Enoch's life exemplifies how to please God through faith and by walking with Him daily in all aspects of life. The sermon highlights that Enoch's walk with God, beginning after the birth of his son Methuselah, led to reconciliation, conformity to God's nature, and a life of spiritual communion and growth. This consistent walk, marked by faith, resulted in Enoch being taken by God without experiencing death, serving as a model for fathers and mothers to live a life pleasing to God, thereby influencing their children and grandchildren toward salvation and eternal life.
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Turn, if you would, to Genesis chapter five, the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis. I'm taking some antibiotics and it makes me a little drier even than usual, so I may have to take some water occasionally today. I was reading a magazine article a year or so ago and I came across this It was talking about fathers, and this is what it said. It said that the average father in America does the following. He sleeps eight hours a day for seventy-five years.
He's at his job eight hours a day plus overtime for forty years. He spends eating an average of a half hour for breakfast, a half hour for lunch, and a half hour for dinner every day. He spends working on the lawn approximately two hours a week. He spends dressing, undressing, including shaving and bathing and so forth, one hour every day. And he spends eighteen minutes a week talking to his child times fifty-two weeks for eighteen years. Now if you convert those into years, it means he spends twenty-five years sleeping.
He spends twelve years working. He spends six and a quarter years eating. He spends one year on lawn work, three years in grooming, and eleven days in sixteen hours communicating with his child from age one to age eighteen. And I don't know whether those figures are accurate, but as I read that, I thought about the fact that they set aside a day to honor us for that as fathers. I thought to back to nineteen, well, I don't remember the exact year, but anyway, twenty-seven years ago, our son went into the first grade in Denver, Colorado, and he had an outstanding teacher.
She had two out of the previous five years been the teacher of the year in Colorado. And she told me something I'll never forget at our first parent teacher's meeting. She said that eighty percent of the children that come into her first grade Eighty percent at the age of six have never heard an intelligent conversation in their life. They've never heard parents talking or anyone else holding a conversation. They've heard people talking on television, of course. They've heard father come home and say, what's for supper? And mothers say, you kids shut up and go to bed or something. But they've never heard an intelligent conversation.
And she said it's a terrible hardship on children to learn how to quiet and to take directions. and so forth without that. And I thought about that in regards to Father's Day just a little and I thought so many of you here are like me, you're not only fathers but your grandfathers and I thought of the opportunities that we have to impart something of value to our children and our grandchildren while we're here, here in this life. I remember years ago we had a friend in Portland, Oregon And they had a little boy three years old. And when he was about two and a half, his father was out walking one day with him, working one day with him, out around the garden outside.
And he noticed that when he would say, boy, that's a hard weed, the little kid would say, boy, that's a hard weed. And his father would say, boy, that's dirty. And the little boy would say, boy, that's dirty. And it suddenly dawned on the Father that everything he was saying, this little guy was saying. So he thought, well, if that's the way it's going to be, if he's going to take in everything I say and do, then I'm going to make sure that what I say and do is a value. And he began to say, instead of that's a tough weed, he would say, for God so loved the world. And the little guy would say, for God so loved the world. And then he'd say that he gave his only begotten son.
And this little guy would say that he gave his only begotten son. And my daughter had that boy in her class when he was three years old. And you know, you're three-year-olds in the preschool class and Sunday school. If you remember their verses there like, God is love. Or something of that nature. That's about the length of the verse. That kid could quote six verses out of a number of passages. Because his father... had taken the time to communicate something of value. And we pray that any of you that are fathers and grandfathers here would take that this morning as an extra thought before we get into our lesson.
Genesis chapter five, verse eighteen. And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years, and he began Enoch. And Jared lived after he began Enoch, eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty in two years, and he died. And Enoch lived sixty in five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty, and five years, and Enoch walked with God. and he was not for God took him let's also read what it says in Hebrews chapter eleven concerning Enoch Hebrews chapter eleven verse five by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him.
