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Amen. Right, Psalm 127. What a great Psalm, a great Psalm for all the fathers here today. And it's Father's Day today, isn't it? And that means dads around the country are celebrating being a dad, aren't they? Being rewarded for being a dad. And certainly the majority of those celebrations probably in this country are going to involve alcohol, aren't they? They're going to probably be a bit of a drink up. And many will probably be one of the few times that the dad has seen those kids this year. That's the sad truth for it, isn't it? I would say many of those meetings will be one of the only meet-ups that year. And there will be some great cards going around, won't there? Some funny old cards that joke about the fact that dad is some sort of beer-swilling couch potato. You'll see some of those. Or a sports fanatic, he'll have those cards. Or obsessed with his car, pictures of his car and how great that is. And some of them will be quite amusing. And there'll be cards calling him a taxi driver, won't there, as well. You get, you know, taxi driver dad because he bothers to pick his drunk and high teenage kids up late at night. And there'll be breakfast in bed, won't there, for some of the eternal benefit-claiming fathers. And presents like bottles of strong drink or something for the hobby that he spends every available hour doing. And let's face it, a lot of the dads celebrating today have probably done little more than impregnate some poor women, haven't they? That's the truth of it. That's the truth in this country. A lot of those dads, they've got someone pregnant and been nice enough not to do a full disappearing act afterwards. Because sadly in this country there's many that do. Is that a father, though? Is any of that God's intention? Is that a father? And are these men around the country content, though? Are they content? Are they happy and fulfilled, do you think? Or are they feeling blessed to have children? They're feeling really blessed to have those children. Or are they probably resenting any time, effort and money they spend on those kids? I would say a lot are. A lot I've experienced in life are. They just resent the fact they are a father. And yeah, they might enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, not having to get involved. But when those kids are off the rails, deep down they know they've failed, don't they? Deep down they know they've failed. And there are dads around the country, sadly in this country, whose kids are off the rails. And by God's standards, massively off the rails, yeah? Okay, now, of course these men have actually had kids in the first place. That's not so popular in this country, is it? Yeah, not so popular to have kids in the first place. Nowadays we see a massive attack on that. And okay, they've had kids in the first place. But the thing is, when you do things God's way, having kids should be an honor, shouldn't it? It should be a blessing, yeah? Having kids should be a blessing. And the title of my sermon today is Fatherhood is a Blessing. Fatherhood is a Blessing. Because it is a blessing, but so often in our society it's considered a burden, a chore. And you can get that angle a bit on Father's Day, where they're somehow being appeased and rewarded for just having a child. Like, well, thank God that you've actually had a child. But no, I would say fatherhood is a massive blessing. It's a massive blessing. And yeah, it's great to have a Father's Day where kids can appreciate you, and it feels nice, doesn't it? But the truth is, we don't really need that, do we, dads? Do we? Do we really need that? Because we're the ones that are rewarded every day by having kids, I would say. Psalm 127, it's only a short one, so let's just read it again quickly. So from verse 1, it's a song of degrees for Solomon. It says, Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is a man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. And like I said, fatherhood is a blessing, but there's a few things we need to remember, we need to do as fathers, to really make it a blessing, don't we? And number one, fatherhood is a blessing when we remember that God's way is the only way, okay? God's way is the only way. If you have a look at verse 1 there, it says, Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. So without God, it's a lot of hard work without any real results, is it? And although this can apply to anything, you could use this verse for anything in life really, here we're encouraged, aren't we, to apply it to having children, okay? We're applying it to having children, the context of the psalm here. Now, the world has its way of building a household, doesn't it? The world has its own way of building a household and God has his way of building a household. The world has its way of protecting your family, the watchman waking but in vain. But without God, it is vain, isn't it? Without God, it's vain. That means it's empty, it's fruitless. And what's our society's way of building a family? What's our society's way of building a family? Now, it varies a little amongst the classes if you want to split people into that. But I would say what kind of is promoted as a sort of way of building a family's country, you'd probably say across the middle classes and probably working as well, maybe just not down to what we'd probably call the benefit classes country. But across that, there's a pretty usual way of it being done. And it's basically something along these lines. Fornicate while you're young, okay? Encourage to fornicate while you're young. Don't have those birds of marriage. Get out. Don't tie yourself down to anyone. Try out lots of partners. Fornicate while you're young. Get in debt. Get in debt while you're young. Go travel like it's some sort of rite of passage, isn't it? Isn't that what's promoted to the kids? Go across to all sorts of lovely countries across the world because you need to try out these countries, getting a load of debt doing it. And usually it's for just basically to go abroad, get drunk, fornicate, get high and claim that you're experiencing cultures across the world. That is pretty much what they do, isn't it? If not going and or going to university for a massive three-year party and getting loads of debt in the process of doing it. Okay, that's pretty much the world's way with that part of it. Avoiding the ties of marriage, obviously. I mean, marriage is almost a bad word amongst the young, isn't it? A lot of them, most of them, I would say, do not want marriages. And if they are inclined to have a marriage, what are they then persuaded or what's promoted to them? A ridiculously expensive wedding, isn't it? A ridiculously expensive wedding. If you want to get married, you're going to be put off, aren't you, by the thought