How To Be Dad's Favorite Child

Cliff takes a look at Matthew 21:28-31 and 1 Peter 5:5-7 to get an idea of how God sees our response to His calling on our lives.

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Well good morning friends. It is the 10th of August 2026 and this is the Backshed Bible Study. Hey, good morning. Welcome to my office this morning. Trying to give you a uh different angle here as we uh jump in on today's Back Shed Bible Study. And uh thrilled to have you all along. We're gonna be welcoming a few uh visitors along the way, so uh looking forward to them joining us. But it's a good day around here, and uh in the carry world, we have uh one kid that starts back to school this week, two more that start back next week. So uh April started back today, so uh getting ready for uh all those kids at her school that come next week. So we're um we're back in the uh swing of things. It was fun, again, on a personal note, to have our son Peter come home. Uh Saturday, he had been working at Hume Lake for the summer, and so he wrapped up all of his responsibilities there after being there for three pretty much three full months. And uh he started there back in early May. And um so uh he had a great summer working up there, learned a lot, and um and uh also kind of got to see the inside of uh of things up there, which is always kind of an adventure when uh you you grow up going to a place or being a part of a thing that you you only see a couple of times a year. And uh so working there, he got to see the insides and out, which you know, always there are some things you go, oh, you know, that wasn't as cool as I thought it was gonna be. But regardless, he had a great summer up there. He would go back in a heartbeat, I think, if he could. Um, but you know, there's also this thing of needing to make decent money and and uh and all that to continue on in his educational program and to work toward a uh career in you know as an aerospace engineer. So who knows what that all holds. Um but we're glad to have him home. It was kind of fun because we kept it a secret that he was coming home. So April didn't know, and we were uh celebrating her birthday on Saturday. So happy birthday, April. And uh as we were opening presents, and it literally got to the place where Titus was getting ready to uh give her the gift that was from him and Peter, and then Peter literally walked in the room and said, Surprise. So April was surprised. We're thrilled to have him home for a week, and uh and then uh next Tuesday, a week from tomorrow, uh he heads back and has to get started, moved back into his house there and um back to school. So uh so that's life in the carry house. And uh try to I always try to use a few stories to uh to bring everybody up to speed, and that also allows time for people to jump on live. So uh we we have a couple of that are on live already and would love your um would love your comments. Also, uh I am playing a little i spy here today, so to speak. So if you spy something different in Cliff's office, um then uh call me out on that, and then I will uh talk more a little bit about that. But I like this angle because uh we can kind of get the outside over here and and uh or the outside over here and uh you know bookshelves, things like that over there. So um I'm gonna I'm going to today for a uh brief little back shed uh that we're doing. And by the way, I am planning on being back in the shed probably in September. So through the month of August, we'll keep doing it uh in here on these Monday mornings as it works really well with just the different things we have and getting ramped up for uh for the fall. But once the fall hits and it gets a little cooler in the mornings, uh then I'll be back in the shed, which I have been cleaning out. So I have told you it's been a disaster, which it has, and now I have uh been working over the last few weeks to uh get things cleaned out, take things to the dump, and get a get a respectable shed back. And then this is kind of fun, is I've been wanting to put permanent electricity in the shed. And so essentially, uh, and and please don't tell any uh code enforcement people, but I I have the shed all wired for electricity, but then I have a plug that I plug the entire shed into my back patio plug. Um been doing that for the last several years in hopes that one of these days I would get around to uh to making it compliant and and having a permanent attachment to our breaker box. And a uh a gentleman from our congregation is coming out on Friday and he is helping me run uh run electricity from our uh circuit breaker uh circuit two breakers. I'm getting two um goodness gracious, what is wrong with me today? I am not able to use the right words from our panel. That is the word I'm looking for. Uh we're gonna run two lines from the panel over to the shed so I can have a 15 amp and a 20 amp service. There you go. So that's what's happening in the shed on Friday. So uh next time we're in there live, it's gonna be on new electricity, which I'm kind of excited about. Uh Candace, thank you for jumping on. And uh always, always a pleasure to see you. We're waiting for Barb to uh to jump on because rumor has it tomorrow is Barb's birthday. So we're going to uh wish Barb from uh the Cleveland area a happy birthday uh today when she jumps on here. So, Barb, if you're here, make yourself known. And uh, we all want to wish you a happy, happy birthday today. So that's uh uh thought that would be fun. But if you uh read the kind of tagline at the beginning, what I'm gonna do today is I want to pick up, uh just take off, I should say, use yesterday's sermon at sunrise as a launching point for a brief little, we're gonna