Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Cassie Carstens - South African Christian Leader - 34 Years in full time ministry - Former Chaplain of Africa’s Rugby Team - Started The World Needs A Father Movement
Emphasis
There is no substitute for a home. It must be the primary bulwarks of morality and faith.
I. LOVE YOUR GOD (vv.4-5)
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
II. LEAD YOUR HEART (v.6)
“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.”
“We are called to be people of conviction, not conformity; of moral nobility, not social respectability. We are commanded to live differently and according to a higher loyalty” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
III. LEAD YOUR CHILDREN (v.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.”
“Some children can identify their longing for their fathers, while others just sense a lack deep within themselves. Boys join militias and gangs; girls become pre-maturely sexually active, all in search of fathers.” (TWNAF, p.10)
Men commit 90% of all major crimes.
Men commit 100% of rapes.
Men commit 95% of burglaries.
Men commit 91% of the offenses against the family.
Men comprise 94% of drunk drivers
(By Robert Lewis; TWNAF, p.10)
63% of suicides come from fatherless homes.
80% of rapists, motivated by displaced anger, come from fatherless homes.
70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes.
40% of all children do not live with their biological fathers.
(By Robert Lewis; TWNAF, p.10)
85% of children with behavioural problems come from fatherless homes.
90% of homeless children come from families without fathers.
71% of children who do not finish school come from fatherless homes.
(By Robert Lewis; TWNAF, p.11)
“To maintain family and personal devotions; to religiously educate our children…” (UBC Covenant)
“The absent father portrays an absent God.
The disconnected father portrays a disconnected God.
The permissive father portrays a permissive God.
The Neglecting father portrays a neglecting God.
The emotional father portrays an emotional God.
We are God with skin on for our children!”
(TWNAF, p.21)
IV. Love YOUR AUTHORITY(vv.8-9)
“Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
