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Here's our text for Sunday, June 17, 2007 (Father's Day):
Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. May the LORD bless you from Zion all the days of your life; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, and may you live to see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel.
Oh my, how man is blessed! And I'm speaking very exclusively here, not in the context of "hu-manity". Just "Manity". Oh how man is blessed IF...
You see, there are some pretty awful ways a man can miss his blessing if he decides to. It's all about making not just good decisions, but godly ones.
Now ladies, I expect you are saying about now, "Come on Pastor Ken! You know that goes for the female of the species too, don't you?
Sure I do! But this weekend is Father's Day and I've got to be bustin' on the guys alone this time. Besides, don't you think we men could use a little "bustin' on" once in a while??? So here goes:
Psalm 128 Verse 1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways
1) Fear the Lord. Don't be frightened of Him. Just FEAR Him. The way you knew you had to fear a loving parent's wrath if they caught you doing something you'd been told not to do. If we live in fear of punishment, sometimes we don't do the things we'll get punished for...sometimes.
2) Walk in His ways. For the first several decades of Christianity our faith community was called "The Way." Not "A" Way, but THE Way. The way of Jesus. The way we should go. The Way of the Lord. When we don't walk in THE WAY we are supposed to, what happens?
Many years ago our family, Mona, Jennifer (age about 6), Jim (age about 4) and I, were walking along a paved path at Condors State Park. It was a bright sunny afternoon and if memory serves we were heading to the park store for some ice cream (I rarely forget a food memory!).
Mona was holding Jenn's hand and Jim was beside me, just being Jimmy, looking for butterflies to chase and pretty flowers to pick when all of a sudden I heard a yelp, looked to my left side and there was no Jimmy!
- Had the rapture come and only he was taken of the four of us?
- An alien abduction! And this was before XFiles was even a show!
- Or... yes, Jim had fallen into an open water drain. Thank the Lord it was big but only about 3 feet deep. Scratches and bruises and some real FRIGHT were all he received from the experience, (no Baby Jessica story here, thank God!). He had simply fallen of the path.
Sometimes we choose to ignore THE WAY to our detriment.
Men (OK...and Ladies), it's my prayer that this Father's Day you will re-dedicate yourself to staying ON God's path. Living a life that your kids, and indeed all younger persons who know you, will want to emulate. Be the model of a Christian man God made you to be!
HooHah! Come join us on Sunday for "The Rest of the Message!"
Pastor Ken
NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, all Bible verses quoted in this website are from the New International Version (NIV). Any words from those verses that are in "red" are words spoken by Jesus.
Pastor Ken sends a Weekly Newsletter that includes his devotional message for the week and an update of the current happenings at Hope Church. If you would like to receive his newsletter, just click below and he'll add your email address to his list of subscribers.