Father's Day

 This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on June 15th 2025 by Colin D Cruz. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here. 

Father’s Day

In a world where the definition of family is rapidly shifting, we must pause and ask: Where does the idea of fatherhood come from? Is it simply a social invention, or does it have a deeper, divine origin?

The Bible makes it clear: fatherhood is God’s idea. In Ephesians 3:14–15, Paul writes, “I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” The concept of fatherhood is not a cultural construct—it is rooted in God's very nature, modeled in the relationship between the Father and the Son in the Trinity.

Honour: A Forgotten Command

Among the Ten Commandments, nestled between prohibitions against murder and theft, is the call to honour your father and mother. (Exodus 20:12) This is the first commandment with a promise: “that it may go well with you.” Yet in our modern, egalitarian world, honour has become a forgotten virtue—especially towards parents and elders.

Jesus Himself, though fully God, submitted to His earthly parents (Luke 2:51). In doing so, He set the standard for us: to honour is to respect, to appreciate, and to love.

In Indian culture, we used to show this by addressing elders as “Uncle” or “Auntie.” Today, even toddlers are taught to use first names. While respect may look different across cultures, Scripture calls us to maintain a spirit of honour—especially within the home and the church.

Obeying vs. Honouring

One of the key distinctions that often gets blurred—especially in Eastern cultures—is the difference between obeying and honouring. Children are called to obey while they are under their parents’ care. But as they grow into adults, the call shifts from obedience to honour. Adult children still show respect and appreciation, but must make decisions under the guidance of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

Parents, too, must know when to release. Enforcing obedience in adult decisions—like marriage or career—can lead to heartache when misapplied.

The Biblical Role of Fathers

Four biblical responsibilities every father carries:

1. To Provide

(1 Timothy 5:8) A father who fails to provide for his household “has denied the faith.” Provision is more than finances—it’s about safety, stability, and presence.

2. To Train

(Ephesians 6:4) Fathers are called to bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord. Sunday school can’t replace the father’s role. Children need the Word modeled and taught at home.

3. To Lead by Example

(1 Corinthians 11:1) Children imitate what they see. If we want godly children, we must be godly ourselves. Our lives speak louder than our words.

4. To Affirm

Drawing from Genesis 27 and the insights of Dr. Gary Smalley, fathers are encouraged to affirm their children through:

• Meaningful touch (a hug, a hand on the shoulder),
• Words of blessing and encouragement,
• Assurance of value, and
• Speaking a vision for their future.

Why This Matters

In a U.S. prison, hundreds of inmates requested cards on Mother’s Day. On Father’s Day, hardly anyone came. We’re living in a world where fatherlessness is rising—both through absence and abdication.

India, too, is catching up with this trend. Now more than ever, we need to reclaim what it means to be a godly father.

A Call to Action

• Children: Obey and honour your parents. It’s the pathway to blessing.
• Adults: Continue to honour your father and mother—even if they are not perfect.
• Fathers: Rise to your calling. Provide, train, lead by example, and affirm.

Let’s rebuild what society is tearing down. Let’s honour our Heavenly Father by reflecting His heart in our families.

In a world where voices compete for our time and attention, one truth remains timeless: fatherhood is a divine calling that reflects the heart of our Heavenly Father.

Four essential expressions of godly fatherhood: to provide, train, model, and bless.

1. A Father Provides

True provision goes beyond the basics. It’s about sacrificial love. Colin shared how his father worked long hours—even holding two jobs—not for luxury, but to gift his children something meaningful: a piano. That piano became the starting point for a musical legacy that shaped careers and destinies.

What you provide today can shape the trajectory of your child’s tomorrow.

2. A Father Trains

Raising children isn’t just about feeding and clothing them. It’s about discipling them.

Moments of prayer, reading Scripture, and life-giving conversations aren’t accidental—they’re intentional. Take time to ask questions, listen to their stories (even the wild, imaginative ones), and speak truth into their young hearts.

If we don’t train our children, someone else will.

