Scripture About Fathers (06/18/2000)

Turn with me to 1st John chapter 2 in verse 13 That's gonna be our introduction and then we're gonna go to Deuteronomy chapter 6 in verse 6

Well, wouldn't it be nice if we had Richard Raymond with us every day? every

Sunday When we gonna see Richard Raymond again, it's always wonderful when they're here

And We need to think of our Men as they have to be off working and Sometimes we take for granted that everything will just be cool but there's a lot of dangerous things out there in the world and The Lord's protection has been so wonderful in our church through the years

Let's read this passage In 1st John chapter 2 verse 13 and then we'll go to Deuteronomy chapter 6

I Write unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning

Isn't it interesting that doesn't say was from the beginning you go back to the beginning and God is

You go back before that and God is and he is the eternal

I am But he says the fathers have known him

They have known him That's not just religion. Is it? That's a personal relationship

I Write unto you young men Because you have overcome the wicked one and in just a moment

We're gonna see how they did this and I write unto you little children because you have known the father now

That verse is easy to read over but think about the progression that's going on there We're going from fathers to young men to little children you might say from grandfathers to fathers to children and They all know the

Lord Now there's a reason for that Verse 14.

I have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning That's interesting

It just repeats the same thing But then when it comes to the next one I have written unto you young men because you are strong And now it gives us a clue as to why these young men are strong and why they have victory over the evil one

It says and the Word of God Lives in you abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one

Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man loved the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and The lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father

But is of the world and the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever

Important Information in the last couple of verses for all of our children to learn for us to teach our children for us to remind ourselves

But I want you to think about the progression that we see And in these in this church and in these families that John writes about the grandfathers the young men and The children all know him that is from the beginning

Now I want us to go to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and show you God's methods for making sure that that happens

Deuteronomy chapter 6 We'll start with the first four instead You know fathers are interesting creatures fathers

Always Hope that their sons will live the life that they meant to live and And It's kind of interesting when one father was kind of getting on to his son and He told the son he said now son

He said when Abraham Lincoln was your age he was already reading Latin and He had read the works of Shakespeare and he could do algebra

And the little boy thought for a minute he looked up at his dad and said dad When Abraham Lincoln was your age he was president of the

United States Apparently his dad was not quite there but Dad's always want the sons to grow up and and be more than we were because we know who we are and we want them to have more and to go farther and It's kind of interesting, you know

Dad's nothing about dads when they have sons You know, they can get sort of excited about the fact that someday their son will meet

Pretty sweet young girl and that someday that girl will become like another daughter to that father

But it's interesting when when father start thinking about daughters Fathers always kind of picture the day when they give their daughter away in marriage and I think universally we all feel like we're giving a million dollar

Stradivarius to a gorilla and So that's just the way dads think

One small boy Oh Katie was listening back there in the nursery

One small boy Was there asking about Father's Day and then they he said what's it like and he said what's a lot like Mother's Day?

But you don't have to spend so much And that's kind of true, too. So dad's we didn't get you any flowers today, but But we do want to preach a message that I think will

Be a great benefit for grandfathers and fathers alike

Well, let's start with verse 4 Deuteronomy's chapter 6 here. Oh Israel.

The Lord our God is one Lord and Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might

How in the world is that going to happen in the midst of a generation? Such as we live in in a nation that probably is worse than Nineveh because I don't know that this nation would repent

Even at the preaching of Jonah who knows But I know that we live in an evil nation and I've thought many times

Is it safe to bring my children up in this country just because of the mindset in this country?

I think of lot and we've criticized him so many times for pitching his tent towards Sodom and yet we live in the midst of Sodom in this country and Sodom comes right in our houses through the

TV sets and We've pitched our tent in the dead middle of it and it's kind of frightening

So how in the world are our children going to get to the place? Where they love God with all their heart and all their soul and all their strength well, a great deal of the responsibility of that training is placed upon the fathers and That's why it's wonderful to pastor a church like this

Russell and I were praying before the service and we were thinking about the fact of the fact that this church is a church that is led by men there are very few churches like that left in this country and that the women in our church like it that way and It really is wonderful I think if you went around and you visited some other churches around you might find it's not always that way but this church from the beginning of this church was a

Church, which encouraged the men to lead out in their homes and in the church, and I'm thankful for that This relates especially to the home.

