By Faith

welcome to CAC day Father's today I want to give an honor can we give our fathers a hand another hand as you're being seated thank you musicians worship leaders for for being sensitive to the spirit today thank youu and Greers and offering taker ERS and sound men and all the things I know today's Father's Day thank you Pastor for allowing me to preach today I I talk that was a mistake what a mistake felt like a mistake you are probably wondering why I am preaching father I struggled with this as I imagine most of us father's Father's Day it brings a a mid or Aid however you pronounce that different Mother's Day everyone's oey gooey that's what mothers are they're ooey gooey like oy gooy butter bars that's Mother's Day Father's Day if if we were to go around in the the room some of us would have exceptionally well relationships and relations to our fathers in not fathers the nature of it fathers are not exactly relational based people in the discussion this morning we had around breakfast there was a few of us gentlemen there and we were talking about the Long View that fathers take not always the the easy one sometimes I think you mothers like to use Fathers as scapegoats because you're relational BAS your dad's going get you I'm going to be the good guy in this I'm going to be the one that now not all the time but sometimes okay now that's and that's the thing is each each one of us have a different story about how we connect to our fathers and a lot of times I think that's the way we relate to God God is our father and so we bring of those same things and we we come and and we're like God some of us we try to to earn our Salvation some of us try to just run away from our Salvation some of us just try to ignore it some of us engageing you're here today so I'm going to I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt that you are trying to engage in your salvation that's okay I I know that on this day that some of us will remember the fathers that have passed on and some of us will look forward to the fathers that will be but one of these days you might be father and I believe that calling is in every man is the calling to fatherhood I will say that it is the Bane yet the Fulfillment of our purpose it is the curse and our calling of our existence as a man it is not readily evident how we are to operate in world for little girls fantas give them baby doll they automatically know what to do it's it's weird it's funny it's different uh heard a comedian you always get in trouble when you start quoting comedians right he was like you know when I bought my wife a vacuum I I thought I was just fulfilling her childhood dreams right because what little girls like to do they play house they yeah yeah yeah I didn't follow his advice I'm just saying that that to me for for for you females is probably it's a little more easy for you guys to pick up on what you're supposed to do in life as a guy as a as as a young kid my only I Live to play war that it I mean that's honestly I don't remember what I I I don't know if I did anything I know I accidentally carried knives to school in my backpack because I've been playing war and I was like oh no they're going to carry me to jail now you know it was like one of those elementary school things and you're you're freaking out but but and then my group of friendsoft that was it I don't know how I didn't wind up going to the military honestly I have no idea because that was all I did that was all I thought about and every now and then I would play in the dirt with a t of truck but you know what I do now none of those things at all in fact Hayden was like do you get your hands dirty man ha why you gota go and roast me like that man no I worked hard and now I like spreadsheets better than digging ditches okay so you can't accidentally learn how to work in spreadsheets as a little boy like it just doesn't happen in fact you give them a baby doll and it gets decapitated give them a computer it gets destroyed that's I mean ches you're a boy mom you don't have China in your house do you no go to Sarah nurse's house it's the Dynamics are wildly different in here for that good deal all right but as a man and ladies I'm not going to preach to you today that's this is your day to just you guys can go shopping take the kids with you I'm just kidding

