How should we appreciate our Heavenly Father, God? What are the characteristics of God the Father? How should we worship God?
Matthew 6:9 I would like to read with you if you would turn there in your Bible. Matthew 6:9. You're familiar with this. After this manner (Jesus Christ was teaching the Lord's Prayer), after this manner therefore pray you. Our Father who is in heaven (or which art in heaven, Old King James), hallowed be your name. And so begins what is traditionally known as the Lord's Prayer, but which was really the Lord's teaching about prayer. But I want you to notice how it begins, what Jesus Christ instructed his disciples to do. Our Father which art in heaven.
You know, there are a lot of titles that God could take, and certainly He owns them. They are in the scriptures, you can find them. There are numerous titles like Great Shepherd, Great Wonderful Counselor, the Almighty. He has a lot of titles, but you know the title that He wants us to use in ourrelationship with Him, of all the titles that He could have chosen for us to have in relationship to him, He chose the title Father. Now Father's Day is tomorrow. Last year it was about this same time that I spoke to you, and I gave a sermon about what to appreciate in our fathers. What I would like to do today is focus on our Father in heaven. Because as we may know, there are fathers out there who hurt their kids. There are fathers out there who have been less than honorable, and less than respectful. Most of them have done their very best. In some cases their very best maybe seemed inadequate. But most of them did their very best. And they do come in for honor and respect from us. There is one father that we can all respect and honor highly, and that is God our Father. So I would like to take you through some scriptures so we can better understand our heavenly Father, that we can celebrate and honor Him with clarity and pureness of mind because He is God our Father. He chose to use that wonderful name.
So here is what we may appreciate and celebrate and honor about our heavenly Father. Our Father is perfect. Now you could say, I would like to have the perfect father. You have it. Your Father is perfect. He never makes a mistake. He never does anything out of inappropriate emotion. He never reacts, but acts. That is out Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:48. Our Father in heaven is perfect. Be you therefore perfect (which means complete, full-aged, or perfect). In other words, you don't want to pick that persimmon when it is not full-aged. I think Mr. Pinelli and I used to live down on the Greentree houses, and we were hungry as all get-out. So we would always wait for these persimmons. First of all, we picked them off the trees and then we were denuding the trees, so they told us, "You can't pick them off the tree. You have to wait for them to fall." So we would walk by and shake the tree a little bit, and if it fell then we would have one. But sometimes they fell off and they were still a little green. And if you have ever eaten a green persimmon you will know what it is like not to have something fully ripe, fully mature, and fully perfect to eat. God is perfect. That is what it means. Full-aged, mature. To a completeness. He is complete in every way. And we can honor and worship Him. But he is perfect too. Perfect in all of his ways. And He wants us to move in that direction in our lives.
Deuteronomy 32:3-4. Not only is He perfect, His way is perfect. His law is perfect. His manner is perfect. His actions are perfect. Deuteronomy 32:3-4. We read this. You can look up perfection and get a lot of them. I am just going to touch on these. Because what I hope I can do today, my goal is that we may better be able to honor and glorify our heavenly Father, and that we won't forget Him while we are remembering our earthly and humanly fathers, that we will remember our heavenly Father.
I gave a sermon several years ago when I first came to United entitled, "Whatever Happened to the Father?" Because it seemed like in the world of Christianity all you hear is Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is awesome. He is our Lord, He is our Savior, He is our Maker. He is the one who came to the earth and walked and lived this life, set an example for us, was tried in every way so that He could be a faithful high priest. Whatever happened to the Father? You know what Jesus Christ did all his life was point people to the Father. Pray to the Father. No, don't ask me any more. From now on, I don't want you to ask me. I want you to ask the Father. Go to Him in my name, but ask the Father. He said all He did was to what? Glorify the Father. That the Father might be glorified in Him. What did he speak? He said, all I am speaking to you is what the Father told me to speak. He pointed people to the Father. And yet, our world has pushed the Father out of sight, like the Hindus do. The Hindus have a trinity God, and the one that is similar to the Father is never worshipped. The one that is similar to Christ is worshiped, and the one that is similar to Satan – their trinity is of one but similar too, only in some of the characteristics. The son, and Satan, and the Father. But the one that is the Father, Brahma, is just pushed aside. He is not worshipped actively at all. But Vishnu is. And so is Shiva, Shiva being the Satanic one, or the destroyer for them.
