After this manner therefore pray you: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” (Matthew 6:9) The phrase “Our Father which art in heaven” indicates that God is not only majestic and holy, but also personal and loving. Our Heavenly Father is the consummate father, and our earthly fathers have a perfect example of fatherhood. On today as we honor and celebrate our fathers, we praise God for those divine virtues He has placed in them . How inclusive are the duties of a father. The first duty of a father is to love his children. In Genesis 37:4, we see a love that has been tainted with partiality: “And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.” Contrast that love with the love in 1 John 4:16: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” When the matter of love is settled, the manifestation of fatherly duties is apparent. Duties like command, instruct, guide and warn, train, rebuke, restrain, punish, chasten, nourish, supply needs, and provoke not. In a summary fashion, good fathers bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We thank God for, and we celebrate the good fathers of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
Happy Father’s Day
Pastor J. Amos Jones
