Just as the man is called upon to love his wife, as Christ loves the church, just as the man is called upon to model his relationship with his wife on the pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ love for the believers, so it is for the fathers in modeling our

heavenly father in the relationship to their children.

It is out of conviction that I'm doing this series on the place of the husband, the father, in the head of his home,

is that the very few in the pulpits today that seem to address the man as the scripture does.

Our heavenly father is the only father who is perfect.

You might have grown up with some negative relationship with your father.

Don't let that color your eyes in understanding the fatherhood of God.

Because he is the most perfect father.

He is perfect in his love. He is perfect in his unconditional

acceptance. He is perfect in his fairness. He is perfect in his justice. He is perfect in his

availability to us so that we can come in any anytime to him. He is perfect in his compassion.

And we fathers are to learn from him. None of us can claim to be perfect fathers. Nobody

probably more conscious of this than I am.

And therefore, man, I want you to know that I am trying to point the way to us rather than instructing you.

I want you to know that I am challenging us rather than correcting you.

For I believe the second most important responsibility for the father, the second most important role for the man who is a father of children

is to be the leader, the governor,

the head of his children, the first being the head of his wife. Fatherhood is more than just

mere biological connection. It's more than mere biological function. It is more than just a process.

It is a process of affecting leadership in the home. Fatherhood requires the creating of the

opportunity for children to reach their full potential and to do so spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually.

And I put them exactly in this order.

...