3. A Father Models

Children learn more by what we do than by what we say. They are always watching. When they see us pray, serve, and love others, they absorb that rhythm and reflect it in their own lives.

Live in such a way that your children will want to imitate your walk with God.

4. A Father Blesses

Words have power. Our children crave affirmation, encouragement, and a hopeful vision. Even simple phrases like “I’m proud of you,” or “God has great plans for you,” carry the weight of heaven when spoken by a father.

Combine this with hugs, physical affection, and consistent encouragement—and you’ll raise children who walk confidently into their destiny.

Seasons Come and Go

Fatherhood, like life, comes in stages. Infancy, childhood, teenage years, adulthood—each stage has its joys and challenges. Colin reminds us to cherish every one.

“They’ll be with you for 21 years… then they go off into the world. Make the most of this time.”

A Prayer for Fathers

The message ends with a moving prayer—thanking God for the privilege of parenting, confessing our weakness, and receiving His grace to reflect His heart as fathers.

Final Thoughts

Fatherhood is not about perfection. It’s about faithfulness. It’s about mirroring the Father who provides, trains, models, and blesses us daily.

Let’s rise to this calling. Let’s raise a generation that knows what a godly father looks like—not just by title, but by touch, time, and truth.

Happy Father’s Day. May your life reflect the love of the Father.

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. 

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.   

Who is a father? | Colin D

This Father's Day message was preached by Colin D at Word of Grace Church on June 16th, 2019. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here

I am going to share why a father is so important and why, if you are a father, you are important. In America, 90% of the prisoners are male. 75-90% of those prisoners grew up without a father. Suicides – 60 % of suicides take place where there is no father. 90% of homeless and run-away children are from fatherless homes. 80% of all people who commit rapes are from fatherless homes. A father is a very important person. Our role is vital. There can be another instance, you can have an absentee father. When you remove a father from a home, society become sick.

Fathers are needed even with animals. In kruger national park in south Africa, the elephant population was growing so much that they were endangering other animals. They moved some elephants to another park where there is more space. Moving elephants is a problem. So they only moved only the mother and baby elephants. At that other park, the white rhino was becoming endangered  because they were being killed. So they set up cameras to find out who is killing the rhinos. They found that the young male elephants were going on a rampage and killing the rhinos. SO they moved some of the adult male elephants to that park. These elephants fixed the problem! If you’re a father this morning you are the adult male elephant that will shape the life of your children.

Q. What is your role as a father?

1.      To protect your family: Men and women are different. Sadly the world is trying to go into a genderless society. They are confusing function with equality. We are equal but we have different function. Men are more aggressive. Women say lets understand one another. When the person who is supposed to defend the family starts attacking the family, it is not okay. We protect the family by taking on the heavy duty work.

2.      To be the provider: in Genesis when God created men and women, God said the men had the duty to tend the garden and to bring food to the table. Sadly, in our Indian society, the women are working and husbands are gambling. You wife may or may not work, but you are responsible to provide for the family. 1 Tim 5:8 “if anyone does not provide for his family, he has denied his faith and is worse than an unbeliever”. Looking after the garden was the primary job of the man. Earn the right to lead your family by

3.      To be the promoter: Your job is to take your children and train them up to become the best that they can be. Proverbs 22:6 “train your children in the way they should go and when they are older they will not depart from it.” The first part is overwhelming love. Discipline is also needed. Either extreme is difficult. Eph 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” These are the 2 things sons and daughters are called to do. The command to fathers is this – in verse 4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” So you discipline out of love and not to exhaust them. You exasperate children when you promise and don’t show up.

a.      Hug your children and tell them I love you. Communicate love. Daughters who don’t get love from the fathers seek love out there. So beware of that.

b.      Love is spelled T-I-M-E. No matter what age they are, make sure you’re spending quality time with them.

4.      To be a priest for his family: it often happens that the women in the home are more inclined to follow God and the men want to do something else. In Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul says imitate me as I imitate Christ. So fathers, your behaviour will determine the outcome of your children.

