← The Church of Eleven22
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Good morning. January 1st of this year found me sitting at the fire pit at our farm. It was daybreak. Cup of coffee, Bible. Everybody was sleeping. And I felt like the Lord asked me a question. I felt like he said, charles, when you think of me, do you think of me as your father? I've known. I'm 56. I've known the Lord a long time. And the question surprised me because I would have told you that I did. What I've learned in the last 11 months is I'm not as much as I could have. You'll hear the truth of my answer. And my answer. My answer was this, Lord. You know that. I do. Now, the Lord is not browbeating me for calling him Lord. He is that absolutely, and he has been that, and he will be that tomorrow. But he was trying to get at a place in me, and he wanted access to a depth in me. He just wanted to take me up another step to another place with him. Maybe deeper intimacy. This for the next hour and 45 minutes, Some of y' all are game. I'm picking up on that. This is the working out of that conversation. It's 12 A.D. jerusalem. The Passover is over. Long caravans of families and animals exit Jerusalem. Returning home, Mary and Joseph walk somewhere in the fray. Now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus, stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. A day's journey outside of Jerusalem, Mary turns to Joseph. Honey, have you seen Jesus? Joseph, realizing he has just lost their son, begins circulating the crowd. Moments later, Mary and Joseph realize they've lost Jesus. If you're a parent, this should encourage you. And Reeves, I'm still sorry that we left you at the lake. The parents chosen by God to care for the only son of God didn't get it right all the time. Also, Jerusalem sits at about 2,500ft elevation, higher than most places in Israel. So they've just spent the last day walking downhill. Now they're looking at an uphill day to find their son. But supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey. But then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. Scripture says an amazing thing here. It says three sleepless nights pass. Three days. Mary is not doing well. Think about those three days. What are they doing What's Jesus doing? Also, try not to superimpose your and my childhood onto Jesus. He was sinless. So all the rebellious stuff we did that got us into trouble, he didn't do. He didn't think like us. Yes, he was a boy, but not a sinful one. So ask yourself, what was he doing and why? After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 12 year old Jesus is currently taking the brightest and best intellectuals Israel can muster to school men who have memorized the Torah, the keepers of the law of God. Imagine the moment when Mary and Joseph turn the corner and see their son sitting quietly, listening, asking questions, grace and truth pouring from his lips. What went through Mary's mind? What's she going to do? Ground him? Spank him? Take away his phone? When his parents saw him, they were astonished. I've always laughed at that translation. Astonished. Christy and I are the parents of three boys and I, if I'd been unable to find one for three days, I don't think astonished would quite get at my condition. And his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. I don't know what great distress looked like for Mary, but I would imagine that when she spoke to Jesus, she did with an elevated voice and with blessings. Maybe she grabbed him by the arm and shook him a little bit. Son, where have you been? Jesus is surprised, genuinely, and his response is not sarcasm. Jesus didn't do sarcasm. Sarcasm is rooted in insecurity and mocking indifference. And Jesus was neither. So he said to them, why were you looking for me? It's an honest question. He can't understand why they didn't know where he was. In his mind, they should have known. Then he says this. Did you not know? Again, it's an honest question. The inference is that they should have. Finally, he says this, that I must be in my Father's house. And thus it begins, the two words that shake the stratosphere. My father. You could have heard a pin drop. Mary and Joseph are stunned, as depicted in the next verse. And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. Of course they know who Jesus is and where he came from. They were there. If anyone believes that Jesus is the only begotten son of God, it's these two. They know something the rest of us don't. But this doesn't mean they've got it all figured out. They don't know the how or the when, only that he is. And further, they don't really know what Jesus knows. These two words, my father in this culture, are world rocking and paradigm shattering. Mary and Joseph are both good, observant Jews who love the Lord their God. And yet they have no context for this. Rabbis don't do this. In fact, it's arguable. No rabbi has ever done this. It's one thing to be the Son of God, it's another thing entirely to say that you are, or to claim to be. Which according to Leviticus, is a real. No, no. Okay, is this a really big deal or am I fictionalizing the story just a bit? Well, you decide. But 21 years from this moment, these same men will gather on this same mountain and they will brutally and savagely kill the man this boy becomes. You want to know why? Well, they tell us why. When they stand before Pilate, they say, we have a law. And according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself to be the Son of God. Okay, fast forward 20 years. Jesus is speaking on a hillside. Word has spread. