March 1st, 2015

[0:00] Children, K through 5th grade, you are now dismissed. You're going to learn about God's promise to Abraham and how he fulfilled that with the marriage of Jacob.

[0:19] Would you open up your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5, 18 through 21, and I'm just going to read that for us now.

[0:30] It's the same passage we looked at last week. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 18 through 21.

[0:41] This is the word of God. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

[1:08] What will happen when God pours out His Spirit upon us? What happens?

[1:21] What will happen to us? What will we experience? If God were to fill us by His Spirit again and again and again, what happens to a church?

[1:37] That's what we read right here. We read what happens to a church. Last Sunday, I spent a good chunk of our time together explaining why God prohibits drinking, getting drunk in particular, and how that ultimately leads to debauchery.

[1:56] And I try to paint a couple pictures of the debauched life. The prodigal son ended up eating with swine. A Jeep bottomed out, axle stuck in a mud bog, engine roaring, wheels spinning, mud flying, but going nowhere, just getting deeper.

[2:19] If anything, a Jeep stuck like that just gets more and more stuck. Before we became Christians, we lived a debauched life, many of us in this room.

[2:32] We were stuck. We were lovers of pleasure, hedonists. Stuck. Couldn't get ourselves out. There's another kind of getting stuck.

[2:45] It's not a hedonist, it's a legalist. Someone who is a lover of rules and loves to enforce rules. You weren't stuck in the mire of pleasure.

[2:56] You were stuck in the mire of self-righteousness. What turns out to be a very pure mud, a very clean mud. But you were stuck nonetheless. The point is that before we became Christians, all of us were stuck.

[3:14] Whether it was the mire of a pleasure debauchery or the mire of a self-righteous legalism. But praise be to God. He didn't leave us there.

[3:27] For those of us who called on the name of Jesus. God sent Jesus for us and He pulled us out of the mire of our own making.

[3:39] And He radically changed us. The cross has changed everything in our lives. God has called us to a new way of living.

[3:51] We were wretches and He made us His treasure. We were dead and He made us alive. All by His grace. And now God says, walk, live your lives in a manner worthy of the calling with which I've called you to.

[4:12] In Ephesians 5, 1 He says, be imitators of God. In 5, 2 He says, hey, walk like Christ. Walk in love. Live upward for the glory of God.

[4:24] Sacrifice to Him. And outward, give yourself for others. Walk in love. He goes on to say, walk as children of light.

[4:34] No longer participating in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. But now we expose them. We are the light of the Lord. He goes on to say, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise.

[4:50] And then He says, how? Making the most of the time. Understanding the will of the Lord. And we know from Ephesians, the will of the Lord is this wonderful, glorious plan of redemption.

[5:02] It's an eternal plan. God uniting all things in Christ, including us. We live our lives in light of that now. Sounds great.

[5:16] Sign me up. Where do I sign? This morning I want to ask the question, not of where you sign, but how does that happen?

[5:27] How does a Christian live like that? Where does that power come from? How do you live a life of Christ-like holiness?

[5:45] We live for Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We live for Christ. We live for Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

[5:56] The Holy Spirit is present with us to strengthen us to live for Christ. It's by His might we walk in a manner worthy of our Lord.

[6:06] The Holy Spirit is an ongoing, empowering presence in the life of a Christian that results in the praise of Christ.

[6:22] How do we live for Christ? We live by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so this morning, what I want you to see from Ephesians 5, 18-21 are two things.

[6:32] We're going to focus on the command, be filled by the Spirit. And I want you to understand what it means to be filled by the Spirit. And then the second thing we're going to look at this morning is the effects of being filled by the Spirit.

[6:52] When the Spirit fills His people, He gets stuff done. Things happen. And we're going to see that right out of our text.

[7:04] So, first thing. The command. Be filled by the Spirit. Ephesians 5, 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that's debauchery, a giant waste of time, talent, and treasure.

[7:17] But be filled with the Spirit. And that results in something wonderful. There's four things I want to point out to you as we look at this command.

