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00:09 All the children, you can go to Sunday school. I love to
00:14 have you. Um maybe next time. All right. And the youth as well. Is it Mark?
00:22 Yeah. Okay.
00:36 I just give uh some time for the younger ones to go to their respective classes.
00:57 Good morning to all of you once again. A blessed father's day to
01:03 all the fathers here. I'm sure that you have many plans laid out for your fathers or grandfathers, fathers,
01:10 father-in-laws, and all fathers are heroes in their own
01:16 rights. It is I'm sure it's not a coincidence that man of steel was released this this week. Yeah. talks
01:24 about the the original father and the earthly father of Superman.
01:30 But anyway, um I want all the fathers to know that we appreciate you and you are
01:36 appreciated. And if your children give give you a
01:42 neck tie and your wife a necklace, uh please don't compare. It's a thought
01:48 that counts. Just imagine that it is of the same value.
01:54 Um anyway it's a global phenomena that uh people spend more during mother's day but it's fine.
02:01 Well, most of us has one one father most of us and you know I always wonder if
02:07 let's say we have one father where do we get the idea that our father is good or bad
02:13 because since we have only one father and we recognize that this is our father
02:18 our earthly father our uh biological father our uh the father that took care
02:24 of us where do we get the idea that this is a good father this is a bad father
02:30 uh perhaps Maybe because of comparison or maybe perhaps there's something deep
02:35 in us that we wanted something more. We have an idea of of fatherhood.
02:42 But friends and people of God, this year is a very
02:48 definitive year. It's a year that perhaps you can say that the the trend of fatherhood has
02:57 changed. The trajectory of fatherhood on earth or the landscape of fatherhood um here in
03:06 Malaysia as well as around the globe is changing in two areas at least in terms
03:11 of expectation as well as in terms of composition.
03:17 It's changing. What do I mean by by that expectation and composition? I remember that maybe
03:24 about 30, 40 years ago, it is totally all right
03:30 for father to work long hours, come back, rest and sleep and have very
03:37 little interaction with children. It's totally fine because the main
03:43 expectation of a father is the bread winner. Is the provider of the the home.
03:48 His role is to bring back the resources and the food for the family. And everybody understands that that is the
03:54 role of the father. And if children ever complains about the father not interacting too much with the children,
03:60 the mother will say that your father is a good father because he's bringing back the resources.
04:06 But these days, fatherhood has changed.
04:11 Uh if you have the bulletin, please read the account and the testimony of Alan O.
04:17 He has described very well on what fatherhood is like these days. Those who
04:22 are in their 30s or first-time fathers in this generation, uh you most probably can relate to that. I definitely can
04:29 relate to that. Uh I became a father about six years ago
04:35 when Sophia was born. And when when Sophia was born, um we
04:43 both my wife and I, Lillian, we have decided we adamantly decided that we want to breastfeed our children.
04:53 But that is inconsistent with the idea of my mother and my mother-in-law and
04:59 all the aunties along my street. So the first two days or three days
05:08 um there was no milk and Sophia was crying
05:14 even um on the night uh on the very first night. I believe she suckled a few
05:19 drops of colostrum and technically that is sufficient but she was crying all the
05:24 time. So my mom was saying Sophia is starving please feed her with the
05:29 formula. I say, "Mom, uh, we are adamant that we want to breastfeed our child." Then my
05:37 mother-in-law said, "Um, I think you should have another strategy, you know, backup strategy. What if there's no
05:43 milk?" And then all the aunties along the street will will start calling us and
05:49 said, "Oh, no, your children, your child is is crying." So me as a dad, what I did was I carried
05:58 Sophia and I sang to her. for the for the first three nights uh
06:06 especially when the the milk was uh has not arrived. I sang to her
06:12 um many many songs and she calmed down and she slept
06:18 and I believe that my dad never did that when I was young.
06:24 So fatherhood has changed and I want to introduce you to this idea that there is u there is
06:31 multi-dimensional in in terms of fatherhood
06:36 um fatherhood has multiple dimensions um last time the expectation perhaps is
06:42 biological physical and uh physical as you provide the food and shelter um and
06:48 maybe educational a little bit of uh uh little bit of some
06:53 of these and of course financial but these days it's all of it. So fatherhood
06:60 has changed in terms of expectation and I believe it's a good change because
07:06 uh many many research has shown that an attachment that is developed in a younger age of a child with a father
07:13 reduce the risk of many things. So it's a good thing. So in terms of
07:18 expectation things have changed and in terms of composition things has also changed.
07:25 Now we have uh children has perhaps two fathers
07:30 uh two mothers and one mother take the role as a father.
