Address—Shawn Allan
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Good afternoon everybody. I trust you'll pray for me a bit. I've been up since, umm, 1:30 in the morning, uh, Ontario time. Just the way things worked out with flights here today. I'd like to start our meeting this afternoon by singing the 1St 2 verses of 127. The 1St 2 verses of 127.
We just pray.
Our Father, we give thanks for this beautiful hymn.
How it touches our hearts to think of that bus at home that one day we will share in.
Our Father, we.
In great need of help this afternoon. We pray that the speaker will be hidden.
The subject that is before us will be.
Minister to the hearts of the hearers, as only the Spirit of God alone can do.
We give thanks for that beautiful verse, for God to love the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
We give thanks for each and everyone who is here this evening.
And we just do commit this short period of time into thy care, our God and Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, thy beloved Son, we do pray, Amen.
The topic I have in my heart today is one that, quite frankly, terrifies me.
I hadn't planned on Speaking of it at all, and it wasn't even on my heart in any way prior to Tuesday of this week.
It's a very emotionally charged subject.
And I trust you'll pray for me as I speak on it.
They're just sort of random thoughts.
But I wanna tell you the story of how we we come here this evening.
A good friend of our family passed away last week.
And we were visiting in the home of the, uh, the elderly man that that had passed away on Tuesday night. Just wanted to be a little bit of an encouragement to that, that home. And they had a son-in-law who had traveled up from Virginia.
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Who? He and I got into quite a lengthy conversation. He spoke of many, many things.
And, uh, he had gone through a period of time where he was flat on his back for weeks and the Lord.
Really impressed upon him a ministry to fathers.
And we spoke on that topic for some time.
Lynn and I left the house.
We both had tears in our eyes. We said, Lord, why? Why have you given such peace about us going to the conference? We feel like we should be home in St. John's going to the memorial service this weekend.
And I just felt in that moment of time that the Lord's answer was, I allowed this to happen because I wanted you to speak in fathers.
And so that's my subject today. It's just a short period of time.
One of the things that led me to believe this is what the Lord gave. There's a movie out right now I can only imagine. I haven't watched it, but I do know the song.
Spy group called MercyMe and the the singer of that band is the uh, it's the story of his life things Bartz Millard.
And Bart had a very problematic relationship with his father over the years, and this the movie goes into that in quite some detail.
And that movie has been very successful. I believe it's touched a lot of people.
Because fatherhood is a serious issue in the world today.
And you can imagine why this subject terrifies me because I feel so unworthy of it.
I sat down in my basement before I came to the conference with one of my children and I said, how do you feel about me speaking on this?
You'll laugh a bit. The answer came back. Just don't stand up there, Daddy, and say what a failure you are.
So I can't say that.
What I will say is that the diverse in connection with that though, the David said.
It's always touched my heart a great deal, although my house be not so.
So the first thing that I.
I just want to point out is the first instance in the New Testament.
That we have the Father mentioned is in the Gospel of Matthew.
And let's turn to it. The third chapter, 16th verse.
And Jesus.
When he was baptized, he went up straight way out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him.
And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, and low a voice from heaven, saying.
Notice.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
First instance of the father mentioned in the New Testament.
When I was asked to speak, it was told to me that there was an exercise.
For young families, fathers as you start out.
Two things.
Let your children know you love them.
Second thing.
Tell them.
Tell them as you are able.
That you're pleased with them.
It may not be always easy to do that.
But there's always, there's always opportunities.
So many people struggle.
With the question of fatherhood, because they don't feel the approval.
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And all I want to do this this afternoon is to draw your attention to this beautiful fact that when the father is introduced in the New Testament.
He says this is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.
Now I want to go back.
Genesis 22.
Please forgive my shaky voice.
We won't read this whole story. I just wanna touch on a few points.
It came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, And he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get the end of the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell the of.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and settled his *** and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and Clay the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went under the place of which God had told him that on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide here with the *** and I, and the lad will go Yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the word of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together.
And Isaac speak on to Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Hear my my son said, Behold the fire in the woods. But where is the lamb for burnt offering?
And Abraham said.
My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went, both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son.
And laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, he said, Here my, he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fears God, seeing thou is not withheld thy son thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him in a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
Time is short, I'd just like to go over a few points in connection with this beautiful story.
And the first point is this.
Especially if you're starting out as a dad. But even if you're a dad now for a few years, and I have many more years ahead of me in that regard, it all starts.
With.
You and the Lord.
It all starts there. You can read every self help book on being a good father that you wish. You can get all the advice from everybody you wish.
You need to start in the presence of God.
Fathers, I implore you to do that.
