From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Mother's Day, it's always, you know, mom so wonderful, mom so sweet, but Father's Day, it's always dad, you're not doing enough, and dad, you're doing a crummy job. Well, I'm going to talk about fathers, but not to bash you, to build you up, to encourage you, and to encourage myself because we need to see the great impact that God has given to us the opportunity to impact our children and to make them happy as they see Christ in us. So, let's talk about bringing home the blessing.

Larry Nobles: If you're a father and a provider for your family, you're probably used to the idea of bringing home the bacon, but there's much more to being the leader of the home than supplying the household with their material needs. And today on From His Heart, we'll discover what those are. This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve and a lesson for dads today called bringing home the blessings. It's from Pastor Jeff's eight message series, do you want to be blessed? How to experience the goodness of God. Now, if you miss any of these eight lessons for the rest of this month, you can go online to listen again at fromhishart.org.

Just click the listen link. You can also download for free any of the broadcasts. Open your Bible now to Proverbs chapter 20 as Pastor Jeff explains how to bring home the blessings.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: In 1882, child was born as parents named him Joshua Hugh Wooden. Joshua Wooden spent most of his life as a farmer. He worked on a 65 acre farm that his wife had inherited, and he worked that farm, and he just barely squeaked by there in Indiana. And then some events happened where he lost the farm. It was outside of his control, but he lost the farm, and he was scrambling trying to know what to do to take care of his wife and to take care of his four sons. And so they moved to another town in Indiana where he began to work in as a masseur in this mineral spa bath place.

And it was hot work, and the mineral water that he had to work with smelled like rotten eggs. And he worked back-breaking hours and and time in that hot environment to provide for his kids. Joshua Hugh Wooden was a man of God and a man of integrity and a man who lived out his faith, man who taught his sons never whine, never complain, never blame others. Don't hate, don't get bitter at life. Always do your best. He was never famous, Joshua Hugh Wooden. Nobody really knew where much about him. When he moved to that town and was working in in that mineral bath place, somebody came years later to interview some people that knew him, and they said, you know, he he wasn't famous, he wasn't successful, he wasn't really anything.

He was kind of invisible in this town, but he wasn't invisible at home. He wasn't invisible to his sons. He made such an impact on his boys, especially on one of his sons named John. John Wooden became the coach of the UCLA Bruins in 1946. John Wooden's name is a legend. He coached at UCLA for almost 30 years. He won 10 national championships in 12 years. He had a time there where he had won seven national championships in a row. He's regarded by many as the greatest college basketball coach to have ever lived. Now, his dad, nobody knows, he was invisible to the town, but John Wooden, his son, everyone knows.

And he has influenced untold multitudes of people. When asked, John, how would you like to be remembered? He said this, I would like to be remembered as a man who came as close as possible to being like my father. Wow. What impact Joshua Hugh Wooden had on his family, on his sons, especially on his son John who went on to influence and impact millions. We talked about that great passage in Numbers, the blessing passage, and we talked about will the real God please stand up because God is a God who wants to bless you and who wants to bless me.

He's a good God. But listen, not only does God want to bless us, God wants us to join him in being a blessing to other people. Especially God wants dads to join him in being a blessing to their children. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 7 says this, a righteous man who walks in his integrity, how blessed, how happy, how fortunate, how much to be envied are his sons, his children after him. God has such an awesome promise in his word. It's a conditional promise. Hey, dads, if you will do this, I will do that. Your children will be happy if you will be a righteous man who walks in your integrity.

That was the case with Joshua Hugh Wooden. He was a righteous man who walked in his integrity, and he gave a blessing out to four boys, one of whom became a household name, John Wooden. Well, I'm going to talk about fathers, but not to bash you, to build you up, to encourage you, and to encourage myself because we need to see the great impact that God has given to us the opportunity to impact our children and to make them happy as they see Christ in us. So, let's talk about bringing home the blessing. How do you do that?

