Father’s Day | 2013

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT!
1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.
2. Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children.
3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.
4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.
5. The main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.
6. We child proofed our homes, but they are still getting in.
ADVICE FOR THE DAY:
Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home.

Officialmancard.com gives you opportunity for actual card.

Standards for manliness: beard, BBQ grill, car, chest hair, height, muscles, job, money, beauty of wife, successful kids, power at work,

As men, we have a lot of motivation to work hard, earn a living, work our way higher in life.  Often the motivation comes from:

• the desire for success, status, comparison to others/competition
• to acquire money. to buy ‘stuff’/toys, luxury, establish comfort
• protect from poverty, eliminate risk of danger
• survival instinct

This motivation often creates exhaustion.  It is impossible to attain because the finish line keeps being moved forward. With each success, culture makes you feel like you aren’t quite there yet.

Scripture teaches that the ‘right life’ might look very similar to the current one, yet subtle and very important differences come when our motives are Godly.  In other words, we might keep the same job, house, and recreation life.  However, we will talk to our family different and approach our boss/work/coworkers from a different point of view.  We REST in our role while at the same time push forward with strong motivation from the Holy Ghost.

There is Holy Ghost inspired expectation as a father and MAN.  This can seem daunting.  However, God doesn’t leave us alone to accomplish it.  There is also Holy Ghost empowered role/position as father and MAN.

Samson (very powerful man of God) had a praying father.

Judges 13:8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.

1. 1.   Shepherd/Protector

Listen to God’s leading. Rest in God’s protection.

Genesis 35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Get ready and move to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother, Esau.” 2 So Jacob told everyone in his household, “Get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing. 3 We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great tree near Shechem. 5 As they set out, a terror from God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob’s family.

A heart for your child’s relationship with God and purpose. David prays for Solomon

1 Chronicles 29:19 Give my son Solomon the wholehearted desire to obey all your commands, laws, and decrees, and to do everything necessary to build this Temple, for which I have made these preparations.”

1. 2.    Authority – Who’s the Boss?

Hebrews 12:7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?  10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

Proverbs 13:24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

1. 3.    Provider – Genesis 3:19 – sweat of thy brow

Matthew 7:9-11 Jesus said: “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

1. 4.   Teacher

Proverbs 20:7 The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.