call it devotional today, uh, out of actually First Peter, but we're gonna start in Matthew 21 in that passage that Luke went through yesterday. So I'm gonna hit that right now, and then um we can um move over to 1 Peter. And so this is the parable uh that Luke read from yesterday, that Luke preached from, taught from. It says, What do you think? A man has two sons. He went to the first, he says, Son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. I I may have one of those. Um, but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir, I go, sir. That's a strange translation of that, by the way. Um, but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? And they said, Well, the first, and Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. Uh for John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even when they saw it, you did not afterward change your uh, even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. So uh that is the uh the text from yesterday's uh sermon. And and like I said, I'm gonna use this briefly. I I tell you, all of us parents, when we when we hear the when I hear this passage, when I hear this parable, it immediately takes me to conversations I've had with my own kids. It takes me to um um friends that uh I'm sorry, it takes me to times when I would do these exact things. Like, as do you remember that as kids when your parents ask you to do something, and notoriously I would say, yeah, I'll do that, and then you don't do it. Um, I mean, I can think of times in a work environment where I was like that, where I said I would do something and then just didn't do it because I didn't want to and never had a plan to do it. I think sometimes we do that in our marriages, in our relationships that we have. So if you if you stop for a moment, I'm gonna request everyone stop for a moment and think. Are there times where I have committed to do something and then just never done it and never intended to do that? Uh sometimes we commit to do something. I think the people pleasers in us will do that. We'll commit to something because we don't want to disappoint someone, and then we end up disappointing them all the more down the road when we actually don't follow through. And somebody is looking for more than words, they are looking for actions, aren't they? Or they are looking for our words even better to match our actions. So in this parable, you have one son who says, Eh, yeah, I'll do it. And uh, or one son says, I'm not gonna do it. And then he ultimately turns around and goes, okay, I need to do that. I have one like that. Uh and then I have others who says, Yeah, I'm gonna do that. And they keep saying, Oh, yeah, and you remind them, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna do that. They never do. They never do. Maybe they have good intentions, I don't know. My dad would always say a phrase, he he would say, good intentions are like crying babies in church, they should be carried out. Now, if you have a crying baby in church, I'm not telling you to carry your baby out. I'm just saying that was something my dad used to say. Um uh, Candace, you're saying that my ADHD makes it hard for me to remember to do things and follow through sometimes. So, yes, this is indeed relatable. Um, goodness. All right. I am showing that something is happening with our live stream, and it is not potentially working. All right. Okay, we're back. Looks like our live stream is not committed to following through today. It's promising to work and it's not. So I apologize for that little blip we just had in the internet. So um there is a chance that our internet is getting worked on here at the church today. So I'm going to do a little, let's see if I can get my computer over here and plug us into the high speed, because I I have this feeling it could be that our Wi-Fi is uh um struggling a little bit today. That's my guess. Okay, so uh back to where we are. Sure enough, I just got a text that said the Wi-Fi people are coming out today. And as I'm looking back on the feed, we had some blurry, blurry vision here. So, Candace will come back. Um, you asked for prayer uh for some friends of yours that are in Detroit that just lost the founder of a let's read back through, founder of a really cool ministry they have there called Peacemakers International that works with men who are getting cleaned from drugs and alcohol, provide Bible studies and worship time for the broken and lost people of the city. His name was Stephen Upsher. Okay. Um, oh yeah. Let's uh let's just take a minute. Lord, we just um we pray for um, oh Lord, I just pray for peace right now as uh people have lost a friend, somebody that they respect, um, somebody that uh has just had a a major influence in their lives. And I I just pray that you will bring healing and hope there and peace. Um and I pray for this ministry and the the influence that it um has had and and father, I just um God, there's there's so much going on there. So I I pray that you would um just bring healing and hope right there in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Oh, that's hard. That's um that's super hard. Um to head back into the study, and Candace, thanks for letting us know. That's part of our back shed community, is we lift each other up, we support each other when people are hurting and when when tragedy strikes. So I appreciate you uh bringing that up here. Very appropriate to do that. Um so we come back here, we all relate, right? We've all been in that spot where we've promised to do something, we haven't done it. Um and then I know in as a dad, I've had that spot where my kids have not promised to do something uh or said the opposite, and then they turn around and