What does it take to bring home the blessing to your sons and to your daughters? Three ingredients, very simple. Three ingredients. First of all, it takes righteousness. A righteous man who walks in his integrity, how blessed are his sons after him. If you're going to bring home the blessing to your kids, you're going to spread happiness to your children. The very first ingredient is right there. It takes righteousness. Now, the word for righteousness there is the Hebrew word tsadeq. t s a d d i q, tsadeq. That means just, it means blameless, it means innocent.

Now, if if you picked up, maybe you know a little bit of Old Testament, tsadeq is a special name for God given in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 6. The Lord is our righteousness, and we know that special name for God as Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Tsadeq, it's the same thing. And God says, I want you to be righteous. You shall be holy as I am holy. God is a just and holy and righteous God, and he says, I want you to be righteous. A righteous man who walks in his integrity, how blessed are his sons after him.

Oh, you say, Jeff, that's the first ingredient? If I'm going to bring home a blessing, that's the first ingredient? I got to be righteous? I guess I am done. I guess I I lost at the starting gate because I don't think I would describe myself as righteous. I I mean, especially when you talk about the Lord is our righteousness, come on. I mean, I don't measure up to that at all. If I had to describe myself and I only had two options, either righteous or unrighteous, I'd probably say unrighteous because I do a lot of things that aren't right.

You know, I'm glad that you're honest about that. And one of the wonderful things, if you want to be a righteous man, a righteous woman, a righteous boy, a righteous girl, if you want to be righteous, the very first thing that's required in order to be righteous is you have to see that you're unrighteous. See you must see your unrighteousness if you want to be righteous. Romans chapter 3 and verse 10 says there is none righteous, not even one. Not even one. You might want to write in your notes, there is none righteous, not even me.

You're not righteous, I'm not righteous, no one's righteous. Billy Graham's not righteous, the Pope's not righteous. There is none righteous, God says, not even one. Psalm 143 verse 2 says, in your sight, Lord, no man living is righteous. We're all sinners before God. You can't become righteous until first you see as Isaiah saw, woe is me. For I'm undone. I am unrighteous before a holy God. Now, you know who in the Bible what what group in the Bible had the hardest time with understanding that there is none righteous, not even one? The Pharisees. The religious leaders of Jesus' day, they were the ones that had the most trouble with this thing called righteousness because it says in Luke 18 that Jesus told a parable one day that was aimed at the Pharisees.

Why? Because they trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they viewed others with contempt. And he said this, Jesus told this parable. He said two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other was a tax gatherer, hated tax collector. And he said the Pharisee prayed thus to himself. And he was standing and he was saying to God, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, not like swindlers or adulterers or this tax gatherer. He said, I I fast twice a week. I pay tithes on all that I have.

What a good boy am I? And the Pharisee broke his self-righteous arm patting himself on his self-righteous back. And Jesus said, but the tax gatherer, the tax collector that was there, he stood at a distance, and he was just beating his breast. And he wouldn't even look up. He was just looking down. He said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And Jesus said, you know what? I tell you the truth, that tax collector went home justified, and that Pharisee just went home because he who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

And there is none righteous, not even one. And I don't care if you're a hated, despicable, terrible, unrighteous tax collector, if you see your need and cry out, woe is me, and cry out for mercy, the Lord will give you mercy. So, you want to be a righteous man, you must first see your unrighteousness, and number two, you must receive the righteous one.

Larry Nobles: In other words, as the Bible teaches in Mark chapter 1 verse 15, repent and believe the good news. Pastor Jeff continues this thought when he returns in just a moment. But first, a reminder that because of your faithful support month after month, more people are hearing the truth of God's word and discovering that God's grace is greater than their guilt, stronger than their failures, and sufficient for every step of the Christian life. Every day, God uses From His Heart to reach more people who have been searching for hope, struggling with discouragement, or slowly drifting from him.

