20260517 Fathers II Sunday Sermon Tim Dickmann

So we looked last week at Ephesians So I'm going

to read that again here as we begin Ephesians

6 and verse 4 Says fathers do not provoke your

children to anger But bring them up in the discipline

and instruction of the Lord. And so if you remember

we talked about provoking our children I gave

you a list of some things that tend to provoke

our children as we try to raise them. We talked

about this word discipline, that it's not speaking

here just of spanking or correction, but it is

all aspects of our children's lives. So instruction

and correction, teaching, all of those different

things. It's not just spanking. It includes that.

But it's not limited to that, this word discipline.

So we talked about that. And then we talked about

some ways that we do discipline and instruct

our children in the ways of the Lord, how we

can do that. There are a few things that I want

to add to that this morning, but before we do...

What I thought about this week in regard to fathers

is God is our father. So we said this before

when we dealt with what is a man, we talked about

a man as someone or should be someone who is

seeking to reflect God in his life. the attributes

of God, we talked about the communicable attributes

of God, those are things that we should have

and that we should exhibit in our life. And so

as fathers, if we want to be a godly father,

who is it that is our example? It's our heavenly

father. He is our example of being a father.

And so I think we've mentioned that, but I'd

like to say a few more things with regard to

that this morning. So, again, if we think of

God and we think of who He is, we see Him as

faithful, fulfilling His Word, and we've mentioned

that. We've talked about, as fathers, we have

to do those things that we say we're going to

do. We have to be faithful to do whatever it

is. If it's spanking our children, if we've said,

if you do this, you're going to get spanking,

we've got to be faithful to then spank them.

If we say we're going to, you know, on your birthday

we're going to the park, then we better be at

the park on the birthday, whatever it is. Faithful

in that regard. But that faithfulness extends

further than just our word. It's faithfulness

in doing the things that we should be doing.

And so teaching, instructing, being faithful

in those things. Being true, just, being a provider.

a protector all of those things God is those

things to us he is he is that faithful solid

rock right if you think of that I thought of

that this week in the Psalms there so often you

are my rock my fortress my protector my shield

all those all of those things that is God to

us as our father and we should be those things

to our children in this in again God, of course,

I'm not saying that we are gods to our children,

but I'm saying we should reflect those things.

We should be that solid rock that they can come

to, that they can rely upon, that shield, that

protector, that guards, that keeps. So as we

think of being fathers, those are things that

we want to be to our children. I thought also

just of accessibility. This idea that when can

we come? When can we come to our Father? At any

time. And what can we ask of Him? Anything. Right?

And so we should be that to our children. Our

children should know that they can come to us

day or night. Any moment. They can come to us

even when they've sinned. And we are going to

receive them. Yes, there may be correction. There

may be a spanking involved. But they should know,

Mom and Dad love me. Dad loves me even though

he's going to give me a spanking. And I can come

to him and say, hey, I failed here. And I'm coming

to you to let you know, and so on and so forth.

That is the relationship that we want to develop

with our children as well. that they can come

to us at any time we need to be accessible and

so some of us this may be natural to us some

of us it's not so much i think of myself i'm

not i'm not this cuddly teddy bear kind of guy

and so i have to be i have to work at this this

is not just a natural thing so to speak for me

amanda of course she is she is that And it's

easy for the kids. It always was for them to

go to her. But for me, this is not something

that just was natural to me. And so as fathers,

we need to be mindful of that. We need to develop

that. We need to encourage that in our children.

That yes, we may have this somewhat harsh exterior,

but they should know we're not harsh to them.

We're loving we're caring we want them to come

to us and so that is something that we need to

develop as Fathers and be mindful of Again, if

you're if you're already bent that way then great.

That's wonderful If you're not you've got to

be again intentional in that to be that way Honor

fear and respect we talked about this the fear

of the Lord and so How is it that we fear the

Lord? It's not that we're scared of God. It's

honor. It's respect. A reverence. A desire to

please. A desire to follow His commands. We looked

at this when we went through Peter there, but

so often through the Scriptures, you see fear

of the Lord... And what's followed? Do His commands.

