Our Father in Heaven…
Notes
Transcript
Telos:
The true power of prayer is communing with the purpose, power, and presence of the kingdom of heaven.
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Manner- Because of what I just said… In this way
Information
There are nearly half a million words in the Hebrew Bible, yet God is only portrayed as a father some fifteen times. Always as Father/Creator
8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
Joachim Jeremias, the German New Testament scholar has done research on the prayers of the ancient Israelite people, and it is his conclusion that there is not a single example anywhere in extant Jewish literature, including the Old Testament, the Talmud, the Targums, and so on until the tenth century A.D. where a Jewish person addresses God directly as "Father." That is, it simply wasn't done. People would speak of the fatherhood of God among the Jewish people, but no one would address Him directly as, 'Father.' Jeremias says you don't find it until the tenth century A.D. in Italy. Yet in the New Testament we have the record of a Jew, a Jewish Rabbi, who has many many prayers recorded for posterity, and that in every prayer that he prayed, save one, He directly addressed God as 'Father.' And that is Jesus of Nazareth.
If you were to tally how many times Jesus uses that name for God, the total would reach approximately 65 by the time you finished the Gospel of Luke and over 170 by the time you reached the end of the Gospel of John.
Inspiration
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
John 5:16–19 “16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”
Revelation
It is in your spiritual DNA to communicate and connect with the Father
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Application
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Your given the right to be, but it is what you do with your rights that determines your opportunity.
10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Any chastisement we deal with from heaven is to make us more like the Father.
Transformation
The 5 P’s of the Lord’s Prayer:
Praise- Proclamation of God’s Kingdom- Petition for needs- Promise asking for forgiveness- Power
3 Questions:
What is God saying to you?
What are you going to do about it?
How can I pray for you?
Souls, Souls, Souls!!!!!!!!!