For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder for them to diligently seek him. Now you already know that today is Father's Day, and I thought I'd speak about this man, Enoch, And when I'm finished, I think that most of us as fathers would say, well, we can't attain to that. But you know, you need something worthwhile to shoot at. You know, if you shoot at the stars, you may hit the moon. If you shoot at the moon, you're never going to hit a star. That's for sure. So I want to give you something to shoot at.
I thought of that story of the ostrich and the, I mean, the ostrich egg and the rooster. Rooster lived at the edge of a desert. And one day he walked out in the desert and he found this great big ostrich egg. Never seen anything like that in his life. Couldn't believe it. And he got there and he pushed that ostrich egg. It took him all day and he rolled and shoved and dug in and he finally got that ostrich egg back to the henyard. And he got up on the fence and he crowed and he called all the hens together. He got them all around that ostrich egg and he pointed to it. He said, now girls, he said, I don't expect you to be able to do that, but I just want to show you what's being done in other places. So we want to give you a goal to shoot for in this man Enoch.
This is probably one of the shortest biographies ever written, and yet it says a great deal, and we want to look at some of the thoughts. To begin with, you notice that Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years. He lived one day for each of our calendar days in our calendar year. You notice also, I read, went back to the eighteenth verse to point out that He came from a father who lived a long time. We see that Jared lived nine hundred sixty in two years, and then he had a son who lived nine hundred and sixty in nine years. So he had a son who lived a very long time, and he had a father who lived a long time.
And so he evidently came from a family that honored their father and mother, because God's word says, Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the earth. And these men, as far as the Bible is concerned anyway, were two of the oldest men that ever lived. Enoch was not, of course, because God took him. So our first thought then is that we should honor our father and mother. And I think we get that from Enoch evidently. And I think it's important that we bear in mind that we should honor not only our physical parents, You know, many of us find that very easy to do to honor our physical parents.
Sometimes it's not easy depending on your family situation, but generally we find that an easy thing to do to honor our physical parents. But we many times don't find it easy to honor our spiritual parents. You know, God has created for us a wonderful atmosphere. It's called a local church. This is a local church. It's made up of children and parents and babies. You see, you may be sixty years of age, but if today you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you're a baby, the Bible says you're born again. And you may have been saved for ten years, twenty years, thirty years. Now you're a child, a growing older child.
And then there are those in the assembly of God's people in the local church that have been saved a long time. They've gone on well for the Lord. And they're the elder men and women in that assembly, elder in maturity and elder in age. And they're the parents. And you and I are encouraged in the Word of God to honor them as well. And God's going to bless you if you honor them. A while back I was talking to a young lady and she was not happy about something that she was supposed to do in her local assembly. And she talked to me about that. And she showed me some thoughts that she had.
I disagreed with her because the word of God, it seems to me, told her that she needed to do that. But I told her that's beside the point. What is your local elders' desire for you in that local assembly? And she said that I should do it. And I said, then that's what you're supposed to do. God's going to hold you responsible. She said, suppose they're wrong. I said, that's their problem. That's not your problem. You're responsible to be subject to those who are in authority in your local assembly. You're to show respect and honor to those whose God has placed as the elders in your local assembly. Elder when and elder women. And I see a great lack of that today.
When I grow up, I would never think of rushing out of the door before an older man or woman in the assembly. I would open the door for them. We don't see those kind of things today. And you and I that are parents, we should encourage our children, encourage our grandchildren in these things. You remember there's a story in Joshua how that when they went across the river, when it had been made dry and they crossed over, and you remember they were told to go back and one man from each tribe pick up a stone and take it over and form an altar out of those twelve stones. And it says, this shall be a memorial. They were to take those stones with them.
And in the future, when people ask, when the children ask, what mean it, these stones? Then the elders were to explain to them how that God had done this for them. And it seems to me that you and I, that are fathers and grandfathers, we need to explain to our children the truths of God's Word, the dictates of God's Word. so that they too might grow in grace and be happy in the things concerning him. And then I want you to notice some other things. As we looked at the earlier verses, you notice that it said, for instance, that Jared lived so many years and he died. He lived and he died.
