Generational Blessings

Role of the Spiritual Father

Today’s Focus: Generational Blessings

Scripture: Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 28:18-20; Genesis 25:5; 28:1; Genesis 49; 1 Timothy 5:8

Greetings Kingdom Citizens

One of the unique attributes and concepts we see in the Bible, in particular the Old Testament is what is called the generational blessing.  It is and always has been God’s intentions to pass along the blessings from a father to the son.  Let’s look at some of these:

Genesis 25:5: Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac

Genesis 28:1: And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

Genesis 49 (Entire Chapter): Jacob blesses His twelve sons.

So the blessings of a father are to be handed down to the sons.  As those sons grow and mature, then they hand down the blessings to their sons and so on.  This way the purposes of God will increase and mature.  A spiritual father, John Metcalfe gave this wonderful example and I would like to use it here:

The ancient builders of cathedrals in Europe would begin the work by planting acorns first.  They knew their grandsons would need to harvest the oak trees to complete the roofing on the great buildings. 

This means these fathers were looking ahead and planting blessings for the generations to come.  This is why the scripture says:

1 Timothy 5:8: But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel

The concept of the generational blessing is that the son takes from the father and builds.  Are we generationally blessing the sons of God today?  Sadly we are doing it on a very minimal scale and let me explain.  The church, who are the believers, not the building is supposed to be a family.  We are the House of God.  Now, what God designed and what we are doing for the most part are two separate things producing two completely different results.  In denominational religion we have children who are born into it and all they know is the denomination and so whatever the denomination teaches, that is all they know.  If the denomination has been doing conferences for 50 plus years and does it the same way, as that child grows “in the denomination” they become a part of the machine and simply continue what the fathers have already ordained.  For a great example, let’s go back to the builders of the cathedrals.  That is like my father, planting the acorns and then when I grow up, I plant acorns but nobody is building the building.  So it is a circle of ways established by the denomination and many may not want to admit it but they themselves are not maturing the sons.  Their goal is to bring in as many members as they can. So the denomination simply reproduces itself and not mature the son, they mature the denomination.  Now let’s look at God’s way of doing it and look at it’s results.

God sends His Son and gives Him 12 sons to start the Holy Nation.  In turn His Son, Jesus is also a Father (Everlasting Father, Isaiah 9:6).  After discipling and maturing those sons, He hands the ministry over to them and tell them to continue the ministry by making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).  What this does is grow the House of God but not just in numbers.  As those 12 (Mathias in place of Judas) distributed bread and wine and matured their sons, those sons come to maturity and father other sons.  Now what God does is He reveals more and more of Himself to every generation so the maturation does not stick with a 500 year old revelation but there are eternal truths being revealed to continue to prepare the Body of Christ for the return of the Lord.  Hence God is bringing His fractured Body to order.  To walk in the ways of the Lord, it requires a believer to fast and pray. The reason I say this is because, if you have grown up denominationally then the denomination is in you hard and it requires God to separate the traditions of men from His ways.

To be honest, I do not know how you put God’s way of maturing the Body in an institutional church when it is predicated on fathers and sons.  Are we willing to give up the machine and do it God’s way?  There is grace in doing it God’s way.  Are we willing to give up the titles and allow God to manifest His gifts through us as we mature?  Are we willing to be fathered and discipled in the ways and nature of the Father? 

In the next message we will look at how do we migrate from the institutional mindset to the household mindset.     

Peace, Love and Grace,

Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Results and Consequences of Consistency and Inconsistency

Role of the Spiritual Father

Today’s Focus: The Results and Consequences of Consistency and Inconsistency

Scripture: John 5:19; Ephesians 6:4

Greetings Kingdom Citizens

Why is the world the way it is?  Simply, a lack of fathers. When there is a lack of fathers there is a lack of discipline and order in the lives of children.  Now we left off the last message with John 5:19 where Jesus says whatever I see the Father do, I do.  This is the model, to be one with the Father.  In our society today many fathers can care less what their sons are doing.  They just let the children grow to be what they want to be. Many fathers allow the children to go uncheck just as long as they are not aggravating him.  Now what is so bad about this is when you mix religion in it.  So now we have a child that see the father pay no attention to them, let them do whatever they want, yell, scream and fuss all the time when he gets aggravated but on Sunday he is the pastor or deacon of the church screaming hallelujah and praise the Lord.  The children see a Sunday man and a Monday through Saturday man.  The children can pick up on this inconsistency and know that the way their father is living is wrong.  Hence you have children that grow up and say “I do not want to be like my father”.   This is a very devastating mindset to have because even though the child has a biological father, the child feels fatherless making them an orphan mentally in a house with a father.  Now I am specifically not dealing with mothers because most times it is the fathers that are lacking and for the sake of this series we are looking at spiritual fathers. 

Now that we know the mindset of the children is an orphan even though they are living under their father’s roof, what is the mindset of the father?  He is an orphan too!  A father like this is only concerned about his own interests and he has learned how to run, hide, and shift blame (remember Adam in the Garden).  His premier motivation is to possess, acquire and control.  Sounds just like the culture of the orphan. So now we have an orphan trying to father a orphan.  That will not work. There is really not a focus on the spiritual growth of the children to bring them into adulthood, the father has handed that down to the pastor and the school system.  Huh?  Yes, where do you think the term “youth pastor” even came from?  I have not found anywhere in scripture where God said ordain a “youth pastor”.  But I do know that the scripture clearly says:

Ephesians 6:4: AND YE FATHERS, PROVOKE NOT YOUR CHILDREN TO WRATH: BUT BRING THEM UP IN THE NURTURE AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD. 

