Good morning.  As I begin, allow me to once again say to you dads out there, Happy Father’s Day!

Let me begin by sharing a story with you.  One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed.  She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”  The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug.  “I can’t, Dear,” she said, “I have to sleep with your daddy.”  A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice, “That big sissy.”

Well dads, today is father’s day, and even if you are a big sissy, everyone has to be nice to you today.  If you have not been with us the past few weeks, we have been in a series called, Extreme Home Makeover.  We began on Mother’s Day and looked at Mothers Who Love.  Then we continued and looked at How To Have A Good Fight, Making Memories, Children Who Learn, Taming The Tongue, and today, we finish this series up by looking at Fabulous Fathers.

Now, before we move on this morning, allow me to begin with a word of prayer.  Let’s Pray!

How many of you have seen the movie “The Godfather”?  Well, in that movie there is a scene in the beginning where the godfather is talking to one of his sons.  And he says, “Sonny, do you spend time with your family?”  And Sonny says, “Yes, father.”

And the godfather continues and says, “Good.  Because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family isn’t a real man.”

Well, if you think about it, this is a true statement.  “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family isn’t a real man.”  And yet, when you read through the Bible, it’s hard to find good dads like that.  In fact, some of the most successful men of God outside the home were complete failures inside the home.  Look at King David.  He was so busy running the kingdom of Israel that he had no time to take care of the kingdom of David.  And his
sons turned out to be a bunch of rebels.  You could read II Samuel chapter 13 through the end of the book, and you’ll see what I mean.

And what about Solomon?  He was so busy trying to please his 700 wives and his 300 girlfriends that he didn’t have much time for his kids until he got old and wrote the book of Proverbs.

And the same thing is true of Samuel.  In I Samuel chapter 8, when Israel asked for a
king, Samuel said, “What about my sons?”  And the people of Israel said, “No!  Your sons are a bunch of evil pagans!  They take bribes.  They pervert justice.  Forget it!”  You see, Samuel was a powerful prophet.  But he was a failed father.  He wasn’t involved enough in the lives of his children.

I read about a little girl who drew a pretty picture.  She went in her dad’s office, crawled up onto his lap, and said, “Daddy, come and see my picture.”  But the dad said, “Not now, honey.  Daddy’s busy.”

About 10 minutes later, she came back again, crawled on his lap, and said, “Daddy, will you come see my picture now?”  This time her dad got frustrated and said, “Can’t you see I’m busy?  Don’t bother me right now.  I’ll come and look at your picture later, when I’m ready.”

A couple of hours later, the dad came out.  And he said to his daughter, “Can I see the picture now?”  The little girl was excited and said, “Sure.”  It was a picture of her and her brother and her mom standing on the lawn.  It had their family dog, big smiles on everyone’s faces, and it was a sunny day.  But the dad noticed that he wasn’t in the picture, and so the dad said, “That’s a nice picture, sweetheart.  But how come I’m not in the picture?”

And his little girl said, “Oh, because you’re working in your office, daddy.”  The dad was crushed, because it had finally dawned on him that of the most loving and caring people in his daughter’s life, he wasn’t even in the picture.

Well, when it comes to being a good dad, how can you make sure that you’re in the picture?  How can you be sure that you are as successful inside the home as you are on the outside?  What does it take to be a Fabulous Father?

First of all, fabulous fathers have time:

A father came home from work late again, tired and irritated.  He found his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.  “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”  The dad replied, “Yeah, sure, what is it?”  “Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?”  The dad got mad and said, “That’s none of your business!  Why do you want to know?”  The little boy said, “I just want to know.  Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”  The dad, wanting to sit down and relax, said, “If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”

At that, the little boy sighed and bowed his head.  Looking up, he asked, “Daddy, may I borrow $10 please?”  The father flew off the handle, “If the only reason you wanted to know how much money I make is so that you can hit me up for some cash to buy some stupid toy, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed.  You’re so selfish.  I work long, hard hours every day and don’t have time for this.”  The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The dad sat down and started to get even madder about the nerve of his little boy.  How dare he ask questions only to get some money.  After an hour or so, the father had calmed down, and started to think that maybe he was a bit hard on his boy.  Maybe his son really needed the money for something important.  And so, the father went up to his son’s room and opened it, “Are you asleep, son?”

“No daddy.  I’m awake,” replied the boy.  “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier.  It’s been a long day, and I took it out on you.  Here’s that 10 bucks you asked for.”  The little boy sat straight up, beaming.  “Oh, thank you, daddy!” he exclaimed.  Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out a wad of crumpled up bills.

The dad, seeing that the boy already had some money, started to get angry again.  The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his dad.  The dad, now extremely irritated with his son, demanded to know what was going on, “Why did you want more money if you already had some?”

The little boy replied, “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do.  Daddy, I have $20 now, and I’d like to buy an hour of your time.”

Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children.  Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”  You see, fabulous fathers do not have confused priorities.  They don’t put their work ahead of their family.  They know that except for God Himself, the wife and the kids come first.

Do you know what Psalm 127:3 says?  It says, “…children are a reward from
God!”  One of the greatest things a man can do is to raise up the next generation of young people for Jesus Christ.  I read a story about a Christian attorney, and he was talking about the influence of his father on his life.