[7:27] I want you to see how the Spirit of God is present in His people. We're going to see that He's personally present, that He's purposefully present, that He's powerfully present, and that He is perpetually present in the life of a believer.

[7:44] You want to dig in? The Holy Spirit is personally present. In the Gospel of John, in chapters 14, 15, and 16, Jesus refers to the person of the Holy Spirit with a very interesting name.

[8:05] He refers to Him in English as the helper, or some of your versions might say advocate, counselor. And when Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit this way, He talks about the Holy Spirit not as an it, not the helper as an it, the helper as a who, the helper as a he.

[8:30] Remember, the Holy Spirit's not an it, He is a who, and He's not just any who, He is the third person of the Trinity. He's the divine who. He is the third person of the Trinity. He's distinct, yet fully God.

[8:47] So this Greek word for helper is the Greek word paraclete, not parakeet. Paraclete.

[8:59] And here's what that means. It literally means one who is called alongside to help. One who is called alongside to help.

[9:10] And so when Jesus in John 14, 15, and 16 is talking about the Holy Spirit, He's talking about the helper, and He's referring to Him, this one who I will send, who will come alongside and help you, He's going to do something.

[9:25] It carries a double sense of presence, immediacy, as well as aid, strengthening. strengthening. The paraclete, the Holy Spirit, is present in order to strengthen.

[9:44] I have befriended a neighbor of mine who is a personal trainer. And the first time I met him, it's a very funny story, I will save it. But a personal trainer makes their living by being personally present in someone's life to help transform them.

[10:01] to help them lose some weight, to gain some muscle mass, to be fit. Think of the Holy Spirit as the ultimate personal trainer.

[10:14] Not just for individual Christians, but for entire churches. The Holy Spirit is seeking to be present in our lives to help us, strengthen us, to follow Christ, to obey Him, and be like Him.

[10:30] Jesus sent Him to be present with us. And when we first became Christians, we learned from Romans 8 and Ephesians 2 that the Holy Spirit indwelt us.

[10:45] He came to reside in us. And so when we talk about being filled by the Spirit, we're not talking about the Holy Spirit coming back into us again and again and again. It's more like this.

[10:57] The Spirit who's already in us is saying, I'm here! I'm here! And I've got something to do. And when we're filled by the Spirit, the Spirit is letting us know He's there.

[11:10] And it has an effect. There's a very significant purpose to His presence in us. I just want to help you see that He's actually present with us.

[11:23] Jesus has sent Him to us. He is with us. And He's a person. He's the paraclete. He's personally present and He's purposefully present.

[11:38] I pointed you last week to Ephesians chapter 3 and I tried to make the case that the Holy Spirit is desirous to fill us with the fullness of God.

[11:48] Do you remember? The Apostle Paul prays for these Christians in Ephesus. Remember what he prays? He prays that they would be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit.

[11:59] So that, verse 17, Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith. And it amounts to, in verse 19, being filled with the fullness of God.

[12:10] God. The Holy Spirit's God of purpose. He empowers us in such a way that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith.

[12:23] Here's what it's getting at. The Holy Spirit who's present with us, He's present with us to make us aware of Christ's presence. Christ's dwelling in us.

[12:37] That's what the Apostle prays for these Christians. Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit would make known His powerful presence for the purpose of these Christians and us being aware of Christ.

[12:56] Last week, I pointed you to John 16, 14. And this is, again, that passage where Jesus is talking about the paraclete. And Jesus says, in 16, 14, He will glorify me.

[13:08] When I send Him to you, He, the Helper, will glorify me. He will be with you to strengthen you, to spotlight me, to make much of me.

[13:20] And so, the Spirit of God is present personally with us for a purpose. To spotlight Jesus in our midst. To make much of Christ that we would become aware of Christ in our midst, dwelling among us.

[13:40] I want to help you see something. In that passage in Ephesians 3, you can't help but realize when you're reading through it that Paul is praying that these Christians would actually experience the presence of Christ through the power of the Spirit.