Lives are being changed as people encounter the grace, the forgiveness, and the hope found only in Christ. To say thanks for your gift this month of any amount, Pastor Jeff wants you to receive his eight message series, Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. Would you consider a generous gift today? All you have to do is go to fromhishart.org or call 866-40 Bible, 866-40 Bible, and request the series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. Imagine the countless people who are walking in darkness, and your gift helps to bring light to their hurting world. Now, let's get back to today's lesson called bringing home the blessing.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: A great verse is in Isaiah 53 verse 11. Isaiah 53 verse 11 speaks of the cross, and the whole chapter in Isaiah 53 speaks of the suffering servant Jesus on the cross. And the scripture says this, out of that terrible travail of soul, what a understatement really when you think of the cross and what Jesus went through. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it was worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant will make many righteous ones as he himself carries the burden of their sins.

See, the unrighteous one comes to the righteous one, and the righteous one makes you righteous. The New Testament equivalent to Isaiah 53 verse 11 is 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 that says God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. You become the righteousness of God when you see, hey, I'm unrighteous, and Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And then he imputes and imparts his righteousness to you. Isaiah 61 verse 10 puts it this way. I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.

My soul will exalt in my God for he has clothed me with garments of salvation. Now, watch this. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. He puts on you, the moment that you cry out to him, he puts on you a robe of righteousness. Now, we can't see with spiritual eyes to to see exactly because the only person I know that I know that I know is saved in this room is me, is me. And you can't really know about somebody else, but listen, if you're a believer today, you are wrapped in a robe of righteousness.

The Lord has clothed you in his righteousness. I think about the terrible, horrible man in Mark chapter 5. He's called the Gadarene demoniac. He was the guy that was living in the tombs, and nobody could bind him even with a chain. He was demon possessed to the nth degree. When Jesus asked the demon, what is your name? He said, Legion, for we are many. And everybody was scared of this guy, and this guy was tormented, and he was tormenting. He would gash himself with stones. He was a crazy guy, and he was so frightening to be around.

He had a legion of demons within him. When Jesus cast the demons out of this man, remember they went into 2,000 swine who immediately went off the hillside into the Sea of Galilee and drowned. That guy was about as bad as you can get. I don't care what you've done in this place, you probably don't compare with the guy that had the legion of demons. And Jesus came to that man, that unrighteous man. And he saved him, and he changed him. And in Mark chapter 5, it says that after Jesus cast out those demons, after he did a miracle in that man's life, that man was clothed and in his right mind.

And he wanted so much to go with Jesus. He was clothed. Now, he was naked before he met Christ, and after he met Christ and came to know Christ, now he was clothed. And he had a a physical robe on that they put upon him so he wouldn't be naked anymore. But I think that is a vivid picture of the fact that now he was wearing a robe of righteousness. He had received the righteousness of Christ. You can receive that too if you've never done it. Hey, the first ingredient to bring home a blessing, dads especially, to bring home a blessing to your children is that you know the righteous one, that you've received his righteousness, that you're wearing the robe of righteousness.

Someone as well said, anyone can put a new suit on a man, but only Jesus can put a new man in a suit. And that's when he gives you his righteousness. So, that's the first ingredient. It takes righteousness. A righteous man who walks in his integrity, how blessed, how happy, how fortunate are his children after him. Second ingredient, not only does it take righteousness, it takes integrity. A righteous man who walks in his integrity. You say, what is integrity? Integrity is living out your righteousness. It's living out that which the Lord put inside of you when he saved you, when he wrapped you in a robe of righteousness.

Integrity is the opposite of hypocrisy. It's living genuine, and it's living true. It's being consistent with the person that you are on the inside, with the person that the Lord has made you to be. The word for integrity there in Proverbs 20 verse 7 is the Hebrew word tome, t o m, but it's pronounced tome. And it means completeness, it means wholeness, it means uprightness. Integrity comes from the Latin word integer which means whole and complete. Now, a person who has integrity is whole and they're complete, and they are genuine, and they are consistent. Now, this is what I always think of when I think of integrity.

