Sermon Central
-
Dads Under Construction Series
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Oct 26, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: The value we place on Fatherhood is alarming. No wonder 38 million children under age 18, 54% of all children in America, suffer daily from physical father absence or emotional or spiritual father absence. Where’s Dad?
Dads Under Construction
Mothers get the red carpet treatment on their day, with fabulous brunches and beautiful bouquets. For the fathers, however, retailers have cleverly priced almost everything under $9.99!
Case in point: the Talking Fly Swatter. It’s a lime-green fly swatter with a little speaker that says stuff like "Hasta la vista, baby!" "Flight canceled!" and "Die sucker!" every time you try to use it.
Or a World’s Greatest Dad T-shirt.
It seems contradictory for a store to have shelves that are filled with World’s Greatest Dad T-shirts, hats and mugs. Shouldn’t there be just one of each? And what happens when two fathers wearing the World’s Greatest Dad T-shirt run into each other? Do they have to fight to the death?
The value we place on Fatherhood is alarming. No wonder 38 million children under age 18, 54% of all children in America, suffer daily from physical father absence or emotional or spiritual father absence. More than half of the children in America have no Godly Father influence!
Fathers are the SPIRITUAL LEADERS of the home.
Researchers from Switzerland examined whether parents’ religious habits were transmitted to their offspring. They studied different variables, but one critical factor towered above the rest: The PRACTICES of the father determine whether children grow up attending church or not. And here’s the shocker: The HABITS of the mother have almost no influence over their kids’ future devotion.
Consider these findings:
When Mom is a regular churchgoer but Dad attends infrequently, just 3 percent of their kids go on to become regular churchgoers.
When Mom is regular but Dad never attends, just 2 percent become regular attenders.
Now, let’s flip the chart. What if Dad is faithful?
When both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 33 percent of kids grow up to attend regularly.
When Dad is regular but Mom only goes once in a while, the figure jumps to 38 percent.
Here’s the real bombshell: when Dad is faithful but Mom never attends, 44 percent of the kids end up as regular church attenders!
Bottom line: in spiritual matters, kids take their cues from Dad. If Papa doesn’t go to church, chances are very slim that his children will become regular worshippers. If the kids see religion as "Mom’s thing" they are more likely to become disenchanted. But if Dad leads by example, children are twenty-two times more likely to become lifelong churchgoers.
This trend is present in U.S. churches as well. Curtis Burnam, a 20-year veteran of youth ministry has seen it time and again. "Kids who are taken to church by Mom but not Dad are harder to keep in church. They tend to drop out at higher rates when they reach adolescence. They are also harder to engage when they do come to youth group. This is true for girls as well as boys."
Kids need one thing: to see their fathers FOLLOWING JESUS! Our kids are priceless in the sight of God and will spend forever someplace! They desire a Godly Home and a Godly dad! Dads are the constructors of the godly home.
Dads are the FOUNDATION of a godly home. As the foundation, Dads establish where the family will be planted. Where you live INTERPRETS life to your children.
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
(NIV)
21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
(NIV)
Dads establish where the family will be planted. Dads set the FOUNDATION, the POSITION for the family. Many times it is the Father who determines where the family will live. WHERE you live will become a FILTER which your children will use to understand life.
WHERE you live will determine the amount of time you can invest in your children.
WHERE you live will determine what school you children will attend.
WHERE you live will determine the culture influencing your children.
Dads are the WALLS of the Godly home. The walls INTERCEPT problems from outside the home and PROTECT the family within. Dad, that¡¦s your job! HOW you live will determine how SAFE your kids are!
HOW you choose to live will determine the VALUES surrounding your children.
Your VALUES, what your children believe is most important to you, will become the guardrails which keep your kids on the path you choose.
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