Fear the Lord. Serve Him. Fear the Lord. Be this

way. Okay? And so that's our desire. We want

to fear the Lord and live accordingly. And so

that's what our children should want. That's

what we want to encourage them in is this honor,

respect, reverence, and a love for us as fathers,

that they want to do these things. They want

to do what we tell them to do. They want to please

us in these things. And so just as that relationship

is with our Heavenly Father, we want to develop

that relationship with our children. Again, God

is our example. He is that perfect Father for

us. And we want to emulate Him as fathers to

our children. Along with this, though, there

is a fear of punishment when we disobey. And

so that also is a good fear. Again, it's not

a fear of abuse and I'm scared of Dad, but it's

a fear that I know that I've sinned and there

are consequences for that. Hebrews talks about

the discipline of the Lord, the chastening of

the Lord. As His children, if He loves us, He

is going to discipline and chasten us. And as

Christians, we should want that. We should be

thankful that that comes our way when we do fall

into sin. And so we need to also have that with

our children, that they should know it's not

okay to sin. It's not okay to disobey. It's not

okay to fail in whatever it is that they're doing.

There's going to be consequences for that. There

should be a fear of discipline. That's a healthy

thing. That's a good thing. Again, I just bring

this up, and it's this with everything. The world

sees that as crazy. The world sees that as abuse.

Oh, your children are going to fear? Yes, they're

going to fear. They're going to fear doing wrong.

And you see that in society. No one fears that.

There is no justice. There's no repercussions

for wrongdoing. And again, it begins in the home.

There was nothing in the home. There's nothing

in society. And there's chaos because of it.

So there is a good and a healthy fear in our

homes that our children have. for us as fathers.

Okay. Now, along these same lines, I was reminded

of this. You think of this relationship that

we have with God, that we come, we ask, He tells

us to come and to ask, you know, what good thing

will He withhold from us? All of those wonderful

promises that we have in the Word. And yet there

is also this idea of we don't get everything

that we want, right? Ask according to His will

and He'll give it to you. And so there should

be that in the home as well. Just because our

kids want something doesn't mean they get it.

The word no is a good and healthy and wonderful

word that we should be using constantly. And

it doesn't matter. I was thinking of this years

ago. I think it was Michael came to me one time.

We were sitting at lunch. Dad was sitting there

and he came and asked me for a piece of gum.

He was little. And I said, no, you don't need

a gum. And dad says, why'd you tell him no? I

said, because he doesn't need it. Was it going

to hurt him to have it? No, it was fine. He's

had gum all the time. But he doesn't need it.

And so I just said, no, you don't need it. You're

fine. Go buy what you're business. Go play. Off

he went. It was fine. Do you see that? Just because

he wants it doesn't mean he has to have it. And

just because I can give it to him doesn't mean

I should give it to him all the time. It's good

for him to know. That he's not always going to

get everything that he wants. And it's good then

that he has this attitude of, so well, oh well,

I asked. Didn't get it. I'm going to go about

my business. I'm going to go play. That's the

relationship that we should have with our children.

They know they can come to us. The answer isn't

always going to be yes, but they know they can

come and ask. And that's a good thing, to give

them the yes and to give them the no. Just as

it is with... Along those same lines, I was thinking,

what is the point of that? Well, it teaches contentment.

It teaches them that they can be content without

these other things. He can be content without

that piece of gum. He can go about his day and

be happy and joyful and enjoy the rest of the

day. And so, doing without is a good thing. It

teaches contentment. teaches our children those

good qualities that we want as believers to be

content with where we are and with what the Lord

has given us. Okay, so this whole idea then of

coming to the Father, I have here that God is

relational. If you think of, again, all of those

different things, all of those things that God

has done for us, the sacrifices, we've heard

it this morning from Brian in the Lord's Supper,

the giving of His Son. Why? To have a relationship

with us that we may have fellowship with Him.

