REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
INTRODUCTION:
ILLUSTRATION: Review Devotional Program
REVIEW 11.11.07 – “Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer”
1. Our Heavenly Father has provided many spiritual disciplines as a means of grace in developing a vital relationship with him and growing in our spiritual lives.
2. Our consistent and correct practice of spiritual disciplines will enable us to progress in the growth of our soul.
3. We must always be careful that our heart and our mind are engaged when we pray!
4. “The Disciples Prayer” is a wonderful model for our daily prayer although it can be used as a memorized prayer too, if we keep our hearts and minds engaged when we pray.
5. “The Disciples Prayer” is “The Family Prayer” and reminds us of our need to pray for and with others!
[One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, when you pray (Lk. 11:1-2) This then is how you should 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 today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:7-13)
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. Praying to “Our Father”
2. Why a Loving Father Wants us to Pray
PRAYING TO A LOVING FATHER
I. PRAYING TO “OUR FATHER”
This then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, ….
NOT ALL ARE GOD’S CHILDREN
QUESTION: Who are God’s children?
There is no “universal Fatherhood of God.” He is uniquely the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of those who accept Christ as Savior. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
To Jews who claimed God as their Father but rejected Christ as their Savior, the Lord Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.” (John 8:44)
The KJV refers to us as “children of wrath” in Ephesians 2 and “children of darkness” in 5:8.
Only God’s true children, those born-again by His Spirit, washed in the blood of the Lamb, can call God Father.
GOD WAS FATHER OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL IN A NATIONAL BUT NOT PERSONAL SENSE.
“Phillip Keller notes that fewer than seven times in the OT is God referred to as a father, and always as Father of the Nation of Israel, (similar to the idea that George Washington is the Father of our Country). As David Jeremiah says, “The people of Israel had a filial relationship with God, but it was national, not personal.”
When the Jewish people in the OT faced trouble they would cry to God as their “covenant father”: Thou didst a terrible thing … behold Thou are wroth. … all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags … Thou has hid thy face from us and consumed us because of our iniquities … But now, O Lord, Thou are our Father” (Isa. 64:3-8).
“Though God was indeed called the Father of the fatherless (cf. Ps. 68:5, etc.), was said to pity men as a Father (Ps. 103:13) and was addressed even as “our Father” on occasion (Isa. 63:16; 64:8), the words “our Father” do not express the typical or daily manner in which Jews approached God.” (Taken from the web).
JESUS FOCUSED ON CALLING GOD “FATHER”
Giving God the title “Father” was new to Jesus. It was the personal name for God that Jesus introduced to the world.
Jesus always called God Father. In fact in the Gospels he calls God Father more than 70 times.
“Father” was not a throw-away label for Jesus! It was a very, very important title that he cherished and used always when referring to God.
And we can also call Him “Father.” Jesus said to Mary after the resurrection: “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. God instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17)
The only time Jesus did not refer to God as his Father was when he was on the cross. Then he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!” That cry was wrung from the lips of Christ at the very moment he was made sin for us and his relationship with his Father was broken temporarily. (Boice, 167)
GOD IS OUR FATHER BY CREATION & REGENERATION
God is our Father by creation. The prophet Malachi asks, “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?” (Mal. 2:10).
The NT clearly teaches that we only experience God’s fatherhood through the new birth and adoption:
“I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” … “…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” … “…he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”
(John 3:3,5; John 1:12-13).
“He predestined us to be adopted as his sons [his children] … we received the spirit of sonship … that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son …”
(Eph. 1:5, Romans 8:15, Galatians 45-7).
QUESTION: What are some of the differences between a biological child and an adopted child?
ILL: Biological parents decide to have a child and nine months later a child comes. But sometimes there are “unplanned pregnancies.” A wife thinks she has car sickness and finds out it is morning sickness. Then she tells her friend, “We were not expecting this! This is a total surprise! We were not planning on another child!”
