For the Love of the Father

I am recently shorn, as you might have noticed. We had a deal at Waldo Middle School. We had a twin day. And one of the people that I teach with is a kind of a heavyset guy, has a goatee. You know, kids are always mistaking us for one another. And the trick is, he's beginning to bald, and so he shaves his head down to everything. So I decided to throw a kids for a loop on twin day, and we zipped everything off and wore the same clothes for the day and showed up looking identical. And the kids kind of came in and went, That was great. That's great. Well, brother, on December 6, 1907, the very small town of Menonga, West Virginia, experienced one of the deadliest industrial accidents in American history. Inside of the coal mines, number five and number six, in Menonga, the coal dust in the air mixed with methane gas, which is often a common byproduct of mining bituminous coal, and a small spark ignited the mixture. The resulting explosion in the Menonga coal mines killed 362 workers at the mine. Cemented that as the most deadly mining accident, but it is still one of the deadliest industrial accidents. It is the most deadly mining accident. And when the dust settled, over 1,000 children in the small town of Menonga were left fatherless.

In 1908, a woman from Menonga named Grace Golden Clayton organized a one-time event in July of 1908 to honor the men who had died. In her words, it was partly the explosion that got me thinking about how important and loved most fathers are. All those lonely children, those heartbroken wives and mothers, made orphans and widows in a matter of a few minutes. Despite her day of memorial on July 5, 1908, to honor the fathers of Menonga, West Virginia, Grace Clayton is not the person credited with the founding of what we now know as Father's Day. Sonora Dodd, from my own hometown of Spokane, Washington, was sitting in her church one Sunday in early May and heard a sermon on the importance of Mother's Day. She was inspired to do something similar for the fathers of the world as well, because her own father, who was a widowed Civil War veteran, was able to keep his family together after his wife passed away during childbirth, single-handedly raising five sons and her. From her description, he was an incredible father, and inspired by his example, she lobbied local churches to set aside a day to also honor fathers. That day was set in the June of 1910, initially. Her idea took off, and the celebration began to spread from town to town, spreading outward from Spokane. And between the years of 1910 and 1966, several U.S. presidents wanted to make the day of Father's Day an institution. Woodrow Wilson came to Spokane in 1916, and give a speech, and proposed that it would become a national holiday as of 1916.

Congress resisted, and the reason that they resisted is that they were concerned that it would become commercialized. Kind of interesting, given what we see of the advertisements and things nowadays during Father's Day. But as of 1966, Lyndon Johnson made a presidential proclamation locking in the day as the third Sunday of June, and then in 1972, a congressional resolution signed into law by Richard Nixon, permanently established Father's Day as a national holiday in the United States.

Today, Father's Day has become a largely commercialized holiday, much like every other holiday in the United States. But its original roots cannot be ignored. It is not about flat-screen televisions. It's not about computers. It's not about electronics. It's not about the new barbecue grill.

Father's Day is designed to honor and to celebrate the important role that fathers play in the lives of their children.

Being a father is an incredible responsibility, and since the early 1940s, there have been numerous studies done on children who have grown up in households without a father.

In fact, the detriments to children were discovered to be so profound that within sociology, there is an entire subcategory of study known as Father Absence.

An entire subcategory of sociology that studies that exact thing.

