Father's Day

Introduction

Good morning,

When Pastor Sanjay called me to tell me they had a meeting with the leadership and they actually chose me to do the sermon for Father’s Day I was like - me boy?

I not no Father. I thought you all normally will chose a Father to the sharing just as you did a Mother for Mother’s Day.

He say don’t worry

Diandra reminded me I am a God Father so I guess I sorta a Father

Well anyway enough about me - I won’t be sharing any experience on being a Father as I am not one but what I can share is what the Bible has to say about being a Good Father.

That is more important than anything I can share about being a Father.

God’s Word has instructions on what being a Father entails.

When we read the Bible we see that Father’s and Men in General are important people to God.

The sad thing today is a lot of Father’s have given up their role as Father’s and Mother’s today are playing both roles.

It is sad how when you go to a place like Gulf City for Mother’s Day weekend you will see the mall is filled with people trying to get their mother’s day gifts but when it comes to Father’s Day - the mall dead.

Mother’s are treated better than Father’s and one of the main reasons is - a lot of Father’s are not worth celebrating

A lot of Fathers refuse to love their wives and take care of their kids.

A lot of Father’s who are called to lead in the homes are giving their responsibility to the wives of their homes.

Sorry to be blunt but there are also a lot of Father’s who aren’t even loved by their own children because they have abandoned them.

Just recently this was in news where a Father rammed his vehicle into the vehicle of his wife that was carrying his kids and he almost killed all of them.

I think they survived.

Just disgusting behavior by a man and a Father

But I want to let you know that this is not a Description of all Fathers.

Today in Gospel Lighthouse we can be proud that even though we may have a few Father’s

We have great and Godly father’s

Father’s who are worthy to carry the title of DAD

Today we are here to celebrate the Fathers in our church as they live their lives to emulate God the Father.

Today we celebrate Father Shivan, Father Sanjay, Father Ryan, Father Nandave, and the Angel of the House Father Mario

These are Fathers who are Godly, Grounded and they can be a bit Goofy at times which is a good trait to have. Can’t always take yourself to serious.

Today we celebrate such Fathers who are here in church because as we can see - it hard to find men in church nowadays.

So we need to encourage these Father’s to stay because men need a lot of encouragement.

Father’s need a lot of encouragement.

We don’t hear this enough. Father’s have been told by society that you need to always be strong and look strong and lots of Father’s today are scared to be a bit vulnerable in society.

We as the church need to be an encouragment to these Fathers.

When David had just defeated Goliath Saul asked an important question.

He said WHO IS THIS MAN’S FATHER?

He didn’t ask who is his mother? He asked who is his father and David replied I am the son of Jesse!

The scripture didm’t say why he asked who is his father but we can assume he wanted to know who is the Father who would raise such a Godly, such a strong and a bold warrior for God.

I believe one of the reasons we see the youths in schools being led astray today is there is a lack of good and Godly Father’s in the home who can bring them up in the fear of the Lord.

Today we want to look at 3 instructions that the Bible gives to Father’s but before we get into that I would like to begin with a little humor that most of us can relate to when it comes to our Dad’s.

Someone wrote these humorous word entitled, "The World According to Dad." These are words that most dads have said at some time or another to their children.

- This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.

- Quiet. I’m watching the game.

- Bring back all the change.

- Ask your mother.

- I’m not made out of money!

- Who’s paying the bills around here, anyway?

- Quit playing with your food.

- Why? Because I said so!

- If you don’t quit that I’m going to call your mother.

- You better get that junk picked up before your mother comes in here.

- Just wait till you have kids of your own.

Does any of those sound familiar?

The first instruction to the Fathers is

Called to be a provider

1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

This sounds like a very strong statement in the Bible. Paul is telling Timothy if a man does not provide for his family he has denied the faith and is even worst than an unbeliever.

Very strong but it seems this is something that Men and Father’s in General need to take seriously

Paul was trying to address a problem here that they were having in Ephesus and that is there were a lot of Widows in the church and these widows had needs but the church did not have the resources to help every single widow.

Paul was saying let their family members who are their relatives take care of them if they could and not let that burden fall on the church.

Only if the family can’t help - then the church can try to assist.

The first responsibility should be the family taking care of their relatives.

In the strongest terms, Paul emphasized the responsibility of a man to provide for his family – to do all he could to support them.

i. This is the minimum required of a Christian man; if he does not do even this, his conduct is worse than an unbeliever’s.

If a man of the house could see his family suffering and not try to help them in any way he as Paul is saying is denying the Faith because even the unbeliever will do what he could to look after his family.

The man of the house is meant to be a provider for his family

Don’t have kids if you know you not in a position to provide for them

I know we live in an age where women working now and we even have some women who working for money than their husbands but according to the Bible - the Father is to provide for his family

When we look in our community today - it have some father’s who barely have a job but guess what they keep doing

they keep making more and more kids

If you know things hard for you right now then don’t have kids.

Hold back on the be fruitful and multiply for now.