07:35 And we have um matriarch who who who
07:41 is a father of the comm community take the behavior or or take take the role as a father uh in the community
07:48 especially the black community in uh in in the states. There's always matriarch
07:54 in every single community and all this all these macho big uh football players
08:00 and basketball players when they meet all this matriarch. Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am.
08:07 They are totally respectful to this matriarch. And another landscape that is actually
08:12 changing this year as a de very definitive year as far as United States and uh UK is concerned. This year will
08:20 most probably be the year where
08:25 children that is born out of wetlock will be more than the children that is born in in marriage this year. This is
08:35 uh this is the graph that shows the growth uh of out of wlock child bearing
08:41 in United States 1929 to 2010. In 2010 is 40.8 8 last year was 48%.
08:51 And most probably if you extrapolate this year it will cross the 50 50th
08:56 percent. What does it mean? It means that more children are born out of wedlock than
09:03 children that are born in marriage. It's a game changer.
09:10 It changes a lot of things.
09:15 And why why do I mention this is because the trend this this trend in the United
09:21 States has political, social in economical and spiritual implications
09:27 not just in the United States as well as to us.
09:33 So fatherhood has changed. Things are things are different now.
09:38 I I remembered about two years ago uh I attended a uh
09:44 an Easter party of a church member uh in in Texas. So I was invited. I had
09:52 lunch and there were a few families. There were some family friends. I particularly remember a family uh that
09:58 has five children, wonderful children. The oldest was about 15 16 years old.
10:03 the the younger two younger girls they they they are twins maybe about six years old. So all together five of them
10:11 and uh they are a family a wonderful family. Uh and normally during Easter
10:17 they will bury all these eggs in the in in their farm or in in their in the in
10:23 the house and the younger ones will pick uh will pick this eggs. Uh they all candies. So
10:32 everybody can can pick all the younger ones can pick candies. But then the older ones are in plastic shells of
10:40 designated colors. And I was wondering why because the candies are not attractive
10:47 enough for teenagers. So they put cash in there.
10:53 And it's designated colors because you cannot pick the color of your other sibling. So if you are designated
11:01 orange, you can only pick orange u eggs. So that means you you cannot take your
11:07 your brother's blue color egg. So that that keep it interesting a family
11:13 tradition that uh you can pick eggs and uh it's it's a fun time and what I find
11:18 about this this family is very unique and when we call them a blended family
11:24 why is it blended? The first child
11:30 is of one father. Then the next two children is of another father. And then
11:38 the last two uh the the twins, the youngest twins is of the current husband
11:44 of of of the of the lady. But then these three sets of children all came from the same mother.
11:53 And I was wondering when when when the eldest child think
11:59 about fatherhood or think about father what actually goes through this person's
12:04 mind and I got to know a bit more about this family um apparently when the eldest
12:11 child after a few years after the the the first child was born um the the
12:18 parents didn't make it they went separate ways and the mother was depressed
12:23 She she was institutionalized because she
12:28 had compulsive drinking. And during that period of time that child was uh given
12:34 to foster care and then after the the the mother came
12:39 out she took back the child and um she married another man and things doesn't
12:44 work out and then this is her third husband. Uh things are fine right now.
12:50 So I was wondering for this child, she has um or this person has a
12:56 biological father. the first father or the the biological
13:02 father. Uh this person has a foster father
13:09 and the ex-husband of her mother which
13:14 was a father to her for a time and now her current uh now the current husband
13:20 of her mother which she also calls father. So in her perspective,
13:28 she had at least four fathers. Well, why do I want to bring this up?
13:33 Because when we teach God is our heavenly father, what do you think goes through in this person's mind?
13:41 Most of us has one father, but to this person, she may have four.
13:47 So it is important for us to look at this multi-dimensional which I'll come back afterwards. So there's lots of
13:53 social, emotional, um, political and spiritual implications that that this
14:00 this trend of this trajectory because the rest of the developing world is also
14:08 also have this this similar trend. Now what is actually the solution and
14:15 what is this text all about today? The difficulty of this text is actually
14:21 not the understanding of it but it is the application of it.
14:26 So let us read the text that uh we we will be look uh we will ponder deeper upon today. A father to the fatherless a
14:35 defender of widows is God his is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely
14:41 in families. So I I'll stop there. Um although in this verse it talks about
14:46 God setting the prisoners free in singing and the evildoers or the
14:52 unrighteous has to work in a sunscotch land. Um that that two ideas is similar
14:58 but today due to time we will not talk about uh we will not explore in that we just look at uh 6A until God sets the
15:05 lonely in families. So a father to the fatherless a defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the
15:12 lonely in in families.
