The Dying Art of Fatherhood

Happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see you all. I see you survived the Pentecost weekend. We had a wonderful feast of Pentecost. How many of you remember the television series, Leave It to Beaver? Okay, quite a few of you have talked. But how many of you remember the sitcom called Father Knows Best? Okay, all of you here. I just wanted to make sure that I know my audience here, and I think I do. Well, during the 50s and the 60s, there was this program called Father Knows Best. And I don't know if you remember who the actor was. It was in Father Knows Best, but I think he was in another movie or television series that had to do with being a doctor. But his name was Robert Young. And in this series called Father Knows Best, he was known as Jim Anderson. So it was the Anderson family, and they were a typical nuclear family. But in the series, Jim is depicted as a steady father who would offer advice to his children when they would experience problems. And always, he was presented in a very positive light and as the leader of his family. And he was portrayed as unquestionably the head of his family. One history series characterized the Anderson as, quote, truly an idealized family, the sort that viewers could relate to and emulate. It seems like during the 60s, especially, there were a lot of programs that were on television that were to teach the kind of roles that should exist in families. And I think probably Father Knows Best is one of those series that probably did it the best in upholding the family, not only upholding the father, but also the mother of the family as well. But, brethren, what has happened in television since that time is that fathers in today's programs are likely to be characterized as bumbling, weak, unenlightened men who are often depicted as being incapable of leading the family. All of us, of course, know of programs like that, even programs that depict the father as being a halfway kind of a decent guy. But usually, in the course of the series, he is not portrayed as one that is a problem solver in the family, but rather he himself is a problem, and he has to get out of the way. All of us, of course, have seen those programs, and some of them certainly are very funny in their own regard, but always, it seems, again, that the father is presented as being inept and unable to lead the family.

But, brethren, tomorrow is Father's Day, and for many, it's a day to honor their fathers, as Mother's Day is to pay honor to mothers. However, brethren, as we examine society, we do not see the world of the media upholding the role of fathers in the family. And it has been said that there's a conspiracy to destroy the fatherhood that God is bestowed upon us in this world. And, frankly, as I examine the media, and I'm sure as you do the same thing, you will probably agree with me that that is true. The idea not only is to destroy fatherhood, but motherhood, and the concept of the family. The idea is to destroy that completely. But, brethren, God and His people uphold the family, and God people must revive the dying art of fatherhood in the church. That's one of the roles that we have as a church, to revive fatherhood and motherhood, and the concept of the family.

And I call fatherhood an art, because it really is an art. Being a father is not a science, because being a father has to do with matters of the heart. It has to do with matters of the heart with regard to children. It's not a science, because each child is different and varies. If we were to look at our three sons, each one of them had been different in many respects. And you can't use the same template for every kid. You just simply can't do that. And that's, again, another reason why it's an art, to be a father. All children are not the same, and a father, frankly, does no best.

I mean, a real father knows best as to how to rear each child in the family. Like I said, brotherhood is important to God, because he created it for a very great purpose. I think we've always understood it within the church, that God is building a family, and he's going to have a family that is going to be with him for all eternity. And so that is the ultimate purpose that God has given when he gave us the opportunity to be fathers and mothers, to be able to be parents and have children, and that that cycle could begin among human beings.

Let's go to the book of Malachi, in the book of Malachi, in chapter 4. And notice here, here he talks about, in verse 4, remember the law of Moses, my servant. And it says, which I commanded him in a horrible for all Israel, with the statutes and the judgments. Here, of course, we see that God has inspired Malachi to write down that we need to remember the law of God.

In a time when the laws of God are being thrown out the window in this world and society that we're living in, we need to remember the laws of God. Because ultimately they are the foundation of what a real Christian is. Aside from the fact that having God's Spirit, again, helps us to learn to obey that law, not only in the letter, but also in the Spirit.

But he's talking about the end of the age here. And he said, Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And so, in the end of the age, prior to the day of the Lord, when that takes place, prior to the time when Jesus Christ once again steps foot upon this earth, we see that Elijah was to come and it was before the dreadful day of the Lord, as it says here in verse 5. And then, notice the next verse, And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

And if you look in the Hebrew here, that word curse means utter destruction. You know, in other words, God would destroy all life off of this planet, brethren, if this does not happen. If this does not occur, that the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children, and the children to their fathers, unless the family somehow can survive, and it survives through the church, brethren.