Today we know better and we can strive to be better fathers. We have been given an amazing privilege and responsibility from God to lead our families.

Let’s pray!

The heart of the Father| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on June 18th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

We know we have a heavenly Father when we are in Christ. We want to pattern our lives according to the Godly Father.

Q. What is a heavenly Father like? Luke 15 contains 3 parables which speaks about what the Father is like.

1.      Parable of the lost sheep:   ““What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’”

Q. Have you ever lost something and then find it?

Jesus was saying, in verse 7- “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance”

Here we see the Father’s heart. God is rejoicing even when one person turn to him.

It is important when we read the Bible that we understand the context. Why is Jesus sharing these parables. In verse 1- “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” these sinners were outcasts in those times. The Pharisees and Scribes kept the law scrupulously. They memorised the first 5 books of the Bible. They did everything according to the law. They could only walk so much on the Sabbath, if you walk further, it is work. In Israel there is a Shabath lift where you don’t even press a button.

Tax collectors were not like our Income Tax officers. Rome governed most of the known world. They built roads because they sent soldiers to any part of the empire on these roads. They paid for these soldiers by taxing the people. They appointed Tax Collectors for this purpose who taxed the people more than they were supposed to, and pocketed the next. The Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with these kind of people. Sinners, were maimed and with physical deformities because they were physically deformed. Other type of sinners were prostitutes and people who did jobs no one else wants to do.

Jesus was eating with people like this. In India we have this situation with caste system. Jesus broke down all barriers. He preached to them, ate with them and went to their homes. He explains the Father’s heart to the people who were questioning this behaviour of his. He repeats in verse 10- “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” God is looking for people who will repent.

2.      Parable of the lost coin: “Or what woman, having ten silver coins,[a] if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.””

3.      Parable of the prodigal son: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’” What is he asking for? His inheritance before the Father dies. It is insulting, saying you don’t matter, just give me what I will get when you die. The son got the inheritance- which was land, cattle, etc. Then, this son sold everything and leaves his father’s house. He squanders it on  wild living.

a.      The son was doing a wrong thing- sometimes, God can let us continue in our wrongdoing for our season till we come to the end of ourselves. The Israelites kept worshipping idols. The heart was sinful. God let them continue in their sin till they were taken captive by the Assyrians and Babylonians where they were surrounded with idolatry. So if you notice in the New Testament the 4 gospels have no mention of idolatry. They had come to an end of themselves and threw idolatry out. 

b.      The Trajectory of sin: In verse 14, after he spent everything, there was a severe famine. He spent everything irresponsibly. “And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.” He had great privileges in his Father’s house. To the Jews, pigs are unclean and to say they have to feed pigs is disgusting. He is willing not just to feed the pigs, but to eat what they were eating.

This is a picture of the trajectory of sin. Any sin we indulge will lead us to the rock bottom. But the good news is coming. There is a point in time when we come to our senses. We ask ourselves, what am I doing?

c.      Repentance: “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father.” This is the act of repentance. That we turn from our sin and turn to our Father.

d.      Father’s response- if your son behaved this way, how long would you lecture him? The heart of the Father is this- “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” Even though the son turned away, the Father’s eyes looked out for him. He doesn’t say, “Let him come here and I’ll talk to him”. It is not respectable to run for the patriarch. But he was overcome with joy. He can’t wait. At this point, the Pharisees would have freaked out.

e.      Restoration: Verse 22-23 “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate” They were restoring his position and celebrating his return.

This is the heart of the father. We could be like the Pharisees wanting to judge them and deal with them. But the Father heart of God doesn’t only accept the son as a servant, but restores him as a son. Forgiveness is free but it cost the Father a great deal. Let us receive the heart of the Father- that is, forgiveness to the worst sinner. We are here to seek and save the lost. It is going to be messy, but restoration is the heart of the Father. The Pharisees did not understand the behaviour of Jesus, but he was simply displaying the Father heart 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 have 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. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.