saying — at our house, we don't pray in the bathtub. What I didn't understand was, the bathtub — the bathroom — was the only room in the whole house that was an interior wall, was a sturdy wall. There was a tornado coming our way. I've always been a little bit of a rebel, so I told my brother and sister, I said, 'Y'all go get in the bathtub and pray. I'm gonna see what my Maw-maw's doing.' So I walked into her kitchen — and Pastor, as long as I live, I will never forget. That same scripture that says He's a father of the fatherless says He's a judge of the widows. My grandfather died when I was five years old. He's been dead at this point about two and a half years. And I will never forget the prayer I heard her pray. I looked past her and seen a tornado. What — every year — it wasn't forgotten exactly. Been about 20 years ago. You can go and find out, Google it or whatever. It was the one that tore up Jackson, Tennessee. There's a F4, F5, whatever they are. One of the worst ones that Tennessee has ever seen. Coming right for — five — five — three — total will say..." The cut ends as he tells it: "I remember she started taking down that apostolic bun. She was crying and talking in tongues. And she said, 'God, I don't have a husband, but Lord, You're my husband, and You're obligated to take care of me.' And she said, 'Lord, I'm just a human. I can't move the storm. But God, You see me, and my babies are in this house. And You know how I've been faithful to You. I'm asking it, Lord, to make a way.' And I'm telling you, as sure as I'm standing in this pulpit right now, I watched as that tornado split and went around 250 acres that belong to Elizabeth Thomas, come right back together, and keep on going all the way to Jackson, Tennessee, and tore up everything in its path. Why didn't you tell me that, preacher? I told you because I've come to let you know what's going on in your life. And just because of that, I've gotta give Him praise. I don't know what the storm's gonna do, but I'm gonna give Him praise. There's somebody right now to just praise. Don't you wait on your neighbor. Don't you—" (the cut ends there, mid-exhortation).