How To Spell F.A.T.H.E.R.
Father's Day 2020 • Sermon • Submitted
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· 898 viewsA word of encouragement for fathers and instruction for those who will be fathers, will have husbands, and will raise young men to be fathers.
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Father’s Day
Father’s Day
In May we took a look at a Mother’s Day card from Jesus. But on this often forgotten day in June I want to encourage father’s, teach young men who may one day be father’s, young women who will want men to be fathers, and women what to look for in a candidate for a father! Most may believe that they know how to spell father but I believe that this spelling I have for a father will be different.
We know and understand that the ultimate Father lives in heaven, is Omnipotent (all powerful), Omniscient (All-Knowing), and Omnipresent (All-Present). We fathers fall a bit short on earth but we find our example on how to be great fathers from the Bible. This is not an exhaustive list of qualities a father should possess for there are many ways to spell father, let us listen to what God has to say in His word today!
Faithful
Faithful
89 Forever, O Lord, your word
is firmly fixed in the heavens.
90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
God is eternal
His faithfulness is eternal
If He loved you before the foundation of the earth, he’ll continue to do so
In the movie Blazing Saddles Gene Wilder’s character is being questioned by the new sheriff Cleavon Little. The sheriff wonders if he is the Waco Kid because he seems a bit washed up. Gene lifts his hand and the sheriff replies “steady as a rock!” Then Gene raises his other hand excessively trembling and states “But I shoot with this hand!”. I thought about this scene when describing the relationship between people and God. And also how we need to be as fathers when it comes to our children and families.
God is still faithful when...
We’re ungrateful for blessings he’s given us
We put other things before him
We forget to study and pray
We struggle with sin
We doubt Him
A Christian father remains faithful to his responsibilities no matter what.
Abba Relationship
Abba Relationship
36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
As Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane, he calls God by a very personal name. It is a transliteration of the term for Father in Aramaic. Jesus praying in the garden for the cup, or suffering to pass, calls his father by the name which carries with it the aspects of supernatural authority and care for his people!
Jesus has a relationship with the Father where he feels comfortable enough to ask him about his mission and His will.
Christian fathers have a living and active relationship with the Father.
Teacher
Teacher
Under the old covenant God commanded that the people of God teach the younger generation. This was in an effort to continue the growth and influence of the people of God.
1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
The teaching of God’s way is imperative but fathers please understand that every child learns differently!
Story
Mark 4:34
34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
He pulled spiritual truth from everyday life. Teach your children on their level.
Hyperbole
Using exaggerated stories or shocking statements to get people’s attention
Eye causing you to sin? (Mt. 5:29-30)
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Grab the attention of your children to communicate your point clearly.
Memorable Sayings
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Lk. 6:31
31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit!”
If your children can remember the message they will take it with them.
Questions
Don’t give answers right away, Jesus didn’t!
When asked about paying taxes… Mt 22:20-21
20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Ask good questions of your children and make them think
Object Lessons
Jesus using literal children as obejct lessons
We need preachers, elders, deacons, wives, Christians, husbands, wives, families! These things must be taught!
Christian fathers teach the will of God so that it will be passed on to and through their families.
Healer
Healer
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Jesus reassures his followers that after his death he is leaving to prepare a place for them.
He also is in fact the WAY to that place
But he didn’t stop there! Jesus leveled up and said...
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
I’m sending a helper!
The Parakleet- One who helps, by consoling, encouraging, or meditation on behalf of. A Helper.
This is impossible without the father being present in the home. So please understand that it is impossible to be a great helper if you are not a husband!
74% of black homes are single parent homes!
That raises the risk for incarceration, bad grades, and a continuance of the same cycle!
A Christian father consoles, encourages, and finds ways to help his family.
It is hard to be a helper when you’re not a husband.
Everlasting Love
Everlasting Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
God is love!
God punishes, God provides, God plans, God made a way for our penance, etc etc! All in LOVE!
“God’s love is not dependent on the loveliness of the person or the thing that is loved.”
As a father I will tell fathers that there is a chance that your kids will make mistakes, will be annoying, will deliberately disobey, may sully your name, and even turn their back on you! But we must remember “…while we were yet sinners...”
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The love of a Christian father is everlasting.
Respected
Respected
5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The heavenly Father’s presence is respected!
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
The heavenly Father has some respect on His name!
19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The heavenly father’s word is respected!
Faithful
Abba Relationship
Teacher
Helper
Everlasting Love
Respected
Fathers- If you’re keeping up with this my hat is off to you! Keep it up and make sure it goes into the next generation!
Mothers- If you have a husband whose fatherhood resembles the majority of these let him know you appreciate it!
Women/Girls- If the boy/man you date has no desire to be any of these things, getting married or tied to him for 18 years with a child won’t change it! These qualities are heart conditions, examine the hearts.
Men/Boys- Before you lay down to do the act that creates children, respect the young lady enough to make her your wife. If you are going to be a father according to the spelling here today, it takes effort! So put a ring on it first!