But what is the Father? Our Father is worthy of worship. Deuteronomy 32:3-4. Because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. Verse 4, He is the rock. His work is perfect. What He does is perfect. Your God never spanks you out of anger. Your God never spanks you, or does something to you, or taunts you, or teases you out of spite. Our Father will never do that to us. That is awesome. That is wonderful. We know. The Bible says, you have had fathers who have loved you. Sometimes they took advantage of you. Sometimes they did something to you for their own anger, for their own pleasure to be satisfied. And I have done it, and you have done it probably in life. Where sometimes your kid does something that you let him get away with. Another time you are upset about something else, and now he can't get away with it. Wait a minute. That's not fair. You are not doing it for him. You are doing it for you. God our Father in heaven never does that to us. He never ever makes a mistake. He is perfect. His way is perfect. His law is perfect. He is perfect. He can be respected, and honored, and worshipped in that manner.
Our Father is also strong. He can do anything. When kids are little they look to their parents and they think they can do anything. If something breaks, here Dad, fix this. They think you can fix everything because you could put a doll's head back on. They think you can fix everything because you can snap a set of wheels back into their little car or truck. They think you can fix anything. Something is broken beyond repair and they look real disappointed that you can't fix it. But your God is strong and powerful and can do anything.
Genesis 18:14. Our Father in heaven is strong. Is anything too hard for the Eternal? Remember after Sarai laughed. He said, your wife is going to have a son. And she had a huge laugh about this. Why, in her old age how is she going to have a son. And he said, is there anything too hard for the Eternal? Nothing is too hard for the Eternal.
Remember the widow lady who needed oil and did not have enough money to keep buying it. And so her little bottle of oil never ran out. I am sure she could have started an oil store. You know, just keep filling up bottles of oil and selling them. Her bottle of oil would not run out because your God and my God can do anything. And that is a God that we can worship, respect, and honor as our Father in heaven. He is called the Almighty. One of his names is El Shaddai. In Genesis 17:1 I found this very curious, because as I was studying...do you know the meaning of El Shaddai? You think it is the Almighty one, and that is how many times it is translated. But do you know that El is plenty, to tell you he is almighty. Do you know what Shaddai means? El Shaddai means great breasted. What occurs on the breast? Nourishing, nurturing, caring. It means, the shad and Shaddai actually carries with it a God who is powerful and cares. Powerfully nourishing. I will read that to you in a moment. But Genesis 17:1, When Abram was ninety years old and nine the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the Almighty God. El Shaddai. Walk before me and be you perfect. Be like me. Walk before me.
But notice. I want to read to you what Scofield says about Almighty God, El Shaddai. He says, "The etymological signification of Almighty God, El Shaddai, is both interesting and touching. God, El, signifies the strong one." So why do you need to put Shaddai on there? El means the strong one. "The qualifying word Shaddai is formed from the Hebrew word shad, the breast, invariably used in scripture for a woman's breast. Therefore it primarily means the breasted one. God is Shaddai because he is the nourisher, the strength giver, and in a secondary sense, the satisfier who pours himself into the believer's lives. As a fretful unsatisfied babe is not only strengthened and nourished from the mother's breast, but it is also quieted, and rested, and satisfied, so El Shaddai is that name which sets Him forth as the strength giver and the satisfier of His people."
Isn't that interesting? I never knew that before. It has been in this Bible – I have had this one since probably 20 years ago. I just never noticed that particular footnote until I was looking it up today. Maybe you already knew that. I didn't. El Shaddai, the Almighty God, the Almighty God who strengthens and nourishes.
Isn't it interesting that in Malachi God is called, and in many other places too, the Lord of hosts. You know how God identifies himself? I am the commander of the armies. I am the commander in chief of all of these armies. That is how he identifies himself. That is what the Lord of hosts means. I am the God who commands the hosts, the Lord of hosts.
