Be The Best Dad You Can Be

Be the Best Dad You Can Be

Various Scriptures

June 20, 2010

THE AUDIO FOR THIS CAN BE HEARD AT WWW.ABERDEENWESLEYAN.ORG.

NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY'S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."

Me: Six weeks ago I preached a Mother’s Day message, and I was pretty nervous about it.

As I mentioned then, it’s hard for guys to preach about being good moms because we have no experience, and that it was like a single guy trying to tell married couples how to have a great marriage.

They may have some technically correct information, but they don’t have the experience to back up what they’re saying.

But today is a different story. I can preach about being a dad, because what do you know – I am one. I’ve been one for going on 20 years now, and I’ve got 5 kiddos ranging from pre-teens to an almost 20-year old.

I’ve got three teenagers in my family – and you wonder why I’m bald…

Anyway, I know about being a dad. Not everything about being a dad, that’s for sure.

I’m still learning, and some of the stuff I’ll be sharing with you today is stuff I’m still working on in my own life because just like marriage, I don’t have all this parenting stuff figured out, either.

We: All of us have either been a father or had a father, right?

And all of can look at our dads and see things we liked and other stuff we didn’t really like.

I can tell you that my kids can look at me and see some things they like and stuff they don’t like, because like all of you dads here today, I’ve blown it on occasion.

But I can honestly say that I love being a dad. When my kids greet me at home, or demand a hug and kiss before I leave for work, that makes it worth it for me.

And I think that all of us would agree that dads have a huge influence on how we handle life, especially as we grow up ourselves.

God/You:

My goal for today is simple: to encourage you guys to be the best dads you can be.

I’m not here to beat you up, I’m here to give you some hope that you can be an awesome dad, and for those of you who think it’s too late, to tell you that it’s never too late if you’re both still breathing, okay?

Not every point I’ll be sharing with you will have Scripture, but I think you’ll find that all of what I’m bringing to you today is found in Scriptural principle, okay?

Seven steps to becoming a great dad (in no particular order).

1. Model authentic manhood.

1 Kings 2:2-3 –

“Be strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires.”

According to people who are bigger and meaner than I am, manhood has nothing to do with being big and mean.

Authentic manhood covers four essential things that need to be taken care of.

You guys who were part of the men’s study the last year or so will recognize this, from Dr. Robert Lewis.

- Reject passivity.

Don’t live by default, with life just happening to you. Make things happen by being intentional about life.

- Accept responsibility.

This goes hand in hand with the idea of rejecting passivity.

Men, you need to understand that we are responsible to God for your family. You and I will be held accountable for it.

Don’t pass the buck. Take responsibility for the health and strength of your family and for the parenting of your kiddos.

- Lead courageously.

Take the initiative to lead your family to greater spiritual strength, financial strength, emotional health, and whatever.

Forget what others might think – do what’s best for your family and think more about what God thinks, which leads me to the fourth area in modeling authentic manhood, and that is to…

- Expect the greater reward: God’s reward.

God will reward you for being a strong man of God. And I think that part of that will be in the way your family shapes up.

There’s no guarantee that your kids will turn out well, because there have been godly men who have had bad kids.

But overall, I think that men who live for God tend to be rewarded with good, strong families.

Modeling authentic manhood is extremely important for our sons because it models what a man is supposed to be.

It’s important for our daughters because it shows them what kind of guy they should look for in a husband.

2. Be the leader in the home.

Make sure your family is provided for:

- Financially

1 Timothy 5:8 –

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.