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised back to life. Thousands have gathered. There are whispers of a power greater than Rome. And he starts with these words, blessed are. He goes on to describe a kingdom, one unlike any they've ever considered. Further, he describes life inside that kingdom and the king of that kingdom. They're familiar with the whole king, kingdom concept. They currently live in one. But he's using words that flip that whole thing on its head. This ruler is no ordinary king. These people are hanging on his every word. They're laser focused. He's using words they've never heard from a rabbi. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. The phrase sons of God catches their attention, but not nearly as much as your Father. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, then this. You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. These people are stunned. Rabbis don't call God Father according to Leviticus. It's blasphemy. Jesus words are scandalous. He will end with this. Not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven. At this point, these people standing around the feet of Jesus are expecting to see stones hurling through the air. These folks know God by many names. Elohim El Olam, Adonai El Elyon, El Shaddai, Emmanuel Yahweh, the Lord of hosts. The Lord is my righteousness, the Lord who heals. The Lord is our banner. The Lord is my shepherd. And if they know anything, they know the story of Moses on the mountain with God. He's just rescued the Israelites from Egypt. He's seen the greatest signs and wonders the world has ever known. He's on the mountain with this voice and he says, hey, who are you? Can I see your face? And God says, well, if you do, you'll die. But I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock, cover you with my hand. And as Joby likes to say, when I walk by, I'm going to let you see my afterburners. So he does. God walks by. And when he does, he does an amazing thing. He speaks the name by which he wants to be known by the nation that he's just rescued. This is his name. The Lord. The Lord God, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. This is the covenantal Exodus 34. Name of God. This is the name that they are comfortable calling Him. This is the God up there on that mountain, and it's the God those people know. And while he's been called the Father of a nation, they wouldn't dare call him Father. And there's zero chance they'd call him My Father. Well, Jesus started at 12. He resumes on the mountain, and he's just getting started. Before Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount, he will use the term father 17 times. And each one is connected to a personal pronoun. Your, my, and our. This has never been done before. And remember, Jesus isn't just spouting the first thing that comes to mind. His words are purposeful. He was sent with a message. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me. Okay, so it's worth asking the question, why does Jesus do this? I mean, really. A year or two later, his disciples ask, lord, teach us to pray. So he does. Our Father, who art in heaven. The disciples have no box for this prayer. Three years in, Philip asks, lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. To which Jesus responds, have I been with you so long and still you do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father. This is an outrageous claim. To some, it's preposterous. Finally, we come to the garden. Jesus is on his face, sweat and blood. The. The hour has come. The end is here. The cross lies just over that hill. What does Jesus say in that moment? He cries out, abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Hours later, ripped, whipped, shredded and pierced. He pushes up on the nails and cries out, father, forgive them. Then, drowning in his own lung fluids, he speaks these words, and they will be the last he utters this side of the grave, father, into your hands I commit my spirit. But it doesn't end there. Death can't hold him. So in the greatest moment in the history of moments, he returns. And Mary finds him, mistakes him for the gardener. She says, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him and I will take him away. She's heartbroken, holding on by a thread. He drove seven demons out of her, and so if he lost on the cross, she's wanting to know if they're coming back. Then she hears what is certainly the greatest thing she's ever heard in her life. She hears Mary. And the veil is removed. The light returns. It's him. It's Jesus. Now, I'm just slightly outside of scripture here, but in the Charles Martin translation of this part of the Gospel, she launches at him like a spider monkey, wraps her arm around his neck and starts weeping snot and tears on the shoulders of the King of all Kings, the shoulders of the one who created her and everything and us everywhere. And she says, rabboni. And he holds her. In my mind, Jesus sort of laughs and chuckles a little bit because he's glad to see her, too. He was headed home, but rerouted through here when he saw that her heart was broken. And he says this. He says, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Do you see the thread? Do you see the one constant throughout his earthly ministry? The word Jesus used to describe God Most High, to name him, to call out to him, to refer to him, is abba. It's a transliteration, meaning. The translators wrote the sound of the word, which the Hebrews spelled av. Greek translators took the Aramaic or Hebrew av, and they wrote the closest word they had in their lexicon, pater. In Greek, it means father. But father in Greek and father in Hebrew are not