that, wow, I have to save an absolute fortune if I'm going to keep up with the Jones, if I'm going to keep up with my friend, if I'm going to keep up with anyone else, and it puts them off, doesn't it? I know it did. I know it put me off when I was young. I was thinking, wow, what a massive affair I'm going to have to do to get married. And it put me off. Just the whole thing, the whole pressure of it and who to invite and all of that and it puts people off. Use all sorts of murderous contraception when young not to have children. That's the world's way, isn't it? Murderous contraception and most of it is murderous, isn't it? And then once it's getting late, then expect to just suddenly get pregnant. After years of making your body a killing machine, a week later, two weeks later, why am I not getting pregnant? And if that fails, resort to IVF. And that's pretty much, isn't it, the world's way because nowadays then it's have one or two children, isn't it? One or two kids max. So once it gets to the point where a lot of the time the lady's broody. For the men, a lot of the time they're not really too fast but maybe they, yeah, I don't mind having one or two kids and that's probably about as far as it goes, sadly. Then with those one or two kids, another good way the world tells us to build a house is inject them with about 30 shots of poison in the first year of their life. Just jab and mark three in ones, four in ones, five in ones. I think they've got six in one, haven't they? Six in one. I remember when I was young, the MMR, that was a big deal. Were you really going to give someone three shots of poison in one dose? And some people are like, I'll do them separately at least, you know. I'll do them separately. And that was kind of the in between, the person that was trying to be a bit sensible, not go too far to not having them at all. But nowadays, just walk off a duck's back, isn't it? Just jab and mark five in one, six in ones. And then after that, after you've poisoned your child, what is it then? Get them in state regulated healthcare ASAP, isn't it? ASAP. Get them in that state regulated healthcare, whether it's the nursery, the state regulated childcarers, you name it. And they are state regulated, they're all Ofsted regulated, aren't they? And it's quite interesting when you look into that, things like the British values, which has to be encouraged in the state regulated childcare facilities. Get the mothers back to work quick, eh? That's encouraged in our society, isn't it? So to build the house, get those mothers back to work quick and let those professionals look after your children, those people that know what they're doing. Encourage your child to fit in with every trend, isn't it? That's pretty much encouraged. Don't want your child to be weird, don't want them to be a misfit, don't want them to not fit in with all the other lovely children you've got running around. So encourage them to fit in with all the latest trends, however evil. And then when not in state regulated childcare and education, that brief bit of time when they're not, use TV as a babysitter, yeah? Isn't that the way? Use TV as a babysitter. What, your kids don't watch TV? What sort of weirdo are you? Get them in front of the TV because that's the way to build a home according to our society. And then at the end of that, once a parent has some sort of mid-life crisis and affair, usually claim we've grown out of love, separate and seek self-pleasing life with weekend trips to theme parks and or some other entertainment so you don't actually have to look after your child on the weekend. That's for fathers in general. And that's pretty much, I'd say, the generic way of life nowadays, isn't it? I see that a lot. I don't know if you guys have as well. And what's our society's way of keeping the city? What's our society's way of keeping the city or protecting our families? So like I said, vaccinate everyone to within an inch of their life. What could go wrong with that, eh? Just vaccinate them, jab them up with anything coming, you name it. And nowadays it doesn't even matter if the vaccine's been around for very long at all. I mean, what could go wrong with that? Just jab them up. Avoid all forms of effective punishment. Oh, we don't want little Johnny to end up hitting someone else, so why would I smack their body in the same way? Well, why would you change your baby's nappy? They might go around changing other people's nappies. I mean, it's ridiculous, isn't it? You teach them what to do. But anyway, avoid all forms of effective punishment. I mean, you don't want to upset them at all, do they? Obviously, entrust the latest government to know what's best for our kids because why would you protect them as a father and mother when the government surely knows better? I mean, these people are experts, aren't they? Just look at their track records. Why wouldn't you accept that the government knows best? They must know best, surely. What about leaving them with strangers? This is a foolproof one, isn't it? Who haven't yet been convicted of a crime. Yeah? What could go wrong there? They've had a DBS. Oh, well, that's all right. Just shove them off. I mean, you know, where's the hole in that? And with that, just, you know, by the way, I've just started coaching at a gym where on the side of it or involved in it is basically like this kids' gymnastics area. So they've got all these DBS checked. And the one that I see every time I turn up, it just grates me, is this flaming sodomite with purple hair looking after toddlers and kids and the parents are like, how great. You know, what could go wrong? Well, he hasn't been convicted yet. What could go wrong with that? And often it is, isn't it? You know, the schools and nurseries and everything else, flaming sodomites everywhere. What about the TV watershed? Oh, well, that's a good way of protecting that part of it. Let's protect our family. Don't worry, there's a watershed. They won't hear a swear word or see full-on nudity before 9pm. Shove them in front of the TV. What could go wrong with that, eh? Other than the massive amounts of liberal brainwash before, all sorts of subjects being pushed on your kids all day every day on the TV. But then at least they ban the evil viewpoints, don't they? Anything that basically goes against the liberal mainstream or they completely just attack it and hammer it, don't they? So at least they do that. So they protect you from anything that differs from the liberal mainstream. We've got the free contraception for children without parental consent. Yeah? I mean, what could go wrong with that? That's a good way of protecting them, just in case. The easy divorce. Easy divorce with little to... And coming up next year will be no grounds divorce for the first time in this country. Just no grounds at all. But