Let's start with the verse 6 and see if we can see some points That are important for us as fathers and these words which

I command thee this day Shall be in thy heart Let's stop there for a moment

That's a great answer to first John chapter 2 in verse 13 It says that the fathers knew him that is from the beginning they didn't know about him, but they knew him personally and What the first command is given here is

That these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and that's not written to the children

That's written to the fathers God says the first step in in this the first key in these steps to raising children in the admonition of the

Lord is that the fathers would have the word in their hearts Now that doesn't mean just memorizing scripture

I think it'd be wonderful if we memorized more scripture probably but to tell you the truth memorizing scripture is much easier

Than knowing God's Word It means that we should be in God's Word so much that it's just a part of our hearts

It's a part of our thought life. It's a part of our walk and If a father is not that way, it doesn't matter how many hours he spends teaching the

Bible to his children. They won't get it Why do you think it is that so many preachers kids go bad you ever thought about that?

Probably nobody in the congregation knew the word better than the preacher did But just does just knowing the word

Cause your children to believe God It really doesn't the word has to be in our hearts and It becomes more vivid as we go along here, let's look at the next verse and Now shall teach them diligently

Teach God's words diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when

Thou liest down and when thou risest up there probably is not a better verse in the whole

Bible to instruct fathers On how to have the right kind of influence on their children for the

Word of God God teaches the secret to it and the secret to it by the way is not having family altar times

You probably didn't think you'd hear me say that but that's not the secret. I think there have been a lot of fundamentalists

Baptists who have had family altar times religiously and their children didn't turn out, right?

I'll tell you what the secret is. I'm not against family altar times. That's wonderful, but that's not the secret

The secret is this that you teach God's words diligently to them as You spend time together in the home

Not at the family altar time, but just during life When you're just walking with your children in the house

When you're sitting with them in your home and spending time with them

Thou shalt talk of them when you sittest in thine house You speak of God's words and of God as if it's just a natural part of your life because he is

It doesn't have to be an academic time or a special little time We set apart and sit down and teach the children the

Bible It's far more effective if they see that the Bible's in your heart and mind during the normal walk of life in the home

Not only that but when you walk by the way when you go out fathers when you take your children and you go do something with them

You have a special day with them or whatever When you're with them is God a part of your conversation?

Are the principles of the Word of God just a natural part that come up? I'm not saying you have to just talk the scripture and quote scriptures all day with your children

But I'm saying in life as you're going in life And you're going by the way with your children and you see a circumstance or you see something that arises in life and you see a

Picture of the Lord or you see something that teaches you of the Lord or you see something that the

Lord did right in front? Of your face. Do you bring it up to your children and let them know you're thinking about it and Then it says when thou liest down And when thou risest up that pretty much encompasses the whole day, doesn't it?

When the day is at its end in your home as your child seen God in you As your child seen that you know him that is

From the beginning is your child know that you have a personal real relationship with the father not just a doctrinal stance

If he knows that when the day is closed and then The next day when you rise up and he sees the same thing and he sees that day in and day out

That child is going to have a profound understanding that God is

And he will tend to believe God because his dad does now

Let's go to verse 8 And thou shalt bind them the words of God thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand

And thou shalt be as frontlets. They shall be as frontlets between thine eyes

You know that the Orthodox Jews over in Israel Actually tie little boxes on themselves that have little bits of scripture in there because they take this literally but what this is really saying you shall let

God's words be a sign upon your hand and as Frontlets right here between your eyes a little box picture a little box with God's Word in it right here between your eyes

And what is this telling us it's telling us that the words of God Should always be before us as fathers as we go out to work with our hands the

Word of God should be a part of what we do and Everything that we do and every time our children spend time with us.

They should see that God is on the forefront of our mind Just as if his word was tied to the front of your forehead

So that your eyes could actually see it with peripheral vision all the time reminding us How important God's Word is in every issue of life?