Do you remember what Jesus Christ said? He said, look, don't worry about me. Don't you know that if I didn't want to be taken I could call on God and He would give me twelve legions of angels. How many do you think there are in a legion? Between 3000 and 6000. So what He said was, look, don't worry, if I wanted to be rescued my Father would have 72,000 angels right here right now, because His God is the Almighty God, the powerful one. Your God is awesome.
What does that translate to us? Hebrews 13:5-6. Our Father is strong. Our Father is powerful. Hebrews 13:5-6. What does that mean for you and me? Let your conversation (or conduct) be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do to me. You know, when you have got the Almighty God on your side you won't have to fear what anyone can do to you or me.
Another characteristic is our Father is creative and reparative. I will remind you what David said in Psalms 139:14. He said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God made me, and He made me wonderfully. Fearfully and wonderfully.
Isaiah 40:208. God is the creator of the ends of the earth. God made everything. Your Father can create. Your father can make things. Maybe you have a wonderful father...I am not that great at creating things. I am not very creative, okay. I can do certain things, but I don't just get out there and draw pictures. My best woodwork was a set of bookends that needed a lot of plastic wood put in there because it didn't come out too straight. And that is what I brought home from shop in grade 7 or 8. I don't have them around any more. Somebody probably sold them for a lot of money they were so valuable. But anyway, Isaiah 40:28. God is Creator. Your father can make anything. Your Father can do anything. Your Father is creative, and He created the heavens and the earth. I will share with you in a moment in the next section what God has made, what He has created, and it is awesome what He has done. Isaiah 40:28. Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not faint, neither is weary, and there is no searching of his understanding. Notice how He identifies God. The Creator of the ends of the earth.
Psalms 95:6. He is called our Maker. Let us bow down to our Maker. And again, why are we saying this? So we can honor and respect our heavenly Father.
Psalms 95:6. O come and let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Bow down, worship, honor your God, for He made you. He created humankind.
But not only is God a Creator, God is also a repairer of the breach. He is reparative. He will mend you. Where does He say that? Exodus 15:26. Notice what is written here in one of the books of Moses. Exodus 15:26. If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, will do that which is right in his sight, will give ear to his commandments and keep all his statues, I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that heals you. The word is God our healer, Yahweh Rofah, God our healer.
God restores. Remember Psalms 23. He restores our soul. God not only can create, God also restores us.
So He is creative, and He is reparative.
All right, another reason we can have to honor and respect our heavenly Father is that He is humorous. Now we often think of God as serious. Of course, in the Old Testament He had serious business trying to deal with Satan the Devil who rebelled against Him, trying to deal with the Israelites who rebelled against Him, and trying to deal with other nations who rebelled against Him. God had a lot going on. But God is humorous. Now how do I know that? How can I say God is humorous? Because Romans 1:20 tells us this. Let's read it. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. Now how can I say that when I haven't seen the invisible God? Because I see his creation. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead so that they are without excuse. We may understand God by the things that are out there. What is out there? Have you heard of the archerfish? We used to have an article years ago. Do you know that little archer fish, what it does, it stays there, it hides a little bit, it sucks up some water and quietly waits until it sees an insect land on a nearby leaf or blade of vegetation. It takes aim and with a direct shot of water knocks it into the water, swims over, and has its lunch, or dinner, or breakfast, or maybe even a snack. Now why would you ever do something like that? Why not just let fish eat the plankton in the sea? Because God is a humorous God.
The duckbill platypus, and I get this from this particular book titled Why We Believe in Creation and Not Evolution. Let me read to you about this one. "One of the strangest creatures God ever made is the Australian platypus. We believe he purposely made it to confuse and confound the evolutionists. It is a squat heavy-bodied animal about eighteen inches long. It weighs three to four pounds. It has a deep, rich, brown velvety fur, gray or white underneath, like the fur of a seal or a mole. It has a flat bill like a duck and has no teeth after it reaches maturity. (That sounds like an older human being... no teeth after maturity.) It has five toes on each foot which is webbed, a cross between the feet of a duck and an animal designed to scratch or dig. It is one of only two mammals in the world that lays eggs. (Now this is really a strange creature, right? It is a mammals but lays eggs.) Unlike other hatched animals, their young nurse. (Most hatched animals feed directly. These have to nurse.) But instead of nursing from conventional nipples or breasts, the young simply lick their mother's belly fur and milk flows from the ends of the hair."
