The Father’s Work

🎯 Title & Subtitle

The Father’s Work: Laboring for What Lasts

Jesus: the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Revelation

Week 9 – Building the Kingdom Series

Texts: Genesis 1:1; John 1:1–3; John 17:6–8; Romans 9:28; Ephesians 2:10

🎬 Opening

Let me ask you a question: Are you busy, or are you fruitful?

There’s a big difference between the two. Everyone is busy — calendars full, phones buzzing, schedules stacked. We rush from one thing to the next, sometimes wearing our busyness like a badge of honor. But here’s the real question: Are the things we’re so busy doing actually God’s work?

Busy work fills our time, but it doesn’t fill eternity. Only God’s work lasts.

We see this same tension all the way back in Exodus 5. When Moses stood before Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness,’” Pharaoh answered with the voice of the enemy: “Why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens!” (Exodus 5:1–4).

Pharaoh’s message was clear: “If you have time to worship, you have time for more work.”

And so he made it harder for God’s people — he increased their labor, withheld their supplies, and crushed their spirit under the weight of busyness. That’s still how the enemy operates today. He knows that as long as we’re overworked and distracted, we’ll never be fully devoted.

If he can keep us busy, he can keep us from being fruitful.

But Jesus showed us another way. Even as a boy, He said, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).

Henry Blackaby said in Experiencing God: “We don’t choose what we will do for God; He invites us to join Him where He wants to involve us.”

So the question this morning is simple: Am I about the Father’s business, or am I just busy?

The Bible shows us that the Father’s work flows in three great streams — all centered in Jesus:

The Work of Creation

The Work of Redemption

The Work of Revelation

👉 Here’s the truth we’ll see together: Our work only lasts if it’s God’s work.

The Father’s Work of Creation

Genesis 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Jesus the Creator

When we think of creation, we often picture God the Father speaking the world into existence. But John tells us the deeper reality: Jesus was the Word through whom everything was made. Creation is not just God’s work — it is Christ’s work.

John 1:1–3 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:15–17 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

That means the stars in the sky, the oceans that roar, the smallest cells in your body — all of it was created through Christ, for Christ, and is held together by Christ.

We Are the Keeper (Genesis 2:15; Psalm 8:6–8)

But there’s another part of creation we cannot miss. Not only is Jesus the Creator, but we are called to be the keepers.

Genesis 2:15 ESV

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

From the very beginning, God’s assignment to humanity was stewardship and multiplication. Adam was placed in the garden not to own it, but to tend it.

Psalm 8:3–6 ESV

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

Dominion does not mean domination. It means responsibility. God entrusted His creation into human hands.

📖 Yellowstone Wolves:

In the 1990s, Yellowstone National Park was in crisis. Decades earlier, wolves had been hunted out of the park. Without wolves, the elk population exploded. They ate everything in sight — grasslands, trees, even riverbanks. Slowly, the ecosystem collapsed. Rivers eroded. Birds disappeared. The entire park was dying.

Then in 1995, wildlife managers reintroduced a small number of wolves. Within a few years, the balance returned. Elk numbers dropped. Trees and plants grew back. Rivers stabilized. Songbirds returned. And the entire ecosystem began to flourish again.

Why? Because the “keepers” of the park finally acted to restore balance.

👉 That’s what God calls us to be — keepers. When we fail, things fall apart. But when we step into our role, life flourishes.

Application: God has entrusted families, resources, ministries, and communities to us. The question is: are we keeping them faithfully? The Outpost is not just a building to manage — it’s a trust, a place where souls will be discipled, families restored, and generations impacted.

He made it, sustains it, and rules over it. We are called to tend, guard, and multiply what He has entrusted to us.

Transition from Point 1:

When God finished His creation, He stepped back and said, “It is good… it is very good.” Everything was in perfect harmony — the earth, the animals, the man and woman, and most importantly, their relationship with God.

