Gentlemen, your wife wants you to love the kids. She wants you to help raise them. She wants you to love them, to pursue them. She wants you to get guy time with your sons. She wants you to get daddy dates with your daughters. She wants you to do Ephesians 6 and be their pastor. She wants you to read the Bible with them. She wants you to pray with them. And you know what? You should want that too.
DO YOUR JOB
So many guys who are Christians think “I pay for Christian school, I send the wife and kids to the Christian church. I’ve done my Christian duty.” No, you’ve abdicated your responsibility to others.
It’s your job to love your kids. It’s your job to pray with your kids. It’s your job to teach the Bible to your kids.
It’s your job to encourage your kids. It’s your job to discipline your kids.
Christian, husband, father, employee. Those are your first four duties; it’ll take most of your life. You’re not going to have a lot of time.
A wife will be so forgiving of so many things if she actually knows her husband desperately loves their children, that he serves them, that he cares for them, that he’s tender with them, that he’s Pastor Dad for them. So few children actually have a father. So few of those actually have a Christian father and how few of those actually have a dad who’s doing his job.
And I’ll tell you what, guys, this is not something you have to do; it’s something you get to do.
This is wonderful. Every night, my daughter Alexie, blond hair, blue eyes and looks like Tinkerbell says, “Poppa Daddy, I need a piggyback ride and a Bible story.” You know what? I do too. I need that as much as Alexie. I weep thinking of the day that I’m not going to be giving her piggyback rides, so I give her as many piggyback rides as I can because it’s a great season and a wonderful opportunity.
HONOR YOUR PRIORITIES
What this means, gentlemen, is your priorities will be Christian, husband, father, employee. Those are your first four duties; it’ll take most of your life. You’re not gonna have a lot of time. You're probably gonna need to put down your tools, your hobbies, your car, your projects, your golf clubs, your Xbox and probably going to need to put down the remote control, and your laptop, and your iPod to honor your wife parentally. You’re not going to have a lot of time for a lot of other things.
Gentlemen, your goal is not to stand before God and tell him what level you got to on “World of Warcraft”.
HONOR HER SPIRITUALLY
All of this comes down to this point.
There are between 11 and 13 million more Christian women than men. Many women go to church on their own. They have to drag their husband to church, they drag their children to church. It is your job, men, to lead spiritually.
You pray with the family. You read the Bible with the family. You pick a good church, become a member of it, submit to it.
You pick the community group or midweek class you will be in. You are the one to lead the family spiritually.
START WITH A PRAYER
Some guys say, “Well, I don’t know what to do.”
Just start by praying with your wife.
There are women who will read this sermon and deep down in their heart, this is what they want the most, “If my husband would just pray with me.”
There are some of you guys, you pray with all kinds of people, you don’t pray with your wife. Do you pray with your wife? Do you pray with your kids? Do you read the Bible with your wife? Do you talk about Jesus with your wife? Do you talk about Jesus with your kids?
Leading spiritually is the foundation of everything else.
This post is adapted from The Mars Hill blog. It can be found at: http://marshill.com/2010/12/14/how-to-honor-your-wife/
BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.
DO YOUR JOB
So many guys who are Christians think “I pay for Christian school, I send the wife and kids to the Christian church. I’ve done my Christian duty.” No, you’ve abdicated your responsibility to others.
It’s your job to love your kids. It’s your job to pray with your kids. It’s your job to teach the Bible to your kids.
It’s your job to encourage your kids. It’s your job to discipline your kids.
Christian, husband, father, employee. Those are your first four duties; it’ll take most of your life. You’re not going to have a lot of time.
A wife will be so forgiving of so many things if she actually knows her husband desperately loves their children, that he serves them, that he cares for them, that he’s tender with them, that he’s Pastor Dad for them. So few children actually have a father. So few of those actually have a Christian father and how few of those actually have a dad who’s doing his job.
And I’ll tell you what, guys, this is not something you have to do; it’s something you get to do.
This is wonderful. Every night, my daughter Alexie, blond hair, blue eyes and looks like Tinkerbell says, “Poppa Daddy, I need a piggyback ride and a Bible story.” You know what? I do too. I need that as much as Alexie. I weep thinking of the day that I’m not going to be giving her piggyback rides, so I give her as many piggyback rides as I can because it’s a great season and a wonderful opportunity.
HONOR YOUR PRIORITIES
What this means, gentlemen, is your priorities will be Christian, husband, father, employee. Those are your first four duties; it’ll take most of your life. You’re not gonna have a lot of time. You're probably gonna need to put down your tools, your hobbies, your car, your projects, your golf clubs, your Xbox and probably going to need to put down the remote control, and your laptop, and your iPod to honor your wife parentally. You’re not going to have a lot of time for a lot of other things.
Gentlemen, your goal is not to stand before God and tell him what level you got to on “World of Warcraft”.
HONOR HER SPIRITUALLY
All of this comes down to this point.
There are between 11 and 13 million more Christian women than men. Many women go to church on their own. They have to drag their husband to church, they drag their children to church. It is your job, men, to lead spiritually.
You pray with the family. You read the Bible with the family. You pick a good church, become a member of it, submit to it.
You pick the community group or midweek class you will be in. You are the one to lead the family spiritually.
START WITH A PRAYER
Some guys say, “Well, I don’t know what to do.”
Just start by praying with your wife.
There are women who will read this sermon and deep down in their heart, this is what they want the most, “If my husband would just pray with me.”
There are some of you guys, you pray with all kinds of people, you don’t pray with your wife. Do you pray with your wife? Do you pray with your kids? Do you read the Bible with your wife? Do you talk about Jesus with your wife? Do you talk about Jesus with your kids?
Leading spiritually is the foundation of everything else.
This post is adapted from The Mars Hill blog. It can be found at: http://marshill.com/2010/12/14/how-to-honor-your-wife/
BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.
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