You know, this will happen. Of course, we know in God's plan that He's going to make it happen, and God's people are going to see that it happens. But this prophecy, brethren, indicates two things which are to happen. Number one, the hearts of children and fathers will be turned to the law of God. To the law of God.

That's why He says, remember the law of God. Our hearts will be turned to the prophets, Moses, and others that we remember the law of God. And number two, brethren, there must be within the church a revitalization of family and the roles of fathers. Let's notice over in Malachi 2 and verse 15, here, he's talking about the concept of marriage over here. And in the case of Israel and Judah, both were equally guilty with regard to this. There were men who were dealing treacherously with their wives, the wives of their youth. They were putting away wives. Divorces were taking place and so forth.

But let's notice in verse 15 of chapter 2 of Malachi, it says, but did he not make them one, talking about marriage here. And it says, having a remnant of the spirit and why one? Why did he make the husband and wife one in marriage?

And it says, he seeks godly offspring. Or if you have a King James godly seed, God wants, again, a godly offspring. And from those godly offspring, he wants to produce more and again to go on from one generation to another. And therefore, he says, take heed to your spirit, take heed to your attitude, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. And it says, for the Lord God of Israel says he hates divorce. He hates divorce, brethren. God does not like divorce. We talked about this before in messages, but he wants that family to be intact.

And brethren, one of the things he wants us to do is to, again, uphold the Father's role in a family. So before the second coming of Jesus Christ, to set up the King of God upon the earth, brethren, this must happen. These two things must happen. And brethren, as we watch world events and see the opposite taking place out there, it can be puzzling just how this is going to come about.

I mean, look at us within the Church of God. All of us have been touched in some way or another, either in our immediate families or in the families that, again, are extended from us by divorce in a very big way. We have many children that are in a situation, again, where they are the children of divorce. And of course, it is puzzling to see how these things that Malachi is talking about are going to come to pass, how it is that the fathers will be turned to the children of the children to the fathers.

But brethren, it is important for us to understand why this must happen and just why it is important to God's ultimate plan of salvation for all mankind. Like I said, He is building a family. In this modern world, fatherhood has been seriously minimalized. It has been marginalized. On the average, a father spends less than 20 minutes per week with his children. Think about that. 20 minutes a week with his children. And by the way, this is in the homes with fathers that are right there.

20 minutes a week. And many children are brought up in single-parent homes. Of course, it is not their fault that it has happened that way. And oftentimes, it is not even the fault of the mate that is forced to take care of children in a single-family home. But I think that part of why we have come to this point is that, again, society has sort of pushed us in that direction as a people. And that is what is resulting. That is what is resulting from what society is doing. In this modern world, again, fatherhood has been marginalized and minimized. Now, it is interesting that in society there are many new models for what a father should be.

It is like we have all heard that there are families that are redefining what a family is. They have booklets and so forth for kids to read about the fact that there are two moms in a home or two dads in a home. How confusing is that to a kid to grow up like that? Particularly, I think, though, it is getting less and less because more and more of the kids in the classroom are in that category.

They are in the category where they do not have a mom and a dad right there in the home. It used to be when kids went off to school and they came home, the mother was there to greet them. My mother, all of my life, was there to greet us. Of course, we had so many children in the family. There were nine children. There is no way she could work outside the home with that number of children.

Oftentimes, when I got home, my father would be there as well. I found that out one time, by the way, I got home late. My mother had told me that I had better be careful about coming home later. My father would get on to me. Sure enough, one day I came home late, took a little detour to see my friends after school was over. I remember the scene. It is vivid in my mind. I would walk up the back stairs. We had these wooden steps that walked up and there was a screen door on the kitchen.

Right there, standing behind the screen door, was my hairy, chested father. Anyway, he got acquainted with me real fast. That was one of the spankings I received that made me decide I'd rather listen to people than be forced to listen to people. And chiefly, that I could listen to my father. But, you know, there are new models now and examples for fathers in this modern age that we live in that is not going to afford that opportunity that many of us may have had when we were growing up. For instance, number one, some say the father is unnecessary. You don't really need a father.

In other words, the unnecessary father model that people have. And the idea being is you don't need a father because a woman can raise a child just on her own. You don't need a father figure in the home. And this is increasingly, again, the idea. And I'm sure that many people who are science-minded would like to make it such that all children are born from testes, and so they don't know their fathers. And, you know, you bring them into the family, and of course they know their mother but never know their father. The next concept, a new model concept, brethren, is the old father concept. In other words, the concept of fatherhood and having a father in the home is rejected because a father epitomizes the ruling patriarch. You don't want to have a patriarch, a ruling patriarch in the family.

