Our Father Which Art In Heaven

Our Father Which Art In Heaven

(adapted from Zondervan 2008 Pastors Annual Outline)

Introduce Father’s Day

Play Youtube Video Clip : Cat’s in the Craddle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJueyvhFrSA

"Comment on the role of Father’s in the lives of thier children and what is really important!"

Scripture: “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your iname. ” (Matt. 6:9).

Introduction

It is difficult for some people to love God because they have been deprived of an earthly father whom they could love sincerely and steadfastly.

The right kind of father can be a child’s best teacher about God. A good father is a happy combination of strength and tenderness, righteousness and mercy. The wrong kind of father can cripple a child’s emotional and spiritual well-being. Today I want to lead you to a better understanding and a deeper appreciation of the heavenly Father.

Jesus came to reveal God to man. “8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? lHe who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” (John 14:8–11).

In the Gospels God is spoken of as “Father” more than 150 times (e.g., Jesus said, “I and my Father are one” [John 10:30]). This name was in the first recorded boyhood utterance of Jesus: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). This name was in his last dying cry: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Of course God confirmed and affirmed this relationship when Jesus was baptized and on the mount of transfiguration when He declared “This is my beloved Son.”

People had thought of God and his followers in a number of different ways: a Shepherd and his sheep, a Potter and his clay, a Creator and his creatures, a King and his subjects, a Judge and violators of the law.

Jesus came to give us new truth about God so that we might walk lovingly in his way and so that we might have abundant life here and now.

Jesus taught his disciples—and all believers—to think of God as a heavenly Father.

Jesus did not consider all people to be the children of God (cf. John 8:44 - You are of your father the devil…). He taught that in the miracle of the new birth, the spiritual birth, the birth from above, a new relationship was established with God that was much closer than that which exists between a Creator and the creatures of his world. This new relationship is tender, affectionate, and glorious. It is a relationship which describes God as the Heavenly Father of all those who have been “born of the Spirit” or “born again.”

I. God is a perfectly wise and consistent heavenly Father.

A.In contrast to even the best of earthly fathers, the heavenly Father perfectly knows our deepest needs even before we could request his blessings in prayer (Matt.6:8) For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

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1. He looks upon our needs with purposes of love and compassion.

2.He is more eager to meet these deep needs than we are to have them met. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matt. 7:11).

B. The heavenly Father always acts toward us in a manner consistent with our highest good. In the very beginning, the Evil One put doubt in the mind of Eve, the mother of us all, concerning the goodness of God. “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4–5).

1. The heavenly Father prohibits only that which is destructive.

2. The heavenly Father challenges us to do that which is truly constructive and beneficial.

3. The heavenly Father disciplines us for our good (Heb. 12:5–12).

5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”