BRO. BO SANCHEZ:
We’re going to talk about Fatherhood.
Fathers, you’re going to be blessed. Mothers, you’re going to be blessed.
Children, you’re going to be blessed.
I remember when I was growing up and then being in the Lord, and serving God, some parents would ask my parents: “What did you do for your son? What’s your secret, that made your son this way? Did you have special prayers for your son?”
My Mom would say, “I don’t know. He just turned out like that.”
In hindsight, my parents did something right. The reason they weren’t aware of it was that’s just who they were. What were the right ways they did?
- They loved
- They spent time with
- They taught me about
They brought me into their faith. We prayed the Rosary every night. We went to Mass every Sunday.
The Dad I Can Trust
I love sharing this story. You’ve heard this before.
When my Dad came home from work, he looked for me and he would say, “Bo, let’s jog.”
He was not a great jogger. We had a car parked in our garage.
Both of us would jog around the car for a few minutes. At a certain point, he would stop and sit, and I would sit on his lap.
He often read the newspaper. But because I was with him, he did not read the front page, only the comic section– Tarzan, Beetle Bailey, and Dennis the Menace.
Later, I would go down and that’s when he would read the front page. That’s it.
Those were the few moments every night being with my Dad.
Growing up, I had very few toys. I had 10. I counted them. I knew the number.
Today, I have two sons. When they were small, they had a department store of toys in their room. Blame that on our wonderful friends who spoiled them to death. I had 10. I didn’t complain. Why?
Every Saturday, my father would say, “Let’s walk.”
It was our father and son time. We usually went to Cubao. Not ride a jeepney or a car. We walked. On the sidewalk, he would buy me a hotdog on a stick. I ate but he would not. He just watched me eating. After that, he would bring brought me to the toy section of a department store.
He’d tell me, “Bo, play.”
I owned all the toys in the world. I sat on the floor, and I played. The saleslady watched me, while tapping her foot.
After some time, my Dad would say, “Let’s go home.”
Again, I did not feel bad not bringing a toy. We did not buy a thing. I did not complain. My hands were not empty. I went home holding the hand of my Dad. I knew somewhere, somehow that right there, he loved me.
I have five elder sisters I called evil sisters back then. I was the youngest and the only son.
My father had his peculiarities. Whenever my siblings and I greeted him, “Hi, Dad,” he just nodded, saying, “Hmmm.”
That was his favorite word. He wasn’t expressive. But even if he was like that, I loved him. I knew that I could trust him.
That’s the greatest tragedy of this world today: When fathers are not trustworthy
The Surveys Say…
According to statistics:
They’ve been abandoned.
They’ve been left. This is a United States record.
In the Philippines today, you’d think it’s much better. No, it’s not.
According to the University of the Philippines Population Institute:
Add: 18% plus 7% =25% — one quarter, or 1/4 of 100– the same number as the U. S. The problems about fathers are the problems of the world.
Let me read to you more statistics:
Very bleak numbers. And I know it’s scary.
The record is about the general public.
The survey did not include people, families, and children who turned their lives over to Jesus.
Something happens when you start following Jesus in your life.
I know it is a father-wound.
But let me read to you this passage: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
I pray you believe the Word: You are a new creation.
The Bible Says…
I can tell you one friend after another friend who came from a broken home and whose father abandoned them–
but look at them today: They’re wonderful parents, successful entrepreneurs, and great missionaries. You know some of them because they serve, lead, and preach to you at The Feast.
God can heal your father-wounds to transform you, to empower you to be a blessing to the world.
I also want you to know that bad fathers are not a new problem. You find them in the Bible. Some of the heroes in the Bible were bad fathers. Just to tell you that that’s the situation, that’s reality:
Abraham left his son, Ishmael, to die in the desert.
King David was a great king, but he complicated his own family life. He had eight wives. We know of King Solomon– you know, 700 wives, 300 concubines. That’s all we know. But the situation stems from the father of King Solomon– King David. In the law of Moses, that was not allowed. I was against the law of God. But here’s King David having eight wives, and concubines– their number not mentioned.
When I meet a man and I find out that he’s having an affair– he has a second woman–
I have a temptation to go up to him and tell him, “Bro, I have one woman and it’s very complicated already. I don’t get it that you want another one. I am married to the most amazing, the best wife you can ever think of — but it’s still complicated.”
Here is King David with eight wives. His family was a disaster– if you read the Bible. His eldest son, Amon, raped his half-sister, Tamar. David’s other son, Absalom, killed his brother, Amon. Absalom and another brother, Adonijah, carried out a coup d’état on separate occasions, wanting to grab the throne of their father, King David. Horrible family!