Now why would you... you have to be humorous to make something like this. Why would you ever make something like this, so complicated, so silly looking. And they are silly looking.
"The male platypus has a hollow spur on the inside of its heel which connects with a gland as poisonous as most poisonous snakes. So it is the world's only venomous furred creature." How is that for a confused, crazy, mixed-up animal? "Unlike most mammals its limbs are short and parallel to the ground like the limbs of a lizard. Its eyes are small, while it has as an ear just a hole in its head and not a customary earlobe such as mammals usually have. In habits it is nocturnal. To help hold its food which it catches under water, worms, snails, larva, insects, and so on, it has a large cheek pouch like those of a monkey or a squirrel." (So it just can store it.) "It lives in burrows which start from a point below water level in rivers and ponds. The platypus can dig well despite the fact that the web is on its front feet and extends beyond the claws. The web folds back like an umbrella into the palm leaving the sharp-clawed foot." (So even though it has got this webfoot it can just close the umbrella and then it can use its five digging fingers or claws.) "The unique foot of the platypus is an amazing contraption giving clear evidence of design and adaptation for an intended purpose to dig and to swim."
Who made this happen? Did it just kind of start developing all of these unusual characteristics and would have been dying off if it just had to gradually develop them? Somebody had to make them that way.
"In a round table discussion with evolutionists here is what you might hear. He must have got this bill from the duck, suggested one. Well, that's obvious. Think so, said the second? But the duck has feathers, not fur. Oh, seems to me his fur indicates direct descent from some animal like the beaver. But then the beaver doesn't lay eggs. Oh, wait a minute, said a third. He's toothless and has spurs. That could suggest an ancestry from the chicken. And remember, a chicken lays eggs too. Yeah, he caught his breath, thought for a moment, then changed his course. But then a chicken doesn't have fur either. That pesky fur eliminates descent from either a chicken or a duck, quite confusing, he mumbled. But he started in again. The female lays eggs but she isn't a bird. Then too, those poison spurs present a problem because no other furred animal is venomous."
So God has humor. We see it from what is out there. I will give you two other examples. Remember the example of Balaam where Balaam was asked to go curse the Israelites. He said, okay I'll do it. God said, no you can't. No you won't. And Balaam said, what if they ask me to go? Okay, you can go with them but just do what I tell you and don't curse Israel. So the next day he gets up and goes, saddles his donkey. He is riding along and God sees he is going with wrong intent, knows he is going for perverse reasons. And there the angel of the Lord, and probably the Lord himself because the angel of the Lord can be either, stands in front and the donkey sees it. Only the donkey sees it and runs off into the field. Sort of riding along on his trusted little donkey, all of a sudden it goes into the field. And he beats it, smites it. Get back up there! He gets him back on...now he comes into a narrow wall on each side and there is the angel of the Lord standing there with his sword drawn. The donkey sees that and tries to go to one side or the other. When it goes to the one side it crushes his foot and he beats it again. And then he goes along a little bit more to a very narrow place that it knows it can't get by. The angel of the Lord is standing there with his sword. The donkey sees it, Balaam doesn't, and the donkey just says, I quit, and falls down. Balaam beats him again and he said, why do you keep beating me? Haven't I been a good donkey? God gives a voice to a donkey. Haven't I been a good donkey to you all of these years? Haven't I taken you where you wanted to go? Haven't I been with you and been for you? Why do you do this? And then God opened his eyes to see the angel of the Lord. But God spoke through a donkey. Which means he could speak through almost anybody, right, if he can do that. The awesome, humorous circumstance.
How about the time when the fellow in the times of Elisha was chopping wood, and off went the axe head. The Bible says iron. It could have been metal. Iron does not float. It went right to the bottom. He runs and says, Master, what can I do? I borrowed that axe and now the axe head is lost. What am I going to do? And Elisha said, no problem. Here comes the axe head swimming on the water over to him. Your God and my God has a sense of humor. You know what, that is a wonderful characteristic in human beings. It is also a great characteristic in your Father in heaven who anointed Jesus Christ with the oil of gladness above all of his fellows. You know that, he anointed him with gladness above all of his fellows. How is he able to transmit that humor if he has none himself?