Now look at verse 9 and thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates

Well, I know one church took this literally My dad was telling me about at one time he went over to the Methodist Church in my head

I had a daycare center there and for some reason he was over there and and they had scriptures written all over the walls and One lady that was working there said to my dad he said, you know

They have some wonderful sayings in here. I Guess she's never read the Bible. She didn't know where those sayings came from So my dad and I've teased about that through the years

We'll read a Bible verse together and my dad will say isn't that a wonderful saying? Pretty good stuff

But what does it mean to write the Word of God on the post of your house and on the gates? Well, I believe it means that God's Word should be the law of your home

And when people walk through the gates and come into your home they should sense the power of it and the sanctifying power in that home of the

Word of God and Your children who walk through those gates and go out through those gates and come in and out

Through the days should certainly sense the power that's in that home because of the Word of God Verse 10 through 12.

I Dad's is to beware of the complacency of prosperity Now relatively speaking all of us who live in this country in this time have economic blessings more than the world has ever known and When you just look at any other country in the world

We have Prosperity and here's a warning to the fathers as they look at their household and as they look at their own children

To be careful in times of prosperity verse 10 says and it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land

The promised land victorious Christian living, you know, you have one of those times when things are going smooth for a change

Everything seems to be going fine All the needs are met He's brought you into the land which he swear unto thy fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give thee great and goodly cities

Which thou build is not, you know We look at our empires that we build in our own families and we think sometimes dad's that we built that Empire We didn't

We just occupied it God already had it built for us and Houses full of good things which thou fillest not we didn't bring the things to our own houses and wells digged which we dig

It's not God provided all the needs of our families Vineyards and olive trees which thou planets not when thou shalt have eaten and be full then beware

Lest thou forget the Lord now what happens if the father forgets the Lord in the home?

Well, he's gonna come under the chastening hand of God and the unfortunate thing about it

Is that the way God has built the authority structures? Sometimes the children and the wife have to go through it with him

It kind of reminds me of when the children of Israel were taken into captivity sometimes even the godly people and the prophets who were walking with the

Lord had to go also and Dad's when we get to the place where things are going.

Well we need to make sure we don't think that we dug those wells and That we planted those vineyards we need to understand that the

Lord brought it all But he says beware lest you forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of Slavery out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage

So several little points in there that we need to remember Remember that the

Lord is the one who brought us out of bondage that remember sometimes dad's the slavery that we were in and sinned before we were saved and We need our children to understand

That God has brought us out of bondage verse 13 says thou shalt fear the

Lord thy God and serve him shalt swear by his name Ye shall not go after other gods of the gods of the people which are round about you

Boy, does America have its gods are we surrounded by false gods in this country for the

Lord? Thy God is jealous is a jealous God among you Lest the anger of the

Lord thy God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the earth

We see in this little three verse passage that we should fear the Lord.

We should serve the Lord We should keep his word and Most importantly perhaps we should not worship other gods

What are some of the gods that we have in this country? We have to be careful to keep them out of our homes and it's the dad's predominant job to do that we have to be watchful all the time of fads that come in from dress fads to who knows what kind of fads that come into the world for our young people and We have to watch for false philosophies because almost everything that Hollywood puts out has a little false philosophy intertwined with it subtly and And Everything this world puts out has the world's philosophy intertwined within it

Remember that the Lord who is among us is jealous. There's another important thing.

We learned from this little passage James 4 5 says do you think that the scripture sayeth in vain?

The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy Do you think the

Bible is saying just vain words when it says that the Holy Spirit that lives in our bodies is jealous over our time and our affections

Not at all Fathers need to understand that when things get become prosperous

That it is very important to remind ourselves and remind our children that the Lord took us out of bondage

That we had nothing before his salvation. It is very important to continue to fear

The Lord because when things are prosperous We don't always fear the Lord because we think everything is fine and in its place

It's important in times of prosperity to continue to serve the Lord it's also important to keep his word and to keep false gods away and Remember always that God is jealous of Us.

Why is that so important in times of prosperity? because in times of prosperity We replace

God with things sometimes we have hobbies Sometimes we have work

Sometimes we have another person But we have to be very careful that we place our affections on God first because he is a jealous

God Now this little phrase that says lest the anger of the Lord thy

God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face Of the earth what application do you think that would have to us?

