How to Be a Father When You're Fatherless | Sunday Message

Pastor Greg Laurie shares a message for anyone who has ever wondered, "How can I give what I never got?" While some never had an earthly father to learn from, our heavenly Father is here to fill what's missing. He helps us break the cycle.

Notes:

Focus verse - Ephesians 6
 
1. A child from a fatherless home is 68% more likely to use drugs or alcohol.
2. 85% of all youths in prison are from fatherless homes.
3. 63% of teens who attempt suicide are from fatherless homes.
 
We desperately need fathers doing what god has called them to do.
  
“A child that is left to himself brings shame to his mother.”
Proverbs 29:15
  
Passive fathers avoid conflict.
Godly fathers resolve it.
 
Passive fathers go with the flow.
Godly fathers lead with conviction.
 
#1 you are not defined by your past.
 
God can break the cycle of sin in your family.
 
“If anyone is in christ, he is a new creation.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
 
God promises to be a Father for the fatherless.
Psalm 68:5
 
You are always on God's mind.
Jeremiah 29:11

#2 Even if you did not have a father, you can be a good father.
 
#3 Children are on loan to us for a short time.
 
“Children are a heritage from the lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”
Psalm 127:3
 
Children are not ours to keep, but to nurture.
 
Live in such a way that your child will want to emulate you.
Proverbs 20:7, 1 Corinthians 11:1
 
A good father reflects God’s character.
Psalm 103:13
 
Read: Ephesians 6:1–4
 
Train up is a phrase used to describe breaking a horse.
 
Train up also means to “create a thirst in.”
 
“and you must love the lord your god with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength. and you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that i am giving you today.”
deuteronomy 6:5–6
 
“repeat them again and again to your children. talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”
deuteronomy 6:7
 
#4 Start reading the Bible and imprinting your children early.
 
“give me a child until he is 7, and i will show you the man.” —aristotle
 
god is a loving father who loves his children but gives them a free will.
even when they sin against him, he does not stop loving them.
 
#5 godly fathers don’t have to be biological.
#6 in the church, we can find and be father figures.
 
#7 leave a godly legacy.
 
if both mom and dad attend church regularly,
72% of their children remain faithful in attendance.
 
if only dad attends regularly, 55% remain faithful.
if only mom attends regularly, only 15% remain faithful.
if neither attend regularly, only 6% remain faithful.
 
you may be fatherless today, but you have a father in heaven.
a father in heaven who loves you unconditionally.
 
“for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.”
john 3:16

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