The studies that they've done have shown that children with involved, nurturing, and playful fathers have a higher IQ, better speech development, cognitive abilities, toddlers go on to school to be more academically ready, and teenagers are 43% more likely to obtain As in classes, and 33% less likely to repeat a grade than children with absent fathers. Now, we know statistics are what they are, and so that's obviously not going to be the case in all situations. But the presence of a nurturing father helps develop a child's social development. It allows them to be more emotionally secure, more confident to explore their surroundings, and they're able to have more appropriate social interactions with their peers as they grow older.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one study of school-aged children found that children with good relationships with their father were less likely to experience depression, to exhibit disruptive behavior, to lie, and were more likely to exhibit prosocial behavior. The same study found that boys with involved fathers had fewer school behavior problems and that girls had stronger self-esteem. In addition, numerous studies have found that children who live with their fathers are more likely to have good physical and emotional health, to achieve academically, and to avoid drugs, violence, and delinquent behavior. Now, again, it should be noted that these statistics only pan out when we're talking about a nurturing, caring, loving father. We all know that that's not always the case, and that there are the exact opposite out there. You know, Ephesians 6, 4 was written for a reason. You know, provoke not your children to wrath. Some fathers are very good at that. Very, very good at that. In addition, these statistics aren't the same. I found this really interesting. From the focus on the family, the information that's out there, states that if the mother and father are not within a functional, loving marriage relationship, that the statistics won't be the same. That you can actually have the best mother and the best father in the world, and without them being in that committed, loving relationship, the statistics decrease. The chances for children to exhibit social and emotional problems increase. The father's role within a complete family unit is extremely important. However, according to the 2009 census, the United States' 24 million children are living in households absent of a father, for whatever reason. These children, statistically, are again, on average, two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional, and behavioral problems, to be victims of abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers. Brethren, we are hardwired to need a father relationship. We're hardwired to need that relationship, not just want it, not just hope for it, but to absolutely desperately need it. Without it, we're unable to develop properly socially, emotionally, and even spiritually.

But why do we have such an intense need for a father? Why such an intense need for a father? God the Father designed the family unit, and He designed it in such a way that there are certain roles in that family unit. Those roles in that physical family are types of the roles of the glorious spiritual family that is to come. There must be a father, there must be a mother, and there is to be children, and everyone has something to learn spiritually from everyone else as they go through their physical lives. We are called to be God's children and to achieve all the spiritual benefits that go along with it. But in order to obtain them, we have to practice. We have to practice now in this life and learn the lessons that we need to learn. One of those lessons was given to us by God through the Sinaitic Covenant. Let's go ahead and turn to Exodus 20, verse 12. We'll start out there even though it's one of those memory verses. But Exodus 20, verse 12. And we'll take a look at a scripture of the Apostle Paul called the First Commandment with Promise. So Exodus 20, verse 12.

It says, It is a very simple commandment with an absolutely profound conclusion. We're told to honor our parents, to hold a deep respect, to obey them. And we're told that when we do that, we will receive the blessing of a long and happy life. Now, there are physical and spiritual implications all over that. Physically, we honor our physical father and our mother, but how much more important is it for us to honor and obey our spiritual father?

Brethren, we learn how to honor God by learning how to honor our physical fathers. As we mentioned earlier, not all individuals have had the benefit of a loving, nurturing father. In fact, all too often, especially nowadays, our physical fathers are not the loving, merciful, and nurturing fathers that they were intended by God to be.

And as a result, many of them who have grown up in households with ungodly fathers have a very difficult time having a strong, solid relationship with God the Father and have emotional and spiritual consequences as a result. Many men see themselves as a provider for their family, and many of them see that that's where the role ends. I provide. That's my job. That's what I do. My father was a lot like that. My dad went to work. He came home. He didn't see the need to emotionally provide for our family when he got there. He was distant. Emotionally distant. Otherwise, uninvolved. And for the most part, to a certain extent, might as well have been absent when he was there. But he wasn't really there.

Fathers are meant to be providers. They provide physically for the family, but they're also responsible for providing emotionally as well.

Our Heavenly Father is a provider. And if we can boil down and concentrate the things that God provides for his children and make an analogy to what physical fathers provide, you'll find they're one in the same.

They're one in the same. A good, nurturing, loving, and caring father provides the following three things to his children. He provides instruction. He provides protection. And he provides correction. Instruction, protection, and correction. And these three things are absolutely essential to the proper physical and emotional development of a child.

In addition, a child's spiritual development can benefit from this as well. Let's take a look at the first of those three things. We'll start with instruction. Just a quick show of hands. How many of you guys have learned some sort of life lesson or skill from your fathers that you will never forget?

Hands are going up all over the room. Our fathers instruct us in many things. They teach us a work ethic, teach you how to work, teach you how to hunt, how to fish, how to repair things, how to be honorable, respectful, and chivalrous among a whole host of other physical things. And most of the lessons that we learn are multi-generational. It's no secret that I enjoy fishing. Where did I learn to fish? I learned it from my dad. Where did he learn to fish? From his dad. And the trend just goes on. These are things that are passed on from generation to generation. But the fact of it is, whether we learn that lesson or not is entirely up to us. It comes down to whether we're willing to listen, whether we're willing to be teachable, and whether we're willing to be humble and sometimes admit that maybe we don't know all of the answers. Maybe father really does know best, as the saying goes.