before that, what they have now, it's pretty easy anyway. All they have to do is separate for two years and then... Right, that's a divorce then. As long as they've been separated for two years, there's other easy ways they could do. They could just say they're unreasonable, that person, and come up with a few reasons. So easy divorce, little to no grounds. That'll protect the family, won't it? But none of this really lines up with the Bible, does it guys? Any of that line up with the Bible. Do you think any of that is God's will? Not at all. And look, there's a lot of lazy parenting nowadays. There are worldly parents, though, that do put the hours in. There are some worldly parents that do put the hours in. Verse 2 in Psalm 127 says, It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. OK, there are fathers that get up early to take them to the preschool club. OK, I've seen that. I know of these guys that do that. They get up early, they get up at the crack of dawn and drop their kids off early doors. They wait up late to pick them up from the booze and smoke up down the park. You know, they'll wait till they call them at midnight, 1am, and go and pick them up while they're completely smashed off their face. They do put the hours in. They do get sad about their teenage daughter dating the neighbourhood drug dealer. You know, they do eat the bread of sorrows. And there are people that do have some care, they do put it in, but they've just got it so wrong, haven't they? Sadly, they've got it so wrong. And if only people did it God's way. Because when we do it God's way, he says here, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. And he does give a sleep. Not always sometimes, and you've got a young kid who doesn't always feel like it, but he does, and he does eventually. And I'm not saying, look, I'm not saying any of us here will have perfect children. OK, no one here is going to have perfect children. I mean, that's a given, isn't it? But doing it the world's way is vain, isn't it? It's all vain, it's all fruitless, OK? It's always going to end up fruitless and vain. So what's God's way then, fathers? So particularly we're talking to the fathers here today. What is God's way? Well, turn to Ephesians 6, where I read Colossians 3, verse 21. Colossians 3, 21 says, fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. And Ephesians 6, 4 says, and ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So all the worldly stuff I read before, it does provoke children to wrath. It provokes them to wrath, anger. And I would say abandonment does provoke children to anger and wrath. I don't think anyone would doubt that, would argue that. Lack of discipline, lack of discipline does provoke children to anger and wrath. And contrary to what the world says, they're going to be this angry, violent person. No, a lot of the time, no discipline does provoke children to anger and wrath. And the liberal brainwash sure does, doesn't it? I mean, the most ardent liberals, aren't they the most angry? I mean, these people are just fuming, aren't they? Just walking around angry with everyone and obviously particularly God, Christianity and anything that's not part of their liberal stuff. But there's another thing I think that provokes children to wrath as well. And I've seen this quite a lot in my life. It's when their father falls off the pedestal. Have you ever seen that with people? When their father falls off that pedestal that they've put them up and a lot of the time, sadly, what the fathers put themselves on as well. And I've seen this over the years where people, old friends, have got so angry, so angry when they've started to understand who their dad really is. And when they've started to see their sins in life and they get this anger, this resentment, this hatred towards their dad for basically being, in essence, another sinner. A lot of the time it's pretty hypocritical as well. I know adult friends are so angry with their dads for things which they're ten times more guilty of. But there is a lot of that. I've seen that sort of anger. Turn to Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17 and verse 6 says, Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers. Okay, so those grandchildren are the crown of old men. But the glory of children are their fathers, and we men are a glory to our children. We're a glory to them. Now, they both make us a glory, and we're also able to make ourselves a glory to them as well, aren't we? And we know from when we were young, a lot of us, those who had dads around and stuff, did idolise our fathers, didn't we? You know, it was a playground thing, wasn't it? My dad's better than yours. My dad could beat up your dad or my dad's, you know, whatever it is. And, you know, there's nothing new under the sun. That carries on to this day. And, yeah, they do make us a glory, but we can also be a glory to them. Now, sure as the years go by, that pedestal will get lower, won't it? Okay, as kids get a bit wiser and they start to see you, you know, start to get a bit, you know, just start to wizen up around the home a little bit more, yeah, that pedestal will get lower. And obviously you don't want to have jacked it up in the first place, do you? So we have to be a bit careful, men. It's when they're young kids, you can really make yourself maybe a bit higher than you need to be. And obviously a jacked-up pedestal, you've got lots of jacks under it or anything else. It's probably not going to balance like that for long. And that can be part of the problem, can't it? It's we as men, we as dads, we can build ourselves up and make ourselves something we're not. And eventually that's going to come falling down, isn't it? And kids are going to look and with time they're going to learn. Actually, Dad's not the guy that he's making out that he is. Turn to Proverbs chapter 20, verse 7, says, The just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed after him. So if, when the strength goes, and sadly the strength does go, guys, yeah, so when your strength goes you stop being, you know, the strongest in the family or at least, you know, you're not quite as strong compared to everyone else you were, the quick wit, that does go as well. When you start umming and ahhing, when you're trying to come out with a quick joke, just all you're doing is umming and ahhing before you finally come out with it. The skill, when that skill finally goes, that skill to, you know, make that catch of that fruit falling off the table or everywhere else and suddenly you're just blundering it all, the skill does go. The knowledge goes, when the knowledge goes, before you can answer absolutely everything, now you're scratching your head about what the capital of France is or something else. When all that goes, if we still have our integrity, and that's