 Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Unfiltered. Pastor David, thank you for joining us as you do every week. Yeah, it's such a sacrament. You know, I wanted to ask you as a pastor, as a father, and as a son, the important significant a father plays in a son's life, growing up, or even after they've passed away. Recently came across a video that you actually showed me of a young man who was auditioning for a music show saying about his dad. It wasn't his song, but he did a rendition of it. And it was called Monsters. And when you hear the song, you can literally feel the significance and the importance that a father plays in a son's life. Can you share as your own experiences, maybe not so much of your experiences, but even as a senior pastor, the importance that we as fathers play in our son's lives? Well, you know, I saw that video. I actually had seen the original. It was put up by an artist that I really don't know, frankly. I'm not up to date with latest music and musicians and things that relate to that. But I did happen upon James Blunt when he did that video. And it was very moving to me because in the video that James Blunt made, his father actually is in the video. And the way his father reaches and touches his son's arm as James is trying to hold his emotions back because his father is dying. And James Blunt was singing about that and singing how it's not just a son and a father, but it's two men saying goodbye. And so that really gripped my heart when I first saw it a while back now. So I happened upon this particular video that was being dispersed in the social network. And it was a young Pacific Islander who was auditioning for a show. And he chose to sing monsters, right? But what was very gripping about it was that the young man's father had recently passed away. And so the strength of this young man to be able to sing such a song because it is very emotional. And in the original James Blunt, he's crying even as he's singing. His father's alive, but this young man's father had died within two months of his audition. And so my wife Maria and I watched it and it spoke to me. And what really spoke to me wasn't just the little boy, the young boy, not this high school senior. His pain, I understand it in a different level, but it was the response of the judges. I saw one judge, Lionel Richie, he couldn't contain himself. He was fighting back. You could hear him actually making sounds as he was trying to control. And then there's another judge, another male who is responding in a different way. At least what he says is different. And then you have a young woman. And yes, when it comes to a son and the father, it's different than the daughter and the father. A son and a father have a different relationship. The son carries on the tradition of the family. The legacy of the father carries his name, perpetuates his name through following generations. So my father had sons. He had me. I have taken my name in his, my first name, which was given to me, my last name, which I inherited from him. And I passed that on to my sons who in turn passed that on to their family. And my son, David Aaron, named his son David Aaron, but he told me, he says, Dad, I gave him the name of the man that I treasure the most, yours. And he gave, he said, and I gave him my middle name. And he's going to carry on, should the Lord tarry my legacy. And so men have a different response when their fathers pass on. My father was my, my hero. He was my, my representative of what it means to be a man. My father is the one who was responsible and, and did a good job, I think, at this point in my life, of teaching me how important my name was, the last name, my name, spoke of him, how to protect it. My father was, was a man who would, he would, he would eat less. All of us would eat less to make sure that his bills were paid, because his name meant so much. My father, in other words, taught me how to prioritize expense, prioritize a family, prioritize, prioritize personal enjoyments, vacations, taught me how to work, taught me how to, taught me how to value job to, to love the United States, to serve in the military, to, to be respectful. He taught me all of these things. He didn't even do it through, through lecture. He did it by example. And so yeah, in, in the life of a young man with his father, it is different than the life of a young man with his mother. There are going to be different relationships. In this particular audition, you know, the, you could, you can see it, you can see the emotions of Lionel Richie, and then you see the emotions of, of the young woman, and she doesn't have the same, she doesn't have the same understanding. She wouldn't have the same, you wouldn't expect her to. So she doesn't really understand what's going on with the men next to her, because she has not the same, she doesn't have the same relationship. And so what is the importance of a father? We have the ability to communicate things, not just in the practical, John, but we're supposed to be the priests of the home. We're supposed to wash our wives with the water of the word. We're supposed to teach our children the ways of God. You know, we're supposed to, to take them to church, to give them their devotions, to teach them to be children who honor and worship the Lord. They watch us to see whether we, whether we pick up our Bibles, whether we ever respect their mothers, whether we treat them with kindness. They watch all of these things. They learn from us because we're training our, our young men to be men in a, in a world that, that denigrates men, oh, there's toxic masculinity. No, there are men filled with toxic femininity. They're an awful lot of men who are more women than men. And, and, and I don't condemn them for that. I understand why with so many men abandoning their families, with so many, so many little boys being raised by mamas who are doing their best to raise them, no condemnation whatsoever at all. And thank God for mamas who care and love for their babies. No condemnation. But there is a problem when a man abandons his home. I cannot help but believe that the crime that we see amongst the young, the, the questioning as to their own sexuality, who they are