My father had a gift. I can't think of any other way to describe it. He could take a broken piece of any kind of machinery out there. If it had gears and pieces, he could take one look at it, poke it around a couple times, twist it two or three times, and the thing was fixed.

People from the neighborhood would drive the car down and roll into the driveway and go, Listen, what's it doing? He'd have it diagnosed and have a parts list for him in no time. He was also someone who was extremely picky on how things were done. He was a perfectionist. And after a few times working out in the garage, not doing it his way and doing it correctly, I quickly grew tired of my lessons.

I'm not an incredible mechanic. I do all right. I manage to limp our cars together to keep them mostly on the road. But nowhere near where I probably could have been. Nowhere near where I probably could have been had I taken the opportunity to spend the time to put my own ego in check and learn those lessons. Fact is, I wasn't willing to be taught. Are we teachable? Are we willing to be led by the instructions of our Father, or are we constantly trying to go off on our own?

In addition to being teachable, are we teaching? Let's take a look at Psalm 78. Flip over to Psalm 78 and we'll start in verse 1. God makes it abundantly clear in this section that a Father's job is to teach his children. Psalm 78. Let's start in verse 1. Psalm 78 in verse 1 says, We see here that there is a generational set-up on this. One generation teaching the next, and the next, and the next. And that it's done through the role of a Father.

It was designed to be a Father's job to teach, to admonish, and to prepare their children to live this life. And in much of the world nowadays, this simply isn't getting done. You know, we mentioned Ephesians 6, verse 4 earlier, kind of somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but let's go ahead and turn there real quick and read the rest of that scripture. Ephesians 6, verse 4, we oftentimes stop after the first part of that. We stick with the don't provoke your children to wrath part, and then we don't go any further.

We leave it right there. But there's a more important lesson at the end of that. Ephesians 6, verse 4, And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath. That's normally, again, where we stop. Keep going here. But bring them up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. So it's really a two-fold command to the fathers there.

It's don't provoke them, and bring them up. Teach them. Train them in God's teachings and admonitions. Flip over to Deuteronomy 6 real quick. We'll establish the pattern here. Deuteronomy 6. I'm going to hop around just a little bit here. I apologize. Deuteronomy 6, and we'll read, starting in verse 6. Deuteronomy 6, 6 says, And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. So we should teach these things diligently, consistently, constantly. And you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

That's indicating all the time. From sun up to sun down. We need to be teaching. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, and you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. You know what I'm teaching? One of the favorite things to use in science are what are called teachable moments. And teachable moments are the things that are unexpected.

They pop up when you at least expect them. But they fit in, in a way, with the lesson that you're trying to teach. And so you can kind of weave it in. I'm a very visual person, and when I read this section, verse 7 in my head shows me these teachable moments between a father and a son.

And so let me paint what I see in my head when I read verse 7. I picture a father and a son in ancient Israel walking together, talking together as they farm, working together, shepherding together. And all the while, as the two of them are together, things are coming up, and the father's taking the time to point out God's way, using the things that they see, the shared experiences that they have.

It's hard to do that if they're not around. Man, this is our job. This is the task that God has placed before us to ensure that our children know His ways, that we're teaching these things. And we know that in the absence of a father, that there are examples in the Bible where this is done through grandmothers. Timothy's grandmother, for example, passed the teachings on to him. But we have to be teaching. We have to be teaching constantly. And you know, our Heavenly Father is teaching us as well. This book is full of instructions. Full of lessons.

He teaches us through magazine articles, television shows, life experiences, sermons, our personal Bible study, answered prayer. Are we listening? Are we seeing it? Are we submitting ourselves, and are we allowing ourselves to be led?

In addition to instruction, fathers protect their children. Mothers, too. Don't get me wrong. Mothers, too. In fact, this is a story of a mother, actually. I had an opportunity to see something absolutely incredible this last week, springer fishing. We went down to the lower Willamette, and we were trolling along the barges there on the opposite side of Sauvie Island. So if you're familiar with that lower part of the Willamette, you've got Sauvie Island, and then that ship traffic that comes up through Willamette goes right up through there.

