God made you to be a great father. What makes a father great? I. A man who is able to express real love. 1 Thes. 2:8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share wi th you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. a.It is hard for most men to express love. b.We have to learn to show love to our children. c.We are to teach our children to love by expressing love to our wives, children and others. d.Our best example of a fathers love is given in Luke 15, the story of the prodigal son. II. A great Father should have a transparent life. 1 Thes. 2:8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. What Paul is saying is that they not only told them the Gospel when they lived among them, they also modeled it. It is so important that we model the Christian life for our Children and grandchildren. III. An unselfish work ethic. 1 Thes. 2:9 Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. We need to teach good work ethics to our children. In order to do that, we should not be lazy, or grumble when we have to do something. We should help around the house. IV. A great father is a spiritual man. 1 Thes. 2:10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. Children follow the example of their fathers. Jesus has commissioned fathers to be the spiritual leaders in the home. You are the spiritu al leader in the home whether you realize it or not. You will either lead your family closer to got or away form Him. V. A great father encourages his children. 1 Thes. 2:11-12 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a fa ther deals with his own children, [12] encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. That is what a great father does. He encourages and co mforts and urges his children to live lives worthy of God
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 11:10:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015