A Giving Father

0:00 Brace yourself and buckle up. You are about to hear a life-changing, history-making, world-defining message from the New Birth Podcast. Tell everybody you know, things will never be the same. The people of God said amen. And the people of God said hallelujah. And then the people of God shouted, praise the Lord.

0:33 Good morning, new birth. Good morning. I greet you in the strong, powerful name of our Lord and Savior. What's his name? Jesus. Come on, shout his name. Jesus. The righteous Son of God. the lily of the valley the bright and morning star amen on your way to your seat shake your neighbor's hand and welcome them into God's house we honor our pastor this morning and we salute him and to the first lady of the church pastor Kerry to all of our visiting ministers I want to greet those young people who prayed this morning.

1:43 And I want to salute those who asked them to pray this morning. And then I want to celebrate the men who were anointed this morning. Our text comes from Proverbs the 14th chapter, 26 verse. Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress and their children. It will be a refuge.

2:44 thus far the word of God on your way to your seat tell your neighbor what I'm going to preach which is a giving father you may be seated It is clear for you Bible scholars that from this text, the characters we will zero in on this morning is David and his son, his child, Solomon. David was king.

3:50 and his son inherited his father's kingship. But that was not the greatest gift that the Father gave his Son. Anybody can be in a position, even a fool, Let that sink in. The greatest gift this father gave to his child was his counsel.

5:02 Let that sink in. A father has been given by God great power. The influence that a father has over a child, be they male or female, It's powerful. You, Father, pass yourself on to your children for bad or good. You pass yourself on through your children even when you're not trying to do it.

6:12 from the time they are born they are watching you and even when you are not present or have never been present, they are missing you. A father is an influencer. and it was meant to be that way by the Father. and so King David passed his kingship over to his son.

7:30 But I repeat, that was not the greatest gift that he gave him. the greatest gift that the father gave and any father can give is his counsel. 1 Kings 2 1-4 tells us what his counsel constituted. the counsel he gave to his son and the counsel that any father can give to his son or daughter is this. Be strong.

8:25 that's what David told Solomon be strong when life comes at you and it will when life comes at you and money can't insulate you. when life comes at you and take it from me even your education can equip you Fools can get a PhD. when life comes at you the weak will never survive And so the job of a father is to counsel those who come behind him be strong.

9:32 do not bend to opposition do not quit even when it's hard I went to I was a third year of integration and I went to at that time they said was one of the three top public schools in America Latin was a requirement and I can remember that first semester the teacher talking to the class said to them Latin is difficult it won't come easy but you've got to apply yourself it was all boys school do you hear me apply yourself and you will make it and I don't want you to quit. He said, but John Bryant, I will allow you to drop the class.

10:41 I thought he'd given me a good present. I went straight and dropped that class. When I got home, I told my dad, I dropped Latin. It was too tough. my dad said you did what I dropped Latin How? I said the teacher gave me permission. How many blacks in your class? One. My dad yelled at me, BANTS DON'T QUIT! be strong life can come at you from awkward angles but you need those in your corner who will tell you I don't care what they throw at you you got the kind of stuff on the inside that you can make it if you would just gird up your loins and be strong.

12:08 Be a man. Be a woman. A father's job is to give good counsel. And so we see David giving his son counsel. Oh, my father's in the house. Don't play yourself cheap. If you're in the place of a father, you've survived some stuff. And the only way in America you survived is you had to be strong enough. And so your job is to sow that seed into those who are to follow.

13:16 1 Kings 2nd chapter, verses 1 to 4, gives us the background to this Proverbs text. David is sharing with young Solomon his desire for him. He counsels him to be strong. Be a man.

13:49 Be strong. Don't quit. Be strong. Have character and stand on it. Be strong. Stand for something or you'll fall for anything. be mature. Don't be a boy. Don't be a girl your whole life. That's the job of a father. And when that job is missing, the child has a harder room. But then he says to his child, Thank you. Have God in your life. I don't care how cute you are.

