Sermon Tone Analysis

A physician and his 4 year old son were in the car on the way to preschool.

The doctor/father had left his stethoscope on the car seat, and his little boy picked it up and began playing with it.

"That’s my boy," thought the father, "my son wants to follow in my footsteps!"

Then the child spoke into the instrument: "Welcome to McDonald's.

May I take your order?"”

We live in an age when “Father’s Day” conjures up a plethora of thoughts and emotions

I recognize that some may be here who are not fathers and mothers and struggle every year with these special days dedicated to parents

I also recognize that there may be some here who carry this heavy backpack of the past and do not have a good memory of your father for some reason or another.

There are also some here that have wonderful memories of their father.

Some may even have a mixed bag of thoughts and emotions.

Regardless of your experience with your father, it is undeniable that the impact a father has on his family is enormous.

“Fatherlessness” is an epidemic that is flooding our culture.

But here’s something else to think about, it is possible for the dad to still be in the home and the children will grow up fatherless.

What do I mean by that?

Dads have been given the responsibility to impact their children for eternity.

The dads that choose to minimize that responsibility, or worse yet, ignore it, have left their children fatherless.

I know that sounds harsh, but we need to do a reality check here this morning.

If you were to survey 100 dads and ask them what is your goal as a father in raising your children, (what is one thing you hope your children learn from you) would you get the same answer from every dad?

Some would say they hope their children learn…

to be successful adults”; “good people”; “hard working”; “ have strong character”; “professional athlete” the list goes on and on.

How many of those 100 fathers would say their goal as a dad was to raise their children to love God with all their heart, mind and soul?

There is nothing inherently wrong with dads having those other goals for their children.

But are those goals the ultimate goal we want for our children?

Now let me ask you a very sobering question.

What happens to your children if they enter eternity never discussing with you, or seeing it modeled, the importance of a genuine relationship with God?

How much time do you think you have left to make a difference in their lives that really matters?

The tragic events over the last few weeks are a grim reminder that you and your children are just one heartbeat away from eternity.

What happens then?

Will all those other goals make a difference when they are ushered into the presence of a Holy God?

Now before you get up and walk out on me today thinking what a downer this guy is, let me tell you there is hope.

It is never too late to begin making an eternal difference in the lives of your children.

Even if you think you have blown it…there is not a dad in this building who hasn’t blown it…you can still make a difference with whatever time God allows you.

Forgiveness and grace are readily available to all of us.

Our text of Deut.

6 was written to children whose dads had blown it.

Their dads were “epic” failures when it came to doing what God wanted them to do.

Their dads knew exactly what God wanted them to do and they chose not to do it.

Fifteen centuries before Christ, God rescued two million Hebrew slaves from bondage in Egypt and led them towards the Promised Land.

Sad to say, most of them never made it because they refused to trust and obey God.

Consequently they incurred God’s judgment and perished…they left their children fatherless.

Every person in the nation over twenty years of age fell dead in that wilderness as the nation wandered around for the next forty years.

And then God delivered this message.

He sent it through Moses to that second generation of Israelites, to the kids who survived the wilderness and grew up.

Right before they entered the Promised Land, Moses gave them the message we call Deuteronomy (which means “the second law”).

Main Idea: Dads (men) who want to make an eternal difference make God their priority.

In this passage we discover a clear description of God’s kind of men.

God’s man…the father of distinction…is a man who exhibits two passions.

What we’re about to hear from God’s Word is for women, too.

But God designed men to be the pacesetters, and as such they are to model these two passions for all to see.

The implications are to all people…but specifically the dads…the ones most responsible for the spiritual direction of the home.

Dads who want to make a difference are men who have a passion for God (4-5).

Deut 6:4-5 ““Hear, O Israel!

The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

How can you tell if you have a passion for God?

Very few people would say, “I don’t love God.”

But loving God isn’t some sentimental thing.

It’s very tangible and even measurable.

Right here Moses identified two prerequisites for loving God.

You must know Him (4).

Love and knowledge go hand in hand.

You can’t really love someone you don’t know.

Moses said, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

What do people who truly love God know about Him?

1.

He is a redeeming God.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Moses twice uses God’s covenant name, Yahweh

Who is our God?

Yahweh is the covenant making and covenant keeping God.

In Exodus 3:14-15 “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’

This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.”

That’s who God is, dear ones.

He is Yahweh.

He is the self-existent One who took the initiative to enter into a relationship with Abraham and his descendants.

When He saw the Israelites in their bondage, He took action to rescue them.

He did the same with us, did He not?

Ephesians 2:1 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.”

Rom 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Yes, our God is a redeeming God.

Indeed, you cannot love Him until you know Him as your Redeemer

2. He is a personal God.

“The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

God is personal.

He makes it possible for His people to know Him personally.

Indeed, you cannot love God if your knowledge of Him is second hand.

3.

He is unique.

“The LORD our God, the LORD is one”

The word “one” expresses both His unity and uniqueness.

You can’t believe that there are many gods, you can’t live in service to other gods, even if you say the Lord is the greatest, and be right with Him.

Christianity isn’t merely adding Jesus to your life.

To be right with the Creator God you must acknowledge that He alone is the Lord.

Do your priorities as a dad teach your children the priority of God?

We need men today who will affirm this plainly and boldly, with their lips and lives.

Men, our beliefs do matter.

Faith is not subjective...Contrary to what culture says, I do not have the freedom to believe whatever I want to believe about God.

No.

That is idolatry.

The God who exists, the only God, is a redeeming, personal, and unique God.

In order to love Him you must know Him.

Another way to show you love God is…