necessarily the same thing. So when you're reading the Gospels and you read that Jesus said the word father, he said Abba. The problem of this translation is similar to Jesus name when he walked to the earth. Sorry, spoiler alert. The disciples didn't call Jesus Jesus, they called him Yeshua, which is actually closer to Joshua, which means the Lord is my salvation and I am the one who avenges you. In the Greek mind, the word pater describes what God is. It's along the same lines as describing God as creator, protector, healer, provider. All are true, glorious, magnificent descriptions of God's character. But the Hebrew word is inclusive. It includes and combines the description of what God is. God is. It's both. It's pater plus some intimate knowledge of. In English, we don't really have a word that does the same. Some have argued that Daddy gets close, but I don't really like the comparison. I'll explain why in a minute. When someone says pater, they can simply be describing a what as distant as the name on a family tree. But when someone says abba, they're not only describing what someone is, they're describing who that someone is. Big difference. In other words, someone who says abba knows who he or she is speaking with intimately. Someone who says pater might or might not. I've been to Jerusalem. I've been to Israel seven times in Jerusalem, just as many. And one of my favorite things to do is walk through the old Jewish quarter in the city. And especially when families are going to and from synagogue or it's Shabbat or something, and you'll see the mothers and fathers walk through the old stone streets and the kids will be, you know, running around. And I've done this. I've actually gotten out of the way and closed my eyes because I wanted to hear it. And oftentimes I have. The kids will be running along and they'll cry out for their dad, but they don't say it like I would. They cry out. They say abba, Abba. In Jesus Day, slaves were forbidden to Address the head of the family by this title. You should let that sink in. In Jesus darkest moments, when he's sweating blood in the garden is the word he uses. Also, the reason I think we see in Scripture Abba father, or that we read Abba Father is because the translator is giving us a signal by putting the two words side by side. He's telling us, hey, we don't really have a word that means the same thing as this one. So we're putting our word next to this one. So you, the reader, will have some idea that we've given you the best we've. But they're not quite equal. ABBA carries innately inside the combination of its own letters, a deep expression of intimacy and knowingness. Its father in 4K Ultra HD. Etched into the word itself is identity, security, purpose and ownership. Jesus use of Abba causes the religious rulers of the day to hate him, to despise him. This is John 5. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, Abba, making himself equal with God. Now you might ask yourself, why were they so uptight about this? Well, Leviticus 24. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregations shall stone him, the sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the name shall be put to death. Every time Jesus says Abba, he is making himself equal with God, a son with all the authority, rights and privileges thereof. And every time he says it, the Pharisees are looking at each other and asking themselves, who does this guy think he is? Here are a few instances. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. When you pray, say, our Father, hallowed be your name. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my Father's house a house of trade. I and the Father are one. Father, glorify your name. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. All that the Father has is mine. Jesus uses Abba, his more than any other word to refer to God. If he taught us anything about the One who sent him here, who begot Him. He taught us that he was and is his Father, and not just His Pater, but his Abba. He uses the word more than 165 times in the Gospels. I, Charles Martin, believe this is the single greatest revelation of Jesus, the revelation of God as Father. Now they're all important. I just think this is the Most. In John 5 when he heals the man at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus uses the word 15 times in two paragraphs. I have come in my Father's name and you do not receive me. To the religious rulers listening to Jesus, this is fingernails on a chalkboard. The high water mark starts in John 13. The moment Jesus dresses himself as a servant and washes the disciples feet. From that moment to the cross when he cries out to Telestai is about 18 hours, give or take. In those 18 hours, you want to guess how many times Jesus says Father 51 times. Okay, so think about it. Jesus earthly ministry lasted three years in which he is recorded as having said ABBA 165 times. And yet in the last 18 hours of his life he packs in 51 of those. Think about it. When we read the last few hours of Jesus life, what we read is a conversation in John 13, 14, 15, 16 of Jesus with his brothers talking about the Father. And then we have a conversation of Jesus talking with the Father. This is beating us over the head with a two by four. After his ascension, Paul picks up the mantle and he'll use it more than 40 times in his own writings. He said this to the Romans. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba Father. And this to the Galatians. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts crying abba Father. By the way, this is not a new message. Writers have been writing about this for over 3000 years. This is Isaiah. For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father John late in his life would write this. