The Father Figure

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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Pastor James May

The Father Figure

June 17, 2001

Father’s Day Sermon

For centuries the devil has attacked the family in every way possible. Beginning in the Garden of Eden, when Satan first planted the seed of destruction into the family unit and continuing into our present time where the forces of evil are rampant in every facet of society, Satan’s ultimate plan has been to completely destroy the family unit.

His first attack was against woman, who was created from man to be a helpmeet or equal to man but yet submissive to the will of her husband under God. That attack upon woman intensified to the point that the world denigrated women mercilessly. Satan wanted to ultimately punish woman for bringing the Savior into the world.

In recent years I have noticed a change in Satan’s tactics for destruction of the family. After failing to totally destroy the family through attacks against woman that still continue as intense as ever, then attacking our children through drugs, illicit sex, and violence, Satan has now begun to intensify his attacks against the family through the God ordained head of the family, the man or father.

Just watch movies come out of Hollywood as they depict the man of the house as some weak-kneed, emaciated, effeminate, lazy, ignorant man who doesn’t have the knowledge, desire or ability to lead anyone and you will see what I mean. TV shows are no better. One program that I have seen called “Married With Children” is a prime example and has done much to relegate the father of the family to a subservient position. As his wife is continuously putting him down, as his children constantly outsmart him and he is heard to confess over and again how little he cares for his wife or for his family, I am sickened to see the picture that is portrayed as a normal family atmosphere when that is so far from what God has planned.

When you take into consideration the depiction of the father figure in movies and television programming and then add the effects of drug addiction, immorality and homosexuality, its no surprise to see the absolute disrespect and rebellion of our children against their fathers. I don’t blame the children as much as the father for it is he who has been given the authority, under God, to rule the home and if he won’t fulfill that role then why should he get their respect and admiration.

There is no excuse for any man to shun his duty to be the father to his children and the husband to his wife that God commanded him to be.

God help us when the “normal” family unit becomes perverted to include same sex marriages whose “mother and girlfriend” or “father and boyfriend” then adopt children and raise them in that degenerate environment. What chance do those kids have to ever know what God has ordained as a true family unit with one mother, who is a woman, and one father, who is a man, who will live together in Holy Matrimony for a lifetime.

The world’s picture of a perfect family is not God’s idea and the picture of what a godly and loving father should be is nearly non-existent in society anymore.

Much has been said about the difference in the way that a father shows love and the way a mother shows love. Today I would like to give you a picture from the Scriptures of what a loving and caring father really is.

First, I want to point out that fathers act differently toward their children than mothers but that does not negate the love that fathers feel for their children.

Illustration:

I remember one of comedian Bill Cosby’s comedy routines in which he tries to explain just a few of the differences in how a mother and father would react to a child. In this specific incident, the child picks up a piece of dirty driftwood out of the gutter and brings it to mother saying, “Look Ma, I picked this up just for you.” Well, Mom will Ooh and Ah over that piece of driftwood like it was made of gold because she is a nurturer and doesn’t want to hurt the child’s feelings. But, you let that same child bring that same piece of driftwood to Dad and say the same thing and Dad will tell him to get that nasty thing out of the house and throw it outside. Dad cares about the child and loves the child deeply but Dad isn’t a nurturer, he is a hunter and he is very logical. It just wasn’t logical to have a dirty piece of driftwood in the house and the child may as well grow up and face the fact that the world won’t always treat him with tender loving care.