Father’s Day
Notes
Transcript
Do you know what day it is? It’s the Lord’s Day. And on top of that, it’s also Father’s day. Did you wish your daddy a “Happy Father’s Day” this morning?
How many of us here have fathers? How many of us here have two fathers? Actually, all of us here have two fathers, because we have our father on earth, but we also have our Father in heaven.
So did you remember to say “Happy Father’s Day” to Him? Why don’t we say it together. Ready? Three, two, one, “Happy Father’s Day!”
Now, before we get started, we have a quick activity. Inside this box is a list of words. I want you to find three words that describes your daddy.
Now, how many of these descriptions do you think we can use to describe our heavenly Father?
Is He… Kind? Generous? Strong? Hardworking? Loyal? Gentle? Funny?
He is all of these things. Why? Because the Bible says that our heavenly Father is perfect.
So why can we call God our Father?
Can we read this verse together?
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Who here knows what the word “adoption” means?
*SHOW PICTURE*
Here’s a picture of my family. That’s my daddy, my mummy, and my sister. My daddy worked so hard every day without taking a break so that our family could have a house, food to eat, and water to drink. Without my daddy, my life would be completely different.
But guess what? My daddy and mummy didn’t give birth to me. In fact, I wasn’t even born in Singapore. Here’s a picture of my passport.
*SHOW PICTURE*
Can you see where I was born? I was born in Malaysia. I don’t know my birth parents. And yet because of my daddy and mummy who adopted me and loved me so much, my whole life is completely different.
*SHOW PICTURE*
My daddy gave me everything I needed. He gave me a home to live in. A bed to sleep in. And food to eat every day.
And in the same way, the Bible tells us that we were spiritually adopted.
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
How were we adopted? It says that we were adopted through Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus? The Son of God. What did He do for us? Jesus took our place, and gave us His place.
What does this mean?
Who here has ever got first place in a race before? Who here has ever got last place?
The Bible says that Jesus was first place in the eyes of Father God. But we were last place because of sin.
The Bible says that we were children of wrath.
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Wrath means anger. Whose anger is it talking about? God’s anger. Why is God angry? Because of sin.
So is it a good thing to be children of wrath? When God looks at you, do you want Him to be angry or happy? Happy right? Because of Jesus, we are not children of wrath anymore. Why? Because Jesus took our place, and gave us His place.
Can we read this together?
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Can you show me what action Jesus was doing when He said this?
Was it this? (Show praying hands)
Was it this? (Show crossed arms)
Was it this? (Show sleeping arms)
Or was it this? (Show crucified pose)
Who is Jesus talking to? God. But did you know that this was the first time in His whole life that He talks to the Father God, and He calls Him God?
Imagine calling your parents by their surname. When they come home from work, you say, “Good evening Mr. Yoon and Miss Li. Good evening Mr. Kim.” Would they like that? That’s what Jesus was doing. Why did He stop calling God “Father” on the cross? Because on the cross, He gave us His place.
Before the cross, we couldn’t call God our Father. But when Jesus was on the cross, He gave us His place as the Son of God.
Jesus took our place, and gave us His place.
So what does this mean for us?
First, when we believe in Jesus and what He did for us, we can call God our Father.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Second, we can call upon Father God for help at any time.
Psalm 34:17 (ESV)
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Finally, we can receive everything that belongs to God
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Why? Because we are His sons and daughters.
In Jesus’ time, everything that a father owned would go to his son.
So if the father owned a car, or a house, or a nice bed, or some expensive watches, everything would belong to his son.
And as sons of God, we will receive what belongs to God. Isn’t that amazing?
That means that we will live in God’s house, and do God’s work.
So finally, let’s think about this.
What is God’s house? Where is God?
Do you know what’s the Lord’s Prayer? How does it begin? “Our Father in Heaven.”
God’s house is in heaven right? But did you know that the Bible teaches us that the church is heaven on earth? So we are already in God’s house right now. But it also means that we will be able to live in heaven forever. Amen?
Secondly, as God’s children, we need to do God’s work.
Can someone describe to me what is God’s work? God’s work is to show God’s love to other people. That includes your parents, your siblings, your classmates at school, and even the people at church.
So can someone give us examples of how we can show God’s love to people?
Let’s conclude by reading one final verse together.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
