R1589 Our Heavenly Father

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton as we head to the book of 1st Peter.

The majestic God that created the universe, the wonderful God our Savior and Lord. But also God is our Heavenly Father, one we can depend on, trust in. Today's message our Heavenly Father with Dr. Don Wilton goes to 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 3 in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants me to let you know we are here for you. We would love to pray with you and for you anytime day or night at this number. Jot it down, store it in your cell, 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. You can even sign up for the daily encouraging word email with Dr. Don at www.tewonline.org.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Let me read to you from 1st Peter chapter 1. 1st Peter chapter 1 and verse 3. Listen to what Peter had to say about our Heavenly Father.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead into an inheritance that can never perish, can never spoil, can never fade, kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. I want to just share with you today a biblical way to describe our Heavenly Father. I've been talking to my father-in-law, Bumper, trying to describe him and tell him how much I love him, how much I value him. I've been talking about my own sons, now with their own sons and daughters.

I was compelled today to go on Instagram and, and send them a message to let them know how proud I am of my sons and of the, of the dads that they are. This is not just about the dad that I am. What does the Bible have to say about our Heavenly Father? What does the Bible have to say about our Heavenly Father? Number one, He's our creator. How do you describe our Heavenly Father?

He made me. Genesis 1 verse 1 says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And John writing in his prologue in John chapter 1 and verse 3, he put it like this.

He said, Without God, our Heavenly Father, there was not anything made that was made. So look at the trees, look at the sky, the grass, listen to the birds. But look at yourself today. Do you know how valuable and how precious you are?

Because you've been handcrafted, you have been woven intricately and intimately by the very creatorship of God, our Heavenly Father. Isn't that wonderful? You know, one of the things we always giggle about when we're together as a family, invariably, invariably, you'll hear, Oh, you just sound like your dad. Oh, you just looking like your dad right now.

Oh, that's exactly what your dad would do. We talk about genes. We talk about ourselves become the mirror image. Our Heavenly Father has made us in the image of God. And he knows you.

He knows you in every way. It's not only our creator, but he's our deliverer. In 1 Peter that I read for you just a moment ago, the Bible says because of his great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope. Our Heavenly Father is our deliverer. He's provided the very means by which you and I are enabled to become all that God fully intended us to be in his marvelous creatorship.

Anything less than that stands outside of his plan for you and for me. He's not only our creator, but he's our deliverer. He delivers us from the sinfulness of our enfleshment, our Adamic nature. He delivers us from that. And he's given us a new birth through Jesus Christ whereby we have a living hope.

Our Heavenly Father is our creator and our deliverer. Number three, he's our forgiver. He's our forgiver.

I don't know where I would be without the forgiveness of God. You know, 1 John 1 verse 9 teaches us, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us for our sin. You say to me today, pastor, but I'm telling you, I did this and I did that. Yes, we have all sinned. All of us have sinned. Dad, have you sinned? Did you yell at your wife?

Did you do something that you deeply regret? Are you spending your whole life going in reverse gear? You constantly, there's things like a ball and chain. You cannot shake it.

It's right there in the middle of your marriage. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Number four, he's our instructor.

He's our instructor. Psalm 25 and verse five. I love what the Psalmist says in Psalm 25 and verse five. He says, guide me in your truth and teach me for you are my God and my savior. You are my God and you are my savior.

He is our instructor. Someone said to me recently, said, pastor, what can we do in America today? Let's turn to our heavenly father. Let's go to God.

Let's ask God. Let's go to the one who created us. Let's go to the one who has given to us a deliverance from our sin. Let's go to the one who understands, knows and practices the real meaning of forgiveness. Let's go to the one whose instructions are absolute in every way. Let's go to God. It's in God we trust our heavenly father. By the way, when your children mess up, dad, are you the one they fear most or are you the one that they come to most because they know that while you will never compromise the error of their ways, they know that as dad, you are going to forgive them completely, totally and utterly and turn away and walk in the opposite direction.

You are not going to spend the rest of your life throwing that up in your child's face like you never forgave them to begin with. Number five, he's our provider. Matthew chapter six and verse 26.

Steve Skinner read this a little while ago. Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in bonds, yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not more valuable than they? How do we describe our heavenly father? Jesus said, when we come to God, our father who art in heaven, how do I talk about you, Lord?

Who are you? He's my provider. My God shall supply all my need.

What needs do you have today? You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton. He'll be back with the rest of today's message, Our Heavenly Father, in just a moment. But if you'd like to learn more about our heavenly father in just a moment, but if you'd like to hear this message again or share it with your friends, you can find it online at our website, TEWonline.org. That's TEWonline.org. And while you're there, again, I suggest you consider signing up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don, insight from God's word, application and inspiration.