But by the end of Genesis 3, everything had changed. Humanity sinned, the serpent deceived, the ground was cursed, death entered, and paradise was lost. Creation was fractured.

The beauty of Genesis 1 was now overshadowed by the brokenness of Genesis 3.

And yet — here is the hope — God has never abandoned His original intent.

The Father’s Work of Redemption

Ecclesiastes 3:15 ESV

15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

What does that mean? It means God doesn’t let His design slip away. He doesn’t discard His creation. He requires it, calls it back, redeems it. The same way he doesn’t discard you. He requires you, calls you back, and redeems you.

👉 That’s redemption. God will have what He originally intended.

And how does He do it? Through Jesus.

Jesus the Creator has become Jesus the Redeemer

Galatians 3:13 ESV

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

The curse that entered in Genesis 3 was absorbed by Jesus on the cross.

Think about it:

Adam was told the ground would produce thorns. Jesus wore a crown of thorns.

Adam was told he would toil by the sweat of his brow. In Gethsemane, Jesus sweat drops of blood.

Adam and Eve were told death would follow sin. Jesus bore that death and separation at Calvary.

At the cross, the curse was broken. The Redeemer stepped into the curse and carried it away.

Acts 3:19–21 ESV

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

📖 Illustration: Think of the scarlet thread of redemption woven through the Bible. In Genesis 3, God clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins — the first sacrifice. At Passover, lambs were slain and their blood painted on doorposts to save households. In the temple, sacrifices of bulls and goats covered sins temporarily. But all of it pointed forward to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Application: Redemption reminds us that no curse is final and no brokenness is permanent. In Christ, what was lost in Adam is restored. Our labor in the Kingdom isn’t to redeem the world ourselves — Jesus already has. Our work is to live as a redeemed people and invite others into the Redeemer’s victory.

We Are the Witness

If Jesus is the Redeemer, then our role is to be the witness.

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 says, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

👉 In other words, Jesus does the redeeming — but He has entrusted us with the message of redemption.

📖 Illustration: D.L. Moody once heard a preacher say, “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him.” Moody said, “By God’s help, I will be that man.” He never claimed to redeem anyone. He simply witnessed to Christ the Redeemer. And because of that, millions heard the gospel, and two continents were shaken.

That’s what it means to be a witness. We don’t have the power to save anyone. But we point to the One who does. We declare: “The curse is broken. Redemption is here. God will restore what was lost.”

Application: Every time you share the gospel, every time you forgive, every time you disciple another believer, you’re bearing witness that God is reclaiming what He originally intended. At the Outpost, every ministry — whether feeding the hungry, teaching children, or gathering for worship — must be a witness to the Redeemer’s work.

👉 Never forget: Our work only lasts if it’s God’s work — and God’s work is redemption through Jesus.

Transition: Creation shows God’s power. Redemption shows His mercy. But God didn’t just want us to see His works — He wanted us to know His heart. That’s why He reveals Himself. And He has always done it through His Word.

The Father’s Work of Revelation

Jesus the Creator became Jesus the Redeemer and has now become Jesus the Revelation.

Revelation 1:1 ESV

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Jesus the Revelation

The Word made Flesh

John 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the living revelation of God. To see Him is to see the Father (John 14:9). To hear Him is to hear the Father.

The Word was Given

John 17:6–8 ESV

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

👉 Revelation is not just about miracles or signs. Revelation is about the Word. Jesus manifested the Father by speaking His Word and embodying it perfectly.

📖 Illustration: When Moses came down from Sinai with the tablets of the law, his face glowed because he had been in God’s presence. But those were words written on stone. When Jesus came, He was the living Word, written on flesh, full of grace and truth. The law showed us what God requires; Jesus showed us who God is.

Application: If you want to know God, don’t look for a vision in the clouds. Look to Jesus, the living Word. Open the Scriptures He fulfilled. He is the Father’s ultimate revelation.

