June 18, Father's Day

Lesson: Luke 15.11-32

Sermon Title: What's a Father to Do?

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INTRODUCTION:

A Dad Funny (1)

One night a wife found her husband standing over their newborn baby's crib. Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, skepticism. He would stand back, shake his head and say, "Amazing," while smiling from ear to ear.

Touched by his unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, her eyes glistened as she slipped her arms around him.

"A penny for your thoughts," she whispered in his ear.

"Isn't it amazing!" he replied. "When you take the time and really look close, how can anyone make a crib like that for only $45.99!"

  1. I know dads take a lot of heat.

  2. Dads are often the but of jokes, puns or trivial comments.

Mothers and Fathers -- you think you're special? You think you're being honored, having one day out of the year dedicated to you?

Consider this: Egg salad gets a whole week. As do pickles, pancakes, pickled peppers, split pea soup, clowns, carpenter ants and aardvarks. Peanut butter (March), chickens (September) and oatmeal (January) each rate an entire month.

Mothers and fathers can draw solace from the fact that along with themselves, such national treasures as the rubber eraser and moles also merit only a single day of recognition.

  1. Welcome to Father's Day!

    1. What's a father to do?

    2. Explore situations to arrive at conclusions.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. What's a Father to Do?

The almost 16-year-old son of a minister was about to get his driver's license and came to his father to ask for a car of his own as a birthday present.

The father considered this for a bit, and then said that he would get his son a car if the son would meet three conditions: keep his grades up to at least a B average; read the Bible each day; and get a haircut.

The son soon presented his father with a good report card, and said that he had been faithfully reading the Bible each day. "You know, Dad, those men in the Bible all had long hair," he commented.

"That's right," added the father, " and they all walked everywhere they went."

    1. Dads provide guidance.

    2. Dads encourage direction.

    3. Dads offer the wisdom that may lead to a correction of outlook and action.

When I Was (for Father's Day) (2)

Four years old: My daddy can do anything.

Five years old: My daddy knows a whole lot.

Six years old: My dad is smarter than your dad.

Eight years old: My dad doesn't know exactly everything.

Ten years old: In the olden days, when my dad grew up, things were sure different.

Twelve years old: Oh, well, naturally, Dad doesn't know anything about that. He is too old to remember his childhood.

Fourteen years old: Don't pay any attention to my dad. He is so old-fashioned.

Twenty-one years old: Him? My Lord, he's hopelessly out of date.

Twenty-five years old: Dad knows about it, but then he should, because he has been around so long.

Thirty years old: Maybe we should ask Dad what he thinks. After all, he's had a lot of experience.

Thirty-five years old: I'm not doing a single thing until I talk to Dad.

Forty years old: I wonder how Dad would have handled it. He was so wise.

Fifty years old: I'd give anything if Dad were here now so I could talk this over with him. Too bad I didn't appreciate how smart he was. I could have learned a lot from him.

  1. What's a Father to Do?

A conversation between a father and his 10-year-old son, reported in the newspaper, illustrates the problem in our attitude toward Lent.

The father was attempting to explain to his young son the necessity for giving up something for Lent. In fact, the father went beyond the non-directive method of parenting to suggest that the lad give up candy.

Quizzed by the boy about this kind of religiosity and what it would bring, the father replied that "It will improve your character. You'll be a better person on Easter Sunday if you give up candy. After all, your mother and I have given up liquor for Lent."

The boy then said: "That's funny Dad. I saw you and mother having a drink before dinner last night." The father replied, "That was wine. We gave up hard liquor."

The lad countered, "Oh, that's good. I'll give up hard candy."

    1. Dads provide stability.

    2. Dads demonstrate consistency.

    3. Dad serve as an example.

    4. Dads provide good advice.

It's Nice to Share (3)

After visiting his grandfather who peppers his sentences with salty language, our preschooler came home enthusiastically using his new-found vocabulary.

We tried valiantly to discourage it without condemning his grandfather, but had no luck.

Exasperated, I finally told him that those particular words were his grandfather's and not ours, and so they should stay back there at Grandpa's house.

I was pleased with myself at having found a way to separate the profanity from the person until our young philosopher remembered another lesson: "But, Daddy, you always tell me it's nice to share!"

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  1. What do you need daddy for?

Dad Question (4)

Four-year-old Little Johnny asked, "Mummy, where do babies come from?

"The stork, dear." replied Johnny's Mom.

"Mummy, who keeps bad people from robbing our house?" Asked Little Johnny.

Johnny's mother answer, "The police, dear."

"Mummy, if our house was on fire, who would save us?"

"The fire department, dear."

"Mummy, where does food come from?"

"Farmers, dear."

"Mummy?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What do we need Daddy for?"

    1. What do we need daddy for?

    2. Touch of Wonder By Arthur Gordon (5)

Arthur Gordon writes that when he was about 13 and my brother 10, our father promised to take us to the circus. But then at lunchtime there was a phone call--some urgent business that required his attention downtown--and we braced ourselves for disappointment. But then we heard him say, "No, I won't be able to come down. It's going to have to wait."

He came back to the table and mother smiled, "The circus keeps coming back, you know."

"I know," he said, "but childhood doesn't."

After all these years I remember that moment. And I knew from the sudden glow of warmth that no kindness is ever really wasted or completely lost. Because the only thing you take with you to heaven is your family.

    1. This is what dads are for.

  1. What do we need daddy for?

    1. Hey dad let me have my share of our inheritance!

      1. What inheritance.

      2. Bumper sticker: "We're spending our children's inheritance."

    2. Well, there was an inheritance.

      1. He got his request.

      2. He turned his inheritance into cash and took off.

    3. What was going to happen to him?

      1. There are no PI's.

      2. There is only silence.

    4. Would he ever come back.

      1. What would happen if or when he came home?

      2. The usual reaction would be to bar the door.

    5. In this case dad sees him afar and prepares a celebration.

    6. This irritates the older brother who had stayed at home and done the work.

      1. Why are you throwing a party for your son?

      2. There is no reasoning with the older son.

  2. Here we have the perfect example of the application of grace, mercy and love.

    1. What are dads for?

    2. What's a father to do?

    3. Does Jesus provide an example and processes to answer the question?

    4. Yes he does.

  3. Is it an answer that we want to hear and apply?

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CONCLUSION

  1. What do we need daddy for? (6)

A little boy was on a train running the long trip between two Western cities. It was a hot, dusty day, very uncomfortable for traveling, and that particular ride was perhaps the most uninteresting day's journey in the whole land.

But the little fellow sat patiently watching the fields and the fences hurrying by until a motherly old lady leaned forward to ask with some sympathy in her voice, "Aren't you tired of the long ride, dear, and the dust and the heat?"

The little boy looked up brightly, and smiled, "Yes, ma'am, a little. But I don't mind it much, because my father is going to meet me when I get to the end of it.

    1. God is waiting when we get to the end of it.

    2. God is the father who is waiting when we get to the end of it.

    3. Give thanks to Dads and God.

  1. Happy Father's Day Dad!

Amen.

1. Mikey's Funnies [funnies-owner@lists.MikeysFunnies.com]

2. Writer Unknown

3. Page Zyromski, Painesville, OH. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare." Retrieved from: Church Laughs-HTML [churchlaughs-html@lists.christianitytoday.com]

4. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

5. Mikey's Funnies [funnies-owner@lists.MikeysFunnies.com]

6. Source Unknown.

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