uprightness, honesty, moral integrity, there's still a step on that pedestal, isn't there? There's still a step on that pedestal that we can keep up. And the just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed after him. His children are happy, aren't they? They're blessed, they're happy. And, you know, you might not provoke them to that sort of wrath when they're just looking at all the sin in your life, all the problems, and Dad's not the guy that I thought he was, because they do have you up there, don't they? And, yeah, we're going to fall off in certain parts, but we want to be careful, don't we? We want to be careful that we still walk in our integrity. Now, we also need to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, don't we, fathers? So to be blessed as fathers, we need to do things God's way, we need to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4, where you were here before, if you go back there, he's talking to fathers here, isn't he? And fathers, we're not just the provider, are we? We're also the head of the family, OK? Now, sorry, I've got you back to Ephesians. Go back to Proverbs. Go back to Proverbs. And Proverbs chapter 1. OK, from verse 8, the Bible reads, Proverbs chapter 1 verse 8, So there's still a responsibility to instruct our children, isn't there? OK, and some dads, some fathers could think, well, I'm earning the money, it's my wife's job, isn't it? It's my wife's role. Well, no, he says here, hear the instruction of thy father. Yeah, forsake not the law of thy mother. But he says, hear the instruction of thy father. We should be instructing them. And we need to make time for that, don't we, dads? And that could be hard. Sometimes we can be working some long hours. Sometimes obviously there's other things, things of God. But sometimes the hobbies get in the way of that. Do other things get in the way? We should be making time, shouldn't we, to instruct our kids. And there's ways of making time. If you're really busy, there are those times. There's family car trips on the way to church. There's other times, aren't there? Meal times. When you do sit down together, that's a good time to instruct your children. We should be instructing our children. Why are you in Proverbs? Turn to Proverbs 4, from verse 1, Keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget it not. Neither decline from the words of my mouth. So where does that doctrine come from? What's that law? Where's that wisdom? In here, isn't it? In our King James Bibles, yeah? That's where it comes from. And it's our responsibility, isn't it, to teach our families the Word of God. It's our, it's a men's responsibility. The Father's responsibilities to teach their children the Word of God. Okay, Deuteronomy chapter 6. It's quite a famous passage. We've all been there before. But it really makes it clear, doesn't it, what that teaches. It's not, oh, well, you know, we might just talk about the sermon after a Sunday. Well, as long as my kids read their Bible, I'll just make sure they sit down and read their Bible. No, it's more than that, isn't it? Deuteronomy 6 and from verse 6. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates. Thou shalt teach them diligently. We looked at diligent, didn't we? That's with all effort. That's hard work, isn't it? We should be putting the effort and working to teach our children diligently. It's not just a memory verse. It's not just, oh, well, they turn up at church once a week. It's not, oh, well, they listen to a bit of preaching while we're doing stuff at home or in the car. You don't know, are they really paying attention or are they thinking about what meal they're having next or anything else? No, we should be teaching them diligently, shouldn't we, fathers? That's what the Bible says there. Thou shalt teach them diligently. And that's family life revolving around the word of God, isn't it? That there is family life revolving around the word of God, revolving around the Bible, revolving around the things of God, not just a little side thought at the end of it. And that's the nurture and admonition of the Lord, isn't it? Okay, but God's way also includes measured discipline, doesn't it? Measured discipline. Proverbs 13, 24 says, He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. Now, it is a mother's role, isn't it, to guide the house, and she shouldn't give all punishment duties to the father, should she? She shouldn't just say, right, you know, when your father gets home, you're getting punished because she's going to lose respect in the home, isn't she? Okay, but on the flip side, it's not all the mother's responsibility either, is it? We do have a responsibility. We're told to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Lord, we still have an active role, don't we? Now, turn to Proverbs 3. Well, I read Hebrews 12, 7. Hebrews 12, 7 says, If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? What son? In Proverbs chapter 3 from verse 11, My son despiseth not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. In whom he delighteth. So Hebrews said, What son is he whom the father chasteth not? Proverbs said, The son in whom he delighteth. And it's not just, oh, well, when I'm angry, I'm going to punish them. Oh, because I've got to. It's because we love them, isn't it? It's because we love our children and we want them to do right. But God's way isn't just Bible study and thrashings, is it? Okay? God's way isn't just Bible study, thrashing, Bible study, thrashing. That would be a pretty rough way, wouldn't it, to live for the kids, maybe. It's the nurture and admonition as well, isn't it? There's nurture there. Psalm 103, if you turn there quickly. Psalm 103 in verse 13 says, Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. So a father should pity his children, shouldn't he? And that's a sympathy or compassion. We should have a sympathy and compassion for our kids, shouldn't we, guys? Okay, because we can easily get a little bit where we just think it's all hard lying, it's all right. Have you not read your Bible? Thrashing, thrashing. You know, you haven't memorized, thrashing. And that's not how we should be at home, should we? We should pity, we should have sympathy, compassion. And like our father does for us, doesn't he? Because if he didn't, we would be getting whooped every single day, wouldn't we? It would be like, oops, foolish thought, bang, you know. Oops, foolish thought, trip over, smash your face on the floor. It would just be all day, wouldn't it? Okay, and fortunately, our father, like our father, pitieth us, doesn't he? So like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. And fortunately, he does pity us, doesn't he? Okay, does have that sympathy and compassion. So there is guidance, isn't there? There's instruction, there's love, there's