Another characteristic of our Father is that our Father is caring. Your Father, my Father, cares for us.
1 Peter 5:7 is one of the most inspiring scriptures. I love this scripture. I felt it was mine. I found it when I was a freshman at Ambassador and I made it my own. I went back to it regularly.
1 Peter 5:7. Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Your Father in heaven is caring. He loves you. He cares about you. He looks at you. He watches you. He observes you. He teaches you. He comforts you.
I want to read you a quote, and this is astounding. Christ said the very hairs on each person's head are numbered. Some years ago a German scientist took this up. (Only a German scientist might take this up because they are very meticulous.) A German scientist counted the hairs on different human heads. (Wouldn't that be fun. Okay, sit down here and let me count all your hairs. He counted the hairs on different human heads.) He found that they vary in number depending seemingly on the color. Thus there are more on the head of a person with black hair than red. And more on a brown head than black. And more on a blonde head than brown. So if you are blonde you have got more hairs than the brown or the black headed or red headed person has. The black haired woman has about 110,000 hairs on her head, and a blonde about 140,000. So if you want to marry somebody who has got lots of hair, marry a blonde. The average woman with a thick head of hair will lose up to 100 hairs a day. Such losses are increased somewhat if the hair is long and becomes entangled in a brush or comb and are pulled out. The average man shaving every day, remember there is hair on your face, removes a beard of about 1/64th of an inch. Now this means that between the ages of 20 to 65 he has removed 23 feet of hair. Twenty-three feet from ages 20 to 65. I am almost there. My 23 isn't quite up although I started shaving at about 12. So anyway, I probably have already done more than 23. Okay, what does this mean? (I don't know what it means, but it's a great fact!) What does this mean? It means that your Father in heaven must use a big time calculator to know how many hairs you have on your head every day. Because he can't say, there's a blonde, she probably has this many yet. There's a brunette. And some of us, it changes rapidly. Some of us he has an easy time with. I won't mention names, but some people he has a very easy time with counting how many hairs are there. But other people it is more complicated. But your Father cares about you. He cares immensely. If he cares to know, and he knows every sparrow that drops, I read another inspiring note about sparrows, the reason he used the word sparrows is not because they are so insignificant, because they weren't very expensive. But he uses them because they are so well known. And apparently you can find sparrows all over the world. In virtually every continent sparrows are there. And what he wanted people to know, no matter where you are, no matter who you are, you would recognize that if God notices when a sparrow falls he notices his people. That is very encouraging. God cares.
God not only cares, God teaches. Isaiah 48:17. God teaches. This is all under caring, because if you care for somebody you try to teach them the right way. You try to teach them a way of life. You try to teach them the way it is going to be right and profitable and good for them. Isaiah 48:17. Thus says the Lord your redeemer, holy one of Israel, I am the Lord your God which teaches you. And he teaches you to profit. He teaches you a good way which leads you by the way that you should go. So you have a Father who cares enough about you to point you in the right direction, to teach us in the way that we need to go.
2 Corinthians 1:3, 4. When you need comfort, when you need support, when you need love and help, He is there to give you a shoulder to lean on and cry on. 2 Corinthians 1:3,4. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. God is our comforter who comforts us in all our tribulation, our trials, our difficulties, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
It is so nice to know you have a Father who cares, who sees, who knows, who teaches, who guides, who is aware of us.
Our Father also is loving. Our Father is loving. If you would have to say one definition for God, 1 John 4:8 and 16 say God is love. Now many fathers have grown up in a day when they were told to stifle their emotions. To show emotions was a sign of weakness. You didn't want to cry. You didn't want to be touched with anything because that might cause you to lose your cool. Kind of like the Fonz, you know, can't ever be wrong. Don't want to lose your cool in that area. Your Father can be touched. He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Christ can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities who is the representation of God on this earth, God in the flesh. Jesus Christ was able to exhibit compassion upon those who needed it. He was able to feel for them and care for them and love them in time of need. And it is God who reaches out first to us.