[13:57] He wants them to know. He wants them to experience the reality of God's multi-dimensional love for them in Christ.

[14:09] And so, here's what I want you to see in terms of the Helper. The Holy Spirit is not just trying to convince us that these things are true. The Holy Spirit is seeking to help us see the reality of them.

[14:26] For us to experience the reality of Christ. The reality of His love for us. The Holy Spirit is the divine realizer.

[14:39] He makes Christ real to us. He makes His Word real to us. Even, He makes our sin real to us.

[14:52] He brings it home. The Holy Spirit is personally present and He is purposefully present looking to make Christ real to us.

[15:06] And the Holy Spirit is powerfully present. He's powerful. When He fills us, when He makes His presence known to us, we'll actually be made aware of Christ.

[15:18] But when He comes and fills us afresh, you know what's going to happen? In His power, He's going to make us holy. He's going to conform us to the image of Jesus.

[15:33] Jesus is the aim. He has what we need to be made like Christ. He's going to unite us.

[15:44] He has what we need not only to make us holy, but to unite us, to one-ify us. To make us one body under our one head, Jesus.

[15:58] And the Holy Spirit is also with us powerfully to enable our witness. if you were to read through the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, what you will read over and over and over again, is this filling by the Spirit of God on His people and they proclaim.

[16:24] They make known Christ. They can't help but speak of Him to non-Christians. The Holy Spirit emboldens our witness.

[16:34] He gives us power to proclaim the Holy Spirit is present personally, purposefully, powerfully, and perpetually.

[16:50] The verb to be filled in Ephesians 5.18 actually means to be ongoingly and repeatedly filled with the fullness of God by the Spirit of God.

[17:01] That's what He's getting at. And what's clear from the verb itself is we don't do the filling. We don't fill ourselves with the fullness of God.

[17:13] That's what the Holy Spirit does. He fills us with the fullness of God. And what that means is this. We are being commanded, exhorted in Ephesians 5.18 to be acted upon, to be moved upon, to be moved upon by the Holy Spirit.

[17:34] That's what Paul is saying. Don't get drunk with wine that leads to debauchery. Don't be influenced by booze like that. Be influenced by the Holy Spirit. Come under His sway. Come under His perpetual powerful presence.

[17:51] Do you know what this amounts to? This amounts to a call to dependence on the Spirit. we are being commanded here to over and over and over again be filled by the Spirit.

[18:07] Be filled by the Spirit. Do you know why He's commanding it that way? Because we need the Spirit over and over and over again. He alone has what we need in order to walk with Jesus faithfully.

[18:22] And so therefore we need Him day after day after day. We need the Spirit present in our lives bringing about a power to walk and follow Jesus.

[18:36] We see that ongoing dependence played out in other spots. Romans 12 1 and 2 there's a command to offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God over and over and over and over again.

[18:48] To offer yourself repeatedly to God. In Galatians 5 we're commanded to walk by the Spirit and that is a continual command. We're to walk and walk and walk and walk. Independence on the Spirit.

[18:59] We're to be led by the Spirit. Romans 8 again and again and again. We are dependent on the Spirit. John 15 Jesus is divine.

[19:12] We are the branches and the Holy Spirit empowers us through abiding in Jesus. Jesus. We have an ongoing need to be for the Holy Spirit's empowering presence.

[19:30] Filling after filling the Holy Spirit making himself known to us by aiming us at Christ. We cannot supply for ourselves what only the Spirit can.

[19:44] We need Him. The Holy Spirit is not optional. We depend on Him. He's present with us.

[19:54] Jesus. Remember the quote I read last week. With the indwelling of the Spirit at the moment of conversion, each Christian has all of the Spirit.

[20:06] But the command to be filled by the Spirit enables the Spirit to have all of the believer. We are offering ourselves over and over and over again to the Spirit who dwells in us fully.