It's available right now at TEWonline.org. I pray you'll consider that. And consider this a wonderful resource called abandoned faith. Have you been praying about how you can make a difference in the world? We would love to have you join us by becoming an encourager ministry partner.

Call us at 866-899-WORD to request an encourager brochure today. There is no greater gift that you can give than to help spread the gospel. Together we can do much to impact the world for Jesus Christ. Make a commitment to help spread the gospel in 2020. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Again, we'd love for you to grab that resource, but we also want you to know the phone numbers available to talk or pray any time to encourage you at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Now back to today's message, our heavenly father with Dr. Don Wilton. Number five, he's our provider. Matthew chapter six and verse 26.

Steve Skinner read this a little while ago. Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not more valuable than they? How do we describe our heavenly father? Jesus said, when we come to God, our father who art in heaven, how do I talk about you, Lord?

Who are you? He's my provider. My God shall supply all my need. What needs do you have today? What have you gone through in your business during this shutdown? What loss have you suffered? What pain are you enduring? What struggles do you have? Because we all have them folks. What do you agonize over when you go to bed at night? How do you deal with being laid off, losing your job?

How do you deal with sickness? How do you deal with the challenges of life were it not for the fact that our heavenly father is our provider, but then finally, not conclusively, he is our benefactor. He's our benefactor.

Listen to this, my friends. A benefactor is someone who provides help to benefit a person. That's a benefactor.

A benefactor is somebody who provides help to people. And the greatest benefactor ever is our heavenly father. I'm just going to read to you Psalm 103. Psalm 103.

This is just an amazing, amazing passage. Psalm 103 and verse 2. Listen to what the Bible says about God, our heavenly our heavenly father, our benefactor. He says, praise the Lord, oh my soul and forget not all his benefits. He who forgives all your sins. He who heals all your diseases. He who redeems your life from the pit. He who crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like eagles.

God, my heavenly father is my benefactor. Why does he benefit me? He benefits me because he forgives me. He heals me. He redeems me from the pit of my existence and my foolishness. He crowns me with love and compassion. He satisfies me with the good things in life and he renews me.

He takes me back and he gives me a spirit of my youth, the very best that I'm able to be because my heavenly father loves me. You know, my own father has been in heaven for five years. I miss him greatly, Papa, my dad. And I wish that he could be here today. I think of all the things Papa loved to do was to talk about the things of the Lord. I've got so many memories of my dad, but I want to begin at the beginning as I close this today.

My dad. You see, folks, we lived in a place called Manaba Beach, Manaba Beach between Margate and Port Shepston, where I was born in Zululand in Africa. And my brothers were born there, too. Our house sat up on a hill looking down over the magnificent, magnificent Indian Ocean where the water is so blue and the surf is so high. The great white sharks, the barracuda, the shad, the sardine runs that would come through on the Benguela current from the northern parts of Africa down the Atlantic seaboard and would round the Cape of Good Hope and go up the Indian Ocean.

And there would be so many sardines would come through that seagulls ate so much that you could reach out and pluck seagulls out of the sea. They were so full of fish. And my father was a great athlete in every way.

In today's terminology, you and I would have acknowledged that. He was a champion fisherman. He was a champion motorcycle racer. He raced motorcycles and won everything. He was a champion cricket player. I'd say probably more than anything, he was a champion tennis player.

He loved tennis. And my father had no time for the things of God. God was not even on my father's radar. We never went to church.

Are you kidding me on a day like this? And on Sundays, every Sunday, my mother and my father and the three boys found ourselves at the Uvongo Country Club, right on the Indian Ocean, right on the Uvongo Bridge, looking through the Uvongo Gorge onto the Indian Ocean, just spectacular. The scenery, panoramic. And this particular club had lawn bowling and tennis courts. It was the place where the rich and the famous gathered, where the upper echelon of society congregated back in the day. And every single Sunday, that's where my father took us. Without fail, every Sunday, that's what we did, led by my dad. And we boys loved it.

The sea, the lagoons, the swimming pools, the great pools, the great food, while my mother and father played in the tennis club as the local champions. That's what we did on the Lord's Day. That was the single most important thing my father could ever do. And one day, the Reverend Steve Green came into my father's work and said, John Wilton, why don't you come to church? My father laughed at him.

