The Fatherless and the Widow
06/17/17 (03/22) Video Broadcast
Fatherlessness is an epidemic in America, while the sick & elderly are locked in nursing home prisons. What can we do to help resolve these problems?
We are ready to begin our
study portion for today's
broadcast.
I'm gonna talk about a
subject that is very, very
near to Yahweh's
own heart.
Very, very near to
Yahweh's own heart and we
can see that very evident
throughout the scriptures.
And so if it's near to his
heart, I want it to be
near to my heart.
It's something that he is
passionate about; it's
something I also want
to be passionate about.
And what we gonna talk
about today is; The
Fatherless and Widow.
ow we may not think about
The Fatherless and Widow
today like perhaps their
level of affliction that
they once had
in terms of...
Maybe you think in biblical times that you know because there was no Father there, the mum couldn't work and therefore the children were going hungry and all these things but there is more to it than the physical providing as we are going to be talking about, we have an epidemic in the United States of America of Fatherlessness. It's a big deal and the Widow also, and so we are gonna talk about this because it is a major, major issue in our culture, here and other westernized cultures and I don't know eastern cultures but definitely here and it's a major problem. And it's right underneath our nose I don't know if we even realize it. Just to give you an idea of how Yahweh is one who cares deeply for the condition of one who is fatherless or one who is a widow.
If you look into the scriptures it's pretty evident, look in the Exodus chapter 22 verse 22 it says you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. You shall not afflict them, that means cause them trouble, you don't mess with them he says you don't mess with them. Now the word is translated "afflict" here has to do with to bring them down, to oppress them, to cause any kind of weakening of them or cause harm to them. And it says you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child, and now if you happen to be a child listening to the broadcast and you do not have an active father in your life he's talking about you here, he's talking about you.
He says if you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shll be widows and your children fatherless. And Yahweh doesn't even say, well put them to death you know, he says I wanna kill you myself.
So my point here is if you are a fatherless child or you are a widow and I know there are widows listening in the broadcast as well. If you have been afflicted in any way and taken advantage of in any way, if you will cry out to Yahweh and he says "I will surely hear their cry", I will. Because he cares about you children, ladies. Yahweh cares about you. And this is a very consistent theme all throughout the scriptures. ot only are we to avoid afflicting fatherless children and widows but also we are told to give special provision for them. In Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 17 says For Yahweh your Elohim is Elohim of Elohim, and Master of masters, the great Elohim, mighty, and awesome who shows no partiality, nor takes a bribe: He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Now we need to pay attention something close to Yahweh's heart. Deuteronomy 24 verse 20 it says when you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Deuteronomy 27 verse 19 Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. So when he's listing the curses he's actually saying "if you gonna pervert the justice that's due to them, you gonna take advantage of them, look out you are cursed. In fact, you make sure, you don't even bother go over your olive trees and your grape vineyard again, let the fatherless and the widow take from them and eat." Isn't that beautiful? I mean, I just think it's beautiful, I like how he made sure they had what they needed besides the tithes that came in. Now Job was a righteous man. Yahweh said he was blameless and this is one of the things Job did say "If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complain against me; What then shall I do when Elohim rises up? When he punishes, how shall I answer him? Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one fashion us in the womb? If I have kept the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or eaten my morsel by myself, so that the fatherless could not eat of it; But from my youth I reared him, as a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow". Widows need counsel; he provided it for them not just their physical needs, the spiritual needs. Look and not the physical needs did Job reach in and provide for the fatherless he also treated him as one of his own children, reared him as a father.
So he wasn't just focused on making sure they got the food need he was also concerned about their mental wellbeing as well.
"If I have seen any one perish for lack of clothing or any poor man without covering; If his heart has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have raised my hand against the fatherless, when I saw I had help in the gate: Then let my arm fall from my shoulder, let my arm be torn from the socket. For destruction from Elohim is a terror to me, and because of his magnificence, I could not endure." I like this here verse 24 "If I have made gold my hope or said the fine gold, you are my confidence; If I have If even rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my hand had gained much. If he even... he wasn't even glad that he was wealthy, except that he used his wealth to bless others, to help others.
'If I have observed the sun when it shines, and the moon moving in brightness; So that my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand: This also will be iniquity deserving a judgment: for I would have denied Elohim who is above." Now no wonder why Job was so blessed, but I love how he cared about other people, his life was not about himself, his life was consisted of helping others. And I like here how he says "If I have kept the poor from their desire, or eaten my morsel by myself, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;" If he did not, he says from a youth he reared the fatherless and he guided the widow. He has done it all his life, he's been a blessing, so Job became a provider not only physically but again mentally, physically, spiritually providing guidance. is passion for them was very much like the passion of our Father in heaven. If you are a widow or you are a child without an active father in your life, listen Yahweh cares about you very much and wherever your father on earth may be lacking he's willing to be a father to you or wherever your husband is lacking he's willing to be that faithful husband to you.
So we as those who are called to caretakers of the fatherless and widow, we want to be passionate about the things Yahweh is passionate about and you know Job, he was passionate about them.
And some of you may be thinking," well you know Tom, we don't have much a big problem with that kind of stuff now you know, we got Social Security to take care of the widow and Food Stamps and stuff like that in place, government programs". Now I will say you know the United States, very wealthy country, you know most people in this country are, you know wanna make sure the poor are taken care of and they are not starving to death on the streets and things like that, and so we have Food Stamp Programs and things of that nature and that's good. But again who said it was the government's responsibility where that idea comes in, was it...? I thought it was our responsibility, believers in Messiah to take care of the fatherless and the widow. Do you know that 39%, that's 4 out of 10, school children live in homes without their biological fathers in the house, 4 out of 10.
Almost half do not have their biological father in the house. So I mean, among African American school children that number is 6 out of 10, 63%. Now I want to show you some statistics about fatherless children. Children of fatherless homes are: 8 times more likely to go to prison.
5 times more likely to commit suicide.
20 times more likely to have behavioral problems.
32 times more likely to run away.
10 times more likely to abuse drugs.
9 times more likely to drop out of school.
33 times more likely to be seriously abused. Wow! And here's the kicker, 73 times more likely to be fatally abused.
How many times you read a newspaper, the boyfriend of the girl ended up killing the child through improper discipline and anger?
Most of the time it seems like it's the boyfriend,
that is sick, this is sick these I mean these statistics here. What's happening to our children because they don't have a daddy? Now nearly 75% of Americans children living in a single parent home will experience poverty before they reach 11 years of age that 3 out of 4 are poor.
Now do you see some reasons here why Yahweh is so passionate about the fatherless in the world? , I mean we all know Yahweh cares for all of us there's no question but he seems to be paying a particular amount of attention to the fatherless and the widow all through the scriptures, because they don't have the protection and the provision of a male figure in the household, fatherless children even in our society today are lacking protection. Look at the abuse going on, lacking a loving and strong leadership a good father can provide? And so there are behavioral problems?
And the saddest thing is most cases children are not fatherless because their father died, that will be bad enough if.., okay the father has died and so this is why we are in this condition. The reason why children are fatherless today is because fathers are shirking their responsibilities or because of divorce and an unjust legal system keeping children from being able to spend adequate time with their fathers in some cases. If men, if you listening to this broadcast and you are in a situation like that my heart goes out to you, I know your heart's probably been ripped out a little bit, and I actually have a scripture for you. Yahweh watches over the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and the widow: but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. These children will cry out to Yahweh if you can show them a better way. Psalms 68 verse 4 Sing to Elohim, sing praises to his name: extol him who rides on the clouds by his name YAH and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is Elohim in his holy habitation. This is how he identifies himself but you have to cry out to him. So I'm just saying men who are listening to this broadcast you don't have custody of your children my heart goes out to you because if you really want custody, if you really want to be involved in your life being prevented from that, cry out to Yahweh for your children.
But there are some of you who don't have custody or contend not to have custody, have visitation rights but don't take advantage of that, you are doing what you are supposed to do and spending time with him and being a father to him physically, emotionally, spiritually, I have a scripture for you. 1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Now maybe you are thinking physical provision here but as we talked about there is also the spiritual, emotional provision that you are supposed to be providing and maybe I seem harsh but this is what the scripture says, my ministry the things I teach have to match the with the word says. Again it's not just the physical providing, how about the spiritual providing wouldn't that be even more important? I mean, if a child was to die of physical hunger that will be a great tragedy but if the spiritual needs were not being provided for and they went to hell because of it wouldn't that be even a worse tragedy? nd so I'm calling all of us as man to be sure that we are being that father to our children, I'm not just saying we need to be fathers to our own children we have a certain responsibility Yahweh has placed upon us as men to take care the fatherless who are out there and where men are unable, unwilling to be a father to their own children you know, that other men in the community need to step up and step in and do something. But I can tell you this all of our Feast-Keeping, Sabbath-Keeping other things could ultimately mean nothing if we don't take this church seriously take a look here in Isaiah chapter 1:10 Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our Elohim, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? Says Yahweh: I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and that of fat cattle; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or in the lambs, of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand, to trample my courts? Is it because he never wanted those sacrifices? Is that the problem here?
Let's keep reading, Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies. Why does he say all this if he commanded it to be done and then he doesn't want it no more?
