Father’s Day 2017

Father’s Day 2017                                               June 17, 2017 

Father’s Days are very meaningful to many individuals.  What does Father Day mean to you. We asked the same question about Mothers.  No right or wrong answer.  Or does it really mean anything. 

Father’s Day should be every day of the year, but we need to be reminded to do it.  That is what this day is all about. 

We know being a father is not easy.  It is very appropriate and right to pause and say ''Thank You'' to our fathers, or individuals who were like a father to us, and to honor them, and thank God for them.  We realize what they had to do and how to put up with us, as we grew up.  I myself had a step father. 

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood and the influence of fathers in society.  When Father day started, many men was against it because it was a commercial gimmick to sell more products, often paid for by the father himself.   

During the Great Depression, struggling retailers and advertisers redoubled their efforts to make Father’s Day a “second Christmas” for men, promoting goods such as neckties, hats, socks, pipes and tobacco, golf clubs and other sporting goods, and greeting cards.   

When World War 2 began, advertisers began to argue that celebrating Father’s Day was a way to honor American troops and support the war effort. By the end of the war, Father’s Day may not have been a federal holiday, but it was a national institution. 

In 1972, in the middle of a hard-fought presidential re-election campaign, Richard Nixon signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a federal holiday at last. Today, economists estimate that Americans spend more than $1 billion or more each year on Father’s Day gifts. 

Most of the time on father day, the preacher would tell the dad’s what they should be doing right instead of what they have been doing right. 

Father Day started due to greed.  Interesting 

The most important thing for each of us, We know without a doubt that God Himself is a Father to us, His Saints.  

Matthew 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 

Matthew 6:9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 

Matthew 6:32  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 

Romans 1:7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. 

There are many instances that speak of Jesus Christ, the Son, honoring His Father and honoring the will of His Father 

John 17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 

John 17:5  And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. 

When a man becomes a father, he learns from the way his own father treated him, how he grew up as a child, his interaction with his dad, and his relationship with God and by the Word of God. 

1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 

Our Father is an example and He will comfort us, we are to comfort our family 

Psalms 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 

Psalms 86:17 Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, LORD, have helped me and comforted me. 

        Psalms 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.       

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 

John 14:26-27 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  (27)  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

The Apostle Paul gave instructions to one’s earthly father 

Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  (2)  "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER," which is the first commandment with promise:  (3)  "THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU AND YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH." 

Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. 

The Father has made men the God-given spiritual head of the family, could and should be honored.  Fathers responsibility.  

1 Peter 3:7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. 

1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  (6)  "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  (7)  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 

We know the Scriptures is silent about a day being set aside specifically to honor fathers, the Scriptures does recognize fathers as examples. 

Genesis 4:20-21 And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.  (21)  His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. 

God told Abraham that he will be the father of many nations. 

Genesis 17:4-5  "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.  (5)  No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

God does recognize the importance of fathers 

What does a father do for their children from the Scriptures. 

Leads Them 

Proverbs 20:7  The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him. 

Integrity definition:  The quality or state of being complete or undivided. 

The father is example to his children for the concept of loyalty and obedience.   

True leadership is having the integrity to practice what you preach and do what you say you will do. 

Do not provoke them 

Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 

Teaches them 

Proverbs 4:1-2 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding;  (2)  For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law. 

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. 

We need to be involved in our child’s formal and informal training which takes a lot of energy and time, but it comes with great reward.  Don’t we know. 

Provides for them 

Matthew 7:9-11 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  (10)  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  (11)  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 

The example of providing for them of their earthy father is how a child learns to understand how our heavenly Father provides for us. 

Disciplines and Corrects them 

Proverbs 3:11-12  My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction;  (12)  For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights. 

Proverbs 13:24 Whoever does not discipline his son hates him, but whoever loves him is diligent to correct him. 

Protects them 

Proverbs 14:26 In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge. 

Mark 9:42  "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 

Loves them 

Psalms 103:13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him. 

How they turn out 

Proverbs 17:6  Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the pride of children is their parents. 

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are living according to the truth. 

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 You know very well that we treated each of you the way a father treats his children.  (12)  We comforted and encouraged you, urging you to live in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 

Decisions I make for my children as a father will affect their future.   

Jesus gives us a warning to us fathers 

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.  (6)  And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. 

Being a father is the most important role in the lives and futures of our children.