1. Families have changed drastically in the past 20 years.
2. Over half of our children are being raised in homes where the parents don't live together.
3. Millions don't even know who their fathers are.
4. Abandonment by mothers is more common now than ever in our history.
5. An ever increasing number of children are being raised in homes by homosexual

   partners.

6. Horrible physical abuse is ever present with us.
7. We can no longer rely on churches to teach them anymore:
8. We have all read or heard of several main-line denominations voting to allow Gay and Lesbian clergy.
9. Some of the formerly conservative mainline denominations are even debating whether one can be saved through some way other than Jesus!
10. It is becoming more and more difficult to find clear cut answers for every situation into which a family can get themselves
11. Being a parent is a great privilege (Psalms 127:4) "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them."
12. Most any man can father a child, but not every man is a good father.
13. The primary goal for many fathers is to give his children large sums of money.
14. But what does the Bible say about goals for fathers?
15. Father hood is a God-given position: Genesis 1:28.
16. Therefore we should strive for the following goals as fathers.

1. Many young men want the pleasures of sex, but they are not willing to accept the responsibilities of fatherhood!
2. Sex carries with it serious, sobering responsibilities.
3. Often when one conceives outside of marriage, she is encouraged to have an abortion, which results in the murder of a child!
4. "Do not sin against the child" (Genesis 42:22).
5. Being a father, has many great rewards, but it also carries with it, backbreaking, stay awake at night, constant anxiety, never-ending worry type of responsibilities!
6. Unless one is ready to handle these responsibilities, he'd better abstain from the activity that causes fatherhood in the first place!
7. Abandonment is not an option for the good father.

II. PROVIDE FOR THE NEEDS OF OUR CHILDREN:

1. 1 Timothy 5:8- "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
2. The needs of a child are many and varied:

1. They need food, shelter and clothing.
2. They also need attention and time.
3. They need some one to teach them social graces, and how to meet their duties and responsibilities as a future adult.
4. They need to learn money management skills, and about bills and credit, and interest.
5. All of this is part of the responsibilities of fatherhood (Ephesians 6:4).
6. It is not the responsibility of the Government nor the public school system to raise one's children!
7. They do a poor job of it anyway.
8. A man who becomes so busy in his career, or with recreational activities that he has no time left for his family is not a good father.
9. A child who has his father's love and time, doesn't need to be in style or have a great deal of money and fancy things!

1. 1Timothy 4:12- "Be thou an example" is especially important when it comes to being a parent.
2. Children learn from what they see more than what they hear.
3. "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father and he will show thee; thine elders will tell thee" (Deuteronomy 32:7).
4. "I by my works will show thee my faith" (James 2:18)
5. A smoking parent will be wasting his/her breath to tell his child not to smoke. "Do as I say not as I do" sounds cute, but it doesn't work!!!

1. Proverbs 22:15 "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him".
2. Proverbs 23:15 "My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice-- indeed, I myself";
3. The corrective rod of chastening, can take many forms.
4. We are not condoning brutality and violence.
5. Proverbs 29:15 "The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother" ..
6. Proverbs 13:24 "He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly".
7. Hebrews 12:9 "Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it".
8. It is not the job of the school or the church to discipline your child!
9. This responsibility lies solely upon the shoulders of the parents.

V. TEACH CHILDREN THE IMPORTANCE OF HONEST LABOR:

1. "He who does not teach his child a trade, trains him to be thief."
2. Mankind is to earn his bread by the sweat of his face.
3. "If any will not work, neither let him eat" (2Thessalonians3:10).
4. We should never hesitate to help those who are in difficult circumstances beyond their control, but the lazy, irresponsible person should not be supported.
5. To give a child everything without requiring him/her to work teaches them to depend on others for their living.
6. Certainly one wants to help the child get started in life.
7. But giving him everything he wants without teaching him to work and earn his own way is an injustice to the child.

1. No man reaches his full potential in life apart from God.
2. There are good non-Christian fathers out there, but they are not as good as they could be if they were Christian fathers, being guided by God and His word (Joshua 24:15).
3. The most important lesson one can show his child is "The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7)
4. 1Corinthinas11:1 "Imitate me as I also imitate Christ".
5. Matthew 4:4 "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God".
6. "A righteous man that walketh in integrity, blessed are his children after him" (Proverbs 20:7);
7. Children should see and hear their fathers pray (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Dueteronomy 6:6).
8. Judges 2:10- "When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord that which he had done for Israel."

1. The good father, doesn't have to be famous, or rich, he may never be written about in the newspaper or the magazines.
2. He plays in the floor with his children, he loves their mother and them.
3. He never runs out on his responsibilities.
4. And he most of all, he teaches them by word and deed to fear God and keep His commandments.
5. Let us pray for good Fathers, our country will be stronger for it.
6. Let us strive to be better fathers, our families will be stronger for it.
7. Let us strive to be great fathers and to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
8. And remember, We also have a responsibility to those who don't have fathers.
9. James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."