It's because I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. What good is it to do all these offerings or in today's vernacular lift up your hands as the evening sacrificing and give your prayers and all these things? If you are going to walk in inequity the rest of the time, he's a lie I can't stand it, you are making these offering while you are living in willful sin. He says your new moons and your appointed feast my soul hurts, they are a trouble to me, I'm weary of burying them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: even though you make many prayers, I will not hear: is it because he doesn't want people to pray? No, it's because their hands are full of blood, blood, inequity, let's keep reading Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
He means it, brothers, he is a serious matter to him, now he's upset because they are not taking care of other people's children and other people's wives because this you know there is a death in a family of the father and husband of the family and he's upset that they are not being adequately watched over and cared for and provided for, defended in some cases where they are being taken advantage of.
He says your princes are rebellious, verse 23 and companions of thieves: everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
Now maybe our hands aren't full of blood, maybe we are not doing things that result in the deaths of children. But maybe we are you see where 73 times more likely to be fatally abused and all these statistics because there is not someone stepping in saying "hey, let me help out here where I can, let me help out where I can". You know what about spiritual needs? His children are not being counseled and helped and directed it may not show up when they are young but you know dads are the responsible for teaching and training the children on the ways of righteousness and so how about your children? You may be a father; you may be at home with your family and are you, children, getting what they need? From you as a father, are they getting the spiritual leadership that they need? How much time do you spend with your children in the scriptures? Do you talk of them when you rise up, when you lie down, when you walk by the way, when you sit in your house? Are your wives a spiritual widow because you refused to teach them anything? Are they the ones actually teaching you other than the other way round? How much time do we spend with our families in the word of Elohim? And if Yahweh is so concerned about the spiritual, and physical and emotional needs of someone else's children because their father died and their husband died, how much more so your own wife, your own child, your own sons, your own daughters? You know I think all the calling of assemblies and Feast-Days and Sabbath, they can be a burden to him if we neglect this area, he cannot endure inequity in the sacred meeting. Yahweh is very concerned about the wives and children shouldn't we, shouldn't we be? But we see he demands the community to stand up and fill the gap, that's us we are the community. And if we see fatherlessness around us, we are expected to do something about it and if we don't, sacrificial songs of praise, Feast-Keeping, he hates them. I didn't write the mail, he said he does.
So we as believers, as men have a responsibility to step in and do something about it not just watching a poor son over there, that poor boy, No don't do this be warned and be filled kind of mentality.
Step in and help, ask how I can help.
Psalms 82 verse 2 says how long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and the fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and the needy.
Psalm 10:17 Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear, to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may oppress no more.
Jeremiah 5:27 as a cage is full of birds, so their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich. They have grown fat. They are sleek; yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy, they do not defend. Ezekiel 22 verse 6 Look, at the princes of Israel, each one has used his power, to shed blood in you. In you they have made light of father and mother: in your midst, they oppressed the stranger: in you have they mistreated the fatherless and the widow. Over and over again. Zechariah 7:9, thus says Yahweh of hosts "Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow, or the fatherless, the alien, or the poor; let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. But they refused to hear it, will shun their shoulders, and stop their ears, so they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of hosts has is sent by his spirit to the former prophets: thus great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts, therefore it happened the justice, he proclaimed, and they were not there, so they called out, and I would not listen: Wow, over and over again, young man especially suffer from a lack of fathers in their lives, young man you grew up without a good father to guide them into adulthood are often completely lost. Even in homes where there is a father we men sometimes don't know how to be the kind of father we are supposed to be. And I acknowledge my own failures in this area; we've raised entire generations of fathers and sons who have lost what it means to be a man.
In fact, sometimes young women out perform young men in fact almost every statistical category they are. Young man is much more likely to perform poorly in school. They are much more likely to have disciplinary problems. They are much more likely to commit suicide.
In the old days young men would gather in the streets and in the parks, and play or whatever after schools. Do something that involved motor skills, and active, running around, now a lot of young people are content to spend countless hours feeding their addictions to video games, movies, and other forms of entertainment. And when they grow up many of them have no desire to take on real desire to take on real responsibility they..., you know we are built by Yahweh to have a goal in front of us and to reach toward that goal, in fact, we even have chemicals in our brain that are released when we reach these goals of some kind, it's called dopamine you know. And these young men are growing up and they get these drugs that provide the dopamine and then they get these video games that they can be almost anything. They can be a super hero, they can be the worlds' best basketball player, they can be the worlds' best guitarist, they can be the worlds' best hero that go and save the day you know to save this country from oppression and whatever, and they got all these games where they are so realistic that your brain kind of interprets it as almost it's being real. And you get those releases of pleasure and become addictive because of that. And then when it comes to actually taking on the real responsibility which you know when you are running the problems aren't resolved by a few buttons on your controller, but you actually have to work through them, it requires physical effort.
Many young men are content to find a low paying job or no job at all and still live with mom and dad until they are 30 years old, playing video games.
And many of them want lots of fornication but are not interested in taking on the commitment of marriage, just stay home never bother to go out pursue career goals, so they can provide for themselves and their future families. And so the ones who are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow are a major burden on the society, they call it the Peter Pan generation, boys will never grow to be men, they call them adultolescents. And so many of us men have little understanding of what manhood is and society has taught us that morality doesn't really matter, instead television, movies portray young men as fornication obsessed slackers they just wanna party all the time and so that what many of our young men have become they have no role model only what they see on television. And then on flip side women are taught to be assertive and take the leadership role, take the bull by the horns and that's praised. And the idea of men being in the leadership position has become synonymous with oppression. Society has not taught boys to appreciate their manhood instead it has taught men to be ashamed of it. And so many don't motivated, they go around fathering children, they don't bother providing for the children that they father call them dad beat dads or whatever you wanna call them, they are not providing financially, emotionally, spiritually, and so here we are in a generation of fatherless children, fathers who do not want to take responsibility.
Well, it's an opportunity for us as believers to come together and provide and be a light and point them to our heavenly Father. We want to be sure we have Yahweh's passion for the fatherless, look at in your neighborhoods or communities, your circle of friends do you know of any widows, anyone in your neighborhoods? hint them down and find ways to bless them, especially the elderly widows.
Anyone in your neighborhood, I'll tell you what, the biggest tragedy I can think of for widows is nursing homes. The children don't want to take care of their parents, and they stuff them away in nursing homes where no one visits them, it's almost like prison, yeah you get room and board, but you are trapped in your room, in your bed, maybe a little stroll out to the TV room or something but, it's basically prison in many cases. Now if you do some physical ailment but above and beyond what a son or daughter can provide for, okay, but the son or daughter can visit, and many of these widows do not get those visits from their children or from anyone. And many of them are bitter and they die in their bitterness and I'm sure that's what Satan would want to step them a way out, out of sight out of mind while they die in their sins, having never experienced the love of Yahushua the bridegroom or Yahweh the father. What are we doing, how many children are out there who are starving for a fatherly influence in their lives? They may not come out and say it, they are little embarrassed some times. Do you know of any personally? If you don't, you know I got to looking into big brothers and big sisters organization...there is actually a study done. They monitored 950 boys and girls nationwide. And to find out the effects of this particular organization which ministers to and connects older men with young men and older women with young girls. And other 950 children, half are randomly chosen to be matched to a big brother, big sister and their half were still on the waiting list. Now according to the study the matched children, children who are matched with a big brother big sister were compared to those who weren't. And the children who have a big brother or big sister were 46% to be less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class, 33% less likely to hit someone. They also found that the little brothers and little sisters were confident in their performance in school work, and get along better with their families, that's only after that's 3 visits a month, 3 visits a month for 18 months, just 3 visits. And the total, you know when you figure out how many visits was that really? A total of 54 visits, in a year and a half time. And what an impact! Here in the Springfield area there is a list of 100 boys on the waiting list wanting to be matched with men, that are willing to step up to the play and be a father figure to the children. Some of those boys their fathers are in prison, or they are being raised by grandparents and some among the girls all of the little sisters were matched to big sisters, there is actually a waiting list on the opposite end.
There are lots of big sisters available to be there for little sisters and I was told it's that way throughout all the United States there is a lack of men willing to step up to the play. So if don't know anyone there are boys out there
who desperately need a fatherly figure type of influence in their lives. Now I'm not saying you have to be a volunteer at big brothers and big sisters. If you see someone, if you know someone in your congregation, your community, or even motherless children, offer to bless the little ones with some mentorship, it can have a very powerful influence in their lives Yahushua said Mathew 18 or 10:42 whoever that gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, verily I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Just a cup of cold water, he's not even necessarily about a fatherless child here, just here, a cup of cold water, that's not too hard.
Do you see Yahweh's heart brothers, sisters? Can we have that kind of heart?