when God created Adam Adam sat in the garden and did not do what God asked him to do he was in his adolescence he was created and God was like dude all you got to do is just enjoy this and name you know just kind of take care of this Garden name a few animals one he probably like me and just did not enjoy all right it's probably taking care of itself it's good it's growing right those of you that Garden know better so God's looking and in Genesis 2 and8 then the Lord God said it is not good that man should dwell alone I will make him a helper fit for him I don't know if you've ever talked to a teenage to adolescent guy that just wouldn't do anything but you'd probably have that same conversation with yourself as God did and something to do this dude ain't even worth talking to that's why God that's why God created him he wanted to walk in the garden with him he wanted to talk with him and he's like this dude ain't doing nothing ain't doing nothing he needs a Taskmaster I mean he needs a wife a helper I'm just waiting off in it today AR he needed a woman's imagination in order to build AIT the woman's touch is not to build infrastructure I have yet to see a woman build a house man do in fact just just a FYI um in America women now own more houses than men thanks to a phenomenon called divorce I know we shouldn't joke about it but honestly that's real real stat there okay shouldn't joke about that but real thing a woman's touch then takes the infrastructure that man has built and it turns it into something that's maybe a little more comfortable he looks a little nicer um smells better man I did not know my house stunk until I got married you know Adam and his self probably did not have the sense to get out sun he did not know what sunscreen was long sleeves in the sun who knows what that is man is not complete without woman okay y were made for helper I'm not preaching to y'all today all right understand I so when God made Eve Adam was rudely interrupted out of his adolescence her desire to do to be to experience awaken within him a desire I can promise you guys you ladies none of us men want to go out and build a dream home honestly we don't have a dream home I mean later in life we develop that but it you you ask these boys what's your dream home okay it's God's honest truth this Adam once once God gave Eve to him it awakened within him to desire to please what what can I what can I do and and then we're all now on the treadmill as men on the treadmill of what can I do to make her happy that's don't hop on it too too hard what can I do because right uh um Oren's got a she's got a little a little boy school that will bring her rocks miss you you like these rocks these these are for you that's that nature but it was not there before Eve

the fall uh and then as as as he goes on the frity of Eve the weaker vessel maybe to her disain I've never met a woman that was not a little mad about that luckily they're weaker and can't do anything so her fry awaken within Adam a desire to protect her he he he saw her wandering around petting rhinoceroses like hey hey babe that thing's like 4,000 pounds that's GNA kill you please don't do that oh it's not going to hurt me no no it it'll hurt you okay he saw her driving down the road okay um he he he saw he saw how she interacted in the innocence in her nature of I just want to go make friends she even trusted snakes he's like I got to protect her she's gonna be dead before long got to protect her so it awakened that within him the fall of Adam forced the fruit of providing to Blossom after the fall he was no longer in the garden he was no longer in paradise and he now had to toil and provide Eve's Beauty awakened I I've struggled on a word for this one because I knew there' be kids in here but Eve's Beauty awakened desire within Adam to procreate procreation now forced him to develop something neither of them had responsibility the cause of the Fall Adam was now bombarded with the need to please protect provide procreate and now responsibility with this responsibility it is both the man's call and his despair it is both his his rising to the occasion and the thing that also feels like it will crush him but it's what makes him a man that time that effort that energy that that goes in to providing to protecting it is not easily done and it is I'm I'm just going to give this one free okay the only thing that I know of that a man want and if someone had you of that I'm sorry if they

now Adam is is saddled with his own demon his own lary he is saddled with something that that in his responsibility that that it's he knows what Paradise was but now the world that he is raising his children in is a fallen world he cannot turn back to the Garden of God he cannot go back to this paradise even if he tried with all his might because God had put it off limits and now he is left with this load of responsibility to restore Paradise unto his family he is left with this overwhelming sense of urgency to preserve to protect to to Pro provide and procreate and and it is so overwhelming that he has nothing he can do with it he looks upon as Adam put yourself in his shoes for just a moment he was in Paradise but now he's and this hell was of his own making it was his own decisions he bore the responsibility for it this was his cross to bear he cannot turn back and he cannot shed himself of all these responsibilities he cannot shed himself of these things he is trying to figure it out

we see this played out in his sons Cain and Abel Cain and Abel grew up no long no doubt looking for the the the forward to the stories of paradise fathers if you could raise your hands for me we got apples we're going to hang out hand out here Apple D doctor way you're not teachers might be these gentlemen are going to help us hand out these app apples all right and then every man after the fathers every man in here will need one okay many how many fathers tell stories back in my day Kevin come on when I was kid upill both ways through the snow we actually swam through the freezing River had to dive under the ice every father in this room now looks back upon their own Youth and and how hard they had it and in some always it's once again both a c both a cursing and a calling man they got it easy but now my calling is to make it easier and and and this Jud position of callings sometimes leaves us with our hands up we make it easier we get spoiled little brats we make it too hard and they Crush under the weight everybody got an apple all men got an apple everybody got an apple no doubt Adam all men all men got an apple all men I just needed the fathers to get one first all right everybody that can boys finish helping handle out no doubt that Adam started telling the story of the fruit now we all know that we don't know what kind of fruit it was but just for the sake of ease we're going to call it an apple he started telling the story of the garden he started telling of the ease that he had the the the Perfection that he had the the the struggles that he had and and he built up this picture of the garden of paradise and his boys never saw it but every time he saw an apple or he saw the fruit of the tree he probably no doubt thought and went back in his mind ah if only if only if only and he and and I don't know we don't have record of what a of what Adam did we have no record of this he kind of after this fall he his his story kind of ends and we see it played out in his children we see Cain and Abel start to start to look at the world that they are now in in the Fallen World and they are left with the same and this is why it goes to every man it is let they they are left with the desire the same maybe unspoken responsibility to restore Paradise they are left with the same idea that that this world is fallen and something's got to be better they probably looked at looked for their purpose in pleasing and serving they probably look for their purpose in protecting because that's an innate thing that a man wants to do they probably even looked at it and found their purpose in providing or they tried to find their purpose in procreation

