WANTED: GOOD FATHERS; WILL PAY ANY PREMIUM!

Gen.1: 26-28, 31; Deut.6:5-7; Malachi 4:6; Psalm 103:13;

Good and godly fathers are wanted in our generation. Any grown man can be a father. But not every grown man can be a good father. There is a premium on good fathers. Good fathers are not easy to come by, but they are the pressing need of the present generation. Secularism, feminism, homosexuality and all the other isms and religions of this post modern age, which in reality are not new, have ganged up together to destroy true fatherhood. Children are still being born, but most of them are not being brought up by fathers, true fathers. I heard of a primary school sometime not long ago where children were not allowed to come with cards and things that celebrate fathers day, because "it might offend those children who do not have fathers"! That is a telling statement. It is not that they are virgin-born; not that their fathers are dead, rather it is that their fathers have abandoned them and moved on to other women or partners! Many children increasingly find themselves among this group.

We need to know that any attack on fatherhood is an attack on God and on divine order; it is an attack on the family. If the family unit is destroyed, then social order in society is destroyed. True religion will be destroyed. What do we get? Chaos; a deconstruction of morality; resurgence of paganism and spiritism.
Is it surprising that homosexuality has such a strong voice in many societies today? Some people believe that homosexuality is the new religion. In his book, Biblical Foundations For Manhood and Womanhood (p.267), Wayne Grudem noted that, "homosexuality has been identified with pagan spirituality in many ages and many places" Robert Baum, said that "gender variant men have filled a sacred (religious) role throughout the millennia" In another book, Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India, Serena Nanda said that the hijras are a company of men who dress and act like women, whose culture centres on the worship of Bahuchara Mata, one of the many versions of the mother goddess worshipped throughout India. An androgynous priesthood was associated with the worship of the goddess Ishtar in the Sumerian age (1800 BC).

There is a resurgence of this anti-gender lifestyle in almost every nation. If these were practiced privately, there would be no cause for alarm. It is because homosexual practice is becoming the norm, the new law and the new religion of many. Not only that, it is being foisted (to force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit) on society as the new way of life.

We stand by God's standard from creation. God created men to be fathers and women to be mothers. He equipped each with the necessary means of fulfilling their role. When children are born, a bond is formed between them and their parents. As the mother suckles and nurtures the child, the father is their to provide, protect and educate the child. This combined responsibility is needed in the upbringing of children into mature, sensible adults; men and women who will grow up to love God and respect others. Children brought up in this way are the gatekeepers of the next generation.
We need fathers who will train up their children in the way of the Lord, who will prepare their children to fill the role of gatekeepers in the next generation.

I saw a study titled, "What the Bible Teaches About Being a Good Father..." and would like to share with you some of the things mentioned:
Facts provided by the Department of Health and Human Services: More than one-fourth of American children – 17 million – don’t live with their fathers. In 1996, 42% of female-headed households with children were poor, compared with 8% of families with children headed by married parents. Girls without fathers in their lives are 2.5 times more likely to get pregnant and 53% more likely to commit suicide. Boys without fathers in their lives are 63% more likely to run away from home and 37% more likely to use drugs. Boys and girls without father involvement are twice as likely to drop out of school, twice as likely to go to jail and nearly four times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems.
Good fathers are wanted!

1. Examples Of Fathers In the Bible

Adam - The First Father (Gen.4:1-8): The story of Genesis 4 does not suggest that Adam had a good influence over his children. That his first son Cain murdered his brother Abel is a sign that He did not.
Noah - The Man Of Grace (Gen.6:8-13, 22): In the time of Noah there was corruption, wickedness and violence. Yet Noah walked with God regardless of  the prevailing culture of his time. He was able to bring up his children to believe, fear and love God.
Abraham - The Father Of Faith (Gen.12:1-4) Genesis chapters 12 to 25 are all about Abraham. he was the father of faith, a man of covenant who rightly earned the position of being an example of a true father (Gen.18:17-19). He made sure that Isaac followed the way of God. He ensured that He married correctly. Isaac grew up knowing he was a child of covenant. It was his father Abraham who brought him up to know and respect that. He sought to bring up his children in the same way. He was able to pass the Great Covenant blessing to Jacob.
Jacob - The Father Of Israel. The twelve sons of Jacob make up the nation of Israel, the nation with who God made a covenant, through whom Christ was born to the world! Jacob feared God and taught children to fear God.
David - The Man After God's Heart; had many children including some imposters an usurpers to the throne, but he passed on the blessing of God to his son Solomon who constructed the first physical Temple to the Almighty God. What we are seeing is that God's blessing is transferred from fathers to their children. when a father fails to play his role in the family, the children will suffer loss.
Eli - An Indulgent Father (1Sam.2:12-17, 22-34). Eli was a father who did not have any good influence over his sons. Disregarding their father's position as a priest of God, they kicked against God's sacrifices, defiled the alter of God by their immoral lifestyle, bringing the wrath of God down on the entire family!
All these examples show us that God has a very important role for Fathers in all societies.

