n this Father's day, I want to tell some stories of how some fathers have jeopardized the destiny of their children through acts of unfaithfulness to God.

The stories I want to tell today revolve around king Saul, king Solomon; his son king Rehoboam and the first king of Northern Kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam.

But first let us request the Holy Spirit of God to lead us.

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As I earlier said, on this Father's day, I want to tell some stories of how some fathers jeopardized the destiny of their children through Acts of unfaithfulness to God.

Saul was anointed by God as the first king of Israel but He lost his dynasty to the family of Jesse through his acts of disobedience to God.

Prophet Samuel announced to him "13 "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. --------The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you"(1Sam 13:13,14)

King Saul fought very hard to retain the dynasty. He knew that God had approved David to succeed him and he made many attempts to murder him but God protected David. So, the throne, which divinely belonged to his son, Jonathan, went to David the son of Jesse.

There is no doubt about it, Jonathan lived a godly life. He was an intimate friend with David, yet he did not envy David, so he was very qualified to become king after his father, Saul, but his father ruined his destiny.

I am preaching on "Stories of How Some Fathers Jeopardize the Destiny of their Children Through Rebellion to God"

David reigned after Saul. He had victories over all his opponents.

He desired to build a house for the Lord but God said "No" God said no, not necessarily because he sinned with Bathsheba and planned the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, but God told him, 'You are not to build my temple, for you are a warrior and have shed much blood." (I Chr. 28:3).

King David further said that 6 "God has told me, 'Your son Solomon shall build my Temple; for I have chosen him as my son and I will be his father. 7 And if he continues to obey my commandments and instructions as he has, until now, I will make his kingdom last forever.' (1 Chr 28: 6-8).

Truly, Solomon, David's son by Bathsheba reigned after David.

But note the clause about the continuity of David's dynasty. It is "if Solomon continues to obey God's commandments and instructions as he has, until now, God will make his kingdom to last forever" (I Chr. 28: 7; 2Chr. 7:7-20)

Unfortunately, though Solomon started well, he ended disastrously.

God had warned His people not to marry outside their tribe, Solomon did. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines among them, from foreign countries, who turned his eyes against the God of Israel and he became an idol worshipper (1Kings 11.1-9). 9 So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. 11Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." (1Kings 11: 9-13)

Unbelievable, Is this not the Solomon who is ascribed to be the wisest man in history? Is this not the Solomon who God asked in a dream to request whatever he wanted but only asked for wisdom to govern his people and God gave him the wisdom and in addition; riches and honor (1Kings 3: 1-15).

The evidence of the wisdom, which God gave him are in the books, which he wrote; Songs of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.

Consider the Spirit moving prayer he made at the dedication of the Temple he built at Jerusalem recorded in 1Kings 8 and 2Chronicles 6

I am preaching on "Stories of How Some Fathers jeopardize the Destinies of their Children Through act of Godliness"

God kept His promise with Solomon and he died with the kingdom intact and Rehoboam his son reigned after him.

After Rehoboam was crowned, the citizens went to him and asked him how his reign would be, whether he was going to be a task Master like his father, Solomon or he would lighten their yoke. The counsellors of his father, Solomon advised him to give them a soft answer, speak good words to them but Rehoboam took the counsel of his age peers and told the Israelites that he would add to their yoke and though his father chastised them with whips, he will chastise them with scorpions (1Kings 12:14 )

After hearing this, the people said "What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents O Israel: now to thine own house, David---" (1Kings 12:16).

That day, ten tribes separated from the kingdom, remaining only his tribe, the house of Judah for him to reign over. Thus came to pass what God had told Solomon he would do, but for David's sake, He would not take the whole kingdom from him (1Kings 11: 11:13)

I am preaching on "Stories of How Some Fathers jeopardize the Destinh of their Children Through Godliness"

Remember that God had told Solomon that it was during the reign of his son that he would take the larger part of the kingdom and give it to his servant.

Actually long before now, even before king Solomon died, God had chosen one of Solomon's servants by the name Jeroboam and Prophet Ahijah had related the message to him (1king 11:29-32).

Jeroboam was described as very illustrious who king Solomon made what we today refer to as Minister of Labor (1King 11:28).

Solomon knew about it that God was going to make Jeroboam the king, for the would be the ten breakaway tribes of Israel thereby reducing drastically the territory of his son, Rehoboam and he planned to kill him. So, Jeroboam fled to Egypt (1king 11: 40).

However at God's time, Jeroboam was crowned king over the ten tribes that broke away (1King 12:20) and he ruled from the city of Shechem (1King 12:25)

But Jeroboam also had been warned by God through prophet Ahijah saying"

--- I will place you on the throne of Israel and give you absolute power. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and walk in my path and do whatever I consider right, obeying my commandments as my servant David did, then I will bless you; and your descendants shall rule Israel forever. I once made this same promise to David. 39 But because of Solomon's sins, I will punish the descendants of David-though not forever" (1King 11:38-39)

Unfortunately, through mere stupidity, rather than trusting in God who made him king and who promised him an everlasting dynasty, he used his wisdom, man's wisdom to protect his throne and he went berserk after idols. The full story is in 1King 12:11-33.

In 1king chapter 13, we read that a young prophet from Judah appeared to him and pronounced series of calamities and woes to him.

But one serious calamity was knocking.

I am preaching on the topic "Stories of How Some Fathers Jeopardize the Destiny of their Children Through Ungodliness"

King Jeroboam had a son who became critically ill. The name of the son is Abijah (1King 14 ).