He begat these children. It goes back to the eleventh verse. It says, Enos was nine hundred and five years and he died and so forth. It mentions all of these that they lived so long. and they died. But then there's this special exception, and that's concerning Enoch, and it says, and he was not, for God took him. He never died. And I'm never going to die either. I'm never going to die. And if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior, you're never going to die. I hope that's true of every father. And every mother is well in this room this morning that you put your personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ because you'll never die.
You remember the Lord told that wondrous message to Martha when she came to the Lord and she said, If you'd been here, Lazarus would not have died. And the Lord said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. and I'm never going to die. Oh, this body may be put to sleep. The Lord may not come before I'm called home, but I'm never going to die. The Lord has promised He died. He went down into death for me, but I'm never going to die. And if you're here and you've never put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, He died that you might live, that you might have everlasting life, and you'll never have to die if you'll just put your trust in Him.
You have to own the fact that you need to have life. You have to own the fact that you're dead in your sins. You're separated from God, not because of the sins that you do, but because you're a sinner by birth and by nature, born in sin and shaping an iniquity, the Bible says. And as a result of that, you do sin. A dog doesn't bark to become a dog. He barks because he is a dog. And you sin because you are a sinner. but it's your nature of sin that separates you from God. God says you're dead in your sin. When you're dead, you can't do anything about it. But God says He came to give you everlasting life, and He never died.
And a second lesson, then, that you and I need to learn and teach as a father, for our children, as I mentioned, are such mimics, is that they, like us, can go to heaven. They don't need to die. But you see, if they don't see you as a Christian, how can they be a Christian? If you've never put your trust in Christ, how can you lead somebody to heaven if you're not on the way to heaven? How can you introduce somebody to Christ if you don't know Christ? How can you cause someone to live a life pleasing to the Lord if you're not living a life pleasing to the Lord? You see, it's so important that you and I live in the assurance of our salvation every day trusting and walking day by day with the Lord.
It's not enough to make a profession. It's not enough to tell our children how to be saved. We need to show our children what it means to be saved. And then lead them on the way to heaven. And then Enoch was only one of two men of whom it had said in the Scripture, he walked with God. And he's the only one other than the Lord Jesus. of whom it is said, he pleased God. You see what I mean when I said it's a pretty tough goal to shoot for, to be like Enoch. It says that he pleased God. He pleased God. It says that he walked with God.
And I've often said that when it says that he walked with God, I don't mean that he walked separate from the world. There are those in the religions of the world that feel that the way you walk with God is you get up in some sanctuary away from everybody else and you get into a little room and you don't talk to anybody else. You just commune with God and commune with God. That's not what Enoch did. Enoch walked with God. He walked with God in his business life. He walked with God in his church life. He walked with God in his family life. He walked with God in his school life. He walked with God wherever he was. He walked. with God. And you know what's so important, you and I, I wonder if we have any idea of what it would mean to our children as fathers if we truly walked with God day by day.
What kind of a What kind of a situation would it create in the home if we walk with God? What kind of a situation would it create in the business place if we walk with God every day? What kind of a situation would it create with the people who came to service our home or service our car, whatever it is, if we truly were walking with God, if we did everything in a way that God was walking alongside of us, and we were proud to have him there, never ashamed to have him alongside of us, What a difference it would make in our life, would it not? To walk with God. This is what the poet says. Who walks with God must take his way above the wrong morals of the day and walk toward goals others do not see and where they do not care to be.
Who walks with God has fellowship sweet and learnings enabling each trial to meet. Who walks with God will find the way, for he walks with us. every day. Well, what did it mean to Enoch to walk with God? Someone has suggested that, first of all, it meant reconciliation. In Amos chapter three, in verse three, the question is asked, how can two walk together except they be agreed? Thus, two walking together indicates that they're getting along, does it not? It indicates that they're in harmony and sympathy with one another. The verse seems to suggest that the one was not in agreement, but should be.
How can two walk along together except they be agreed? It seems to indicate that they were not agreed. And how can they walk along except they agreed? And so we see that when Enoch walked with God, it means that he was reconciled to God. It means that he was conformed to God, for we know that God was not conformed to him. God cannot change. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. So if Enoch was reconciled to God, it means that he was conformed to God. And so the lesson then is that you and I should walk with God because we've been reconciled to him. We should seek to walk in his ways.
