Seven Attributes of Fatherhood
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18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Introduction
Introduction
We don’t always see the best reflection of our heavenly Father in our earthly fathers.
Sometimes we don’t meet our dad’s expectations. It can be difficult to be
10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Baseball Player)
Baseball Player Keith Hernandez is one of baseball’s top players. He is a lifetime .300 hitter who has won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding. He’s won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series.
“One day Keith asked his father, ‘Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?’His father replied, ‘But someday you’re going to look back and say, “I could have done more.”
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that God is different from our father.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
John tells us that The Father is only revealed by the Son.
18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
So He first was God, Jehovah. And out of Him…Let’s just picture now as a little drama so you can get it. Let’s see coming out of space where there’s nothing, let’s make it a little white Light, like a mystic Light, like a Halo. And that was the Logos that went out of God in the beginning. That was the Son of God that came out of the bosom of the Father.
That was what was in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us. In the beginning was God. And then out of God came the Logos, a part of God that went out of God. 50-0815 — Who Is God?
He declared God as a Father.
ἐξηγέομαι, (I interpret) I relate, expound, explain; make declaration (John 1:18).
He even came in His Father’s name (John 5:43), and declared He was one with the Father. (John 10:30)
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
I used to think, years ago, that maybe God was angry with me, but Christ loved me. Come to find out, it’s the same Person, see. And Christ is the very heart of God. 63-0318 — The First Seal
What did He reveal the Father as? If we can see what He was, we can see what he intends us to be.
1. Your Heavenly Father is Patient.
1. Your Heavenly Father is Patient.
He is slow to anger
(This is my worst flaw, a lack of patience)
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
As earthly fathers it’s easy to get impatient, but God blesses even those who are not His, for a time.
God has a family, yet He does not withhold rain and sunshine from those who are not His family. He is patient with them. He loves those who do not love Him.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
He was patient with Cain, who had a different father, giving him a second chance.
He was patient with Esau, who could have received the birthright, but he sold it.
He blessed Ishmael and made him a great nation even though Ishmael would always persecute Isaac.
This is what He says about Himself:
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Look how patient Jesus is with Peter. He stuck his foot in his mouth every day, he denied Jesus three times, but Jesus told Him “I’ve prayed for you. When you are converted, strengthen your brethren”.
He was displaying the attributes of the Father. If He can be that patient with us, shouldn’t we be patient with our children?
2. Your Heavenly Father is Observant.
2. Your Heavenly Father is Observant.
He sees you.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
He knows everything you do.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
He sees everything.
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Everything.
4 The Lord is in his holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men.
He sees you before you see Him.
48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
(Altar Call)
God bless you, sister, back there. He sees you. If you believe me to be His servant, when you raised your hands with a sincere heart, the recording Angel sticks your name right on the book. “He that will come to me, I will in no wise cast out. Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white like snow.” 58-0110 — The Mighty Conqueror
Even those who are not elect, He sees, and puts their name down.
(Hagar and Ishmael)
13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
3. Your Heavenly Father is Forgiving
3. Your Heavenly Father is Forgiving
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Jesus displays this over and over again, but never more than on the cross.
34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
(Bro. Branham with lady in Cafe)
Shouldn’t we forgive our children?
4. Your Heavenly Father is Caring
4. Your Heavenly Father is Caring
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
He cast out devils with the finger of God.
20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
But notice when He went after the lost sheep. It wasn’t His finger; He took the lost sheep and put it over His shoulders. Hallelujah. How He cares for a lost sheep, one that strayed out some of them formal ungodly places, in the desert and wilderness out there. He goes and gets him, puts him over His shoulder, fills him full of the Holy Ghost, and sends him back to the fold. 54-0720A — The Maniac Of Gadara
Shouldn’t we care for our children?
5. Your Heavenly Father is Giving
5. Your Heavenly Father is Giving
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Look how your earthly parent, before you come here, before they knowed you was coming, made ready for your coming. Just think of that now, your earthly parents. Which, an earthly parent is only a type of a heavenly Parent.
“If we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more does your Heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to His children.” 65-1205 — Things That Are To Be
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
But the Father knew that you would be here, and prepared everything for you before you got here. Amen. Your first coming, here, He had it ready for you when you got here. Isn’t that marvelous to think of what He done?
Now, now, but remember, these are only temporal gifts, in type. “Now, we know that Moses, in building the tabernacle in the wilderness, or preparing it, he said he made all things after the order of what he saw in Heaven.” See? So, the earthly things only express what the Eternal things are.
