Seeing God as Father - Part B

Why is important that when we talk to him.

We recognize is our father in heaven. Here's why. Because too often when we pray we come weak and overwhelmed and we carry our limitations over onto God. We impose our earthly physical human lease limitations over as if God is as if God is over. He is not weak, he is not overwhelmed God is limitless in his power, but too often we put our own limitations on today on connect with Skip Heitzig Skip shares how you can break free from that trek over to tap into more of God's power for your everyday life. Before we begin want to let you know about a resource that will help you experience the joys and rewards of a steadfast prayer, Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China said it is possible to move men through God by prayer alone and down to other nine books on prayer said God shapes the world by prayer, the more praying. There is in the world, the better the world will be and Billy Graham said to get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees here.

Skip, I think you know the Bible says that we will experience God's peace. When we pray, and it tells us to pray about everything. We want to help you know how and what to pray. What to expect. That's why were offering.

Lord, teach me to pray in 28 days by Kay Arthur when you give to support this ministry. Prayer is meant to the game of peace and joy in our hearts, Lord, teach me to pray is our thanks when you get $25 or more today to help keep this ministry on the air, connecting you and others to God's work, call 800-962-1888 online securely connectwithskip.com/offer Chapter 11 to get into today's message body is what might be called baby talk is what young kids learn to call their mom and dad back the Jewish comments as soon as a child is being child says by daddy E mom mom you still here at Israel today. When you walk around your little Hebrew kids Hebrew and Aramaic are the same and that word daddy mommy so it is a very intimate term. And we are called to do that.

Galatians 4 verse six we have received the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, ball father God is our father and Jesus gives you permission to call him back before Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection he met Mary Magdalene and he said go tell my disciples, I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God so beautiful so all of that to say this when we talk to God were not talking to the force were not talking to the first uncaused cause. The first universal principle, we are talking to our father in heaven. I got a question for you what your relationship with God like dealing God might be ineffable, amazing sovereign transcendent majestic good, but I hope that's not all. Sometimes people talk about the good Lord what the big guy I meet people in the community.

Recognizing is guy I've been talking to the big guy I've been talking to the good Lord it's it's like it's a dead giveaway that you don't have any kind of close, intimate relationship with the father. If he's just the big guy, JI Packer and is great but knowing God writes if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers, and his whole outlook on life.

It means he does not understand Christianity Christianity very well at all for everything. The Christ taught everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the old everything that is distinctively Christian, as opposed to merely Jewish is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God father. He writes, is the Christian name for God so good so first attribute of God as father in this prayer is relatability.

Father second is his rule is rule because God is father implies we are his. What children and children not only have a relationship with their parents of intimacy, but it implies respect of their parents.

Their parents are over than their parents superintend their upbringing. We are told in the 10 Commandments will be told to do with her mother and father honor them honor our father honor our mother. Ephesians chapter 5 be followers of God, as dear children, implies obedience. So if we are honor our earthly parents. Certainly we are to honor much more. Our heavenly parent, which means we should never reduce our relationship to God to a sloppy sentimentality. It should it should mean that we elevated to a reference intimate reverence we can be intimate with God and close to God and childlike before the Lord and trusting like a child of a father but also at the same time respectful Rev. Keep in mind the New Testament had a context culturally and I was the Roman contacts and the Romans had a law called Patria protest us for trip protest us means the rule of the father, or simply put dad is in charge and begin a legal way.

Dad had absolute control of his family including his children even when they got into adulthood. The father was still alive. Patria protest us the rule of the father so this speaks of God's relatability, but also his rule as father, we, his children because keep following the prayer down our father in heaven, hallowed be your name to a term of respect, worship your kingdom. Combat acknowledges that our father is a ruler of the kingdom. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God the father's children should be concerned about doing God the father's will see Lordship is tied to relationship is two kinds of people.

Those who say that I will be done. Those who say my will be done better. Some people who say that I will be done, but live my will be done. The key is to come to a place where he is your intimate, loving, convivial suite heavenly father and also you respect and reference and obey him as the sovereign ruler of your life. The third attribute is his reach, because notice that Jesus does not say and when you pray, say, my father, when you pray when you pray, say, our father and what that reminds us is that God has other children besides you, there is not a single personal pronoun in the entire prayer is some of us were to write this prayer would it would read a my father who art in heaven.

Give me this day my daily bread.

It would be for some of us all about us. Jesus, I want you to pray.

That way I don't want you to think that way, say our father the words I me mine and mine never occur in this prayer for a good reason Jesus came to take those words out of our lives out of our vocabularies out of our thinking to replace them with our hours us.