So Jim Anderson, you know, and fathers knows best, would not work according to these modern-day models and examples of what fathers should be in our modern 21st century.

Then a third model example that we find in society is the new father. It's called the new father. And the new father is this. He tries to be, or this new father tries to be a genderless parent, not a father. In other words, the idea that in a marriage between, say, two women, lesbians in this particular case, that one can be the father, you know, even though she is a woman, and the other can be the wife. The other can be the mother.

And again, you see this kind of thinking in the world, how warped it is to us. And of course, it can happen not only from a female standpoint, but it can happen in a male standpoint.

You know, you might say the alpha male, and then you have the one that plays the role of the wife in a male-oriented new father concept. And then in our society, we find, this is the case, is the visiting father. The visiting father. In other words, divorce from the mother and is present only on weekends and maybe birthdays. The visiting father, that we see him occasionally. The idea of, again, stopping and visiting. Again, how well does the father get to know his children by just being a visiting father? And yet, these days, because morality is so terrible, oftentimes people have, you know, three or four kids from three or four different women. That's how bad it is, you know, in this world today.

Another model example, new model example, is a stepfather. And by the way, this stepfather can work. Of course, you have a marriage, and of course the stepfather steps into the role of the father. Sometimes, not a stepfather, but other times in the case of a nearby guy, that somebody says, would you be the role model for my child? Sometimes you see this, in fact, where a woman is a single parent and she sort of recruits somebody in the neighborhood.

Would you be the role model for my son? Or, you know, help it in rearing, be an example of a male that has it together? If anybody has it together anymore, I mean, does anybody have it together anymore? So he pretends or tries to be a father, but often offers a weak view of what fatherhood is. Like I said, sometimes a stepfather can be truly a father, more than a biological father can be. So there are those that have that situation that is certainly better than not having anything at all. Then, of course, we all are very familiar with this one. This is a new model example of our 21st age, the Deadbeat Dad. The Deadbeat Dad. In other words, he rejects social, moral, or financial responsibility for his children.

And this happens much in society. And now, though, they're really trying to crack down on deadbeat dads and making them pay, although it's not a perfect system. It is not a perfect system at all. And then a final new model example, brethren, of the kind of fathers in this 21st century that we see is the sperm father. In other words, he is an unfather who leaves no footprints, no influence, or help in the role of the dad. And a lot of women these days, and it's kind of interesting how it seems that in Hollywood this has been popularized, that, again, they go down to the sperm donor bank and check out the donations to see where this guy has a PhD or what his background is, making sure that they, quote, select a good father in the form of genetics, at least. And again, this is an unfather. And so these are the role models, brethren, that we have in the 21st century. This is what is happening out there in the world that you and I live in. All seven of these, in the world. And all seven of these things are happening. And you know, these models show us where fatherhood is going and how it is that fatherhood is so diminished and minimalized in our society.

Now, there is no question about the importance, brethren, of parenting. How important it is cannot, in fact, be measured in terms of its importance. It is super important. And both parents are needed to give a balanced, godly, family foundation. But what we see is, again, movies and TV. And I know we laugh at this and we laugh at that sometimes in these sitcom-type series and how someone makes a buffoon of themselves. It's comedy, you know. No, even Bill Cosby's series, you know, where he's Dr. Huxable. You know, here's this man that is upwardly mobile, very successful. And yet, if you look at Dr. Huxable, how is he presented? Who is the head of that family, by the way, in that particular sitcom? It is the wife who is the head of the family. And I'm there to say that many of you, if I'd ask you to raise your hands, have seen that series and laughed at it and enjoyed it. And certainly there are aspects of it that are very enjoyable. Bill Cosby would be funny, anything he does, probably, to me. But most clearly, brethren, movies and TV clearly are promoting the idea of life without dad, life without the father. And that, in fact, if that could be done, it would be better for everyone, if the father would just simply go away. And I'm dead serious, brethren, of what I'm saying to you here today. In Hollywood, lifestyle is the same image.

In Hollywood, lifestyle is the same image. Do whatever you want to do. Don't worry about responsibility or being a role model. And in Hollywood, with few exceptions, that is the way it is. That is the way it is.

There's a book that was written by David Blankenhorn. It was entitled, Fatherless America, Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem. I'm going to show you why it is an urgent problem, brethren, that we need to pay attention to in the Church of God.