15:20 Um firstly just a a general trend or a general understanding of Psalms.
15:25 Basically Psalm 68 is is a psalm of praise. Um the structure talk about the greatness of God, the goodness, the
15:31 wonderful work of God, the presence of God with his people, processional praise, enlargement of the God's
15:37 community, the glory and grace of God. So this is the the the idea or the or the movement in Psalm 68. Um it is
15:44 talking about how great God is and the response of praise of his people of
15:49 David towards God. And as we know that psalm is the song book of uh of of the
15:56 of the past and it is also the song book for us the prayer book for us to today.
16:01 It is the response of people. It is the response of human of David towards God.
16:07 And this idea of God the father or this idea of God the father of the fatherless
16:12 is not a new idea. Uh I believe that it comes from this text Deuteronomy chapter 10 uh verse 18
16:20 to 21. Uh it talks about the law. The law that God has given the people of Israel to love those to um to defend the
16:30 cause. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widows and love the foreigners residing among you giving
16:36 them food and clothing. And then the application of it is you you are to love those who are foreigners for you
16:42 yourself were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oath in his
16:48 name. He is your praise. He is your God who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own
16:55 eyes. I love the sermon that was preached by Dr. Peter last week where he talks about
17:02 the objective truth and the subjective feeling or
17:08 subjective experience. The objective truth of if you remember last week talked about the objective
17:15 truth is that we have peace with God and then the subjective feeling or experience is experiencing the peace of
17:22 God. And this is a this is this is perhaps the the objective truth of God
17:28 the law that was given and Psalm 68 is the subjective experience. Therefore
17:35 therefore uh David wrote that Psalms. So Psalm 68 mostly is a reflection or it
17:42 is an expression of of this text or this law that God has given to the people of
17:48 Israel. So out of his observation, out of David's observation, he saw that God
17:53 is the God to the fatherless. So it's not a foreign idea. Um he is
17:59 responding to a lord of God. So it's a very beautiful picture that the objective truth of God is experienced in
18:07 his with within his subjects within his his people. Now God the father is also a new
18:13 testament idea because 2 Corinthians chapter 6:18 um Paul continued the idea
18:20 and say that uh in verse 18 he says I will be your father to you and you be will be my son and daughter says the
18:26 lord almighty and this is god's covenant with David is taken from 2 Samuel chapter 7:14 and as we all know that
18:34 Jesus taught us to pray our father so it's not just an Old Testament idea.
18:42 It is also a New Testament idea. That means it is a Christian idea that God is the father.
18:48 And God is the father to the fatherless. It's also not just an Old Testament
18:53 idea. It's also a New Testament idea. That means it is a Christian idea. Um
18:58 James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is
19:04 this." So it's very definitive to look after orphans and widows in
19:10 their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. So to look after orphans which is the fatherless
19:17 and the widows. So it's part of we have a theological
19:22 reason. It is not just a humanitarian reason.
19:28 It is a commandment from God. It is an expression of love from God to us. and
19:34 our expression of our love to God to the community.
19:39 But the greatest challenge is actually not understanding the first part. God the father of the fatherless. I'm sure
19:46 that right now at this point in time everybody would would agree with that idea that God is our father. He take
19:53 cares of us and God is a father to the fatherless. The greatest challenge of
19:58 this text is is is God in his holy dwelling? Verse one uh sorry uh the
20:05 first part of verse five second part of verse five and verse six God sets the lonely in families
20:14 is God in his holy dwelling in this particular text or in Psalm 66 68:5
20:22 it is totally all right if David were to write a father to the fatherless a
20:28 defender of widows is God full Or he could write that the father, which
20:36 is a definitive article. He didn't use a definitive article. He used uh he used a
20:42 a general article. He said a father to the fatherless,
20:47 a defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling.
20:56 Why would David want to write such thing? If it is just about God,
21:01 it is totally all right to write as the father to the fatherless, the defender of widows is God. Full stop.
21:10 But he did not. Is God in his holy dwelling?
21:15 Let's just try to guess who is this holy dwelling or what is this holy dwelling?
21:23 It is a community of God. That's why we have this beautiful story about Boaz as a kinsman redeemer
21:31 redeeming Ruth and Naomi. It is the community of God.
21:38 And in the New Testament idea, guess who is the dwelling of God?
21:45 Is it the building, the church building? Is it the leadership?
21:53 The Bible clearly tells us that you and I, we are the dwelling of God. That the
21:60 Holy Spirit dwells in us. We are we are the temple of God.
22:05 So the application of it is who is the father to the fatherless.