That's where it all begins.
God called Abraham, and Abraham's response was very simple. He said, Behold, here I am.
Here I am.
You know, it's interesting. My brother Mark was visiting short while ago in in Newfoundland, and I speak here just for a second about marital relationships. And we were Speaking of the facts again, that you can read all the books you want.
On how to be a better husband and a better wife and all of these things.
It starts with you and the Lord and the desire to serve Him together, and things will tend to work out if you do that.
Second point I want to speak here is the second verse. It says, and this is exquisitely beautiful. He said take now thy son. And if you look in the in the J&D translation, pay attention to the commas, it says, and he said take now thy son comma.
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Thine only son comma.
Whom thou lovest, comma Isaac.
Beautiful.
Take now thy son, O brethren, I don't pretend to enter into this in the way that I should, but we know that verse so well in first John chapter 3. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
To be a son is to be loved.
What manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the Son of God. That's true of everyone who knows the Lord Jesus as their Savior here this evening.
The first thing that though God said to Abraham, take thy son. Second thing thine only son.
Only sun, only dinosaurs if you will. Special uniqueness. We know what this is a type of.
Those of you who have multiple children in your family, this is something that I have really struggled with.
But it's very important.
Treat each one of your children like they are special.
Your only son, your only daughter, because they're all different. And one of the things that we struggle with, and my children know I struggle with it.
We don't understand those who are different from us a lot of times.
All that means is they're special.
Help your children to know that.
And then the last one.
Who now loves Isaac?
You know.
I spoke on this already because we don't need to repeat it, but I'd like to share a little story.
One of the.
Great memories of my life.
And I'll be forgiven for sharing this story.
We're sitting in the living room and home.
And watching as one of my siblings opened up a Wan gift.
And that wedding gift was this verse.
As a father.
That's love me so if I loved you, continue ye in my mouth.
And I saw the tears flow.
And I never got it.
For God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son.
And so.
Abraham here is told to offer up his son for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of which we had more time, but we only.
This is too big a topic, and there's others much more qualified than I am to speak on it.
But one of the things that's so precious about fathers is in the Bible, our Heavenly Father is always denoted as the Giver. The giver.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable is, nor shadow of turning. We read a verse in Ephesians chapter one. I'll just quickly read it. It was in the prayer and I was struck by it.
Ephesians, chapter one.
Says this, that the Father, verse 17, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, et cetera.
He is the giver. God so loved the world that He gave.
And fathers.
The givers and you know, I don't speak of this as giving presents, buying the happiness in the, uh, joy of your children through material things. It's not what God did here.
He gave.
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Something so precious to him we can never and never will understand how difficult it was.
It hurt.
Why? Because He had you and I as His objects of generosity, as it were, if you were. He gave his Son so that we could have all those riches, the inheritance of the Saints of light, that we could know the Lord Jesus. That's why he gave His Son.
And so far as I see to you and I, I'm a very poor example of this. Give what hurts to your children.
Time.
Time give up something that maybe you would like to do you know, and I say this especially to young fathers practical point you'll forgive me though it's not easy when you start off as a dad because you've been used to doing things with your friends you've been used to having good times and traveling and all those things and all of a sudden you get married and there's someone else you got to look after right away as it were think about.
What they would enjoy, what they would like. And then you have kids and you don't sleep for months and it's hard. It's hard.
But that's what giving is. And think of it as a privilege, because by you giving in that way, you are enriching other people. You know, I've often thought another practical point. Forgive me for saying this. Those of you of young children, elderly people love children.
Give your young children to elderly people because they will love it.
My parents will forgive me for saying this, but they used to take us to and that little lady called Mrs. Joyce. She had she was flat on her back. She had a a condition, I think it was Ms. She couldn't move at all and she that mom would take us to her bedside. I Northeast. I never forgot it. And I have no doubt that that Miss lady, Mrs. Joyce so appreciate it because she what did she have? Just the bed in the room all day long.
The joy of children gives your children.
Our time is nearly gone, so just a few other comments here.
Isaac asked the question where is the Lam for burnt offering?
And Abraham says this.
In verse eight, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went, both of them together.
Teach your children that God provides.
Because he does.
And you know, Abraham here did not know.
What was going to happen this day? We know from the book of Hebrews that he expected that he would potentially have to slay his son Isaac, and that it would be through resurrection that the promises would come that had been given to him.
All he says is my son. God will provide a lamb.
You know, I have no doubt that Abraham provided a very good example to Isaac.
In showing Isaac that he trusted God no matter what, even when things were not clear.
We need to do that for our children.
And it starts with us. Us.
