Who's Your Daddy? 01/24/21

Well, I'd like to welcome you to new Grace Baptist Church. This is Pastor Mike and we are glad that you are here. This is the sermon for Sunday morning January 24th. So I hope everyone is doing well and just wanted a quick reminder. Don't forget you can hear the messages on our Facebook page new Grace Baptist in Raleigh in case you want to listen to this at a later time. Well, we going to continue and I are series of power praying and of course, we are studying The Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 in today is the second lesson sermon in this series and today's sermon title is who's your daddy? And we're going to look at prayer and the fatherhood of God, and we're only going to look at 1 first. Actually. We just going to look at half of a verse Matthew chapter 6 verse 9, but let's go ahead and just read the Lord's Prayer. Anyways, only 5 versus long. So let's go ahead and read that together and we'll jump right in and we're going to talk about the fatherhood of God In Prayer. So in verse 9 the Bible says Matthew 6 in this manner therefore pray Our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation. But Deliver Us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Well today as I said last week, we're just going to jump in and try to unpack this one phrase at a time. And today the phrase that I want us to look at is the first one when Jesus says in this manner therefore pray. The first phrase is Our Father in heaven. Now the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples that begins and ends with praise, but in between that there's he talks about our priorities and Provisions and and protection. So God wants us to remember that prayer is first in fall. Mimosa time of communication with him and you know we talked about that on Wednesday night. That's why I think it's so important Jesus began his prayer with these words. He said our Father in heaven. Now. What a wonderful tremendous idea. This is that almighty. God is our father. Now I must be honest. I have never preached the sermon on the fatherhood of God and matter fact. I was thinking I don't think I've ever heard of sermon preached on the fatherhood of God, but it is a wonderful truth God in his wisdom has used a metaphor which we can all identify calling the father father. Everyone has had an Earthly father so we can all understand at least in some degree what our relationship with God should be like you see as a human father is my duty to share with others and especially my own children to love and and the security that they have in a heavenly father and I talked to many people over the years and found that most people who have struggled with their Earthly father. Also has struggled in their relationship with the heavenly father and example a woman who grew up with an abusive father will have a very difficult time establishing a loving relationship with her heavenly father and a man who grew up in a home with a detached father or father that was never around is more likely to carry in his heart. The feeling that God is just not around or God's not interested in him and see the responsibility that dad's have is to model a picture of the Father God for their children and it is a awesome responsibility. Well, what I want to do is only have two points today, but there's a lot of material that I want to cover. So the first point that I want to look at today is simply this And that is to talk about exactly what is the fatherhood of God now, this is an interesting word. If you trace the word father throughout the Bible, you'll find out that people in the Old Testament had a very different concept of their relationship with God then we have now in Old Testament when a scribe if he was copying the Old Testament scriptures when he would come to the word for God which which was Yahweh as soon as he wrote y'all way down he would throw his pain away and he would never use it again. You see he believed that having once written the word y'all way the pain was disqualified to write anything else. So the men and women who worship God in the Old Testament had a great fear and a great reverence for God now that maybe that's something that we in the church today could learn from their reverence since we have a tendency to take our relationship. It was God sometimes for granted but on the other hand in the Old Testament, there was a little personal intimacy with God an individual's relationship to God was primarily Express through the instruments at the Tabernacle in the priest and the temple people didn't have an opportunity to come into God's presence like we do because we live on the other side. We live on the right side of the Cross as a matter of fact, when you look at the word father in the Old Testament as it relates to God, it is used only 14 times. And each time that is used. It's always used in God's relationship not with an individual but with Israel that is God is the father and Israel was his son. So people did not have a personal relationship with him the way that we do not let me give you a couple of scriptures as an example. Of that and look at Isaiah 1 and verse 2 in the Bible says hero heavens and give Eero Earth for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me. You see what he saying that Israel. His son had rejected their father weather in the hairs another scripture that we can look at Isaiah 64:8. It says but now oh Lord, you are our father. We are notices. We we are the clay and you our Potter and all we are the work of your hand. So you see here again, you are the father. We are the clay You're the Potter and we are the work of your hand Israel as a nation had a father-son relationship with the Lord, but the individuals did not in other words the relationship with the Lord in Old Testament was National not personal. Well, let me give you two aspects of the fatherhood of God. So the first one I want us to look at I've called it this the the person of the father now what a tremendous difference there is for those of us who live after the cross. I mean, you can get barely get past the first two or three chapters of Matthew without noticing the fatherhood of God Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount he starts talking about our father listening to us and rewarding us and he he speaks of in Matthew 6:8 that the father knows