We we are part of a family and I don't I don't just mean this church were part of the church all who are under his rule. All who are in relationship with him.

I member the first time I heard the phrase a personal relationship with Christ. Remember the first time you heard a struck me. I never I was never raised without somebody said Skip do you have a personal relationship with Jesus and I honestly said no because I didn't did know that was possible.

Did know that was expected, but I liked it. I like the concept of it. I love the thought of it when somebody talks about a personal relationship with God as I do now.

I do believe the Bible does talk about a personal relationship with God. I believe the Bible expresses you need not just a formal acknowledgment but a personal connection and commitment to God the father and Jesus Christ, your Lord, I believe that I believe that the New Testament concept. However, I also believe that we American evangelicals have emphasized to the point of imbalance.

The idea of a personal relationship with Christ or with God as if we mean a personal private relationship with God, with absolutely no responsibility to others.

No accountability to others. Look, it's me and God, man, bug off, it's not just you and God bug off. It's our it's us it's read Psalm 68 God sets the solitary into families. I am not a family. Personally you are not a family individually. We are a family. I am not the body of Christ. You are not the body of Christ. Individually, we together are the body of Christ.

So in this prayer, there is an elimination of self and a recognition of others.

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Give us this day our daily bread. Prayer is filled with that there is a phrase in the New Testament that crops up 87 times the term one another before the talk about this on a few occasions one another is a sampling of those 87.just a sampling love one another, giving preference to one another be kindly affectionate to one another, be of the same mind toward one another edify one another receive one another, admonish one another, bearing with one another in love. You stack up all those directives and you come to the conclusion there is no place in God's family for isolationism. There's no place in God's family for radical individualism this idea.

I don't need anybody else just me and God is wrong.

You do need other people and even though we have been isolated and we have managed through the isolation and we hopefully are doing it responsibly. That's an aberration were not meant to live isolated lives, but integrated lives. I member when somebody asked me a question many years ago. The can I be a Christian without going to church and I knew what he was talking about because he was looking for an excuse not to belong to a church and I get it. Christians can be weird we could be where people hang out with cannot be a Christian without going to church tonight. I member answering immediately.

Absolutely yes you can be me. Technically you're not saved by going to church or saved by believing in Jesus Christ. Having said that, however, though you can be a Christian without going to church or not to be a very good or effective or wholesome, or balance Christian without going to church. Sort of like saying can I be a soldier without having an army. Can I just do it alone.

Well, you know you'll miss the whole strategy of having one another's back in a different kind of deployments that exist you will be effective at it is sort of like saying can I be football player without having a football team that I'm on Wiley yeah I'm motivated to throw the ball up and down while I was fun. Cool. Okay that'll last about three throws and then you are absolutely bored, so you will be a good football player. Or how about this being a tuba player without an orchestra, you need an orchestra to make that baby sounded, you need all the other notes firing off so you need the people of God to do it right so the term father causes upward to God. The term our causes outward to others. So we have three attributes his relatability. His rule is reach is 1/4 attribute that is built into this little phrase. Our father in heaven and that is his residence.

He is our father, not her father on earth, not our father next door. Our father in heaven.

I'm I can do a whole thing on have been and where it is and what it's like center that's for another time. And I've done that but think of it this way. Think of this as God's base of operations.

Think of this as the place from which he exercises all power, all authority, all provision that is necessary because he is in heaven. He is all of heaven's resources because he is the father in heaven.

Whatever you need on earth. He's more than able to take care of.

In fact if you look at it from purely a scriptural point of view God in heaven is the only true God follow my thinking here. The Old Testament differentiates between all of the gods and goddesses that people believed in and pray to and worship all of them versus the only true God in heaven.

So listen to some hundred 15, written by David. He said their idols are silver and gold. The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak eyes they have, but they cannot see they have ears but they can't hear noses they have, but they cannot smell they have hands but they cannot handle.

See they have, but they cannot walk. Then he says this, but our God is in heaven.

He does whatever he pleases Missy to be the God in heaven is to be the ultimate God, the God of power, the God of authority, the God of sovereignty, the God who can give you what you need to live on earth. Why is that important us wise and important that when we talk to him. We recognize he's our father in heaven. Here's why. Because too often when we pray we come weak and overwhelmed and we carry our limitations over onto God. We impose our earthly, physical, humanly limitations over on the God as if God is weak, as if God is overwhelmed. He is not weak, he is not overwhelmed and so whatever issue you face whatever issue we face.