discipline. And all that is part of being a father, isn't it? It's not just going to work. It's not just going to work. But we still got to provide for our families, don't we? So there's a bit of a job there now, isn't there? Because there's a bit of a combination of things we still have to provide for our families. Turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 5. Okay, 1 Timothy and chapter 5. And from verse, in fact, we'll just do verse 8, sorry. So he says here, but if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Now the context is providing for widowed mothers and aunties, yeah? Let alone our wives and children, okay? So let alone our wives and children. This is widowed mothers and aunties at a part of your house that we should be providing for, okay? And we're worse than infidel if we don't. But what about our wives and children? Should we not be providing for them, guys? We should be providing for them. And that is probably, you could say, oh, I don't know if I want to say your number one goal, but that is a massive part of the role of being a father, isn't it? Okay, providing for our families. And we need to make sure we're providing for our families. But at the same time, at the same time, we need to be getting all those other areas right, don't we? Okay, and then when we do that, when we do that, that's, I think, one of the many ways that then fatherhood becomes a blessing to us, because when we do it the right way, when we do it the right way, it becomes a blessing. Now, this is God's way, isn't it? But this used to be a bit more the way here, didn't it? Didn't some of that used to be more of the way here? Men used to be the sole provider, didn't they, in this country? Okay, as a general rule, the majority of men, that used to be the case. And in the same way as well, men used to discipline their children properly, didn't they? I think so. Men used to instruct their children, maybe not always in the way of the Lord, but that used to be the way, and there's nothing wrong with that, and we need to stand tall with that, don't we? Okay, but verse three here in Psalm 127, so back to Psalm 127, verse three says, Lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. So fatherhood is a blessing when we remember that God's way is the only way, and number two, that our kids are gods, okay? Our kids are gods. Lo is like saying, look. So he's saying, look, children are in heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is his reward. Okay, and I believe that he's saying that they're God's heritage or inheritance, okay? They're gods. They're his reward. Turn to Genesis chapter 33. Now, in Genesis 33, Jacob is reuniting with Esau after many years, and he's pretty scared at this point, if you remember the story, because he's thinking Esau's going to get some payback on him. Now, as he meets him in Genesis 33, look at verse five, Genesis 33, five. In fact, I didn't have it in my notes. Let me turn there quickly as well. So Genesis chapter 33 and verse five says, And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. Now, for God to give them to Jacob, they had to be gods to give them to him in the first place, didn't they? And in the same way, they're gods to give them to us. Now, he didn't just give them to Jacob, he graciously gave them to him, okay? We don't just automatically deserve children, do we? We don't just automatically deserve them because we're just men, we deserve children. No, God has graciously given us children. He's basically loaning them to us, isn't he? God's loaning us these children, and they're a precious thing to loan. And if someone in this church loans you one of their prized possessions, something precious, you'd treat it with some respect, wouldn't you? You'd make sure you got everything right. Someone loaned you their, I don't know, a top of the range car, I think you'd probably be making sure that you gave it the right petrol, the right oil, you'd probably be checking the tyres, you'd be checking the brakes, probably all the things that a lot of us don't do with our cars, that we should. And let alone with your children, eh? With your children, you want to make sure you're doing it exactly as the owner has told you to do it, yeah? Yeah, because they're a prized possession. And obviously, first and foremost, we need to give them back to Him for eternity, don't we? OK, we need to give them back to God for eternity, not broken and fit for the fire, yeah? So number one, we need to make sure that our children are saved, don't we? OK, number one, that's first and foremost. Getting our children saved is a bare minimum. At least we can return them back. OK, at least we can return them back. And in case you're not convinced then, you think, well, does that really mean that they're His heritage, you know? When He says here, lo children, heritage of the Lord, maybe they were the Lord's that He's given them to you. Well, once they're saved, 1 Corinthians 6.20, you don't have to turn there, talking to the saved says, for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So once they're saved, they're God's, aren't they? 100%, and I would say before that, they were God's as well, OK? Proverbs 22.6 says, train up a child in the way you should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. OK, and that's what we're doing, aren't we? We're training them for adulthood. We're training our children for adulthood. Now, in adulthood, you have the choice to serve God, don't you? Doesn't every single person here have the choice to serve God? Our goal is that our kids will choose to serve God, isn't it? OK, that's our ultimate goal, that's what we train them for. The majority of people will spend a lot longer as an adult than as a child, won't they? OK, so we're trying to get that balance right as fathers instructing, leading the house, being responsible ultimately for the raising of God's children. We're making sure that when they're adults, they still want to serve God, and they still do serve God, don't we? OK, our goal is that kids will choose to serve God. We want them to love God, don't we, with all their heart, soul and mind, don't we? OK, that's what we want, that's what we want our children to do, and that comes from, obviously, the word of God, but that also comes from, with time, as they get older, we're trying to give them that right amount of space for them to choose from, want to come to church, to want to be involved, to want to do things for God, and that's our ultimate goal. But that is a choice, isn't it? To love God is a choice, it's not a mushy feeling, isn't it? Love is an action, love is something we do, and love is something that we're trying to encourage our children to do, yeah? It's not, oh, well, they just love God so much because God did this and that for them. No, it's something that