Father's Day

 This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on June 16th 2024 by Colin. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

Father's Day

Origin of Father’s Day – A lady who lost her mother was listening to a sermon on Mother’s Day. After her mother’s death, her dad took care of her very well. She wanted to honour her father and thus celebrating Father’s Day began.

We all know that God is our Father. He revealed himself to us as Father. God was revealed as a loving Father in the Old Testament and New Testament. All of us are familiar with the Lord’s prayer. It starts with “Our Father”. The God who created everything is powerful and a loving Father. We are His sons and daughters. Jesus came to this Earth to reveal His Father. In the parable of Prodigal Son, we see that even though his younger son took his share, spent away everything, and came back to his father, out of love and grace, he was accepted by his father.

In the Bible, it is written that we must honour our fathers. We must honour all the elders but especially fathers. We are called to honour and respect our parents. Train your children to respect their elders.

We must thank God for fathers. One of the greatest problems in the world is fatherlessness. Let us look at some of the main responsibilities of a father.

1.        Provide for children

If you have the ability, you must provide for your children. In slum areas, we see that the men get drunk, gamble, smoke and don’t work. It is the women who go to different houses to work had and provide for the family.

1 Timothy 5:8 - Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

2.        Protect the family

John 17:12 - While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by^[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

Jesus protected his disciples. WE must protect our children too.

Disciplining them is a part of protecting them. We must protect their character, values and future. Don’t dump everything on your wife. It is your responsibility too.

3.        Instruction and Example

Ephesians 6:4 - Fathers,^[b] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Start training your children at an early age. A part of the instruction is an example.

If we instruct them to read the Bible and pray, we should be doing that too. Schools and churches are only to support the children. The primary responsibility lies in the hands of the parents.

·        Teach them courtesy, honour, giving, serving, respect, handling conflict, help them to cast their burdens on Christ.

·        Love them. Children are looking for love, affection and affirmation. Mothers do it more. Fathers must do it too.

4.        Leave an inheritance

Proverbs 13:22 - A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

Let us look what we can leave as an inheritance for our children.

a)        Convictions, beliefs, philosophies

Genesis 18:19 - For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

We must keep the way of the Lord. Generation after generation, we must follow God’s ways. So, spend time with your children by telling them bible stories, sharing the gospel and pray for them

b)       Name

Here “name” is reputation, credibility, track record.

Genesis 12:2 - “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

c)        Relationships

The world functions on relationships. We must pass on our relationships to our children,

d)       Physical assets

Cash, property, gold etc., are all physical assets. Do not be biased when it comes to son and daughter. Leave behind equal assets for all the children. Daughters are as valuable as sons. Make a will and keep it ready.

There are no perfect fathers in the Bible. To be a godly father, we need the grace of God and strength of God.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.