Daniel Whyte III is a full-time evangelist by calling. Through the Gospel Light Minute, his main aim is to present a short, clear, understandable presentation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which saved him over 30 years ago. Throughout his ministry, he has emphasized a clear presentation of the Gospel because he believes that many pastors and churches mix up the Gospel with other things, and this causes confusion for nonbelievers. In order to do that, Daniel Whyte III uses tracts that he has written, as well as tracts produced by the following ministries: Fellowship Tract League, the American Tract Society, and Good News/Crossway Tracts in the production of this broadcast.
The Bible commands us to honor our fathers and our mothers. And, today, on this Father’s Day, we are going to honor those whom God has placed in our lives as fathers. People down through the years have attested to the benefits that they received by having a father in their life.
Billy Graham said, “A good father is one of the most unsung, un-praised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.”
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The thing that I admire most about my dad is his genuine Christian character. He is a man of real integrity, deeply committed to moral and ethical principles.”
Jim Valvano said, “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”
Today, we want to thank God for and honor the good fathers in our lives, but before we get to that, we must recognize the fact that there are a lot of bad fathers, a lot of men who have chosen not to fulfill the role of a father to their children. We constantly hear about it in the news, on radio talk shows, and on television. It has rightly been called the “epidemic” of fatherlessness. This epidemic is especially evident in the black community. We have young people who walk across the graduation stage, get their first job, get married, or reach some other level of success in their lives, and each time they turn around and say, “Thanks, Mom.” Why? Because they didn’t have a good father in their lives. So, we want to briefly deal with the negative side of this coin on this Father’s Day.
As a preface to these three types of bad fathers, notice this verse from one of Paul’s letters. First Timothy 5:8 says, “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Now, this verse does not apply only to fathers, but I believe God is saying to men today, ‘How can you call yourself a Christian, if you have abandoned your responsibility in the home? If you have abandoned your responsibility as a father?’
1. The first kind of bad father is the father who won’t stay.
2. Then we have fathers who stay, but who do not care.
3. Finally, we have some fathers who stay, who care, but who do not discipline.
With that being said, let’s turn our attention to the three types of good fathers that we want to thank God for and honor and celebrate on this day. Actor Will Smith was once asked about the problem of fatherlessness in our society, especially in the black community. He said, “There’s so much negative imagery of black fatherhood. I’ve got tons of friends that are doing the right thing by their kids, and doing the right thing as a father — and how come that’s not as newsworthy?” We don’t want to make the mistake of overlooking the men who are doing the right thing as a father to their children. And we thank God for those fathers today.
1. The first type of father that we thank God for is the father who stays.
2. The second type of father that we thank God for is the father who steps up.
3. The third type of father that we thank God for is the father who stands in.
+ Plus, listen to the Chicago Mass Choir as they sing “Mighty Good God” and Anthony Evans singing “Just Like You”
Today is Father’s Day, and people across the country are celebrating and honoring their fathers and grandfathers. Fatherhood is no easy task. It requires a lot of heart, discipline, and time. And we are thankful for those fathers who have done their jobs well. Fathers love their children unconditionally. They provide for their families. They are like a protective wall that keeps their children safe from the dangers of bad influences in the world. They train their children and instill in them character traits that they will need throughout their lives. Because that’s what fathers do.
Many fathers also choose to sacrifice in order to make their children’s lives better. This may mean giving up a higher-paying position at work so that they can spend more time at home with their children. Sometimes, it means the father must fill the roles of both parents for various reasons. That’s just what fathers do.
Many fathers aim to follow the example of the Heavenly Father who made the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the world. When God saw that the people he had created were going astray and engaging in all kinds of sin and disobedience he knew that he would have to be separated from the people he had created and loved if something were not done to save us. So, God decided to do something to save us. Because that’s what fathers do.
What he did required a tremendous sacrifice on his part. He decided to send his only Son, Jesus Christ, to Earth to take the punishment that we all deserve for our sins. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus Christ had to die on the cross to pay for our sins. It was painful for the Heavenly Father to allow this to happen. But he was willing to let it happen because he did not want to lose any of his creation to the clutches of sin and eternity in Hell.