however these are Hollow responsibilities they're they're Noble and they're manly and they're Godly but they are not the end responsibility it is a pseudo responsibility it always takes vain forms jobs Hobbies purchases achievements accolades children list goes on and on pleasing protecting providing and procreation nothing is wrong with these innately but when they become our Endo we are provided with a hollow and empty world and so we find Cane and Abel got an apple don't eat it yet got an apple we find cane and able with the story of the Apple we find them holding on to the responsibility to restore paradise and searching for it in the way they go about it Cain gets jealous of Abel because Abel in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse one now Faith is the Assurance of things hoped for of the conviction of things not seen somebody say he hadn't seen Paradise for by it the people of would receed their Commendation by faith we understand that the Universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible verse four says by faith able offered a more acceptable sacrifice than can by faith able offered a more acceptable ACF

Abel had never seen the promise he had never taken part of it he only had heard the stories of it he only had the apple of Adam's eyes so to speak he' only heard of what could be he' only understood that the world around him was imperfect and that he had an innate call within him to make it into Paradise but he could not do it with things that he had seen he could only do it by faith able to faith that tomorrow would come and it would be a better day after the fall after all this he looked around the world that you and I see today and the innate desire that each and every man in here feels and will recognize as I talk about it of to provide to please to protect to procreate and all those things and we think that we get wrapped up in ourselves if we had just to had a 100 Acre Farm with a house in the middle of it that everything would be right with the world world because the world couldn't hurt us anymore the world couldn't touch us anymore but you see there was an ingredient in all of that that was missing out because

the paradise that Adam was searching for was not the garden the paradise was not the Leisure the paradise was not the fruits the paradise was not the rule over the animals The Paradise was communing with God it was the walk in the cool of the day with God Almighty when when when Adam was able to Center himself when he was able to order his world when Adam was able to grab a hold of of a nugget from the word of God and say you know what this is what I'm going to order my life by when he was able to to grab a hold of and just be in the presence of his creator he could then come back to his family and say no this is the way walk in man I know I know the challenges of life are all around us and I know as I prepared for this and as I searched out God the heart of God for us today that I was I was I was God how am I I'm not adequate I can't do this and I and and and everything else was happening I'm going to tell you guys everything else was happening not good bad or ugly just everything else was happening this week everything and as I'm going through this I'm like this is what th this is what this is what guys go through every day Dodge this pick up this do this got to do this gotta get here gotta get this done my future depends on this I've got to get this I've got to get to work I've got to take care of my family I've got to make sure there's food on the table I've got to do these things and I still got to get a word and I I guys I was riding I I got to do something and pray you know like maybe that's ADHD I don't know I'm driving down the car driving down the road in the car God what am I going to do how am I going to do this oh man and God stirred my heart and he stirred my soul he stirred it's not in the things that you see it's not in the things around this world those things may stir you and may get you up in the morning but that's not the end it's by faith it's the communing with God that's going to set your world in order you can't build a big enough Castle you can't make enough money you can't fall in love deep enough you can't oh somebody hear me you can't have enough children in order to please God you've got to have faith you've got to live by faith you've got to walk by faith you may not can see it you may not can feel it oh come on I know I'm talking to men today emotionally we're like I I I a want know that in fact I know some of us as as worship goes and it gets to Rolling it gets to going some of us ah it's just too emotional for me I get it I understand that's that's natural it is as a man that is natural natural is not Fai we may not be able to see it with our Mind's Eye we may not be able to touch it feel it imagine it whatever it is but by faith you see the calling that cries out to every man every every every father the calling that cries out is is is to provide it is to protect it is to please it is to procreate but we are not going to find that here we can try and we should that's manly things to do but that is not the end goal God has called us to More by faith AER able offered by faith