This is what he says in his book. I'm going to summarize some of the things that are in his book. Again, Fatherless America. He said, Fatherhood has been separated from masculinity.

Fatherhood has been separated from masculinity. You know, it's been a while in society that man has become demasculized.

And we see that happening, it seems like, on all fronts as well.

So that being a man has nothing to do with being a father.

Though, sometimes if you look at media, what they would like to do is see men morphed into women.

That's ultimately what they're pushing.

By the way, I don't want my wife to be a man.

You know, I enjoy kissing on my wife.

You know, I don't want to kiss on myself.

I enjoy my wife as a woman, and I believe she enjoys the fact I'm a man.

Most of the time, you know.

But, you know, the difference between us is that I have masculine points of view and she has feminine points of view.

And then we like that organization that way, you know.

We like the way God created us in that manner.

But in the world, again, we're seeing that fatherhood men are being demasculinized, if that is a word.

Blankenhorn goes on to say, instead being a man is identified with this violence, materialism, predatory sexual behavior.

And the father is often pictured as a brute who inhibits the freedom and rights of the wife, that he's holding his wife down.

Now, this is how, again, men are oftentimes depicted.

It's a rare program that you will see where the husband is depicted in a way of being really tender with his wife, and considering her needs.

Blankenhorn goes on. He says that the United States of America is becoming an increasingly fatherless society.

A generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father.

Today, an American child can reasonably expect not to.

Sad, isn't it? God hates divorce. He really does. And, again, I know that sometimes divorce is unavoidable.

But, you know, in this world, it is something that has its consequences.

It can be very hard on children in so many ways.

Of course, marriage is kept together, whether there is such violence that would occur, or other problems that can be serious.

It's better that they not remain in that kind of an atmosphere as well. So, I'm not saying again there's never a time where divorce should not happen.

Blankenhorn goes on to say, Fatherlessness is the engine driving our most urgent social problems.

From crime to adolescent pregnancy to domestic violence.

And behind it all, it's like in the case of the, you know, in the United States of slavery.

What happened there was the destruction of the family, the black family.

It is greatly impacted, and frankly, in many cases, it has not been able to bounce back, percentage-wise.

And we see problems, again, in black families.

Not just, of course, only in black families, but all families.

But particularly because of the lack of a father being there in the home.

Blankenhorn goes on and says, Fatherlessness is the greatest predictor of criminal activity, teen pregnancy, school dropout, joblessness, drug addiction, and suicide.

Amazing, isn't it? Is a father important to the family?

This is what Blankenhorn talks about, the fatherless America that we're living in, and we're confronting the most urgent social problems.

He's got it right. He understands.

In this time, brethren, fatherhood is under such fire that it may be the most demanding family role in our society right now.

Being a father, being the kind of father that we should be.

The fight against fatherhood is on the ropes, you might say, and we're losing the battle in the world. We are actually losing the battle in our families, in the world, because this nuclear family, this good family unit is being torn to smithereens.

As feminism, brethren, has assailed the roles of wives, the women of our society, now fatherhood is under fire.

We see feminism really trying to tear women up, to lead them away from what the role of being a wife was to be, and to be a mother should be.

Now we see the same thing happening with men, so that the family unit is disintegrated.

That's one of the things that Satan wants to do. He wants to destroy that family unit. And God is a family. And his family, brethren, is going to be ruling this earth in the future. And Satan knows that.

Brethren, there's no question that parents, men and women, possess a certain power in society which Satan realizes.

Now we all have power. I know we haven't realized, perhaps, that we have the power that we do have, but we do all have power.

And Satan is trying to seek to destroy that power that fathers and mothers have in family.

And in fathers, in fact, fatherhood represents an institution that is under fire in the media and by the prince of the power of the air.

You know, God has built into fatherhood a power that we need to consciously mend intentionally and purposely utilize for building a godly heritage and better families within the church.

We have really a very important job of using that power in the right way.

Now, one of the principal dangers to fatherhood today is that fathers do not have the vital sense of duty.

They don't have that vital sense of duty, brethren. Power, responsibility, and support that they have had in the past.

James Dobson wrote this. He's, of course, one that has family radio programs.

But James Dobson wrote, he says, quote, I really agree with that. As goes the family, so goes the nation.

Look the way we're going, brethren. Look the way the world is going right now. Look the way the United States is going.

We're losing many of those concepts.