I mean, I know it's talking about the nation of Israel and Removing them from the promised land.

But what application? Spiritual application would that have to us fathers as we look at our families if we don't remind ourselves and our children about the bondage

God saved us from and we don't fear the Lord and if we don't serve the Lord and If we don't keep his word if we bring other gods into the home or allow them into the home

We don't remember that God is jealous What do you think this phrase means destroy thee from off the face of the earth?

Someone give me a thought on how that might apply to a family That can happen another thing that I think it could mean is that If we don't follow these principles as fathers if we don't walk with the

Lord right in front of our children Throughout the day if we don't speak of the Lord in the home as if he is a real part of our lives

I mean, it's not enough just to teach it as doctrine. Is he a part of our lives and We don't get these principles into our children's hearts then the next generation may go away from the

Lord and The next generation and your family line may go to the place where it's ungodly and there's not even any saved people in it now

With the nation of Israel Lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee if you're not teaching your children the words

That's what this whole passage is about the words of God Then you'll be destroyed off the face of the earth as a nation.

I think that there could be some teaching there for families as well Now the next passage deals with being careful about Danger in times that are not prosperous in times of trials look at verse 16

You Shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him at Massa You shall diligently keep the commandments of the

Lord your God and his testimonies and his statutes Which he hath commanded thee

Turn with me for a moment to Exodus chapter 17 in verse 1

In times of prosperity the danger is that we Fall in love with other things

But in times when we're not Prosperous where we're having trials maybe economic difficulties and so forth.

The real danger is that we would tempt God Now I want us to look at Exodus 17 and verse 1 in this passage because it tells us exactly what it means to tempt

God And we're going into this very passage that is referred to in Deuteronomy Exodus 17 1 says in all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin

Don't you think that's interesting that it's called the wilderness of sin? After their journeys according to the commandment of the

Lord and pitched in Rephidim and There was no water for the people to drink. Now.

This is a trial They're not having prosperity. In fact, they're not in the promised land.

They're out in the wilderness and things are not going well And here we have millions of people and no water to drink and so They're in a time of trial

Wherefore the people did chide with Moses now the word chide in the

Hebrew language literally means to toss as if two wrestlers grappling together and Or it may mean to wrangle or to have a strong Controversy with someone so the people chided with Moses and said give us water that meet we may drink

You're our leader Moses said to them why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the

Lord? He said I'm not your God I'm not your leader. God is your leader and If you're gonna complain about the trial that you're in and the lack of water blame him.

He is sovereign Don't Act like you can take it out on me don't act like your fight is with God's man.

It's not it's with God and The people thirsted there for water and now look what happened when they're under trial the people murmured this

Hebrew word Is pronounced loon and it means to stop

It implies to stay somewhere permanently and hence it gets the bad sense of the understanding to be obstinate

And so the people became obstinate and murmured because they didn't feel that they had their needs met

Now who were they really angry with? Who were they questioning here?

Who were they blaming? Were they really blaming Moses? Moses said they weren't he says your fights not with me

Wherefore the Bible says is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and Our cattle with thirst now, do you think maybe some of their children heard them when they said that?

Oh Fathers you don't ever want to come to the place where you say wherefore about God in front of your children

Because this word in the Greek language is ma which means what how why and when

God what are you doing? Why are you doing this? How could you do this? When are you gonna make it go away?

This is what they were doing. They were murmuring Chiding and they were saying wherefore

What how why when and the interesting thing in the Hebrew language this word ma always has an implied?

exclamation point after it What? boy

What a dangerous thing to display in front of our children What is this that thou has brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and to kill our little ones

Now that would really espouse a strong faith in God among our children, wouldn't it? That's exactly what they did

And Moses then cried unto the Lord it was crying time wasn't it? He said oh man, don't say that He cried the

Lord said what will I do with your people funny how Moses God? Gave them back and forth to each other

Didn't it seems like throughout that passage each one's always trying to give it to the other one What shall

I do with his people? They be almost ready to stone me Behold I will stand before thee there with upon the rock of Horeb God said and thou shalt smite the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink what do you think that was a picture of when

Moses smoked that rock and Water came out That's the picture of Jesus Christ being smitten and nailed to the cross in the water of life

That came because of it and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel and he called the name of the place

Masa Which means a testing of men or a test or a trial?