In Galatians chapter five, we're told to walk in the Spirit. And it tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Love, joy, peace. Those are the things toward God. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. Those are the things toward the person roundabout in faith, meekness, and temperance. Those are the things within oneself. And it says if we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. The Apostle in that same book of Galatians in the second chapter, you remember, The twentieth verse said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Remember, it's not merely a matter of salvation if we're to be a good father. It's a matter of walking with the Lord day by day. It is not enough to show your child that they need to be saved. The way that you live your life is going to make a tremendous impression upon your child. And then to walk with God implies that our natures correspond, we've been saying. We now live in that new perfect nature, not in our strength, but His. We know that light and darkness don't mix. We've heard that story of the cave and the sun.
You remember when the cave said to the sun one day, I mean, the sun said to the cave one day, he said, why don't you come out and see what it's like in the sunshine? It's always darkness in the cave. Why don't you come out? And so finally the cave agreed to come out into the sunshine and it got out, the darkness got out, and it didn't like the sunshine at all. So it went back into the cave. And then the cave said to the light, you come into the darkness and see how you like it. And so the sunshine went into the cave and it said, Where is the darkness? You see, when it came in, light and darkness don't mix.
And when it came in, it dispelled the darkness. And the lesson to be learned is that you and I, if we want to keep ourselves from the problems of this world, the evil of this world, if we want to keep ourselves from those kind of things, if we want to do as the Lord said, Be holy, for I am holy, then we have to learn to walk with Him. The young people today would say if we want to clean up our act, we have to learn to correspond our nature to His nature. This, of course, implies moral fitness. God always walks in holiness, and when we walk with Him, we walk in the light as He is in the light. I wonder if you ever think of that.
It says Enoch walked with God. I wonder if you ever think about the fact that when he walked with God, he had fellowship with God. and he could not have fellowship with many of the things that we often find ourselves involved with. One thing that I learned in dealing with my children is that you never lie to your children. You never lie to them about the good things and you never lie to them about the bad things. If you say you do that again, I'll spank you. If they do it again, spank them. If you say, I'll take you to the zoo on Saturday and something comes up where you can go fishing You go to the zoo on Saturday. You don't lie to them about the good things and you don't lie to them about the bad things.
And you see, if you say that you're walking with the Lord and you do even those things which seem to you be very minor, like maybe saying I'll take you next week instead of this week, because it's something you'd rather do. The child doesn't look on it that way. The child looks on it as though you've lied to them. And the child finds it very hard to believe that you're walking with the Lord. One man explained to his boy from a book what a Christian was. And when he was finished, the little boy said, Daddy, have I ever seen a Christian? Have I ever seen a Christian? And you know, you and I have a wonderful opportunity to live a life pleasing to the children.
There's that little poem that says you're writing a gospel, a chapter each day, and the things that you do, and the words that you say. Your child will watch to see what you do, say, what is the gospel according to you. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and a blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. So walking third means that we set aside our will and we walk in his surrendered will. You remember, God will not force his company upon you. God does not force his salvation upon you. He makes it available to you. It's free. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
He will not force it upon you. And he will not force his will upon you when you're a Christian. He says, Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He says, You get in the yoke with me, and I'll do the following. I'll do the work. He says that you can come to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. And G. Cam Morgan says that's in the nick of time. You see, when we walk with him, we can get the strength every moment. If we surrender our will, we can always operate in his will. See, a surrendered will to God will make you a much better father. And then when it says, Enoch walk with God, it would seem to indicate spiritual communion and growth because walking seems to indicate a steady moving on.
It's not a hundred-yard dash that's spoken of here. It says he walked with God. He walked with God for three hundred years. He walked every day. I think it's something like the apostle was thinking about in Hebrews chapter twelve when he said seeing that we're compassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight in the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has set down on the right hand of the Father.