in Hebrews chapter 11 we find by faith that Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death that didn't even exist doesn't even make sense there's no reason that man that that that Enoch would think that he wouldn't die there is no reason that Enoch would it doesn't make sense but by faith by faith Noah being warned by God to build a boat doesn't make sense there's no purpose there's no reason it's never rained but by faith by faith Abraham left ER of the Chans he left the most developed civilization up to that point and walked into the Wilderness by Faith by faith being old some of y'all probably don't want this type of Faith by faith Sarah being old knew that God had given a promise but what did she do she conceived by faith Abraham offered up the Promise by faith Isaac by faith Jacob by faith Joseph by faith Moses by faith Rahab by faith bar and Gideon and Samson and jeffa and David and Samuel and the prophets it was not done by their own might and their own accord it was done by faith in almighty God

every man in here I want you to hold up your I want you to hold up your Apple this is your calling it is what you were made for you were made to recreate Paradise your forefather Adam fell you were made to eat Paradise you were made to partake of and as I'm coming to a close asked me if he should take a nap before or after today if you would stand with me

you see because it is by faith that we're made first Corinthians 15 says 21 for as by by Man Came Death by man has come also the resurrection of death for as into Adam all die so also in Christ shall be made alive later in in that same chapter the first man Adam became a living being and the last Adam became a lifegiving spirit man I know I should have preach to ladies today should have done it Mother's Day Father's Day you know just preach to them I know the way I know the weight of responsibility to restore Paradise some of us I'm afraid are like Adam and we get called up in all of those you still have that inate desire need maybe you don't even have the you're chasing after you're you're you're you're reaching you're you're thinking you're going to get it and this and that and you you'll get something out of it that's great I think ambition is good that's not your fulfillment that is not your call I don't know what stage you're at in that because we all go through those different stages I don't know where you're at there I to it's Father's Day so you knew you have to come to the right

if all the men in the room would gather around every one of us and if we could take just a few moments God I need to restore a relationship with you I need to make sure I walk in the cool of the day I need to make sure this is the only way I'm going to able to be able to protect my family this is the only way that I'm going to be able to ensure their safety in this world that we're in guys you can fix it I believe you can I believe you can I know you can I know in this room that we can fix the world all around us I'm just G I'm going to give you my heart right now I feel some some shaking and just some it's it's like a little Tremor in the spirit I can't see it I don't know what it is but I feel it and I want to share it with you by faith it's right here by faith our world will be changed by faith Chattanooga will be changed by faith our families will be saved by faith I can't see it all the way I've tried and I've prayed but I feel something in the spirit by Faith by faith could you with me right now grab a hold of of God however you have to do that however you've got to get your mind and your soul in line with him and would you just grab on a little bit of Faith with me today by Faith by faith God I'm trying to protect my family but I know that in just the flip of a button everything can be destroyed God by faith I'm believing you will protect us God I'm trying to I'm trying to build a better future for my girls and my sons and my daughters but I don't know what happens tomorrow you do that job that I've worked so hard for it can vanish in just a moment that house that I think is good can burn down during this service but by faith God I got to give it all to you I none of it matters God if I don't have it with you oh I wish some men right now some ladies if you want to gather around behind us by faith come on somebody grab a hold of it with me by faith I know that Chattanooga can be shved by faith I know we can shake the foundations of the world oh Jesus by faith God I want to walk in the cool of the day with you God I want to walk in oh Jesus faith it is both our curse and our calling Gentlemen by faith oh god I've got to be close to you I've got to be near you God you are going to order my steps you are going to make my way plain you are going to direct my paths God I'm not going to get it from anywhere else but you by faith I've never seen this paradise you talk of I've never seen the peace that can pass all understanding but by faith I'm grabbing out for Jesus Jesus hallelujah hallelujah oh come on love the Lord I Believe In You Lord I Believe In You Jesus I trust you God