So he named the place trial because we just went through a trial and he also gave it another name Meribah Which means to quarrel because they were quarreling with God when they went through the trial

Because the children because of the chiding of the children of Israel and because they tempted the

Lord now here We're gonna get the very best definition in the whole Bible for what it means to tempt

God and I'm not just saying that I really Mean it. It's the best definition Look how they tempted

God it says and because they tempted God The Lord saying is the

Lord among us or not Now when we go through trials dads

Do we ever get the feeling? I just don't think God's even going through this with me. I don't think he's here

Well, if we get that feeling we'd better better bring that thought into captivity and obedience of Jesus Christ quickly and cast it out of our minds because if it ever leaves our lips and Our children hear it.

We've done great damage We should never come to the place where we tempt God by acting as if he is not with us

This is exactly what they did and look at verse 8 because it's very important Then came

Amalek Now if you've been around a while you've heard me preach a sermon on Amalek But if you haven't been here for a while, let me just tell you who

Amalek is Amalek is the flesh Amalek is the flesh

It says then came Amalek and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Well How do we know

Amalek is the flesh because he is the son of Eliphaz who was the firstborn of Esau?

by Esau's concubine Tima now what's interesting about it in Romans chapter 9 verse 13.

It says as it is written Jacob is the son of Eliphaz Have I loved and Esau have I hated do you know one reason it says

Esau have I hated? Because Esau is a type of the flesh The Bible says very clearly in Romans chapter 8 verse 5 for they that are after the flesh do mind

Think about the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit But to be fleshly minded is death

But to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is at enmity with God God hated

Esau Esau was a type or a picture of the flesh The carnal mind is at enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither

Indeed can it be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please

God Now fathers, I want you to notice this that When we came into the place of hard times while we were under prosperity

We had to watch out for other gods and Forsaking God just forgetting about him and now when we come under hard times

We still have to be careful because all of a sudden there is no water for the people And our needs are not met and we may tend to begin to chide or to grapple with God we may even begin to murmur a little bit and To become obstinate before the

Lord and then we may even begin to ask inappropriate questions such as what?

What what are you doing? How could you do this to me and to my family? and Wherefore is this that thou has brought us out of Egypt to kill us and our children implying that God is evil

What a dangerous thing to do they tempted the Lord and said well good certainly the

Lord is not among us or this wouldn't be happening and Then came Amalek father when we fathers when we get our lives to the place where we have tempted the

Lord and We act like and think like he is not with us and our families.

The flesh is sure to follow The flesh will come on strong at that point because certainly a spiritual man is not thinking this way and so the flesh comes in and Just takes over and wins the fight

Hebrews 12 16 talks of Esau Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright

He didn't care about the spiritual things And so that is the danger when we come into trial is tempting

God and Asking the question. What are you doing? God? It's as if you're not here right in front of our children

Well now we go into verse 18 and 19 The Bible says do that which is right in the sight of the

Lord and thou shalt do that Which is right and good in the sight of the Lord fathers.

Do you know why because those little eyes are watching us Those children are watching us That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land

Which the Lord's where unto thy fathers to cast out all thine enemies from before thee as the

Lord hath Spoken, isn't it? Interesting that it speaks of obedience and doing good in the sight of the

Lord in the context of having victory over our enemies What are our enemies the world the flesh and the devil?

If we have trouble with any one of those three Then you can go right back into this passage in verse 18 and 19.

We'll see why because the truth is God says if you walk before me and You love me with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength and you keep my commandments

And you do that which is good in my sight. He says in verse 19 I myself will cast out all thine enemies from before thee and I have spoken it

And it will happen So that's a promise But it's a conditional promise

It's based on if we and our families love the Lord with all our heart all our strength all of our might all of our soul

If we have other gods before him, then we have a problem with his promise now verses 20 and 21

Speak once again of reminding our children of the slavery of sin and the deliverance of God and when thy son asketh thee in time to come saying

What mean the testimonies and statutes and the judgments with the Lord? Our God has commanded you your children come and ask you a

Bible question. What does God mean by this? How does God do this royal bin is?