Here is what he had to say: “The greatest gift my dad ever gave me was when I was a little boy.  It was a small box.  Inside the box was a note saying, “Son, this year I will give you 365 hours.  That is an hour every day after supper.  It’s all yours.  We’ll talk about what you want to talk about.  We’ll go where you want to go.  Play what you want to play.  It will be your hour.”

He goes on to say, “My dad not only kept his promise, but every year he renewed it.  It is the greatest gift I ever had in my life.  And I am the Christian man I am today because of my dad.”  You see, this father gave his son the greatest gift a father can give, and that is the gift of time.

So remember this, fabulous fathers don’t find time for their kids, they MAKE time.

Another thing that is true of fabulous fathers is that they are compassionate:

I heard of a young mother who went down to the nursery at a hospital and found her young husband peering down at his newborn baby who was asleep.  The mother could tell that he was captivated by the scene as he stood there looking at the sleeping infant.  She was so touched that finally she tiptoed up behind him and slipped her arm through his and said, “Honey, what are you thinking about?”  He turned to her and said, “I just can’t understand how they’re able tot make a crib like that for $89.95.”  Well, for the most part, fathers are not the most compassionate.

Luke 15:20 says that, “…while the prodigal son was still a long way off, the father saw him and was filled with compassion.”

Now, after the son took off with all of his inheritance, and he went out and blew it in wild living, and then comes back, I don’t know if I would have felt that way.  Some fathers would have been angry.  They might have said, “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face around here, boy.  I told you not to run off like that.  But you didn’t listen!  You never listen!  You made your bed, and now you’ve got to lie in it, son.  If you want my love and respect back, you’re going to have to earn it.”

But you know what, that’s not what the father in this passage said.  Instead, he said, “Wait a minute!  I think I see my son!  He’s coming home!  I know he made some bad choices.  He ruined his life.  But he’s still my child!  My flesh and blood!  I love him with all my heart!  It’s like he’s back from the dead!  And I am so glad to have him in my life again.”

And you know what?  That’s exactly how God feels about us.  We also have made some bad choices.  We too have run away from God.  And like the prodigal son, we too are a long way off from being what we ought to be.

But every time one of you comes back to God, He says, “That’s my child!  I love you with all my heart!  And I’m so glad to have you back in my life again!”

In Luke 15:7 it says that, “… there is more rejoicing in the presence of the angels over one sinner who repents than over 99 persons who do not need to repent.”

You see, fabulous fathers are compassionate.  The prodigal’s father had compassion on him when he returned, and God has compassion on us when we come to Him.  To all of you dad here this morning, I would challenge you to be compassionate to you kids.  There are going to be times when that will be difficult, but remember to be kind and compassionate to your kids.

And finally, fabulous fathers are also fair:

One of the things I really like about the dad in the story of the prodigal son is that he loved both sons equally.  In verse 28, the father pleads with the other son and says, “Come and celebrate with us.  I love you just as much.  This party is not complete without you.  Please come and join us.”  You see, this father was a fabulous father.  He had another son, and he remained fair, and equally loved each of his children.

And the same thing is true about our fabulous Father in Heaven.  Psalm 145:17 says that He is loving toward ALL He has made.  He loves all of us just the same.  No matter who we are or what we’ve done, His love for us is the same.

There’s a neat story about the evangelist D.L Moody.  One night, he was preaching in a big circus tent in Chicago.  His text was Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  After he had finished, a little boy was brought to the platform by an officer, who had found the boy wandering in the crowd lost.  Reverend Moody took the child in his arms and asked the crowd to look at him.  Then he said, “The father of this child is more anxious to find the child than the child is to be found.  So it is with our
Heavenly Father.  He has been looking for you to come back to Him for many years.”

At that moment, a man with a worried look on his face elbowed his way to the platform.  The boy saw him and ran to his father and threw himself into his outstretched arms.  And the crowd broke out into a mighty cheer.  Then Moody said, “God will receive you in the same way if you will just run back to Him today.”

So, keep in mind that God is a fair God, and He desires that fathers would be the same.  Be fair to your kids, and love them equally.

Well, that’s my message to you on this Father’s Day.  In order to be a fabulous father, you need to make time for your family, you need to be compassionate, and you need to be fair to your family.  There is only one father that is truly fabulous, and that is our Heavenly Father.  But He calls us all to work towards this idea of being a fabulous father ourselves.

Now dads, before you leave this service feeling piled on and discouraged by your own failures and inconsistency, let me remind you of 3 things:

1. There are no perfect fathers, except for our Heavenly Father.

2. You can all be better dads if you will just work at it.

3. You do not have to try and father your children alone.  That’s why you need to pray daily for your kids, and ask God to help you to develop these keys that we looked at today.

Chuck Swindoll, in his book, “The Strong Family,” says this: “C’mon dads…Let’s start saying no to more and more of the things that pull us farther and farther away from the ones who need us the most…You’re not perfect?  So, what else is new?  You don’t know exactly how to pull it off?  Welcome to the club…your family doesn’t expect you to be.  They just want you, warts and all…so let’s get started.”

Let’s Pray!