We're losing those things that we really have been the bedrock of the United States in the past, have helped us through difficult and hard times. And that is that family unit and having the father again leading that family.

Well, brethren, in view of this, can it be any surprise that in preparing a people for the return of Jesus Christ to set up the kingdom of God, that he tells us very clearly that he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers?

You know, why would we be surprised that God is going to do that in the end of the age here at this particular time?

You know, some things to remember about the power of fatherhood, brethren, is this.

Number one, fathers impact in a generational way. They don't just impact the family, the immediate family, but they do so in a generational way.

And number two, brethren, the power of a father must be used wisely. That power that he has has to be used very wisely.

You know, it can do good. It could do tremendous good, that power. Or it can do tremendous damage as well.

Let's go over to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 6 over here. And notice what the Apostle Paul says.

Now, maybe you don't need this sermon because you've got a perfect family in every regard.

I guess you really don't need to listen right now. So just close your book. You don't need to read that. What's in the book.

Of course, I'm being facetious because we all need it. I don't care how good our families may be. We all need it, brethren.

We need what God has to say and be reminded even if we know things.

But in Ephesians 6 and verse 1, Ephesians 6 and verse 1, it says, And so children are admonished, brethren, to be cooperative. To be cooperative in the fathering and mothering process.

To obey your parents in the Lord. And that's the right thing to do.

One thing old Bill Cosby used to say to his kids, I brought you into this world and I can take you out.

And the parents brought life to you young people. And you owe them this.

That you should obey your parents. Submit to them in your life.

To honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise.

And so if we keep that admonition, you know, God will bless us.

Because it is a commandment that comes with promise. That God will bless us.

And we can again go and look at all the promises that God has made in the Bible.

And we can see many a promise to young men and women who obey their parents. Particularly in the book of Proverbs. And all through the Bible.

And notice in verse 3 that it may be well with you and you may live long upon the earth.

And you know, if you want to keep alive young people, you have to listen.

Because oftentimes people get into trouble when they don't listen.

They end up, you know, crashing and burning in their lives. And if they live, they regret it. That they didn't listen to their parents, to their fathers and mothers.

In verse 4, in you, fathers. So here Paul addresses the fathers here specifically.

Do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

And so the father is told to take responsibility.

You know, don't delegate that to the mother entirely, as some men do in terms of rearing their children.

You know, let the woman take care of the responsibility. But no, the man has responsibility over his family.

And it falls on his shoulders. You know, God is going to bring the man before his throne when it comes to his family.

He's not going to have the wife come before him, unless she's done wrong, obviously.

But he's going to have the father come to answer for his family and what he did in his family.

And so the father has to take responsibility on his shoulders.

And again, certainly both parents are important, but dad is to take the lead, both in the physical sense and in the spiritual sense.

And you know, I've talked to women before in the ladies' clubs here locally, and I've encouraged them, you know, let your husband lead.

Quite frankly, sometimes wives and mothers can be so domineering that it's difficult for a husband to lead or a father to lead.

Well, I think we look in the Bible, the wives should be letting their husbands lead.

If you've got a husband that needs encouragement and all of that, you know, don't stand in his way because he'll be discouraged easily.

But encourage him. I think, by the way, a wife helps to make the man, and I believe the husband helps to make the woman, the wife.

There's a reciprocity between the two. And so a woman can make her husband into the kind of man that God wants him to be, or help at least in doing that.

He's going to have to take responsibility.

You know, when I was a kid growing up, we had an old adage that the nut does not fall too far from the tree.

I don't know how many of you remember that old adage.

And usually, when that particular adage was used, it was because maybe the son goofed up and did something wrong.

Well, you know, he's not much different than his dad. He's about like his dad.

But, you know, in the good sense, though, too, the nut does not fall too far from the tree.

What you see in a young man or a young woman, oftentimes you can look at the dad, and obviously the mother, and you can see the traits that are there.

The good traits that are there. Because it tends to be that that giant oak, again, drops that seed and it becomes like that giant oak that dropped it.

You know, the father molds and shapes the son, and he has an impact upon his daughter, molds and shapes the daughter as well.

And like father, like son, like daughter.

You know, there's an impact, again, and a power that is set there, and it sets in motion, again, a tremendous process that God intends in families.

Let's go back to Genesis chapter 5. I want to show you something that's kind of interesting here.

In Genesis chapter 5 and verse 3, here it's talking about Adam.

In Genesis chapter 5 and verse 3, Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth.

And so here Seth was in the likeness and the image of Adam as we see what is recorded here in the book of Genesis.

