Fathers Day 2023

The Father’s Love

First of all if you are a father we want to honor you with this gift. Fathers, we are so thankful for each of you and want to make sure we honor you.

Let's give it up for our dad's here.

How do you view God the Father?

How do you view God?

Many of us view God through how our relationship with our human Father was and is.

But there is a problem.

More and more kids are growing up without dads than ever in our country.

This week I typed in my Google search:

Is America becoming a fatherless generation?

Here is what the search came up with:

America's Crisis is a lack of fathers!

The importance of dads in an increasingly fatherless generation.

Fatherlessness and its effects on American society.

America has a pandemic of fatherlessness.

The Family Research Council called fatherlessness "one of the most important, albeit ignored, social issues of our time." More than 1 in 4, or 19.7 million American children, live without a father in the home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2017).

Can we be surprised that we are losing ground spiritually?

"If we have stronger families, we will have stronger schools, stronger churches, and stronger communities with less poverty and less crime. The family is the linchpin of society, both economically and socially," Bennett said.

But isn’t this true spiritually too.

Should we be surprised that our churches are weak right now.

But regardless of how well fathers in America are or are not doing, here is what we know. Our heavenly Father's love is more significant than any earthly Father's greatest love.

Growing up, one of my best friends, COOP, lost his dad when he was six. His mom went into a significant depression while raising him. And yes, even in her struggle, she did a great job raising him. Coop in high school was 6'6 and weighed 220 pounds. He was pure muscle. Coop was constantly yearning for and looking for that love from his earthly Father, who had passed.

I used to tell my kids after Church on Wednesday: Guys, no matter how much I love you, which is a lot. The love of your heavenly Father is so much greater than my love for you.

This is the same love my friend was searching for, in his earthly father who had passed away, and he did not even know it.

This love my friend sought was and is still available in our heavenly Father, for anyone here today.

God is Trinity Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Most churches talk about Jesus a lot, rarely the Holy Spirit and the Father sometimes. They are all essential.

What do we know about the father:

He is the first person of the trinity.

The Father is presented as electing, loving, and bestowing. The Son is presented as suffering, redeeming, and upholding the universe. The Holy Spirit is presented as regenerating, indwelling, baptizing, energizing, and sanctifying.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry; Walvoord, John F.. Major Bible Themes (p. 45). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Fatherhood of all creation.

All of the trinity was involved in the creation of the world but in a special way the Father upholds creation.

Intimacy is available

Through what Jesus did we can have an intimate relationship with the father. In Galatians Paul writes Abba Father. An intimate term used in a relationship with God.

His name is to be hallowed

What does this mean that God the fathers name is to be set apart from other name. He is holy. His name is to be greatly revered. It is to be holy.

Is God’s name holy in our culture today?

This is how the Lord’s prayer starts out.

Our father in heaven hallowed by your name.

These are just a couple of things about the father.

They all have roles, and today we are going to talk about the extraordinary love of the Father.

Observations of the extraordinary love of the Father:

The first observation about the heavenly fathers love is:

1) He gave the ultimate gift (Genesis 22).

Genesis 22 is one of the most challenging chapters in the Bible. God is calling Abraham to sacrifice his Son. Now here is what we know about child sacrifice. God hates it. It is a terrible thing. Death, murder, killing, and abortion are bad things.

It is also a challenging chapter because Abraham had been waiting for this child for a long time. His Son would be the promised child, and the Messiah would eventually come and rescue the world from its sins.

After reading this chapter, you get it because God never intended to have Abraham kill Isaac. He was trying to see if Abraham would trust him with everything he had.

The very thing that God did not have Abraham follow through on is the same thing he did when he sent Jesus.

Let's think about the cost of this gift.

Romans 5:5–8 NASB95

and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

He sacrificed the righteous for the unrighteous.

He had to listen to his Son cry out and could not do anything about it.

My Father, why have you forsaken me?

Remember, he could have sent down thousands upon thousands of angels.

Having the power to rescue his Son and not doing what can be more challenging than that as a dad.

But even more challenging for a Father is when we can rescue our Son and choose not to.

But if he had not done that, we would not have the hope of the gospel.

This is the greatest gift of all time.

This gift is not only available to you; this gift is the hope of the world.

Because this gift is perfect, this gift is worth receiving; it is worth giving our life for; it is worth telling others about. If you receive something good, it should be shared.

Last night Nate went to work out with a friend and I picked them up afterwards. As we were driving back I asked Nate’s friend who we are close with 0-100%? Dive a little deeper here-He knew him well.

The Second Observation of the extraordinary love of the Father:

2) It is freely available to those who ask for it.

Matthew 7:9–12 NASB95

“Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

As a kid, it was Christmas, and my parents were wrapping presents. My brother and I were upstairs and saw what Santa was bringing. He was bringing us a Nintendo. That was a fantastic gift for that age; Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, duck hunt, there was the little track thing you actually ran on.

Has anyone here gotten a great gift before?

If our parents will do this for their kids, can you picture what God would do?

As great as my and your parents were or were not, this passage contrasts our earthly parents to God.

If our parents give us good gifts, how much more will God give us?

But who does he give those gifts to?

As great as that Nintendo was, it does not even compare to the gift that God wants to give us.

It is more significant than any gift you have ever received.

It is more significant than anything you have ever achieved.

This gift promises us eternal pleasure.

It reconnects us with the creator we were disconnected from because of sin.

It promises us a heavenly home.

It saves us from eternal destruction.

Do I need to continue?

Scripture tells us how we can have this gift by simply receiving it.

Matthew 7:7–8 NASB95

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Even though I saw my parents wrap the Nintendo, I knew it was not from Santa Clause. When I got it, I did not say any thanks. I did not say hey, I will try and pay you back. I threw off the wrapping paper as quickly as possible, said thank you, and started playing that thing.

How do we receive his greatest gift-Matthew 7:7-8

God is Trinity Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Most churches talk about Jesus a lot, rarely the Holy Spirit and the Father sometimes.

We are all looking for love; many of us are looking for that love specifically from our Father.

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There are a lot of great fathers out there, and hopefully, you have had a great father.

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I was blessed to have a great father.

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Maybe you had an okay father.

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Maybe you had a terrible father.

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We can easily view God the Father as we have experienced our own Father.

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Fathers, that is a lot of pressure, right?

Fathers, I want to encourage us with a couple of things as we leave:

1. Let the Father love you. Being a father is both my greatest joy and my most complex challenge. If we love our kids well, discipline them well, provide for them, and protect them well. We need the love and guidance of the Father.

2. Make time for your kids. I will have one kid graduate over the next three years. I don't think in five years I will say I should not have spent that much time with Nathaniel. I regret it. Today's society is so busy it is hard to make time.

3. Invest in them spiritually.