Every Child Wants A F.a.t. Daddy Series

Introduction

Today is Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to all you dads. I wonder if you truly realize the influence that you have on your family as a whole but in particularly to the children that call you “daddy.”

I am going to make a statement that might surprise you dads, but I am going to back it up by Scripture. Here goes: Every child wants a F.A.T. daddy, and if granddaddy is raising a child that child wants a F.A.T. granddaddy.

I said that I was going to back this up with Scripture, so let’s turn to Deuteronomy 6: 1-9 and read the Scripture and I will explain what I mean by a F.A.T. daddy.

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:1–9 NKJV

1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘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, 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

From the Scripture I just read, you might have gathered when I am talking about a F.A.T. daddy, I am not referring to a dad who is round in the belly area, but a daddy with some spiritual substance to him.

Point 1

The “F” in F.A.T. daddy stands for faithfulness. It takes faithfulness to pass from God what He has given you to your children, and to be sure your children pass it on to their children.

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 (NKJV)

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 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...

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States once said: “It is better to be faithful than famous.” I think that he was on to something. I would say it this way: “It is better to be faithful to God, then your spouse and your children than anything else in this world.”

As men we do not have trouble being faithful where our problem comes in is picking to what we are faithful. We have a bad picker to what we are faithful to.

Men, you are wrong if you are more faithful to your job than you are to your God and your family.

Men, you are wrong if you are more faithful to your favorite sports team than you are to God and your family.

Men, you are wrong if you are more faithful to that season called “deer hunting season” than you are to God and your family.

In Deuteronomy 6, God lays out in very simple terms what you and I as men are to be faithful to. First above all, we must be faithful to our God. “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” And secondly, we are to be faithful to our family. “You shall teach them diligently to your children.” If you can do that, then you will live in a stable home.

Be faithful to anything else and I can point to your home as an unstable home.

And before I leave the subject of “faithful” let me tell you when it comes to your children, you need to be faithful to your word. Jesus said in His famous Sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:37 (NKJV)

37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ And that is especially true when it comes to your children. As a dad, promise your child something and do not deliver, and I can tell you that you broke that child’s spirit.