Fathers, you are influencing the lives of your children every single day. They are watching you and they are learning from you. Sons are learning how to treat a spouse. Daughters are learning what to look for in their own spouse. Sons and daughters are learning how to serve the Lord. Your children are learning how to appreciate the Bible, the church and the things of God, just by watching you.

All the children in your life, whether they are in your family, or are just around you in the church and community, are watching you and they are learning from your example. They are learning about faithfulness, obedience to the Lord, worship, serving God and others, and many other lessons, just by watching how you carry yourself around them.

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst". (NKJV)

Just like Jesus, we too share in the likeness and attributes of ‘bread’. Bread does not consume itself but is for the consumption of others. However, before we can exemplify Christ we must go through a process. From seed to bread, this process can be painful at times but we can rest assured that we are always in the bakers hands, even when our human perspectives make it difficult to understand!

Ezekiel 37:9-10 9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. (NKJV)

We need to understand the four winds of God! This is where the breath comes from that changed everything! Today if you have a “dry bone situation, be it a business, a marriage or a ministry, begin to speak to it and prophesy “dry bones live!”

This morning we looked at the importance of the BAPTISM OF FIRE..

"I've come to start a fire on this Earth--how I wish it were blazing now!I've come to change everything, turn everything rightside up--how I long for it to be finished!".. Luke 12:49-53 MSG

**When Your Setback Leaves You Empty**

1 Kings 19:15-16, "Go back the way you came ... to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael ... and Jehu ... and Elisha ..."

God gave Elijah a brand-new assignment. Why did God do this? Because God wasn't through with Elijah, and God isn't through with you. I don't know what setbacks you're experiencing right now that's drained you, drained your emotional tank. You're running on empty.

You're running on fumes. You may be feeling burned out and out of fuel, you might be saying, "I don't have anything to give."

God brought you here so you could hear these words God says, "I'm not through with you. I'm not through with you! I'm not through with you!"

Isaiah 48:10-11 “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another" (NIV)

It is the process of purification that makes us fit for service!The purification process also involves the discovery that God dwells in darkness. He has chosen to dwell in darkness.

Exodus 20:21(b) “...Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” (NIV)

If you truly desire to serve the Lord, in whatever capacity He assigns you, today's message will be a great comfort to you. It will be reassuring to understand some of the tests of God that lie before you.