We were trolling over where the barges are parked, and there's those little wooden dolphins all over the place, those little pilings that are set up. And on the top of one of those little pilings was a nest, and we heard this little piercing cry coming from this nest. We kind of motored a little closer to it, kind of looking around, and it pops the little head of this baby osprey. Just sitting there, just looking around, and we thought, well, this'll be kind of fun. We'll call back and forth to it. We'll talk to it. And we'd make a little mimic noise, and it would call back, and we'd make a mimic, and it would call back. It was really neat. Had a chance to kind of talk with the animals, so to speak. We're about 20 yards away from the nest, and we noticed that after a little bit, the cries got more frequent, and they got significantly more alarmed. And we thought, well, that's kind of odd. And then we heard a really loud piercing, like, really deep piercing cry from behind us, and we looked back to see a bald eagle with its wings tucked, heading straight for that nest. And so we're in the boat going, what do we do? Should we intervene? Should we let nature happen? I mean, what do we do? But we didn't have the time to act, because mama showed up. And that mother osprey hit that eagle full-fledged, midair, wings tucked, talons out when she came in, a third the size of that bald eagle, a third the size, absolutely no care for her own personal safety. Just came in there and drilled that eagle, and continued to peck at it and chase it away. We watched it chase it over the—we couldn't see him anymore. She ran him off completely. Parents protect their children. And for those of you who have been parents, no, you know, there really isn't a question in your mind. You would gladly die if it came to protect your children. In a split second. We care very deeply, but you know, we can't be around all the time. Our children grow up. They go off and they do their own things. We were talking this morning on the way over. Aiden turns four next week. Sitting there thinking to ourselves, where in the world did the last four years go? But these kids grow up. They go off and they go on—they go on to their own. We can't intercede when they get into trouble when they're off on their own. You can't just step in and go, uh-uh-uh, no-no, when they're 19, 20 years old. So what do we do? What does a parent do? A parent establishes rules when their children are younger that are going to teach them, that are going to train them, and that are going to allow them to make good decisions when they head off on their own. Let's take a look at Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22. And we'll see that, you know, there's a biblical precedent for this. Proverbs 22. We'll start in verse 6.

Proverbs 22, verse 6 says, Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. My dad had a lot of rules growing up. A lot of rules. You know, I didn't understand them and appreciate most of them at the time. In fact, admittedly, I broke plenty of them. And I resented them a lot of the times.

But I came to recognize with age and maturity that those rules weren't there to be onerous. Those weren't things that were meant to be a burden to me. They were not things that were set because he didn't want me to have any fun. They were there because I needed to learn how to live properly. So that when I was out of the house or when he was dead and gone, I would still be going in the direction that I should be going.

The rules were there so that I had a set of boundaries that governed standard behavior. Here's the line. Don't cross that line. Since I've had my own children, I've made plenty of rules for them as well. And none of the rules that I've set up are meant to make my kids' lives difficult either. They're going to think they are. Here in about another 12, 13 years, they're going to think they are.

But I've made these rules to keep them safe, to protect them from the world around them. In reality, those rules are the fences that I have built around my children. They are the way that I protect them from the outside world. Keeping the rules and obeying these rules show our love for our parents. They allow us to honor them. Our Heavenly Father has done the same thing.

He's given us a series of rules and teachings in order to protect us and to keep us safe. And again, these laws aren't burdensome. They're not to be resented. In fact, we're told we're to love the law or to rejoice in it. The law shows us that God loves His children. He cares for them, and He wants to protect them. In John 14, we see an exchange between Christ and the disciples that kind of defines the connections between the law, Christ, and God the Father.

So if you turn over to John 14. We're going to start in verse 21. John 14 verse 21. John 14 21 says, He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. One more time. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, and they make a very major point here to say not Judas Iscariot. So Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him.

And we will come to him, and we will make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. So he says, look, these are the words that God has given me to give to you. And if you love God, you will keep what he says you need to keep.

Brethren, this is not something that is an option. The commandments as set up in the Sinaitic covenant as well as the New Covenant are a contractual agreement. God tells us, look, here are my terms. You will keep my commandments, and if you do, I will dwell within you. You show your love for me by keeping my commandments and doing what you're told, but it's not an option.

