Sermon Central
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A Father’s Blessing
Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 14, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: When these 4 ingredients are present, & practiced consistently, then our children grow up solid, secure & confident of themselves, able to go out into the world & function normally. A father's blessing is essential for a child.
A Father’s Blessing
Intro: There is a crisis in our world today. Way too many Dads are MIA. Whatever the cause (and sometimes the cause is noble), the problem is what happens to the kids who miss out on what only a Dad can offer. When Fathers are involved in their kids’ lives in a loving healthy way, those kids are blessed indeed! But even among those who have a Dad in their lives, sometimes they are still missing something they need very much from him – His blessing.
-Now a blessing from a Dad could come in many forms (other than the car keys):
Words (Affection, Direction, Encouragement/Hope, Wisdom. Don’t undo the power of good words by harsh criticism, name calling, or neg. imprinting. Don’t ridicule to motivate. One Dad shared the 4 most powerful words you can say to your kid: I believe in you!)
Approval (Comes thru words, facial expressions, body language, responses. It is possible to approve of a person while not nec. approving of certain actions). Living without a sense of approval from one’s father leaves them searching for the approval elsewhere.
Touch (Physical touch is vital! The lack of it can send daughters seeking it elsewhere)
Time (presence, proximity- there is no substitute for being there!)
Life Example (Your kids will be more impacted by who you are and how you live consistently than by occasional words or actions. Start where you are, but allow God to transform you from the inside out by calling on Him and trusting in Him. That will produce the greatest diff. in your life and in your family!)
-I’d like to focus on a father and son in the Bible, and take a look at the blessing the dad passed on to the son.
-Our story comes from Genesis 27. Isaac & Rebecca had twin sons, Esau & Jacob, who were not anything alike. Esau was an outdoorsman with hairy arms & hands & he loved hunting & fishing. Jacob was more of a homebody, & spent a lot of time with his mother.
In the 27th chapter of Genesis, their father, Isaac, has grown old & blind, & he decides it is time to pass on the blessing to his oldest son.
-Now a Jewish father’s blessing was a formal delegation of the father’s leadership & authority to his oldest son. And since the oldest son was assuming the leadership responsibilities of the family, he also received a double share of his father’s possessions. So the bestowing of the blessing was a very important event indeed.
In vs’s 2 4 Isaac tells Esau, "I am now an old man & don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons your quiver & bow & go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like & bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."
-So Esau leaves, & while he is gone, Rebecca, his mother, seizes the opportunity to secure the blessing for Jacob, who was her favorite. She quickly prepares some tasty food & tells Jacob to put on Esau’s best clothes. To help fool blind old Isaac, she puts goatskins on Jacob’s hands & arms to make them feel hairy. Then she sends him in with the food to ask for the blessing.
-Listen to vs’s 19-20, "Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up & eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.’"
-Now Isaac was suspicious because Jacob’s voice didn’t sound like Esau’s. So he asked, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" Jacob replies, "The Lord your God gave me success."
-Then vs’s 21-23, "Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.’ Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him & said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’
-“He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him."
-The blessing that was given is found in vs’s 27-29. "So he went to him & kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him & said, ‘Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
‘May God give you of heaven’s dew & of earth’s richness an abundance of grain & new wine. May nations serve you & peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, & may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed & those who bless you be blessed."