We have all heard of “unplanned pregnancies” but have you every heard of an “unplanned adoption?” “Adoptive parents know what it means to feel an empty place inside. They know what it means to hunt, to set out on a mission, and take responsibility for a child with a spotted past and a dubious future. If anyone understands God’s ardor for His children, it’s someone who has rescued an orphan from despair, for that is what God has done for us. God has sought you. God has found you, signed the papers and taken you home.” (From the web).
In tenderness He sought me
Weary, and sick with sin,
And on His shoulders brought me
Back to His fold again;
While angels in His presence sang
Until the courts of heaven rang
Oh the love that sought me!
Oh the blood that bought me!
Oh the grace that brought me to the fold!
Wondrous grace that brought me to the fold!
He washed the bleeding sin wounds
And poured in oil and wine;
He whispered to assure me,
“I’ve found thee, thou art mine.”
I never heard a sweeter voice;
It made my aching heart rejoice.
He pointed to the nail prints,
For me his blood was shed;
A mocking crown, so thorny,
Was placed upon his head:
I wonder what he saw in me
To suffer such deep agony.
I’m sitting in His presence
The sunshine of His face,
While with adoring wonder
His blessings I retrace.
It seems as if eternal days
Are far too short to sound His praise.
APPLICATION: It is not an accident you are in God’s family, that he is your Father. It didn’t just happen! God planned it from eternity and then he sought you out.
PRAYER: Have several pray thanking the Lord that we were planned for, that God really wanted us!
QUESTION: What do you say to people who say that their Father was so awful that they can’t think of calling God Father.
CALLING GOD “FATHER” CAN STILL BE MEANINGFUL TO YOU EVEN IF YOU HAD NO GOOD FATHER AS A ROLE MODEL.
If you have difficulty in calling God “Father” because your father was abusive, angry, unapproachable etc just think of God as everything you wished your father was. Picture God as the ideal Father having all of the qualities of the perfect father of your dreams. You will get a good idea of what kind of a Father God is! God, as a father, is everything your father is not!
Some men beget children but do not “father” them. That is not the case with our Father. He is not only our loving Father but also has all of the resources that a Father needs!
ACTIVITY: Have someone read this.
REMEMBERING OUR FATHER
For those whose father was merciless,
Remember that our Father is compassion.
For those whose father was absent,
Remember our Father is everywhere.
For those whose father was unfaithful,
Remember our Father’s name is Faithful.
For those whose father rejected them and closed them out of sight,
Remember our Father whose arms were nailed openly,
Willingly onto a wooden cross.
For those whose father is aloof,
Remember that our Father is deeply concerned.
For those whose father was full of rage,
Remember that our Father is full of love.
Some fathers tear down.
Our Father builds mansions.
Some fathers deceive.
Our Father is Truth personified.
Some fathers molest.
Our Father restores.
Some fathers hide.
Our Father reveals.
Some fathers die.
We have an Everlasting Father.
I call Him many names:
Master, King, Teacher, Creator, Ruler, Messiah, Provider, Redeemer, Friend,
But there is a mystical, deep, and undeniable warmth when I call Him Father. Abba, our Father
People say that they hate themselves, that they are a zero, that their life has no meaning etc. Psychologists tell us we need to work on our self-image, we need to love our selves etc.
ILL: What if someone like Bill and Melinda Gates decided to adopt a child. What if they advertised this on the web and then had a million applicants. Perhaps they would have their staff screen the applicants and so narrow the list to 100. Then after studying all of the information of the one hundred, they narrowed the list to 10. After interviewing the 10, in the end they would select one child. That child would be one in a million. Would a child like that despise themselves and call themselves a big zero. Or should they rightly think: I have been chosen by Bill and Melinda Gates out of a million. I am really a very, very special child of great worth.
How can a person despise himself/herself when they are both born-again spiritually and adopted in God’s family and have God as their Father!?
APPLICATION: No person can call God Father and then despise themselves, think ill of themselves, harbor a poor self-image!! Feel like a loser?
