Daddy Makes A Difference!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

“Daddy Makes A Difference!”
Sermon Delivered at:
Greater New Bethel A.M.E. Church
Kansas City, Kansas
(Rev. Edward Walzer, Jr. Pastor)

By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Occasion: “Father’s Day”

Today, is Fathers’ Day!
All fathers, please stand and take a bow!
Ladies, give these brothers a hand!

All of us have fathers.
Whether we know their names or not.
Whether we’ve met them or not.
Whether we love them or not.
We all have fathers.

No Mother could be a “mother” without the timely, indispensible help of a father. And no father could be a “father” with the timely, indispensible help of a mother.

The Bible says:

Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. Job 21:10 (KJV)
Their ox is ready at all times to give seed; their cow gives birth, without dropping her young. Job 21:10 (Bible in Basic English)

Today church, I’ve come to let you know that “Daddy Makes A Difference.” What I say? “Daddy Makes A Difference!”

The idea for an official “Father’s Day,” ironically, came up just two years after the first official Mothers’ Day. One hundred years ago, in 1910, a married woman in Spokane, Washington, named Sonora Smart Dodd was in church. While listening to the preacher extol the virtues of mothers, she reflected that she and her five (5) brothers had been raised by their father, a farmer, following the death of her mother in child birth. Her father’s efforts called to mind the unsung feats of fathers everywhere. So, she worked to make Fahter’s Day official. From that beginning the idea spread, until President Nixon made it official in 1972, some 62 years later. http://www.ideafinder.com/guest/calendar/fathersday.htm

That just goes to show that persistence pays off. Listening in church helps, too.

Both mothers and fathers, males and females, make up the “phylum” known as “Man.”
Both were created in the image and the likeness of God. Genesis 1:26-28 states:

26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

In biology, a phylum (plural: phyla)[note 1] is a taxonomic rank below Kingdom and above Class. "Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylum

God did not simply create us to praise and to worship him. God also put us here to work, “to till the ground from whence he was taken.” Gen. 3:22. God put “us” out, expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, when they disobeyed. Gen 3:
22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

If you don’t obey, you deserve to get put out. If you get too big for your britches, you will be chastised. Under my roof it’s either my way or the highway.

That includes getting a job. If you can’t find a job, make your own job! I had a lady deliver me a delicious turkey dinner this past Friday to my office. I met her at Gilbert A.M.E. Church, where I preached last Sunday. She made her own job. And she got paid. Work is good. “Rust kills quicker than wear,” they say.

We were put here to work. The Bible says 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Genesis 3:19

Even Jesus worked! Praise be to God, Jesus still works in you and me, and through you and me!

In John 9:4, he said: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Hear me now, church, Daddy’s work! That’s what Daddy’s do. Being Daddy is work. And for me, being Daddy is fun. In addition to work, however, Daddy’s also:
Love
Provide
Protect
Respect
Empower
Forgive
Encourage
Cleanse
Teach
Inspire
Discipline.

These are things that Daddy’s do. Daddy’s make a difference!
Without Earl Woods, there’d be no Tiger Woods.
Without Martin Luther King, Sr. there’d be no Martin Luther King, Jr.
Without George Bush, there’d be no George W. Bush (sigh)
Even Barack Obama’s Daddy, whom he barely knew, made a difference. Read Dreams of My Father, please.
The Williams Sisters Daddy made them.
And Rev. C.L. Franklin made the Diva, Aretha Franklin –R E S P E C T!—

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my own Daddy, Elvis Mitchell Coleman, who married my Momma in 1950, and who produced 8 children, all of whom went to college, 7 of whom graduated. Neither one of my parents finished high school.

Daddy makes a difference, church. Daddy makes a difference!

In fact, open your Bibles to John 9:1 and read quietly as I read:

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?
20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.D

Daddy makes a difference! And Big Daddy makes a big difference!

You can ask the woman at the well. Daddy makes a difference!
You can ask the 10 lepers who were healed. Daddy makes a difference!
You can ask the woman caught in adultery. Daddy makes a difference!
You can ask the 5,000 he fed with 2 fish and 5 barley loves. Daddy makes a difference!
You can ask our 4 million forefathers whom he delivered from slavery! Daddy makes a difference!

You can ask me, as he lifted me off the death bed, and gave me health, strength, love, power, compassion and undying faith in his holy name!

Daddy makes a difference! Daddy makes a difference! Daddy makes a difference!
Amen.