The Good Father Series

THE GOOD FATHER

TEXT- Proverbs 22:6

INTRODUCTION

I told my Wednesday Night class that I have been preaching in Whitehouse for 5 years, and this is the 1st Father’s Day sermon that I have preached. The reason is I always take these 2 weeks in June for my vacation, but not this year.

I hope you will take the time to read the bulletin this morning. I had asked several of our members to write a few sentences about their Father, and I included it in our insert. I found the response very interesting and I’m sure you will to. Some may ask why I didn’t ask everyone to do this, and it was because I was putting a bulletin together and not writing a book. I will ask others to respond in the future to certain questions, so don’t feel left out.

When God created us, He brought a certain structure to mankind, and he did this for our good. God put man into a family, which includes a Father, Mother, and Children. Each one of these is given a role to play in order that the family will function properly. The family is the basic building block of all civilization. If we allow others to destroy the role of family in our society, then I will worry about the future of our civilization. We are born into a family and the Father is the head of the family.

Some may question the Father’s role and ask why? The answer is because God made him the head of the family, and it is his role and his responsibility to lead the family. It is not an easy job!

This thought came to mind this week when Travis and Traci where spending a couple of days with Lynn and I. I am very picky about my computer and Traci is always wanting to play or write on the computer. So, I said, “ alright, but you treat it right and don’t mess up my computer because it is very important to me.” Well, a little later I was walking through the room and I didn’t like the way she was treating my computer, and I said, “Traci if you mess up my computer you and I are going to go 5th city.” She just looked up at me and said, “Pepaw where IS 5th city?”

Mark Twain once said, “When I was a boy of 14 my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21. I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.”

Bill Cosby wrote about the difference in being a Father and a Grand Father. He said, “Now that my Father is a Grand father it is amazing how he just wants to give away money to his Grandkids. When I was a kid I would ask him for 50 cents, and he would tell me the story of his life. How he got up at 5;00 every morning when he was 70 years old and walk 23 miles to milk 90 cows. And the farmer didn’t have a bucket, so he had to squirt the milk into his little hand and walk 8 miles to the nearest can. All for 5 cents. So , the results was I never got my 50 cents.

Now, when I see my Father say to his grand kids to here and let’s how much money Granddad has for his WONDERFUL grand children, I just wait for him to turn his back and I call my kids over and snatch the money out of their hands BECAUSE THAT’S MY MONEY!

Nearly all dads have one thing in common and that is the way that they talk. How many times have you heard you Father say the following things?

1- This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.

2- Quiet. I’m watching the ball game.

3- Don’t forget to check the oil.

4- Bring back all the change.

5- How should I know? Ask your Mother.

6- I’m not made out of money.

7- When I was your age I walked 5 miles to school every day and it was uphill both ways.

8- You are going and you WILL have fun.

9- Who is paying the bills around here anyway?

10- If you break your leg don’t come running to me.

11- Don’t put your feet on the furniture. Your Mother will kill you.

12- Get down before you kill yourself. Alright, GO HEAD!

13- Be quiet! Can’t you see I’m trying to think!

14- Why? Because I said so!

SERMON

When I finished this sermon, I discovered that I was not a perfect Father. I don’t think us humans have every produced the perfect Father. When we consider the characteristics of a good Father, I know I didn’t live up to all of those all the time. There was times, when I probably failed miserably.