21 June 2020

A Few Thoughts About Father’s Day

Isaiah 38:19 GW Those who are living praise you as I do today. Fathers make your faithfulness known to their children.

The setting:
B1 Hezekiah was sick and dying. It was a sickness that leads to death.
B2 Hezekiah had no heir to the throne of Israel.
B3 The prophet Isaiah is delegated by God to give this message to Hezekiah, “The LORD tells you that you are to put everything in order because you will not recover. Get ready to die.”
B4 Hezekiah’s prayer to be healed.
B5 God promises to heal Hezekiah.
B6 God’s promises to Hezekiah.
Other translations of our verse:
B1 Isaiah 38:19 MKJV The living, the living, he shall praise You, as I do this day; the father shall make Your truth known to the sons.
B2 Isaiah 38:19 AB (a Septuagint version) The living shall bless You, as I also do; for from this day shall I beget children, who shall declare Your righteousness.
Some points:
B1 Hezekiah is as good as dead.
B2 He states that if he was dead that he could not praise God for answered prayer like those living on earth.
B3 He speaks that he will have children whom he can teach to fear and praise God.
Some applications:
B1 Fathers
C1 Love:
D1 In love and truth: 1 John 3:18 EMTV My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
D2 Does not provoke to anger: Ephesians 6:4 EMTV And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.
D3 Everything done in love: 1 Corinthians 16:14 EMTV Let all that you do be done in love.
C2 Have compassion/pity: Psalms 103:13 HCSB As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
C3 Teach: Proverbs 1:8 GW My son, listen to your father's discipline, and do not neglect your mother's teachings.
C4 Encourage: 1 Thessalonians 2:11 EMTV as indeed you know how each one of you, as a father to his own children, we exhorted, and comforted you, and imploring you.
B2 God
C1 Loves:
D1 Greater love than any: John 3:16 EMTV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
D2 Does not provoke anger. He calms: Psalms 46:9-10 CEV God brings wars to an end all over the world. He breaks the arrows, shatters the spears, and burns the shields. 10 Our God says, "Calm down, and learn that I am God! All nations on earth will honor me."
D3 In love and truth: 1 John 3:18 EMTV My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
C2 Has compassion/pity: Psalms 103:13 HCSB As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
C3 Teaches: John 5:20 EMTV For the Father loves the Son, and shows to Him all things which He Himself does; and greater works than these He will show Him, so that you may marvel.
C4 Concern for, so seeks for: Matthew 18:12-14 EMTV What do you think? If a certain man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, and go and search for the one gone astray? 13 And if he happens to find it, assuredly I say to you that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which did not go astray. 14 Thus it is not the will before your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
C5 Gives:
D1 Time/fellowship: 2 Corinthians 6:16 GW Can God's temple contain false gods? Clearly, we are the temple of the living God. As God said, "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."
D2 Listening: Psalm 10:17 CEV You listen to the longings of those who suffer. You offer them hope, and you pay attention to their cries for help.
D3 GOOD gifts: Matthew 7:9-11 EMTV Or what man is there among you who, if his son should ask for bread, will give him a stone? And if he should ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, by how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Finally,
B1 We need to emulate God.
B2 God is the perfect Father.
B3 We need to study God’s relationships with His people.
Questions:
B1 How can I know how to be a good father?
B2 How important is spending time with our children important?
B3 What are the best ways to teach our children?
B4 How do we teach our children good character traits (as God has) and to avoid evil character traits?

Benjamin Watson video on Father’s Day 2020 (this is a Facebook video; you probably need to log in to view it):
 

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