1 John 4:19. We read, We love Him because he first loved us. The Father reaches out to his children.
John 3:16. God so loved the world. So loves the world, God loves people. That is his nature. That is what he is. That is what we are trying to become. That is what we will ultimately be in the family of God. John 3:16. For God so loved the world. You see, he understands love. Love is giving. Love is sharing. Love isn't just a nice thought and nice feeling in your heart. We hope that is there too. But love is giving. Love is sharing. Love is reaching out. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
James 1:17. Every precious gift comes from God. James 1:17. Again, our Father is loving. Every good gift and every perfect gift, (what else would you expect from He who is perfect), every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights. God is not going to do this in some dark place. God is the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Isn't it nice to know when you go to God he is not moody? Isn't it nice to know when you go to God, he is there? No, I'm having a bad day, I'm not hearing your prayers today. I don't care if it's an emergency or not.
Did you ever try calling people in times of an emergency? Did you ever try calling a hospital or call doctors? Well, let's see, I can get you in tomorrow. Well I'm dying today! Well I'll get you in tomorrow. Well you know what, I won't need you. I'll need the undertaker tomorrow. Try to get them in. I have got my business, I'm doing this, I can't. And I understand. When you are dealing with those people all the time, dealing with people who are sick and dying on you, they are just numbers. But not with your Father in heaven, you're not a number. You're a person. If he knows every star by name, He surely knows you by name. There are a lot fewer of us in the whole world than there are stars, which they say there are more of them, and He has created them all, than grains of sand on all the seashores of the world. More stars than grains of sand on all the seashores of the world. And He knows them by name.
Now we had a litter of about 13 cats on our farm when we had a farm. I didn't do much farming. We were dudes on the farm, we didn't really farm. We leased out 146 acres to different people at different times, but we lived in a farmhouse, we had farm air, and we had cats. And those cats multiplied. We had at one time 13 cats. I knew every one of them. I knew which one was which. They stayed outside and not in the house. But nonetheless they were there. I knew them. You might say, what's the name of that one? I'd tell them, that's Fluffy, that's Red, that's Blackie. We had names for all of them. I knew them. Now God knows all the stars. He knows them by name. Does he know you by name? You bet he does.
And He doesn't get moody. He doesn't say, well I'm not listening to you today because I'm in a bad mood. He hears you, and he cares. And that is awesome.
You think about all that your Father has provided for you and me because He loves us. He loves us. He didn't do it for the animals. He did it for you and me. He didn't make color for the animals. He made it for you and me. He didn't make sunsets for the animals. He made it for you and me. Because He loves us. He is a giving God. He is a provider. He is the one who provides all of our needs. Psalms 23 tells us that. He forgives us. Psalms 103. We sang that just before I came up here. Who forgives all your iniquities. Who heals all your diseases. As far as the east is from the west He removes them. Like as a father pities his children, so He pities us. And one scripture that is beautiful, I have got to give it to you, Micah 7:18. Our God delights in mercy. I love the way Micah put this. He said, who is a God like you? Where could we ever find anybody like you? Who is a God like you? That pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He doesn't retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. God, who is like Him, who doesn't try to stick it to you. Who doesn't try to catch you in your mistakes. Who doesn't sit there enumerating them, because we would all fail.
Psalms 130, I believe it is verses 3 or 4 says, Lord if you should mark iniquities who would ever stand? Which one of us would ever last? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. That is your Father in heaven.
I just want to bring you also one other note in this section on loving. One thing I remember in Mark 10:21, I remembered this just this morning before I came. Looking on him (the man, when he saw this man who came to him and said, good master, what good thing may I do to have eternal life? It says, Jesus looking on him loved him.
I wonder how many times God looks down at you and me and says, I love that guy. I love that gal. Jesus also loved Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus. They said, he whom you love is sick. Please come. We have a loving Father. He is our God. We can honor, respect, and look to him.
