3
Why some fathers are not present
• Career/work• Extra marital affairs• Some abandon their family• “without natural affection”
4Eph. 6:4 – fathers must be present to do this
• [4] And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
5God our Father promises to be present with His family – 1 Cor. 8:6
• [6] But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
7
• Today many fathers are not a protection but a threat• Some fathers allow their children
to do anything they want anytime they want
8
• Some father fail to provide the basic necessities • Some fathers are abusive instead
of protective
9
Eph. 6:4
• “Provoke not your children to wrath” = by unreasonable commands; by being too harsh; by discipline that is too severe; by neglecting them;
10
What kind of protection is needed?
• Protection from evil things (TV – pornography – immodesty – drugs – alcohol – sex outside of marriage etc.)• Protection from harm
11
How is this protection to done?
• By proper spiritual training• By limiting where they go and
who they go with• By providing proper recreational
activities
12
Eph. 6:4
• “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”• Bring them up = put them under
the proper discipline and training that will lead them to become acquainted with God
13
• Nurture = (ASV has “chastening”; ESV has “discipline”; NKJV has “training”) • A. preventive discipline – refers to the
teaching and training a child is given• B. corrective discipline = chastening
given when the child does wrong
14
1 Sam. 3:13 – Eli’s failure
• [13] For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
15
• Admonition (ESV has “instruction”) = literally means “a putting in mind” (Vine’s Exp. Dictionary)
• Put them in mind of the Lord
16Proverbs 30:5 – God the Father is our great protector
• [5] Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
18
• Some fathers fail to provide for their family• Some work but waste the money on
drinking, gambling, etc. • “Some even rob their children using
them as gain through the welfare system.” Kevin Cauley
20
1 Tim. 5:8
• [8] But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
21
• In the book of Proverbs we find that a good father provides not only physically, but spiritually as well
22
Acts 14:17 – God provides for us
• [17] Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
25
• “Being too stern and overly demanding and hard to please will drive a child into resentment and fill him with discouragement; it will cultivate an inferiority complex, making him less valuable to himself, to the community, and to the Lord.” (Bob Winton)