Do we love, do we care? Now where did all this started, I mean, it used to go back at the 1800s, it wasn't so common, yes there was occasional orphanages, there was but there wasn't like now. It used to be that in the 1800s, fathers and mothers stayed together with each other rather than divorcing, and fathers would teach their sons how to farm or teach them the family trade and basically the father was there with the son most of the time teaching their son you know, working on the farm or working on whatever trade you are going on, shoe making or blacksmithing or whatever it was. And he taught his son how to be a husband, how to be a father and the mother will teach her daughters how to keep the home and how to sew and provide for the family in that way and be a good helper for your future husband. But then came the industrial revolution, that caused a split in this whole structure. Now, dad, he's off to work somewhere alright, and now Mom is having to raise and spend lots of time with the young boy and the little girl and having to spend a lot of the time raising the children, okay but he's providing but he's not there with his children alright. But then enters school. Now the children are being sent to a public school system instead of being able to be taught by their father and their mother together. Now they are in their own environment and some kind of school system. Alright, well maybe it's a step, but we are not together anymore and then mom is kind of bored at home and so she goes off and gets herself a job, you know, what's happened here? The trade off, yes the man has secured income, yes the children are probably better educated so they can go work for some corporation like their father did. So I'm not against education but look what's happening to the family here. It used to the dad, mom and children altogether as a family unit spending lots of loving quality time together. Now we have dad in one place, mom in another and the children in another.
Now over time, there were two world wars mom went off and got jobs, so all this security, all this home environment kind of disappeared. Now there was a political leader who once said we must now proudly say without any exaggeration that part from our country there is not a country in the world should be apart. There's is not a country in the world where women enjoy full equality, and where people are not in humiliating position felt particularly in day to day family life. This is one of our first and most important tasks, housework is the most unproductive, the most barbarous, and the most arduous work a human can do, it's exceptionally petty, and does not include anything that on anyway promote the development of the women. This will begin only when we have achieved the complete equality of women and when we undertake the new work together with women who have been emancipated from the petty, stultifying, unproductive work. We are setting up model institutions, dining rooms and nurseries that will emancipate women from house work. These institutions that liberate women from their position as household slaves are springing up where; it is in any way possible. Our task is to make politics available to every working woman; the chief thing is to get women to take part in socially productive labor, to liberate them from domestic slavery, to free them from the stupefying and humiliating subjection, subjugation to the eternal drudgery of the kitchen and the nursery.
The struggle will be a long one and it demands a radical reconstruction, both of social technique and of morale. But in the end, it will end and they complete triumph of communism. This is from Vladimir Lenin leader of Communist Russia in the 1920s.
Now Lenin played a key role in communicating the Marxist vision of what's called the new family.
Lenin and Trotsky believed in the overthrow of and destruction of the biblical family, they sought to build a new state that meant denigrating the biblical notion of male headship and hierarchy within the family and meant eliminating any sense of that there should be a division of labour between man and wife than required delivering women from the burdens of child birth and child care and adopting tools like birth controls guarantors that women will be free to remain in the workforce. And with the separation the family unit a void was left and now parents are in competition with the schools, with day care centers, with nurseries, with things like that. And all this and by the time a child reaches his teenage years his father and mother are no longer the primary influence on the child's life. The void that parents left is now filled by others like today teachers, college professors, Hollywood, and the parent's scratch their heads wondering what happened. But I'm not saying that parents cannot overcome this obstacle with this challenge, what I'm saying is the way our society is setup now it's very hostile to families who want to be close and parents who want to raise their children to fear Elohim and walk in his ways.
And what I see Mr. Lenin doing is insulting the traditional model--the one that people call old, out of date, old fashioned, eternal drudgery and all these things. The biblical model actually is that the older women will be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. They admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, and homemakers, this word translated homemakers means a domestic, good, obedient to their own husbands, there is a hierarchy that the word of Elohim may not blasphemed. I don't want to blasphemy the word of Elohim. Then heed these principles. Now, I'm not blaming women for trying to be funny and actually stable due to the high rate of divorces and sadly the mistreatment of women by lazy, gelatinous, adulterous, floundering man. You want to shirk the responsibilities leaving them in a very vulnerable position or they feel like they need to go out and work for a living. What I wanna point out is look at what society has done the family unit.
Look at today now in the evening's families come together and watch TV, alright well you know, at least they are together watching the TV. But then off goes dad, his work, his PC now a smartphone. Off go the children video games, smartphones, sports whatever they're in separate areas. Off goes mom she's doing her thing, I mean doesn't this sound like the United States of America...first there was a separation of the family through the industrial revolution and now all these gadgets and technologies and stuff like that, you know everybody is free now to get programmed by the world. The parents, the children, and no one is talking to each other you know the average father talks only I think it's 10 minutes a week to his children, 10 minutes a week, meaningful conversation to his children. And these children are, they are going off and they are being trained by Hollywood with the most persuasive music and personalities that millions of dollars can buy.
And Hollywood, by the way, Magic Wand is made out of Hollywood, they send out their programming. I say programming because that's exactly what it is, through channels, channeling of these unclean spirits they get introduced to all kinds of sin and all package to look is appealing and pretty and harmless.
See wherever there is a void of fatherhood there is something else gonna come in and take its place, and now we have the internet, where the wicked things possible are now available easily to your children, who's watching? Seems like we have lost it, we have lost what it means to be fathers and husbands and mothers.
Yahweh says you shall teach them diligently to your children and so talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down when you rise up. Oh guess what, if 52:16 off in their own little world how's that gonna happen?
Now I thank Yahweh for Sabbath day, I just thank Yahweh for it because I know the Sabbath is an opportunity for us to all do that but notice its supposed to be done throughout the day every day.
Beautiful Psalms here, is 78, Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, the children who will be born; that they may arise and declare them to their children: That they may set their hope in Elohim, and not forget the works of Elohim, but keep his commandments: And may not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to Elohim. The spirit was not faithful. But I don't know 10 to 15 years ago my family will all sitting at the table together and now sharing with them how important it was that I tell the children the awesome works Yahweh has done. And I said it's like what it says in Psalms 78 and I flipped open my bible and there it was without turning a single page my eyes fell on Psalms 78 this chapter right here.
And then my wife opened up her bible the same way randomly and immediately it was on Psalms 78 without turning a single page. Then my daughter did the same thing and my son did the same thing, we actually wrote that down in our bibles. We all flipped open the bible and it was on Psalms 78, how's that for a miracle? How's that for Yahweh saying, you know Tom I agree with you on that.
Wow, HalleluYah. So, brothers and sisters listen do what you can men to work at home.
I mean pray first make sure it's the leading of Yahweh I really think it's an awesome life. I've been home with my family because we had home businesses and now full-time ministry since 1999. I asked Yahweh for it and he has provided me with that opportunity. You know because I think our children can be fatherless even though we are there. Even to me, even me being home all day my children could still be fatherless if I'm not engaging them in any way if I'm ignoring them the entire day. If I don't spend quality time with them like the same thing that our wives can be spiritually widows if we don't bother to share with them the word of Yahweh. I don't really claim to be perfect in this area but you know men if you are away from home what do you do when you come home from work? Are you engaging with your families or you are engaging with the television set you know, computer, and a TV and smartphone? We need to realize how hostile this world is to families and respond appropriately because we don't want Yahweh to accuse us of being a father to our children.
Are you leading your families in the scriptures, men? Are you the spiritual leader Yahweh has called you to be you know? And what's called the New Testament we see a young man named Timothy whose father was a Greek apparently not a believer. And Timothy kind of got adopted by Paul in a sense, he said you, therefore, my sons 2 Timothy 2:1 strong in the grace that is in Messiah Yahushua. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. You, therefore, must endure hardship, as a good soldier of Yahushua Messiah.
He's encouraging him like a father would.
Acts 16 he came to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman, who believed; but his father was a Greek. And so Paul kind of took Timothy under his wing and became a father to a man whose father was not a believer, became a father figure to Timothy. This is what we're called to do as men. 2 Timothy 1:3-5, I thank Elohim, whom I serve with pure conscience as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day. Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance to genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and I am persuaded as in you also. Ironically I have a grandmother named Lois but this is an example of where he even a grandmother was able to pour life and a mother was able to pour life into this young man Timothy. And kind of make up for the lack of instruction. And in other places says he from a child has known the Holy Scriptures. And so it's a good example of what can happen when people are willing to pour a life into other people and Timothy became a mighty warrior, a mighty soldier of Elohim. Now, I want to show something else. Yahushua referred to his disciples as little children. He said, "Little children I shall be with you, a little while longer. You will seek me: and as I said to the Jews, Where I am going, you cannot come; so now I say to you." Now to the proud this might seem a little demeaning for Yahushua calling them O you little children. But to the humble who are willing to learn this is a term of endearment and an affection and even a compliment. Matthew 18 verse 1-3 at that time the disciples came to Yahushua, saying, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of Elohim? And Yahushua called a little child to him set him in the midst of them. And said, assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted, and become as little children, you will be by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Think about that, you take one little child in Yahushua's name and you are receiving Yahushua himself. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it will be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he will drown in the depth of the sea. It will be better for you to kill yourself than to let one of these little ones who believe in me to sin. Now, I'm not saying this is equal to commit a suicide but someone took a millstone around his neck and say go on. You are better off over here than to cause one of these little ones who believe in him to sin. We see Yahweh's passion for children in the words of our savior; he's not men's words. When it comes to destroying those who offend and hurt children it's a quick ticket to the lack of fire, quick ticket. He says in Matthew Take heed you do not even despise one of these little ones; don't even despise them for I say to you, That in heaven their angels do always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Their angels, that means they have an angel assigned to them, that always see the face of Yahweh the Father in heaven, watch out you do not oppress them, or even despise them, r cause them to sin.