God’s sacrifice paved the way for us to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and have a home in Heaven with God forever. Have you responded to what the Heavenly Father has done for you? Have you given your life to Jesus Christ who has given his life for you?
If you have not, and you want to make this very important decision today, allow me to show you how.
+ Plus, listen to Plumb singing “Children of the Heavenly Father”
Today, we come to part two of our series, “Four Dangerous Spirits to Avoid.” As I mentioned last week, I believe there are four spirits that are driven by Satan that are especially dangerous for Christians, or anybody for that matter. Last Sunday, we looked at the spirit of pharaohistic pride as shown in the life of Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. Today, we are looking at the spirit of rebelliousness, stubbornness and witchcraft shown in the life of King Saul of Israel. And Lord willing in the following two weeks, we will look at the spirit of betrayal shown in the life of Judas the disciple of Jesus; and the spirit of worldliness shown in Demas one of the first century believers who was an associate of the Apostle Paul.
We all know of Saul as the first king of Israel. After the children of Israel had been settled in the Promised Land for some time, they began to demand a king like all the other nations around them. They did not want to be a theocracy, under the rule of God alone; they wanted to be led by a human whom they could look to for leadership. God decided to grant them their request, and commissioned his prophet Samuel to anoint Saul from the tribe of Benjamin as the new king of Israel. The Bible tells us that Saul was a man who looked the part of a king. He stood head and shoulders above the crowd. But, he was fearful of the responsibility of leadership. Even after Samuel had anointed him, when it came time for him to be announced as the new leader of Israel, he was found hiding from the people.
After Saul took on the office of king, however, some disturbing character traits began to appear in his life and the way he governed. These events culminated until the events of our passage for today. God had commanded Saul to attack Amalek and wipe them out — their people and their animals — because of how they had treated the children of Israel many years before. However, Saul does not follow God’s instructions. He saves the best of the animals alive. When Samuel comes to see Saul, he tells him that the kingdom is being taken away from him and that his actions amount to rebellion, witchcraft, stubbornness, and idolatry.
What happened in the life of Saul? How did Saul go from being the celebrated first king of Israel to a man who displeased God? Let’s look at three traits in Saul’s life that show us how this came to pass.
1. Saul began to think too highly of himself. Even though he appeared to be a humble young man before he was crowned king, it seems as though the power and position that Saul gained eventually went to his head. He began to think that he was somebody important. So much so that when Samuel came to visit him, he had to remind Saul of just how far he had come. Samuel told Saul, “When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?”
2. Saul was selfish, impatient and unwilling to wait on God. These three traits are shown by Saul’s actions. In I Samuel chapter 10, Samuel commands Saul to go to Gilgal and wait there for him to arrive. Samuel says that he will arrive in seven days to tell Saul what he is to do about the Philistines. However, in chapter 13, we find that Saul is in Gilgal waiting on Samuel. The Bible says that “Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.” Saul started to get nervous because he knew the Philistines could attack at anytime. Instead of choosing to wait and trust God, Saul decided to take matters into his own hands. Saul calls for the sacrifices to be brought to him, and he steps into the role of the priest and offers the sacrifices himself. The Bible tells us that “as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.”
3. Saul thought he knew how to run things better than God. When Saul was given a direct command by God to completely wipe out the Amalekites and all that belonged to them, Saul thought it would be best to save the king alive and bring back the best of the livestock. He even tried to sound spiritual about it. He told Samuel, “Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.”
+ Plus, listen to Tamela Mann singing “Step Aside” and Andrae Crouch & Marvin Winans singing “All Because of Jesus”
He is a former NFL wide receiver. He played college football at Notre Dame, where he became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy Award. Drafted as the 6th pick in the 1988 NFL Draft, he played for sixteen years with the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders where he established himself as one of the NFL’s most prolific wide receivers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He was selected to the Pro Bowl nine times and to the All-Conference six times. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. He ranks number two in NFL history with nearly 15,000 yards receiving and third in catches with more than 1,000. His 240 games in a Raider’s uniform are the most in franchise history.