the things you have need of before you ask him and The scripture we're looking at today. He said but Jesus begin with the words Our Father in Heaven, as soon as you turn to the New Testament, we see an entirely new approach to the fatherhood of God. It's no longer National now. It is personal the word father occur 17 times in The Sermon on the Mount And if you look at all four of the gospels, you'll find that Jesus refers to the fatherhood of God himself more than 70 times in the Book of John the word father is used 90 times in the Gospel of John. So what made the difference why do we have a personal relationship with God rather than a national one? You say? Yes, because the father establish something new and Paul in writing to the Galatians described it this way and this is in Galatians Chapter 4 verses 4 through 6. Can I have it here on the screen? It says but when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive and watch this the adoption as sons and because you are Sons God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying out Abba Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son than an air of God through Christ, so up until the father sent the son his son Jesus our relationship with him was different. It wasn't like it is now you see when the Jesus died on the cross in the veil was torn a whole new relationship with God opened up to us. You see before the Bible says we were slaves but now we're sons in the Bible says here and Glaciers that he even put the Holy Spirit into our hearts as a mark of that new relationship that we have and notice what he says here and verse 6 now we can call God by the most wonderful term and all the word of God. Look at it here in verse 6. He says we cry out Abba. Father you see the word Abba was a Palestinian baby word and it literally meant daddy. That's why I entitled today sermon. Who's your daddy? You say Wells County Reverend to call god daddy. Well, this is the metaphor that he has used. He calls us sons and daughters and we are in his family and a father a good father is a daddy you see in the Old Testament. We were his servants but in the New Testament, we are his sons now the Apostle John and first John chapter 3 verse 1. He says it like this. Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him. So when you think of looking up into the face of a loving heavenly father who cares for us so much with this intense love you just have to say what an incredible thing that I have become a son or a daughter of God and I can call him Abba. I can call him daddy. You see his fatherhood has a direct bearing on a number of A number of theological themes Hearing in biblical doctrines for instance. The Incarnation means that God sent forth his son. It says born of a woman and that changed the entire relationship between man and God and then remember at Pentecost the outpouring of the holy spirit is important because it is being that the spirit of God came to live within us and because of that we're able to call God our Father you see the fatherhood of God is all about intimacy when Jesus told us. We could Now call the great God our Abba. It was a sign that everything in our relationship to him had changed no longer. Do we respond to him in a corporate National way, but we can now get clothes in a personal way to the person of the father now, let me pause right here. And and say something else. I've heard Christian say this before and they would be talking to someone and they would say well, you know, we are all the children of God. Well friends. Listen, that's just not true. We're not all the children of God. Now, we are all created by God nephew mean by that that we are children of God that he created us. Then that is true. But friends to be a child of God means that you have accepted Christ as your personal savior. You are a blood bought son or daughter of God and when you trust him as your personal savior it is then that you can be called a child of God. You see there's a and it's been it's been around for many many years a liberal theological fallacy. And what is called is the universal fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man and other words they say what everybody is a child of God. You see a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by grace through faith is considered as just considered it relevant to claiming God as your father. You see the fatherhood of God Is Not An inconsequential or alterable is the primary basis by which God has determined that Believers will relate to him as father if your if you you were created by God, but if you have an accepted Christ into your heart and life, you're not a child of God matter of fact, the Bible says for those who have not accepted Christ that those are estranged from God. They're alienated from God. They're the enemies of God and they are condemned by God. That's what the Bible. Say yes, and and all you have to do is look. Into the Bible here and we'll look at another verse and I look at John chapter 1 and verse 12 and what it says it says but as many as received him this is talking about Christ as many as received or believed in him come to faith in him and watch what he says to them. He gave the right to become children of God. You see we're not born children of God. We are born with a bent away from God but as many as received him by faith, he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name you see so everyone is not a child of God. He's the creator of all people but we are not all his children only those who are saved remember what Jesus told the Pharisees when he was talkin to them. Look at what he says in John chapter 8 44 Jesus. I just told her he said well, if you knew the father you would have loved me. Then he says this you are of your father the devil. Now. These were religious folks. These were the scribes in the teachers a Pharisee sadducee. These were the teachers of the law when they wrote the law down and Jesus said you of you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father. Do you want to do he was a murderer from the beginning does not stand in the truth? Because there's no truth in him when he speaks a lot. He speaks from his own resources. He is a liar and the father of it. You see what an incredible thing the fatherhood of God that we can call him father and we see here that one more verse. I want