June 21, 2026, Morning Service
Father’s Day 2026
Pastor Greg Isom
Today is a day we are to celebrate our fathers and as men to celebrate being a father. I hope today you are able to enjoy time with your father, if he is still with you, or reflect on the good memories you have of him. Fatherhood is not an easy chore as we have to balance our time between our work life, keeping up the house and the vehicles, and also prioritize making time to invest into our families. Our time becomes our most precious possession and there are so many things trying to steal it from us. The weight of the responsibility of being a father and leading a family can become more than we can bear alone. We don’t always know the right thing to do, but that is why we are blessed with each other.
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
I have seen this working first hand in our men’s group. The younger dads are being empowered by the older ones who have been down that path already and can share what worked and what didn’t for them. Though the jobs of father, husband, and provider can seem to be very lonely, you are not alone. Seek out men who have already been there and done that and we can learn from them. Those of us who have our kids raised, our work is not done. Let’s make ourselves available to the next generation to help them and invest in our grandkids, they need us also. God has brought certain men into to your life for just this purpose, be wise and ask for help. We are better together!
Today, as one of those old dads, I hope to begin the work setting the foundation for what scripture tells us about being the father we want to be. Father’s let’s use today to refocus to be doing the first things first. Our culture is all about pushing our children to be successful in academics and athletics which is important, but we need to refocus on first building the spiritual base of knowing. It really is the most important and impactful thing you can do for them; the only with eternal impact that needs to be our primary focus as a father. I believe to introduce your kids to Jesus and model what following Him looks like is the most important thing you will do for them. We are going to look at the scriptures this morning to help you to fully recognize what you need to refocus on using your time to accomplish. We begin with Solomon telling us this from Proverbs:
Pro 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
You have a short window of time to teach your children the things they need to know while they are young and there is no “do over.” Build a foundation of faith that they will be able to stand upon the rest of their life. Teach them that God is for them, has a plan for them, and values them. Help them to find their true identity in Christ so when things of life go crazy, they will stand firm upon their faith. How do we do that?
Deut. 6:6-9 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. (8) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (9) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Every moment you spend with your children you have opportunity to teach them; diligently (with great effort). Be fully present in the moments that you drive to practice or a game, as you walk into Walmart, help with homework, take out the trash and as you tuck them in for bed are all opportunities you can invest in your kids. Every victory and every failure become a teachable moment for us. Be present in these moments and redeem that time for good. This takes diligence and commitment as life can suck the energy out of you quickly if you let it. Emphasize the truths of God and the facts of life while you are doing life. Use stories that you experienced to share how you learned these lessons. Use every opportunity you are given to invest in them.
1Ti 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
God has called you to be the head of your house and it falls upon you to provide not only for the physical needs of your family but also their spiritual, and emotional needs as well. You are the shepherd of your flock, know what they need and find a way to provide and protect them. Rely on the Holy Spirit to first have you to recognize the need and then lead you to how to provide what is needed. You do this in cooperation with your wife, but God will hold you accountable for this as He did Adam in the Garden. When they sinned, He called out Adam to answer for it. God has chosen you for this task to provide for your family. We also need to love our children enough to discipline them.
Pro 13:24 He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.
Set rules and set consequences for breaking them then follow through with them. Communicate it very clearly and then it makes it easy for you to know what to do. Never act out of anger, but discipline in love; sometimes tough love. Teach your children to own their actions and understand how consequences or rewards come from their choices. This is so needed in today’s world. Teach your children to obey and respect the authority set over them creating a pattern that they can set in place to follow Jesus. Pray for your kids as David did for Solomon:
1Ch 29:19 And give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes, to do all these things, and to build the temple for which I have made provision.”
Prayer is the ace up our sleeve that we too often don’t use as we should. Prayer changes things and it can aid us in molding our children into having a heart for God. Let them see you and hear you lift them up before God showing them you love them and so does He. These all can be very difficult tasks, but I hope you also realize the need for you to invest in you. “Everyone gets better when the leader gets better.”
James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; (24) for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (25) But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Take time to be sure you are spiritually on the right track. You cannot lead your children somewhere that you have not been. Don’t just know the right thing to do, do it and do it consistently. By investing in your own spiritual life, you are investing in your family. Be in the Word as often as you can and let the Holy Spirit mold you into the man, He created you to be. Ask God to burn scripture into your heart so that you not only can quote it, but live it out as well. Live a life in front of your children that you can say “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ.” (I Cor. 11:1) Paul also challenged us this way:
2Co 3:2-3 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; (3) clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
Your children’s first impression of their Heavenly Father will be watching you as their earthly father. How you live your life matters as your children will see how you handle adversity, your work ethic, how you love your wife, how you treat others, and how committed you are to following Jesus. They will imitate what they see in you (both the good and bad). Paul says here, your life is a letter written to them on how to do life written upon their hearts. Be the man you want your boys to become, and the man you want your daughters to want to marry. The choice is yours this morning to make. Choose to create your household to boldly make the same proclamation Joshua did before all of Israel. Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”