This idea of relationship and this idea of fellowship,

that is essential. With our children if we are

going to be good fathers Then we have to develop

relationships with our children God has again

God is our example in this what does he said?

What does he said to us in his word dad talked

about it on Wednesday? Fellowship he desires

fellowship He's told us come unto me seek me.

You'll find me all of those wonderful promises

that we have of relationship, of fellowship,

of togetherness there. That's the same in our

home with our children. But it doesn't just happen.

At least it doesn't happen and is as good as

it could be. Sure, there's going to be a relationship

there if you're in the home with your child.

There's going to be something there. Whether

or not it's going to be all that great, that's

another story. We want to develop good, healthy

relationships with our children. So what's involved

in that? I have a few things. Time. That's essential.

That is perhaps the most essential part of it.

And we heard it on Wednesday, right? How are

we going to have a relationship with God if we

don't spend time with God? We're not. So time

is essential. We have got to make time and take

time for our children. So I have a list for you,

as I like to do. You've got family time in general,

okay? So you've got family time. What is that?

What does that mean? What does that look like?

Well, you've got dinner, all right? So you're

sitting around the dinner table together and

you have fellowship there. You talk of the day,

you ask questions of one another. You joke around

a little bit. You have some time together, okay?

What else is there then? Well, you have game

time. So, my wife, of course, is a wonderful

help in this because she loves games way more

than I do. At least, inside games. And so what

does that involve? If you're going to develop

some relationships with your children, you better

be playing some games with them. And are games

worthless? No, they're not. They're a wonderful

tool of teaching and instruction. Right? And

so you've got all sorts of games. You've got

card games, you've got board games. I wrote down

a couple things here. What do those teach they

teach logic they teach reasoning strategies all

of those things. It's it's it's a mental instruction

as well It's growing right because when dad wins

every time they're like, why are you why do you

win dad? Well, because this this and this I'm

thinking about this and they're like, oh right.

Yeah, that makes sense I've got a plan got a

plan for this It teaches them to lose Right.

I don't all I don't didn't always win as I could

have, perhaps. But I won plenty. And it teaches

them to lose, and that's a good thing. Failure.

Good attitude, right? I'll never forget some

of the games, the sports games that we would

play. And if a bad attitude arose, again, I would

deal with that, but there was no way they were

going to win that. You can't let them win and

have a bad attitude. They're definitely losing

now. They're going to have some major instruction.

And loss, and perhaps some spanking. But we teach

all of those things. We teach all of those things

as we're together, as we're playing games, as

we're doing these different things as a family.

We teach teamwork, of course sports, right? That's

a good thing. You're relying upon one another.

All of those different things that go along with

those. Those are all good things to experience

in the family. Family time together. You develop

relationships. You learn from one another. One

thing that we used to do was hide and seek tag

inside. Turn off all the lights except for the

bedroom light. And kids loved it. It was a great

time together. It was fun. But there was teaching

in that also because it wasn't always fun. They'd

sometimes get upset with things and then you

had to deal with it Those are all good opportunities

to teach and to develop Relationship dad's fun.

It's fun to be with dad Wrestling all of those

different things are good and healthy things

to spend time together with family devotions

Feel like I'm beating this like it like a horse

here But it is essential to have family devotions

together. What's involved in our family devotions?

It's basically like a little church service there

in our home. That's how it was growing up and

that's how it was in our home. We all sat down

together. We would sing a few songs together.

Again, teaching, instructing, singing, opening

your mouth, projecting your voice. We don't mumble

and we all participate. Just like here. Just

like at the meetings. So we're singing together.

We're going to pray together. And there's going

to be some type of instruction there. And so

I brought some books that I'll show. There's

all sorts of books out there. I shouldn't say

all sorts. There's books out there that are good.

I mentioned a few previously. I'll mention one.

Asking Father is a book. It's all about prayer.

