Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] You're listening to the Known Legacy Podcast, brought to you by Known Legacy Ministries. For more information, go to knownlegacy.org now here's your hosts, Bill and Travis.
[00:00:16] It's Thanksgiving time, guys, and today we're going to take a little break from the ordinary. The rest of the guys are taking it easy this week, but I wanted to bring you something specific for what's going to happen this week. There's a lot that goes on when it comes to Thanksgiving Day, and in those moments, man, I still believe that we can have intentionality as dads. And so today I want to talk to you about the value that we can bring in intentionality as fathers and husbands to our Thanksgiving Day. Don't let this be a time that we look back and say, I wish we would have, but to say, I'm glad we did. And so there's a couple things I want to talk about to you today. All throughout the Scriptures there are reminders of God's goodness and the fact that he wants us to be thankful. Now, I know that it's not the same thing as Thanksgiving Day, but there is value in us stopping to be thankful for things. Check out some of these verses that I found as we were going through this Psalm 7:17 says, I will give the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.
[00:01:21] Psalm 18:3 says, I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. A reminder of an opportunity to acknowledge God's goodness in our life. Philippians 1:3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy again, the reminder of thanking God for the things that we have. Keep jumping through some of these in the book of Colossians, Colossians 3:15 and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.
[00:02:02] Colossians 4:2 continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. One of the things that I love about some of these verses, especially in Colossians, is that Paul wrote these when he was in prison. His thankfulness wasn't changed because his circumstance was good or bad. And so even now, as you're walking into your Thanksgiving Day and you might be walking people coming into your house, or you might be going to somebody else's house, but man, this is an opportunity for us as men to lead our families through a spirit of thankfulness.
[00:02:37] You know you know what happens a lot of times, even for me in my life? My wife will have a sit around the table and I'm ready to dig in to my dinner and she'll want to say, hey, what is one thing that we're thankful for? How much greater is it if we were the ones to do that? So I want to give you a couple of things today to think about before you start digging into that turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy.
[00:02:59] That as you sit down that you would take the initiative to lead your family in a spirit of thankfulness. Here's the first thing.
[00:03:06] Step into the awkward.
[00:03:09] Take the lead. Now listen, we're already awkward. Dad jokes rule. Because we exist. We will already do the goofy funny things. And in this moment the enemy really wants to speak into us, to tell us that we don't have any value in this moment, that there's nothing that we can really bring. Because who are we to set the tone? We haven't been setting the tone, so why start now? But what better time to start then this moment, at this holiday to begin to start a new tradition, a new time of intentionality that our kids are going to look back at and go, I want to use this for my family. Let me give you some truth about this. There was a study done of the general benefits of father involvement and this is what it had to say about the impact of dads. Children who feel close to their fathers are twice as likely to go to college or find stable employment, 75% less likely to to have teen birth, 80% less likely to spend time in jail.
[00:04:08] According to the Fatherhood Resource Hub, kids with involved dads, listen this up. Are 39% more likely to earn mostly A's, 45% less likely to repeat a grade and 60% less likely to be suspended or expelled from school.
[00:04:24] Here's what I'm saying with all this. There is something important about fathers being involved in, in the intentional moments of their kids lives.
[00:04:34] For us to say no, I'm going to step into the awkward of what I believe about myself, that I don't have what it takes or they're not going to listen to me. Listen, they are already listening and they want to hear from us. And so we have an opportunity this Thanksgiving to step into the awkward and say, okay, I'm going to just take one for the team. The team being my family. Who needs to understand the value of God and who better to do that than us?
[00:04:57] For us to take the moment to say I'm going to guts up. And I'm going to say, God, give me the courage today to be the first one to say, hey, what is something that you're thankful for? And here's what I'm going to ask you to do. If you're listening to this now and you know that you're going to be sitting around a table with your family or friends, I'm going to challenge you to be thinking about one thing that you can say to each of those people. Imagine what you would do if in the beginning of Thanksgiving dinner that you stopped the conversation to say, I'm going to speak about something valuable in each person. That meant, I am thankful to God because of you. And this is why. Because we need to see men rise up. But it starts with us stepping into the awkward. I'm going to put some verses for you to check out in the session notes so that you can have a few verses as reference if you want to use them or read them. And let them be an opportunity for you to bring the truth of God's word to your family because they're hungry for it and you are the person who should be leading them into this. So don't miss that opportunity. Number two, truth over time.