they have to choose to do. But what a blessing, what a blessing when you see that in your kids, when you see those times when your kids are just loving God, what a blessing that is, and what a blessing it must be, and I'm just assuming here, because I don't have adult children, what a blessing it must be when your adult kids do that, when they become adults, eh? And again, you can imagine, because your kids are going to be adults a lot longer than they're going to be children, and that's what you ultimately, that's what we're aiming for, that's our goal, is that our children as adults are going to love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind. And what a blessing that will be every day, every day when you speak to your child and you talk about things of God, you know that they're in church, they're serving God, that's got to be a blessing, isn't it? OK, look at verse 4 in Psalm 127 here, though. Verse 4, the Bible says, As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. So fatherhood is a blessing when we remember that God's way is the only way, our kids are gods. And number three, godly kids are an asset. OK, godly kids are an asset. Children aren't the burden that the world tells us they are, are they? Children aren't the burden. As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, that's a warrior, strong, valiant, bold, yeah? Now, the arrows are a great asset, but sure, they could probably weigh a bit in that quiver. Quiver's a case, isn't it, for arrows, OK? They could probably weigh a bit. I mean, he said he's having his quiver full of them, OK? They might cost a bit in the first place. I'd imagine for a good arrow, either some time in making them or some time in buying a good arrow that's going to fly straight might cost a bit. If you're not careful, you could probably do yourself a bit of an injury, cause yourself some grief with the arrows, couldn't you? Probably pretty sharp, a good arrow should be sharp. But you're better off with them than without, aren't you? Isn't a mighty man better off with the weapons, with the arrows and without, yeah? Regardless of the cost, regardless of the weight, regardless of any of that. And same with kids. If you just weighed up just the pleasure, the joy, the smiles, the laughs, the love given and received that's often not deserved, to us at least, you can't put a price on them, can you? You can't put a price on them, and it is easy, isn't it? It's easy to focus on the negatives, focus on the hard times, focus on the sleepless nights, focus on the issues with the discipline or anything else. But when you weigh it up, you're never going to get those sorts of smiles, that deep laugh and joy that you get from your kids, are you, from anywhere else? I never have, anyway. You are better off with them than without, aren't you? Now, okay, it might not feel like it at 3am when the baby won't sleep, but when you get home, especially with them young kids to those leg hugs, you get home to that running up to cuddle your leg, you feel like you haven't really done anything that great and they just love you, don't they? And same with the older kids, when you have that relationship with an older kid who's becoming like your best friend, they know you're inside out. I'm sure we've got some older kids here and they know their parents, I'm sure, better than anyone else here and you have that friendship as well, don't you? And first and foremost with parents, but you have a friendship that you won't have with anyone else, will you? They know everything. They know everything about you, don't they? They know what makes you tick, but they love you. And it's a great thing, isn't it? It's an absolute blessing. And also, also, hopefully they're going to look after you when you're old, hey? I hope so. Because those care homes don't look too clever, do they? So we're hoping and we're praying, we're raising them, aren't we, to want to hopefully look after us when we're old. And the more kids, the more you've got a chance, at least one of them wanting to look after you. I hope. But we want them looking after us because the Bible's clear, doesn't it? They should honour their father and mother and that's not just as a child. But, OK, they should also be an asset in our home, though, as well, shouldn't they? OK, and in days of old, when it was a bit, maybe, a special way from city life, in days of old, in country life, and when people were earning more from their households and maybe had small holdings farms, things like that, the kids were a massive asset, weren't they? But they could still be an asset, even if you're not producing food or whatever else from home. For example, just... I was talking about this to a brother recently, just about sometimes it can be hard when you've got one kid, when you've got one baby, because you don't have those older kids to help out, do you? And we can kind of look at it and think, oh, well, you know, I've only got one kid. But sometimes that can be pretty tough at the beginning because, A, you're getting used to that, which isn't it in your life. They're only three at once. But one can be a big change, can't it, in your life? And with that one kid, suddenly it's like, well, I've gone from just being me. Maybe you're looking after your husband, you know, if you've done things right, and everything else, the mother and husbands are doing things for their wife, providing and everything else. But suddenly you've got a little baby there, and that could be a big shock, can't it? Let alone, let alone then, without anyone else to help with that. And a lot of people won't have that help, but with older kids you get that. So they can be of help with other kids, can't they? But they can be of help with cleaning, they can be of help with cooking, they can be of help with other chores and jobs, they can be of help with church work as well. I mean, most of these bulletins usually get folded up by my kids, and a lot of the hoovering gets done and other things, and there's more stuff that kids can do, isn't there? There's lots of things they can do to be an asset, and children are an asset. And you know what, like I've preached about before, if you don't get your kids working from young, they're not going to switch on a switch, are they? They're not going to flick a switch at 18, 20, whatever it is, when they're out your house and suddenly just want to work and do stuff. You have to show them young, and you're doing them a disservice if you don't. If you don't have your kids go off, if you don't have your kids doing stuff, they're going to have a tough life as an adult, aren't they? Okay, but they are an asset, and it works both ways. Okay, turn over to Psalm 128. Okay, and Psalm 128 reads, Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the side