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, bringing our total to some 200 plus times in the New Testament. The other day, for kicks and giggles, I asked one of the AI platforms, what word is Jesus recorded as having said the most? Taking out a and the and small conjunctions. You want to guess what word AI came back as having said Jesus spoke the most? Okay, so from where we sit, this begs an honest question. Why would God the Father command Jesus to speak the very word that's going to get him killed? Why Would God the Father command Jesus to speak the very word that's going to get him killed? I mean, really, if salvation hangs in the balance, is this the best strategy? If you're CEO of Jesus, Inc. Is this how you market the message? Would you have done a better job crafting it? Hey, look here, boss. Could you tone down the patriarchal rhetoric a little bit? We got a good thing going here. A lot of folks getting healed, Rome is no doubt worried, but you're sabotaging it every time you tell these people that God is their father. So maybe pull it back a little. You know, rein it in. I write fiction for a living. And rule number one in any series is don't kill your protagonist. Rule number two is don't kill your protagonist's dog. But that's a different sermon. If that joke doesn't hit you, then you haven't read my books. And you should. Let me ask you this. If Jesus really is the Son of God, and he is, why did the Father kill him? Because he did. Straight up, the Father killed the Son. And he didn't just off him by kicking him in the head with a mule. He crucified him. Have you ever studied a crucifixion? What was so important to the Father that he was willing to brutally crush his own son? There must be a reason. I mean, just brass tacks. What is the reason for Jesus? To save sinners, make propitiation, shed his blood, satisfy the wrath of God, destroy the works of the devil, ransom mankind, take away the sins of the world, give eternal life, seek and save the lost? Yes, absolutely. He did all of these things, and he is doing them in this moment. But this is what he did and is doing. It does not tell us why. So have you ever asked yourself, really, why did Jesus do these things? So we can punch our ticket out of hell? So he can park us on a cloud, feed us bon bons, teach us to sing Kumbaya, and let us shoot arrows at unsuspecting lovers. This is Paul's descriptive of what Jesus did. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. But even that doesn't tell us why. So back to my question. Why? What is the reason for Jesus? And does he ever tell us in his own words? This is the end of John 17. This is what we call the high priestly prayer. These are the last words Jesus will speak before he's arrested. When he had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. And this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence. With the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of this world. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father. Keep them in your Name, which you have given Me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. That's us. That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in Me, and I in you. That they also may be in us. So that the world may believe that you have sent Me. The glory that you have given Me. I have given to them that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and you and me, that they may become perfectly one. So that the world may know that you have sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved Me before the foundation of the world. Then he ends with this. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that yout have sent me. I made known to them youm name, and I will continue to make it known, which he is doing in this second, so that the love with which youh have loved Me may be in them. Jesus saves us from the kingdom of darkness and transfers us into his kingdom so that you and I might know the love of the Father. This is the reason for Jesus. I'm 56. I started writing when I was 15. Published 31 books and three screenplays, totaling some three and a half million words. That doesn't make me an expert, but it does entitle me to an opinion. And my opinion is words matter, and names matter a lot. For those of you married, what if you called your spouse by another name? Especially in an intimate moment. What if you called your child by another name? Look, intimacy is expressed in a name. It's a knowingness. A name is Both an invitation and an expression. If you call me Mr. Martin, Dr. Martin, Pastor Martin, that all says one thing. But if you call me Charles, says another. Which is why of the 10,000 books I've signed, I've only ever signed Charles. When I hear people pray and they use the words dear God, they're not wrong at all. Please don't. That's not my heart. But I'm wondering if they know the Father, because according to his son, that's how God wants to be known by us. I felt like when the Lord first dropped this in my lap that I was wondering, like, lord, well, isn't that kind of elemental? I mean, we know you as father. And then I felt like he showed me it's an incremental knowingness, like we can't know him all at one time. We know a little bit and then we know a little bit more, and we're never going to know all of him. So I just felt like he said, bring him to me. Let me be a father to my children. So I want to offer you an invitation. I think the Lord, the Father, wants to put a word in your mouth. It's a pretty special word, maybe