You know, share a personal thing. Again, you'll forgive me, but it's not really a secret. Some will know that.
I struggled with wanting a slightly larger home for a number of years.
And.
The door just never opened and never opened and never opened. Never got an answer. Couldn't see why. I prayed for hours. I feel I showed my children that I was a discontent father.
But you know, Lynn said to me. So forgive me for sharing this. You know you can teach your children.
Through things like that, you may not get an answer for years. You may never get the answer.
Show them that you trust him, even if you don't know.
Abraham said My son God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering.
God will provide. Yes, He will. It's a promise.
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And the last point I wanna make with this story is twice it says and they went both of them together.
Together.
And you know, isn't that exquisitely beautiful, The fellowship of the father and the son?
We need that with our children.
And I think I just will leave it there.
They went, both of them together.
A few more verses because our time is gone. I want to turn to John chapter 17, the very last verse of that chapter.
What's the last thing the Lord Jesus says?
In John 17.
I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare Notice that the love wherewith.
Thou hast loved me.
Maybe in them, High in them?
How does the world know that we have a father who loves us?
The prayer of the Lord Jesus was that the Father's love would be manifested in US.
One more time that the love we're with, Thou hast loved me. The love that the Father had for the Son may be in them, and I in them.
The question to myself and to every father in this room is this.
Do we display the Father's love?
I want to just make a few quick closing comments and I hope we can go just 5 minutes over time loop 15.
We can't read this whole story, we can only just make a brief comment on it.
The prodigal son.
And I just want to read.
Verse 12 The younger of them, certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, and took his journey into a fire country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And so this is just something that I want to address to those of us.
Who are sons?
What separates us from communion with the Father? What creates the distance?
His son took what his father had and he wasted it with riders living.
Sin game in.
And it caused separation.
And that's what it does, and it does with our relationship with the Lord Jesus too.
But you know, I just wanna point out the father's heart of love in this story, because when you go down a little later and the sun comes to the end of himself, what does it say about his father? Verse 20? He arose and came to his father, and when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the sun said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. But the Father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, And bring Heather the catted, fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be married.
For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to be married. Isn't that beautiful? The sun comes to him end of himself and he comes back and what does he find out?
The father was there all along, any compassion on him, and he threw his arms around them.
And we know this is a type.
Of our Father.
When our children come back to us after they've sinned, how do we react? Do they see the heart of compassion?
In US.
I hope that they do.
And so I just want to close with.
Coupled final thoughts.
I'm just gonna go right to, uh, that will those verses that David penned. I wanted to speak of him and Absalom, but we don't have time and.
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That's OK. Second Samuel, chapter 23.
And this should be an encouragement to all of us.
The fifth verse of Second Samuel.
23.
Although my house be not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things ensure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He make it not to grow.
All of us know.
Failures. None of us here are perfect in any way.
But David here, rather than being despondent, he says that all his desire, all his desire.
Is that he had been God had made with him this everlasting covenant, and it was all his desire.
And you know, we may fail down here.
But we are the children of God.
And he has promised so much to us, and he has made us his own.
And no matter how we might fail and mess up, we know that His promises are sure.
Sure.
Never forget it.
And so I just, there's more I wanted to say. It's not intended to be a comprehensive look at this subject at all.
But you know.
We need fathers, and we need them in the assemblies too.
And, you know, I'm one of the younger ones here, and I have so much to learn from my older fathers. In this room, I'm going to share one statement that was made to me.
That I really appreciated. This will be my last thought because we are over time.
It's not easy raising.
Teenagers and I made a comment both that to a brother and the brother said to me and I was really rebuked, he said it's fun.
And I never forgot that.
Because I realized that there was an important perspective that I was missing. And I only say that because.
You of you who are older, we have much to learn.
Please help us.
And how thankful we can be that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so many of both, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you and the Father's house. There's a Bose, there's places of communion and closeness and nearness. And we will enjoy that one day.
I'd like to close.
With the last two verses of the hymn, we opened up with 127.
Someone else can start that.
Just closing prayer.
Our God and Father.
Give us to know more deeply the Father's heart.
And how great the gift that was given to us in the giving of thy dear Son, the Lord Jesus, Son of thy love, to think that he is gone to prepare a place for us, and that one day we will know in a way we have yet to know in this world.
What the Father's heart is.
We do give thanks for the fathers that are among us too.
Oh, Father, how grateful we are for the many examples and for those who are fathers here and perhaps just starting out. We just pray for them. We pray to encourage them in this great task, this noble task, this difficult task. Our God and Father, we just give thanks for all that thou art and for thy dear Son, the Lord Jesus our Savior, and his name, we pray. Amen.