A FATHERS GOOD HABITS

Good habits are the framework to a rich spiritual life. Creating daily routines that allow the Holy Spirit to speak through God's Word and prayer we become an unstoppable force for the Kingdom of Light. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Celate Christian Center Podcast. Our church exists to see lives transformed through a relationship with Jesus. We pray this message helps you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. You can find us online at clc.church.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

I want to talk to you about uh a father's good habit. A father's good habits. So a few weeks ago, I was talking to you about how we create habits. They're good ones and bad ones. And unfortunately, in uh in our nation, it's easier to point out all the bad habits and say, man, I wish they could get saved and all these things. And we could probably do that. Uh everybody uh everybody has good habits and bad habits. Here's what I want you to think about, though. I want you to think about the fact that habits are the trellis on which the good fruit and the vine grow. If if men don't have some good habits, I found this out about spiritual life. You can you can do a lot of things in spiritual life, but when you create good habits, things that you do consistently, things that you do over and over again, what you begin to recognize is that's a natural thing that creates the infrastructure and the support for your spiritual life to explode. Right? So, what I'm talking about today are some habits that I think uh will help us, especially us dads, if you are a father and you're here with us this morning. First of all, thank you for coming and happy Father's Day to you. There is nothing more important than a strong father in a home. Amen. Now, like some of us, we didn't grow up with such a good dad, and God became a father to me, and there were a lot of men in the church that I have to say thank you to who became fathers to me. Um in the early days, uh, people like Pastor Danny May, people like uh B.T. Abernathy and Dan Clark, these are men that attended the first church that I ever uh went to after the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These men made an impact. And I began to watch how God how these men functioned and how God had worked on their lives, and I began to want that. People like Dr. Mark Hibbert, uh, who was just, he wasn't Dr. Mark at the time, he was just a friend. And uh he was uh he would challenge me and encourage me. Sometimes he'd leave me alone, and I'd wonder why Dr. Mark, why is he not saying anything? He'd say, God told me not to say anything to you. You gotta learn how to stand on your own two feet. He said, I was here for you the whole time, but I had to take my hands off of it and let you go through some things. Well, habits are the trellis that allows the fruit to grow. It's the support system that we need. So we want to create some good habits, things that are done consistently to create that framework. Number one, good fathers make a habit of knowing their own limitations. You don't know it all, you can't do it all, you don't have the ability to do everything. Some of the most confused people you'll ever meet are people who think they can do anything and everything. We, we, you know, you know what I'm talking about, like people who everything you ask them about, they know how to do it all. I don't know how to do it all. Amen. Neither do you. We gotta stay in our lane, right? We got to do that. But here's the thing: when you know your limitations, we know one thing. I'm limited, so I need a mighty God. I'm limited, so I need a mighty God. I need a good God. I need a loving God. I need someone who knows and still loves me. I need a God that isn't just good, but I need a father. Every man needs a father. But a good father will stay in faith and remember that he's limited. But God's arm is not too short that it cannot reach and that he cannot heal and touch and deliver. Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 17 says, The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. We need a mighty God. We need a mighty God. We should be preaching God bigger than he is, bigger than we know him to be. He's bigger than every mountain that you can and cannot see. He's bigger than what you're going through. He's bigger. We need a mighty God. Can you say amen? So the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. The Bible also says, Psalm 103, verse 14, for he knows our framework and he remembers that we are dust. You are limited. There's some things we just have to stand in faith and trust God for. We don't have all the answers. We don't have all the stuff that we need. Isaiah 40, verse 28, you'll know this one. The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. And his understanding no one can fathom. We run out of energy, but God, his goodness, his grace, his power never ends or fails. Every dad knows I'm limited. That's why I need a relationship with a God who comes to strengthen and heal and lift up. That's why it's important. Number two, good fathers make a habit of not making God a habit. Listen to me now. Good fathers make a habit of not making God a habit. One of the greatest dangers that we face in the church is everything is just ritual and habit. Ritual and habit. No life in it. What I was talking about earlier is us needing life. We need the Spirit of God. We need life that flows from the Father. We need something more than a good service. We need something more than a good prayer time. But a good father will make a habit of not making God a habit. Now, for you to understand what I'm talking about, and I'll have to share it with you like this. So, how many of you have a habit of having your prayer time at a certain time of day or reading and devotion? You have a habit of doing it every day, every day at the same time. Don't make your devotion God little g. Don't do that. Don't do that. You say, Yeah, but I gotta be faithful. I gotta, I gotta, I know that. Understand what I'm saying. Because if if you make meeting with him a little g God, and the life isn't in it anymore, God will disrupt things just to get your attention. Amen. You don't get we don't make, we make good habits, yes, but we don't make a habit out of God. He's not some people are in the habit of coming to church. Some people are in the habit of doing certain things every week, and habits are good and we should have them. There should be a structure, but God is not a habit that we form.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