14:45 I don't care how handsome they say you are. I don't care how fast you can run. I don't care how quick your mind is. When life, hallelujah, comes after you, you cannot handle life all by yourself. And if you want to know the greatest resource that I've found available to any man or any woman, that is to have a God in your life. And if you've got a God in your life, no weapon formed against you will be able to prosper. I don't mean play with God. I don't mean using his name. I mean having a God that you call on by day and call on by night having a God that will back you up.

15:39 Hallelujah in the good times and in the bad times. that's what my daddy told me have God in your life amen have God in your life have God in your life have God in your life have God in your life have God in your life.

16:15 I saw something this past week that I have to admit it disturbed me. It was a, and you all excuse me, you know more about it than me, but it was a singer, and the way I interpret it, I think she's a soul singer, and her name was Gorilla. And Gorilla had a gospel singer include her in his album. And they won. so guerrilla Is that her name?

17:09 With a name. Glowrin. Glowrin. Glow. Now where I get Gorilla from? So Glo got the mic and she goes up and says, giving honor to God. That sound good, don't it? Sound right churchy. Then she says, I'm supposed to say that because I did win for this gospel song. Can you hear it? she said, giving honor to God.

18:13 I'm supposed to say that because I did win for this gospel song. Now, for that testimony, I got no real connection between glow and God. What I'm saying is a real connection to God is not lip service. A real connection to God is God is who you keep conversation with. God is who you hear from, who leads and guides and directs you.

19:31 And so David said to Solomon, you need a power in your life that talks to you and walks with you and directs you and corrects you and hangs out with you and undergirds you and empowers you and strengthens you and disciplines you. and loves on you. I saw on the platforms where someone was asking a hypothetical question. if you would be given the thing you want most in the world what would you ask for if you ask for it you're gonna get it the thing you want most in the world let that question sink all of a sudden they catch you coming out of new birth and ask you. Stuff you've been dreaming by, wanting for, panting after, working for. Get that one thing. What is it? The first answer was money. That's a good American answer. Because we live in a money culture.

21:21 as a matter of fact we call this the greatest country in the world and all of us say right is so What makes it the greatest country in the world?

21:43 We lead in homicide. We lead the world in suicide. We lead the world in gun violence. We lead the world in the most divorces. What makes it the greatest country in the world? Money. So we got money, but we can't stay together. We got money, but we're jumping out windows.

22:41 We got money but can't get a good night's sleep. So the first answer was, if you had your wish, what would you ask for? Money! that's what God the trouble we got now. Call the president. We equated money with excellence. we equate money with character The second said, if I could ask for one thing, I'd ask for influence so I could get some money.

23:57 I could survive those who got the money. Give me influence. it wasn't until the fourth well I know we in church so it's a set up but the fourth one said Jesus now be honest where would he be on your list Come on, where would he be on your list, Christian? Where would he be on your list, preacher? where would he be on your list choir member Jesus but in this text the father tells his child that if you put the Lord first then even your children will be blessed He says, make sure, Solomon, that you have a real relationship with God.

25:47 Thank you, Pastor, for having these fathers come down. And thank you for the anointers who anointed this father, these fathers. because we as fathers have to understand the influence that the almighty God has given us you've got power even in your absence even in your absence when the child is angry and they say they hate your guts because they have not had you in their lives hallelujah when you look at them real close you'll see some of yourself in them they didn't mean for it to happen but it's just set up that way. Hallelujah. For good or for bad, you have influence over your children. So you got to watch how you walk. You got to watch how you talk. You got to watch what you say, even from afar, because you influence their destiny.

27:10 And you can't help it. It just bees that way.

27:32 Oh, my God. It's something. I had a rough time. Amen. Amen. When the transfer takes place and then the Lord says, if the transfer takes place, it's going to bless your children. Hallelujah. But don't become impatient. You may not be able to see it right away, but if the transfer takes place, you can't hurry God. Oh no, you got to wait. You got to trust him and give him time, child, no matter how long it takes. He's a God. You can't hurry. He'll be there. Don't you worry. He may not come when you want him, but he's right on time. Yeah, I'm around, I'm around, I'm around dropping Latin.

