Fatherly Love Protects a Child from HIMSELF

06/12/22 • 27 min

Episode Summary: Both Solomon, and later the author of the book of Hebrews appeal to the obvious creation principle that they assume everyone knew in their era, loving fathers don’t allow their children to persist in selfish, wrong behavior; they discipline their children out of love for them. In our own day, a weird time in history when cultural voices are denying what every other culture in history has affirmed—that there are differences between fathers and mothers—it seems necessary examine this creation principle of fatherhood. It is also important because, today, so much child-rearing advice is rooted in a fear of stifling a child or harming his self-esteem instead of recognizing that by nature a child wants to be the center of the universe--dad giving him what he wants when he wants it, and the rest of the world catering to his wants and demands. This episode examines how fathers must protect their child from the child’s worst enemy, the main person who can ruin his life—HIMSELF, because he comes into this world with self-centered, sinful nature

For Further Prayerful Thought

How would you answer a husband who said, “My wife is so much better with the kids, I leave the discipline of the children to her?”
How would you explain to someone that loving a child requires disciplining them but that letting them go their own ways is a form of hatred for them?
Which of the 6 reasons parents don’t discipline their kids as well as they should stands out to you?
Which of the 6 principles from Hebrews 12 for administering discipline that is like God’s discipline of us stood out most to you? Why do you think that is important?

Feedback to the Host: Pease feel free to contact me at [email protected] with push back, questions about resources, other resources or additional ideas about how to help Christ’s men better be equipped for their mission.

This Week’s Past Episode Highlight: Becoming Great Dads Who Discipline Their Kids Well

Fatherhood Is Irreplaceable in God’s Design of Humans S1 E #32 6/14/20
Responding to the Argument that the Bible Teaches Patriarchy S1 E #33 6/21/20
The Right Use of Authority to Punish Evil S1 E #34 6/28/20
Kids Don’t Have It In them to Grow THEMSELVES Up S1 E #35 7/5/20
Raising Kids Up in the Way They Should Go S1 E #36 7/12/20

For the printed version of this message click here.

For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.

For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.

For Further Prayerful Thought

How would you answer a husband who said, “My wife is so much better with the kids, I leave the discipline of the children to her?”
How would you explain to someone that loving a child requires disciplining them but that letting them go their own ways is a form of hatred for them?
Which of the 6 reasons parents don’t discipline their kids as well as they should stands out to you?
Which of the 6 principles from Hebrews 12 for administering discipline that is like God’s discipline of us stood out most to you? Why do you think that is important?

This Week’s Past Episode Highlight: Becoming Great Dads Who Discipline Their Kids Well

Fatherhood Is Irreplaceable in God’s Design of Humans S1 E #32 6/14/20
Responding to the Argument that the Bible Teaches Patriarchy S1 E #33 6/21/20
The Right Use of Authority to Punish Evil S1 E #34 6/28/20
Kids Don’t Have It In them to Grow THEMSELVES Up S1 E #35 7/5/20
Raising Kids Up in the Way They Should Go S1 E #36 7/12/20

For the printed version of this message click here.

For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.

For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.

Previous Episode

Loving Our Kids with the Fatherly Love of God

Episode Summary: The Apostle John gives us the secret to consistent, powerful, life-changing love for others. The man who knew Jesus the best wrote, “we love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). How do we fill our tanks so consistently with God’s love for us, that we have an abundance of it to lavish on those we care most about? That is the question we seek to answer in this episode.

For Further Prayerful Thought

How would you try to persuade a Christian friend that we need to take be taking regular big gulps of God’s love ourselves in order to be able to love our wife or kids consistently over the long haul?
How can knowing that you are delighted in by God free you from being preoccupied with what others think?
Which of the 5 ways to more fully abide in God’s love is the one you need most to focus on in the weeks ahead?

This Week’s Resource Highlight: Our Daughters and the Transgender Craze: Responding with Grace and Truth—48 page mini-book now in our bookstore.

In 2018, my denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America published a book I wrote to equip parents and church leaders to celebrate God’s gender design while loving those in the LGBTQ life well. It was entitled, Anchoring Your Child to God’s Truth in a Gender-Confused Culture: Helping Our Children Embrace Their Calling to Godly Manhood or Womanhood, and a special edition was published by D. James Kennedy Ministries. Unfortunately, in the last 5 years since compiling the research for this book, there has been an unprecedented explosion in teen girls coming out as transgender, including many from our churches. These teen girls are experiencing a new category of transgender dysphoria never diagnosed in girls before 2007 called rapid-onset gender dysphoria.

Our ministry put together this 48-page mini book to equip parents, grandparents, youth leaders, and elders to understand the world in which our daughters live, providing 1) a clear picture of what is happening, 2) biblical perspective on this phenomenon, 3) a strategy to reduce the likelihood that our own daughters or granddaughters will embrace a transgender identity, 4) practical suggestions for loving those in the LGBTQ life well, and 5) a game plan for being light to the secular world in the fields of pediatric medicine, public education, government policy, and women’s athletics. This 48-page mini book is only sold in our online store as a KEEP 1/GIVE 1 WAY TWO PACK, GRANDPARENTS FIVE PACK, or SMALL GROUP STUDY EIGHT PACK. This booklet overlaps about 95% with the material from last month’s May series Gloriously Feminine.
For the printed version of this message click here.
For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.
For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.

Next Episode

Fatherly Love Teaches a Child the Way She Should Go

Episode Summary: This June 19th episode, being both Juneteenth and Father’s Day gives us an opportunity first to consider the pain in the hearts of so many African Americans who live in our cities because of the increasing violence there and perhaps ponder what we can do to help decrease the fatherlessness that is at the root of the problems in our cities. It is also an opportunity to continue our June series, Loving Our Kids with the Fatherly Love of God, but examining the way God models teaching his children the way they should go.
For Further Prayerful Thought

What thoughts come to your mind as you think about the four biblical ways that God has ordained to restrain human evil mentioned, and the current crime wave in our cities?
When you think about the biblical responsibility that Christian fathers have to teach our children the way they should go following the example of Joshua, David, and Solomon, what thoughts come into your mind? Our podcast wants to give a correct (big enough) vision of masculinity; but does this responsibility seem overwhelming?
As you considered various starting places the podcast mentioned for where a father or grandfather might think through the content (curriculum) he needs to pass on, what thoughts came to mind?

Resources in Today's Podcast