Fathers Day Blessing (Short) Series

2020.06.21.Sermon.Father’s day_THE FATHER’s Blessing for Father’s Day

William Akehurst, HSWC

Key Points:

•A father blesses his children and gives good gifts.

•How much more our HEAVENLY FATHER blesses us, places HIS NAME upon us, and gives us the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT.

•Our HEAVENLY FATHER has provide a special blessing so that we might receive HIS blessing and be called HIS Children.

•Receive it and Declare it to those around you! This is something YOU as a Child of GOD can do!

Scriptures Referenced: Numbers 6:22-27, Matthew 7:7-11, Luke 11:13, Genesis 48:20, John 1:12-13, Ruth 4:11, 1 Peter 2:9

Define: bless

v.t. blessed blest, bless•ing.

1. to consecrate or sanctify by a religious rite; make or pronounce holy.

2. to request God's divine favor upon or for: Bless this house.

3. to bestow some benefit upon; endow: Nature blessed me with strong teeth.

4. to extol as holy; glorify: Bless the name of the Lord.

5. to protect or guard from evil (usu. used interjectionally): Bless you!

6. to make the sign of the cross over or upon.

Matthew 7.7-11

Vs. 11. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Luke 11:13 Blessings of the GIFT of the HOLY SPIRIT

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Message for Father’s Day comes from Jewish teachings of the Fathers blessing.

In the evening after every Shabbat, the (orthodox) Jewish father will typically gather his children and say a blessing over each one of them.

A specific blessing for the sons (boys),

Ye'simcha Elohim ke-Ephraim ve'chi-Menashe.

May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.

This blessing came from Jacob when he blessed his sons to become the twelve tribes of Israel. As he was on his deathbed, Joseph brought his sons Ephraim and Manasseh before his father to receive a blessing from him. This blessing from Jacob extended his inheritance to his grandsons. Jacob blessed his grandsons by proclaiming over Ephraim and Manasseh: “Israel will speak of you in their own blessings by saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” (Genesis 48:20)

But why this blessing to sons now?

These young men rejected the attactions of the world in that day; they followed in the faith of their grandfather Jacob; and they accepted their adoption into the house of Jacob, which God named Israel, and became two of the twelve tribes of Israel.

So, when we bless a boy in this traditional manner, we are asking the Lord to guard his heart against the attractions of the world and open it to accept the calling of CHRIST on His life so that he may be adopted into the house of God.

“To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12–13)

We are asking the Lord to bestow on him the abundant blessings of the Lord’s kingdom as a child of the King and fellow heir.

Amen. Let it be so!

The Jewish father or mother would also speak a special blessing over each daughter (girls).

Ye'simcha Elohim ke-Sarah, Rivka, Rachel ve-Leah.

May God make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.

Today in our culture, it seems odd to ask GOD to make a girl, a daughter like these women of faith from Old Testament history, but in this blessing, we are not only asking that our daughters become good role models, we are asking God to make them like Ruth.

Let me explain.

At the very end of the Book of Ruth we are given insight on this blessing.

Ruth 4:11 “And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do you worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:”

Ruth was a Moabite woman, and was not only accepted into the house of Israel, but she also helped to build it by becoming the great-grandmother of King David and from His lineage, from Bethlehem came Christ JESUS.

So in blessing the daughter, we ask the LORD to bring her into HIS house as Ruth was brought into the house of Israel, so that she bring Glory to GOD and be part of building HIS Kingdom.

Amen. Let it be so!

And the point here is that these blessings are practiced every week after service on the evening of Shabbat, or the Sabbath.