Good Guys … Bad Guys
Abraham and King David– those are the good guys. Wait until you hear about the bad guys in the Bible and how horrible they were as fathers.
I’ll give you two examples: King Manasseh and King Ahaz. They worshipped idols. They worshiped this god, Molech. They would get their children to throw them in a fiery furnace as a sacrifice to their god. They killed the children and burned them to a crisp.
Why? Because they were asking requests from their idol, hoping that their idol would listen to their prayer as they sacrificed their children.
In an eerie parallel, it still happens today– except that parents are no longer sacrificing their children to an idol like Molech. But to the idol of success.
For the sake of grabbing their dreams, they’re giving up their kids
David Blankenhorn wrote a book: Fatherless America (Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem).
This is what he says:
When somebody has a problem dealing with any authority– such as the boss in the office, the leader in a prayer group, the teacher in school, or the president of the Homeowners Association — most likely, he has a toxic relationship with his own father.
And get this: Sometimes, it translates into his relationship with his God.
If a father is not trustworthy, that child growing up will have a difficult time. Why? Because parents are the first picture of God that your children will have. But this also includes uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, teachers, and leaders.
Tragically, some kids have a difficult time getting to know God because they have a distorted picture of who God is. I know this is bad news but let me share with you that there is a path to healing your father-wounds.
Do you agree that generally, there is a problem with fathers in this world?
Right? This is not just a problem of fatherhood– but this is the foundation of the many problems of the world.
The reason we’ve got so many problems in the world– as much as why there is a problem with politics, with wars, and with corrupt people in business, and so on– is the problem of fatherhood. Fathers are not acting as good fathers. But I’m telling you that there is a solution to this problem, and it’s called reparenting.
There are two ways of reparenting:
This is the high call of all friendships. If you have a friend, the high call is to mirror God’s love for that person.
This is the high call of all spiritual families– like The Feast. It’s not just an event. It’s not just worship, songs, and talk– and go home.
The Feast is the reason I am who I am. For 40+ years, I was involved in The Feast where I had friendships that healed me.
As wonderful as they are, my parents were imperfect. I grew up with this wound and that wound — but I was healed because there were other humans…
The Feast is very imperfect, times one million imperfect. And yet, there are enough humans in The Feast who somehow struggle to show God’s love to the people in The Feast. There are enough. I’m telling you, we are healing the world. We are healing people. If you have been attending The Feast, get into our small groups and find out who these humans are.
Go to the Father Himself and tell Him, “Father, I’ve got some father- wounds from my human father. As my Heavenly Father, can you reparent me?”
You have to go to Jesus because as the perfect image of the Father, He’ll introduce to you who the Father is.
Because Jesus said in John 14:7
I have been reading the Bible for 40 + years. There is one part of that Scripture where Jesus describes His Father –which I believe is the best way. It is through the Story of the Prodigal Son. We’ll unpack that today as we bring this message at half-point.
When I mentioned the Story of the Prodigal Son, some of you zoned out.
Maybe because you’ve read it a hundred times.
The Bible was designed to be read a hundred, thousand, and a million times because it is medication literature. Each time you read the Bible, you don’t just learn something new– but you love someone old. It is a love affair.
In Luke15: 11-13, Jesus says:
My Friends, modern people like you and me, when we read that passage, we’ll say, “Hmmm. Yeah.”
If you were in the room when Jesus said the story, you would be appalled to death. You would feel the plot so offensive.
Because:
THREE MESSAGES FROM THE PRODIGAL SON STORY
The father in the Prodigal Son story is very strange.
Here is the youngest son saying to his father, “Hey, Dad, can you give me my inheritance now?”
I was really waiting for the father to act like Dolphy in John and Marsha. I just lost 90% of the audience(John and Marsha was a television sitcom in the 1970s when, yes, half of Bro. Bo’s audience now were still kids or were not yet born.)
Really, I was half-expecting the father to get his slippers and hit the son with it. But the father in the story says, “Yes.”
He gives to his son what he asks for.
I find this scary. Because that’s exactly what God is doing to us. This is the terrifying truth of free will. We have the ability to follow God at every moment but at that moment, we also have the ability to reject God. Isn’t that terrifying?
Right now, you can be the most amazing saint, or you can be a Hitler. It’s your choice. God gives it to you.
Friends, be careful with what you wish for. Even if you’re asking for the wrong thing, because you think it’s the right thing, you’ll receive it.
The Prodigal Son story is the Genesis Story 2.0. Jesus’ mind is marinated in Genesis 1, 2, and 3 that it leaked into stories.
And the story of the Prodigal Son asking for his inheritance– excluding the father — was Adam and Eve asking for godlikeness without God. The prodigal son taking that inheritance away from the father’s house was Adam and Eve walking away from the Garden of Eden.