Mark 10:14, When Yahushua saw, he was greatly displeased, that they would not allow, the children to come to Yahushua, he said let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them: for of such is the kingdom of Elohim. When we receive them, when we bless them, we are receiving Yahushua himself as it says whoever receives one of these little children in my name he receives me, whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me a lot of blessings and curses can come in our own lives, based on how we have chosen to treat the little ones among us.
Or ignore them, or ignore their needs, or you know. And listen if you're a child or you are a teenager you are listening to broadcast today I hope that you understand how much Yahweh cares about you. If you've been hurt by caregivers or by others I hope you know Yahweh does care about you. We live in a world where Yahweh has given man the free will to choose whether he wants to love or not love. He did not make robots out of us, we're allowed to choose whether we love or not love, whether a man loves children or doesn't love children.
And you also have that same choice. And if you haven't been loved you can choose to love, you can make a difference. Scripture says Elohim will bring every work under judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil. Now some don't understand why Yahweh allows evil in the world or why Yahweh permits people to hate each other and abuse each other. If Yahweh didn't give man the space and the choice to love, there wouldn't really be love, to begin with, because a machine, you create credit machines and robots. Can machines and robots really love? The puppet on the string love? Can a computer love you? It just do what it's programmed to do, if Yahweh forced everyone to love you then it wouldn't really be genuine, it just be his creation being programmed to do and control it to do what he says. And so there has to be a choice for it to be genuine love. And so there is the capability of evil taking place and if he forced everyone to love those who did love, just basically be computers and robots telling what we were programmed to do. But if we love out of choice with no one forcing us that's true, genuine love. And so just because Yahweh doesn't stop all the abuses and the evil on the world does not he does not care. He's screaming into their conscience to stop what they are doing. But he never promises no one will hurt us He does promises if we choose to love him he will be there, he will help us handle and deal with all the lack of love we face in our world today. Because even Yahushua himself went through excruciating pain and he was hated and rejected and abused by men. Isaiah 53 He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we did not esteemed him. He was more than murdered; he was physically abused with unimaginable pain. He knows exactly what we are going through if other people are hurting us. He can totally relate, and Yahweh wants to be your Dad. Father of the fatherless, a defender of widows. He wants to relieve you of your distress. He wants to be your father. How do you make Yahweh your father? Well, good fathers provide wise leadership and counsel showing us the way that we can receive that life of blessing. And so read the words of our heavenly Father in the scriptures, become so acquainted with them that you know the bible inside and out, backward and forwards and place them in your heart and let them be your counsel in every decision you make. As you delight in Yahweh's words Yahweh will delight in you. He will become your provider and protector, your source of strength when others make wrong choices to hurt us. And since we are now his children he will cause every evil thing that ever happened to us to ultimately turn around and do something good, he's really good at doing that. Romans 8:28 we know all things work together for good to those that love Elohim, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
That's a promise, and now if we don't love Elohim, you don't love Yahweh, you don't care about his words, you don't care about his counsel, you don't care to call upon him, no such promise for you that everything will work for your good.
If we refuse to answer the call, we are only going to be found guilty of the sins that we also have committed. And we'll find ourselves in the same lake of fire that every unrepentant abuser will find themselves in. And you get to spend all your eternity with them, well at least until you are destroyed. But because Yahushua was willing to take the punishment we deserve for the sins we have all committed we have to receive him in order to be saved from righteous judgment. So Yahushua says he will take our sins upon himself if we will repent and receive him.
And listen, don't be too hard on those imperfect parents you may have or imperfect caregivers because listen we have all failed, we have all failed, for our miserable reaches apart from Yahweh. His goodness being placed in us so we bless those who curse us, we pray for those who spitefully use us. Our goal is that those who do the wrong will turn away from the wrong, they will stop walking in hate and choose to walk in love and so no one else will get hurt. Hoping that person will come to their senses and choose to walk in love because sin is something that's a worldwide problem, that we can be a Yahushua person to the other person. I'm not saying if you are being abused, you should not tell an authority figure who can protect you. You should, if you are being abused by a parent, by an authority figure in your life, you should tell someone who you can trust. I'm willing to be that person, but listen. Yahweh wants to be our father even if we have no father and those who have lost a husband whether by divorce or by their passing. Yahushua says he wants to be your husband.
Corinthians 7 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Yahweh. If you are single, here's what you can do. As she may be holy in both body and spirit: but she who's married she's gonna care about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say it for your own profit; not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, that you may serve Yahweh without distraction. So you have an opportunity to draw near to our savior I recognize him as a bridegroom and experience the closeness with Messiah. That those who are married may not really fully be able to experience and the fact that closeness if you do that as a single young person waiting on a marriage partner you actually can. This will help you when you do get married because there will be times where your husband won't be perfect. But you will be able to fall back on that closeness you have with Yahushua to carry you through those moments. Now, it's not wrong to be married, of course, I mean. But, if you are single you have that opportunity and so, young girls, you are singles, teenagers you have the opportunity and sieze the moment. Build your life on a secure foundation of a close relationship with our savior and then when you get married and your husband fails you can look to Yahushua the perfect one and be comforted not react in the flesh because your whole life is up so wrapped up in what that person does.
Now again I wanna talk to us brothers out there we need to look after the widows among us, we do have Social Security and Medicare and all that, that's just money. A government cannot be your companion or your friend. The government is not gonna teach the widows of the world how they need a savior. I find this great tragedy of women [? ] being tucked away in nursing homes and we need to step up and visit the elderly. There is a whole ministry in that, visit the elderly in nursing homes, if you see an older person in your neighborhood or wanna ask them, is there anything I can do for you. When you are at the grocery store and you see an elderly person you know driving one of those little battery carts or whatever. Ask them, can I help you get something; can I go up to the top shelf and get something for you? Can I help you put your groceries in your car? Be a blessing show love, you know the first-century believers they had not neglected this area and says pure and undefiled religion before Elohim, and before the Father is this: to visit orphans that's the fatherless and the widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself un-spotted or unstained from the world. That's pure undefiled faith, we see an example of the first-century believers caring for the widows in the book of Acts chapter 6 verses 1-2 says Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples, and said, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of Elohim, and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: that chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. Then the word of Elohim spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. And so, the appointed men for the specific task of caring for the widows. And one of them, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and he was full of faith and power, he did great wonders and signs among the people. And there arose from, what's called the synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
You may just get a special out pouring of the Holy Spirit upon you when you start caring for those people who are being neglected. I feel that we in the body of Messiah are not doing enough for the fatherless and the widow. We have shirked our responsibilities. We put them on others thinking that they got their physical needs met. Now I do have an Alms fund if you go to aliyah.com/alms.html, and we do provide for the fatherless and for the widow. for the last several months there have been a couple of fatherless children living in my home, and the single mom and the Alms has been used to help provide for some of their needs. Yahweh has provided for them through the gifts of people who are willing to contribute to the fund. There have been many times older ladies, widows have called me in need of help from the Alms fund. You know I kinda of wonder also and maybe this is kind of controversial but I kind of wonder okay there is not this, you know suppose were the single mom, perhaps she's divorced and the children are not being properly cared for by the man she divorced, he's not a believer. I mean is that really much different than a fatherless and widow I mean she's deprived of having guidance and counsel in the children who are deprived of that also. There's not much difference the father might as well already be dead because he's not doing anything. And that kind of epidemic is wide spread in our culture and that's the most shameful thing about it. But you know with that qualifying, it will be beautiful to me and maybe this is controversial also. It will be a beautiful thing, I believe, if the brothers could get together tithe money and provide for these single moms so that they can be home with their children home schooling them. Because they are often caught between providing for their children and sending their children to public schools where they are gonna be taught the ways of the world and it's a very difficult predicament especially when those children don't have an active father in their life.
Do you see what I'm trying to say? Maybe that's controversial, but I, you know, maybe some decisions were made by these women I don't know. Maybe they are divorced for a reason, I don't know. But, yeah, a lot of people were poor for a reason, too. But it's not time for judgment especially when there are children involved who through no thought of their own are in this predicament.
Pure undefiled religion is a visit orphans and widows, visit them, care about them, be a companion, be like Job. My youth I reared them as a father and guided the widow. It's high time that we as a body of Messiah become passionate about the things Yahweh is passionate about and lead.
Don't let social security lead, we lead when it comes to these things, we lead, we show the love the passion of Messiah Yahushua. A passion and love for the downtrodden, a caring concern for the hurting among us, a loving and merciful and caring people. All you feast keeping and Sabbath keeping mean nothing if we are neglecting the fatherless and the widow, Yahweh said so. And so may Yahweh minister t them and care for them through us and give us his heart in this matter that we might be the Messiah's reaching out to care and to share. Let's pray; O, father thank you for your word,
thank you for being convicting toward us Father we feel like as though we are not doing enough here. And father Yahweh you see how the neglect and childhood result in problems later in life that are very difficult to overcome. And I know, father that's one reason why you care about children so much, you see the damage it does it leads to a lifetime of difficulty.
Father forgive us where we have been neglectful as parents to our own children and as a body in Messiah forgive us where we've been neglectful toward the fatherless and the widow who are around us. Strengthen us as your people, convict us to provide and to care, convict us father to provide and to care and to be our brothers' keeper especially our little brothers and our little sisters. They are so desperately in need of your love.