PRAYER: Have someone pray thanking God for being such a perfect, wonderful Father!
REMEMBERING WHO GOD IS IS A GREAT KEY TO PRAYER
“The beginning of effective prayer is the recognition that God possesses a father’s heart, a father’s love, a father’s strength and a father’s concern for the best interest of his children.” (Pastor John Hamby)
Jonah prayed in the belly of the whale, “Why my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, in your holy temple.” (Jonah 2:7)
“It is always wise, before we pray, to spend time deliberately recalling who he is. Only then shall we come to our loving Father in heaven with appropriate humility, devotion and confidence.” (Stott, 146).
“When we learn to pray to God as ‘Father’ we will not be so easily tempted to disbelief.” (Rev. Ralph Smith)
ILL: I have the greatest secretary in the world. Deb can sniff out a salesman and screen dozens of calls from these people, calls that would eat up my time. Deb knows that when I’m studying or counseling someone she’ll courteously ask people if they’d like to leave a message or call back another time. But one exception to that rule is the girls. If our daughters or granddaughters call, no matter what I am doing, she knows to put their calls through. They always have access to me and always will. Well, Jesus says that’s the way it is with God. When we become Christians He adopts us as His children, and from then on we can enter His presence any time knowing we get His full attention. Aren’t you thankful for that fact!!! (From the Web)
Parents, biological or adoptive, when the phone rings and it’s someone trying to get you to subscribe to a magazine your first thought is, “How can I get rid of this guy?” When you’re busy and a longwinded friend calls and wants to talk about something that doesn’t interest you, you listen but not really. You open your laptop and quietly check your email. But if the first word you hear when you put the receiver to your ear is, “Dad” you drop everything don’t you?
II. WHY A LOVING FATHER WANTS US TO PRAY
This then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, ….
“The prayer of the upright pleases God [is His delight]” (Prov. 15:8)
QUESTION: Why does God delight in the prayer of the upright?
God delights in our prayers because He loves us and delights in giving to us! His nature is love.
My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see Thee face to face,
I see Thee face to face and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and Thy name is love. (Charles Wesley, “Wrestling Jacob”)
As a result of our prayers / requests God gets the joy of giving; we get the joy of receiving and God is glorified.
When we pray and God answers prayer we praise Him, we tell others about the answer to prayer and a sign of the goodness and God and we glorify God.
Jesus talking to his disciples said, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” (John 14:13).
APPLICATION: Prayer is at the heart of why God created the universe! It is for His glory. He is glorified in His people when He answers our prayers!
Several weeks ago Joanne told of answered prayer, how Ken can receive medical care at the VA due to his exposure to Agent Orange in Viet Nam. Gloria and I specifically prayed for a dear friend that she would have a good nights rest and she did. I thanked the Lord very often for that specific answer to prayer.
ILLUSTRATIONS: Of answered prayers!!!
1) How I Know God Answers Prayer – Pgs 31-34
2) How I Know God Answers Prayer – Pgs 62-63 (As a result of the
Boxer Uprising the Goforths escaped just with their clothes and then
were sent back to the USA.
3) Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire – Pgs 59-66
God created the universe for His glory. He instituted prayer for His glory! The answered prayers of Mrs. Goforth prayed over one hundred years ago are still bring glory to God. The answered prayer of Mr/Mrs Cymbala prayed many years ago for their daughter are still bringing glory to God.
SO WHAT???
1. Only those who have been born-again by the Spirit of God and adopted into God’s family can rightly call God their Father.
2. Jesus called God Father and teaches us to call Him Father also!
3. God is the perfect Father and the perfect role model for any father.
4. No one should ever despise themselves when they realize that they have been adopted by our Heavenly Father. My Father’s unique choice of me shows how special I am to Him.
5. We must always remember who God is before we go to prayer. We need especially to remember that He is our Father and He loves us, delights in and loves to answer our prayers.
6. Pray is one of the key ways in which God receives glory and thus it is vital that we pray so that His name will be glorified on this earth!