you to see what he says Hear 2nd Corinthians 6:18. I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons. Daughters says the Lord Almighty. So we see hear the person of the father Secondly, I want you to notice. And that is the place of the father you see as possible. When we accept the fatherhood of God to kind of become flippant in this new relationship that we have we kind of developer for me eulerity with god with people referring to God if you ever had someone say to you or speaking of God, they would say well, he's you better watch out. You better watch out for the man upstairs every time I hear some someone call God the man upstairs or the top dog or the big cheese. I just cringe at that. I don't like that sort of talk because it doesn't reflect the true greatness of God. You see the intimacy of having a heavenly father is tied to another truth. And that truth is where he is. What did I ever say today? It said our father. In heaven, you see we have an Earthly father, but our heavenly father is not here in his person. He is in heaven. He dwells in Majesty. The person of God has to be coupled with the place of God, which is why Jesus prayed Our Father in Heaven. It reminds us that the Earth is his footstool and that he is a god of my in Majesty worthy of our worship and honor and know there's no time that we should refer to him as the man upstairs or the big cheese or the top dog. We should never do that. What a wonderful thought but it can be hard to reconcile with the notion of fatherhood. But the Bible presents us both the person of the father that we can call Daddy but also the glory of the Eternal King and God feels both rolls, and I know many of you remember When John F Kennedy was President Life Magazine published a series of photos of his children John and Caroline and they were playing with their toys on the floor of the Oval Office. I know many of you have seen those photos and it was those pictures. They're just captured the hearts of the American people like nothing else because they came from the White House and it helped us bridge the gap between the president as America's commander-in-chief kind of distant and kind of far off and someone that we can't get close to at and also he contrasted that with the president who was the father of small children if when we looked at those photos of those children playing in the floor, we can all relate to that here was the most powerful man in the world and his Kids were playing with toys at his feet. Now, you know, my kids will not be a loud in there but his kids were why because he was their father and by the same token God is in heaven and he is my father and he is your father. You see when we were adopted as Sons and Daughters. We were made part of his family and he opened up for us through the death of his own son on the cross a relationship that makes it possible for us to bypass the priests and all the animal sacrifices in the temple and we can come directly into his presence and God will listen and he will hear us what a wonderful thought that is and how it applies to our prayer life. We we don't have to go to a priest. You don't have to go to your pastor. You can go to God it says the go boldly to the throne of grace and he will help you in time of need so that the fatherhood of God is the person of the father and it's the place of the father now, let's let's move on and let's talk about What does God's fatherhood mean in other words, how can we make this practical now? We're close and we have a personal relationship. We can call him Abba Father. We can call him daddy. But in what way can we apply this to our life where I think there's four great truths about the fatherhood of God that we need to keep in mind and we need to remember at all times. And the first one is simply this once we become save once we become a child of God and God is our father. It means that we have a new relationship. You see when we became saved everything changed the Holy Spirit now lives on the inside of us. We are now members of the family of God and remember and Romans chapter 8. It says that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God cuz we are he is eternally God is our father. We can't be unborn once you're born into Ace family you're always in his family. He'll never turn his back on you. You can't lose your son ship or daughtership. We have a permanent Eternal relationship with the Lord, you know, you hear many times people tell their children while I love you unconditional and what that means is no matter what you do. I will love you because you are my children and your children can never stop being your children and as a mother or father you can never stop loving them. So we have a new relationship and when I think about new relationship, I think about how God cares for us, remember and Matthew and he talked about how he takes care of The Sparrows and the birds and he says I feed them and he says how much more valuable are you? Oh, oh of little late. So he promises to care for us now as a father. He will also correct us. Now. We know that as as fathers and mothers, sometimes you have to correct your children. Sometimes you have to discipline your children, but you do that in love. That's why the book of Hebrews says for whom the Lord loveth. He chastens and other words. He has to discipline us if he has to correct us some time, but he always does that in love? We have a new companionship as well. You know, he's promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us matter fact the song and said even if my mother and father desert me, the Lord will take me in. He will never turn his back on you you have a new companions yet. You have a God who cares for you you have a God who will correct you and needed and we have a God who has compassion on it. He saved us from our sins when we were down and out when we grieve he comes and he will Comfort us he has compassion just like an Earthly. Father he gave his son's life for us. His son died on the cross so that you and I might live what mother or father out there. If someone come to your home is a well you either you've got to go or we going to take your children which one is it? We would all say take us leave our children alone. Take us. You see we would have compassion see we have a new relationship once we're safe and that's what the fatherhood of God