Father's Day 2025

·47 min·4 clips

Paul writes from a cold dungeon under Nero's reign, urging Timothy to share what he's heard with faithful men.

The episode begins with a reading from 2 Timothy, where Paul writes to Timothy from a dungeon during Nero's persecution, urging him to share teachings with faithful men. The speaker wishes listeners a Happy Father's Day but acknowledges it may be painful for those with loss or broken relationships, encouraging them to hold both hope and hurt. He transitions to the theme of investment, defining it as using time, talent, and treasure to achieve a purpose, specifically to make people better. Scriptural support is drawn from 1 Thessalonians 2:8, where Paul shares not only the gospel but his life, and Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission to make disciples. The speaker emphasizes that investment involves teaching others to obey Jesus' commands. He illustrates generational investment through Paul's transformation on the road to Damascus and his mentorship of Timothy, who is called to invest in reliable people. The speaker shares personal examples, like Jeannie Mayo's preaching on losing passion when things become familiar, and Dave Ryder's concept of three landscapes: outward, inward, and kingdom. He argues that the kingdom landscape should transform the others, reordering love, wants, and desires toward God. The message critiques modern church struggles, citing a lack of investment in spiritual growth, especially for youth, where camps and Sunday school are undervalued compared to sports and academics. The speaker recounts personal rebukes from mentors as valuable investments. He highlights the need for daily encouragement and rebuke, referencing Hebrews 3:13, and acknowledges elders and staff at The Hope Collective who invest in him. The speaker identifies obstacles to investment: individualism, lack of teachability, technology, idolatry of the nuclear family, and busyness. He argues that COVID revealed busyness as a symptom, with indifference being the real disease threatening the church. Steps to address this include admitting indifference, repenting, and intentionally investing in others. A ladder illustration with volunteers demonstrates the need for people ahead to pull you up and for you to pull others up. The speaker concludes by challenging fathers to model investment, sharing a story of a 19-year-old youth pastor shaped by his dad's annual trips teaching biblical principles.

As heard by us

A Father's Day sermon frames biblical mentorship as a living chain of spiritual responsibility.

Father's Day gives this sermon its shape, but the real subject is spiritual inheritance: how faith is received, tended, and handed on. Paul's words to Timothy open into a wider line of investment, from Jethro to Moses to Joshua, before the speaker brings that idea home through…

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Why you'd press play

Press play when Father's Day has you thinking about who invested in your faith, and who may need that same steady care from you next.

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