God and His Role as Our Father

Thanks very much, Art. Good afternoon, everyone. Guess we've all learned the valuable lesson not to leave anything sitting on the lectern here, right? You never know what the next person's going to do with it. I guess if we were in a practical joking mood, you could change the numbers and then put the list back up here. Save that one for next time. So good to see everyone here today. Hope everyone's having an enjoyable Sabbath. So always enjoy spending the Sabbath here with everyone.

For those of you who were here the last time I spoke, I mentioned that I was going to give at least a couple sermons on the theme of prayer. And so I want to continue on in that theme today a topic that I think is pretty practical and impacts all of us in the way that we deal with our day-to-day lives and fulfilling our Christian duties and responsibilities, and also taking advantage of the opportunities that God gives us to come before Him.

When we talked last time, I spoke a lot about the idea of alignment and the fact that praying to God puts us in alignment with His will. We looked at the Lord's Prayer and how much of the Lord's Prayer deals with what God's will is for us as opposed to what our will is for God to do for us.

And the need to be yielded and also create the time in our lives to reflect on what His purpose is and to be in alignment with that purpose. As we move forward today on the same theme of prayer, I'd like to take some time to focus on God and His role as our Father and what the implications are for God and His role as our Father in prayer and the way that we approach Him in prayer.

Let's go back to the Lord's Prayer again. This time we'll use the passage in Luke. Last time we used the passage in Mark. If you'll turn please with me to Luke 11. We'll read verses 1 through 13.

Again, very familiar verses here at the outset and then a couple of parables that Luke records after that. Luke 11 and starting in verse 1. Now it came to pass as Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples. And so Jesus said to them, when you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So we see that He starts out His prayer, as we see also in Matthew, addressing God as the Father and hallowing His name. And then He goes into a parable in verse 5. And Jesus said to them, Which of you shall have a friend?

And go at midnight and say to Him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he'll answer from within and say, Don't trouble me. The door is shut, my children are with me in bed.

I can't rise and give it to you. I say to you, though he will not rise and give it to him because he's his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. Then he continues on in verse 9, So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you.

Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?

Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So we can see here, both at the beginning of this passage as he's going through the Lord's Prayer and addressing God as the Father in heaven, and as he ends this part of the section using a parable of a father, Jesus Christ is talking about God as the Father.

Now we don't often think about it, I think, because in today's world that's generally knowledgeable about Western Christianity, the idea of God as our Father is something that we all pretty much accept. And frankly, I would guess that most of us probably don't think about it very much on a day-to-day basis. But when we look at it through the lens of that time, it's actually a very unique concept, and something very different than the concept of God that most people that day and time would have had.

I'd like to read a passage called The Fatherhood of God. This comes from Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, something written by Robert Stein that talks a little bit more about this and gives more facts to show what it was like and how revolutionary this idea of God as a Father was to those that Jesus Christ was dealing with at that time. Throughout the Bible, it says, we find God portrayed as a Father.

This portrayal, however, is surprisingly rare in the Old Testament. There, God is specifically called the Father of the Nation of Israel or the Father of certain individuals, but only 15 times. At times, the Father imagery is present, although the term Father is not used, and it gives a few scriptural quotes for that. This metaphor for God as Father may have been avoided in the Old Testament due to its frequent use in the ancient Near East, where it was used in various fertility religions and carried heavy sexual overtones.

The avoidance of this description for God can still be found also in intertestamental literature. There, its use is also rare, for example, the Apocrypha, the Pseudoprographa, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. So what it's saying basically is, in the Old Testament, so the things that were handed down in the Scriptures, and also in other writings that were not part of the Scriptures, but things written by people who lived and wrote between the time of the Old Testament and the time that Jesus Christ came, in all of that body of writing, whether it was in the Bible or outside of the Bible, the idea of God as a Father appears a few times, but not very frequently at all.

Going on what he wrote, the teaching of the Fatherhood of God takes a decided turn with Jesus. For Father was his favorite term for addressing God. It appears on his lips some 65 times in the synoptic Gospels and over 100 times in the book of John. The exact term that Jesus used is still found three times in the New Testament in Mark 1436, Romans 8, verses 15 and 16, and Galatians 4 verse 6. But elsewhere, the Aramaic term ava is translated by the Greek word potter. So what he's saying there is the actual term in the Aramaic language that Jesus used when he used the term Father was an Aramaic word ava.

I think many of us who've read the Bible and attended church for a while have heard that expression of ava, meaning Father. The uniqueness of Jesus' teaching on this subject is evident, he goes on, for several reasons. For one, the rarity of this designation for God is striking. There's no evidence in pre-Christian Jewish literature that Jews addressed God as ava or Father. A second unique feature about Jesus' use of ava as a designation for God involves the intimacy of the term.

