River of Life Church
  • Home
  • How Can I Serve
  • Map
  • Pastor Mark Radeke
  • Giving
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact
  • ReMarkablog
  • Beliefs
  • Event Photos
  • Daily Bible Reading
  • Online Messages
  • Service Volunteer Sign-up

Bad Dads in the Bible

6/16/2015

0 Comments

 
The title is from Roland Warren’s book, “Bad Dad’s of the Bible”.  Because I have not read the book, I do not now which failed fathers Warren lists in his book.
Here are three men and the three terrible mistakes they make as bad dads:

Mannasseh is straight- up an overly wicked father. As king of Judah, he set up idol worship in the temple and in high places. Mannasseh sacrificed his children in fire, practiced divination, witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a lot of evil and God was angry with him. (see 2 Chronicles 33:1-6)

Eli was an overly permissive father and put his family ahead of God. He confronted his sons wicked actions, but ended up tolerating them. God was angry with Eli.
1 Samuel 2:29
Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’

1 Samuel 3:13
For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.


David was an overly-absent father. King David is described as a man after God’s heart but failed as a father. Amnom, his first born was a rapist and David did nothing. Absalom, his third born son killed Amnon for raping their sister and David was absent. Absalom had a hostile take-over of his father’s throne and slept with his father’s wives, but David did nothing. Adonijah, his fourth born son, tried a hostile take-over of David’s throne and David was talked into action by his wife, Bathsheba and the prophet, Nathan. David was an overly absent father.

There are wicked fathers in our community who serve the idols of meth, alcohol and other substances. Their children are not put through fire literally, but are not getting proper food, clothing or shelter.

There are permissive fathers in our community who tolerate actions of their children that are against God’s best for their lives.

We have overly absent fathers in our community who are gone to work before their children are up and work late including weekends. They are paying the bills, buying nice things, but are losing their children because they are absent.

Avoid being a bad dad by living for Jesus, raising a holy standard in love and by being actively engaged and present in your relationships. God is good and will help us in our relationships with those who matter most in our lives.
0 Comments

Will You Blossom or Blow Up?

6/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
There are two types of people - those who enjoy camping and those who hate camping. It is just about as polarized as those who love sauerkraut and those who hate it. (I have not checked the stats to see of those who hate sauerkraut love to go camping or not.)  Many of our church family loves camping and in a couple weeks a number of us will travel a few hours north and spend five days together at a campground for a mission project.

We will stay at a campground in tents or campers. Our time together will take us out of our comfort zones. We will see each other early in the morning before coffee or other normal routines that move us from the morning zombie-like appearance to something publicly presentable. We will prepare our breakfast meals over a campfire and camp stoves. We will battle mosquitoes and sunburn.

Our time together will be equal to four months of Sundays. Relationships blossom or blow-up with extended periods of time spent together, sometimes both. It is not surprising that the Bible records conflicts among the disciples, especially while they were spending 24/7 time with each other while following Jesus.

The disciples argued about who among them was the greatest. They were furious when they heard that James, John and their mother talked to Jesus about getting the best seats in heaven. The disciples were pointing the blame at each other for not bringing bread with them while traveling.

Jesus used those conflicts to draw His followers closer to Himself and each other. Jesus pointed them to a higher standard, a higher purpose and a higher calling. He does the same for you and I today.

Colossians 3:12-14
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.


Next time your church has a campout, retreat, short-term mission trip or extended conference, sign up to see how Jesus changes you when out of your comfort zone and conflicts occur. You may be surprised by how much you blossom.



0 Comments

    Mark Radeke

    Husband of one, father of five, pastor and friend of many.

    Archives

    December 2022
    March 2021
    April 2020
    January 2019
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Categories

    All
    10 Commandments.
    Bible
    Business
    Christian Living
    Church
    Dreams
    Easter
    Evil
    Famous People
    Finishing Well
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Global Poverty
    God
    Grace
    Heaven
    Holidays
    Holy Spirit
    Hope
    Kingdom Of God
    Love
    Marriage
    Money
    New Ventures
    Outreach
    Parables
    Parenting
    Peace
    Poverty
    Prayer
    Prophecy
    Retreat Highlights
    Salvation
    Senior Citizens
    Spiritual Gifts
    Trinity
    Trust
    Valentine's Day Stats
    Water Baptism
    Wisdom
    Worship

    RSS Feed