Establish your kingdom in their little hearts, they might know, you are an Elohim who cares about them that they might know they are not alone but you are with them. For truly yours is the kingdom and power and glory in majesty for ever and ever, in Yahushua's great name we pray these things Amein.
Maybe you think in biblical times that you know because there was no Father there, the mum couldn't work and therefore the children were going hungry and all these things but there is more to it than the physical providing as we are going to be talking about, we have an epidemic in the United States of America of Fatherlessness. It's a big deal and the Widow also, and so we are gonna talk about this because it is a major, major issue in our culture, here and other westernized cultures and I don't know eastern cultures but definitely here and it's a major problem. And it's right underneath our nose I don't know if we even realize it. Just to give you an idea of how Yahweh is one who cares deeply for the condition of one who is fatherless or one who is a widow.
If you look into the scriptures it's pretty evident, look in the Exodus chapter 22 verse 22 it says you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. You shall not afflict them, that means cause them trouble, you don't mess with them he says you don't mess with them. Now the word is translated "afflict" here has to do with to bring them down, to oppress them, to cause any kind of weakening of them or cause harm to them. And it says you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child, and now if you happen to be a child listening to the broadcast and you do not have an active father in your life he's talking about you here, he's talking about you.
He says if you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shll be widows and your children fatherless. And Yahweh doesn't even say, well put them to death you know, he says I wanna kill you myself.
So my point here is if you are a fatherless child or you are a widow and I know there are widows listening in the broadcast as well. If you have been afflicted in any way and taken advantage of in any way, if you will cry out to Yahweh and he says "I will surely hear their cry", I will. Because he cares about you children, ladies. Yahweh cares about you. And this is a very consistent theme all throughout the scriptures. ot only are we to avoid afflicting fatherless children and widows but also we are told to give special provision for them. In Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 17 says For Yahweh your Elohim is Elohim of Elohim, and Master of masters, the great Elohim, mighty, and awesome who shows no partiality, nor takes a bribe: He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Now we need to pay attention something close to Yahweh's heart. Deuteronomy 24 verse 20 it says when you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Deuteronomy 27 verse 19 Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. So when he's listing the curses he's actually saying "if you gonna pervert the justice that's due to them, you gonna take advantage of them, look out you are cursed. In fact, you make sure, you don't even bother go over your olive trees and your grape vineyard again, let the fatherless and the widow take from them and eat." Isn't that beautiful? I mean, I just think it's beautiful, I like how he made sure they had what they needed besides the tithes that came in. Now Job was a righteous man. Yahweh said he was blameless and this is one of the things Job did say "If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complain against me; What then shall I do when Elohim rises up? When he punishes, how shall I answer him? Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one fashion us in the womb? If I have kept the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or eaten my morsel by myself, so that the fatherless could not eat of it; But from my youth I reared him, as a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow". Widows need counsel; he provided it for them not just their physical needs, the spiritual needs. Look and not the physical needs did Job reach in and provide for the fatherless he also treated him as one of his own children, reared him as a father.
So he wasn't just focused on making sure they got the food need he was also concerned about their mental wellbeing as well.
"If I have seen any one perish for lack of clothing or any poor man without covering; If his heart has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have raised my hand against the fatherless, when I saw I had help in the gate: Then let my arm fall from my shoulder, let my arm be torn from the socket. For destruction from Elohim is a terror to me, and because of his magnificence, I could not endure." I like this here verse 24 "If I have made gold my hope or said the fine gold, you are my confidence; If I have If even rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my hand had gained much. If he even... he wasn't even glad that he was wealthy, except that he used his wealth to bless others, to help others.
'If I have observed the sun when it shines, and the moon moving in brightness; So that my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand: This also will be iniquity deserving a judgment: for I would have denied Elohim who is above." Now no wonder why Job was so blessed, but I love how he cared about other people, his life was not about himself, his life was consisted of helping others. And I like here how he says "If I have kept the poor from their desire, or eaten my morsel by myself, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;" If he did not, he says from a youth he reared the fatherless and he guided the widow. He has done it all his life, he's been a blessing, so Job became a provider not only physically but again mentally, physically, spiritually providing guidance. is passion for them was very much like the passion of our Father in heaven. If you are a widow or you are a child without an active father in your life, listen Yahweh cares about you very much and wherever your father on earth may be lacking he's willing to be a father to you or wherever your husband is lacking he's willing to be that faithful husband to you.
So we as those who are called to caretakers of the fatherless and widow, we want to be passionate about the things Yahweh is passionate about and you know Job, he was passionate about them.
And some of you may be thinking," well you know Tom, we don't have much a big problem with that kind of stuff now you know, we got Social Security to take care of the widow and Food Stamps and stuff like that in place, government programs". Now I will say you know the United States, very wealthy country, you know most people in this country are, you know wanna make sure the poor are taken care of and they are not starving to death on the streets and things like that, and so we have Food Stamp Programs and things of that nature and that's good. But again who said it was the government's responsibility where that idea comes in, was it...? I thought it was our responsibility, believers in Messiah to take care of the fatherless and the widow. Do you know that 39%, that's 4 out of 10, school children live in homes without their biological fathers in the house, 4 out of 10.
Almost half do not have their biological father in the house. So I mean, among African American school children that number is 6 out of 10, 63%. Now I want to show you some statistics about fatherless children. Children of fatherless homes are: 8 times more likely to go to prison.
5 times more likely to commit suicide.
20 times more likely to have behavioral problems.
32 times more likely to run away.
10 times more likely to abuse drugs.
9 times more likely to drop out of school.
33 times more likely to be seriously abused. Wow! And here's the kicker, 73 times more likely to be fatally abused.
How many times you read a newspaper, the boyfriend of the girl ended up killing the child through improper discipline and anger?
Most of the time it seems like it's the boyfriend,
that is sick, this is sick these I mean these statistics here. What's happening to our children because they don't have a daddy? Now nearly 75% of Americans children living in a single parent home will experience poverty before they reach 11 years of age that 3 out of 4 are poor.
Now do you see some reasons here why Yahweh is so passionate about the fatherless in the world? , I mean we all know Yahweh cares for all of us there's no question but he seems to be paying a particular amount of attention to the fatherless and the widow all through the scriptures, because they don't have the protection and the provision of a male figure in the household, fatherless children even in our society today are lacking protection. Look at the abuse going on, lacking a loving and strong leadership a good father can provide? And so there are behavioral problems?
And the saddest thing is most cases children are not fatherless because their father died, that will be bad enough if.., okay the father has died and so this is why we are in this condition. The reason why children are fatherless today is because fathers are shirking their responsibilities or because of divorce and an unjust legal system keeping children from being able to spend adequate time with their fathers in some cases. If men, if you listening to this broadcast and you are in a situation like that my heart goes out to you, I know your heart's probably been ripped out a little bit, and I actually have a scripture for you. Yahweh watches over the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and the widow: but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. These children will cry out to Yahweh if you can show them a better way. Psalms 68 verse 4 Sing to Elohim, sing praises to his name: extol him who rides on the clouds by his name YAH and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is Elohim in his holy habitation. This is how he identifies himself but you have to cry out to him. So I'm just saying men who are listening to this broadcast you don't have custody of your children my heart goes out to you because if you really want custody, if you really want to be involved in your life being prevented from that, cry out to Yahweh for your children.
But there are some of you who don't have custody or contend not to have custody, have visitation rights but don't take advantage of that, you are doing what you are supposed to do and spending time with him and being a father to him physically, emotionally, spiritually, I have a scripture for you. 1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Now maybe you are thinking physical provision here but as we talked about there is also the spiritual, emotional provision that you are supposed to be providing and maybe I seem harsh but this is what the scripture says, my ministry the things I teach have to match the with the word says. Again it's not just the physical providing, how about the spiritual providing wouldn't that be even more important? I mean, if a child was to die of physical hunger that will be a great tragedy but if the spiritual needs were not being provided for and they went to hell because of it wouldn't that be even a worse tragedy? nd so I'm calling all of us as man to be sure that we are being that father to our children, I'm not just saying we need to be fathers to our own children we have a certain responsibility Yahweh has placed upon us as men to take care the fatherless who are out there and where men are unable, unwilling to be a father to their own children you know, that other men in the community need to step up and step in and do something. But I can tell you this all of our Feast-Keeping, Sabbath-Keeping other things could ultimately mean nothing if we don't take this church seriously take a look here in Isaiah chapter 1:10 Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our Elohim, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? Says Yahweh: I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and that of fat cattle; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or in the lambs, of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand, to trample my courts? Is it because he never wanted those sacrifices? Is that the problem here?
Let's keep reading, Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies. Why does he say all this if he commanded it to be done and then he doesn't want it no more?
It's because I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. What good is it to do all these offerings or in today's vernacular lift up your hands as the evening sacrificing and give your prayers and all these things? If you are going to walk in inequity the rest of the time, he's a lie I can't stand it, you are making these offering while you are living in willful sin. He says your new moons and your appointed feast my soul hurts, they are a trouble to me, I'm weary of burying them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: even though you make many prayers, I will not hear: is it because he doesn't want people to pray? No, it's because their hands are full of blood, blood, inequity, let's keep reading Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
He means it, brothers, he is a serious matter to him, now he's upset because they are not taking care of other people's children and other people's wives because this you know there is a death in a family of the father and husband of the family and he's upset that they are not being adequately watched over and cared for and provided for, defended in some cases where they are being taken advantage of.
