Who the Father is and how we can represent him to others

Today in many parts of the World Father’s day is being celebrated.

John 17: 6 “I have revealed you (your name) to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

John 17: 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

1. I will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them

o   Make you known

o   Jesus came to show us the Father and his love.

o   If the Father is not known we cannot experience the Love that he has for us.

o   Now he has sent us into the world to do the same.

§  V:18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

§  We represent his love to the world with Jesus.

John 14: 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father (and his love) except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father (and his love) as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

·         To know the Father is to know and understand love. We all have this hunger on the inside for love and it cannot be satisfied with anything but the original. We are made in his image (the image of love)

·         The love you have for ME may be in them.

o   I believe it and receive it

§  Then I can give it to someone else.

1. V: 6 I have revealed you (your name).

In the name… in the name of Jesus in the name of the Father? What does this mean in the name? Authority, power, what?

• POWER - Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name
• PROTECTION - V:12 I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.
• UNITY - the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one

Even more than that it is a trust a faith a total reliance on the love that gave me and it is transferred to me in his name!

Why did I give my wife my name? Authority, power, inheritance, and yes these are the legal things, but what was I communicating? My love and my connection with her.

I identify with his name, I depend on his name, I am included in his family because of his name, Because his name represents HIM!

When I walk by that love, when I live in that name… they will be convinced that we are from God.

1. v:7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you
• I gave them the words you gave me – they will reveal the Father
• We can speak his love to others and then they will know his intentions and heart.
• They knew with certainty that I came from you – My origin and purpose is from God the Father.
• Our purpose is bound to Jesus. A selfless purpose.

• They believed that you sent me – That is why we are here, he sent us.
• We are sent into the world with Good news. Why do we go? Because he loves you, the whole world, each person. Do I realize that, that is my purpose?  

1 John 4: 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from (the Father) God. Everyone who loves has been born of (the Father) God and knows (the Father) God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know (the Father) God, because (the Father) God is love. 9 This is how (the Father) God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved (the Father) God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since (the Father) God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen (the Father) God; but if we love one another, (the Father) God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.