See what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 8:06

So make sure your prayer time and your devotion and reading doesn't become a habit. Anything that becomes a ritual is in danger of losing its power to transform us. If it loses its holiness, it becomes commonplace. It loses transformational power. It's why some come to church but aren't being changed into the image of Christ. It's why they don't walk in the power of God and have confidence toward Him. It's because God is just, He's out there. But the real issue is that God said, Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And I will be a God to you. I'll be a father to you, and you'll be my children. That's the real desire. Amen. Always has been, always will be. That's God's real desire, is relationship. That's God's real desire is for fellowship. A few weeks back on Sunday, I was talking about how we can say we have prayer and we have praise. I like to say it like this. I like to say, let's just fellowship the Lord. Let's just fellowship the Holy Ghost, right? That's what the Bible calls it. It calls it fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Fellowship God. So when you walk around, I'm not just saying a prayer or praying in tongues. I'm not just kitara moshindra-da-riad-ra-da-diatokus. I think that's a good thing. That's a beautiful thing. The Apostle Paul said, I pray in tongues more than all of you. But I'm not just praying in tongues, I'm fellowshipping the Lord. I'm not just singing a worship song.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

I know a name that can silence roaring waves. I know a name.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

See, you're just, I'm just singing a song to him. I'm just fellowshipping him. He's not a habit. He's not something that I, you know, he's God. He's my heavenly father. And I and just fellowshipping him. See, if we limit God just to my prayer time and my reading or my Holy Ghost time, well, what are you gonna do when you're at Walmart? He's with you there, too. You've just limited him to where you were having your prayer time and your devotion. Like the power of God comes in us and on us to minister him to others. The power of God comes in us and on us. So here's the deal: make sure that any devotion doesn't just become a lifeless, non-life-giving habit. If it loses its power to transform you, if reading those verses don't leap up off the page and begin to mold you, make you, shape you, and break you, then it may be that you're reading the Bible out of a habit and not allowing that living word to transform you, not allowing the living word of God that has power to let it work on me and let me see who I am and what I've been empowered and gifted to do. So 2 Peter 1 verse 8 says this, that there, 2 Peter 1.8. For if these things, and I'm going to explain what things he's talking about, he says, if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall never be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just consider for a minute that God's desire is for you to be fruitful. And the way to be fruitful is found in John chapter 15. You gotta abide. It's a daily, it's a moment by moment abiding in Him. The real mystery of this whole thing is just learning how to abide, to abide in Christ. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you ask what you will, and it's gonna be done. The real secret, but he says two things. He says, I don't want you to be unfruitful. What am I saying? Create a trellis, create a framework so that you're experiencing him and you're not barren or unfruitful. The reason we need revival in the church, not just this one, but in the church, period, is people aren't being, they're not producing the life of God in others. They're not producing the life of God in their family. And if we if we're if we're real, we're gonna have to understand that God's desire, 2 Peter 1.8 says he wants you to, that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus. Now, it's possible for you to have knowledge that doesn't do anything to make you fruitful. It's possible that you could have biblical knowledge. It's possible that you could go to seminary, it's possible that you could understand a lot about the Bible. It's possible that you could know, you could have faith in Jesus, listen, and not have the faith of Jesus. Let me try that over here. So it's possible that, you know, we teach nowadays in the church, we say we just need to have faith in Jesus. Well, I could go in the Bible and show you where it talks about us having the faith of Jesus. It's the faith of Jesus, which is different than having faith in Jesus. And Jesus is good. I ain't against that.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

But what if you begin to function in that kind of faith? I can see that you don't believe me. Let's go to Galatians.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

I I didn't have it in my notes, but let's just look at this. Galatians, everybody that knows knows the Bible knows Galatians chapter two.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

And we'll go to verse. Go down. I'm gonna say it's down here about twenty. Verse twenty. Galatians two twenty. Look at this.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