Are you kidding me? What normal father who plays tennis and loves the good life would bother to go to church on a Sunday? But something compelled my father to do it. And we know who it was. It was the Holy Spirit. My father took my mother and us three boys to church, to the Margate Baptist Church that stood right on the boulevard going by the water. And my father told us all his life that it was though Jesus himself walked down that aisle and stopped in front of my dad and said, John Wilton, I'm your heavenly father. I died for you. I gave you Jesus. And you will never have life outside of me.

And I want you to give my life. And right there, my father gave his heart and life to Jesus. He knew nothing about the Bible about the Bible. He had never read the Bible. He didn't even know what Genesis 1 verse 1 was. Well, God so loved the world. He'd never been to church.

He had nothing to do with church. He had no frame of reference. His only frame of reference was the good life where the ball games, rugby matches, cricket matches, fishing, kite fishing, racing motor bikes, going to parties with my beautiful mother.

That's what he defined life to be. And sure as anything, the next Sunday rolled around before my father could do anything. And he got us up as usual and said, boys, we going to play tennis.

What else would he do? And he loaded us up and we went to the Uvongo Country Club. And my father told generations of people around the world that while he was standing there on center court as the champion of the local club, all of a sudden he realized that his heart was no longer on that tennis court on the Lord's day. It was back in that tiny little Baptist church with a bunch of people who were singing about Jesus. And he turned to my mother and he said to her, sweetheart, next Sunday, we're going to church. And on that tennis court, my father my father made a vow and oath before the Lord that never again in his life would his sons ever find him anywhere but in the presence of the Lord Jesus and especially on the Lord's day.

Do you know what folks? My father's life changed on a dime. My dad went from an arrogant, spoiled, big mouth with lots of money, trophies in his cabinet, more athletic ability than anybody could shake a sticker, to a loving husband and father. Oh, did dad make mistakes?

Of course he did. But that day changed my father, my mother, my father, my mother and his three sons forever. We had no idea in Zululand in Africa that one day his middle son would be loved by so many people, would make more mistakes than anybody else, would preach his heart out whenever he got an opportunity, would be called pastor and friend, would live in a place like this, would have three children who today all serve the Lord Jesus around the world, would have eight grandchildren that I know this sounds like bragging, that in seven days never had one cross word with each other. And I'm not holding that up very high because that can change in the next second, I'm sure, wherever they are. Would you bow your heads with me for a minute? This is where it starts. It starts in your heart and in mine. Have you given your life to the Lord Jesus? Pray this prayer with me. Gracious, heavenly Father, today I believe in you. I give my heart to you. I confess my sin to you. I trust in you.

I believe because Jesus gave his life for me and is alive. May I pray for you? I can't see you because people are everywhere. If you just prayed that prayer, would you just raise a hand? Just put it up. I can't see you. I don't know who's up, whose hands?

Just put it up. Lord, right now, God bless you, my friends. I see two, three, four people there.

Five, six, seven, eight. I can't see. I can't see our wonderful folks back there in the tents and over the hill and under the trees. God does. Lord Jesus is all over the place.

There are people today that have just said yes. Lord, I want to say, especially young men, I want to say especially dads. Yeah, it's not just about dads. It's about all of us. It's about all of us. Lord Jesus, you are our heavenly Father and we worship you today. Thank you, our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be your name. In Jesus' name, we pray together. Amen.

Amen. Perhaps as Dr. Don was praying, he was helping you make the decision you know you've needed to make to come to Jesus Christ, whether you've heard the message for the first time or a thousand times. Today, God is drawing you to him and that's who does it. God is drawing you.

He wants you to know he loves you and has a perfect plan for your life. If you've given your life to Jesus Christ today, why don't you give us a call? Let us put some resources in your hands. 866-899, word is the phone number, or maybe you've rededicated your life to Christ.

We have resources for you as well, absolutely free at 866-899-9673. If you've given your life to Christ, let us help you take the next steps. Let us be encouragers to you.

Again, that phone number, 866-899-9673. We'll always connect you with one of us, happy to talk or listen or pray. Just know that we're here for you and connecting online as well, tewonline.org. That's our website, tewonline.org. I pray you'll consider signing up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don. It's wonderful biblical insight and application and encouragement.

You can sign up online right now at tewonline.org. And before we get away, closing thoughts from Dr. Don. Okay, just before you go today, I just want you to know how much I love you. You mean so much to me. And I just want you to know that with all of the things that we've talked about and the way in which God is speaking to your heart right now, we are the encouraging word, and we are available to you 24-7, morning, noon, night, or day. You can call a friend, one of my friends right now, and they will encourage you, pray with you, listen to you. Isn't it great to have people around us who really care about us? You are not alone. God bless you and be encouraged.