Thanks Pop! Series

Thanks Pop!

Thesis: Thanks dad for being a servant leader and being a witness to me about who Jesus is!

Introduction: In our society today we have a disillusioning phenomena happening – It’s 40% of all households today have no father in them. The fatherless trend in families have caused many rippling effects today:

· Suicide is 3rd major cause of Teen deaths today. This horror reveals a sense of hopelessness in teens. Suicide is high in our area I’m told.

o There have been two suicides attempts in Amery among adults that have been unsuccessful.

o Remember we prayed against this at the all night prayer meeting. Thank the Lord they failed. Keep praying that there are no attempts even.

· Family splits have reached an all time high with 50% of all marriages ending in divorce and a large percentage of these are filled with hate and maliciousness after the divorce and it affects the kids.

o Many kids are used as pawns in the battle between ex-wife and ex-husband.

· Teen crime has escalated from a frustrated generation experiencing broken homes and absentee fathers and mothers.

o Think of all the school shootings all the teen shootings.

· Violent crime with Teens has sky rocketed revealing an angry youth culture.

o I saw a guy the other day dressed like the kids who killed the kids at Columbine and he was proud of them.

· Drug use has risen significantly in teens and pre-teens to dull the pain.

o Drugs in our area are high it was reported to me that this area has a high methamphetemine drug culture.

o Good news since the prayer meeting. There have been two major drug busts in the last two weeks in Amery.

· Sex outside of marriage has sky rocketed –kids looking for the love that is missing in the homes.

· Sexually transmitted diseases are escalating causing more heartache and death.

o Good News since the prayer meeting – The nude bar that was going to go in up by Turtle Lake is not going through. We had a pair of guys go up at the prayer meeting and pray against it.

· 30% of all women getting pregnant today are not married creating homes that are under a lot of pressure. Single parents and teen parents are under a lot of pressure and many give up. On school in our area today had 25% of their senior class become parents while still in their senior year.

o One out of three children born today are born into fatherless homes

o Lets continue to pray against this tend that more young people would look to Jesus for love and not each other.

· Schools that were once safe refuges have changed. Today it’s become a place of violence, drugs, rebellion, disrespectfulness and other serious problems. Part of the blame goes to fatherless families.

o Good News here we are seeing a revival among the young people in Amery. Jesus is the talk of the school and town since the Gospel fest.

o Prayer makes a difference.

o Push the Jesus March July 8th. We meet for worship here a message on prayer then go out in groups and pray through Amery. No Signs. Just prayer.

· I notice that a large part of kids without fathers are angry and upset- most want their fathers in their lives and the pain is evident.

· I observe that these effects have risen as fatherless homes have increased as fathers have disappeared in the homes and in their kid’s lives.

Today is Fathers day – a tradition that originated on June 19th in 1910 in Spokane Washington. It became a presidential proclamation in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson signed a bill declaring every 3rd Sunday in June as Father’s Day.

Father’s Day has become a day to honor fathers. In essence it’s a day to follow the Biblical mandate to honor your Fathers. There are four main references to doing this in Scripture:

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Leviticus 19:3 “Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord.”

Deut. 5:16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord God commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for it is right. Honor your father and mother”-which is the first commandment with a promise-“that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Today we will fulfill the commandment to honor our fathers today. Fathers you deserve to be honored. Fathers who are godly and who are there as servant leaders to their families are worthy of being honored. Men who are godly father figures deserve to be honored.