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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're so glad to have

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Speaker 2: you listening. I'm Lynette Kittle and today's topic is no

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Speaker 2: Father Left Behind. We'll be right back after a brief

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Speaker 2: message from our sponsor, No Father Left Behind, written and

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Speaker 2: read by Lynette Kittle. There are those who curse their

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Speaker 2: fathers and do not bless their mothers Proverbs thirty eleven. Nowadays,

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Speaker 2: some adult children believe they are justified in dismissing their

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Speaker 2: earthly fathers, believing it's a personal matter between the two

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Speaker 2: of them and God is okay with whatever they decide

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Speaker 2: to do. But it couldn't be further from the truth,

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Speaker 2: because God cares not only for us, but for our

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Speaker 2: fathers too. Like the marine's unofficial slogan of leaving no

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Speaker 2: man behind, God doesn't leave fathers behind either, even in

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Speaker 2: their failures and sins. Sadly, many individuals have valid reasons

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Speaker 2: for turning their backs on their fathers, yet God calls

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Speaker 2: them to follow his lead in responding to the pain

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Speaker 2: in their lives because too many fathers have fallen by

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Speaker 2: the wayside and need His help. Tragically, some fathers are drunkards, druggies,

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Speaker 2: deadbeat criminals, murderers, prisoners, abusers, and more. Still, God holds

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Speaker 2: kids accountable for their attitudes towards to their fathers because

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Speaker 2: it's a matter of the heart, the kind of issue

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Speaker 2: that causes life long sorrow if left unchecked. Regardless of

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Speaker 2: a father's sin, God doesn't write fathers off or give

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Speaker 2: kids permission to do the same, but cause children to

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Speaker 2: forgiveness and trust in Him to work in their father's lives.

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Speaker 2: We can trust God too with the pain, because He

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Speaker 2: isn't going to ask us to embrace and entrust ourselves

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Speaker 2: to fathers who aren't trustworthy or pretend they didn't hurt us.

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Speaker 2: He isn't asking us to say or believe things about

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Speaker 2: our fathers that aren't true or overlook their sins. But

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Speaker 2: He also doesn't support us disowning, abandoning, and labeling them

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Speaker 2: toxic and unworthy of redemption as well. God doesn't give

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Speaker 2: us permission to punish, correct dishonor or treat them disrespectfully,

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Speaker 2: even if we believe they deserve it, which is often

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Speaker 2: a hard pill to swallow for those who've lived life

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Speaker 2: with a dare like dad. Along with God leading us

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Speaker 2: to forgive our fathers, sometimes he asks more of us

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Speaker 2: when it comes to dealing with our dads. Author and

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Speaker 2: speaker Joyce Meyer's dad sexually abused her growing up, giving

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Speaker 2: her a good reason to abandon him and have nothing

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Speaker 2: to do with him for the rest of his or

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Speaker 2: her life. Yet unbelievably, God called her to provide for

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Speaker 2: and care for her abusive father in his old age,

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Speaker 2: something she resisted at first, shocked that a holy, just

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Speaker 2: God would ever ask her to do. After all, why

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Speaker 2: would a loving God call her to take care of

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Speaker 2: a father who so cruelly abused and mistreated her. He

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Speaker 2: certainly didn't deserve her kindness and general. Still, God didn't

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Speaker 2: let her off the hook, asking her to do what

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Speaker 2: seemed the impossible, choosing rather to live in obedience to

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Speaker 2: him than live in her pain. Meyer took on the

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Speaker 2: responsibility Remarkably, through her kindness and generosity, her father came

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Speaker 2: to know the Lord before passing away. So one has

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Speaker 2: to ask does God love the godless fathers who have

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Speaker 2: failed miserably and caused unimaginable and unspeakable wounding in the

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Speaker 2: lives of their children and others. Some of us, even

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Speaker 2: as Christians, are ready to throw the talon when it

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Speaker 2: comes to caring about despicable dads, believing they don't deserve

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Speaker 2: to have God's love either. But we're mistaken if we

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Speaker 2: see ourselves as more deserving of his love. The apostle

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Speaker 2: Paul addresses it in First Corinthians six nine through eleven.

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Speaker 2: Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit

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Speaker 2: the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the

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Speaker 2: sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have

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Speaker 2: sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards,

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Speaker 2: nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.

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Speaker 2: And that is what some of you were. But you

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Speaker 2: were washed, you were sanctified, You were justified in the

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Speaker 2: name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit

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Speaker 2: of our God. If we see ourselves as more deserving

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Speaker 2: of receiving God's forgiveness and love than faithless fathers, then

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Speaker 2: we don't truly understand the sin nature we are all

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Speaker 2: born with, of how we all enter life undeserving of

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Speaker 2: God's grace and are in desperate need of a perfect,

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Speaker 2: sinless savior to redeem us. Ephesians two eight through nine

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Speaker 2: reminds us for it is by grace you have been

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Speaker 2: saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It

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Speaker 2: is the gift of God, not by works, so that

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Speaker 2: no one can boast intersecting faith in life. If you're

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Speaker 2: trying to come to terms in life with a father

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Speaker 2: who failed you, ask God to help you to forgive

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Speaker 2: him and to give you a heart of compassion towards him.

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Speaker 2: Further reading how to offer your Dad forgiveness this Father's Day.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you liked what

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