Small Room Father’s Day sermon video audio notes taken from the story of Elisha raising the woman’s son to life in a small room. Fathers need a confined space – a small room – where they can connect with their children in a spiritual and prophetic way to help direct and raise the child to true life.
FATHER’S DAY
By Pastor Delbert Young
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
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Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
2 Kings 4:9-10, Deuteronomy 11:18-20, Psalms 119:105, 2 Kings 4:18-19, 2 Kings 4:23, 2 Kings 4:26
We are told a very interesting story in the book of 2 Kings Chapter 4. I want to draw principles from it today for us fathers and grandfathers, but everyone should learn from it.
2 Kings 4:9-10 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. LET’S MAKE A SMALL ROOM on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
The spiritual needs a place in your home so that it can come to you. Notice the emphasis placed on the specific furnishings placed in the SMALL ROOM. We will talk more about that shortly.
This husband built and furnished his natural house. Today that would be a television, furniture, carpet, luxuries, etc. He also added a SMALL ROOM – prophet’s chamber – and he furnished it.
Dads, a major problem today is we fathers focus so on the natural that we forget about adding and furnishing the spiritual part of our homes. We all realize that I am not talking about building a literal room onto the house, correct? If you want a successful and complete home, you must build and furnish the spiritual part as well as the natural. The Bible tells fathers for their homes to be successful and their children to become what God wants, they must do more than only come to church on Sunday. You need to add a SMALL ROOM to your home.
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 FIX these words of mine in your hearts and minds; TIE THEM as symbols on your hands and BIND THEM on your foreheads. TEACH THEM to your children, TALKING ABOUT THEM when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. WRITE THEM ON the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, SO THAT your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
How does a dad fix God’s words in his and his family’s hearts and minds? TIE THEM – they must become tied to what you do (hands). BIND THEM – they must become bound to how you think (foreheads). They become SYMBOLS of who you are. TEACH THEM TO YOUR CHILDREN. They are not fixed, until taught to your children. TALKING ABOUT THEM – you must talk about the things of God when you sit at home, and when driving along the road, and when you lie down, and when you get up.
The spiritual walk and the natural walk must mingle together. WRITE THEM on the doorframes (entrance) of your houses and gates. There must be some spiritual stuff in your home too. SO THAT – your days and the days of your children may be many. What a promise! By doing this, you do something as eternal as the heavens and the earth.
The Lord is happy you have a nice house, plasma television, swimming pool, nice cars, clothes, and furniture. You worked hard for those things and he has blessed you so you could have those things, but he is asking you today, “Where is your SMALL ROOM?”
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
The problem is we only have church at church. We go home and forget about church and the things of God for the remainder of the week. Often, we ignore God Monday through Saturday. Also, we ignore his word. Furthermore, we do not pray. Moreover, we do not talk to our children about the things of God. When was the last time you talked to your children about the things of God? Then we wonder why our children give us fits every day but Sunday. We need the furnished SMALL ROOM added to our homes.
2 Kings 4:10 Let’s make a SMALL ROOM on the roof and put in it a BED and a TABLE, a CHAIR and a LAMP for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.
The prophet – the spiritual – needed a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp in the SMALL ROOM. This is what the Spirit needs to have a place in your home. Dad, these four pieces represent what you need in your home if you want a successful family. Make sure they are there.
There is a chair in the SMALL ROOM. Deuteronomy said talking about them when you SIT AT HOME. You need a chair of communication in your SMALL ROOM. Dad, you need to communicate with your wife and children. You need to get still, sit and talk. You will be amazed at what a difference it will make in your home. Talk to your children so they will trust you and confide in you. You need to get in their heads. Also, you need to know about their friends. Furthermore, you need to know where they are going tonight and going in life. Moreover, you need a spiritual chair of communication.
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
Use the time to talk about the things of God. Share something you read in the Bible. Share how you used a bible principle to solve a situation at work. The goodness of God should be a part of your normal daily conversation. Is it? Do you find yourself talking daily about the things of God to your children and wife, or would that be abnormal?