And that's a good little booklet. to read with

the kids. It teaches them of God and his faithfulness

in his answering prayer. Opportunity to talk

about things. Bird Life in Wington is one that

we used when we were kids, and we used it for

our kids. Again, it's not this high theological

book, but it's a biblical principle that is taught

through these stories. The kids loved it, they

enjoyed it, and we could then talk about that

biblical principle. So that you have all of those

things. You have children's story Bibles. Leading

little ones to God was another one that we had.

We had it growing up and we used it. And there's

these other children's Bibles that give just

like a synopsis of the Old Testament stories

and things like that. And you can read those

and talk about those things. What else? Just

the Bible, right? You can read the Bible. You

can read the Proverbs are a wonderful opportunity

there for family devotion. You can read half

of a Proverb and talk about it. What's the writer

here telling us? There's all sorts of instruction

there for children. What to do and what not to

do. Warnings. It's a wonderful opportunity there.

Family devotions is central if you're going to

be a father. You've got to lead in that. You

don't have to be a theologian to have some family

devotions. You just got to be present. You've

just got to see the value and do it. You young

fathers, begin early. Begin early. And God will

use it in their lives. What else? Reading together,

all right? And so, in our home, we'd have our

family devotions and then we'd read. And so,

we'd read Little House on the Prairie. We read

the whole series. We read the Rush Revere books,

two out of the three, I think. Little history

books, little story books. Kids liked them. We

read God's Smuggler, the story of Brother Andrew,

right? and smuggling Bibles in the communist

countries there. I can't remember if we read

the Pilgrim of Progress or not. We thought we

did some. But there's all sorts of great little

books out there that are interesting to the kids

and are educational, instructive, and it's good.

All of these things also are beneficial for your

children because you're teaching them to pay

attention. You're teaching them to sit quietly.

You're teaching them that when someone else is

talking, you need to pay attention, right? All

sorts of life lessons go on there on the couch

during family devotions. It's not just instruction

from the Word. It's all sorts of instruction

that goes on there. It is a wonderful, wonderful

tool for our children. Now, what else? What else

is it to take an interest in your children? I

was always impressed by this guy. He had no interest

at all in this topic, but his son took an interest

in it. And so, he took an interest in it. He's

like, my son's interested in this, it doesn't

interest me at all, but I'm gonna go ahead and

delve in this with him, okay? Take an interest

in what your children are interested in. Find

out what that is. Whatever it might be. If it's

science, get into science with them. If it's

working on cars, learn about cars. Whatever it

is, take an interest in their interests. If that

scares you, here's a thought. Get them involved

in your interests. And maybe you kill two birds

with one stone right there, okay? So I think

of when I started forging, the boys all wanted

to be involved in that. And so we all went out

there and took turns and we did it all. I was

interested in baseball. That was my thing. That's

what I love, my sport. And so we taught the kids

baseball at a young age. And that was their sport.

Again, they love all sports, but taking interest

in their interests. Involve them in your interests.

Show that you love them and are concerned for

them and have an interest in their lives. They'll

know that. They'll know if dad is just like,

whatever, it's just you and I don't care about

it. You don't want to be that guy. You don't

want to be that father. I know fathers like that

who took no interest in the interests of their

children and their children have grown to resent

that. And the relationship is fractured. and

it's not healthy and there is just this schism

there between father and son don't be like that

take an interest in them again you can guide

it right you don't want it to be an obsession

you don't want it to be sinful but you can guide

and shape their interest in those things and

have an influence in their life and show them

that you love them and are concerned for them

all right We also work then on developing a relationship

as we work together So work is essential for

raising children We've talked about being examples

of that as fathers Scripture is clear that we

are to work and to provide We have that that's

not something that just comes naturally At least

not to everybody it comes naturally to some some

people are hard workers. That's just what they

do And whether that's because they were trained

in it at a young age or if that's just the way

the Lord made them, I don't know always. But

you have got to teach your children to work.

It is not just going to come naturally to them.