He became a Christian as a teenager and sang in the church choir. But after graduating from college, his life took a drastic turn. At 22 years old, he was in the NFL, had a pocketful of money, and was struggling to walk the straight and narrow. After seven years in the NFL, he wanted a change. He said, “I just got tired of living the way I was living. I mean, I’ve never been a drinker or drugs. I never did that kind of crazy stuff, but the things I was doing were bad enough that I couldn’t even look at myself. I even got to a point it was so bad that when I got up in the morning, I wouldn’t even turn the lights on in the bathroom because I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror.”
It was at this point that he chose to commit his life to the Lord. As a teammate and now as a retired football player, he takes the opportunities God has given him to be a role model to others seriously. He often admonishes children and young people to, “Go to church. You know, because in my opinion there is nothing more important you can do with your life. Education is great, but I tell them I know a lot of educated fools out there. There’s a lot of educated fools out there, but it’s the Word of God, and the Spirit of God that can keep you from being crazy and doing the things that we shouldn’t be doing.”
He went on to say, “Only when you’re living subjected to God are you capable of leading a good, clean life — not a perfect life because nobody’s gonna be perfect, but you can lead a clean life. If there are people out there that know me and know me to be a good person, I’m here to tell you that without God, I wouldn’t be that person. Without God in my life, I wouldn’t be that person because the ideas and thoughts that run through my head are just like everybody else out there. But it’s because of God that I’m able to go, ‘hey, we don’t do that, that’s not who we are,’ and I’m able to move on. But its only because of God that I’m able to do that — not because I love my beautiful wife so much. I love my kids and God knows I do I love my kids and my wife tremendously, but as a man you know sometimes that just doesn’t matter. I tell my wife all the time love doesn’t have anything to do with what happens in our world in the NFL and sports world. I mean guys get caught up in it all and things happen, but its God that can keep you.”
Have you ever heard this phrase: “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”? What you may not know is that those two short sentences are the last two lines of a poem by English poet William Ernest Henley titled “Invictus”, the Latin word for “invincible” or “unconquerable.” The full poem goes like this:
William Henley’s poem is a poem of defiance in the face of great odds. At the age of 14, he contracted tuberculosis of the bone. A few years later, the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate his leg directly below the knee. He underwent the amputation when he was just 17. Shortly thereafter, he was told that his other leg would have to be amputated. However, by enlisting the help of another doctor and undergoing intense surgery, he was able to save his other leg. This event, and his determination to live, enjoy, and control his life despite his circumstances, are what led him to write this poem while he was recovering in the hospital. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.
Henley felt that he needed to be in control of his life, and he thought that he could control every aspect of his existence including what happened to him after he died. From his words, we see that he did not accept that there was an eternal being whom he could lean on for support in this life and for assurance of his destiny in the life to come. He wanted to be the “master” and “captain” of his entire existence.
However, the Bible tells us in Psalm 103 that we are but “dust.” It goes on to say, “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.” James 4:14 says, “What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” And in Jeremiah 10:23, the prophet cries out, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
As much as we may try to control our lives, we are not the masters of our fate. God is the one who is in control of the entire universe. The good news is that God has a great plan for each of our lives, no matter what your current situation is, and no matter how your life may be going right now. God says in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God’s plan is for us to live a victorious life.
+ Plus, listen to Bart Millard singing “Victory in Jesus”
Recently, the Lord has laid on my heart a series of messages titled “Four Dangerous Spirits to Avoid.” From studying the word of God, He has shown me that there are four spirits that are driven by Satan that are especially dangerous for Christians, or anybody for that matter, to have. These spirits are exemplified in the lives of four characters in the Bible — two in the Old Testament and two in the New Testament. They are: the satanic spirit of pride shown in the life of Pharaoh in the book of Exodus; the satanic spirit of rebelliousness, stubborness and witchcraft shown in the life of King Saul of Israel; the satanic spirit of betrayal shown in the life of Judas the disciple of Jesus; and the satanic spirit of worldliness shown in Demas one of the first century believers who was an associate of the Apostle Paul.
Lord willing, over the next four weeks, we will be tackling each of these spirits, and I will attempt to show from the word of God exactly why these spirits are so dangerous. Today, we will be looking at the spirit of pride that is shown in the life of Pharaoh. I call this type of pride “pharaohistic” pride, because it goes beyond the typical pride that many people have, and you will see why very soon.