Now let's go up, let's bounce on up to verse 25 of chapter 4, the previous chapter there.

And notice, and Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth.

For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. So apparently he was like Abel, probably in terms of his appearance, his physical appearance, and he was like Adam in that same regard.

But notice in verse 26, and asked for Seth to him also a son was born and he named him Enosh.

But then notice, then men began to call on the name of the eternal.

Now it's important for us to understand, brethren, that when Adam rebelled in the garden of Eden, Adam obviously made a terrible choice that impacted and has impacted mankind for the last 6,000 years.

But we must not think somehow that Adam rejected everything that God had instructed him to do.

Adam, in all likelihood, by the way, was a man who adhered to many of the things that God had taught him, that God had instructed him in.

And Adam continued to call upon God. We know that is true because they brought offerings to the entryway to the garden of Eden. Remember where the angels were with the swords that turned every way.

And according to legend, Adam became a great king upon the face of the earth.

And so Seth was one who apparently followed in the footsteps of his father Adam, and he himself began to call upon God in that time.

And so he turned to God in the way that Abel had done.

And again, I think we see with Abel that Adam must have impacted him as well.

But Adam impacted Seth. He had to learn from Adam because there was no one else to learn from.

And during this time, again, they began to call upon God. So the point is, brethren, what we do as fathers does not end with us, but extends from us and sets things in motion.

Because out of Adam came men who were very righteous. Enoch was one of those that was very righteous.

And Noah and others that were righteous men through the years, and they must again have gotten their understanding from, at first, from Adam and what God had revealed to him.

I want you to consider this, brethren, that as a parent, you are like a transmitter, and your children are open receivers. They're receiving everything that you're broadcasting.

You know, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, they are receiving everything that you are broadcasting to them.

Brethren, you are the prophet to your children. You are the apostle, the one sent.

You are the truth-bearer to your children. And what you say and do is to them what is right or wrong.

That's how they form the concepts of what is right and wrong.

And again, we see this in families where, you know, you have very decent families, that that is extended on to children, even from a worldly perspective.

We see this to be so. And you know, Mr. Armstrong used to say, as long as people are obeying God and different things, that God will bless them in those things that they're obeying God.

You know, there are some people that do very well with family.

So, brethren, there is an impact by a father which cannot be denied. There's a power that is there. And that power must be used in a positive way.

Remember, you can positively impact your children. And that's what God intends to happen, brethren.

He wants us to impact our children in set of motion for generation after generation to turn to God.

You know, when I pray, by the way, I remember prior to the birth of our first grandson, Isaac, you know, I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would be able to use him, you know, in his life.

That God would guide him all the days of his life. And that he would be in the kingdom of God.

I'm sure you've done that with your children that are born and your grandchildren as well.

And we prayed that for our sons, that that would happen for them. That we wanted them to be a part of the kingdom of God.

And we wanted them to be used of God in some way in the church.

Psalm 78. Psalm 78. Let's notice what it says over here.

I know my wife and I are consciously trying to teach and guide our children, have done so since they were born.

And we'll continue to do so throughout their lives now. Our oldest son is over 30 years of age, but, you know, still you remain their parents.

Still you remain their father. And you still have, again, that positive influence. You know, God uses his influence.

When a third of the angels rebelled, brethren, he influenced two-thirds of the angels to remain solid.

And so he used his influence. And we need to use the influence that we have.

You might say the kind of assets that you have in your life that can impact somebody else.

In Psalm 78, in verse 1, let's notice here what it says. It says, a contemplation of Asaph.

It says, Give ear, O my people, to my law. Again, remember the law of Moses. Remember the law of Moses.

If incline your ears to the words of my mouth, I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old.

And so here he talks about how there would be mysteries that would be revealed that were of old.

You know, it is amazing to me that mankind finds things mysteries that should not be so.

All of us know that in schools they talk about how Columbus discovered America in 1492.

1492 AD. But at the same time, now in schools they're teaching children that the Vikings visited North America a long, long time before that.

I've been reading a book recently that discusses how not only was America occupied in the 80s from B.C. but it was occupied in the B.C.

That there's every indication that Solomon himself, the ships that he created, remember, and made, and he had Hiram's servants to go and utilize those ships that they very well could have come to North America.

And that, in fact, there are coins, by the way, that they have found all through the United States.

And different relics from people that journeyed to America in the B.C.s. back in the B.C.s.