22:13 It is the community of God. The community of God is the father to the
22:18 fatherless. And here it says that God set the lonely in families.
22:26 Who is which family? Let's just think for a little while. The
22:32 lonely people, God will take this lonely person and put it in a family.
22:40 Whose family? Pastor Rama's family.
22:46 Dr. Peter's family. Richard's family, Pastor Joshua's
22:51 family. Whose family
22:57 is your family and my family? Is this family
23:02 is a community of God? That is actually the most difficult part, the greatest challenge of this
23:08 text. We all agree that God is wonderful. God is great. He is He's loving. He's
23:16 caring. He he showers with unconditional love. All of us agrees with that and we
23:22 experience all that. And God is the father to the fathers. He take cares of the orphans and the widows. Yes.
23:30 Supernaturally sometimes
23:35 but most of the time is through the community of God. So what does it mean?
23:40 What what are the implications of all this? Um basically there's two implications. Earthly fathers are
23:48 actually reflection of the heavenly father and Christian families members
23:54 Christians are family members to the lonely. Whether we like it or not
24:00 as a father when we father our children they have a certain perspective of who father is.
24:08 And when we introduce God into their life and we teach them that God is our heavenly father, the perception of our
24:15 the earthly father is is present. It may be good, it may be bad, it may be
24:21 in between. But whatever it is, it has implication. It has social, emotional
24:26 um and psychological implications. Especially for the first person that I talk uh the the blended family, the the
24:34 first child that went through uh that that went through quite a bit and had
24:39 four fathers. When when you when you ask the person to pray heavenly father, our
24:45 heavenly father, this person has struggled because if if
24:51 this person think about the biological father, biological father left the child
25:06 many years ago. I have a
25:12 uh a a a child which is about 10 10 to 12 years old at that time. She was
25:18 invited to church to to come for our VBS. She was a friend of uh she was a friend
25:26 of a church member. They were classmates. So during VBS we want to invite all the childrens that all the
25:32 different childrens into our church. So so we did. So we invited her. She came
25:37 to VBS. you enjoyed our uh our program. Um she stayed back and later on she
25:43 accepted Christ.
25:52 She comes from a lower social economical uh family.
25:59 Her mother remarried um so she is in a blended family.
26:05 Her father almost never her stepfather almost never interacted with her.
26:12 But the stepfather provided a roof above her head, a private room for her. Her
26:18 stepfather also paid for her education. As far as society is concerned, he is a
26:25 good stepfather. At the very least, he didn't have bad
26:31 interaction with with with her. and coming from blended family and a
26:38 lower social economical uh background her language is different her behavior is different and therefore
26:45 when when she first came into the church she was not very accepted
26:52 and I have several church families who came to me and complained that why do
26:58 you let this girl enter our church and enter and come into our youth group she
27:04 is a bad influence to our children.
27:12 Guess who need more lecturing? The girl who came or the Christian
27:19 parents? The few Christian parents? Well, you you you make the decision.
27:27 Aren't we supposed to be the family to the lonely?
27:33 She never experienced a father because her biological father
27:39 left her and her current stepfather never interacted with her
27:46 uh social emotionally or have a conversation with her. Their relationship more or less not even
27:53 exchanged. Whatever she needs, she will ask the mother and the mother will ask the father and if it agrees, she will
27:59 get the cash. She never interacted with the father.
28:05 And as as a young girl that's growing up, 12, 13, 14 years old, she longs to
28:11 have this male figure in her life. And where would she find this male figure?
28:23 Naturally, we'll be fathers in the church. That means you and I.
28:31 I in my previous church I I I failed terribly.
28:36 There are many areas that I I failed. I I was not able to to so-called father a
28:42 lot of people because um of my limited experience. I was young. There are many things I didn't know. I've done many
28:48 mistakes. And I want you to look at things in in this multi-dimension. Because when you talk about father, it's
28:54 not just about adopting. Yes, adoption is one form of of fatherhood. You can
28:59 actually father a person in many different aspect spiritually, emotionally, psychologically,
29:04 educationally. You can father a person in many aspects.
29:10 And one of the things or one of the joy that I experienced, I actually father a couple, a young couple um although we
29:17 are more like brother uh more like older brother and sisters, but I I was more of
29:22 a spiritual father to them. uh a young Iranian couple.
29:29 They came into the country. Um they were not accepted in many community. Um they
29:35 heard about God. Um I I I said I and I discipled them
29:41 and uh after one two years of disciplehip they went to Melbourne. Right now this couple this Iranian
29:48 couple they are ordained ministers.
29:55 It gives me great joy to be their spiritual father.