the single most important and meaningful word any of us will ever speak. I think we used to know it. I think for most of us, it was the first word on our lips when we opened our eyes on planet Earth. I think our lips make the sound naturally. It's the DNA cry of our heart. Abba. Say it out loud with me. Abba. I think your Abba wants to get at your image of him. And like me at the fire pit, he wants unfettered access to the place in your heart where you hold him. He is jealous to correct how you think about him and how you know him. And he wants to reveal himself to you as he is. And he wants to shatter the image that the enemy has painted or tainted. When our kids were born, like every other parent, we had trouble getting them to sleep through the night. And Christy, because she had what they needed, would try and nurse them. And sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. And when it didn't, she would hand me this screaming, peeing, pooping, vomiting thing and say, with this weary look in her eye, here, you do something. So I'd take them in the den and strip them down to their diaper and change their diaper. I'd take my shirt off and the two of us would lie on the sofa, their skin pressed to mine. And invariably all the boys would do that thing, that little Fetal curl that kids do, where they tuck their knees up under their chest and they sort of dig themselves into this space and they. When they would finally settle down, they would eventually turn their nose into the nape of my neck where they could smell me. Eventually, they would sleep. Christy would wake the next morning and look at me in desperation, saying, I have the stuff. But how do you do that? As I was researching the Hebrew meanings of the word abba, of the six that I found, the last one is this. I long for your scent. If you're a child of God, do you know the scent of your Father? You want to. One last thing. Back to Jesus in the garden. He's on his face, sweating blood, staring at the cup of God's wrath. And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. Abba. Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me yet. Not what I will, but what you will. Okay, look at his posture now. Listen to his words. Not what I will. Jesus could have whispered and a hundred billion angels would have shown up in battle array. But he didn't. That was not the will of the Father. From the age of 12 to 33, Jesus made known to us a name. That name is Abba. And when Jesus says it, what he's really saying is, father, I will obey you. Abba is rooted in obedience. This is why Daddy doesn't work. Because people who say Daddy can sometimes have no intention of obeying the Father. They're just trying to work their dad. So what did the Father command to Jesus? Well, Jesus describes it this way. For this reason the Father loves me. Because I lay down my life so that I may take it back. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from my Father. The Father commanded the Son to die, and the Son did it. So let me ask you, do you obey the Father because he's given you the same commandment? This is why Paul will later say, I die daily and I have been crucified with Christ. All of us want the cozy tenderness of abiding with the Father, the scent of his beard, the deep resonance of his belly lap, the feel of his biceps when they envelop us. But do we want the discomfort of obedience? Because the only way to abide with the Father, the only way to know the love of the Father, is to obey Him. There is no abiding without unreserved, unequivocal, uncompromising obedience. Remember, I started with this. It's Jesus, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Okay, I know that some of you have had horrible experiences with your earthly dad. I know. I've been in ministry long enough. I've heard the stories. I heard two more this week. I am not immune to that. They were terrible. The things done were terrible. They were wrong. You have every right to be angry. I had a lady stand right here and tell me one day, Charles, I just can't pray to the Father because of what my dad did. I get it. I promise. As much as I am able to understand, I get it. But here's the thing. Your Abba father is not your earthly dad. He's your Abba. My question for you is this. How long are you going to allow the enemy to use your experience with your earthly dad to rob you of the love of your heavenly Father? This word love is overused today. It doesn't mean what it should. Okay. What we see of love today is expressed in 90 seconds on TV. No commitment, no covenant. So what kind of love are we talking about here? With the love of the Father? It's the kind where God so loved the world that he gave his son in exchange for you. Now, you know you better than anyone else. So think back and run the tape. Are you worth the sinless, righteous Son of God? Because according to the Father, the ancient of days, who lives in infinite light, you are. Here's the truth of you and me. And I don't care what the whispers are screaming in your head. At this moment, you are worth the Son of God. That should mess with your head and it should really mess with your heart. It's an inconceivable kind of love. And for those of you who need to see it on display, if you need tactile proof just to see how much God, the Father, really loves you, if you need to see the blood and touch the thorns and the nails, then walk with me back to the cross. You see that mangled man hanging on that execution stake, driven into the earth? That's proof that the Father loves you. You want to know why? Because that should be. I grew up in a football household. My dad was raised in the oil