A Father’s Blessing
Genesis 49:28
Slide 1
The Blessing of an Encouraging Word
Ephesians 4:29
A Word of Acceptance & Affection
Jeremiah 31:3 - I have loved you with an everlasting love
A Word of Appreciation
Philippians 1:3-5
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
The Blessing of a Loving Touch
1 John 3:18
The Blessing of a Father’s Faith
Joshua 24:15
“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me!”
How many of you have heard or said that phrase before.
Those words sound good and we ourselves have probably used them to encourage someone to not worry about what someone else thinks or says.
But that statement is not true. There have many people that have been hurt by words before.
The reality is that
Words have Power.
Slide 2
The power to hurt or
The power to help.
No one’s words have more influence in the life of a child than that of their parents, especially their Father.
We see this often in the Old Testament.
The Father’s blessing was of huge value and determined greatly the entire life of the child.
We see several times in the OT the blessing being given.
Isaac blesses Jacob (Genesis 27)
Israel blesses his twelve sons (Genesis 49)
Genesis 49:28
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
These blessings that these children received from their fathers, greatly influenced their lives and what they would do.
Even today,
How a Father blesses his child, has a huge impact on the child’s life in the future.
And today, on this Father’s day,
I want to give dads some tools (always a good Father’s Day present) to be a blessing to their children for now and into the future.
Preaching style different
I am preaching a little different than I normally do. I think it is
important to both look at particular texts and draw out of those texts applications for our own lives based on a particular passage.
But I also think that it is
important to see what the Bible teaches about a particular topic that may not be found in one particular place.
Today I am going to be drawing on several texts to help us Dad’s see how we can be a blessing to our kids.
We have seen already how the OT blessing greatly determined a child’s future.
For today though, the first tool I want us to be able to use is
The Blessing of an Encouraging Word
Slide 3
Ephesians 4:29
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Dad’s in regards to your kids, is the only thing that is coming out of your mouth something that is helpful for building them up?
This is one of the primary ways we are going to be able to bless our kids, by the way we speak to them.
Now the question is
In what ways can we offer encouragement to our Kids to be a blessing to them for their lives.
There are couple ways that I want to talk about here to encourage our kids with our words.
One way we can use this tool with our kids is by encouraging them with
A Word of Acceptance & Affection
Slide 4
When God spoke to the nation of Israel through Jeremiah, he said to them
Jeremiah 31:3
"I have loved you with an everlasting love”
God was telling them 2 things here.
First, I love you. Those are words of affection. Those are words we need to say to our kids. Our kids need to know and hear of our love from our own mouth. That is what God does to his children.
Second, He tells them His love is everlasting. Those are words of acceptance. I love you no matter what. It is not dependant on anything that you do. It won’t get stronger if you do good and it won’t be less if you do bad. The love I have for you is an everlasting love.
Dad’s, we need to talk to our kids like that. They need to know from their fathers that we love them and accept them for who they are.
And we need to tell them that in words.
So often, we hear from men in this country that
we show our love by bringing home the bacon and providing for them all that they need.
While that is true that that is one way we show love,
Our kids need to hear it from our own mouths.
This is true for almost any relationship, but if we are going to be a blessing to our kids, we need to tell them verbally that we love and accept them just as they are.
Hey Billy, I just want you to know that I love you. I am so glad you are my son.
Hey Julie, I love you and you will always be my special girl.
They need to hear that from their Dad’s.
Another way we can use this tool to bless our kids is with
A Word of Appreciation
Slide 5
Paul often opened his letters to the churches with a word of appreciation.
Philippians 1:3-5
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul recognized how important it was to show appreciation for others. This is nowhere more true than with our own children.
Do we stop and appreciate our kids for who they are and for what they do. We love our kids regardless of how they excel,
but we also need to appreciate our kids for what they do.
This gives them encouragement to pursue success and bring glory to God in their actions.
Paul wrote that he thanks God every time he remembers the Phillippians and Thessalonians. How do you think that made them respond?
Hey we have done good enough, so now we can coast.
Or do you think it gave them encouragement to do even better?
Often we bring up remarks of criticism for our kids in hopes they can improve on that area, but sometimes, it has the opposite effect, depending mainly on how it is presented.
Illustration – Report card 4 A’s and 1 B
Consider if your child brought home 4 As and 1 B on a report card and the first thing out of your mouth was, what happened for you to get a B in that class. While you would love to see them be able to get all A’s and want them to be able to improve, they could take it as “nothing being good enough for you or you not recognizing the things they do well.”
Illustration – Small town complainer lady
A lady moved into a small town back in the early 1900’s
She went to the local store but thought the service was awful
She knew a neighbor of the shop owner, and complained to her hoping that she would inform the owner of the bad service.
Well the next time she went to the store, the owner was there with a smile on his face and wanted to know how he could help the lady. He went out of his way to assist her with whatever she needed.