[20:17] We're just giving all of ourselves to Him over and over and over again. Be filled by the Spirit. He is perpetually present.

[20:30] The paraclete is personally, purposefully, powerfully, perpetually present in God's people to point us to the person of Christ, the Prince of Peace.

[20:45] Amen. Here's what it gets at. The Christian life, the Christian walk, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called, is an ongoing and active dependence upon the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

[21:04] The Spirit of God actively empowers Christians to live lives that please God. So it begs the question, what do we expect?

[21:17] What should we expect from the Spirit present with us with us ongoingly? What does that look like? How does that play out?

[21:30] And in verses 19, 20, and 21, we see the Spirit-filled life of a church. When the Spirit fills a people of God, it has a Christ-exalting effect.

[21:46] So we've looked at point one with the presence of the Holy Spirit. We need Him. Two, point to the corporate effects of being filled by the Spirit.

[22:00] Spirit effects. There's four of them. When the Spirit fills His people, God's people address one another in a certain way. They speak to each other in a certain way. Spirit effect number two.

[22:13] When the Spirit of God fills His people, God's people sing and make melody in their heart to the Lord. When the Spirit of God fills His people, effect number three, God's people give thanks to God all the time for everything.

[22:30] When God's Spirit fills His people, effect number four, God's people submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Let's unpack these a little bit.

[22:44] Hey, can I just say this? Being filled by the Spirit is not some kind of carnival sideshow of bizarre behavior. It is building the church.

[22:59] It's uniting us together. Do you know how? Do you know what to look for to know that if the Spirit is moving in a church, is Christ being exalted?

[23:11] God's wanted to be wanted to be wanted to be so when the Holy Spirit fills us, look at this first effect. We address one another in a certain way. 19a, the first half of 19.

[23:24] Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Hey, when we're filled by the Spirit, we don't trash talk each other. We don't trash talk each other.

[23:35] We don't tear each other down with our speech. That actually, Ephesians 4.30, grieves the Holy Spirit. That's counterproductive to what the Spirit is seeking to do in us.

[23:49] That's resisting the Spirit. What we do do, though, is we speak words that are intended to build up.

[24:01] And notice the content of these Spirit-filled speakings. Psalms, hymns, spiritual psalms, songs. This is not some kind of apostolic limitation saying you can only speak to each other this way when you're filled by the Spirit.

[24:16] It's more like examples. Hey, expect this. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, Bible, Scripture, being spoken to one another.

[24:30] You need to realize what the Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs have in common. They're different ways of communicating truth about God to build somebody up for the glory of Christ.

[24:40] That's what they are. That's what they all have in common. They're building up words. They're truthful words. When the Spirit of God fills us, we speak out of an overflow of the fullness of God's presence in our heart, and it ends up building people up.

[24:57] It's edifying speech. Colossians is a parallel book to Ephesians. Colossians 3.16 is very much paralleled with this passage we're in right now.

[25:09] This is what Paul says to the Colossians. He writes, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Be filled with the Spirit.

[25:20] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. When we're filled by the Spirit, we speak psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. We speak Bible to one another, ultimately with the aim to Jesus so that we're built up.

[25:32] Isn't that good? It's not rocket science. It's not mysterious. Where does it all begin?

[25:48] It begins in private. Morning after morning, we open our Bibles and we call out to God. We say things like, oh God, meet me in your word today. You have your Bible open.

[25:58] I had my Bible open this morning, Psalm 61. One. Spirit of God, impress these words upon my heart. Make these words, your words, my words, God. Press them in to me, God.

[26:12] Make them real to me, God. I can't live by food alone. I need your word, God. God. When individual members of a church personally seek God like this, they open up their Bibles in their prayer closets and they cry out, oh God, impress your word upon me.

[26:36] You know what? They are positioning themselves to be used by God later on to address others with a timely word. Did you notice the addressing one another?

[26:48] The context of all this stuff is in a corporate gathering. The church together, we're to address one another with these kinds of words and the intended effect is to build up the body.