He says your princes are rebellious, verse 23 and companions of thieves: everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
Now maybe our hands aren't full of blood, maybe we are not doing things that result in the deaths of children. But maybe we are you see where 73 times more likely to be fatally abused and all these statistics because there is not someone stepping in saying "hey, let me help out here where I can, let me help out where I can". You know what about spiritual needs? His children are not being counseled and helped and directed it may not show up when they are young but you know dads are the responsible for teaching and training the children on the ways of righteousness and so how about your children? You may be a father; you may be at home with your family and are you, children, getting what they need? From you as a father, are they getting the spiritual leadership that they need? How much time do you spend with your children in the scriptures? Do you talk of them when you rise up, when you lie down, when you walk by the way, when you sit in your house? Are your wives a spiritual widow because you refused to teach them anything? Are they the ones actually teaching you other than the other way round? How much time do we spend with our families in the word of Elohim? And if Yahweh is so concerned about the spiritual, and physical and emotional needs of someone else's children because their father died and their husband died, how much more so your own wife, your own child, your own sons, your own daughters? You know I think all the calling of assemblies and Feast-Days and Sabbath, they can be a burden to him if we neglect this area, he cannot endure inequity in the sacred meeting. Yahweh is very concerned about the wives and children shouldn't we, shouldn't we be? But we see he demands the community to stand up and fill the gap, that's us we are the community. And if we see fatherlessness around us, we are expected to do something about it and if we don't, sacrificial songs of praise, Feast-Keeping, he hates them. I didn't write the mail, he said he does.
So we as believers, as men have a responsibility to step in and do something about it not just watching a poor son over there, that poor boy, No don't do this be warned and be filled kind of mentality.
Step in and help, ask how I can help.
Psalms 82 verse 2 says how long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and the fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and the needy.
Psalm 10:17 Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear, to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may oppress no more.
Jeremiah 5:27 as a cage is full of birds, so their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich. They have grown fat. They are sleek; yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy, they do not defend. Ezekiel 22 verse 6 Look, at the princes of Israel, each one has used his power, to shed blood in you. In you they have made light of father and mother: in your midst, they oppressed the stranger: in you have they mistreated the fatherless and the widow. Over and over again. Zechariah 7:9, thus says Yahweh of hosts "Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow, or the fatherless, the alien, or the poor; let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. But they refused to hear it, will shun their shoulders, and stop their ears, so they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of hosts has is sent by his spirit to the former prophets: thus great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts, therefore it happened the justice, he proclaimed, and they were not there, so they called out, and I would not listen: Wow, over and over again, young man especially suffer from a lack of fathers in their lives, young man you grew up without a good father to guide them into adulthood are often completely lost. Even in homes where there is a father we men sometimes don't know how to be the kind of father we are supposed to be. And I acknowledge my own failures in this area; we've raised entire generations of fathers and sons who have lost what it means to be a man.
In fact, sometimes young women out perform young men in fact almost every statistical category they are. Young man is much more likely to perform poorly in school. They are much more likely to have disciplinary problems. They are much more likely to commit suicide.
In the old days young men would gather in the streets and in the parks, and play or whatever after schools. Do something that involved motor skills, and active, running around, now a lot of young people are content to spend countless hours feeding their addictions to video games, movies, and other forms of entertainment. And when they grow up many of them have no desire to take on real desire to take on real responsibility they..., you know we are built by Yahweh to have a goal in front of us and to reach toward that goal, in fact, we even have chemicals in our brain that are released when we reach these goals of some kind, it's called dopamine you know. And these young men are growing up and they get these drugs that provide the dopamine and then they get these video games that they can be almost anything. They can be a super hero, they can be the worlds' best basketball player, they can be the worlds' best guitarist, they can be the worlds' best hero that go and save the day you know to save this country from oppression and whatever, and they got all these games where they are so realistic that your brain kind of interprets it as almost it's being real. And you get those releases of pleasure and become addictive because of that. And then when it comes to actually taking on the real responsibility which you know when you are running the problems aren't resolved by a few buttons on your controller, but you actually have to work through them, it requires physical effort.
Many young men are content to find a low paying job or no job at all and still live with mom and dad until they are 30 years old, playing video games.
And many of them want lots of fornication but are not interested in taking on the commitment of marriage, just stay home never bother to go out pursue career goals, so they can provide for themselves and their future families. And so the ones who are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow are a major burden on the society, they call it the Peter Pan generation, boys will never grow to be men, they call them adultolescents. And so many of us men have little understanding of what manhood is and society has taught us that morality doesn't really matter, instead television, movies portray young men as fornication obsessed slackers they just wanna party all the time and so that what many of our young men have become they have no role model only what they see on television. And then on flip side women are taught to be assertive and take the leadership role, take the bull by the horns and that's praised. And the idea of men being in the leadership position has become synonymous with oppression. Society has not taught boys to appreciate their manhood instead it has taught men to be ashamed of it. And so many don't motivated, they go around fathering children, they don't bother providing for the children that they father call them dad beat dads or whatever you wanna call them, they are not providing financially, emotionally, spiritually, and so here we are in a generation of fatherless children, fathers who do not want to take responsibility.
Well, it's an opportunity for us as believers to come together and provide and be a light and point them to our heavenly Father. We want to be sure we have Yahweh's passion for the fatherless, look at in your neighborhoods or communities, your circle of friends do you know of any widows, anyone in your neighborhoods? hint them down and find ways to bless them, especially the elderly widows.
Anyone in your neighborhood, I'll tell you what, the biggest tragedy I can think of for widows is nursing homes. The children don't want to take care of their parents, and they stuff them away in nursing homes where no one visits them, it's almost like prison, yeah you get room and board, but you are trapped in your room, in your bed, maybe a little stroll out to the TV room or something but, it's basically prison in many cases. Now if you do some physical ailment but above and beyond what a son or daughter can provide for, okay, but the son or daughter can visit, and many of these widows do not get those visits from their children or from anyone. And many of them are bitter and they die in their bitterness and I'm sure that's what Satan would want to step them a way out, out of sight out of mind while they die in their sins, having never experienced the love of Yahushua the bridegroom or Yahweh the father. What are we doing, how many children are out there who are starving for a fatherly influence in their lives? They may not come out and say it, they are little embarrassed some times. Do you know of any personally? If you don't, you know I got to looking into big brothers and big sisters organization...there is actually a study done. They monitored 950 boys and girls nationwide. And to find out the effects of this particular organization which ministers to and connects older men with young men and older women with young girls. And other 950 children, half are randomly chosen to be matched to a big brother, big sister and their half were still on the waiting list. Now according to the study the matched children, children who are matched with a big brother big sister were compared to those who weren't. And the children who have a big brother or big sister were 46% to be less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class, 33% less likely to hit someone. They also found that the little brothers and little sisters were confident in their performance in school work, and get along better with their families, that's only after that's 3 visits a month, 3 visits a month for 18 months, just 3 visits. And the total, you know when you figure out how many visits was that really? A total of 54 visits, in a year and a half time. And what an impact! Here in the Springfield area there is a list of 100 boys on the waiting list wanting to be matched with men, that are willing to step up to the play and be a father figure to the children. Some of those boys their fathers are in prison, or they are being raised by grandparents and some among the girls all of the little sisters were matched to big sisters, there is actually a waiting list on the opposite end.
There are lots of big sisters available to be there for little sisters and I was told it's that way throughout all the United States there is a lack of men willing to step up to the play. So if don't know anyone there are boys out there
who desperately need a fatherly figure type of influence in their lives. Now I'm not saying you have to be a volunteer at big brothers and big sisters. If you see someone, if you know someone in your congregation, your community, or even motherless children, offer to bless the little ones with some mentorship, it can have a very powerful influence in their lives Yahushua said Mathew 18 or 10:42 whoever that gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, verily I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Just a cup of cold water, he's not even necessarily about a fatherless child here, just here, a cup of cold water, that's not too hard.
Do you see Yahweh's heart brothers, sisters? Can we have that kind of heart?
Do we love, do we care? Now where did all this started, I mean, it used to go back at the 1800s, it wasn't so common, yes there was occasional orphanages, there was but there wasn't like now. It used to be that in the 1800s, fathers and mothers stayed together with each other rather than divorcing, and fathers would teach their sons how to farm or teach them the family trade and basically the father was there with the son most of the time teaching their son you know, working on the farm or working on whatever trade you are going on, shoe making or blacksmithing or whatever it was. And he taught his son how to be a husband, how to be a father and the mother will teach her daughters how to keep the home and how to sew and provide for the family in that way and be a good helper for your future husband. But then came the industrial revolution, that caused a split in this whole structure. Now, dad, he's off to work somewhere alright, and now Mom is having to raise and spend lots of time with the young boy and the little girl and having to spend a lot of the time raising the children, okay but he's providing but he's not there with his children alright. But then enters school. Now the children are being sent to a public school system instead of being able to be taught by their father and their mother together. Now they are in their own environment and some kind of school system. Alright, well maybe it's a step, but we are not together anymore and then mom is kind of bored at home and so she goes off and gets herself a job, you know, what's happened here? The trade off, yes the man has secured income, yes the children are probably better educated so they can go work for some corporation like their father did. So I'm not against education but look what's happening to the family here. It used to the dad, mom and children altogether as a family unit spending lots of loving quality time together. Now we have dad in one place, mom in another and the children in another.
