The Father of Life
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The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
The Meaning of life, how to live life, how to have a great life, how to have a meaningful life. These are the top google searches that utilize the word life in it. The fact is that thousands of people daily across our world are looking for the meaning of life. I can solve this problem for you today and if any of these people who are looking for this answer will turn to scripture they can find it as well. Today we will be in a few different passages of scripture and so I will not ask you to stand this morning as we read scripture but I do want you to have your Bible with you and turn with me to the scriptures we will explore as we explore it. This morning I want to show you 3 aspects of our Heavenly Father and how He is the Father of Life. Today we will see that the Father gives life, everything that has breath is because of God, He breathed into us life. Second we will see that the Father preserves life, you are alive today because God is allowing it. Lastly we will see that God saves life, The father sent the Son to give us life and to save us from destruction. Turn with me first to our primary passage of scripture. Deuteronomy 32:39-47 and in this Scripture we will find God speaking to the Israelite’s through Moses and in the first part of this chapter God has spoken through Moses to lay out the history of the Israelites turning from Him and then God tells Moses to speak on behalf of Him in first person to explain to the Israelite’s what He is capable of as God and then has Moses push the Israelite’s to live for God to avoid the disciplines of God.
The Father gives life
The Father gives life
39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
In verse 39 God makes it clear that it is Him who gives life. God is the giver of all life. There is nothing on this planet that has life that God has not given life too. You were given and are given life every day by God. From the beginning we were given life by God.
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God continues to give everything on earth life.
4 The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.
God has given everything on this planet life and this life is a journey of growing into understanding the aspects of life with which God is involved. We at the very basic level of life were given breath by God and He sustains our breath. We though are humans and often do not grow beyond understanding that there is more there than just the basic giving of breath for life.
As a parent I have come to this understanding of what it is like to provide completely for someone. When our kids were babies they could not feed themselves, change themselves, cloth themselves. There was literally nothing they could do for themselves. They were completely dependent on what Rhaynee and I could provide to them. It was as a parent that I have also learned of the human condition. The human condition causes us to take for granted the things that God does for us and the things our parents do for us. It was not until I had kids that I realized how much I took for granted what my parents had done and how much they provided for me. My kids do not understand what it takes to give them the things that we do and as a parent I do not necessarily want them to other than to appreciate things. I want my kids to enjoy the things that they are given by us but I still want them to appreciate it.
God provides all of human kind life and has provided it from the beginning of time. God is the reason all of us are here today. The problem though is that is just the beginning of what God did and so often we get stuck in the breathing life and we never move to the higher calling of living in the spirit of God and living for God. Most the world is content with simply living and many of them will deny that God is the one that gave them the very life they were given. God wants us to live beyond the breath in our lungs but as humans even those of us who are believers often times take what God has done for us for granted. What happens when things are taken for granted? That’s right as a parent when my kids take me for Granted I get upset and Often times I get to the point where I want to teach my children to be grateful. That leads us to the next point. God not only gives life but God preserves life.
The Father Preserves Life
The Father Preserves Life
39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever,
41 if I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’
43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
and cleanses his people’s land.”
In this Scripture God is making it known to the people of Israel that it is He who will pour out His judgment on those who make themselves His enemies. God gave us everything and how many people make Him their enemies? The fact is that the whole world including us in this room take for granted the gifts of God and we deserve to be destroyed for our sins. The Scripture is clear that we deserve to die for our sins even before we have committed any sins ourselves because we are born into sin.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
I could go on with more scripture that makes it clear that we are deserving of death. Instead of giving us what we deserve especially in view of our ungratefulness God has preserved our lives.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
We deserve death and we deserve to have been killed for our sins a long time ago. The ones that deny God and turn their noses up at the fact that they are breathing today because of him are deserving of death but we are just as deserving as they are until we were justified by the blood of Jesus. The fact though is that God withholds his judgment.
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
God is choosing to have patience and be long suffering with man so that others may come to repentance.
I had to adjust my sermon because of something that happened over the weekend that God said to me was an example of how He loves the world and desires that all would come to know Him. We are always talking about God coming back and how much we cannot wait for Him to come back and I am sorry that is selfish. The fact is that if God came back today it would be a devastating day for so many people and we should be concerned about that and we should be out today after this service doing what we can to point others to the cross. God is patience and delaying His judgment intentionally so others may find their way to the cross. Rylan the other night was doing something that I told him to stop. I told him I was counting to 3 and he was going to get a whipping. I counted to 2 and he still was not listening so I counted to 2 and 1/4 then 2 and 4/16ths which is the same way to say 2 and 1/4 but I was doing so in hopes that he would listen and I would not have to do what I told him I would do. This is the same way God is with us. He is long suffering and desiring for the world to find Him.
Its much like the man on death row.
A man is on is death sentence and he gets to choose his last meal He asks his guard for a McDonald's Ice Cream, and lives a very long life, they never found a working machine.
God did not though preserve life without providing a way to salvation and repentance. Had God simply preserved life with providing no path He would have simply been preserving us for destruction. The Father gives life, the Father Preserves life, and the Father Saves life.
The Father Saves Life
The Father Saves Life
44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses tells the people that if they are to follow the law of God and to seek God that they will continue to be blessed and kept by God. God did this for the Israelites before Jesus was here. God gave them the ability to take part in sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins. Today God has given us the cross and Jesus Christ. God preserves lives to that those lives might be saved no so they can live longer on earth. God saves!
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
The world is in a position of not wanting to change and not understanding that the gift of God is a free gift. God is witholding His judgment so that others may come to Him. The gift is a free gift!
During the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanted to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders. But she refused to sell him any. Roosevelt was perplexed. His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds. When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, "Colonel, just ask for it!" A smile broke over Roosevelt's face. Now he understood--the provisions were not for sale. All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely.
The gift of salvation is a free gift that is given because of what Jesus did on the cross. There is nothing we can do to earn this gift. There is a life that is called for once we accept that gift and the life expected of the christian is meant to bring us into a mission with God to reach the remaining souls for the Kingdom. For those of you in here who do not know God He is being patient today for your sake but be very aware that His patience will not last, His longsuffering will end, and there will be judgment. For those who are believers it is time for us to be a part of Gods longsuffering and make known His love to the world. We must be a part of the mission. God gives life, God preserves life with the desire to save life. Are you ready to take the step towards the true life? For some of you this will mean giving your heart to God, for some of you it will mean being a part of the plans of redemption for our world.