[27:10] This can play out in a variety of ways. You're talking with somebody one-on-one. I read this great psalm. I think it might encourage you. During a family devotion, one of the ways that we do our family devotions is I have my devotions in the morning and I call it the king penguin technique.

[27:27] I read my Bible and I'm kind of digesting this myself and I gather around our table and I kind of puke up a little kind of processed Bible meditation for my kids.

[27:43] It's very nutritious, trust me. This happens in small groups.

[27:54] This happens on ministry teams. And it happens on a Sunday morning. Many of you were here last week.

[28:05] I'm not sure if you realize what happened. A dear sister came down to me. By the way, I talked to her this morning and this is okay to share with you all. Well, a dear sister came down to me during the service and she very humbly asked if she could share a passage, Revelation chapter five, share it with the church.

[28:30] I was really encouraged that she would just take that step of faith and come down. God had impressed something on her during our first song together. And her sense was God wants me to share this with the church.

[28:43] church. Now typically, just to make you aware, when a person approaches me seeking to share something on a Sunday morning, I'm exercising discernment.

[28:55] I'm asking some questions. Do I know this person? Are they a believer? Does their heart seem right in this? What do they want to share?

[29:05] Will it edify? Is it timely? Yes, yes, and yes, and yes, and yes. Our sister read Revelation five. And I don't remember it. Do you remember that?

[29:17] It was sweet. It was edifying. It was all about Jesus. And right in the middle of Revelation five is a spiritual song. About.

[29:30] The lamb. Brothers and sisters. Brothers, it should be no surprise to us that the Holy Spirit, who's actively present in our midst, is seeking to build us up this way.

[29:46] No surprise. In fact, what I would say is, we want that. We want that. We want people to share what God puts on their hearts on Sunday mornings using this microphone right here to build up his people.

[30:06] It's an active ministry of the Holy Spirit. When one of us is filled afresh by the Spirit, they, through the word, draw our attention to Christ.

[30:23] That's what happened last week. And it was sweet. That's the first effect. The word of Christ dwelling richly among us. Addressing one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

[30:38] The second effect. When we're filled by the Spirit, when the Spirit of God makes His presence known in a powerfully way, we will sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord, the Lord being Jesus.

[30:57] When we're filled by the Spirit, we are filled with the fullness of God and it will overflow into a kind of singing. Now, not everyone is comfortable singing.

[31:08] There can be reasons for that. I used to not like to sing because my voice is not the best voice.

[31:19] my family will bear testimony to that. But Psalm 101 is what I bank on.

[31:31] Make a joyful noise to the Lord. There are other reasons why people don't necessarily feel comfortable singing.

[31:44] They didn't grow up singing. It's a foreign thing to them. It's like an underdeveloped muscle. But you know how you strengthen a muscle?

[31:57] You exercise it. Brothers and sisters, maybe you who are a little reluctant to sing, God made you to sing.

[32:14] He made you for it. To sing His praises. Lift up your voice. And so when we do sing, there's some things that happen.

[32:26] When we sing filled by the Spirit, it's a singing marked by clarity of understanding. We're fully aware of what we're singing. We are singing glorious and real truths back to our great God.

[32:42] And what also is true, our singing is marked by a fullness of emotion. not in emotionalism. We're not singing in order to have an emotional experience.

[32:52] That's not the goal. The goal is to praise God for who He is. But it will be emotional. It's okay to weep while you sing.

[33:06] Jesus is not embarrassed by that. It's okay to raise your voice while we're singing and say praise God. Thank you Jesus. We should be affected by the truths we are singing.

[33:22] And it's classic example of the Spirit making things real for us. We can't help but sing. it's a singing marked by fullness of engagement.

[33:35] Not just our emotions but our bodies as well. People lifting up their hands. Hey, if I'm willing to lift up my hands for the Ohio State Buckeyes, you better believe I will lift up my hands for our glorious God.

[33:53] Let me read you Psalm 63. Just a little piece. People have been lifting up their hands to the Lord for a long time. David, O God, you are my God.

