The Best Father's Gift
Notes
Transcript
11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
The Father heart of God.
Parables and illustrations using contrasts.
Human Fathers are limited. In fact Your relationship with your own father may have been distant, perhaps non-existent. Worse, your own father may have sinned against you through harshness, lovelessness, abandonment, or perhaps even physical or sexual abuse. For sons as well as daughters, coming to terms with our own fathers is essential to our psychological health and maturity, but is sometimes oh so hard, sometimes nearly impossible from a human standpoint.
Even with our limitations...
Human fathers will give what their children asks.
How much more...
we ask for the wrong things
“Be careful what you ask for
The Prodigal son in Luke 15
God’s children turn to prosperity
And ask why God does not answer our prayers
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
God may withhold from you what you want.
because:
- Our Heavenly Father wants to give you what you really need.
Your focus is on nice objects (Tesla, nice house…)
Why does God not give it to you?
First, you simply cannot afford it yet.. God wants you to grow in the process — relationship with Him — love
11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
some of you may think… actually this is true...
Sometimes, instead of giving you what you ask for, he gives you something else — adversity
Fathers, let your sons experience failures
Stop giving them that participation trophy - - there is no participation trophy in real life - - prepare them for the real world
God may withhold from you what you want.
because:
Our Heavenly Father wants to give us the best.
He trains us to have the desire for the most important things.
As a child, you want that toy..
when I became a man, I put away childish things.
As we mature in our relationship with Him — we understand more and we will crave for the greater gift that God has to offer.. things eternal
God wants to give you the best:
Remember:
Praying to the Father is not overcoming His reluctance, but laying hold of His Highest Willingness.
13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
The Holy Spirit.
The forgotten Person of the Trinity.
The Holy Spirit is also simply the overlooked gift.
The Holy Spirit:
Gives us gifts.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
You ask the Father for gifts, He gives you the gift that will keep on giving.
The Holy Spirit:
2. Gives us the Power to Grow.
the power to live our lives..
Jesus calls Him the helper:
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
the power over sin:
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Intercedes for us:
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
The Holy Spirit:
3. Gives us The Power to Witness.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
You are complete when the Holy Spirit has filled you.
It starts with a strong desire.
Dads, this Father’s Day desire the greatest gift --