Later, when she talked to the lady she complained to, she asked her if she had told the owner of her complaints.
The lady said, I hope you don’t mind but instead, I told him how great you thought his store was and of the excellent service you thought it provided.
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Our words of encouragement and appreciation can do more to help someone do better than our words of criticism.
We don’t need to lie, but we can find things to praise which encourages them to do better and live up to those words of appreciation.
If your child mowed the lawn but the lines were not perfectly straight, don’t say, those lines aren’t straight.
Instead say, you did a great job for the first time mowing. Those lines are pretty straight. Good job and thanks for the help.
Susie, Thanks for helping to bake my birthday cake, you did a good job, because she did good in wanting to help and doing that for where she is at.
Encourage your child with words of appreciation.
Our words, although they are necessary and important, are only part of what is necessary to be a Blessing to our children.
Another tool we need to use is
The Blessing of Loving Touch
Slide 6
1 John 3:18
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
This verse is not saying don’t love with your words, it is saying don’t just love with your words.
Dads, giving your child a loving touch will be a great blessing to your kids. Whenever a blessing was given in the Old Testament, it was always accompanied by a touch.
When Isaac gave his blessing it was accompanied by a touch
When Jacob gave his blessing to Josephs sons, he touched them.
There is something about physical touch that communicates to others.
When we desire to show our wives affection, we often hug them,
Or hold their hand,
The same is true for our kids. We need to use not only our words to bless them, but we need to use our touch.
Hug them
Put your arm around them when you are watching TV together
Put your hand on their shoulder.
Touch their head.
These things don’t have to be and for the most part should not be overtly public.
In other words, don’t embarrass them at the bus stop or when they are around their friends. That will negate the positive blessing of a loving touch.
Seize the opportunities that are presented. Bless your kids with a loving touch.
The last tool that we need is
The Blessing of a Father’s Faith
Slide 7
Joshua 24:15
But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua understood where true blessing is going to come from. It is going to come from being in relationship with the Lord.
Dads, If we are truly going to bless our children, then we need to pass along to them a faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The main responsibility that you have is leading your family into the faith.
And listen to me here Dad’s
You cannot pass on a faith that you do not have.
You are only going to pass on the faith that you have.
ILLUSTRATION – Sunday School Boy
There was a boy in his backyard playing.
His dad called him to get ready to go to Sunday School.
He asked his dad if he was going to stay this week.
He said no. But he would be dropping his son off there.
The boy asked if his dad went to Sunday School when he was a boy.
The father answered that he went every week.
Then the boy, under his breath, mumbled that his going would probably be as much value to him as it was to his dad, none.
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Dad’s you need to set the example of what you are going to pass on to your kids.
Joshua passed on his Faith to His kids and even to others whom he had influence over.
Joshua 24:31
31 Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.
His Faith was passed on to his kids.
Pass your faith on to your kids.
I want to tell you a story about a guy who was raised in a religious home. But it was in a home where they followed a god of rules than a God of grace and love.
His name was Hugh Hefner and he would later publish a pornographic magazine.
He was asked a question once about what his parents were like and this was his response.
He told of how he’d been raised in a puritan home of religious tradition. His parents believed in God, but not a God of grace, love and compassion. Theirs had been a rigid religion. They never told Hefner or his brother that they loved them and his mother never kissed him because she wanted to avoid germs. So, Hefner set out to find love wherever he could.3
Hefner went on to indicate that his dad was remote and not very engaging. While he worked hard and provided a good home, there was not much interaction or touch with Hugh.
Hefner recalled how his parents had given him a blanket when he was a child—his “security blanket.” He painted a vivid picture of a little boy going to bed at night hugging his blanket, the only thing he had to hug, the only thing that returned any warmth. The blanket was bordered with bunny rabbits; and it became his “bunny blanket.”
Hefner went on to recount, as a boy, he always wanted a puppy, but his parents. . . said that dogs spread germs so there couldn’t be one in their house. It was only after they discovered a tumor in his ear, one that could be detrimental to his hearing, that his parents broke down and bought Hefner a dog. No one could have predicted, however, that the dog would unexpectedly die after just five days.
Hugh Hefner recalled how he wrapped the dying dog in his bunny blanket as a means to comfort the puppy. But when the puppy died, his mother buried the dog and burned the blanket. Both sources of his deepest comfort were suddenly gone. He said matter-of-factly, “I guess I’m still just that little boy trying to find love.” 4
3 Bob Reccord and Randy Singer, Made to Count (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2004), p. 130.
4 Ibid.
What would have happened had Hefner’s dad—and mom—given him the blessing of
some encouraging words and
a loving touch or
of a faith that was with the true God of Grace and love?
Dads, that is what we need to do to be a blessing to our kids.
To bless our kids in this way is going to begin with a commitment. A commitment to raise our kids, with Gods help, and by God’s grace.