Think about it. What's enjoyable about it? It's

hard. It's dirty a lot of times. It's taxing

mentally, physically. What part of that is a

kid gonna be like, oh man, that's for me. It

doesn't happen very often. And so you have got

to teach them. You've got to have projects for

them. In our home, again, everybody's different

and everybody doesn't have the same setup. We

have the garden and everybody worked in the garden.

I'm a flower guy. I don't know how many times

I had to hear about, are we really making another

flower bed, dad? Yeah, we are. Go get the rocks.

Go get the dirt. Get the mulch. We're planting.

We're transplanting. And we worked. We worked

together. Saturdays was our big work day. We'd

clear the backyard. We'd cut trees. We'd burn.

We'd cut the grass. We'd do all of these different

things outside. But it doesn't have to be just

outdoors. They can have chores inside. They can

clean toilets. They can do laundry, they can

dust, they can do dishes, take out the trash,

mop the floors, vacuum the floors, clean the

walls, you name it. They should do all of those

things and there should be encouragement and

instruction and expectations in all of those

things. It's not okay that it's hot outside and

they don't want to work. Get on out there. They're

able to do that. It teaches them endurance. It

teaches them they can. It's important that your

children know they can do whatever they want

as far as being able to succeed. If you teach

them to work, if you teach them how to learn,

if you teach them how to read, the sky's the

limit. It goes far as you want. If you don't

want to go far, you don't have to. But if you

want to and you have the ethic, And the desire

can do whatever you want. It just requires work.

Your children should know, teach them to work

so that you can tell them one day, whatever you

want, whatever you're interested in, go after

it. And we'll support you in that, as long as

it's a good thing, obviously. Teach them to work.

Teach them diligence. Ways to teach. All those

things at home, how about volunteering? Right

that should be part of our lives as Christians

volunteering in Well in our community there so

our neighbors so we used to always shovel the

neighbors driveway when the kids were little

and Then when they got older, I didn't do it,

but they would go over there and do it That's

a great opportunity. You show the love of Christ

there the concern teaching work, right? So volunteering

that way, moving people. I don't know how many

people we had to move when I was a kid. It seemed

like everybody in the church moved four times.

And it was insane. But we were there. As miserable

as it was as a kid, we were there moving everybody.

That's a good thing. It's not enjoyable, always.

But we're teaching. This is what we do. This

is part of life in the church. This is part of

family. This is a good thing, just as Christians,

something that we do. So, helping in those ways.

So, this is separate from developing a relationship,

but I put this down here. But, again, we want

to teach and train our kids in all ways. We want

them to understand what it is to be a godly man,

what it is to be a godly woman, what it is to

be a Christian home, what it is to serve the

Lord. And so all of those things that we've said,

those all apply. And so I thought also of this,

how about hospitality? Are we teaching our children

hospitality? Is that a biblical principle? Yes,

it is. A couple of verses, Romans 12 -13, Hebrews

13, and 1 Peter 4 -9. They all speak of hospitality,

being hospitable to one another. We should be

teaching our children hospitality by having people

in our homes. Again, it's not always enjoyable,

is it? If you've had folks into your home enough,

you'll know that sometimes it's really difficult.

It's a real sacrifice. But what does it teach

them? It teaches them sacrifice. It teaches them

this is a loving thing to do. We're doing this

not because we necessarily want to per se, but

we're doing it because it's what the Lord would

have us to do and we're doing it in obedience

to Him. Out of love for Him, we're sacrificing

our time, our money, our efforts here to invite

these folks into our homes and to show them love.

Again, that was displayed for us as children.

We always had people in our house Christmas we'd

have Strangers it coming over for Christmas people.

We hardly knew it's a good thing to be hospitable

to show the love of Christ in that way to people

in the church and to People outside the church

who we know So all of those things One thing

that I mentioned last week that I want to talk

about a little bit more is How should I say Well,

I mentioned in the context of knowing our children

knowing our children they're How they are what

they're like so I mentioned, you know, are they

are they those who just go with the flow? who

don't really take a stand for right or wrong,

they're easily influenced, things like that.