Continually asking questions and I'm always glad he's home with his mom asking those questions. She'll call me on the phone So, you know what?

He asked me That's a tough Bible question. What's the answer and I'll say well I'll tell you when I get home that give me a whole day to think about it

Then now shall saying to thy son we were Pharaoh's bondman in Egypt Always teach the principle to our children that we were slaves to sin

You see our children are second generation many of us were saved later in life, aren't we? And some of our children are saved early in life.

They haven't gone through the things we went through in bondage They have not spent time in Egypt like we did out in the world

Because they're in the promised land and they may never have to do that so they don't even know what it's like and God tells us as the parents to tell our children when they ask what has

God done for you tell them about when you were a bondman to Satan in the world system and Then tell them that the

Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand God says teach them of the power of God and deliverance

Teach them of the purpose of God and deliverance verse 22 talks about the power It says in the

Lord showed signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his household before our eyes

Tell the little children look I've seen God do things you have not seen him do but I saw it with my own eyes

And I'm your father and I'm telling you the truth. God did this he set me free

And then talked to them to them About the purpose of his great deliverance verse 23 gives one of the purposes

That he might bring us in this is beautiful verse and he brought us out from this

He brought us out of the world He brought us out of Egypt and you know

So many fundamental independent badders get so caught up on the separation and which is good because most batters never even talk about it anymore about being separate from the world

But they get so caught up on the separation and don't do this and don't do that and don't do this that they they miss the purpose

The purpose was not so much the bringing out as it was in verse 23 And he brought us out from fence so that he might bring us in Into the promised land.

It's not only a separation from things. It's a separation unto things It's a separation and to the things of God God had to take us out of the world before he could bring us near to him and to his things and to the heavenly things

So one of the great purposes of his deliverance is that he might bring us into close fellowship with himself

He brought us out from thence that he might bring us in to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers and Another purpose is found in verse 24 and the

Lord commanded us to do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always

Everything that happens in our life and in our family is for our good always Underlying that little phrase in verse 24 because God's great purpose and deliverance was that he might bring us into a close relationship with himself and That it would be for our good always and the third purpose for the deliverance is found in verse 25 and it shall be our righteousness if We observe to do all these commandments before the

Lord our God as he hath commanded us His word is for our righteousness now when we put that in a

New Testament context when they asked Jesus What works must we do that we might work the works of God?

What was his answer? That you believe on him whom he hath sent

So that is our commandment. That is the law of Christ and When we do that we gain his own righteousness

So God has been strong in his deliverance and we need to teach our children the power and the purpose of his deliverance in our lives

Because they're a different generation they haven't gone through the things that we have and haven't had to be delivered from some of the things we were delivered from and When they ask about the

Lord, we need to always tell the story of our own deliverance and we need to walk with our children in the way and the

Lord had better be a part of that life in that conversation and We need to put the children at bed at night

Them having seen that the Lord was a part of our whole day and we need to bring them up in the morning

As we go out from the house and maybe as they go out to school realizing that God is

He is from the beginning and we have known him and dad, you know, it'll happen if we raise him up that way

They'll be strong young men Who have victory over the devil?

Because the Word of God abideth in them. Let's stand and have prayer together Father we thank you for this instruction to us as Fathers teaching us the proper principles and the proper way of living in our home

Teaching us not only the doctrines, but you've taught us the methods for how to teach about you and our homes and to our children

And what father we know that the the bottom line is that we ourselves love you with all of our hearts with all of our souls and all of our strength and that as we walk in the word ourselves and As we work with our hands.

It's as if the Word of God is tied in little boxes around our wrists And as we walk out in this world, it's as if with our peripheral vision

We can see the Word of God in a little box tied to our foreheads and it reminds us to walk before you because our children are watching

Father help us to be as fathers the best Epistle that you have written for our children

Help us to understand not only the responsibility But the blessing of having this awesome

Responsibility of being given your children To be placed in our homes to raise for a little while Help us to do the very best job that we can in Christ and we ask it in his name