Father's Day

Father’s Day Sermon

Ephesians 6:1-3, "1Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."

A first-grade teacher asks her class, "What is Father's Day." One boy answered, "Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day, only you don’t spend as much on the gift." Another boy responded, "What gift?"

Mark Twain 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 the 21, I was astonished at how much the old man learned in 7 years."

You all have heard a story like this, "Now that my father is a grandfather, he just can’t wait to give money to my kids. But when I was a kid and I asked him for 50 cents, he would tell me how when he was 7 years old, he got up at 4:30 in the morning to milk 90 cows with his tiny hands. He then walked 12 miles to school and so on. But now, every time he comes to my house, he tells my children, “Well, let’s see how much money old Granddad has for his wonderful grandkids."

I found an article entitled, "The World According to Dad." It list the kinds of things dads often say.

- Why should you do that? Because I said so, that's why.

- Do you want me to call your mother?

- Just wait till you have kids of your own. I hope one will be just like you.

- Last Father's Day my son gave me something I always wanted: the keys to my car.

- The article also list some children observations. One reads, if a mother is laughing at the father's jokes, it means we have guests.

Being a father can be a wonderful, an interesting and sometimes a trying experience. We are here today to remember what the Lord says about our earthly fathers and to and honor them. I want us to think about some of the things for which we should say, "Thanks, Dads."

1- Dads, thanks for material provision

2- Dads, thanks for faithful instruction

3- Dads, thanks for godly illustration

Thanks for the provisions: I Tim. 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." That is powerful. Families are families because they can depend on one another for help at any time or kind of need. Today, we are specifically concentrating on father’s duties. If a father does not provide materially for his family (food, clothing, shelter) then he has denied the faith of Christ and is worse than unbelievers are. Why would such a father be worse than unbelievers would, because even unbeliever provide for their families.

My dad passed away May 1979. He only lived to be 59. Were he alive today he would be almost 103 years old. He grew-up during the depression. They had a roof over their head and enough to eat but not much more. He joined the Army in June of 1939 and came out in the summer of 1952. He went to school on the GI Bill and worked long hours trying to give us some of the things he never had. The house we lived was certainly nothing fancy, but he made it our home.

It never occurred to my father than the government should take care of his family. He raised his children to be hard working, patriotic and devote Christians.

Did my father provided for me; I honestly do not remember missing out on anything.

What about your dad? Did he provide for you? He probably did and you need to thank him for it if he is still alive or, at least, give thanks to God that he did.

Thanks for faithful instruction: From the New International Version Ephesians 6:4 reads, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." From the Common English Version Ephesians 6:4 reads, "Parents, don’t be hard on your children. Raise them properly. Teach them and instruct them about the Lord." From the Living Bible, "Don’t keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful. Rather, bring them up with the loving discipline the Lord himself approves."

Fathers do instruct their children about many things thus giving children a set of values.

My dad used to say to me, "You can accomplish anything you set your mind to."

He would say, "Don’t be afraid to ask questions in school. You’ll never learn anything if you don’t ask questions."