Finally, the final characteristic I want to give, and this is by no means an exhaustive list. You could probably add more for yourself. The final one I want to give to you is our Father is hopeful. You see, the basic, what God wants out of life for you and me is to bring you into his family. That is what he wants. He is hopeful that you and I will come into his family. He says, I see a bright future in you. You have a bright future, and indeed it is bright, because he says those that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars of heaven. The brightness of the firmament. God says, you know what, I think there is a bright future for you.
Do you ever sit down with your children and say, boy, you have a lot going for you. You are going to really make it. You are going to really do well here. I think you can really excel in this. God looks down at us and says, you have a bright future ahead of you. And you do. Hebrews 2:10 God is trying to bring many children, many sons and daughters into his family. Hebrews 2:10. For it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory. God wants to bring us into his family, and he does it through the captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:20 tells us He subjected us to vanity in this life, to uselessness, to emptiness, to vain... as we heard in the sermonette, that's all around us...everything you do in life as a human is not going to last, except character. Everything you do. You had a cup of coffee today. It doesn't last, does it? It eventually comes out of your body through your pores and other places, doesn't it? It didn't last. Now you need another cup of coffee this evening. Or if you got a glass of wine, it doesn't last. The next evening or two evenings from then you want another glass of wine. It didn't last, did it? Nothing we do, even good things we do, don't last if you are human. God says, you know what, I subjected you to that in hopes that you would see that this life isn't the end of it all, and I hope for you. I am rooting for you. Do you know what the angels do when somebody is converted? What do they do? They rejoice. They have a party in heaven for you. There is joy in heaven over one person who repents. Why? Because God hopes for you and me. He wants us in his family. He is hoping for us. That is a great dad. That is an awesome Father. I think of my dad sitting at Little League baseball games and watching me play two years in a row, dragging a little brother and a little sister with him. One was almost a baby in a stroller, to come watch me play. I appreciated that. He hoped for me that I wouldn't strike out. He hoped for me that I wouldn't make an error. I did make an error. Well, I don't know if I made an error but I didn't scoop up the ball at first base and we lost our only game of the season. We were 17 and 1 because I couldn't quite scoop it up. The guy got on base and eventually scored. But he was there rooting for me. God roots for you. God hopes for you. He wants to see you in his family.
Romans 8:20. For the creation was made subject to vanity, the creature, the person, all of us, not willingly, we didn't ask to be, but by reason of him who subjected the same in hope. What for? The creation itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into -- what – the glorious liberty of the children of God. God hopes for you and me.
You know, God has reservations for us. 1 Peter 1:3-9. I won't read it. God has reservations for you and me. The reservations are at the reservation center in heaven, but they are reservations for the kingdom of God. He has got them for you and me.
I John 3:1-2. I will read this. Because what God wants for you and me is He wants us to have a bright future. And He wants us to have a future where we will never retire. Because you can't retire. You will never get old. You will be to everlasting. Now you can't be from everlasting because you had a start. But you will be to everlasting, because when you become a part of the family of God you will never die. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. Here is that hope that God has for us. That we should be called the sons of God,( the children of God the word actually is). Therefore the world doesn't know us because it didn't know Him. And you are on a path toward the kingdom of God. The world doesn't recognize the kingdom of God. Beloved now are we the children of God. God still considers you as children even now though you have not yet been born into the family of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be. We don't know what positions we are going to have. We don't know exactly what we are going to be doing. But we do know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We will be glorified together with Him. We will be part of the family of God. We have a bright future that our heavenly Father hopes that we fulfill.
I have given you these characteristics in hopes that we may honor and glorify our heavenly Father, and I certainly wish all the fathers in here a happy Father's Day. And thank you for being fathers to your children. And hope that you will continue to be good fathers to your children. But our heavenly Father we can certainly look to and worship because He is perfect, He is strong, He is creative and reparative, He is humorous, He is caring, He is loving, and He is hopeful. Happy is that people whose God is the Lord. And when I read the Psalms, Psalms 145, I read about praising our God, honoring our God, giving Him what He really does deserve. And remember what Jesus Christ said, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be your name. May we all hallow our heavenly Father on Father's Day, because we don't ever have to be ashamed to do that.