God's got this. I've often said God rules the universe with his feet up is the is is not like East threading or biting his nails or wiping sweat from his for a while because she's getting out of hand. There's a virus on earth God's got this God's got this and that's why we can rest.

I know I can in Isaiah chapter 6 the prophet Isaiah was feeling overwhelmed by what was happening on earth. He said it was the year can use iodide King Uzziah was a good king. It rained for 52 years.

The fact that this good godly king was dead was a problem because Israel was starting to backslide spiritually away from God, the prophet took this to heart and thought so the people are already going downhill and now a good leader is gone, were in trouble and so it says in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and lifted up sitting on his throne. The train of his temple is that the train of his robe filled the temple and these angels are bouncing back and forth, holy, holy, holy whole earth is full of his glory.

Isaiah needed to see that vision at a time when all he could see was desperation and lack of leadership.

The king is not on the throne of God is on his throne.

Things are better. God is in heaven.

See, we often forget this. We have a tendency to forget where God is.

He's on the top row man. He is the best seat in the house. He sees that all and this phrase brings balance to the first phrase first phrase our father. Second phrase in heaven.

Our father emphasizes intimacy in heaven emphasizes sovereignty. A AW Pink, Arthur W. Payne writes these two things should ever occupy our minds and engage our hearts. The first without the second tends toward unholy familiarity the second without the first produces coldness and dread. By combining them together. We are preserved from both evils. Our father in heaven. So that's God is our father briefly put, now the fact that it's Father's Day were talking about God's fatherhood and I'd like. Let us all off the hook dads because will never be like that, but it does raise the bar a bit. When we talk about celebrating fatherhood, but this is the day where starting the fatherhood of God.

It raises the bar and for this reason, we never want our display of fatherhood to damage our kids ideas of God as father, because our kids are growing up with a father figure present or absent good or bad. Loving or stern. And that's the term they will know as they get old and if they have a relationship later on. That's intimate with God the father. This could be very difficult getting past that if father and a good sense, so we want to do everything we can to promote God as father by modeling fatherhood right I want to close with this thought, and I am closing Jesus told the story. One of his most famous stories ever apply the parable of the prodigal son you know the story, the kid who had a lot of money, took his part of the inheritance spend it on riotous living party hardy and was working with pegs and woke up and then goes man I'm I gotta change my life right goes back home to the father is significant that the first words that fall out of the lips of the prodigal son when he returns are these words father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. You remember the father's response to the father folded his arms like this, wagged his finger shake his head thorough, his fuzzy brow know he embraced his son put a ring on his finger robe on him kill the fatted tablets have a big party man. My son who is dead is alive come back home. He was lost but now he's found no this. If you have wandered from God as your father. You have wandered from the care of God. If you gone your own way. If you never come to God as father, you've never let him manager life know this when you come like that, you'll have the exact same response is what Jesus was teaching will have a heavenly father who will as it were, embrace you put the best robe on you ring on your finger and welcome home. I would encourage you to do that to come home to him on a close in a simple prayer that I'm in the lead to some of you in if you're here today and you've never said yes to Jesus as Savior is Lord, to give you an opportunity to do that right now. If you're watching on television, or if you're listening by radio or you're watching on live streaming you can do the same. Somebody will be there for you to to to respond to you I say something like this or something simple like Lord, I know I'm a sinner. I've sent my blown it. Forgive me I'm sorry. I believe in Jesus. I believe that he came from heaven to earth. I believe he died on the cross that he shed his blood for me.

I believe that and I believe he rose again from the dead believe is alive right now and I turn from my sin, I turned to Jesus as Savior and his Lord welcome me father, into your family and me as your child right ask it in Jesus name Amen that wraps up Skip a text message from his series 2020. You prayed that prayer to talk with just give us a call 800-922-1880, that's 800-922-1880 Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong, connecting more people like you to the Bible was vital to remember that God is our father in heaven. It reminds us that we have a sovereign and personal God who works in our life. We love sharing these biblical messages because we love connecting you with your heavenly father, but we need your help to keep these teachings coming to you and to others around the world. You can help do that by giving the gift today. Here's how. Give us a call at 800-922-1888 to give a gift today 800 922 is a connectwithskip.com/donate that's connected skip.com/domain generosity will keep his biblical encouragement coming your way and help change lives before we close, we invite you to tune into connect with skip. I took on the Hill song channel on Saturdays at 4:30 PM on board catch on TBN on Sundays at 5:30 AM Eastern hours of work into constructing and remodeling the house looks nice next Skip six years late to even closer to the castle, Skip presentation of connection communication to go through