So we should know our children in that way. And

I want to make sure that we understand we guard

our children. So just because our children seem

to really have a good foundation and stand firm

and aren't easily swayed, that doesn't mean we

just send them out. They're not little missionaries

going out, you know, no, that's not it. What

I mean by that is they may have a little bit

more freedom. So for example, when our boys,

we saw how they were, we let them play baseball

because I didn't think they were going to be

easily influenced to go after these other things.

Now if my son was rebellious and showed no interest

in following my rules and... Was not someone

I could really trust I'm not sending him out

to a bunch of boys to play legion baseball But

I thought I could trust them with these things

and so we did You that's what I mean by you've

got to know them you got to know what they're

like and What what what is going to be harmful?

What is going to be helpful? What you've got

to know them? You've got to guard them You got

to know who their friends are It's fine to have

friends, but the amount of time that you're going

to spend with those, for example, the neighbor

boys, are you going to let your kids play with

the neighbors? You've got to make that decision,

right? You've got to come to that determination.

They seem like good folks. Yeah, they're not

perfect. I think it'll be okay for them to play

out in the yard with the kids. You see him out

there accustomed and screaming mom and dad always

yelling at him. I don't know that you're gonna

go over there and play Maybe a little Johnny

wants to come over here and we can supervise

him and we can correct him when he's wrong. Okay?

Yeah, we can do that It's really not letting

you go over there and spend the night all of

those things so we have to be mindful of that

knowing our children and Treating them appropriately

Again, we want them to grow up. We want them

to mature. We want them to come into contact

with different things in a good way, in a controlled

environment. But we're not just sending them

out there. So I hope that's clear. I hope that

is helpful. Along these same lines of guarding

our children, screen time. I feel like I just

have to say something about this, okay? So, what

have you got? You've got phones, you've got movies,

you've got television, you've got video games,

forgot about that almost. All of these different

things. Are all of those things wicked and evil?

Maybe not. It's hard to say. They have to be

used appropriately, right? Is it okay to play

a video game? Yes. There's nothing wrong with

a video game. If that's your whole life, and

you can't work, or play outside, or do anything

else, well that's a problem, right? And so you've

got, I remember Mom, when we were young, we were,

well I don't know about we, Iowa would have been

a video game act. And I still am today. I'll

start to play with the kids every now and then,

and I gotta cut it off. But Mom was like, you

got an hour. You got an hour to go play Atari.

And that's it. I think we got an hour to watch

some cartoons. An hour of Atari, an hour of cartoons,

something like that. And then that was it. Our

hour was up. Whether it was in the morning or

the afternoon. When that time was done, the time

was done. We need to be even more mindful in

our society today. It's a whole lot worse than

it was then. Kids with phones. You've got to

have protections on there. You've got to make

sure they're not seeing things they shouldn't

see. You've got to make sure they're not sitting

on the phone all day playing with their apps,

playing with their games and all these other

things. You've got to guard them. You've got

to teach them that these things are tools to

use. Your phone and all of these things, entertainment

is fine. You've got to teach them the proper

place and the use for all of those things. When

you're sitting at home, Everybody shouldn't be

on their phone together. Unless that's like,

okay, hey, our family time is we're gonna have

a half hour of phone time, and then we're gonna

have real family time, fine. But family time

isn't everybody's on their phone, nobody's communicating,

nobody's looking at each other, nobody's talking.