So whose responsibility is it to bring and rear the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?  THE FATHERS.  Now this means the fathers must be spiritually lead and be mature to do this. This means we cannot live by the “do as I say, not as I do rule”  this breeds hypocrisy.  But we must live by the rule “do as I say and as I do” just like Jesus was lead by the Father.  This relationship and maturation is a hands-on experience and one that God will not allow you to delegate your responsibility to another.  What is a shame is that the father who chose not to step up will send their children to a church house.   Please pay attention.  Because they lack spiritual maturity and discernment, they will drop the children off at the church and then go back home.  Never mind that they are teaching damnable heresies in the church.  Never mind if they are teaching that homosexuality is ok because God loves everybody and everything.  God designed the maturation process of natural children AS WELL AS HIS CHILDREN to grow through fathers. This is why spiritual fathers are the answer for the world today because they put on display the exact representation of the Father so that the sons can mature.  This way of living promotes the “do as I say and do” culture because the spiritual father is connected and has been matured by the Father and the counsel and ways being demonstrated are the same ways and nature demonstrated by the Father.  When there is consistency then there is credibility and then there is growth and maturation.  This is the desire for the spiritual father to be an example unto the sons.

In the next message we will look at generational blessings of the fathers.

  

Peace, Love and Grace from the Father,

Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

The Father's Desire

Role of the Spiritual Father

Today’s Focus: A Father’s Desire

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17; John 5:19

Greetings Kingdom Citizens

Growing up as a young boy in my parent’s house, I can distinctly remember times when my father was always introducing me and my brothers to family.  I remember saying “man, dad wants us to know everybody” and at the time I did not think I would remember anybody because there was so many.  My father would speak about the past and the way things were and how His father raised him.  I can even remember times when we stepped out of line with family and how any and everybody could have disciplined and punished us.  Hey, I can remember hearing my dad say “If he acts up, blister his butt”.  Now I am being real about this but my father was huge on respect for your elders outside of your immediate family.  I remember times when my dad would say: “Hey guys I am proud of you”.  But one thing I do remember distinctly is that he did not accept failure on any level.  He believed that we could be the best and anything and mediocre was not acceptable.  He pushed us hard and sometimes it did not work because of our personalities but nonetheless he pushed because he loved.  As a young man I did not understand it all but now as I have grown I can appreciate what my father was doing and how he desired that we carry on the family name and take it to the next level, never forgetting the foundations that were laid by those before us.  I said all this and I am sure that many of you can relate but unfortunately, and this saddens my heart, some cannot because there was no father in the home to discipline and hold these things down.  The role of a father in these days is more crucial than ever and with two sons, I am understanding more and more the importance of focusing on the spiritual growth of my family. 

When we talk about spiritual fathers, we have stated that it is a mature son of God demonstrating the ways and nature of the Father. Now just like it was my father’s desire for me to take the family to the next level and take it past where he and his brothers brought it, so is it with the spiritual father. There is a since of pride that a father receives when their son is achieving and growing beyond the heights that they made it to. The spiritual father delights in this same thing.  The spiritual father’s role is to mature the sons.  He desires and longs for the children that God has assigned him to mature to learn from him and then take it to the next step in preparing the sons for the return of Christ.  The pride he has comes from a loving heart and affection for the sons.  Now the sons know that the fathers love them because it is evident in the time spent in teaching and nurturing the son.  The sons obedience to their fathers bring honor to the house and joy into the father’s heart.  A great example of this is our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ.  Let me show you!

Matthew 3:13-17: Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.  But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.  Then he suffered Him. And Jesus when He was baptized, went straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from Heaven, saying: THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED

The Father was extremely proud of His son for His obedience and submission unto Him.  Jesus understood that to be one with the Father, He must be submitted, spirit, soul and flesh to Him.  In being one with the Father there is a consistency brought to the Earth in this fact:

John 5:19: Verily verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

This is the consistency a spiritual father must demonstrate.  In the next message we will look at the results of inconsistent fathering on the natural and spiritual level.

Peace, Love and Grace,

Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

The Shepherd Part 2

The Shepherd Part 2

Greetings Sons:

Psalm 23:2:  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.

The unique word in this passage is maketh.  Now you read it as the Lord makes or forces me to lie down but that is the wrong context because we know that the Lord does not force us to do anything.  We choose through our free will.  So how does the Lord make us lie down?   It is because we are following His voice as the sheep does the shepherd.  In following Him, he makes us lie down in green pastures.. This is a picture of rest.  In addition he brings us to a place of provision.  Second, he leads me beside the still water.  Still water or tranquil water is a picture of peace but also He is leading us to a place where we can quench our thirst.  We know water is a picture of the Word of God. 

So when we come to know the Shepherd we learn His voice.  We follow Him and go where He goes and in following Him, He provides for us and leads us to places of rest and peace.   When we find the Shepherd and learn of His ways the Scriptures say we will find rest for our souls. 

In the turbulent times we are in rest seems to be only in the after life and not in the present day but I am here to share with you  that is not true….  Here is why:

Hebrews 4:7,8:  Again, he limiteth a certain day saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.  For if Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God

So if we do not harden our hearts in these days and hearken to the voice of the Lord and do as He commands He says there is a rest that is given to you.  The rest for your soul is experienced when you have gained rule over your soul in a particular area and submitted your will to the will of God and having full confidence in the thing God is doing or going to do.  You cease from strife and stress to rest and peace.  This is available to the people of God today….if you do not harden your  hearts.

Grace and Peace,

Calvin Calhoun, Jr.