But how is it, brethren, that in 1492 the world rediscovered America through Columbus? It rediscovered it.

So far as I know, no one knew, again, that there was life. In fact, people thought that the world was flat.

But people lose knowledge. That's how it happens. People lose knowledge. They forget. Frankly, in the past, there were generations that were much wiser than we are.

And we forgot their wisdom and left it behind.

And, you know, the dark sayings, the mysteries we could know, but we don't listen. We forget.

Going on, verse 3, it says, In other words, our fathers taught us these things. They've instructed us in these things.

And so here they, again, see, we see the need to pass on knowledge from one generation to another.

That this has happened. It happened certainly with the laws of God, you know, for Israel.

That through the years, although there were times, again, where they lost the book of the law.

You remember the story about that during the time of Josiah.

But going on, it says, And so the truths, the mysteries cannot be hidden from the children, telling to the generation to come the praises of God in His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generations to come might know them. And so here is a commandment, brethren, that we teach our children that they will know again these tremendous truths.

The children who would be born, that they may rise and declare them to their children.

We want our children to declare again the truths to their children.

That they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God.

But keep His commandments and may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

You know, Christ said, when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith? Well, brethren, will He find us faithfully passing these things on to our children, instructing our children and guiding our children, teaching them the truth that we have received? Unless we, brethren, learn from one generation to another, mistakes will be made over and over again and knowledge will be lost.

It's like George, Santa Anna. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let's go to Deuteronomy 6.

So we have, again, a mandate. Fathers, we have a job to do.

There was a group called the Promise Keepers. I don't know if they're even still out there doing anything now, but the idea was to bring fathers together and talk about the role of the father.

We have a mandate, brethren.

We have a mandate, fathers, to, again, be a tool in God's hand and conveying the truth from one generation to another. In verse 1, let's notice, now this is the commandment of these, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the eternal your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life that your days may be prolonged.

Again, the longevity of a nation has to do with the family. Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord your God, of fathers who promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

Hear, O Israel, the eternal is our God. The Lord is one. And you shall love the eternal your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. So they have to be a part of us. You know, when you have something that really is a part of you, deep down, it tends to have the desire to burst out, to be given to someone else.

You know, when we learn something new, very often, you know, we want to, again, tell somebody right away. Well, brethren, we've got to continue, again, to tell the truth about God's way of life, God's laws, and convey that to our children. And it says, you shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as front lips between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. And it shall be when the Lord your God brings you in the land which he swore to your fathers, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you a large and beautiful city which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, hewn out of wells which you did not dig, vineyards when you have eaten and are full.

Then beware, lest you forget the eternal who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. So again, we need to remember, brethren, these things, and convey them over to our children, our kids. Our children are admonished in the Bible to listen to their fathers.

Listen to their fathers. Let me tell you, brethren, your father and your mother love you more than anybody else upon the face of the earth. My father died nearly 20 years ago. My mother died back in 1989. Even though they've been gone a long time, I still have a deep love for both of them, for what they did for me in my life.

They weren't in the church. They'd know the truth, but they were good parents. And they impact me today, the things I do and the things I say. But our parents are there to guide us, and the Bible admonishes children to listen to their fathers.

I'm not going to go to each one of these and turn to them, but I want to quote them to you. You might want to write them down. Proverbs 4.1, it says, Hear my children the instruction of a father, and give attention to no understanding. Listen to what he has to say to you. Proverbs 6.20, My son, keep your father's command, and do not forsake the law of your mother. Proverbs 13 verse 1, A wise son heaves his father's instructions, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

In Proverbs 23 verse 22, Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. So listen to your father, what your father has to say. And a father, like I said earlier, must use his influence in a godly and a positive way so that the good fruits are born. In a book called A Spiritual Clinic, it discusses the families in the 1800s in New York City. And from the book, by the way, it mentions two families to give you an idea, again, the impact of what we do as families, as parents, as fathers.

There are two families in the 1800s, one family, by the way. The head of that family, the patriarch of that family, was Max Jukes. He was a drifter. He was a moonshiner. Among his known descendants, there were 310 vagrants. 440 had their lives wrecked by godless living. 130 were sent to prison. 7 were murderers. 100 were alcoholics. 60 were habitual thieves. 190 were prostitutes. And collectively, they cost the state of New York $1.2 million.

Now, there was another family in New York at the same time, in the 1800s. His name was Jonathan Edwards. He was a well-known minister, preacher, of that time. And his heritage was this.