These are the rules. If you decide not to keep them, you have no part in me. Sounds harsh at first glance. And to much of modern Christianity today, oh, that's harsh. This may sound remarkably similar to some of the conversations that may have involved your teenage you and your parents at some point in time. I've heard this more than once. My house, my rules. You don't like it? There's the door. Followed by, I love you. I don't want you to go.

But if you cannot abide by the rules of my household, you are not a part of my household. God wants us to be a part of His kingdom, but there is a set of standards that we must be conformed to in order to be a part of it.

Children that don't obey their parents show their parents that they don't have respect for them, that they don't honor them. God won't stand for it, just His physical parents don't stand for it either. And when it happens, we move on to the last piece that good honorable fathers do. They correct their children.

When it's needed, they correct their children. For those of you that have been parents, you know full well that even if your rules are set, they will be broken. They will be broken. It happens. Carnal human nature doesn't like rules. It doesn't like boundaries. It doesn't like to be said, hey, these are the boundaries in which you must live. First thing carnal nature does is walk over there and go, yeah? Put one foot outside the line and say, now what? That's carnality. That's carnality. We can't do it, ultimately. We can't do it without the help of God's Holy Spirit.

And we know that's the importance of conversion and baptism. But, brethren, our Heavenly Father is a merciful God. Our Heavenly Father is a merciful God. He doesn't tolerate our iniquity. Instead, He's merciful regarding it. And there is a big difference, and a difference that much of modern Christianity doesn't understand today. Tolerance doesn't require change. Tolerance is the idea and the attitude of, well, you know, you're wrong.

What you're doing is wrong, but it's okay. It's okay. Whereas mercy says, no, you're wrong, and it needs to change. I have rules. I have boundaries. I forgive you for your indiscretion, but you need to fix the problem. We need to ensure that you fix it, because there are consequences to breaking the rules, to breaching that contract. And it's death. You know, Christ paid that penalty for us, but it doesn't mean we have free reign to go out and do whatever we want.

You know, we don't get the confession booth. And we just go in and say, oh, I've done something wrong, and then walk right back out and do it again. We're expected to keep up our end of the bargain, and when we don't, we need merciful correction. Just like when our children break the rules, they need correction, and that correction takes different forms in different ways.

Different households do it in different ways. But if you don't provide correction when something is done wrong, children don't learn the proper boundaries. They don't learn where the lines are. Especially if it's inconsistent. They don't learn where the lines are. But there is a line, and a loving father must, for the sake of his children, teach them where that line is, and mercifully correct them when that line is crossed. Those of you that have been parents, you know, correction isn't fun.

There's absolutely nothing fun about correcting and disciplining your kids. But it's something that's necessary. Something that has to be done. You know, there are numerous examples of individuals that God had to mercifully correct as the Bible narrative progresses. Let's go over to Numbers 12 real quick. We'll see one of those examples. Numbers 12. We'll take a look at Miriam's correction after she spoke out against Moses.

It seems Moses had found himself a new wife here, and Miriam spoke out against that. Numbers 12. We'll start in verse 5. We'll go verses 5 through 15. So we're going to be in Numbers 12 for just a little bit.

Numbers 12, verse 5 says, Then the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both went forward. Then he said, Hear now my words, if there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream, not so with my servant Moses. So he's saying here, ordinary prophets, I do visions and I do dreams. Then he says here next, He is faithful in all my house, and I speak with him face to face.

Even plainly, I don't use dark sayings, and he sees the form of the Lord. So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

The anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and he departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.

Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my Lord, please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. Please do not let her be as one, as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb. So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, Please heal her, O God, I pray.

The Lord said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.

This is a temporary correction, seven days, leper put out of the camp. You see that in verse 15, Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey until Miriam was brought in again.

That is merciful correction. That is, you were wrong. Here's your consequence, and welcome back when you're done. The consequence is over. You can join the assembly again, and you're done. It's merciful.

But Moses, his own sister, was punished. Now the entire host of Israel goes, Whoa, whoa!

Better not speak out against Moses either. We better make sure his own sister is getting punished.

