Father's Day Sermon

1. W E L C O M E T O T H E
J A C K S O N S T R E E T C H U R C H O F C H R I S T
P L E A S E T U R N O F F C E L L P H O N E S

2. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD
our God, the LORD is one! (5) You shall love
the LORD your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your strength. (6)
"And these words which I command you
today shall be in your heart. (7) You shall
teach them diligently to your children, and
shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
when you walk by the way, when you lie
down, and when you rise up. (8) You shall
bind them as a sign on your hand, and they
shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (9)
You shall write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates.

3. FATHERS

4. HOW IMPORTANT ARE FATHERS IN
THE HOME.
A. Some fathering advocates would say that almost
every social ill faced by America’s children is
related to fatherlessness.
B. As supported by the data below, children from
fatherless homes are more likely to be poor,
become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop
out of school, and suffer from health and
emotional problems. Boys are more likely to
become involved in crime, and girls are more
likely to become pregnant as teens.

5. 1. Poverty
• Children in father-absent homes are
almost four times more likely to be poor. In
2011, 12 percent of children in married-
couple families were living in poverty,
compared to 44 percent of children in
mother-only families.
• Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s
Living Arrangements and Characteristics:
March 2011, Table C8. Washington D.C.:
2011.

6. 2. Drug and Alcohol Abuse
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services states, “Fatherless children are at
a dramatically greater risk of drug and
alcohol abuse.”
• Source: U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. National Center for Health
Statistics. Survey on Child Health.
Washington, DC, 1993.

7. 3. Physical and Emotional Health
• A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older
living with a residential father or father figure
found that children living with married
biological parents had significantly fewer
externalizing and internalizing behavioral
problems than children living with at least
one non-biological parent.
• Source: Hofferth, S. L. (2006). Residential
father family type and child well-being:
investment versus selection. Demography,
43, 53-78.

8. 4. Educational Achievement
• 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless;
fatherless children have more trouble
academically, scoring poorly on tests of
reading, mathematics, and thinking skills;
children from father-absent homes are more
likely to be truant from school, more likely to be
excluded from school, more likely to leave
school at age 16, and less likely to attain
academic and professional qualifications in
adulthood.
• Source: Edward Kruk, Ph.D., “The Vital
Importance of Paternal Presence in Children’s
Lives.” May 23, 2012.

9. 5. Crime
• Adolescents living in intact families are less likely
to engage in delinquency than their peers living in
non-intact families. Compared to peers in intact
families, adolescents in single-parent families and
stepfamilies were more likely to engage in
delinquency. This relationship appeared to be
operating through differences in family processes—
parental involvement, supervision, monitoring, and
parentchild closeness—between intact and non-
intact families.
• Source: Stephen Demuth and Susan L. Brown,
“Family Structure, Family Processes, and Adolescent
Delinquency: The Significance of Parental Absence
Versus Parental Gender,” Journal of Research in
Crime and Delinquency 41, No. 1 (February 2004): 58-
81.

10. 6. Sexual Activity and Teen
Pregnancy
• Being raised by a single mother raises the
risk of teen pregnancy, marrying with less
than a high school degree, and forming a
marriage where both partners have less than
a high school degree.
• Source: Teachman, Jay D. “The Childhood
Living Arrangements of Children and the
Characteristics of Their Marriages.” Journal
of Family Issues 25 (January 2004): 86-111.

11. WHAT MAKES
FATHERS
IMPORTANT?

12. FARMER
• Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not
provoke your children to wrath, but bring
them up in the training and admonition of the
Lord.
• It is the father who is charged with
implanting God’s instructions into the hearts
of his children. Like a good farmer he
provides a nurturing environment for God’s
word to grow.

13. ARCHER
• Psalm 127:3-5 Behold, children are a
heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the
womb is a reward. (4) Like arrows in the
hand of a warrior, So are the children of
one's youth. (5) Happy is the man who
has his quiver full of them; They shall not
be ashamed, But shall speak with their
enemies in the gate.
• The psalmist describes the blessings
and responsibility of fatherhood

14. TEACHER
• Proverbs 4:1-2 Hear, my children, the
instruction of a father, And give attention
to know understanding; (2) For I give you
good doctrine: Do not forsake my law.
• It is the father’s who responsible to see
that the children receive the right
direction for life.

15. HUSBAND
• Ephesians 5:23, 25 For the husband is
head of the wife, as also Christ is head of
the church; and He is the Savior of the
body. … (25) Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ also loved the church and
gave Himself for her,
• As Christ is the spiritual protection for
the church, the father is the “house-
band” that protects the marriage and the
home.

16. EXAMPLE
• Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined
to his wife, and they shall become one
flesh.
• A father must exemplify God’s design
for the home before his children so that
they will know how to start and properly
maintain their on homes.

17. RESOURCE
• Luke 15:17 But when he came to
himself, he said, 'How many of my
father's hired servants have bread
enough and to spare, and I perish with
hunger!
• When the Lord gives the parable of the
prodigal son He reveals that the son
remembered the blessing always
available in his father’s house.

19. TONIGHT’S SERMON
THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH