The Call to Fathers:

To Teach:

Deu 6:1-25 NIV

Deu 6:1-25 NIV  These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,  (2)  so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.  (3)  Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.  (4)  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  (5)  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  (6)  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  (7)  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  (8)  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  (9)  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  (10)  When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you--a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,  (11)  houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant--then when you eat and are satisfied,  (12)  be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  (13)  Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.  (14)  Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;  (15)  for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.  (16)  Do not put the LORD your God to the test as you did at Massah.  (17)  Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.  (18)  Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors,  (19)  thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.  (20)  In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?"  (21)  tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.  (22)  Before our eyes the LORD sent signs and wonders--great and terrible--on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.  (23)  But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors.  (24)  The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.  (25)  And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

Eph 6:4 NIV  Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Colossians 3:21

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. 

To Love and Bless:

Luke 11:11

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 

To Discipline:

Pro 3:11-12 NIV  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.

Lessons for children:

Exo 20:12 NIV  "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Pro 23:22 NIV  Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Proverbs 13:1

Pro 13:1 NIV  A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.

Proverbs 15:5

Pro 15:5 NIV  A fool spurns a parent's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.

God’s Promises to the Fatherless:

2Co 6:18  And, "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 

Psalm 27:10

Psa 27:10 NIV  Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.

Psalm 68:5

Psa 68:5 NIV  A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

Deuteronomy 10:16-18

¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.

How to help the Fatherless:

Deu 10:16-18 NIV  Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.  (17)  For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.  (18)  He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

Titus 2:

This chapter speaks much about training and raising up the next generation, both men and women. God calls each of us to stand in the gap where families have been absent.

Tit 2:1-15 NIV  You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.  (2)  Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.  (3)  Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.  (4)  Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children,  (5)  to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.  (6)  Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.  (7)  In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness  (8)  and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.  (9)  Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them,  (10)  and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.  (11)  For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  (12)  It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,  (13)  while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,  (14)  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  (15)  These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

Psalm 78:4-7

Psa 74:4-7 NIV  Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs.  (5)  They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees.  (6)  They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets.  (7)  They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.