He walked with God. He walked with God all his days, over three hundred years. The lessons learned from the steady walk, I think of that steady walk of David. David made his mistakes, but he walked with God for the bulk of his life, and he could say, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not walk. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and he goes on to say, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and that's this world. He said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
And he ends the psalm by saying, And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I think that's a beautiful picture of the steady walk. I was speaking the other night with some friends, how important a day-by-day walk is for the parent. Because the child is going to remember, long after you're gone, what you did, and he's going to have long forgotten what you said. Your children seldom remember what you said as much as they remember what you did. Have you ever thought of it as you heard? He walked with God. What a light that casts on the life and character of Enoch.
He, like you and I, was born a sinner. He's born under curse. He was alienated from God by sin, just like you and I. But the day came. Like you and I who put our trust in him, he was reconciled to God. And he went further than that. He did as Paul suggests. The faithful Christian must do. He cut away the flesh. He no longer yielded to the old nature. But he sought to be in fellowship with God. And it says, as we told you in the fifth chapter of Hebrews, he pleased God. You and I want the secret of how to please God? It's given in the sixth chapter that we read to you in Hebrews eleven.
It says, Without faith, it is impossible to please him. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. He was an outstanding character because of faith. Have you ever thought how wonderful faith is? I'm sure you've heard me say that faith is like our five senses. You see, we have touch and taste and hearing and sight and feel. and smell, excuse me, we have those five senses, and you can have all of those out of commission and you can still be alive. But you'll be out of communication with the world around you. Unless those senses or some of them are operating, you have no communication with the world around you.
And we have that wonderful sixth sense, which is faith that puts us in touch with the invisible world. It puts us in touch with the divine world. You see, faith puts us in touch with God. It puts us in touch with things that we cannot see and cannot with the human mind understand. And man, by searching, find out God, of course he can. But it puts us in touch with those things. And I've often thought, what a wonderful thing faith is, because a child four years old or three years old can accept Christ as his Savior. Why? Because it's not trying to figure it out. It's just taking God at his word. And it's so hard for you and I to do as we get older, just to take God and Word.
We want it to work out. We want to understand it. We want to be able to figure it out with the mind. That doesn't make sense. And God says, you've got to take it by faith. Once I show you it's no longer faith, then it's sight. You've got to take it by faith. And so we live by faith. I want you to note that it does not speak of the great things that he did. Not of the churches founded, of the books written, or the thousands saved. All of that may have happened, and all of that may have been important. But it says he walked with God. He pleased God. And without faith, it's impossible to please God.
What are some of the other results if we walked with God? How about a growth in grace? You could not walk day by day with God without caring less for sin and less for the things of the world and more for the things of God. You could not walk with God without becoming more humble and more dependent upon Him. And how about a growth of knowledge of the Lord? It's one thing to talk about God. It's one thing to hear about God. It's one thing to read about God.
But it's another thing to know Him. The Apostle Paul, that greatest of all apostles, after thirty years on the road, his desire was that I may know Him, that I may know Him, that I may apprehend that for which I was apprehended. You and I can talk about the President of the United States, but we don't know him. We know about him, but we don't know him. But we have the wonderful ability to know the eternal Son of the eternal God by faith.
And this man Enoch so knew God that he was able to prophesy. I'm sure you realize that over in Jude, It says, And Enoch, also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold the Lord, cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurs, complainers, walking after their own lusts. and their mouths speaking great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage, this man prophesied of things to come and was able to do so correctly.
Why? Because he walked with God and he grew in knowledge as a result. And how about another blessing, a deep, settled joy and peace? The Lord said, Peace I leave with you. David said, Yea, though I walk to the valley of the shadow death, I will fear no evil. God has given us peace, and he tells us that he leaves us his joy. Walking with him gives a feeling of protection and happiness. And how about the fact that his walk with God was a witness for God? There's no other way in which we can be a witness for him. It cannot be reversed. We must walk with God before we can be a witness for God.
You cannot be a witness for God unless you walk with God. Let me assure you, dear Father, that if your so-called Christian service is not a product of your walk with God, it will be wood, hay, and stubble in the Judgment Day. You and I have to walk with God if what we do is going to be of value to our children. and to ourselves in that coming day. Finally, let me say something about what might be considered by God as the importance of being a father. It says that Enoch lived sixty and five years and he began Methuselah and he walked with God. Now, it doesn't say so, but the indication is that the birth of this child is what caused him to begin to walk with God.
