Pastor Angel Luis Rosa

What does it mean to truly lead your family? On this Father's Day, Pastor Angel Luis Rosa — 40 years in ministry — brings a blueprint from Scripture that challenges every man and parent to stop managing from the sideline and start building an altar before GOD.

Our culture loves to celebrate Father's Day with cards and ties and humorous gifts — but if we are honest, culture also actively minimizes what fathers and parents are truly called to be. The media portrays fathers as passive bystanders while their families manage themselves. But GOD has a radically different blueprint, and Pastor Angel Luis Rosa came to The Gathering Church on June 21, 2026 not simply to honor dads — but to ignite them.

The message begins in Genesis 22, with a man who had already lived a complicated life — a man who lied, stumbled, and yet heard from GOD. Abraham. When GOD called him to take his only son Isaac up Mount Moriah and build an altar of sacrifice, Abraham did not hesitate. He did not make excuses. He did not wait for someone else to take the lead. He woke up early, chopped the wood, and began to climb. That kind of faith — costly, obedient, uphill — is the blueprint Pastor Rosa called every parent in the room to follow.

Genesis 22:2 (NIV)

The first of Pastor Rosa's three B's is deceptively simple: be willing to lead the way. If you want your family to follow GOD, you have to go first. It may be uphill. It will require setting aside things you do not want to set aside — evenings, comfort, convenience, your own preferences. Pastor Rosa shared honestly from his own life, describing the sacrifice of driving his son to basketball games across Puerto Rico, from Hormigueros to Lajas to San Juan and back, when he would rather have been fishing. “I have to lead,” he said. “Because when he has kids of his own, he needs to know how to do it.”

Abraham did not delegate the climb. He did not send a servant ahead to survey the mountain. He went himself, carrying the weight, leading his son forward even without the full picture. That is the call on every parent — not to have all the answers, but to be moving in the right direction and to let your family see you moving. Your children are watching whether you are climbing or complaining.

“It may be uphill, but lead the way.”

Genesis 22:3 (NIV) — Abraham rose early and set out

— Pastor Angel Luis Rosa

The second B is perhaps the most convicting: be willing to set the example. What you do speaks so loudly that your children may not hear a word you say. Pastor Rosa told a story from his early years in ministry — the phone would ring in the middle of an argument with his son, and the moment he picked up and heard a church member's voice, his entire tone transformed. “God bless you. Praise the LORD.” And his son had just watched the whole thing happen. That kind of inconsistency plants seeds of confusion. The example you set in the private moments, the climbing moments, the moments when no one from church is watching, is the sermon that will preach the longest in your home.

In Genesis 22:7, Isaac turns to his father on the way up the mountain and notices something is missing. The fire is there. The wood is there. But where is the sacrifice? Abraham's answer sets the example for all time: “GOD will provide.” He did not pretend to have it all figured out. He spoke what he knew to be true — that GOD would provide — and he kept walking. Sometimes being the example is not about having the answer. It is about demonstrating that you trust the ONE who does.

“Abraham answered, 'GOD himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.' And the two of them went on together.”

Genesis 22:8 (NIV)

Pastor Rosa shared that his own son Elijah — at 17 years old — recently looked back at him and said, “Dad, I'm walking by faith, not by sight.” The example had taken root. That is the long game of godly parenting: the seeds you plant through faithfulness in the hard seasons become fruit in your children's lives in ways you may not see for years.

The third B brings everything together: be willing to self-sacrifice. Building an altar before GOD requires giving up what you love, what you planned, what you treasured — and placing it in HIS hands. Abraham was willing to surrender Isaac. And from the sermon's second major Scripture, Luke 7:37, Pastor Rosa introduced another example of radical altar-building: a woman who had lived a sinful life came to the house of a Pharisee where JESUS was eating and broke open an alabaster jar of expensive perfume — some scholars say worth more than $50,000 — pouring it at the feet of JESUS while weeping, wiping HIS feet with her hair. She was criticized by religious leaders. She was seen as unworthy. But she pushed through every barrier and gave the best she had.

And JESUS forgave her. Because she surrendered and built an altar of worship at HIS feet. That is the invitation for every parent, every father, every person in The Gathering on this Father's Day. What do you love more than GOD? What are you still holding onto that needs to be placed on the altar? Stop enabling what only GOD can fix. Stop trying to change what only HE can change. Take your children, your plans, your relationships, and your fears to the altar — and trust that HE will provide.

Luke 7:37-38 (NIV) — Pastor Angel Luis Rosa

The altar is not a relic of the Old Testament. It is the place you return to every time life strips you of what you thought you needed. It is the place of prayer, worship, and meeting with GOD — where you discover that HE is in control, HIS plans are always better, and HIS provision never fails. It is time to stop sitting on the sideline. It is time to stop complaining and start climbing. Be willing to lead the way. Be willing to set the example. Be willing to self-sacrifice. It is time to build an altar.

Watch the Full Sermon

Hear Pastor Angel Luis Rosa preach It's Time to Build an Altar live at The Gathering Church — June 21, 2026.

Reflect & Respond

What is on your altar today — and what are you still holding back from GOD?