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<div><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sermons for Father’s Day:</SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2 Corinthians 5:1-10</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> - "A Word for Christian Fathers"</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2 Corinthians 5, the sermon titled "A Word for Christian Fathers"</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">You are familiar with the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy's marriage was a saga of bitterness. His wife carped and complained and clung to her grudges until he could not bear the sight of her. When they had been married almost a half a century, sometimes she would implore him to read to her the exquisite, poignant love passages that he had written about her in his diary forty-eight years previously, when they were both madly in love with each other. As he read of the happy days that were now gone forever, they both wept bitterly. <br>
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Is there anything sadder than to look back over a lifetime of neglected opportunities--wasted years when love could and should have been nurtured--and regret that you "blew it?" Some of you know what I am talking about.<br>
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This is Father's Day. Dads don't get the respect that they used to. Remember "Father Knows Best"? For many fathers, those were the good old days. A few years ago, a college professor conducted a careful, two year study that asked children aged four to six: "Which do you like better, TV or Daddy?"<br>
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Forty-six percent of the youngsters indicated that they preferred television.<br>
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I like the story about the ten-year-old boy who answered the doorbell at his home one day. When he opened it, there stood a strange man on the porch. The man said, "Son, you don't know me, do you?" The young man said, no, he did not. The man replied, "Well, I am your uncle on your father's side." To which the young fellow replied, "Well, I am glad to meet you, but you are certainly on the losing side."<br>
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Dads don't have it as easy as they used to, perhaps. But how important Christian fathers are! A study of church attendance sometime back showed that if both Mom and Dad attended church regularly 72 percent of their children remain faithful to the church. If only Mom attended regularly, only 15 percent remained faithful. So the church is thankful for Christian fathers. And so are Christian mothers, needless to say. The number of young women having to raise children in a single parent household nowadays is startling. Of course, it is not always the mother who is raising the children. Again, we can be thankful for Christian fathers who take on their share of responsibility for nurturing their young.<br>
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I do not believe that St. Paul was directing his statement in II Corinthians 5; 17 only toward fathers, or only toward men in general. If he were writing today, I believe that he would have written, "If any PERSON be in Christ, he is a new creation . . ." This great text is for single men and single women, and married persons, and widows and widowers, as well as father and mothers. But in light of this special day, I hope that the fathers will take note…</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <A href="http://www.esermons.com/signup" target=_blank><FONT color=#0000ff>http://www.sermons.com/signup</FONT></A></SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A sermon titled "The Love of a Father" </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It is not easy being a father. One cynic, speaking from his own experience, noted that children go through four fascinating stages. First they call you DaDa. Then they call you Daddy. As they mature they call you Dad. Finally they call you collect.<br>
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Today we salute fathers. Dads, we love you. The role of a Christian father is more important in today's world than ever before. It is a different roll than in earlier generations. In most households today Dad is called upon to play more of a nurturing role in caring for children. If Mom works outside the home, Dad must take a more active role in doing household chores. Dad is no longer "lord of the castle." Hopefully, however, he has not been reduced to being another of the vassals.</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Today's father needs to be nurturing of his children, supportive of his wife, and yet at the same time provide the spiritual leadership of the home that the Bible accords to fathers. It is a rare man, a special kind of man, who can combine all three of these qualities. We salute Christian fathers this day. Your family needs you more than ever before.<br>
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The most common image that Jesus used in describing God was that of "Father." It makes me think that Joseph must have been a very special kind of father. We center much of our attention on his mother, Mary, but Joseph must have also combined those very special qualities of strength and gentleness that we associate with Jesus. Jesus had a very keen knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. In the Jewish home it was the father who had the primary responsibility for his son's religious instruction. Of course we know that Jesus had an unique relationship with God. Still, I have to believe that Joseph, though barely mentioned in the Gospel narrative, was probably an influential role model for Jesus. Why else would Jesus have chosen the imagery of "Father" to portray God?<br>
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In Matthew 10: 29-31 we have one of the most important Scriptural reminders of the love of our Heavenly Father for His children. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?" Jesus asks, "And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." What a moving testimony to the very intimate love that God has for each of us.</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">1. Sparrows Do Fall from Skies</SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2. Life’s Problems are Not Punishment for Our Sins</SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">3. We Never Fall Beyond the Watchful Eye of the Father.</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The rest of the sermon can be found by joining Sermons.com. </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Priceless Scribbles</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Rev. Richard Fairchild tells about a story that appeared years ago in the Christian Reader. It was called “Priceless Scribbles.” It concerns a father who touched his child’s life in an unexpected way. A young boy watched as his father walked into the living room. The boy noticed that his younger brother, John, began to cower slightly as his father entered. The older boy sensed that John had done something wrong. Then he saw from a distance what his brother had done. The younger boy had opened his father’s brand new hymnal and scribbled all over the first page with a pen. </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Staring at their father fearfully, both brothers waited for John’s punishment. Their father picked up his prized hymnal, looked at it carefully and then sat down, without saying a word. Books were precious to him; he was a minister with several academic degrees. For him, books were knowledge. What he did next was remarkable, says the author of this story. Instead of punishing his brother, instead of scolding, or yelling, his father took the pen from the little boy’s hand, and then wrote in the book himself, alongside the scribbles that John had made. Here is what that father wrote: “John’s work, 1959, age 2. How many times have I looked into your beautiful face and into your warm, alert eyes looking up at me and thanked God for the one who has now scribbled in my new hymnal. You have made the book sacred, as have your brother and sister to so much of my life.” </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“Wow,” thought the older brother, “This is punishment?” The author of the story, now an adult, goes on to say how that hymnal became a treasured family possession, how it was tangible proof that their parents loved them, how it taught the lesson that what really matters is people, not objects; patience, not judgment; love, not anger.</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Richard Fairchild, adapted by King Duncan </SPAN></div>
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