King Jeroboam then asked the queen to go and inquire from prophet Ahijah who at the beginning prophesied that he would be king, whether the lad would live. The king asked the queen to disguise so that the prophet will not recognize her.

But since nothing is hidden from God, God had told the prophet Ahijah to expect a visit from the queen. In spite the fact that the prophet had become blind due to old age, as the prophet heard the sound of the footsteps of the queen, the prophet answered "Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else?" Then he told her, "I have sad news for you to relate to your husband"

The prophet then reeled very many calamities that were waiting for him, his dynasty and the whole nation of Israel, just because of the sin of one man, the king. And as for the sick prince, Abijah, he will die just as the queen gets to the doorstep of the palace. And thus it happened. (1Kings 14: 1-18).

The prophet gave a reason why the son, Abijah would die. "Because in him, there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam" And he is the only member of the family who will come to a quiet end (1King 14:13).

So, God decided to withdraw Abijah to himself because God saw in him, some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel and God did not want him to be raised in an unrighteous environment, which could influence him to become unrighteous and miss heaven. Secondly, God withdrew Abijah so that he would not go through the calamities that would befall the house of his father and the entire nation in the near future.

This confirms the understanding and prophecy of prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53:3 "---merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come"

I am preaching on "Stories of How Some Fathers Jeopardize the Destiny of their Children Through un-Godliness"

Fathers, what are you doing that will not make your child to achieve God's plans for his life?

Fathers, what evil practices are you engaged in, which will make God to withdraw your child to prevent him not to grow in the ungodly environment, which you have created?

Father, what kind of environment do you provide for your home, which will make the Guiding Angel of your child to remain in your house? Because the Guiding Angel of your child will depart your home if the Guiding Angel does not have the environment of your home conducive.

You 'll ask me, So, these children have Guiding Angels? Of course they do. Jesus said: 10 "Beware that you don't look down upon a single one of these little children. For I tell you that in heaven their angels have constant access[a] to my Father" (Matt.18:10) or in the living Bible "In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven"

You ''ll ask me, common, with the billions of Children in the world "How many could be the number of the total angels that an angel is assigned to every child?"

We read in the book of Hebrews 12:22 " But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels"

And what do they do?

"Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" (Heb. 14:1)

Father, what time do you return home to sleep? After all the children are asleep? How can we talk of family altar when you return home after everyone has gone to bed?

Father, do you engage in any practice, which can annoy God such that God will recall your child so that your child will not be able to follow your bad example and end in hell?

Father, are you quarrelsome with your wife and children? You no longer see anything good in her?

You complain of the posture of your wife!! Please tell me, who disfigured her? Is it not you? Do you expect her to remain the same after 2 or 3 children for you? Now she is no longer pleasing to you and you start to run after younger ones, forgetting that it is only a matter of time when the market of the younger ones will also be empty.

You are multiplying wives. We have them like that in the Old Testament, but do you take note of the danger involved, like envy, which can lead to the use of diabolical means against one another, resulting in jeopardizing the destiny of the children.

The entire world is still suffering from the one done by Father Abraham. The world will have been more peaceful without it. It will end only at the return of Jesus Christ

Father, you are a boss to many people where you work and you behave badly to them, frustrating them. Remember what God said "For the oppression of the poor, for the sigh of the needy, I will arise" (Psalm 12:5).

Certainly your children will reap the reward of your wicked actions, thus jeopardizing their destiny.

The kings that were mentioned in this sermon worshipped idol instead of the true God and they jeopardized the destiny of their generation.

Jeroboam jeopardized not the destiny of his generation, but a whole twelve tribes that constituted the Northern Kingdom of Israel. We cannot trace them again and they are described as the "Ten lost tribes of Israel"

Money is today the idol of our leaders in Nigeria including top Civil Servants who control money and uncountable number of Nigerians.

Are you an official of the state, a politician and you convert all the state's money, budgeted to do good things for the public into your private purse? In the meantime, you may be happy that you are rich but certainly, the terrible repercussions on your children can never fail. It will surely come. If the terrible repercussions on your children do not occur in your life time, I can assure you it will occur after you are dead. That is why you must repent and restitute without delay.

Just because of the sin of one person, king Jeroboam, the whole nation of the Northern Kingdom was carried away as captives to Assyria, the present day of Iran and it becomes what is usually described as the lost ten tribes of Israel (2Kings 17).

In what way is our leaders in Nigeria over the years different from king Jeroboam when you consider the number of Nigerians who have fled to other countries of the world? And those that remain at home, what kind of life are they living? "Decimated" except the leaders, their surrogates and sycophants.

The destiny of Nigeria is good but it is jeopardized by our leaders over the years through greed and lack of consideration for others.

The most frightening thing that we are hearing is that some powerful people are the ones sponsoring the Bandits, Terrorists and kidnappers in order to take over the country. God forbid, if they make us to flee from home, history will also describe us as the "over 300 lost dialects of Nigeria" But it is they that God will destroy.

On this Father's day, I call on you who are responsible for the destruction of the destiny of this nation and her people to repent and restitute by returning to the commonwealth, all which you have stolen and recall all the murderers, which you have stationed in the forests and recover all the weapons from them. The blood of Nigerians that are suffering is crying for justice.

Sam Aweda, Pastor, Jesus for the World Revival Mission (Peoples' Church)