He says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in you. Christ lives in you. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, not in the Son of God. Big difference. Both of them are good. The second one is now I begin to live by the same faith that he lived, and I believe Jesus lived by faith. He knew who he was. I know that's kind of strange, but if you look at the first part of Philippians chapter 2, you realize that he laid down his divinity and became like a man. The life that you now live, you live by the faith of the Son of God. Now, I used to preach this and say, you have the same kind of faith he does. You have the same kind of faith you can function in. Now, to be fair, you have to learn to grow into that. That's not something that typically happens overnight, but it wasn't my sermon and where I was going. But I want you to understand we preached faith in Jesus, and now I want you to learn to function. Uh, I want you to learn to function a different way. I want you to learn to function by the faith of Jesus. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I have the same kind of faith he does. I've just gotta I've gotta use it, I've gotta see it function. So we've got to move from just preaching faith in Jesus to preaching the faith of Jesus. Right? I hope you can see that. So let me get back to where I need to be. So there's there's these qualities that are ours in Christ. There's the things that come with that relationship, but just beware of making God a habit. Well, this is what we do on Sunday. We get up and go to church. Yet your heart is far from Him. Right? Beware that if if you do this, watch how God will upset these times that you've set up. If you begin to worship your habit instead of Him. If this is the case for you, recognize that there is a quality missing in you. Look for the opportunity to set this right. Number three. Good fathers make a habit of not making God a hobby. Now I know that's similar to a habit, but you know, for some people, God's a hobby. A hobby is nothing more uh than a leisure activity done for your pleasure, not for his. A habit, you know, some people when things get bad uh or when they need a break, they say, man, I need to go fishing. I think probably what I need is to go fishing or whatever your favorite hobby is. And hobbies are not a bad thing. But be careful, God is not a hobby. God is not a hobby, right? We don't make God a hobby. It's not a leisurely activity that I do to please me. I come to worship because he is the King of Kings, He's the Lord of my life, and He deserves all the praise. He deserves all the glory. He's not a habit, He's my life giver. You know, you the the deal is you don't get life from non-life-giving things. Life comes from the life giver. It comes from the only one who gave us that abundant life in John 10 and 10.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

So we need God like we need oxygen.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Uh a lot of years ago, I guess it'd been a lot of years ago now, we had a real outpouring for a number of weeks here. Some of you were in those services, some of you weren't members at the time, but you came during those times. And uh Pastor Casey, that used to be with us, uh, his he was uh an African guy. His name was Casey Chapwamaka. And Pastor Casey, if y'all remember, he would get up on those nights. A lot of times he would do the opening prayer, and he would say, God, we need you like the next breath. I need you just as bad as I need the next breath. Do you know you need him today just as bad as you just, hey, knock yourself out. Hold your breath for a minute. You need him just like you need your next breath. The only way for you to be healthy is to take another breath. And you need him as bad as you need your next breath. He's not a hobby, he's not a leisure activity for my own pleasure and relaxation. We worship him for his pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

We used to sing an old song, uh, I don't even remember the name of it, and for your pleasure, we are created. Thou art worthy, O Lord, for thou hast created, hast all things created, for thou hast created all things, and for your pleasure, they are we are created. Thou art a worthy old Lord.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

