Father’s Day | Jim Hammond
Recap
Pastor Jim gave a special message entitled, “Father’s Day.” Using the biblical dads of the Bible, he delivered a powerful message on the importance of and the impact fathers have on their families. Drawing from the experience of biblical fathers such as Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and King David, we learned from their successes and mistakes on how to be a successful father.
Dive Deeper
Father Noah
The first father example was Noah, who had three sons. When Noah built the ark, the world was corrupt, yet Noah was able to influence his sons to not be influenced by the corrupt world in which they lived. Pastor Jim said, “Noah didn’t lose one of his kids to the world. Think of what kind of dad Noah had to have been not to have lost his sons to a depraved world.”
When Noah had completed the ark, all three of his adult sons along with their wives got into the ark. Noah was able to convince his sons of his calling to build an ark for when the floods would come… something that had never happened before. But in the end, all three sons joined Noah in the ark before it started to rain. That’s a father’s influence!
Father Abraham
God chose Abraham to bring forth the nation of Israel. Why did He choose Abraham? The answer is in Genesis 18:18, “Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him and shall bless themselves by him? 19 For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him.”
God knew that Abraham would teach and command his children to follow the ways of the Lord. You could say that God chose Abraham because of his ability as a father.
About Abraham, Pastor Jim said, “God is saying ‘They’re going to watch Abraham have a relationship with Me and they’re going to buy into Me because they see him Abraham worship Me.’ Abraham got that special call because of his ability as a father.”
Father Jacob
We see a fathering mistake in Jacob (also named Israel), the father of 12 sons from which the 12 tribes of Israel descended.
Jacob made the mistake of overtly favoring his youngest son, Joseph. The Bible talks about Joseph being a tattletale on his brothers. Joseph was a brat. And there is no record of Jacob ever correcting Joseph. Jacob even gave Joseph special clothing that his brothers did not receive. This favored status caused his other brothers to hate Joseph, which led to them getting rid of him.
If Jacob had corrected Joseph’s bad behavior, did not show him overt favoritism, and didn’t give special gifts to Joseph, the terrible tragedy would not have happened.
Father King David
King David is another example of wrong parenting. David had children from four different wives. Absalom and Tamar were full-blooded brother and sister. Their half-brother, Amnon, raped Tamar. Absalom was furious for what happened to his sister and wanted Amnon to be disciplined. When David heard about it, he was angry but never dispensed any punishment for Amnon.
David’s failure to correctly deal with this situation led Absalom to avenge his sister’s ruination by killing Amnon. Later, Absalom would lead a rebellion against his father, in an attempt to take his throne. In the end, Absalom was killed. All this could have been averted if David had rightly dealt with the situation with Amnon.
Read About It
Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.”
Genesis 6:11–13, “The earth was depraved and putrid in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence (desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power). 12 And God looked upon the world and saw how degenerate, debased, and vicious it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth and lost their true direction. 13 God said to Noah, I intend to make an end of all flesh, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I will destroy them and the land.”
Genesis 18:18, “Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him and shall bless themselves by him? 19 For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him.”
Discussion Questions
In reading about the examples of these four biblical fathers, what would you say was their successes and their mistakes?
Are there real-life examples that you’ve seen where a father had a positive influence on his children? How did it affect his children?
What about you? Are there examples with your own dad where his influence on you caused you to be a better person?