**THANKS TO CALVARY**

                            **Thanks to Calvary**

LUKE 23:33

AND WHEN THEY WERE COME TO THE PLACE WHICH IS CALLED CALVARY THERE THEY CRUCIFIED HIM AND 

THE MALEFACTORS ONE ON THE RIGHT HAND AND THE OTHER ON THE LEFT.

THERE WAS THREE CROSSES......

A.ONE DYING IN SIN.

B,ONE DYING TO SIN.

C.ONE DYING FOR SIN.

THE ONE THAT DIED FOR SIN WAS JESUS THE SON OF GOD.

HE WAS SUBMITTED TO GODS PLAN. 

PHILLIPIANS 2:8 

AND BEING FOUND IN FASHION AS A MAN HE HUMBLED HIMSELF AND BECAME OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS.

JESUS DID NOT HIDE.....RUN OR PUT UP A FIGHT.

LOOK AT THE TREATMENT JESUS FACED......

A.THEY SPIT ON HIM.

B.THEY SLAPPED HIM.

C.THEY SHAMED HIM.

D.THEY BEAT HIM.

E.THEY WHIPPED HIM.

SOME ONE SAID, WHEN YOUR BACK IS TO THE WALL,

REMEMBER HIS WAS TO THE CROSS.

**I WANT TO SAY SOME THINGS ABOUT CALVARY**

1. CALVARY.....WHERE WE SEE MAN AT HIS WORST AND GOD AT HIS BEST.

2. CALVARY....WHERE EVERY PERSON MUST COME IF THEY EXPECT TO BE SAVED.

3. CALVARY.....WHERE JESUS SHED HIS BLOOD.

4. CALVARY.....WHERE WE COME WITH OUR SORROW AND LEAVE WITH HIS JOY.

5. CALVARY....WHERE JESUS DIED THAT THE WE MIGHT LIVE.

6. CALVARY....WHERE WE HEAR THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.

7. CALVARY.....WHERE SINNERS PLUNGED BENNEATH THAT FLOOD LOSE ALL THEIR GUILTY STAINS.

8. CALVARY....WHERE WE COME WITH OUR RUIN AND RECIEVE HIS PEACE.

9. CALVARY....WHERE WE COME WITH OUR BITTERNESS AND RECEIVE HIS BLESSINGS.

10. CALVARY....WHERE A SAVIOUR DIED AND SALVATION WAS BORN.

11. CALVARY....WHERE WE COME WITH OUR DARKNESS AND RECIEVE HIS LIGHT.

12. CALVARY.....WHERE WE COME WITH OUR HELL AND RECIEVE HIS HEAVEN. 

NO WONDER THE SONG WRITER SAID MY RANSOMED SOUL CAN ONLY SING OF CALVARY.

LITTLE GIRL LOST HER WAY HOME.....POLICE MAN SAW HER AND SAID CAN I HELP YOU, SHE SAID JUST POINT ME TO THE CROSS AND I CAN FIND MY WAY HOME....SHE LIVED NEAR THE CHURCH WERE THE BIG CROSS COULD BE SEEN. SHE FOUND HER WAY HOME.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:18 

FOR THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT PERISH FOOLISHNESS BUT UNTO US WHICH ARE SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.

THERE IS STILL ROOM AT THE CROSS FOR YOU.

THE GROUND IS LEVEL AT THE CROSS.  PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!!!! 

THANKS TO CALVARY I AM NOT THE MAN I USED TO BE.

**A GOOD FATHER** Part 10

PREPARE YOUR CHILDREN

Proverbs 23:24 - “The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.”

You are preparing your children to leave home … PLEASE! Some day, they’ll take what they’ve learned from you, and begin to apply it out in the real world. You’ve only got approximately 18 years to get them ready.

Preparing them for life away from you is only part of the picture. If you haven’t spent your time preparing them for eternity, you have failed as a father. God didn’t give you your children just to prepare a doctor, a teacher, or a plumber. God gave your children to Christian fathers to prepare them for eternity.

You can’t choose which eternal path they will take … but you CAN choose to show them the way to Heaven … OR … you can choose to just ignore their spiritual destiny. They have to decide for themselves the path they’ll take … but you can have a Godly influence on their choice.

BE A GOOD FATHER … prepare your children … for eternity.

It’s not easy being a good father … BUT … it’s NOT IMPOSSIBLE either. It takes hard work, hard praying, and making hard decisions. You can’t do it alone.... God doesn’t expect you to....God doesn’t want you to.....Don’t leave Him out of your fatherhood.

**A GOOD FATHER** Part 9

BE A POSITIVE ROLE MODEL

Proverbs 22:6 - “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

You are a role model for your children … like it or not … good or bad … they will, to one degree or another, model their lives after you. You have inherited some of your father’s characteristics … your children are inheriting some of yours. 

Whether you know it or not (or mean to or not), you are influencing the lives of your children, and your children’s children. 

You ARE a role model … A GOOD FATHER will be a GOOD role model.

It’s not easy being a good father … BUT … it’s NOT IMPOSSIBLE either. It takes hard work, hard praying, and making hard decisions. You can’t do it alone.... God doesn’t expect you to....God doesn’t want you to.....Don’t leave Him out of your fatherhood.

**A GOOD FATHER** Part 8

PRAY FOR YOUR CHILDREN

Psalm 55:17 – “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.”

You can’t be with your children all the time … God can. You can’t protect them wherever they go … God can. You can teach them right from wrong, but you can’t be there when it’s put to the test … God can.

Pray for your children! Lift them up to God to do for them what you can’t do. As parents, we aren’t perfect, and we make mistakes. If we had to do it all over again, we would do things differently. Maybe we’ve done the best we could … we did what we thought was right … we raised our children the best we knew how. 

NOW … PRAY FOR THEM … because your Heavenly Father loves them as much as you do … and He has more experience than you do. Pray that God the Father will take your well-intended efforts at fatherhood … and use them to bring your children into His loving arms.

BE A GOOD FATHER … pray for your children.

It’s not easy being a good father … BUT … it’s NOT IMPOSSIBLE either. It takes hard work, hard praying, and making hard decisions. You can’t do it alone.... God doesn’t expect you to....God doesn’t want you to.....Don’t leave Him out of your fatherhood.

**A GOOD FATHER** Part 7

PRAY FOR YOURSELF 

1 Chron. 16:11 – “Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.”

You don’t have all the answers to their questions … you can’t solve all their problems. You don’t have all the wisdom, love and patience to be the father you ought to be. Without God’s help, you can never be the father God wants you to be.

You need help! You can’t do it by yourself … 

BE A GOOD FATHER … pray for yourself.

It’s not easy being a good father … BUT … it’s NOT IMPOSSIBLE either. It takes hard work, hard praying, and making hard decisions. You can’t do it alone.... God doesn’t expect you to....God doesn’t want you to.....Don’t leave Him out of your fatherhood.