And if this earth that we live in today, being so great, as we love it; and love to live, and breathe the air, and see the flowers and things; if that, if this here is the expression, one that’s dying is only expressing one that’s Eternal. When you see a tree struggling, pulling, trying to live, that means there’s a tree somewhere that doesn’t have to do that.
When you see a man here, struggling to live, somebody in a hospital, or on a sickbed, or in a accident, struggling, and the death rattle is in their throat, and pulling, and crying, and screaming for life, what does that mean? There’s a place, somewhere, there’s a body that doesn’t struggle and scream for that. See? It just doesn’t do it.
Now, they are temporal gifts to us, these things, only expressing that there is One where it’s the Eternal One. That’s what Jesus has gone away to prepare, the Eternal One for us. 65-1205 — Things That Are To Be
Shouldn’t we want to give good gifts to our children? The greatest gift is our time.
6. Your Heavenly Father is Merciful
6. Your Heavenly Father is Merciful
36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
The merciful obtain mercy.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
He had mercy on the sinner.
10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
His first revelation is mercy.
Little children, many of them put their little hands up. God, be merciful to them. Many of the old and the middle-aged, they put their hands up. The teenagers put their hands up. They’re wanting mercy, God. And I’m so glad to know that the first revelation of Christ is mercy; the second revelation is judgment.
O God, thank You for these who have taken mercy tonight, mercy’s road. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst for righteousness; they shall be filled.” 58-0309E — Will The Church Go Before The Tribulation?
Our first revelation should be mercy.
7. Your Heavenly Father is Great
7. Your Heavenly Father is Great
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
He revealed the greatness of the Father.
He’s bigger than the storm. Bigger than the hunger of the 5000. Bigger than death itself at the grave of Lazarus. Big enough to take care of you.
Now, I can see the big father eagle as he’s walking around over the nest. He loves to look at his children. Oh, my. How he loves to look at them. How do they look? Look just like he does. They’re not hybrid. They’re not half buzzard and half crow and something else. They’re eagles. Amen.
He likes to, because he knows that they are thoroughbred. They got his flesh, they got his blood, they got his spirit. Amen. How proud he looks over his eaglets, walking around. Amen.
The little eaglets look at him and say, “How great thou art, how great thou art.” Look at myself, oh, my. “Going to take a flight one of these days, ain’t we, papa?” See? Oh, how he likes to look at them. They look like him. They act like him. They are his flesh, his blood, his spirit. Amen.
That’s the way God’s church is, His Eaglets, His Messiahettes. They look like Him; they act like Him; they preach like Him; they do the works that He did. “The things that I do shall he also. More than this shall he do, ’cause I go to the Father.” Amen.
“These signs shall follow My eaglets.” Amen “They’ll do just as I do. If My Spirit’s in them, then they’ll do the works that I do. If they don’t do the works I do, it’s because that My Spirit’s not in them.”
God wants eaglets. He wants Messiahettes. He wants men and women who have signs and wonders, anointed ones. He wants a church that’s filled with the Holy Ghost, a church reflecting Him the same yesterday, today, and forever. God didn’t die. He just borned a Kingdom, got His Messiahettes in it. Amen.
Every word He says, they say “amen” to it. That’s right. Yes, sir. They look like Him, act like Him; they believe it, got the Conductor moving right on out with signs and wonders following. That’s Messiah. Messiah lives tonight. He isn’t dead. He’s alive for evermore. You believe that? What did He say it would be?
(It shall be light in the evening time)
Man was made to be a god. God was made to be man. Oh, Messiah. The great Jehovah dwelt in a human body, made that body like His so He could be a human body, a Messiahette, to govern His earth and control it. Amen. “The works that I do, shall they do also.” Oh, I like that.
Jehovah walks back and forth over His throne, says, “Them’s My eaglets. Yeah. They are flesh of My flesh, and bone of My bone. They’re borned of My Spirit, and washed in My Blood.” Amen “They’re Mine. They’re Mine. Anything I tell them, they believe it. Why? They’re eagles.
That’s what they are. They’re eagles, just the same as I’m an eagle. They’re little gods, where I’m big God. That’s right. I’m Jehovah Papa. They’re My children.” There you are. So He promised these things to be taking place. 61-0117 — The Messiah
Conclusion
Conclusion
Lord help me to be patient, observant, caring, forgiving, giving, merciful and great. These are the attributes I want displayed in my life.