See, I'm creating you were created, and what you don't get about that is you say, Well, I'm just created for his pleasure, so I'll come and worship. No, here's the secret that I've been trying to tell people for 35 years. If you'll worship, if you'll lift him up, he'll lift you up. Well, I don't feel good. I don't feel good. I don't feel like it. I know you don't. Tell your body to get up and move. Tell your body. Amen. Forest Frank said, tell your body you're gonna praise the Lord today. Tell your body you're gonna praise God today. You I told you a few weeks ago, rule your spirit. You rule your spirit. I've got authority in the kingdom. Yeah, but you can't get them dishes washed. Oh, okay. See, I don't serve God just because it always feels good or whatever. Look, I serve God because He is worthy. He is worthy, He is worthy. I don't do Amen. Thank you. Amen. Amen. He's not, he's I don't do it for my pleasure, I do it for his. So uh we bow down and worship him, the God who gives us life. Number four, number four. Is a good father makes a habit of showing up. A good father makes a habit of showing up. Now, we learn this from the good good father because he always shows up on time. Now, in case you're wondering, I'll tell you a story, we went one time, I forget, I think we were in Florida, I can't remember, but there was a lady we met, and she would use this phrase over and over again. She would say, You know, God is never late but seldom early. Now that was probably 35 years ago. She would say, Well, you know, I believe. We'd be talking about something different, and she'd say, You know, I believe God is never late but seldom early. And anywhere she could poke that little phrase in, I guess I needed to hear that phrase. Somebody needs to hear it this morning. God is never late but seldom early. Thank you, Anita. Some of y'all got it. Let me say it again. God is never late but seldom early. He's an on-time God. He's never late and seldom early. God has a habit of showing up. And most of the time he has a habit of showing up. And that's how I learned this. We learned this from looking at him. We know when to show up and when not to show up. Do you know you don't need to show up in everything your kids do? It's I can't believe the pastor just said that. No, some of your kids need to learn how to do for themselves. I told y'all, Dr. Mark Hibbert, I went, I was about, I don't know, probably a year old in the Lord. I got baptized with the Holy Spirit. He and I become friends. He'd become a mentor to me. And we would, we would uh, this was before cell phones and all of this, and we would talk. I would see him on Wednesdays and I would see him on Sundays. And man, just kind of up out of nowhere, Mark, who was kind of an advisor to me, uh he just, you know, he would speak and be kind, be on his way. He wouldn't say, Hey, let's let's go to Wendy's after church and let's talk. Y'all remember as a side note, y'all remember when Wendy's used to have a salad bar that had pasta on it. Praise, those were the good old days. Amen. Glad y'all remember that's back there for some of you young people, you don't remember that. But he would ask me, he would say, let's go to lunch, let's talk about what God's doing. Weeks on end, he didn't say, he didn't say a thing. Spoke, he was kind, went about his business. And I worked my way through, went to, I think I probably went over to Howard's mother and let her pray for me. And I talked to several other people, and then in a few months he came back and uh we started talking, and he said, God told me not to help you. You had to learn how to stand on your own faith. You had to learn to stand on your own two feet. Now, look, I had sense enough when I didn't know what to do to go talk to other folks, but he said, I can't be a crutch for you. I can't be a crutch for you. And of course, you know, we believe in mentors and mentees. We believe that God sends you to people and places and all those things, but I also know that uh Mark Hibbert taught me a good lesson. He knew when to show up and he knew when not to show up. And uh it just we you just you follow the pattern, right? You see what God does. We take a cue from the Father, never late, but seldom early. Fathers realize they can't make God move, so they position themselves in a place to allow for God's movement. And number five, a good father makes a habit of looking to Jesus, just looking to Jesus all the time. I've told this story a dozen times probably since I went, but the night that we went to go see Dr. Ben Carson, he told a story about uh about how he dealt with anger. If you've ever watched the movie, if you haven't watched the movie Gifted Hands and you don't know his story or anything about him, go home today, watch the movie Gifted Hands. It's an awesome movie about an awesome man. And but he said, I dealt with anger. I'm about to give you a secret here, so stay with me. He said, I dealt with anger when I was a young man, raised by a single mother, struggling family, uh, and he ends up becoming a great surgeon, uh, the first surgeon to ever uh to ever separate uh co-join twins. Um and he tells the story about how a man at the end of his street said, Benny, you mean to tell you a secret about how to never get angry again? Tell you how you can do that. He said, Yeah, I'd like to know that. He said, Take yourself out of the center of everything. As long as you are the center of everything, now all the world has to revolve around you. All the world has to be just the way you like it or you don't like it, he says, Vinny. Take yourself out of the center and put Jesus in the center. And when you put Jesus in the center, now everything revolves around him and not you.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

That's that's powerful.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

That's no, that's transformational if you'll do it. So we always look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We see how he did it. We look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The Bible goes on to say, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. We go through some things for the joy that was set before us. For some things that we haven't seen yet, we're still believing God for the joy that was set before us. Just take yourself out of the center of the situation. And when you do, now all of a sudden the whole world doesn't revolve around you. Yeah, it's it's um it's when he told that story that night, it was like a light bulb came on. Not just because of anger or any such issue, just because it makes sense to me. So every time you have issues, and you you gotta make sure you do a little inventory and make sure you ain't put yourself in the center of the circle and not Jesus. Because if I can look to him and see what he did and what he went through and how he handled it, there's my example. Looking unto Jesus, not looking some some people look to the problem and the situation, some people look to other people, but that's not what he said. He said, Look to Jesus. So, well, I I don't know if I like that. You don't get to like that or not like that.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

You don't get to like that or not like that. I look to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Not listen, here, here, here's what you need to understand about this. But stay with me for just a second longer. Not because a relationship with Jesus leads to strings of success, but a relationship with Jesus keeps you from collapsing under the weight of your own failures. A relationship with Jesus doesn't always lead to strings of success. But a relationship where you're looking under him, now all of a sudden, when there's failure, I don't collapse under the weight of it because he is my strength, he is my light, he is my life. I see what he did, and I just I just walk in that same path.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