fields of West Texas. He was Friday Night Lights before it was popular. He was recruited by Arlington Junior College and played football at junior college there outside of Dallas, Fort Worth. And Then was recruited by a team in Gainesville, Florida. My dad became a Florida Gator in the early 1950s, from 51 to 54. He was actually part of the guys that tested Gatorade. I came along, which is why I was born in Florida and not Texas. Growing up, football was a lot of what we talked about, from Pop Warner to JV to varsity. It was one of the things that we shared. I have three sisters, and so I kind of had to add to myself a lot. And we would just talk football. It was a thing that united us. It was a thing that. It was just a thing that we shared. It was just one of those beautiful things. By the time I get to varsity football, I was not a great athlete, but I had great dreams. All I wanted to do was play Division I football, and I played football with some great talent. They were street and Smith's top 25. They were ESPN top 100. Kevin Kirkati, Kirk Robinson, Terry Malik, Joe Haga. These guys were athletes I was not. I'd like to think I was. But they had coaches that recruited them all the time. They got Division 1 offers. They went and played and won national championships. And I just wanted. I just wanted somebody. I would have walked on anywhere somebody asked me to play. And one of the schools. Kirk was an amazing athlete. He just was just amazing. And. And he had 60 or 70 Division 1 offers. And those coaches would. Would. They were on the campus all the time. They would show up at his house. I would answer the phone when they would call. I answered the phone one day when Lou Holtz called, hey, coach, how you doing? And it was just amazing. Georgia Tech came along, and they saw Kirk, and they said, wow, we'd really like to have him as a running back. And they saw the two of us hanging out, and so they said, hey, we'll sweeten the deal and we'll get Charles. And so they came to me and they said, hey, we would like for you to walk on at Georgia Tech. We're inviting you to walk on. I'm like, here I am. Great. I'm ready. Sign me up. So Kirk decides not to go to Georgia Tech. He decides to go to the University of Florida. But to their great credit, Georgia Tech did not rescind the offer to me. So I walked on at Georgia Tech. I was kind of Rudy before Rudy, and I was not big, tall, strong, or fast, but maybe inside I was. And so I get there, and the team, the group of guys that went in with me, I was only there a year, but the following year, they would win the national championship. So I say that just to say that I saw football at a really high level with a bunch of really great guys, many of which would enter the league and play 10 years in the NFL. And so I've seen it at a really high level for which I've always been thankful. But I just. Look, I was my thing. I had a firm grip on fifth string, okay? I wasn't letting it go, not for anybody above me. I get through fall practice, and every afternoon after practice, I would come back to the dorm, and this is back in the 1900s, back before these things. And I would walk down the hall and punch in my phone card number and call dad, and I would either get him at his office or at home. And he always answered the phone with, hey, sport, how you doing? And I would unpack the day. And they were hard days. They were not. I mean, it was hard, but as we got through fall and into the winter workouts, I had done some things well, and they were talking about a scholarship, and I was encouraged. I thought maybe I would. I thought maybe I'd get to play some special teams or something. I mean, really, that's kind of what I was hoping. We get into spring workouts, and by now I'm no longer a rookie. I'm no longer the kid with his name on his helmet. I'm able to respond to the speed of the game, and I just felt like I was coming around a little bit. And we were doing. I was a defensive back and we were doing sideline drills. And a sideline drill is when they give the ball to somebody and they mimic being someone running down the sideline. And so the DB has to choose the angle. It's one of the hardest tackles in football, because if you choose it wrongly, you're going to look like a fool on television and somebody's going to score. So you just have to learn how to pick your angle. And so they pitched the ball to just a really great guy and big guy, much bigger than me, much stronger. And he would later go on the NFL, and I would hit him. And I've done this drill a thousand times. And soon as I hit him, I remember hitting him, and I felt the crack, and I even heard it. And I remember laying on the grass. This is back in Atlanta when they had just built the IBM tower. The IBM tower had a gold dome at the top. And I remember laying on the grass, and I could see the gold dome out of the corner of my face mask. And I remember thinking, to Myself. That's it. Football is over. Even laying on the ground, my hips were kind of twisted a little. I limped through practice. I was able to get up and walk around, and I limped through practice. And I didn't want to tell the trainers or the coaches, because if I did, they would never. I'd never play. They'd never give me a scholarship. And so I found a doctor in downtown Atlanta, and he took some X rays. And I remember him walking in. When he did, he. He. He shoved the X rays up in the little thing on the wall with the lights. And as soon as he shoved them up there, I can see my spine, and I can see L5, which is kind of your vertebrae right behind your belt. It's the one that connects to your hip bone. And it was like