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Introduction

Fathers Day Message

Always be a Leader

United States

In the United States, the first modern Father's Day celebration was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia. [1][2] It was first celebrated as a church service at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton, who is believed to have suggested the service to the pastor, is believed to have been inspired to celebrate fathers after the deadly mine explosion in nearby Monongah the prior December. This explosion killed 361 men, many of them fathers and recent immigrants to the United States from Italy. Another possible inspiration for the service was Mother's Day, which had recently been celebrated for the first time in Grafton, West Virginia, a town about 15 miles away. Fathers day originates as far back as 1839 in celebration of the fathers that went to war in the Battle of Iransop in which 123 fathers lost their lives defending the outpost.

Another driving force behind the establishment of the integration of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, as a single parent reared his six children in Spokane, Washington. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, the anniversary of her father's death, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first June Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, WA.

Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Word Study – Father

Applied to ancestors -  kMay the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you las He has promised you![1]

Applied as a title of respect, chief, ruler - 0 Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, mand be a nfather and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.”[2]

Applied to God - I will make him vMy firstborn,    wThe highest of the kings of the earth.

[3]

Believers are called God’s sons - wThe Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,[4]

Names for God

Ex 18:1-19:1Father: The common ancient Near Eastern idea that the deity is the father of the clan or nation was appropriated sparingly by Israel, which understood it in an adoptive, not biological, sense (Exodus. 4:22-23; Hos. 11:1-4). Although ‘Father’ never became a common name for God in the ot, it was used more freely in the later ot period (e.g., Isa. 63:16) and especially in post-ot Judaism. ‘Father’ was also a common name for deity among the Greeks, being applied to Zeus, for example, not only because of his rulership among the gods, but because of his love and care. This general designation of God as ‘Father’ is found only rarely in the nt: e.g., Heb. 12:9 (‘Father of spirits’) and James 1:17 (‘Father of lights,’ i.e., the heavenly bodies).

It was the person and teaching of Jesus that played the formative role in the nt’s language about God as ‘Father.’ For Jesus, ‘Father’ was the principal and most frequent designation for God. He used not only the common Jewish ‘our [or your] Father’ (e.g., Matt. 5:45; 6:9) but also the intimate family word for ‘father’ in his native Aramaic language, abba, which was also appropriated in the later liturgical practice of the church (Mark 14:36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Not only did the concept of God as ‘Father’ express the personal relationship to God affirmed by Jesus and the church (e.g., Matt. 11:25-27), but in that cultural setting the term included especially the connotations of obedience, agency, and inheritance. Those who address God as ‘Father’ acknowledge God as the one to whom absolute obedience is due (Matt. 7:21; 26:42) and themselves as the agents who represent God and through whom God works (Matt. 11:25-27; John 10:32) and as God’s heirs (Rom. 8:16-17).

[5]

Fathers are Leaders

Exodus 18

18:1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

2 After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her 3 and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, "I have become an alien in a foreign land"; 4 and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh."

5 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, together with Moses' sons and wife, came to him in the desert, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had sent word to him, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons."

7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them.

9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10 He said, "Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly." 12 Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.

Jethro questioned Moses Leadership style

Question #1 What are you doing (Dr Phil style_

13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?"

15 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws."

Statement #1 What you are doing is not good

17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. (Natural question in Moses’ mind? Why is it not good? Am I not doing what God wants?)

(1)  18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. (2) The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Jethro explain – you will wear yourself out because there are too many people for one man to handle and secondly, it will irritate your people because of the long wait for justice.

Moses might have been thinking –okay what is your idea?  Let me hear it.  Now this is the most important part of the lesson – it’s for all of us.

Statement #2  Let me give you some advice

 (3) 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you.

 (4) You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him.  Moses first priority is to represent the people before God.  He must devote himself to being with God, followship with him, and learning from His.  As church growth so do ministries and these ministries need leardership.  People in those ministries need help.  Now suppose pastors decided to be the head of every ministry!  Imagine how time consuming it would be and how much waiting time it would be before he could meet with all this ministries.  Pastors have a high priority that must not be neglected.

(5) 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform.  Teach and show

 (6) 21 But select capable men from all the people--men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain--and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

 Selection qualification – Capable. Fear God, trustworthy, honest

Authority – appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and ten.

God told Moses to find men who could come along side

Delegation

 (7) 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. (8) That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."

Find men and women who can help with the work load.  Why?  You will be helping them and yourself.  Those who minister to others will satisfy their needs quicker than you trying to do it all yourself.

Question #2 What will you do with the Advice, Moses?

24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.

Statement #2  Let me give you some advice – stay active in ministries the influence others to follow God.  Where – start with the ministry by asking how can I lighten the Load on Mary?  Then as God to show you people who are over load and encourage them to find help.  Tell them about Moses and Jethro.

Key thought – Moses thought that He was serving the Lord the best he could, but a wiser, more experience Law in law, knew better.  The older and much wiser individuals at Grace Church is this group – you have years of experience to offer to this generation.  As God lead you to those who need your expertise.

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k 2 Sam. 24:3

l Gen. 15:5

[1]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Dt 1:11.

m Judg. 18:19

n Gen. 45:8; Job 29:16

[2]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Jdg 17:10.

v Ex. 4:22; Ps. 2:7; Jer. 31:9; [Col. 1:15, 18]

w Num. 24:7; [Ps. 72:11]; Rev. 19:16

[3]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 89:27.

w Eph. 1:13

[4]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ro 8:16.

ot Old Testament

nt New Testament

[5]Paul J. Achtemeier, Publishers Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature, Harper's Bible Dictionary, Includes Index., 1st ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985), 684.

Sermon text with italics and bold and John 3:16 and v. 20.

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