means. Well not only do we have a new relationship. We also have a new reward now Galatians chapter 4 says that we are Heirs of God. Romans chapter 8 says that we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Now, here's what that means. In other words. This means that God has put us in his will he has he has written Us in his real though. We are adopted Sons and Daughters. We are still inheritors. And when Jesus died the wheel was executed now, we're just simply waiting for our inheritance. You see God will never write us out and one of these days because we are his sons we will inherit everything that is Ours by virtue of belonging to God's family. You see we have a new reward and not reward is coming soon because those of us who belong to the family of God, we will receive eternal life in heaven in the very presence of God throughout eternity. You see once your saved once you become a child of God the Father who God means we have a new relationship he cares Comfort us he's our companion egrets us but we also have a new reward and not spending eternity with him in heaven. Thirdly. We have a new resource will what is our new resource? Well as Christians we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us in our hearts. That's exactly what Christ promised would happen for just before he ascended to heaven in the Book of John. He said that he wanted them to know he says I'm going to send another comforter. He said and he's not only going to be with you, but he's going to be in you you see by virtue of our sonship. We now have the resource of the spirit living in us and he helps us to live like Sons and Daughters of God. He gives us strength and power to live a Godly life. We couldn't do that without the spirit in our life when Christ entered our lives he put the spirit in us and now we have the power to live the way that he has called us to live and then one more and we'll close. Not only do we have a new relationship because of his fatherhood a new reward a new resource. We have a new responsibility. Now you say what what do you mean by that? Well, simply this as Christians, we're not in this alone. We have brothers and sisters because we are now a family in God you see there can be no sibling rivalry because we're going to spend eternity together. I wonder how it breaks the Lord's heart when churches split in churches of fussing and fighting and carrying on and different people trying to run the church wonder how that breaks his heart. You see because we've been given a new responsibility and that responsibility is that we are to be one we are to be unified we are to live in harmony with each other. Why because we're going to spend eternity together in heaven with each other and they'll be no rivalry there. Play no jealousy there. They'll be no squabbles there. They'll be no jealousy there there be no anger and resentment in heaven. So the Lord would have us to practice down here what we're going to live out in heaven. You see we're going to be living in God's house forever along with all of our other brothers and sisters in the family people's once asked before. Well, there's no marriage in heaven. Am I going to know people? Yes, you will you'll know everything or how am I going to relate to people where I think it's playing here that will relate to people as our brothers and sisters just like a family that's why we can call god daddy or father Abba. You see we have a new responsibility to see ourselves as a family and chair for the concerns of family members. I mean if you ever went on like a family Christmas or Thanksgiving and someone at another relative's house and certain Members of the family were fighting and carrying on remember how tents that was and sometimes you go to a family reunions you may have sisters or brothers or parents not speaking to one another. So, you know, that's not Heavenly at all. So let's translate that into the spiritual realm. We realize that God wants his children to be at peace with one another he wants Believers to be able to fellowship with each other and has a son. I've got a new responsibility to walk with my brothers and sisters in Harmony and in peace through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me, you see as his children, our responsibility is to be at peace with others in the family so friends, I just want to say today God is our father what wonderful news this is and as Believers, we can lift our voices in prayer with all of his other children and say our father. In heaven, he is our daddy. So I ask you again this morning. Who's your daddy? Can you be called a child of God only if you've accepted Christ as your savior, then you are in the family of God will let spray father. I do. Thank you and praise you and love you today for your precious word and Lord. We thank you for all. The theological teaching about the fatherhood of God Lord. We thank you that we don't have to come to a priest. We don't have to kill animals and shed blood. It's already been done by your son on calvary's Cross or we don't have to relate to you and a national or corporate way, but we can boldly come into the throne room, and we can find Grace in time of need Lord. We thank you that we can call you ABBA. We thank you that we can call you Daddy Lord. Thank you for sending your son to die for our sins and Lord help this as we continue help us as we continue to study the Lord's Prayer. Effort to encourage us to call upon you even more that we have a close personal and intimate relationship with you and it will only grow as we seek you in prayer. I pray for each one that's listening to this. Keep us safe until we come back again forcing Christ's name. I do pray. Amen. Alright. Well, thank you so much for listening today. Of course, we're not at church. I'm recording this from home still because of of covid but I hope everyone has a great week. I hope you have hope you stay safe this week and let me say that I hope that you can join us Wednesday night with our Zoom meeting Jenny. She will be sending out the link to everyone and we're going to continue you talkin about Wednesday night out how we can have a vibrant prayer life. So we have booked in Wednesday night and Sunday mornings, and we're talkin about prayer and I hope You can join us on Wednesday night. Well, I hope everyone has a great rest of the day and we will see you again.