a. I could see it was like a lightning strike right through the middle of it. And I had a. I had a broken vertebrae. And he said, charles, I want to put you in a body cast. And I said, sir, with all due respect, I walked in here and I'm walking out. So I limped home. All my idols are crashing down. The only thing I wanted to be in life was a football player, and I'm not going to be that, ever. I didn't know who to be, what to do. I was mad, but I didn't know anything. All I knew at the moment was I needed to make a phone call. I didn't know how to start it, and I didn't want to let him. I didn't want to let him down. So I went back to my dorm. I sat on my bed for about three hours, and I finally limped down the hallway to the payphone and punched in my number. And I caught him at the office. He said, hey, sport, how you doing? I said, dad, I can't play football anymore. And I remember hearing his chair squeak. He said, son, what happened? I said, dad, I broke a vertebrae in my back. They want to put me in a body cast. Without skipping a beat, without pausing, without inhaling, my dad said, son, if I leave right now, I can be there by supper. This is what I know about us men. I've been ministry long enough. Been in ministry long enough to know this. Most of you jokers are walking around planet Earth with broken backs, and you're not on the phone with your father. Most of you are walking around with an I got this attitude. I'm good. I got this. No, you're not, and no, you don't. That's your pride talking. And yes, I'm talking to you. The gospel is, you don't got this. He does. For some of you, the greatest barrier to you experiencing the love of your father might be your own unwillingness to forgive your earthly dad. Right now, some of you are listening to the sound of my voice. Some are in prison, death row. Some are on planes. Some are in other countries. Some of you are sitting here within the sound of my voice. Here's what's true for all of us. We are free to hold on to our wound and our unforgiveness. We can keep them. God the Father is no tyrant. Or we can walk down here, forgive them, lay it down forever, tear up the IOU and let the Father wrap us up. I'm not saying it's easy, and I'm not even saying they deserve it. But we don't forgive people because they deserve it. We forgive them because it's the will of the Father. Obedient sons and daughters forgive. This is the end of stand firm. You will never stand firm and act like a man. You will never be a godly dad until you become an obedient son. You will never stand firm and act like a man until you become an obedient son. Do you know the will of your Father? And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. What is the will of the Father? Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. What is the will of the Father? Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. What's the will of the Father? Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your offenses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you. What is the will of the Father? Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. The only way we can do everything in love is if we let the Father love us. Love doesn't start with us. We don't generate it, don't create it. It starts with him. We receive it. We love him because he first loved us. Jesus says, in my Father's house there are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you. Then he says this, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. There is no path to the Father that does not go through the Son. I don't care what Oprah says. I don't care what the rest of the world says. I don't care what other religions say. According to Jesus, the only way to the Father is through the Son. If you do not bow and surrender to the Son, you don't get the Father. But if and when you do bow to the Son, let me tell you what happens. The Father stoops down and he lifts you up and you're no longer an orphan and you're no longer a slave. He raises you up as a son and a daughter. And here he doesn't stop there. You're a co heir with Christ. That should mess with your head. When we bow to the Son, the Father raises us up. Please stand with me. Wives. This would be a great point or great time to lovingly and affectionately put a hand on your husband. Not a stiletto, but just a hand. Like a hand that says, I'm here and I love you and I'm pulling for you. Some of your husbands have way deep father wounds. The only way to get them rooted out is let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit does. I'm going to invite you to the altar. Here's my invitation. It's really simple. Please don't let the enemy keep you in your seat. Please don't let him remind you of all the horrible things your dad did. Your dad's a broken man just like the rest of us. Please forgive him, I implore you. Please forgive him. I just want to invite you to the altar. I just want to want you to bow to the sun. Just bow and surrender. And then just say this. Abba, I'm your child. You're my father. Please raise me up. You can come let me pray for you. Father, I lift up all these children of God to you today. All these fathers with wounds that are deep, all these daughters with wounds that are deep. And I pray that you by the power of your Holy Spirit would do a thing in them right now, Father, that you would bring them to yourself. Please don't let the enemy keep them. Please don't let the enemy stay embedded in their hearts. Father, would you please break chains today and free your children and love on them and raise them up. And we thank you and we praise you and we worship you and you alone in Jesus name.