I just keep looking to him. Number six, a good father will make a habit of rising to the occasion.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Not in your own strength, not in your own will, not in your own emotions. You rise to the occasion. Last week, the woman of God came in here and she said, You were made for this, and the anointing was on it. She said, You're made for this. You're made for this. Do you know God is a He's a perfect engineer? He engineered you just the way you are. He engineered you to go through what you've had to go through, and you need to stop saying, I don't know if I can do this. I just ain't sure I can handle this. Listen, if we if we keep looking to Jesus and we keep making him the center and keep making him just let him be our strength. If we keep doing that and saying, I was made for this, I was built for this, you are perfectly engineered by a master engineer. God will allow difficulties in order to see if you will overcome them. He will teach you how to lean on him, he will give you opportunity to lean on him. Because you're his child, he won't shield you from all of these requirements. Peter said, Don't be surprised at the fiery trial that is to try you. Why do we get surprised when Peter, the Apostle Peter just said, Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised when there's a fiery trial to try you. Yeah, but everybody else don't have to go through what I have to go through. You're in the center again. You're in the center again. You don't.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Yeah. Jesus be the center. Everything revolves around you. Jesus, you. You're the center of it all.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

As long as trials and troubles and difficulty gives you an opportunity to manifest Christ in your flesh, he'll keep letting them happen. And you'll keep overcoming them, right? Last and not least, a good father makes a habit of recognizing God's wealth. Provision. Every man in here today, I'm sure, I won't speak, let me speak for you for almost every man in here, I'm almost positive, has had the same thought as I have had, and that is, well, I sure hope God comes through on this one. I sure hope I can take care of my family. The one thing you want to do if you're a good father is I want to take care of my family. I want to take care of my responsibilities. And a good father will recognize God's provision. You will always recognize God's provision. You will know, we talked about it Wednesday night. You know, what why is it that we have this thought that if God blesses Jeff, well, I'm gonna have to let him, I'm gonna have to let him work for a few months and get his bank account built up so he can bless me. Like if he blessed you, he ain't got enough to bless me. That's the reason you don't have to get mad when somebody else gets blessed because your blessing ain't dependent on their blessing.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

Men of God, good fathers, make a habit of recognizing God's wealth.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

See, I don't know if you recognize this. Here's what Oswald Chambers said. Oswald Chambers said this. Sometimes we talk as though the Heavenly Father has cut us off without a cent.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

We think it's a sign of modesty, modesty.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

This is Oswald Chambers, not Neil. He's been dead for many years. Don't get mad about it, get over it. We think it's a sign of modesty to say, boy, it was a real struggle. Somehow we got by. Meanwhile, all of God is ours by faith in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. If we obey God, listen what Oswald said. Think about this. He said, if we obey God, he will tax the last grain of sand. He will tax the most remote star to make sure you get your blessing. God will put a tax on a grain of sand so that you get yours. He will make sure the provision is there. You keep yourself where you need to be, and I'm telling you, the provision of God will show up. You will, you need, amen.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Make a habit of understanding the provision of God. Stop saying, I just don't know.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Listen what he goes on to say. This is Oswald Chambers. If we indulge in the luxury of misery and give way to self-pity, we banish God's riches from our lives. If we indulge in the luxury of misery and give way to self-pity, we banish God's riches from our lives. No sin is worse than self-pity because it erases God and puts self-interest on the throne. Amen. Here's all I'm asking you to do. Just every time it gets tough, just remember the provision of God. Remember God always shows up that He is a good, good, on-time God. Good fathers make a habit of recognizing God's wealth. He ain't broke. Nobody had to tip his throne back up and feed him crackers and sweet milk because he's got an ulcer. He's a good, good God. And he will find a way. Dr. Mark Hibbert used to tell me all the time, he will say, he would say, Neil, God will bankrupt heaven to take care of his own. He will bankrupt heaven to take care of his own. And he'll do the same for you. Can you say amen? Well, happy Father's Day. Rise up on your feet. Amen. Just create some habits to allow God to move. You don't have to wait till the bank to till he gets his bank account back up before the blessing comes your way. He's a good, good father. Amen. Let's pray, Father Jesus' mighty name. We thank you, Lord. For your provision, for your blessing, for your insight, for your wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

We play this podcast has been a blessing. For more information about CLA Christian Center, you can find us online at clcc. Our Sunday service begins at 1030 a.m. And our Winday. Our study begins at 7 a.m. If you like the contact. Our telephone number is 770748.