Now over time, there were two world wars mom went off and got jobs, so all this security, all this home environment kind of disappeared. Now there was a political leader who once said we must now proudly say without any exaggeration that part from our country there is not a country in the world should be apart. There's is not a country in the world where women enjoy full equality, and where people are not in humiliating position felt particularly in day to day family life. This is one of our first and most important tasks, housework is the most unproductive, the most barbarous, and the most arduous work a human can do, it's exceptionally petty, and does not include anything that on anyway promote the development of the women. This will begin only when we have achieved the complete equality of women and when we undertake the new work together with women who have been emancipated from the petty, stultifying, unproductive work. We are setting up model institutions, dining rooms and nurseries that will emancipate women from house work. These institutions that liberate women from their position as household slaves are springing up where; it is in any way possible. Our task is to make politics available to every working woman; the chief thing is to get women to take part in socially productive labor, to liberate them from domestic slavery, to free them from the stupefying and humiliating subjection, subjugation to the eternal drudgery of the kitchen and the nursery.
The struggle will be a long one and it demands a radical reconstruction, both of social technique and of morale. But in the end, it will end and they complete triumph of communism. This is from Vladimir Lenin leader of Communist Russia in the 1920s.
Now Lenin played a key role in communicating the Marxist vision of what's called the new family.
Lenin and Trotsky believed in the overthrow of and destruction of the biblical family, they sought to build a new state that meant denigrating the biblical notion of male headship and hierarchy within the family and meant eliminating any sense of that there should be a division of labour between man and wife than required delivering women from the burdens of child birth and child care and adopting tools like birth controls guarantors that women will be free to remain in the workforce. And with the separation the family unit a void was left and now parents are in competition with the schools, with day care centers, with nurseries, with things like that. And all this and by the time a child reaches his teenage years his father and mother are no longer the primary influence on the child's life. The void that parents left is now filled by others like today teachers, college professors, Hollywood, and the parent's scratch their heads wondering what happened. But I'm not saying that parents cannot overcome this obstacle with this challenge, what I'm saying is the way our society is setup now it's very hostile to families who want to be close and parents who want to raise their children to fear Elohim and walk in his ways.
And what I see Mr. Lenin doing is insulting the traditional model--the one that people call old, out of date, old fashioned, eternal drudgery and all these things. The biblical model actually is that the older women will be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. They admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, and homemakers, this word translated homemakers means a domestic, good, obedient to their own husbands, there is a hierarchy that the word of Elohim may not blasphemed. I don't want to blasphemy the word of Elohim. Then heed these principles. Now, I'm not blaming women for trying to be funny and actually stable due to the high rate of divorces and sadly the mistreatment of women by lazy, gelatinous, adulterous, floundering man. You want to shirk the responsibilities leaving them in a very vulnerable position or they feel like they need to go out and work for a living. What I wanna point out is look at what society has done the family unit.
Look at today now in the evening's families come together and watch TV, alright well you know, at least they are together watching the TV. But then off goes dad, his work, his PC now a smartphone. Off go the children video games, smartphones, sports whatever they're in separate areas. Off goes mom she's doing her thing, I mean doesn't this sound like the United States of America...first there was a separation of the family through the industrial revolution and now all these gadgets and technologies and stuff like that, you know everybody is free now to get programmed by the world. The parents, the children, and no one is talking to each other you know the average father talks only I think it's 10 minutes a week to his children, 10 minutes a week, meaningful conversation to his children. And these children are, they are going off and they are being trained by Hollywood with the most persuasive music and personalities that millions of dollars can buy.
And Hollywood, by the way, Magic Wand is made out of Hollywood, they send out their programming. I say programming because that's exactly what it is, through channels, channeling of these unclean spirits they get introduced to all kinds of sin and all package to look is appealing and pretty and harmless.
See wherever there is a void of fatherhood there is something else gonna come in and take its place, and now we have the internet, where the wicked things possible are now available easily to your children, who's watching? Seems like we have lost it, we have lost what it means to be fathers and husbands and mothers.
Yahweh says you shall teach them diligently to your children and so talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down when you rise up. Oh guess what, if 52:16 off in their own little world how's that gonna happen?
Now I thank Yahweh for Sabbath day, I just thank Yahweh for it because I know the Sabbath is an opportunity for us to all do that but notice its supposed to be done throughout the day every day.
Beautiful Psalms here, is 78, Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, the children who will be born; that they may arise and declare them to their children: That they may set their hope in Elohim, and not forget the works of Elohim, but keep his commandments: And may not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to Elohim. The spirit was not faithful. But I don't know 10 to 15 years ago my family will all sitting at the table together and now sharing with them how important it was that I tell the children the awesome works Yahweh has done. And I said it's like what it says in Psalms 78 and I flipped open my bible and there it was without turning a single page my eyes fell on Psalms 78 this chapter right here.
And then my wife opened up her bible the same way randomly and immediately it was on Psalms 78 without turning a single page. Then my daughter did the same thing and my son did the same thing, we actually wrote that down in our bibles. We all flipped open the bible and it was on Psalms 78, how's that for a miracle? How's that for Yahweh saying, you know Tom I agree with you on that.
Wow, HalleluYah. So, brothers and sisters listen do what you can men to work at home.
I mean pray first make sure it's the leading of Yahweh I really think it's an awesome life. I've been home with my family because we had home businesses and now full-time ministry since 1999. I asked Yahweh for it and he has provided me with that opportunity. You know because I think our children can be fatherless even though we are there. Even to me, even me being home all day my children could still be fatherless if I'm not engaging them in any way if I'm ignoring them the entire day. If I don't spend quality time with them like the same thing that our wives can be spiritually widows if we don't bother to share with them the word of Yahweh. I don't really claim to be perfect in this area but you know men if you are away from home what do you do when you come home from work? Are you engaging with your families or you are engaging with the television set you know, computer, and a TV and smartphone? We need to realize how hostile this world is to families and respond appropriately because we don't want Yahweh to accuse us of being a father to our children.
Are you leading your families in the scriptures, men? Are you the spiritual leader Yahweh has called you to be you know? And what's called the New Testament we see a young man named Timothy whose father was a Greek apparently not a believer. And Timothy kind of got adopted by Paul in a sense, he said you, therefore, my sons 2 Timothy 2:1 strong in the grace that is in Messiah Yahushua. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. You, therefore, must endure hardship, as a good soldier of Yahushua Messiah.
He's encouraging him like a father would.
Acts 16 he came to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman, who believed; but his father was a Greek. And so Paul kind of took Timothy under his wing and became a father to a man whose father was not a believer, became a father figure to Timothy. This is what we're called to do as men. 2 Timothy 1:3-5, I thank Elohim, whom I serve with pure conscience as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day. Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance to genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and I am persuaded as in you also. Ironically I have a grandmother named Lois but this is an example of where he even a grandmother was able to pour life and a mother was able to pour life into this young man Timothy. And kind of make up for the lack of instruction. And in other places says he from a child has known the Holy Scriptures. And so it's a good example of what can happen when people are willing to pour a life into other people and Timothy became a mighty warrior, a mighty soldier of Elohim. Now, I want to show something else. Yahushua referred to his disciples as little children. He said, "Little children I shall be with you, a little while longer. You will seek me: and as I said to the Jews, Where I am going, you cannot come; so now I say to you." Now to the proud this might seem a little demeaning for Yahushua calling them O you little children. But to the humble who are willing to learn this is a term of endearment and an affection and even a compliment. Matthew 18 verse 1-3 at that time the disciples came to Yahushua, saying, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of Elohim? And Yahushua called a little child to him set him in the midst of them. And said, assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted, and become as little children, you will be by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Think about that, you take one little child in Yahushua's name and you are receiving Yahushua himself. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it will be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he will drown in the depth of the sea. It will be better for you to kill yourself than to let one of these little ones who believe in me to sin. Now, I'm not saying this is equal to commit a suicide but someone took a millstone around his neck and say go on. You are better off over here than to cause one of these little ones who believe in him to sin. We see Yahweh's passion for children in the words of our savior; he's not men's words. When it comes to destroying those who offend and hurt children it's a quick ticket to the lack of fire, quick ticket. He says in Matthew Take heed you do not even despise one of these little ones; don't even despise them for I say to you, That in heaven their angels do always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Their angels, that means they have an angel assigned to them, that always see the face of Yahweh the Father in heaven, watch out you do not oppress them, or even despise them, r cause them to sin.
Mark 10:14, When Yahushua saw, he was greatly displeased, that they would not allow, the children to come to Yahushua, he said let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them: for of such is the kingdom of Elohim. When we receive them, when we bless them, we are receiving Yahushua himself as it says whoever receives one of these little children in my name he receives me, whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me a lot of blessings and curses can come in our own lives, based on how we have chosen to treat the little ones among us.