Deuteronomy said talking about them… when you LIE DOWN and when you get up.
There is a bed in the SMALL ROOM. The Lord does not want you to talk about spiritual things only at church. He wants it to be a part of your nights as well as your days. The bed is a place of rest. Have you ever said prayers with your children as they kneel at their beds? The bed is a private place. It is a place of refreshing and rejuvenation. When properly added spiritually to the home, the home becomes a restful place. It never will be without the SMALL ROOM.
There is a table in the SMALL ROOM. We live in a strange time concerning eating disorders and our children. It seems they are overweight and struggling with physical obesity, or, they are suffering from Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorders. Parents allow their children to fill themselves with junk food, or not eat at all. If we are not keen on the physical health of our children, it is a good indication we are not keen on their spiritual health. What types of spiritual food do your children ingest?
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
They fill their souls and spirits with something. To what music do they listen? That stuff is going into them. What movies do they watch? Something is going into their souls and spirits. Sadly, fathers often do not have a clue as to what their children eat spiritually. You need a spiritual table to make certain you feed your children correctly.
There is a lamp in the SMALL ROOM.
Psalms 119:105 Thy WORD is A LAMP unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
I have been a pastor for a long time. It is sad to see people allowing the lamp/fire to go out. It is sad because, in the darkness, they lose their way through life. The marriage suffers. The children suffer. The finances suffer. God gave us his word to lead us through life. Dad, you need to make certain the lamp burns brightly so when dark times come, you can see to lead your family through it.
Do you have a SMALL ROOM in your home with a chair, a bed, a table, and a lamp? When was the last time you sat in the chair of communication with your children? Is your home a bed of rest? Have you made certain that your children are eating proper spiritual food at the table? Is the lamp of his word directing you and your family through life?
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
The man and the woman in the story were an elderly couple and had no children. One day Elisha the prophet was in the SMALL ROOM. He told them they would have a child by “this time” next year. One year later, the woman gave birth to a son. A few years later, the father was in his field working.
2 Kings 4:18-19 The child grew, and one day HE WENT OUT TO HIS FATHER, who was with the reapers. “My head! My head!” he said to his father. His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
Notice the boy went out to his father to tell his father that something was going on in his head. I thought it was interesting that the boy went to his father and not to his mother. The boy felt that his dad was the one who could help him. This shows us the SMALL ROOM worked. The father, though he provided a SMALL ROOM, struggled in an area of his life. He was too busy “in his field.” The father would not stop to see what was wrong with his child. “Carry him to his mother.”
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
Hear me dads. If I have failed my family in any way, it is in this way. Even though I had/have a furnished SMALL ROOM in my house for spiritual things, I got/get so busy “in my field” that I sometimes missed what was going on in my children’s heads. I am not nearly as bad as I once was, but it is a constant struggle for me. It is the biggest struggle of my life. There was a time when I had to get three new sermons every week. I was working on my college degree. I was the pastor of a church. There were hospital visits and counseling. I was so busy “in my field” that I did not have time for my own family.
A few days ago, I was working on this sermon. I had all three of my grandsons with me. One was asleep and the other two were playing in front of me.
I had my computer in my lap working on this very sermon.
One of them, Jack, asked me to go upstairs and watch him play a video game. I nearly did the “I’ll come up later,” or the “I’m busy doing the work of the Lord” thing. Inside of me, I heard the voice of the Spirit saying, “The work of the Lord at this moment for you is to put down your computer and go upstairs with your grandsons.” Is it not sad God has to tell us this stuff? I said to Jack, “Sure, let’s go.” I set my computer in the floor, went up the steps, started the video game, and set on the bed with my grandsons, watching them play. They just wanted me with them. How precious is that? Dads, your children, and grandchildren want you with them, but we get so busy “in our fields” that we totally miss what is truly important.