of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion, and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children and peace upon Israel. So verse three, like olive plants, and olive plants are pretty useful, aren't they? Olive plants are pretty useful, they produce fruit. They produce fruit, they produce things which are usable, which are useful, and children should be like olive plants around the table, they should be doing stuff, they should be helpful, they should be useful, not just something to stare at. What about when we're out soul winning as well? We're out soul winning, kids can be really useful, can't they? I mean, especially if they're able to give the Gospel, and that's a great blessing if they can, because sometimes it can be tough, can't it, giving the Gospel to kids? Okay, that can be tough. Because sometimes, you know, you've got people stopping and trying to have a go at you and shouting at you and everything else, and yeah, definitely, having kids with you when you give the Gospel is helpful. If they give the Gospel, that's great as well, but knocking on the door. I mean, I make a point of getting my kids to stand right next to me when I knock on the door, so when that peephole gets looked through, they're more likely to open it when it's myself with a young child. True, they are, you know, and usually their countenance is a bit different than when it's me standing with one of the burly men here, you know? And you're wondering, these doors get, I can hear people behind there and see a little shadow behind that thing, and no one's answering the door. And a lot of the time, they're just thinking, whoa, no way, you know? But with kids, it makes a difference, doesn't it? And kids help that, and kids can make people more receptive. In the church, like I said, they could be a great help in the church, and they change the atmosphere here a bit as well, don't they? You've been to those churches where it's like a few old people, you know? It's a pretty bad atmosphere there, isn't it? Well, when you've got the kids, you know, and I'm obviously not charging up doing laps of the church, but when you've got kids around, it just adds something else, doesn't it? Kids are an asset. So have a look at verse 5 on Psalm 127. Happy is a man that hath his quiver full of them. So fatherhood is a blessing. When we remember that God's way is the only way. Our kids are gods. Godly kids are an asset. And number four, when we remember that we should be grateful for our kids, okay? We should be grateful for our kids. We should be happy, shouldn't we, to have children and lots of children, yeah? We should be happy. We should be grateful to God, shouldn't we? Okay, we should all be grateful. We should be thanking God. And that should be a regular prayer of ours, shouldn't it? Just thanking God, thank you for my family, thank you. But who else should we be thankful to? To our wives, no? We should be grateful for the kids that our wives have given us. Because if the pregnancy and labour isn't enough, okay? And make no mistake, it's tough. Because again, there's this worldly sort of, oh, it's just so natural. It's just so natural. You know, it's just, it's the women, it's a modern woman's fault that it's painful. Because actually it's just a natural process. No, it's naturally painful. It's naturally very painful. Genesis 3.16 says, Okay, it is in sorrow. It's hard, isn't it? Women have to go through a lot. And that's just the labour and pregnancy. And raising kids, day in, day out, seems, I'm noticing from afar, like it could have a couple of downsides. I don't know if I'm right here, I've just witnessed this a little bit, that there are possibly some hard parts to that, being at home every day with the children. Again, we can look at it, and we can look at it as men and think, oh, well, what's wrong? I'm doing my bit. You know, what could be tough? What could be the problem? Because, no, it's tough. And we should be grateful to our wives, shouldn't we, men? Husbands here, fathers here, we should be grateful to our wives for what they do. Because they do a lot. Turn to Titus chapter 2. Okay, Titus chapter 2, and verse 4. Okay, and he's talking here about the aged women here. And he's telling the older women, basically, to be an example to the younger women, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. Okay, why do the older women, and I believe that's for example here, why are they teaching, for example, the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children? Because, basically, it can be tough sometimes to do that, can't it? It can be tough. And, again, like we said, love is an action, and it can be tough. Because sometimes when your kids, again, they know us well, don't they? They can be your best friend, but they also can be your worst enemy. They know how to say the right things. They know how to wind you up, don't they? They know how to upset you, even from a young age. And it can be tough, and they have to basically actively, actively love them, that action of loving. And with that, with that love that the women are needing to be encouraged to do, to love their husbands, to love their children, I've heard a rumour that sometimes women need some appreciation. Again, I don't know if that's true. I've heard that mums sometimes need a bit of appreciation. I know that sounds crazy. And sometimes we can be guilty of not giving them that, can't we, fathers? You know, we can be guilty of, well, what could be so, what could be, what's hard about that, you know? Only got, you know, ten kids. What's the problem? You know, but I think we need to appreciate that. And I think when we appreciate our wives and we appreciate God, then it probably makes the kids even more of a blessing, doesn't it? Because then instead of them being kind of this burden to us, and, well, you know, mums have just got it easy, haven't they? No, we start to appreciate more that massive blessing that we have, eh? That massive blessing. And then when we appreciate them, we're acknowledging the blessing we've received, haven't we? And verse 5 of Psalm 127 here says, Happy is a man that hath his quiver full of them. Now, that's especially true when they're raised God's way, yeah? Turn to Proverbs chapter 10. Okay, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 1. The Proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. So basically, when they're wise, it makes us glad men. If they're foolish, blame it on the mother, yeah? That's how I read that. If they're foolish, it's her fault. When they're wise, we should be glad. Because 3 John 1.4 says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Okay, now John, obviously, he's talking about the children, those that he's begotten in Christ, yeah? He's calling them his children here. But with our kids, they should be our kids physically and spiritually, shouldn't