as a man or a woman, that comes directly as a result of propaganda that comes through, through various means, you know, from TV to books to, you name it, movies and outspoken feminists and weak men. You know, just, just yesterday I was watching a news report about Kamala Harris's second gentleman, they call him. You know, and, you know, he thinks that there's a plague of toxic masculinity. And I'm looking at this feminized man who's under the thumb of a woman. And I'll be honest with you, there's no respect in my heart to him as a man. And I wouldn't listen to him if he's trying to explain to me how to raise a child or how to be a man. I wouldn't listen to somebody like that because he doesn't even know who he is. He's betrayed his own sex. And that sounds rough and all, but I hope there are men listening to me right now. God has given to us responsibility, John. And I have in my children's life, I have been, and as I'm supposed to, I have been that man to teach the women, my girls from man's perspective and to teach my boys how to be men in a world that is terribly in need of heroes, terribly in need of, of fierce men, even as Peterson says, ferocious men. You know, Jesus Christ was not weak. Sometimes we say, oh, look, he was so loving. Oh, really? You haven't read the Bible very clearly. He, he cleaned the temple out twice. He, he, he took on the religious leaders and called them whitewash tombs and hypocrites and snakes. I mean, this is a strong man. He wasn't a weak man. You know, so many pictures of Christ with his, his head kind of tilted to one side and his hands against his cheeks like, he was a man's man. He was a carpenter. He, he, his hands were roughing callus from the work. He, he, he not only worked with wood, they call him a carpenter, but he also was a master at working with stone. He had a broad back, strong shoulders, powerful arms, walked everywhere was strong. He didn't back down. He was, he was fierceness incarnate, fierceness incarnate, but meekness is the restraint. He was meek of all because he had more power than all. He had more power than all. A man who can walk on water and raise the dead, who's going to beat him? See, so we, we, we, I'm not saying he was, he was mean. He wasn't. He was direct. He was strong and he's a model to us as men. And this man who was strong enough to tell people to their face, this is what it says. This is what you're not doing. And this is how you should be. Look at me. I'm embodying all these things I'm telling you. He allowed himself to be put on a cross. He allowed himself to yield his life. He allowed himself, but no man could have taken his life from him. He said, no man can. He said, I voluntarily lay it down of my own accord and I will pick it up of my own accord. So men need to concentrate on Jesus. Not only was he strong, but he was tender. The fact that he would hold children, bless them. The fact that he ministered to the kids and loved them. The fact that women would see him a purity that they could trust. A man who would never take advantage of them, but a purity that they could trust so that they would love him so much they would follow him wherever he went. This is a man. This is what God has called us to be as men. To be strong, to know him, to know his word, and to be that evidence to our children. Those of us who are fathers. And when a father dies, a part of a man's heart dies with him. You know it. I know it. You know when my father went to be with Jesus? And we clinged out his house. My mom moved to New Mexico. And it was finally just me in this big old house they used to live in, where our church had begun. I'm sitting in their den. It's empty now. It's just me on the carpet in a place where I used to visit with my dad. A place where I would talk to him and he would talk to me. And I still remember speaking out loud, saying to myself, now who's going to? Who's going to be my, the one who gives me advice? Who's going to be able to do that? And I just wept. I just wept. I lost it because my dad was gone. So my heart goes out to that, that young, young man, he lost his dad. But it also inspired me as I was watching those men as they, they openly were torn by that. Obviously Lionel has lost his father, obviously. And that awakened me to the fact that our boys and our girls need us. They need us, John. And I've told the church, and I'll close with this, John, I've told the church in, in Bible study, I've said, my, my children didn't need to look outside of the house for a hero because they had one living in it. I made my mind up that they would never need to look to somebody else, that they always would have me. And so part of my life, John, and you see it, part of my life has been to be the man they most admire us as a father. Obviously, my girls need to, to love their, the husband. But my boys, my boys need to have a model, even at this point, of a man who is true to their mother, loves them, cares for their children, and cares for their souls. That's what we're called to. And so, yeah, I was very touched by that. And it's a great opportunity to be reminded that as fathers, we need to step up and be the heroes and be the Christ-like example in their lives, because we will one day impact our children's life by the way this young man responded on the show, or in another way, which is always a reflection of the importance that we have in them. So, well, I hope you guys enjoy this. This is very heartfelt, especially those who've maybe lost their father. And, you know, we have an example now in Christ. And so with that, we, we want to do, invite you to come to our services on Sunday morning at 8.30 and 10.45 as you're in the book of Mark. That's right. And, and then this will probably be the, well, that will be the last study before you go to Israel. Yes. It will be there for a couple of weeks. So please keep the team in prayer as next week, they'll be heading out. And I just want to thank you guys for tuning in and joining us and, you know, hit your comments below. And tell other people. Yes. Yes. Invite other people. It's a great opportunity to watch and invite to church, invite to watch this. So we look forward to seeing you, Pastor David. Thank you so much. God bless you guys.