Father's Day 2014

Father’s Day Message

June 15, 2014 Chester FBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

A Several years ago researchers did an experiment to see how much time middle-class father’s spent playing/interacting with their small children.

1 First, they asked the father’s to estimate the time they spent with their one-year old youngsters each day, and received an average reply of 15 to 20 minutes.

a To verify these claims, the researchers attached microphones to the shirts of small children to record really how much dads interacted with their youngsters.

b The average amount of time spent by these middle-class fathers with their small children was 37 seconds per day!

aa They also found that the 37 seconds was divided to 2.7 encounters daily, lasting 10 to 15 seconds each.

bb That represented the contribution of fatherhood for millions of America’s children in the 1970's, and I believe the findings would be even more depressing today.

2 The average preschool kid watches between 30 & 50 hours of TV every week.

a Kids get about 8 minutes of their dads a week and 30 hours (or more) a week from commercial television.

b Need we ask where are kids are getting their values?

aa Values are not taught to our children, they are caught by them.

bb Our kids are not equipped for us to set down & lecture them about God and other important issues of life (They’re kids!)

cc They only have six gears: run, jump, climb, crawl, slide & dive. . . boys & girls are not wired for quiet conversations about heavy topics.

B They way we teach them values is to it subtlety, through the rum drum routine interactions of everyday life.

1 Deut. 6.4-9

a Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NASB) 4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and 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 frontals on your forehead. 9 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

aa Look for opportunities in your everyday routines to be teachable moments.

bb IL. Sunset/sunrise, “COEXIST” bumper sticker, same-sex couple sitting at table, Rainbow, Veterans, Worship, Priority of the Sabbath, Communion, prayer, Jewish Feasts, Christian holidays, Reading Scripture.

cc Your children will casually assimilate our values & attitudes.

b Here is the secret of your children “catching” your values . . . you must be together with them and talk to them.

aa Your ability to discern the needs of your family members is directly proportional to the amount of time you spend with them.

bb Your values are passed from you to your kids, if.

cc IF parents are occasionally at home with their kids; if they have the energy to converse with them; if they have anything worthwhile to transmit; if they care.

2 I love/respect my wife (she’s a very good wife and excellent mother and hard worker . . . I’m sure each father here would say the same thing about their wife & mother of their children), but men, as the father goes, so goes the family. . . especially in the climate & direction of the home.

a Ephesians 5:23 (NASB) 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

aa Husbands/Daddies . . . according to Scripture it is YOUR responsibility to lead your home, especially in matters of faith!

bb Not with an iron fist or heavy handily . . . but as a servant leader to your family.

b Ephesians 6:4 (NASB) 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (EMPHASIS MINE)

aa “do not provoke your children to anger”: Don’t discipline your kids when your angry/mad. (Like going grocery shopping when your hungry; you tend to over do it.)

bb “discipline” is by correction & also by example. (You can’t very well tell your kids not to drink with a beer in your hands; teach them to behave in public if you act like a fool [ball game, Wal-Mart, Rozier’s, Traffic])

cc “instruction” literally means to put into the mind.

c I do not understand parents who are giving their children an option of which faith they’ll embrace for themselves.