30:03 And maybe you are thinking that all these things he has nothing to do with us. Uh well the the US trend so what if
30:11 if there are more children being born out of wedlock and so it doesn't
30:17 concerns us. And guess what? When when when we want to find out about the social concern of this city of Sububang
30:25 Jaya, guess what is the number one concern? Single mothers.
30:31 That's the number one concern. Do you know that in Sububanga the greatest social concern
30:39 is single mothers. What does it mean? That means the father is not around. So
30:46 that means they have a they have children and who would be their father.
30:55 I think Henry can be a good father who
31:03 whose family is willing to take in and father them in different ways um
31:09 emotionally, psychologically, socially uh spiritually. You know, I my biggest and yesterday we
31:16 had a we had a meeting with the social concern ministry and um uh I was entrusted to do development as in to
31:22 find new areas to to uh to serve in this community and knowing that the single
31:28 mother will be one area that we will go into and I have no budget but that's fine. Um someone was very
31:35 very good to me and say that you come with a proposal I will find you the money. Wow great. But that was not my
31:42 biggest concern. My biggest concern is us. I'm sure I can get the money.
31:49 My biggest concern is us. Are we ready to be the father to the fatherless? When
31:55 we extend our help to the single mothers in this community, they come, they have
32:01 children. That's why you call them single mothers. And we will take them in maybe put them
32:07 in boys brigade and uh someone Vincson will be the father and the mother automatically by default because Vincent
32:14 is the captain. Captain captain captain. Uh
32:21 oh. Okay. And of course all the officers. But does it stop there?
32:28 No. Are you ready fathers?
32:35 So being a good father at home to our children is one hill.
32:42 But when you're on top of this hill, God is telling us that fathers,
32:48 I have many lonely children out there, fathers, and they need you.
32:55 So fathers of First Baptist Church, are you ready?
33:05 Maybe you're saying, "Oh, this is so overwhelming. How can I do it?" I can tell you we cannot do it
33:12 because it requires the Holy Spirit that dwells in us that give us this
33:18 unconditional love. And with this spiritual resources it comes it will
33:24 become the wellspring of life that will flow out that our love will not only
33:29 pour out to our own biological children but our spiritual children.
33:43 Mind you this is not salvation. All right we are not talking about salvation.
33:48 Social concern is not salvation. Salvation I think we have talked about it very clearly. Salvation is from God.
33:55 We accept him Jesus. We accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
34:01 And therefore out of this out of this grace that we experience we ex we
34:07 express our love to him by being the father to the fatherless
34:12 by being the family members to those who have no families.
34:22 And I believe that this is a challenge that God has given us as First Baptist Church because this city
34:32 is not so different in reflection to to the United States.
34:39 It is a growing trend.
34:44 May we be ready when these children comes. May I invite you to stand with me? Let
34:50 us pray. Let us commit ourselves to God.
35:15 God, first and foremost, we want to thank you for fathers.
35:21 We acknowledge that they try their very best
35:28 and Lord, you love them and we experience your love through them.
35:36 God, I ask and I pray that in our hearts that whatever that's lacking in our earthly father that you will fill it.
35:44 You will you'll fill us with whatever that is lacking.
35:51 [Music] And as Christian fathers, we we have a
35:57 bigger role from the text that we have read today
36:03 that you want us to change from glory to glory to glory. It means that we want to
36:09 glorify you. We want you to shine in our lives that we are not just good father
36:14 to our children but to the friends of our children that has no fathers
36:21 because that's how they learn about you the heavenly father. [Music]
36:27 God you know that we are limited we are weak. We don't have the resources.
36:32 [Music] So God we ask you to fill us. It is only through your Holy Spirit that give us
36:40 these resources. God, we may not be we may not have the
36:46 capacity to to adopt a whole an entire responsibility of of a child.
36:55 But we can take one part of it. Maybe financially
37:03 teaching the child a trade, a skill, giving them tution,
37:09 [Music] teaching them math or physics or English,
37:16 teaching the Bible, take them out for a meal. I'm sure we
37:22 can do that. [Music] God, you have not opened
37:29 this door to us because we are not ready. But when we are ready,
37:34 there will be many of these children that will flood into this church because it is already the number one
37:41 social concern of this city. And these children long for a father
37:46 figure. May they find that in First Baptist
37:52 Church. Equip us, God. that we will be that we will be ready
37:58 vessel for you to be used by you and to be a light in this community
38:09 reflecting you the heavenly father that all these children will know that you are the
38:15 heavenly father through us. [Music]
38:27 May we be the father to the fatherless and the family to the lonely. In Jesus
38:32 name we pray. Amen. [Music]