It says he lived sixty and five years and he had his first child, Methuselah, and when he had that first child, he began to walk with God. And I believe that points out the importance that God places on a home when he puts a child into that home and the responsibility of a father in the home. The father is to set the tenor of the home. The mother is the business manager. She carries out the tenor of the home. They do that, of course, in cooperation to each other. But the mother is there more and with the children more. But the father is to set the tenor of the home and he has a great responsibility. And evidently, when... Enoch had that child, he relies that responsibility.
It's said that the name of Enoch's son strongly implies that Enoch received a revelation from God. Methuselah signifies when he is dead, it shall be sent. And when Methuselah died, you remember the flood came upon the world. The opportunity for blessing ended when Methuselah died. What if you knew from God that when your child was born into your home, that you would live only until that that child would live only until Christ came. When that child died, Christ would come and the opportunity for blessing would be passed. What if God said to you only as long as that child lives will blessing be available?
You wouldn't know how long the child was going to live. It would cause you to walk with God and to seek to be about the things of God. Every time that child got sick, you would be concerned about it. You know, if you're here this morning and you've never put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior, you need to be concerned. You need to be concerned about your life because that child may never have any opportunity to be saved apart from your guidance. It's your responsibility. You and I have no revelation such as Enoch may have had. The fact is true that the Lord is going to come again, and it could be today.
The Lord is going to come again. There isn't any doubt about that. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again. And so each of us, we have a great responsibility, and Enoch recognized that responsibility, and he walked with God. That was the beginning of the walk. And what was the end of the walk? Hebrews eleven five by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. What a biography in just a few words. Someone has said that the great men and women have biographies and the rest of us just have tombstones.
And he had a great Let me say just again that I believe that God honors fathers who are fathers. You remember he said that a man should desire the office of elder, and then it says as qualifications, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the children of God? In Titus it says having faithful children. I think it takes an Enoch-like walk to end up with faithful children. God thinks evidently that it takes the effort by faith of being a good father or mother to an able one to be an elder sister or brother to the assembly of God's people.
I got a Father's Day card for my grandson. He's five years old, almost six. And on the front of the card, printed, you know, the regular card, it said, Good at hugging, A-plus. Good at buying ice cream cones, A-plus. Good at taking me places, A-plus. And it had about six things like that, and it was an A-plus in all of them. And then inside, it had a couple other things, but my daughter wrote and said that he had said, tell me, that sure sounded like his grandpa. And I have a son who was thirty-three in May.
And he wrote this on a card to me a year ago. It said, Dad, thanks again this year for being an example in my life. And thanks for giving me the freedom to be me. And at the same time, enjoy your continual love and affection. We love you very much. You know, I love to have that card. from my grandson that said, but those things are unimportant things that he's impressed with. What I want in my life as a father and a grandfather is to be remembered because I walked with God.
May that be the desire of your heart as well for his namesake. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of gathering in my presence. We thank thee for the privilege of being fathers. We know that thou didst not give us these children. Thou didst just loan them to us for a while. But what a responsibility is ours. This life is not the end, it's just the beginning. It's not the landing, it's just the launching place. And, oh, what a privilege is ours, to tell them about the one who loved them and gave himself for them that they too might come to know thee, whom to know is life eternal.
We pray, our God and Father, that not only the fathers here, but the mothers as well, may realize the tremendous responsibility and privilege in this day, in these last days when men are so seldom, and women so seldom interested in the truth of thy word, that we who know thee may be real fathers and grandfathers and mothers and grandmothers for thee, that our children and our grandchildren may come to know him, home to know his life eternal. And should there be any here that never put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly mothers or fathers, may they realize how very important it is for them, not just for them, but that their children may have the opportunity to grow in grace and to know something of what it means to walk with God because they saw it in their parents.
These things we ask now, we ask that thou would part us with thy blessing and give us a good day. And thy most worthy and precious name. Amen.