[34:06] Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and glory because your love is better than life.

[34:19] My lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live. In your name I will lift up my hands. When lips aren't enough we lift up our hands.

[34:34] It's an overflow. It's a fullness of joy. Fullness of recognition of what God has done for us. And we give it back to Him. When there's a fresh feeling by the Spirit it's not unusual to have a correspondence fullness of volume as well.

[34:53] We're singing from our toes. Because God is awesome. What joy there is in that. When the Spirit moves upon His people God's people sing from their hearts.

[35:13] The third effect. When the Spirit fills us we're going to give thanks to God. When God fills us freshly by His Spirit there is a fullness.

[35:25] We become aware of God's manifold goodness to us. We give thanks all the time and for everything because we realize that all good things come from our God.

[35:39] Did you notice in verse 19 or is it verse 20? 20. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is that there?

[35:52] Here's what it means. We give thanks to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because we realize everything God is using everything everything for our good.

[36:10] Everything. All the time. Working for our good. And when we realize that and that's true because we're in Christ we give thanks to God.

[36:23] And if you're a Christian you have always got something to be thankful for. Let me put it this way. No matter what time during the day no matter what circumstances you're facing where would you be right then and there without Jesus?

[36:41] Where would you be? I'm regularly reminded of where I would be and therefore I regularly give thanks for my wife for my children for this church for my employment for my health for my friends but most of all what I give God thanks for is my salvation.

[37:00] I was a wretch and God made me his treasure. Do I have an amen? Amen. Here's the point.

[37:12] The Spirit of God stirs gratitude in the hearts of God's people and gratitude is given voice. It's called thanksgiving.

[37:25] Thanksgiving is the outworking of grateful hearts and it's a mark of the Spirit at work in our midst. Shows up in a variety of ways.

[37:36] We sing with grateful hearts. We give thanks to God together in prayer. We give thanks to God in informal conversations. When the Spirit fills His people we're filled with gratitude for the goodness of God and so we give thanks over and over and over again.

[37:55] The last effect. Being filled by the Spirit leads to submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. submitting to one another.

[38:10] This word means to voluntarily set yourself under others. Did you note the motive? Out of reverence for Christ.

[38:24] I submit myself to you out of reverence for Christ. You submit yourself to one another out of reverence for Christ. At the heart of this is humility.

[38:37] We consider others better than ourselves. Remember Paul is addressing a church here. In the next passage he's going to actually work out what submission looks like in marriage and in parenting and in the workplace.

[38:52] But here he's talking about in the church. We submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Let me just give you a picture of this. If you want to turn your Bibles quickly to John 13 you'll remember this.

[39:12] This is just before Jesus dies. And during this supper Jesus does something that his disciples would never forget.

[39:26] He took off his outer robe grab a towel in a wash basin and he washed his disciples' feet.

[39:37] Every one of them. And then at the end of that he says this. This is 13-12. Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am.

[39:51] If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.

[40:01] Truly, truly I say to you a servant is no greater than his master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things blessed are you if you do them.

[40:14] There is blessing in submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. It's the stuff of unity. unity. It's the stuff by which the Spirit moves on a people to preserve, maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

[40:35] This is an outworking of the Spirit's presence in our life. Let me close by this.

[40:46] we've looked at the presence of the paraclete ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

[40:59] He wants to do something in us. He wants us to have an effect. He wants to do something in our church to build us up. What all these four effects have in common is it builds up the body.

[41:13] It unites us. It strengthens us. It aims us at Jesus. So here's how I'd like to close. I had some diagnostic questions but we're going to skip them.

[41:25] And we're just going to go to this. In Luke 11, 13, Jesus says this. Ask your Father for the Holy Spirit.

[41:38] If we who are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Would you join with me in asking our Father to pour out His Spirit in greater and greater measures on our church so that Christ would be exalted.

[42:03] Let's turn to that right now. Let's pray. прят for the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit that Father