[00:05:59] This doesn't have to be something that's long winded while, man, all their turkey's getting cold and the kids are ready to dig into just the roles. I've been there. It just can be a small truth of something quick that you believe about each person and just list off one thing.
[00:06:16] Some of my best memories are things that didn't take much time, whether it was a text or a word or somebody saying something or speaking out. Those moments are so important in our lives. And if you look back at your own life, I believe that you would say there were moments in your life that somebody did something that wasn't huge, that made an impact. And these are the moments that matter most because they pierce into the mundane and they remind us that there's that these intentional moments have some value.
[00:06:43] It's not the actions that we take, but the life that's added through those actions that matter the most. So let this be a time that you just take a little bit of truth with those that you love the most because they're waiting to hear from you. And what better way than hearing the truth of God's word from the person that wants to lead and love them the most? Finally, number three, realize the investment.
[00:07:02] We can make ourselves believe that when we do this, there's no real, real impact.
[00:07:06] But let's Be honest. We've all had some kind of wound happen from a family member or a father or a mother that we've held onto. So many, in fact, it's funn how many times?
[00:07:16] Ages, grades 6, all the way up until 8th grade. Can define so many people. I have met with so many people whose wounds started there because of a word or an action or something that was said against them or something that wasn't said. And these are the times that we as dads can step up and make a difference and make those changes. Our voice matters most. So take the time with the truth that you have to step into the awkward and say, I'm going to realize that. That this matters, that this is important. Now, no one's gonna probably tap you on the shoulder and go, hey, I need to let you know that that changed my life. Not now. You know when they're gonna tell you at their graduation, they're gonna tell you at their wedding. That's what it's gonna matter. And you know, we don't do it for that anyways. We do it because we hold the only hope in the world with Jesus. And you as the father, are called to be the leader of your family. You as the husband, if you don't have kids, are called to be the leader of your family. And show the rest of the world what it's like to honor God in your steps. And your voice matters. So stop with the lies. Stop believing those lies. Like we've said before John 10, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But God came to give life, and he takes that life and gives it to us so that we can pass that on to others.
[00:08:27] We may not even like the people that we're going to talk to. But you know what? God loves them, and we can cast that truth on them. Isaiah 55 has this to say about the power of God's word. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. When you speak God's word, you are a messenger of the father, to share hope with hopeless people. And those hopeless people could be your children, could be your spouse, could be your family members, could be people that you hate that believe something completely different of you when it comes to your politics. And that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about speaking life. Because the only hope for them is God's truth. And if you can be the one to step in the awkward and say, I'm just going to share this with you. I'm going to think, I'm still thankful that God created you this way. Find something, be the leader, to change the direction. Because what's happened so far isn't helping the world. But what you can do is make a major difference in the lives of those around you. When we teach our children, we teach our children's children. So know that when you speak, you're not just speaking to those that are listening. You're helping them understand that this is something new that they can do to somebody else. You're unplugging them from the matrix, that this world says that they have nothing to offer and that they hold no value. But you as the father, can look at them and go, there's a bigger father in heaven who has something great for you. So I pray that this Thanksgiving would be a time of intentionality, that you would look at this.
[00:09:54] You know, if you're listening to this, if you're watching this video, that you would go, man, I know that tomorrow that on Thursday that I can create something brand new in my family to say, I'm going to start to create the culture of being thankful, that I'm going to be the one who steps up, nobody else, and say, hey, you know, I would like to just take a minute and be thankful for you and what you have to offer and be thankful for you, and I'm grateful that God created you this way. And then ask others to be involved because those moments matter more. I'm excited to see what God has in store for you because even after that, we have more intentionality for you. In fact, in the session notes as well, there's a link to a Christmas Advent that you can download for free from Known Legacy that we want you to use that starts December 1st. And be on the lookout for more ways to let that advent be a part of your family this, this holiday season. So we're excited for you. We're excited to see what God has in store for your holiday season. We just want to make sure that it's intentional because we hold the only hope in the world, so why not share it with everyone around us? Guys, have a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Be blessed. We'll see you soon.
[00:11:03] Sam.