2. The Characteristics Of A Good Father

(i) He Must First Be A Good Husband (Eph.5:25-33):
Those who define marriage as other than a union between a man and a woman are making a parody of this original plan of God. People may convert themselves from men to women or from women to men but that would be unnatural.  Any gender taken up in opposition to God's original creation is acquired and not original. In God's plan, the children a born in the atmosphere of the love which God has planted in father and mother.
In our Church, husbands must be true husbands - loving, sacrificing, helping, building up, encouraging, supporting, protecting, sanctifying, providing, guiding, teaching, leading their wives and children to love God. The world, the outsiders, the unsaved must see this true display of love and responsibility. They must see the benefit of it.
(ii) He Must Keep The Great Commandments (Deut.6:5; Mark 12:30-31)
He must love God with all his being and love neighbour as self. And who is his nearest neighbour? His wife.
(iii) He Must Teach His children to know God (Deut.6:5-7; Prov.22:6; Eph.6:4). How important this role is in our time cannot be overemphasized. All the humanistic and antireligious teaching they receive from school must be countered by sound biblical instruction at home from the father and the mother. the principles and application of the Ten Commandments must be communicated to our children. They need to know of God's plans for human beings. Any teaching against the scriptural teaching of true family relationship is to be rejected. Any instruction about sex and sexuality that disregards biblical standards are to be rejected. Rather than wait until children come home with weird notions about sex and sexual relationships, fathers and mothers together should teach children the true meaning and use and what God intends when He created man male and female.
(iv) He Must Be A Friend Of His Children. Children and their parents must have close relationship to the point that children are willing to tell their father or mother whatever bothers them. When children keep things from their parents there is danger. Those children can very easily run into trouble with dangerous groups out there. they may begin to join gangs, listen dangerous teachings that "radicalise" them.

(A little girl, with shining eyes and little face aglow, said, “Daddy, it is almost time for Sunday school. Let’s go! They teach us there of Jesus’ love, and how He died that we might all have everlasting life by trusting in Him!”

“Oh, no,” said Daddy, “not today, I have worked so hard all the week, I am going to the woods and to the creek. There I can relax and rest. I must have one day to rest, and fishing is fine, they say. So run along. Don’t bother me. We’ll go to church some other day!”

Months and years have passed, but Daddy hears that plea no more: “Let’s go to Sunday school!”
Those childish years are over and that Daddy is growing old, when life is almost through,
he finds time to go to church. But what does daughter do? She says, “Oh, Daddy, not today. I stayed up almost all last night, and I’ve got to get some sleep!”) (Encyclopaedia of 7700 Illustrations)

(v) He Must Be A Praying Man (Job 1:1-5)
What a father Job was! Not only was he there to teach his children to do right, he made sure constantly prayed for them and made sacrifices of atonement in case they had sinned against God.

3. The Unparalleled Example of The Ultimate Father

(Eph.3:14-15; Mat.6:6-15; 5:45; 6:32; Heb.12:7; Psalm 103:13)
If we want to learn about being good fathers, the first Person to go to is God. God loves us with the clearest and the greatest examples to follow as fathers. He is God and Father of all both good and bad. He is generous and non-discriminating. He provides for all, loves all, forbears all, forgives all, blesses all, protects all, saves all who come to Christ. He disciplines all in order to bring out the best of them.

Fathers your children need you! they need to learn about God and you must make effort to teach them! They need to be loved and you must love them. they need to be helped and you must help them. Be a good husband. Be a good daddy. The Lord help you to do so!