Better make sure and be careful. You know, it's interesting, in Micah 6, verse 4, we won't turn over there. You can take a look over there a little bit later if you'd like. But we see that she's listed in the same sentence as Moses and Aaron in Micah 6, 4.

It says, I brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, and I sent to you Moses and Aaron and Miriam.

So she had been restored to the point after that because she had learned her lesson.

Nebuchadnezzar was also corrected by God. Let's take a look at Daniel 4.

Flip over to Daniel 4 here. We'll see the process that God the Father went through with Nebuchadnezzar.

And it's kind of an interesting process. It reminds me of some of the ways that I've, you know, worn my own children.

Daniel 4 will start in verse 24. We'll pick up a little of the context here. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and he didn't understand it.

And so at the time, Daniel was the go-to guy for the dreams because God was working with Daniel.

And in verse 24, Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation. He says, This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord, the king.

Nebuchadnezzar was a very prideful man. He was a very prideful man. He was the king of the Babylonian empire, which at the time was enormous.

But he had forgotten who was responsible for his position. This dream was a warning. This was as apparent when you look down and say, Hey, knock it off. You need to stop doing what you're doing right now. That was the warning from God the Father.

And we see what happened. Let's skip down to verse 29. Verse 29 says, Just imagine Nebuchadnezzar at this point going, Uh-oh. And he knew that the warning was going to come true. And it goes on in verse 32 to talk about the warning. We won't reread that again. Actually, yes, we will. Sorry.

But we look to see that it was reversed. It was a temporary thing. Seven years is a very long temporary thing, but it was temporary.

What was the result, though? Let's take a look at verse 37.

Verse 37, Lesson learned. Merciful correction and lesson learned.

The Israelites were mercifully corrected more times than you can count.

But like the two examples we listed above, God wasn't tolerant of their iniquities. He didn't just look the other way and say, oh, okay, oh, you guys, you're at it again.

He mercifully corrected constantly. He demanded their obedience, and when they stepped out of line, he corrected them. But the thing was, he was always a father to them. He continually loved them, despite all of their transgressions.

Just like we do with our physical children. Our kids do wrong. We still love our children.

As God's children, we must love our father. We must listen, and we must be willing to change when correction is applied.

Let's take a look in Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15, we'll see what Solomon said regarding the concept of correction.

Proverbs 15 will start in verse 31.

There it is. Proverbs 15 verse 31 says, The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise.

The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise, but he who disdains instruction despises his own soul.

But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.

God corrects us in many different ways. Some ways that we may not even expect.

Maybe it's a conversation with a friend over something that we've done wrong that they point out.

Maybe it's a message given during church that strikes home. An understanding that we get, rereading a section of the Bible.

Regardless of the method, we have to listen.

We have to make the change because it's expected by our Father.

Brethren, the Father provides a very important role in our lives. But sadly, in the last several decades, we've seen a complete breakdown of the family unit. And I don't think at all that it's coincidence. I don't think it's any kind of happenstance. It is an absolute all-out attack by Satan on the values and the morals of the family unit.

The United States is facing situations of rampant sex before marriage, illegitimate pregnancies, deadbeat dads, crime. All of these things are robbing the children of the world of their fathers. Again, statistics show there are 24 million fatherless in the U.S. alone. And that doesn't take the rest of the world into account. That doesn't take the rest of the world into account.

President Obama gave a Father's Day address this past week in which he said kind of an interesting thing. And I... there are times when he speaks to Jim. There are definite times when he speaks to Jim, and I will give him credit for doing that. He said, we need families to raise our children.

We need fathers to recognize their responsibility doesn't just end at conception. He went on to say it even a little bit stiffer. Any fool can have a child.

But it takes the courage to raise that child that makes you a father. He's right. There are fewer and fewer true fathers out there today.

It's a hard job. It takes love, understanding, patience, and much more. And as those of you who have been fathers and parents know, parenthood is not for the faint of heart. It is a tough job.

God expects us, however, to step up to the challenge in order for us to learn some very important spiritual lessons.

As fathers and as children of God, we have to remain aware of God's instruction, His protection, His correction, and strive to do our part. Last Sunday, the world paused to remember and to celebrate their fathers.

And to thank them for their example, let us be ever thankful for the example that our great God has given to us, and to be thankful for the love of a father.