28:37 Amen. Amen. Got out of school on the skin of my teeth. Graduated from college with a 2.3 average. For those of you who don't know, that's a C-. The next step is fail. but God took a while for me to get myself straight amen but when it happened the Lord kicked in because the deposit had been made in me so even when you couldn't see it It was still in me. So now when I'm around giving my testimony about what the Lord did for me and how I flunked and failed and played and carried on, my wife stayed on me.

29:41 Stop saying that, John. She said, your son listening to that, your daughter listening to that, you're going to influence them. My wife was straight A all the way through. Amen. and she had to put up with me. I said, I got to say it because that's my testimony.

30:06 That's the journey I was on. And the Lord finally came through and I finally hooked up with him and finally stopped playing and my life got serious. She said, but you got to stop saying that all the time. Lord behold, here I am. Amen. Praise the Lord.

30:29 Here comes Jamal. I thought I was a mess, but that Jamal wrote a new record.

30:51 Amen. I did graduate from high school. Lord have mercy. He come with the GED. You talking about embarrassing.

31:21 I'm around preaching excellence and here he come with the GED. Somebody shout, but God. so your job father is to counsel them wisely and make sure you put in their heart and their head and their spirit hallelujah the living god and it may not show up right away but if you make the deposit the return is on the way have I got a witness in this house can I repeat myself you can't hear it God you just gotta wait you gotta trust him and give him time no matter how long it takes he's a God you can't hear it he'll be there don't you worry he may not come when you want him but he's right on time He's an on-time God.

32:44 Yes, He is. Now, fathers. I know you work with the boy basketball and glad to go outside with him and throw the ball. I know you taught your daughters how to change the tie. You taught her how to spot a shaky negro right away. I know you taught them about what land not to fall for, what men not to spend any time with. All that's good. But you haven't done your job if you had not deposited the Lord Jesus Christ into their lives.

33:49 Can I recite a little history for you? We would have been eaten up and destroyed in this culture if it had not been for God. Even in a culture that has challenged our manhood. a culture that has systematically worked to keep us out of our families. A culture that has so worked to make us hard and mean even to those we love because it's hard when the culture keeps telling you you're worth nothing. even when you resist it on the inside it breaks through a culture that repeatedly gives you stories of yourself and yourself is always less than Culture that robs you from opportunities.

35:21 And when even help comes, it separates you out of your home. Culture that says, I'll give her, the mother, financial support, but you can't be around. If we find out you're around, we'll take the help away, dividing the black family, a culture that defines you as a crook. so when even those in the culture see you coming from across the street that clutch their possessions and keep their eye on you because you're a criminal you're less than If they had had their way, the systematic relegating of the black man as less than criminal, weak. would have destroyed us.

36:34 But here we are. The young people don't know, they think Donald Trump is the worst thing that ever happened in history. Donald Trump ain't nothing. I've lived long enough to know that Trump's come and by the grace of God, Trump's go. They cannot defeat us because we've got something on the inside that every time they knock us down, we get back up again. This is a God that has brought us safe thus far. And God promises on this Father's Day, you, Father, if you plant me in the hearts of your children, they will survive.

37:50 They will overcome. They will achieve. they will soar they will accomplish And so for our children and our children's children, rise up. O men of God, have done with lesser things. the victory belongs to you and Satan and all of Satan's imps cannot block you or your children And this is the promise of the living God.

39:11 If you claim it today, stand on your feet and shout, yes, Lord. I hope you are energized that you don't need an energy drink. What you just heard should have you off and running, chasing your dreams, pursuing your purpose, and answering your call. If this was a blessing, share it with somebody else. Don't be selfish. This is what God gave you so that you can be a blessing to somebody who needs it worse.