That's not family time. That's wasted time. So

again, you've got to be mindful of all of those

things. You've got to guard your children, you've

got to teach your children, you've got to use

these things appropriately. And, you know, we

never let our kids get all those social media

things when they were young. It was just, it

wasn't, we never let them because there's so

much filth on there and there's so many things

to influence them. So be mindful of all of those

things. I think some of them... Might have got

something secretively. But we tried to be mindful

of those things. And again, I'm no techie guy

so it was difficult for me. But be mindful of

that. You've got to be proactive in it. And very

deliberate if you're going to help your children

in this way. And to protect them from the evils

that are out there. I want to just say this then

in closing. I've said this before, and I'm going

to say it again, and I'll probably say it again

in the future. You men, fathers, are responsible

for setting the tone of your home. It is up to

you to do these things. You have got to lead

a disciplined life if you want your children

to lead a disciplined life. If you do nothing

but sleep till noon, sit on your phone all day,

on your days off, what do you think your kids

are gonna do? They're gonna sleep all day, be

on their phones the rest of the day, and accomplish

nothing in their day off. If your discipline

is I go to work in the morning, five days a week,

and then I come home and I crash on the couch,

that's all you're teaching your kids. Eight hours

of work, worthless the rest of the time. You

have got to be an example of a disciplined life.

And you have got to expect that in your home.

You have got to expect your children to lead

a disciplined life More than expected you have

to demand it That's it that's all there is to

it. It's not an option really It doesn't matter

how old they are Six or 18 what do you expect

of your children? Is there this magical age when

now all of a sudden They're adults and you have

no say in their lives. That's not the case. You

are responsible for those children as long as

they are in your home. And when they go out of

your home, hopefully you still have a voice in

their life that you can say, hey, why are you

doing this? What's going on here? How can you

do that though if you haven't developed this

relationship in the years prior, right? That's...

Why it's another reason why it's essential. Because

for the rest of our kids' lives, at least my

desire is that I could speak into their lives.

That I can look at any one of them and say, why

are you doing what you're doing here? This doesn't

seem good. Can you explain this to me? And they

can know that dad's coming to them because he

loves them, because he's concerned for them,

because he wants their good. But if I don't have

a relationship, I can't do that. At least not

in a good way. So you have got to set the tone

in your home. You've got to lead a disciplined

life. You have to manage your time. You have

to have priorities. And your children have to

know these things and to be expected to do all

those same things while they're with you. You

don't live your life and your children live their

life. That's not family. You live your lives

together. All of you. There is no hands -off

parenting. If that's your idea of parenting,

then you have a totally wrong, unbiblical, worldly

view of parenting. It's hands -on. You know where

they are. You know what they're doing. You know

they're friends. All of those things. That doesn't

mean you have to control them. It doesn't mean

you have to go with them. But you should know,

hey, they're going over here, they're doing this.

They should be willing and wanting to say, hey,

we're going to go hang out over here. And you're

going to be like, yeah, go ahead. Great. We'll

see you tonight. Whatever it is, communication,

knowing. Then when they do tell you sometimes

you're gonna be like whoa now hang on Isn't that

so and so and doesn't he do this that and the

other and that doesn't seem like a very good

place to go And then like well, maybe you're

right. Maybe you're not I don't know, but you

can at least have a conversation Parenting is

hands -on involved Again We're wanting them to

grow and mature. We're wanting them to become

independent. But independence doesn't mean we

don't know anything about them. That's not good

independence. That's neglect. Neglecting your

duties as a parent. So, fathers, set the tone.

Be responsible in these things. Lead your family

in the way that you should. And I should just

say this. We do all of this for the glory of

God. Right? I mean, we want our children to be

wonderful, upstanding citizens, responsible.

I mean, that's the goal. That is one of our goals.

Absolutely. We want them to walk with the Lord.

We want them to come to know the Lord. We want

all of those good things. But we do what we do

because God has commanded us to do it. And we

do it out of love to Him. first and foremost,

and then our love for our children afterwards.

And if the Lord saves them and they're wonderful,

then praise the Lord. If He doesn't, then we

can say, well, I was obedient to the Lord and

I don't know what else I could have done. But

if at the end of the day, you can't say that,

that's a terrible place to be. To say, yeah,

I failed everywhere. My children are walking

with the Lord. I sure wish I had done everything

different. Don't go there. Be responsible. Honor

the Lord in the way that you parent. And Lord

willing, the Lord will bless that, save your

children, and it'll be wonderful. But we've got

to be intentional. We've got to be responsible.

We've got to be diligent in what the Lord has

called us to do.