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
One more Jack story and I will stop. Last Wednesday, Jack called me and asked me about Edgar Renteria, the Atlanta Braves shortstop. He knows I watch the Braves, so he was reaching out to me. He had a baseball card that said Renteria played for Boston and was confused. My point is whom did he call? He called me. He went out to me. I told him I would send him some information. I emailed him Edgar’s stat sheet. Here is what Jack wrote me back. “Dear Ahdaddy, Thank you for sending me all that Renteria stuff! I wrote a lot about Renteria. You’re the Best Ahdaddy in the Whole Wide World!!!! From, Jack”
My point is I hope I have learned to not be so busy in “my field” that I miss what is going on in my children’s and grandchildren’s heads.
Sometimes Lance, my son, and I will just talk. I will go into his office or he will come into my office. Bonnie, my daughter, calls me sometimes usually wanting my help with her computer or putting up ceiling fans. That is good. It gives me a time.
The boy said, “My head, my head.” Raising children can give parents headaches, but what we forget is, that the children have headaches, i.e. problems, too. Dad, you cannot neglect it. When your child’s head is messed up, do not ignore it, and when they are not thinking straight, do not ignore it. Moreover, when you see a bad attitude or rebellion, do not send him/her to their mother. “My head, my head!” “Take him to his mother!” Do not say, “I do not have time for him/her. I’m giving them a home and clothes and cars and college. Take him to his mother.”
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
The servant took the child to his mother. The Bible says she held the child until the child died. Watch what happened. She took the child to the SMALL ROOM and laid him on the bed. They had a special place to take him. She called her husband and said hurry, send me someone who can take me to the man of God. Here is what the husband, who had become consumed by his field, said.
2 Kings 4:23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.” “It’s all right,” she said.
Do you see what he said? He said, “It’s not Sunday. It’s not Easter. It’s not Christmas. What is so special about today?” He was so busy that he totally missed what was happening with his child. Elisha saw her coming and knew something must be wrong. He sent his servant Gehazi to ask her three questions. Look at this.
2 Kings 4:26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? IS YOUR HUSBAND ALL RIGHT? IS YOUR CHILD ALL RIGHT?‘” “Everything is all right,” she said.
I have to ask you that today Dad. “ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?” If God asked you today how you are concerning your being too busy, are you all right? “IS YOUR SPO– USE ALL RIGHT?” How are things between the two of you? It gets tough sometimes even with a SMALL ROOM. “ARE YOUR CHILDREN ALL RIGHT?” Do any of them have headaches?
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
She said, “Everything is all right.” That is difficult to understand. She just laid her dead child in the bed. It was the voice of faith. Circumstances said it was too late, but the voice of faith said my God will take care of my child. The voice of circumstance said my child is too far gone, but the voice of faith said, “I have prepared a SMALL ROOM in my home, laid my child in it, and my child will be what God said he would be.” It is powerful to have a SMALL ROOM in your home.
Let me tell you quickly what happened. Elisha went to the house, went into the SMALL ROOM, and shut the door. It was just him and the child. Your child will have a personal encounter if you have prepared a SMALL ROOM. Elisha spread out on top of the child – covered him, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. How many want God to breathe breath into your child, give your child a vision for life, and bless the hands and labor of your child? It will happen if you prepare a SMALL ROOM.
The Bible says when Elisha did this, the boy grew warm.
Elisha stood, prayed, and again went mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. The Bible says the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. If you build a place, God will not stop with your children just getting warm. He will work on your children until they sneeze out death, open their eyes, and look eye to eye with the spiritual.
Unlocking the Secrets of Fatherhood: The Small Room Approach
I have to ask you today dads, have you built a SMALL ROOM in your homes? Is there a chair of communication, a table for spiritual food, a lamp of the word of God, and a bed to lay your children before God? I have to ask you how busy you are in your field. Are you too busy to notice your children’s headaches? If asked, could you tell me what is going on in their heads today? We have some great dads here. I want you to take what we have discussed and make certain that you have a SMALL ROOM in your home. If you will, you will live long. Your children will live long and you will have done something eternal for your family.
Small Room Father’s Day sermon video audio notes
Small Room Father’s Day sermon video audio notes
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