At any single moment, you can choose to follow God or follow your spiritual arrogance in every decision.
At every single moment, God says, “You choose your fate.”
It is scary. He will allow the bad consequences of your bad decisions to happen to you.
So, my dear Friends, at every single moment, cry out to God: “God, I want to follow You. I want to do Your will. I will be careful in asking what I want because You might just give it.”
Luke 15 continues:
The Prodigal Son was a Jew (according to their law, Jews were not allowed to eat pigs). What the Prodigal Son could do was eat the food of the pigs. So, in a sense, he became a pig.
This is the Parable telling us: That when you sin against God, when you rebel against God, you begin to act like animals.
We do disgusting things with our life, with our family, with the world.
The reason there are all sorts of atrocities is we act in rebellion against God.
Luke continues:
The Prodigal Son went back to his father’s house. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Yes.
Question: Were they able to come back to the Garden of Eden? Were they able to go back to the Father, to God? The answer is No.
But in this Parable, Jesus is saying that Adam and Eve could have come back, and they should have come back– if they only acted like the Prodigal Son who admitted that he made a mistake and that he would go back to his father and ask for forgiveness.
The Prodigal Son went back to his father’s house. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve weren’t able to come back to the Garden of Eden.
Jesus was like saying that Adam and Eve wasted their chance.
I’m speaking to everybody here who feels like they’re that younger son.
Maybe you have made a few mistakes and you’re wondering if you’re not worthy anymore. I’m telling you: Just come back. Let God take care of you.
Let His mercy bring you back.
Waiting…
This is a vision of how the father was looking out of the window every day waiting for his son to return.
In this story, Jesus was introducing his Dad.
He’s saying: “This is your Dad.
This is your God. This is your Father.”
He’s looking out the window and asking, “When is my son coming back?” He’s waiting for you.
He doesn’t just wait. He runs to his son.
In their culture, an adult man does not run. Why? Men at the time wore those funny clothes. For a father to run, he has to lift his tunic to run. If he doesn’t lift his tunic, he will trip. But if he lifts his tunic, the father would bare his legs. In their culture, you don’t bare your legs. If you’re an adult man, that was shameful. But this father didn’t mind that because he was running to his son.
Today, I invite you to stand and say: “I will receive the Father’s love today.”
Jesus taught His disciples to pray like this:
“Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
This moment is not just an event. This is a healing moment. This is not just a gathering– but a reparenting time. Will you allow the Father to reparent you and heal your father-wounds, heal your mother-wounds, heal your lola, grandmother heal the wounds of your heart caused by your ancestors?
Friends, whether you have a good or bad relationship with your parents, this is the advice of Jesus to you:
“As we worship today, cry out, “Father!” You’ve got wounds? “Cry out Father!”
Spend time with Him so you get to know the real Father– as a provider, forgiver, and defender.
Receive Your Daily Bread
Jesus said: “If you go to my Father, this is what’s going to happen: He will give you Daily Bread. He will forgive you for all your sins. He will defend you.”
Let the Father surprise you today.
When you get healed by the Father, you will become a better father and a better mother. Maybe your marriage is non-existent anymore. If you have separated already, still father your children. Be a presence of love in their lives.
Speak to them that even if you made mistakes many times, tell them that you are following God and you’re asking God to make you a better father or a mother.
Today, see the Father running towards you.
See the Father’s tears of joy. Feel Him embrace you today.
Are you like that Prodigal Son walking back to the Father right this moment? Receive the Father’s love.
Audie Villaraza, who is head of this house, will lead us into a prayer that I want all parents to pray for seven days. We start today and then on your own, pray it until next week. This is a Prayer of Exorcism. When you’re the father or the mother, you are the head of the household. You have the authority over your house. You’ll pray this prayer with conviction
I’m not the head of this house. It’s this guy who will lead us into this prayer. Then, you lead it in your own house. We will drive out the work of the enemy that wants to destroy your house.
We will ask Jesus to come and reign over your family.
Prayer of Exorcism
BRO. AUDIE VILLARAZA:
There are two ways to pray this prayer. If you’re a parent and you have children who are minors, you have the authority to pray over your body, your spouse, and your children.
If your children are already adults, you are invoking your authority and passing it on to the
Lord as the sovereign God so that He will drive out whatever demonic forces have latched on to your family today.
If you are beside your family members and if you are the father of the house, if you’re the mother, lay over your hands on your children.
If you’re an adult, I want you to put your hand on your chest. Pray this prayer with me:
Receive God’s love today. Receive His grace flowing in this place. Let’s worship the Lord, Everybody.