do it, and you know, I'm so pleasantly surprised. And obviously, the one that I'm pleased with is the one that gets the job done that I asked him to do. Um, the one that I'm not pleased with is the one that never followed through. And and so we we look at that in this parable in the way God would look at us and go, God's going to be pleased when we do the things he's called us to do rather than just saying the things. Okay, so that's the key here. It's it's more than just verbally saying things, it's following through with our actions. It's more than just saying, I love people, and then I'm a jerk to them, right? Um, it is like actually following through with love. And so that kid that said, so the son that said, No, um, I will not, he had to do something to get in the right place. And that thing that he did is that he humbled himself. He he went past the he got to that moment more than likely of stopping and saying, No, I need to do the right thing. And so that's why I want to briefly just take you into um 1 Peter chapter 1. And this is in chapter 5, and uh we're at verses 5 through 7, okay? 1 Peter 1, uh, I'm sorry, 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5 through 7. Okay, sorry about that. Gotta get that right. And so here it is. It says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Okay, so that's hard. That's hard for us. Um, and I'll just call myself younger here, even though I'm really not that young. It says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And that's a quote out of Proverbs. And uh boy, that is just a beautiful passage right there. So it starts starts there, likewise, in actually let me be sure I got this footnote right there. Um, I said it was from Proverbs, but uh it might be from Psalms. See, verse 5. Oh, yeah, John James. Okay, anyway. Um so he says, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. Okay, so when we're speaking to people, when we are in relationship with people, we're to put on humility. We're to clothe ourselves, meaning it's not something that comes naturally to us, we have to put it on. Okay, and it says, God opposes the proud that gives but gives grace to the humble. He says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. And so may I point out that the son that said, I will not, got a point, got to a point where he was convicted by the Spirit. The Spirit says, Your attitude is disrespectful and it's not honoring to your father, and your action needs to follow. And so which he said, okay, I'm going to then make this right by going and doing what my father asked me to do. And what the father needed to see at that point was action, not words. Mike, I have a one of my children will always come back and say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I did this, I'm sorry I did that, I'm sorry. But it rarely I shouldn't say that. Sometimes that apology does not convert to a change of action, and they keep doing that same thing over and over. And so are they really sorry or are they just trying to get me off their back? They're probably just trying to get me off their back. And are we that way with God? Do we take his calling on our lives seriously, or do we just go, I'm gonna go to church to kind of keep God off my back? I'm gonna, I'm gonna watch the back shed Bible study, kind of keep God off my back. I'm gonna, that way I'm kind of doing the right thing. But the doing has more to do than just consuming Christian media, for instance, or listening to a Christian radio station and Christian music. Um, but the doing really has to do with getting out there and being in relationship and how we relate to people. And so the things that God has called us to do often require a lot more action than they do in words. And so this second son, uh this first son who said, I will not, ultimately humbled himself before his father and went and did the right thing. And so, verse 6 humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. And then I love this little piece here. It says, Casting all your cares on him. Casting all your anxieties on him, that's the ESV word, because he cares for you. Interesting that they uh put that right there. Cast your anxieties on him because he cares for you, uh, in the context of humbling yourselves, humbling ourselves under him, and then letting him lift us up. Um, there's a lot more to that, a lot more ways, many more ways to apply that. But today I saw the older son in this passage in 1 Peter. He took the time to humble himself and turned around, and by humbling himself, in humbling himself, he did the right thing that God, his father, had called him to. And may we do those things that God has called us to, which often will require humbling ourselves. And so here's the thing: if we've gone and we've been rebellious and we said, I will not to God, it doesn't take much to turn that back around. And so, and we don't even have to say the words, I will. We just go do the thing I do. All right, really fun. And uh hopefully that will uh stimulate some thought and conversation uh along the way. Uh just know, appreciate you all. Uh grateful for you. Let's uh continue uh on in our Mondays, and so I'm gonna pray, and uh and here we go. Lord, thank you for a great Monday, off to a great start of this week. Uh look forward to seeing what you're gonna do in our lives and in the lives of so many. Um we pray for those around Stephen Upsur, and that uh, oh Lord, would you comfort them and heal them in this moment of absolute pain and uh and despair, God. And uh may you have your way there in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Thank you, dear friends. Sure appreciate you, and uh look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.