We Are the Messenger

If Jesus is the Revelation of God’s Word, then our role is to be the messengers of that Word.

Romans 10:14–15 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

👉 Jesus gave the Word to His disciples. Now we carry that Word to the world.

📖 Illustration: In 1521, Martin Luther stood before the emperor and was told to recant his writings. He replied, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason… my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Here I stand, I can do no other.” Luther didn’t stand on tradition, or power, or popularity. He stood as a messenger of God’s Word. And because of that, the Word spread across nations.

Application: We don’t reveal God out of our own brilliance or creativity. We carry the Word He has already spoken. We speak it in homes, in workplaces, in schools, in nations. The Outpost must be a hub where the Word is proclaimed and messengers are sent out with it.

👉 Which brings us back to the hook: Our work only lasts if it’s God’s work — and God’s work is always Word-centered.

🧩 Conclusion

So what is the Father’s work?

In creation, Jesus is the Creator — we are the Keeper.

In redemption, Jesus is the Redeemer — we are the Witness.

In revelation, Jesus is the Revelation — we are the Messenger.

It always starts with Him, but it always involves us.

And here’s the question we began with: Are you busy, or are you fruitful? Are you spending your days on work that will fade, or on work that will last forever?

👉 Remember: Our work only lasts if it’s God’s work.

✅ Next Steps

Dissatisfaction – Where am I doing busy work instead of God’s work? How much time to do spend as a keeper, a witness, and a messenger for God.

Vision – What would it look like if I fully joined Jesus in the Father’s work of creation, redemption, and revelation? Can you take your busyness and give it purpose and meaning in kingdom work.

First Step – Ask God this week: Where are You working? Then take one step to join Him. Find one activity that is robbing you of your time and cut it to make margin for rest and God’s work.

🙏 Altar Call

Church, we’ve walked through the Father’s work — creation, redemption, and revelation. We’ve seen that Jesus is the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Revelation. And we’ve seen that our role is to be the Keeper, the Witness, and the Messenger.

But the truth is this: you can sit in church every week and still spend your life on busy work instead of God’s work. You can build a career, raise a family, check every box of success in this world — and still find that it doesn’t last.

👉 Our work only lasts if it’s God’s work.

For those who don’t yet know Christ…

Maybe you’ve been busy building your own life. Maybe you’ve been working hard to prove yourself, to fix yourself, to fill that hole in your heart. But no matter how hard you work, sin still weighs you down. The curse of Genesis 3 still clings.

Here’s the good news: Jesus bore that curse for you. He wore the thorns, He sweat the drops of blood, He carried your death on the cross. And today, He offers you redemption. Eternal life doesn’t begin when you die — it begins the moment you receive Christ.

If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your Redeemer, this is your invitation. Stop chasing busy work that won’t save you. Step into God’s work of redemption. Today can be the day you are forgiven, set free, and made new.

For believers…

Some of you are tired. You’ve been busy doing a lot of things — even good things — but you haven’t been fruitful. You’ve been keeping your own garden, but not God’s. You’ve been working on your own plans, but not joining God’s.

The Father’s work calls you higher:

To be a Keeper — to faithfully steward what He’s placed in your hands.

To be a Witness — to boldly testify to Christ’s redemption in your life.

To be a Messenger — to carry His Word into your family, your workplace, your neighborhood.

Where have you settled for busyness instead of fruitfulness? Where have you been building things that will fade, instead of things that will last?

Today, you can lay that down. Come and sacrifice your busyness for God’s fruitfulness. You can recommit yourself to laboring in what will matter 10,000 years from now.

Invitation to respond

So whether you are here today needing salvation for the first time, or whether you are a believer who needs to realign your life with the Father’s work, the altar is open.

Come forward. Pray with a leader. Bow where you are. Don’t leave today still tangled in busyness. Don’t walk away still carrying the curse.

2 Timothy 2:4 ESV

4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

👉 Step into the Father’s work. Because our work only lasts if it’s God’s work.