People who have integrity and walk in integrity, and people who don't. Those with integrity and those who are living hypocritical lives. You know, a hypocrite in the New Testament was a play actor. And when they have plays, they would they would wear a mask, and they would be several different characters in the play, and they just put a mask in front of their face. And that's the way hypocrites are. They're not genuine, they're playing, they're play actors, and they they have masks. And the Lord says, I I don't want you to be like that. You're not going to bring home a blessing if you don't have integrity.

See, here's a picture of integrity. You know what this is? Olan Owens got me this. This is a piece of pine. It's 30 year old pine. If you come in close on this, you can see this is solid. It's solid through and through. Now, here is a piece of veneer over particle board. Now, what you notice about this, and you can see it here, is this isn't real wood. This is it's got a nice face on it, this veneer, but inside is just particle board. You know what particle board is? Particle board is just sawdust.

It's it's all the off scouring from the the pulp and paper mill, and and it's it's kind of pushed together, it's mashed together, and and it's glued together, and it it's put together like that. It's it's you know what you know what this is? This is like chicken McNuggets. This is chicken. That's chicken McNuggets. Part of it. This see this looks nice, but any of you guys know that if you've ever put together a desk and so many desks that you buy at Office Depot or whatever, you you buy a desk and it's it it's all like this.

It's all veneer with particle board. And it's fine, and it looks good until you have to put the screws to it. If you put a screw in particle board and you screw it too tight, which I always did, that was my answer to everything is push harder, ha hit it harder, you know. It didn't work. But you would strip it easily. The screw wouldn't hold. You put a screw to solid wood, and it holds. Why? Because it's got integrity, it's sound, it's solid through and through. Let me ask you a question. Which one of these are you like?

Are you solid? Do you have integrity? Or do you look good on the outside, but when the screws come to you and the pressure of life comes, do you start to crumble and crater because all you are is just pressed together, you're not genuine. Person of integrity is genuine and they're consistent. David said this, I will give heed to the blameless way, the way of integrity. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. You know what he was saying? I'm going to be consistent. I'm going to be genuine, and the way I am in public is going to be the way I am in private.

A person of integrity, this is so important, is honest, not perfect. You might be thinking, well, man, I mean, you know, I got a choice here. I'm either this solid pine or I'm this chicken McNugget board. Jeff, I I I don't want to say I'm chicken McNugget, but I feel like I'm more like this than this and because I'm not perfect. Listen, a person of integrity, that doesn't mean you're perfect. If you have to be perfect to have integrity, then no one has integrity. Cuz there's none perfect, there's none righteous, there's none just, not even one.

He is just. He is righteous. He is perfect. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, to be a person of integrity doesn't mean you have to be perfect. It means you have to be honest and genuine and real and deal with sin in your life.

Larry Nobles: Pastor Jeff mentioned the famous UCLA basketball coach John Wooden at the beginning of this message. And a former student manager once said about John that John Wooden was the same man regardless of circumstances. He was consistent. His walk matched his talk. Well, even though you may not have won a bunch of national championships like John Wooden did or written a best-selling book like he did, would the people who know you best say the same about you? That can be a pretty convicting question. But Pastor Jeff's not finished yet. Men, husbands, make sure you're with us next time for the conclusion to this important message called bringing home the blessings.

It's from the series, do you want to be blessed? How to experience the goodness of God? And it's available in our resource center online at fromhishart.org. Today for your gift of any amount to From His Heart, we'd like to send you the seven message series we aired earlier this month called Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. To get your copy in the format of your choice, call 866-40 Bible, 866-40 Bible, or go to fromhishart.org. God bless you. Well, it happens every day. Our time is gone again, but I'm Larry Nobles hoping you'll be right back here for part two of this timely lesson bringing home the blessings.

Join us then when Pastor Jeff opens up God's word to share real truth, real love, and real hope from his heart.