Third Sunday of June (US)
5 Father's Day Sermon Ideas
Father's Day attendance is the lowest of any major Sunday. The men who show up are often the most receptive to a call to spiritual leadership — but the room is also full of men who feel they have failed and men who never had a father at home.
Preach the call without crushing the convicted. The ideas below offer biblical fathers — both flawed and faithful — as honest models.
Proverbs 22:6 / Deuteronomy 6:4–9
1. Train Up a Child
Discipleship begins at the dinner table.
- •What 'train up' actually means.
- •When thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way.
- •The home as the first church.
Ephesians 6:4 / Colossians 3:21
2. Fathers, Provoke Not
Paul's word to fathers protects children from a particular kind of harm.
- •Provoke not your children to wrath.
- •Lest they be discouraged.
- •Nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Luke 15:11–32
3. The Father Who Ran
God's own fatherhood is the pattern for ours.
- •He saw him a great way off.
- •He ran.
- •He restored, did not probate.
- •He pleads with the elder son outside the party.
2 Samuel 18:33
4. David: The Father Who Failed and Wept
Even great men of God need grace as fathers.
- •Absalom's rebellion.
- •David's failure as a father.
- •His grief at his son's death.
- •Grace for the imperfect father.
1 Corinthians 4:14–17 / 2 Timothy 2:2
5. A Spiritual Father in the Faith
Every man is called to disciple someone.
- •Paul calling Timothy 'my beloved son.'
- •Spiritual fatherhood is for every Christian man.
- •Whom are you discipling?
Recommended readings
- Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — The Shema — train them diligently.
- Psalm 103:13 — Like as a father pitieth his children.
- Luke 15:11-32 — The father who ran.