There is much disagreement on exactly who the Pharaoh of the Exodus is. The Bible does not give us his name. However, based on the examination of archaeology and the dates provided in the Bible, most scholars assume that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was either Thut-mose II, or his grandson, A-men-ho-tep II. We will not spend time on this debate here, however, one of these Egyptian kings exhibited an extreme spirit of pride.
The Bible has a lot to say about pride. Pride is the sin that rose up in the heart of Lucifer and caused him to rebel against God and be cast out of Heaven. Let me share with you some of what the Bible has to say about pride:
Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.”
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs 29:23 says, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
Proverbs 16:5 says, “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.”
James 4:6 says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
1 Peter 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
From our passage today, we will look at three characteristics of pride and see why this pride is so dangerous.
1. Pharaoh would not listen to God. God told Pharaoh, through Moses, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs…” We enter the story of the exodus after Moses has come back to Egypt and after he and Aaron have gone to Pharaoh and demanded that he let the children of Israel go free. However, when Moses confronts Pharaoh, Pharaoh scoffs at the word of the Lord. He says, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”
2. Pharaoh would not listen to common sense. Not only did Pharaoh refuse to listen to God, but he refused to listen to common sense. Our passage tells us that after God sent the plague of frogs upon the land, Pharaoh called up Moses to have the frogs removed. To demonstrate God’s power over the frogs, Moses gave Pharaoh the choice to name a specific time when he wanted the frogs to be removed. Notice what Pharaoh said — “Tomorrow.” Now, if I were Pharaoh, I would have said, “Right now! Get these frogs out of here within the next few minutes!” But Pharaoh just couldn’t bring himself to complete humility before God and before God’s servant, Moses.
3. Pharaoh would not heed God’s judgment. The final characteristic of this dangerous spirit of pride in a person is that this person does not take heed to God’s severe judgment. Pharaoh received some of the harshest judgment that God has ever poured out on mankind, and yet to the very end, he refused to repent. He refused to humble himself before God.
+ Plus, listen to The Sensational Nightingales singing “Glory To His Name” and Yolanda Adams singing “Victory”
She is a political analyst, blogger, columnist and commentator. She is a Democrat who regularly contributes to USA Today, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal among other publications. She formerly served under the Clinton administration from 1993-1998 and was appointed Deputy Assistant U.S Trade Representative for Public Affairs.
In an interview with Focus on the Family, she shares how she converted from atheism to Christianity. She said: “I was not looking to be a Christian. The last thing in the world I wanted to be was a Christian. I had grown up as an Episcopalian, but not evangelical, born again, or any of those kinds of things. It was very high church, kind of mainline, protestant, episcopalian. I did believe in God, but it wasn’t anywhere near what would come to happen to me later in life.
“When I went away to college, whatever little faith I had, I lost. I ended up graduating from college. I worked in the Clinton administration. All my friends were secular liberals. At this point, I really got even more deeply into an incredibly secular world because now, all my friends were basically atheists, or if they had any kind of spirituality, they were very hostile towards religion, Christianity in particular. So, I really didn’t have any interest in it.
“I started dating someone who went to Tim Keller’s church, Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. Out of curiosity, I went with him. But I told him upfront that I would never become a Christian; that it’s never going to happen. After about six or seven months, I began to think that the weight of history is more on the side of what [I was hearing at this church] than not. Tim Keller had made such a strong case, that I began to think it’s not even smart to reject this. It just doesn’t seem like a good intellectual decision.
“Really, it was like God sort of invaded my life. It was very unwelcome. I didn’t like it. Obviously, I started having a lot of different experiences where I felt God was doing a lot of things in my life. It’s kind of hard to describe, but I did have this moment where the scales just fell off of my eyes, where I was saying, ‘this is just totally true, I don’t even have any doubt.’ …I don’t really feel like I had any courage when I became a Christian, I just gave in. I wasn’t courageous; I didn’t have any choice. I kept trying to not believe but I just couldn’t avoid [accepting Christ]. If I could have avoided it, I would have. There is nothing convenient about it in my life or in the world I live in. It’s not like living in the South where everybody is a Christian. I live in a world where nobody is a believer. But God pursued me.”
