Ephesians 6:2-4 – Fathers Need God – Bible study

Ephesians 6:2-4 Fathers Need God Today is Fathers Day. It is a day to honor fathers, but in the Lords house, it is also a day to preach to our fathers and try to help and encourage them. Dads, did you know that God does have a message for you in 2011 He does. God is still alive, has a will for our lives, and speaks. Let me give you some background. I. The Bible says, twice, that God is love. That is an important statement for three reasons. 1John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. \#1John 4:8,16\ A. The statement God is Love means that God is the Source of love. 1. The Bible is not saying that God loves. It is saying that God is love, making God loves Source. 2. Consider for a moment how it is that mankind is capable of love. 3. We know that love does not come from within us for we are merely lumps of clay. Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground. 4. Science agrees with this. From Dust to Man: A Scientific Proof May 25, 2007 by Brother Eliseo F. Soriano What is the scientific proof that mans body came from the dust of the ground, as the Bible says? The human body is made up of materials and minerals found on the surface of the ground, not from the core of the earth. Oxygen, being the most abundant element on the earths crust or on the ground, makes up 65 percent of the human body, and carbon, also abundant on the top soil of the ground, comprises 18 percent of the human body, and hydrogen 10 percent. The 59 elements found in the human body are all found on the earths crust. This is amazing because what the Bible says perfectly matches the scientific composition of a human body. http://esoriano.wordpress.com/2007/05/25/from-dust-to-man-a-scientific-proof/ 5. A body of clay is a long way from being a living, loving human being. a. Clay is lifeless. b. Clay is emotionless. c. Clay cannot love. 6. What happened to make this lump of clay capable of living and loving? a. God breathed life into man. Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. b. The unfathomable and missing link in sciences efforts to create life is the breathe of God! (1) Gods breathe gave us life. (2) Gods breathe gave us an eternal soul. (3) Gods breathe endowed us with some of our Creators qualities. c. Gods breathe gave us the ability to love like our Creator. B. The statement God is Love means the closer to the Source of love we are, the purer our love will be. 1. The human race is having a problem understanding and demonstrating true love today. 2. That fact can be seen by the condition of the homes in America. a. Somewhere around 50% of all marriages fail. b. A great percentage of Americas children are separated from their father. Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem by David Blankenhorn Tonight, about 40 percent of American children will go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live. Before they reach the age of eighteen, more than half of our nations children are likely to spend at least a significant portion of their childhood living apart from their fathers. Never before in this country have so many children been voluntarily abandoned by their fathers. Never before have so many children grown up without knowing what it means to have a father. http://www.americanvalues.org/html/bk-fatherless_america.html c. Domestic violence is one of the largest crime sectors in America. 3. All of this has lead some to say that marriage is obsolete. a. Some choose to just live together. (1) Some are "trying out" their potential mate like a buyer might try out a used car. (Ladies, I would find that insulting.) (2) However, some appear to be content with this arrangement as an acceptable way of life. Fewer couples embrace marriage; more live together By Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY Updated 6/2/2011 Recent census data shows Unmarried couples made up 12% of U.S. couples in 2010, a 25% increase in 10 years, according to Census data out Thursday. Some of the leaders in the unmarried couples race are Camden, N.J., 35% of couples are not married, up from 28% in 2000 and the highest of any city with at least 50,000 people. Other cities where more couples are choosing not to marry: Rochester, N.Y., 33%, up from 26%; Flint, Mich., 29%, up from 21%; Cleveland, 27%, up from 20%. This is not just a problem within low income homes. The Census shows higher shares of married couples in middle-class and upscale suburban areas, the bastions of traditional American families with children. b. Others are trying to make a new kind of marriage. (1) In a message which is airing on television this weekend by Adrian Rogers, entitled Family Future, Dr. Rogers tells that in 1995, the United Nations held its Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. One of the topics discussed at that conference was the destruction of genders. The stated purpose of those discussions, with representatives from all the major countries of the world, was to altar the traditional definition of gender, which states there are two genders, and to make it five. According to them, the five genders will be male, female, homosexual, lesbian, and transgender. (2) They have certainly made some inroads in the United States since 1995. As of May 16, 2011, gays and lesbians can legally marry in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and Washington, DC. In California, with the passage of Prop 8, gay and lesbian couples who were married between June and November 2008 are still legally married, but no new legal marriages can be performed in California. Although Maine did legalize gay marriage through its legislative process in May of 2009, the law was prevented from coming into effect thanks to a motion for a peoples veto and a subsequent loss at the November 2009 ballot. http://lesbianlife.about.com/cs/wedding/a/wheremarriage.htm http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/what-states-allow-gay-marriage/ 4. Marriage is not Americas problem. The problem is that most Americans are too far from the Source of love. a. God established marriage and it works just fine if done according to Gods Manual of Life, the Bible. b. We are the problem. 1. We are selfish. 2. We are materialistic. 3. We are humanistic. 4. We are rebellious. C. The statement God is Love means that the cure for the home lies in getting closer to God. 1. We can not love like we ought to love, with a pure love, because we are too far removed from loves Source! 2. Fathers, God charges usnot the government, not the church, and not our wivesto make the home what it ought to be. a. The home should be a paradise on earth. For most, it is exactly the opposite. b. When your hero is James Bond, your favorite magazine is a Playboy, and your favorite pass time is girl watching, you have an impure love and are headed for trouble! 3. Men, God has given to us two important charges. a. Be the right kind of dad today. b. Raise the right kind of sons and daughters so that we will have the right kind of adults tomorrow. 4. Both of these charges require us to be close to Loves Source. II. What would Gods message be to fathers in 2011? A. Love God with all of your heart. 1. It starts by drawing closer to God. (Church, Bible reading) James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. 2. Set your heart to love God and to please Him at all costs. Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 3. Obey Him. John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 4. That means at some point, you will have to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. B. Love your wives wholeheartedly and exclusively. Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself. 1. Monogamy does not start at marriage. a. The Bible teaches us to abstain from fornication. Acts 15:29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. b. We can not undo our past but we can certainly conform our future. 2. After marriage, God is clear. Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. Proverbs 15:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. C. Love your children. 1. The first act of love for your children is to be there. a. If you love your children, make a home for them. b. Children without a father in the home are 5 times more likely to commit suicide; 32 times more likely to run away; 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders; 14 times more likely to commit rape; 9 times more likely to drop out of high school; 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances; and 9 times more likely to end up in state-operated institutions? 2. Train them. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. a. Teach them how to love by loving them. b. Teach them to control themselves by teaching them to obey you. c. Teach them to love God by watching you love God. God is still alive today. He wants to help you as a father. He wants to help you to be the right kind of husband and the father that your children need. Will you let Him?