We had a bunch of people on mission in KY this week, plus a couple more families on vacation. With Mother's day, many times you can experience a jump in attendance. Not so with Father's Day.
On Mother's day, I had used the story of Hannah and Samuel to discuss the special qualities of a God honoring Mom. Today I continued the story but from the standpoint of how BAD a father Eli was. What happened? Why did this man of God lose his sons to wickedness? What can parents do to try to ensure their kids don't turn out that way?
In planning music, I knew we were not going to be able to tie that to the text, so I just worked on preparing people for worship.
The Heart of Worship - (To try and make sure we weren't focused on any father but our Father in Heaven.
Thank You Lord
He Has Made Me Glad
It Is Well With My Soul
Amazing Grace
Every now and then, I think I need to make an effort to place one of the older and beloved hymns into a place that the words can do their work. "It is well..." did that today. If I had it to do over, I would have chosen something else than "Amazing Grace".
Audio of the sermon
I'm ending a sleepy afternoon, missing my father, and missing my sons. One's in Kentucky on a mission trip, and the other is in Warner Robins, GA. I don't know why, but this year's Father's Day has been tougher than most.
I had preached from this text back in 2000, and as I reread what I did then, it was true to the text, but it left out something that I found out to be very important, so I added that to my notes.
That is - finish strong. My brother and I are still dealing with the effects of our father's weakness at the end of his life. Nothing about that I can change. But I can ask God to give me what I need to achieve a life lived for Him until the end of my life. I do not want to out live my integrity.
I am thankful for what my father did for me. But that pales in comparison with what my heavenly Father has done.
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