He included 300 preachers, 30 judges, 60 authors, 14 university presidents, and one vice president of the United States. You see the impact that a father can have. In a fatherless home, by the way, these are statistics that come from the United States government. The incarceration rates in families without a father. A young man who grows up in homes without fathers are twice as likely to end up in jail as those who come from traditional two-parent families. Twice as likely. Suicide. 63% of youth suicides are from fabulous homes. This is from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Juvenile detention rates. 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes. U.S. Department of Justice. Confused identities. Boys who grow up in father-absent homes are more likely than those in father-present homes to have trouble establishing appropriate sex roles and gender identity. Importance of the father being in the home. Achievement.

Children from low-income, two-parent families outperform students from high-income, single-parent homes. Almost twice as many high achievers come from two-parent homes as one-parent homes. And that's from, by the way, an article from the Kettering Foundation entitled, One-Parent Families and Their Children. And then here's another one. Criminal activity. The likelihood that a young male will engage in criminal activity doubles if he is raised without a father and triples if he lives in a neighborhood with high concentration of single-parent families.

That's from Baruch College, by the way, 1993. What is the point, brother? The point is what we do and say makes all the differences to many people for now and years to come. We have a responsibility, fathers. We really do. It's not important so much that Father's Day gets celebrated, brethren. But what is important is that fathers celebrate being a father. Fathers are thankful to have that role and that responsibility.

What conclusions can we draw, brethren? What we do see, I think, brethren, is very clear from what we've gone through. We need to, again, realize that what traits we have inherited that we should build on and perfect. Certainly all of us, I think, could look back. Probably our parents, and we could say, you know, they made these mistakes or had this error, that error in their families. It's like if I told you about my family, I could talk about a lot of the problems we had in the family as well.

But what we've tried to do in our marriage, my wife and I, and our family, is we've tried to see where the problems are and try to correct them. Not to complain about our families, particularly my family, because her family was in the church and, you know, we're tremendous parents in every way and still are. But we've had to learn again from the experiences and try to better and to perfect in our families the things that we could.

And so we need to, again, evaluate that. Which weaknesses should we get rid of so that our children don't pass them along? We don't want to continue this, again, vicious cycle. We see the results, brethren, in society from the 60s onward. So we know the results. And now what we've got to do is, brethren, look at those things that we can change so that we can perfect and do those things that are right in our lives. And, you know, we need to, again, acknowledge the powerful impact that families have upon us.

And we need to set examples as fathers and mothers for our children. Being the Father, of course, is, again, a heavy responsibility. And today we're emphasizing this for the fathers within the church and all of us to be taught about. As fathers, brethren, also, we must have a clear and open, truthful communication with our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in heaven as well. We need to have that relationship that is clear between a Father and God in heaven.

We must know them and learn to know them better every single day. You know, when we pray, when we talk to God, when we study God's Word, we come to know God in a better way. And we need to realize, men, that to be godly men we must be first a man of God. We have to be men of God, that we live by again this book. This is how we live, right here. This is what we are.

And, of course, God's Spirit that is given to us. And, you know, our fathering men should be the extension of our personal relationship with God, our Father, in heaven. We have this relationship with our Father in heaven. And, again, we need to come to terms with how we were brought up. And if our own fathers were good, follow their example. If there were bad things in their example, then we need to face it, accept it, forgive it, and go on and do better in our lives.

In some cases, breaking the cycle and in others strengthening those things that we've learned from the past. One thing we don't want to ever get into, men, is speaking evil to our fathers and our mothers. Because it does say, in Proverbs 20 and verse 20, Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in deep darkness. So God does not like his people to beleak about their parents and to speak evil of their parents.

You know, also, I think as fathers, men, we need to communicate with future fathers and set them a good example of what a father should be. To be a role model to them as God's people. Rather, we must understand the importance and the far-reaching effects that God places on our jobs and our responsibilities as parents.

That he is actually going to use our examples as a pattern for future generations. You know, the Church of God is going to be a pattern for future generations when the Kingdom of God is set up. But, you know, we have to learn to be proper and right examples ourselves right now. What a privilege, brethren, it is to be a part of this wonderful calling that God has for us and the future that we have in store for us in the Kingdom of God. Brethren, fathering is important. And if we really believe it, then we need to ask ourselves the question, what am I going to do about it? What am I going to do about it? Are we going to again teach our children and pass on that knowledge, men, to the next generation so that generations to come will know of the truth of God and rejoice in it?