Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

When Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s longstanding record for the most career hits,

a reporter asked him what he thought about as he stood on base with the whole

stadium on its feet cheering wildly.

Rose said that he thought that his dad was probably looking down from heaven and was pleased with him.

Of all the things Pete Rose could think about at that moment, as a grown man he was still thinking about his father’s approval.

God has given fathers a unique and powerful role to fulfill with their children.

Fathers influence children greatly, either for good or for bad.

Some children grow up and vow that they will not be like their dads.

They spend their whole lives reacting against their fathers.

But even then the father is exerting a strong influence over the child.

It should be a Christian father’s goal to bless their children with a rich legacy of the things of God

so that they will want to follow Him all their lives.

Today, I want us to consider how Father’s can impart God’s blessing to their children.

For those of us who aren’t dads, the message still applies to us, since what I’m really talking about is relationships.

We all have a responsibility to be channels of God’s blessing to others. .

Please turn to ,

In this Chapter the dying patriarch Jacob imparts his final blessing to his 12 sons.

Today, we will look at which shows us four ways we can bless our children:

God wants us to impart His blessing to our children.

shows us four ways we can bless our children:

1.

We bless children by helping them interpret life in light of God’s perspective.

In his blessing, Jacob uses the metaphor of a fruitful vine planted by a spring to describe Joseph’s present situation.

Then he uses the metaphor of an archer under attack to describe Joseph’s past trials.

The two metaphors are tied together by showing that the reason for Joseph’s present fruitfulness was that he had endured past trials in the strength of God, who is described by five different titles as His future blessings are invoked.

Jacob wasn’t telling Joseph anything new.

Years before, while going through these trials, Joseph had realized that even though his brothers meant evil against him, God meant it for good (45:5-9; 50:20).

Even when Joseph was falsely accused, imprisoned, and forgotten, he knew that God was sovereign.

Here Jacob affirms Joseph’s interpretation of his life from God’s perspective.

He is saying that Joseph was fruitful because he had endured these trials in God’s strength.

He uses the metaphor of a boy whose father is teaching him to shoot a bow and arrow.

The boy isn’t strong enough to pull the bow back all the way and hold it steady on the target.

So the father wraps his arms around the boy, puts his strong hands over the boy’s hands, pulls back the bowstring and aims it at the target.

The boy is a strong archer because of his father’s strength.

It’s a beautiful picture of being strong in the strength of God our Father.

There are three lessons here that we fathers should impart to our children to help them interpret life from God’s perspective.

A. THE LESSON OF FRUITFULNESS

God wants His children to be fruitful.

I believe that as American Christians, we wrongly encourage our kids to be successful, which is man-centered.

We need to encourage them to be fruitful, which is God-centered.

Life isn’t to be lived for ourselves.

We will be traveling back on Ashley’s birthday this year.

Would it be possible for us to have a birthday cake for Ashley on Friday (as a surprise)?

We could even do it at breakfast?

I’ll gladly pay for the cake, I just don’t know how to go about arranging to get one in Kentucky… Please help.

Jesus called us to bear much fruit ().

Just as Joseph’s fruitful vine ran over the wall, so that the Egyptians were blessed, so we need to teach our children our responsibility to be a blessing to people of other cultures who have not heard the good news of Christ.

Grace,

I encourage you to read to tell your kids and grandkids stories of people who have lived their life for the glory of God.

Celebrate the heroes of the Christian faith who have devoted their lives for God’s glory.

Cary.

Jesus called us to bear much fruit ().

Just as Joseph’s fruitful vine ran over the wall, so that the Egyptians were blessed, so we need to teach our children our responsibility to be a blessing to people of other cultures who have not heard the good news of Christ.

I encourage you to read to your kids the daily missions story in the “Global Prayer Digest” and to read missionary biographies so that they see examples of fruitful lives.

B. THE LESSON OF STRENGTH

A second lesson is that our strength comes from the Lord, not from our­selves.

Joseph’s vine was fruitful because it was planted near a spring.

Its roots went down into that moist soil which nourished it even in times of drought.

The archer under attack was strong because the mighty hands of God were placed over his hands.

We need to teach our children that our strength is not from our­selves, but from the Lord.

Our kids need to see that we daily go to God for strength from His Word.

They need to see that through prayer we lay hold of God’s resources.

As a father, you need to pray often with and for your children.

Let them see that you know the God you trust is mighty.

C. THE LESSON OF TRIALS

A godly life does not mean a life exempt from trials.

In fact, fruitfulness often comes only through trials.

Joseph was the most godly of Jacob’s sons, and yet he suffered the most.

He was bitterly attacked by his brothers.

Potiphar’s wife shot at him with her daily temptation to adultery.

Potiphar harassed him by putting him in prison when he had done no wrong.

The cupbearer forgot his promise to mention Joseph to Pharaoh.

And yet Joseph came through it all with a lack of bitterness toward God or toward any of those who had wronged him because he trusted in the sovereign, loving God.

Our kids need to know that while following God has its benefits, it also has its trials.

We don’t follow the Lord just because of what we get out of it.

We follow the Lord because He is the living God and His Word is the truth.

We communicate this through our example.

Are we committed to the Lord as long as everything is going well, but we fall away when problems hit?

Do we complain about people who have wronged us and gripe about the trials we encounter?

If so, our kids aren’t going to learn to trust in our sovereign, loving God.

To bless your children, help them to interpret all of life, including life’s trials, from God’s perspective.

2. To bless your children, live your personal relationship with God.

A. Practice What you Preach

There’s nothing that turns kids away from the Lord more than to have a father who preaches religion but who does not truly walk with God.

I’m convinced that the greatest thing we can do to help our children live for the Lord is for us to live truly live for God with a humble faith that relates God to every aspect of life.

Jacob was far from a perfect father.

His relationship with God had its ups and downs.

And yet in spite of his problems, Jacob did know God personally.

Here he is bold enough to call God “the Mighty One of Jacob,” “the stone of Israel” (Jacob’s God-given name), “the God of your father” (49:24, 25).

Years before, Jacob had referred to God as the God of his father and the God of Abraham (31:5, 42).

But now Jacob calls God his God.

These names of God reflect Jacob’s personal relationship with God.

They also show that Jacob had trusted God in the practical situations of life.

He had learned who God is by depending on Him in the crises of life.

Jacob was a schemer, but God had taught him that his schemes were worthless.

God had proven Himself mighty in protecting Jacob from the anger of Esau and Laban, both of whom could have killed him.

God again proved Himself mighty in keeping the Canaanites from attacking Jacob after his sons had slaughtered the Shechemites.

God had led Jacob as a Shepherd, protecting him from danger and guiding him in the paths of righteousness.

Through the trials of the loss of Joseph and the famine, when he thought he might lose all his sons and even his own life, Jacob had learned to rely on God as a rock, a sure foundation on whom he might stand firm.

2. Remind your Family of God’s Faithfulness