Some men will make joke that is time to have the boy child

I know people who does throw talk for couples who don’t have kids

1 reason why some choose not to is they not in a finacial place to take care of them and that is ok

But from the moment you decide to have kids - make sure you as a FAther or potential father could take care of them

I must admit that growing up most of the things me and Bridget would have gotten materially was from our Father.

He worked hard not just in church but in his job to help provide for our family.

He used to carry us to buy our school books and he would only buy us brand new books and not second hand ones

He wanted to give us the best but I used to let him down cause i passing 3 subjects and failing about 10 subjects cause I didn’t really care

Every father would want what is best for their kids and will try to be a provider

I believe in Gospel Lighthouse we have Father’s who work very hard to take care of their families

Pastor Mario would drive the whole of Trinidad as part of his job to help provide for his family and then he also still have time to go to chruch or Bible School etc

As Camara would say - is only lazy man does stay home and don’t care to work and bring in those dollars.

let me interject something here to the Fathers. Don’t let anyone look down on you and the job that you do - once it helping you to provide for your family that is the main thing

Not every body called to be doctor lawyer and engineer.

The main thing is you are a provider for your household.

Now I know sometimes life can happen and people can lose jobs and if you ever in that scenario that doesn’t mean you have denied the faith.

I believe what the Bible is saying here is - a man who intentionally refuses to work and is expecting the church to provide for his family or for Kamla and her Governmnet to provide for his family.

No the Bible is saying you make the child - you marry the woman - now you ought to provide for them.

It’s firstly your responsbility. If you lose your job - the church will interceed for God to bless you with another so that you can continue to be a provider for your family.

Call to be faithful instructor

Ephesians 6:4 NIV

4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Today we have some father’s who interested in training their kids in cricket, training their kids in football, training their kids in cooking - training their kids in a lot of different hobbies and life skills and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that but I want to let you know the main thing you need to instruct your kids is in the instruction of the Lord

Too much father’s today want to leave that for the Mother to do.

The bible says for father’s that is what you ought to do

Wives done have so much responsibility already - have to cook have to clean help kids with school etc

Father’s take some time and teach your kids the insttuctions of the Lord

Father’s cannot teach their kids if they themsevles don’t know the instruction of the Lord

I want to encourage the Father’s to spend time every day in the instruction of God’s word so you can begin to teach your kids the instructions of the Lord

It is nice when you can teach your child how to drive a car but it is nicer when you teach your child how to live life God’s way.

Ephesians Children and Parents / 6:1–4

William Hendrickson put it this way: “The heart of Christian nurture is to bring the heart of the child to the heart of his Savior.” Do you read the Bible to your children? Do you tell them the great stories of the heroic men and women of the faith who’ve gone before? Do you pray for and with them daily? Do you take them to worship and Christian education classes, and let them see how important your involvement in the church is to you? Can they see the difference Christ makes in your life?

It very sad when people do not have a Godly Father figure in ther life

I have been involved in Youth Ministry for so long and I saw first hand how some of these youths who used to come Youth Group - sad to say they didn’t have proper Father figures in their lives. That’s the truth. It very hard to reach those youths when they father and they Grand Father always drunk. They don’t have father figures to give them instructions in the Lord. These same kids will continue the same pathway as their Father’s because that is what they seeing and that is what they know.

Is not nice when you don’t have a Father who can keep you on the straight and narrow path of life

These youths used to be glad to get away fron their father’s for a little while which is sad.

Be a faithful Instructor in God’s Word

Be a Godly Illustrator

1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV

1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

This is probably the most important characteristic.

You need to show by your example the life of a Godly Father

Too much people today very good at preaching but not many people good at practicing what they preaching

You can’t fool kids nowadays. Don’t expect them to go to church if you not willing to go church.

Don’t expect them not to drink rum if you drinking rum.

Don’t expect them not to vape if you vaping.

Children learn what children see.

You as a Father ought to set the example.

At the end of the day the example the child should be following is not your example but the example of Christ

Please notice: Paul didn’t say, "Do everything I do." He said, "Do everything I do which is Christlike." Or follow the example of Christ. Paul wasn’t perfect and neither are we.

, there are some things that you have done in life that you do not want your children to do. But you have also done some good things, some godly things, some Christlike things, which you hope they will copy from your life. 

Like for example Ryan say he never miss Machel Fete. Not that he proud of that but was who he was. But he don’t want that for Sarai.

There is a saying that says the only Bible some people will ever read is your life.

The way you live your life speaks volumes about the type of Father you are.

Be the type of person that you would be proud to see your children emulating

Someone was telling me once how you should be happy the type of Father you have

Some people does have to go bar to bar searching for their Father and it doesnt be a nice experience when you have to do those things

We never had to go bar hopping looking for dad but for some people that is the norm

Soem fahter’s will dessert their families to go and drink rum

Conclusion

As I conclude this message I just want to remind me the Father’s that you have a responsibility to be a provider,to be an instructor and to be a illustrator of what it means to be a godly Father

Now I want you to know I know that some of you today you have no father. You miss him and there is nothing I can do to bring him back.