they? Yeah? They're our children physically and spiritually. And if they're living for God, that's what he's saying here, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. If they're living for God, what a joy, what a blessing, eh? What an absolute blessing. And, you know, obviously we should thank God, but we should thank our wives, I think, daily for the blessing of fatherhood. We should just have that appreciation, that gratitude. And then they will feel like more of a blessing. So, verse 5 of Psalm 127, I think, sorry, I said verse 5 before. Verse 5, though. We said, It was happy as a man that had this quilt full of them. Then the rest of that verse, They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Okay, so fatherhood is a blessing, isn't it? When we remember that God's way is the only way, Our kids are gods. Godly kids are an asset. We should be grateful for our kids. But number 5, kids toughen us up, okay? Kids toughen us up as men. There's a boldness, isn't there, that comes from having kids? Fathers here, would you not agree with that? There is definitely a boldness that comes, and I'm not, men who don't have kids here, I'm not trying to say you're all wusses, okay? You little weaklings. But there is definitely a boldness that comes from having children. Speaking with the enemies in the gate, he says here, it gives the image, doesn't it, of someone that's not scared to deal with adversaries? Yeah, that's not fearful of them. Having kids hones your leadership abilities, doesn't it? Doesn't it just? And you're the protector, aren't you? You're the head. You can't be scared of your own shadow. If you're the head of a group, of a family, you can't, can you? Otherwise you're going to fail massively. And you can't, for example, I was thinking about things like, you can't be running away from wasps in front of your kids. You might have a real issue with, for example, you can't be that daddy. You know, you could have been, at 25 years old, one of them guys who's like leggy, as soon as you've got kids there that are old enough to notice, suddenly you're like, yeah. You see these guys, you're like, I remember when you were young, you used to leggy. Okay, suddenly they're tough, you know? And same with other things, you know? Same with all sorts of issues and problems, and you can't really run from anyone anyway, because your kids are usually too slow. Because if you're running, you're leaving there, aren't you? So you've got to learn, and now you've got to speak with the enemy in the gate, don't you? You've got to stand and you've got to front them out. And that can be all sorts, and that's why, obviously, a pastor has to have multiple children as well, doesn't he? Okay, and one of the many reasons that that's one of the qualifications. But it is one of the reasons that companies used to, and I don't know if that's still the case now, they used to like employing family men in leadership positions, didn't they? Okay, that was something that they would actually advertise almost on their company, you know, as a father of this many children, as a wife and kids, et cetera, because there was something about that. Obviously, there's something about responsibility there as well, because they need to provide for them. I've known people before who have said that they would much prefer to employ someone who has a family, because they're less likely to just jack the job in next week. But regardless, as well, having kids and being a family man, they should add something, and that's training, isn't it, for leadership? Training for leadership. But that's a blessing, isn't it? That's a blessing. Because it's something to be appreciated, isn't it? To appreciate that, yeah, like, having kids is training us up, it's helping us to be the leaders, and that can also go across to the workplace, it can go across to the church and everything else. So they toughen us up, don't they? But we toughen them up as well. So they toughen us up, and then we can toughen them up. If you turn to 1 Chronicles 28, okay, and this is talking about sort of the work of building the house of God here, and the temple, and David's talking to Solomon, and he says, and David said to, this is 28 verse 20, sorry, 1 Chronicles 28 verse 20, and David said to Solomon his son, be strong and of good courage and do it. Fear not, nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou has finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. Now, you can't be giving speeches like that if you're too scared to have kids in the first place, can you? Okay, you can't be giving speeches like that. Obviously, you're not going to have the child there, but you need to be at a certain point, don't you, to be able to be encouraging your children not to have fear in life. Because that is a big crippler in life, isn't it, the fear? That's a big, that's a big, big weapon of the enemy, isn't it? And that's a big weapon across our media, across our society, isn't it? It's fear, fear, fear mongering all the time. But we need to lead by example with that, don't we? And then we can help our kids with that as well. So, for the fathers here, and those hoping to become fathers in the future, fatherhood is a blessing, yeah? Okay, it's a massive blessing. We don't need days like this, truthfully, to reward us, because we're rewarded every day, but it is nice, nice to get the odd present or card if you did manage to get one, or even just a happy Father's Day. And there are cakes at the back for the fathers, so if you didn't get anything, stuff your faces. But fatherhood is a blessing when we remember that, number one, God's way is the only way. Two, our kids are gods. Three, godly kids are an asset. Four, we should be grateful for our kids. And five, kids toughen us up. And on that, let's pray. Father, I thank you, thank you for all the fathers here, thank you for all the godly men here, thank you that you entrust us with children, thank you that you give us that blessing, that we so often take for granted and look at the negatives, whereas, wow, there are so many positives. And I thank you that you've given those men, those fathers here, those children, to bless their lives and help us to appreciate them, help us to appreciate our wives, help us to just appreciate everything you do for us, help us to raise them in a godly way, help us to just realise what an asset they are and to be grateful for them, to just let them toughen us up, to be those men that you want us to be, that we can quit like men, be strong, help us to be like that, Lord, in all that we do. And starting with this afternoon, help us to be bold, go out and preach the gospel, get people saved, help our children to be an asset with that and just help us do all things according to your will. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.