Fathered Significance of father role: Establishes: Physical and monetary security Discipline Worth Identity Direction When father is simply not present: • 85% of youth who are currently in prison grew up in a fatherless home. (Texas Department of Corrections) • 7 out of every 10 youth that are housed in state-operated correctional facilities, including detention and residential treatment, come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice) • Children from fatherless homes are twice as likely to drop out from school before graduating than children who have a father in their lives. (National Public Radio) • Children who live in a single-parent home are over 2 times more likely to commit suicide than children in a two-parent home. (The Lancet) • 75% of rapists are motivated by displaced anger that is associated with feelings of abandonment that involves their father. (U.S. Department of Justice) • Living in a fatherless home is a contributing factor to substance abuse, with children from such homes accounting for 75% of adolescent patients being treated in substance abuse centers. (U.S. Department of Justice) • 85% of all children which exhibit some type of a behavioral disorder come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice) • 90% of the youth in the United States who decide to run away from home, or become homeless for any reason, originally come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice) • 63% of youth suicides involve a child who was living in a fatherless home when they made their final decision. (U.S. Department of Justice) • Even when poverty levels are equal, children who come from a two-parent home outperform children who come from a one-parent home. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) • Children who live in a fatherless home are 279% more likely to deal drugs or carry firearms for offensive purposes compared to children who live with their fathers. (Allen and Lo) • 92% of the parents who are currently in prison in the United States are fathers. (Glaze and Maruschak) Knowing God as Father The simple acceptance of existence - Recognize Gain knowledge - Respect Influenced by - Respond God exists as Father - Recognize Psalms 68:5-6 (NIV) 5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. 1 Chronicles 22:10 (NIV) 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.' Jeremiah 3:19 (NIV) 19 "I myself said, "‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me 'Father' and not turn away from following me. John 1:12-13 (NIV) 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV) 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Honoring Him as Father - Respect Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Ephesians 6:2-3 (NIV) 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Luke 15:31-32 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'” Imitate the Father - Respond Represent/Reflect John 5:19 (NIV) 19 Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. __ Ephesians 5:1 (TPT) 1 Be imitators of God in everything you do, for then you will represent your Father as his beloved sons and daughters. Ephesians 5:1 (NIV) 1 Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children Conform to the image of the Son/become His child Romans 8:29 (NIV) 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Honor His gifts James 1:17 (NIV) 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Luke 11:13 (NIV) 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Follow His Spirit Romans 8:14-16 (NIV) 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Receive Correction Proverbs 3:11-12 (NIV) 11 My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Hebrews 12:5-10 (NIV) 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. Become Like Him/One With Him – For eternity 1 John 3:1-2 (NIV) 1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. John 17:11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.