Or ignore them, or ignore their needs, or you know. And listen if you're a child or you are a teenager you are listening to broadcast today I hope that you understand how much Yahweh cares about you. If you've been hurt by caregivers or by others I hope you know Yahweh does care about you. We live in a world where Yahweh has given man the free will to choose whether he wants to love or not love. He did not make robots out of us, we're allowed to choose whether we love or not love, whether a man loves children or doesn't love children.
And you also have that same choice. And if you haven't been loved you can choose to love, you can make a difference. Scripture says Elohim will bring every work under judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil. Now some don't understand why Yahweh allows evil in the world or why Yahweh permits people to hate each other and abuse each other. If Yahweh didn't give man the space and the choice to love, there wouldn't really be love, to begin with, because a machine, you create credit machines and robots. Can machines and robots really love? The puppet on the string love? Can a computer love you? It just do what it's programmed to do, if Yahweh forced everyone to love you then it wouldn't really be genuine, it just be his creation being programmed to do and control it to do what he says. And so there has to be a choice for it to be genuine love. And so there is the capability of evil taking place and if he forced everyone to love those who did love, just basically be computers and robots telling what we were programmed to do. But if we love out of choice with no one forcing us that's true, genuine love. And so just because Yahweh doesn't stop all the abuses and the evil on the world does not he does not care. He's screaming into their conscience to stop what they are doing. But he never promises no one will hurt us He does promises if we choose to love him he will be there, he will help us handle and deal with all the lack of love we face in our world today. Because even Yahushua himself went through excruciating pain and he was hated and rejected and abused by men. Isaiah 53 He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we did not esteemed him. He was more than murdered; he was physically abused with unimaginable pain. He knows exactly what we are going through if other people are hurting us. He can totally relate, and Yahweh wants to be your Dad. Father of the fatherless, a defender of widows. He wants to relieve you of your distress. He wants to be your father. How do you make Yahweh your father? Well, good fathers provide wise leadership and counsel showing us the way that we can receive that life of blessing. And so read the words of our heavenly Father in the scriptures, become so acquainted with them that you know the bible inside and out, backward and forwards and place them in your heart and let them be your counsel in every decision you make. As you delight in Yahweh's words Yahweh will delight in you. He will become your provider and protector, your source of strength when others make wrong choices to hurt us. And since we are now his children he will cause every evil thing that ever happened to us to ultimately turn around and do something good, he's really good at doing that. Romans 8:28 we know all things work together for good to those that love Elohim, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
That's a promise, and now if we don't love Elohim, you don't love Yahweh, you don't care about his words, you don't care about his counsel, you don't care to call upon him, no such promise for you that everything will work for your good.
If we refuse to answer the call, we are only going to be found guilty of the sins that we also have committed. And we'll find ourselves in the same lake of fire that every unrepentant abuser will find themselves in. And you get to spend all your eternity with them, well at least until you are destroyed. But because Yahushua was willing to take the punishment we deserve for the sins we have all committed we have to receive him in order to be saved from righteous judgment. So Yahushua says he will take our sins upon himself if we will repent and receive him.
And listen, don't be too hard on those imperfect parents you may have or imperfect caregivers because listen we have all failed, we have all failed, for our miserable reaches apart from Yahweh. His goodness being placed in us so we bless those who curse us, we pray for those who spitefully use us. Our goal is that those who do the wrong will turn away from the wrong, they will stop walking in hate and choose to walk in love and so no one else will get hurt. Hoping that person will come to their senses and choose to walk in love because sin is something that's a worldwide problem, that we can be a Yahushua person to the other person. I'm not saying if you are being abused, you should not tell an authority figure who can protect you. You should, if you are being abused by a parent, by an authority figure in your life, you should tell someone who you can trust. I'm willing to be that person, but listen. Yahweh wants to be our father even if we have no father and those who have lost a husband whether by divorce or by their passing. Yahushua says he wants to be your husband.
Corinthians 7 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Yahweh. If you are single, here's what you can do. As she may be holy in both body and spirit: but she who's married she's gonna care about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say it for your own profit; not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, that you may serve Yahweh without distraction. So you have an opportunity to draw near to our savior I recognize him as a bridegroom and experience the closeness with Messiah. That those who are married may not really fully be able to experience and the fact that closeness if you do that as a single young person waiting on a marriage partner you actually can. This will help you when you do get married because there will be times where your husband won't be perfect. But you will be able to fall back on that closeness you have with Yahushua to carry you through those moments. Now, it's not wrong to be married, of course, I mean. But, if you are single you have that opportunity and so, young girls, you are singles, teenagers you have the opportunity and sieze the moment. Build your life on a secure foundation of a close relationship with our savior and then when you get married and your husband fails you can look to Yahushua the perfect one and be comforted not react in the flesh because your whole life is up so wrapped up in what that person does.
Now again I wanna talk to us brothers out there we need to look after the widows among us, we do have Social Security and Medicare and all that, that's just money. A government cannot be your companion or your friend. The government is not gonna teach the widows of the world how they need a savior. I find this great tragedy of women [? ] being tucked away in nursing homes and we need to step up and visit the elderly. There is a whole ministry in that, visit the elderly in nursing homes, if you see an older person in your neighborhood or wanna ask them, is there anything I can do for you. When you are at the grocery store and you see an elderly person you know driving one of those little battery carts or whatever. Ask them, can I help you get something; can I go up to the top shelf and get something for you? Can I help you put your groceries in your car? Be a blessing show love, you know the first-century believers they had not neglected this area and says pure and undefiled religion before Elohim, and before the Father is this: to visit orphans that's the fatherless and the widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself un-spotted or unstained from the world. That's pure undefiled faith, we see an example of the first-century believers caring for the widows in the book of Acts chapter 6 verses 1-2 says Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples, and said, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of Elohim, and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: that chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. Then the word of Elohim spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. And so, the appointed men for the specific task of caring for the widows. And one of them, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and he was full of faith and power, he did great wonders and signs among the people. And there arose from, what's called the synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
You may just get a special out pouring of the Holy Spirit upon you when you start caring for those people who are being neglected. I feel that we in the body of Messiah are not doing enough for the fatherless and the widow. We have shirked our responsibilities. We put them on others thinking that they got their physical needs met. Now I do have an Alms fund if you go to aliyah.com/alms.html, and we do provide for the fatherless and for the widow. for the last several months there have been a couple of fatherless children living in my home, and the single mom and the Alms has been used to help provide for some of their needs. Yahweh has provided for them through the gifts of people who are willing to contribute to the fund. There have been many times older ladies, widows have called me in need of help from the Alms fund. You know I kinda of wonder also and maybe this is kind of controversial but I kind of wonder okay there is not this, you know suppose were the single mom, perhaps she's divorced and the children are not being properly cared for by the man she divorced, he's not a believer. I mean is that really much different than a fatherless and widow I mean she's deprived of having guidance and counsel in the children who are deprived of that also. There's not much difference the father might as well already be dead because he's not doing anything. And that kind of epidemic is wide spread in our culture and that's the most shameful thing about it. But you know with that qualifying, it will be beautiful to me and maybe this is controversial also. It will be a beautiful thing, I believe, if the brothers could get together tithe money and provide for these single moms so that they can be home with their children home schooling them. Because they are often caught between providing for their children and sending their children to public schools where they are gonna be taught the ways of the world and it's a very difficult predicament especially when those children don't have an active father in their life.
Do you see what I'm trying to say? Maybe that's controversial, but I, you know, maybe some decisions were made by these women I don't know. Maybe they are divorced for a reason, I don't know. But, yeah, a lot of people were poor for a reason, too. But it's not time for judgment especially when there are children involved who through no thought of their own are in this predicament.
Pure undefiled religion is a visit orphans and widows, visit them, care about them, be a companion, be like Job. My youth I reared them as a father and guided the widow. It's high time that we as a body of Messiah become passionate about the things Yahweh is passionate about and lead.
Don't let social security lead, we lead when it comes to these things, we lead, we show the love the passion of Messiah Yahushua. A passion and love for the downtrodden, a caring concern for the hurting among us, a loving and merciful and caring people. All you feast keeping and Sabbath keeping mean nothing if we are neglecting the fatherless and the widow, Yahweh said so. And so may Yahweh minister t them and care for them through us and give us his heart in this matter that we might be the Messiah's reaching out to care and to share. Let's pray; O, father thank you for your word,
thank you for being convicting toward us Father we feel like as though we are not doing enough here. And father Yahweh you see how the neglect and childhood result in problems later in life that are very difficult to overcome. And I know, father that's one reason why you care about children so much, you see the damage it does it leads to a lifetime of difficulty.
Father forgive us where we have been neglectful as parents to our own children and as a body in Messiah forgive us where we've been neglectful toward the fatherless and the widow who are around us. Strengthen us as your people, convict us to provide and to care, convict us father to provide and to care and to be our brothers' keeper especially our little brothers and our little sisters. They are so desperately in need of your love.
Establish your kingdom in their little hearts, they might know, you are an Elohim who cares about them that they might know they are not alone but you are with them. For truly yours is the kingdom and power and glory in majesty for ever and ever, in Yahushua's great name we pray these things Amein.