Ava was a term that little children used when they addressed their fathers. At one time, it was thought that since children used this term to address their fathers, the nearest equivalent would be the English term daddy. More recently, however, it's been pointed out that ava was a term not only that small children used to address their fathers, it was also a term that older children and adults used. As a result, it's best to understand ava as the equivalent of Father rather than daddy.

A third unique feature of Jesus' teaching concerning the fatherhood of God is that the frequency of this metaphor is out of all proportion to what we find elsewhere in the Old Testament and other Jewish literature. Note that 165 plus times in the four Gospels the term father is used for God compared to only 15 times in the entire Old Testament.

This was not just a way Jesus taught his disciples to address God, it was the way. They were to pray, Father, hallowed be your name. This is why even the Greek-speaking Gentile churches in Galatia and Rome continued to address God as ava. They used this foreign title from a different language for God because Jesus had used it and taught his followers to do so.

Because of Jesus' use of this metaphor, it's not surprising that the rest of the New Testament also emphasizes the fatherhood of God. In the Pauline letters, God is described as father over 40 times. It occurs in blessings, doxologies, thanksgivings, prayers, exhortations, and creeds.

For Paul, this fatherhood is based not so much on God's role in creation, but rather on the redemption and reconciliation he is made available in Jesus Christ. This is why Paul refers to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's through the work of Christ that God invites us all to call him Abba, Father. It is through Christ that grace and peace have resulted in we become God's children. The description of God as Father is under attack today in certain circles. It's charged by some that this leads to a false view of God as a male. This criticism should be taken seriously in that God is not literally a man. He is spirit, without sexual parts. When God is referred as Father, this is simply the use of a metaphor in which he is likened to a kind and a loving father. Elsewhere, God's love and care can be compared to that of a concerned and caring mother. Yet to avoid the metaphor of Father as a description and as a designation for God is to lose sight of the fact that Jesus chose this as his metaphor to address God and that he taught this as the metaphor by which his disciples should address God. It also loses sight of the continuity established by the use of this metaphor with those who have called God their Father over the centuries. So what he's saying here is this whole idea of God as the Father is something that Jesus Christ brought when he came to the earth. If we sum up the mission, some of the recent sermons we heard from Mr. Thomas talking about how Jesus Christ stuck to his mission was to preach God the Father to the world to reconcile eventually the entire world to God. And so he brought a whole new way of looking at God to people. So when we think of what was happening in the Old Testament, for example, and we'll think on this in some of the upcoming Holy Days, right? The Day of Atonement. What is it that happened as part of the rituals in Old Testament Israel as part of the Day of Atonement? Remember they had the tabernacle, right? Which was like a big tent and it had a separated area that took up a quarter to a third of that tent. It was called the Holy of Holies. And do we remember how many times the high priest entered the Holy of Holies in a year? One single time. One single time on the Day of Atonement, in order to appear symbolically before the throne of God, on behalf of the people, to confess their sins, to receive Atonement for those sins. And of course, as Hebrews points out, when we go to Hebrews 9, for example, Jesus Christ, when he came, literally the veil of the temple that separated that Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, or in the old days the tabernacle, was ripped in half. That barrier that existed that stopped people from entering the symbolic throne room of God when Jesus Christ died was ripped in half. Picturing that redemption, that connection, that we now can have directly with God as our Father, rather than having to go through a priesthood as they had to in Old Testament times and under the Old Covenant.

So we see, especially as we enter this time of year with the Day of Atonement upcoming, this whole idea of God as our Father and the personal, direct relationship that we can have with God as a result of that comes much more into the frame. Now, I realize, especially in today's world, not everyone can relate to God as a Father, sometimes because of their own relationship with their own Father, and for some, the fact that they might not have grown up with a Father at all.

And so we do need to recognize and consider in today's world the fact that sometimes we need to think about and understand by observing others, by looking at what a Father should be, even what that relationship should be like. I have a friend who I work with who lives out in the Bay Area in California, and he was talking to me when I saw him last a couple of months ago, and they had adopted or taken on as a foster child the daughter of one of their daughter's friends.

She had run into some trouble, and they took over custody of this child for a while, who's about three years old. And he told me a really striking story, that this girl, because of all the things that she'd been through in a very difficult home environment, would wake up two, three times a night crying and screaming. They would have to comfort her, and they would have to take care of her. And one of the really striking things that he told me was that when they were out, if they would go to the mall, if they would go anywhere else, whenever they encountered somebody in uniform, whether it was a security guard at the mall, whether it was a policeman, whether it was a fireman, the girl would become agitated and might start crying. And what had happened, because of the experience that she'd had just in her three or four short years of life, is she associated anybody in uniform with somebody that was going to separate her from her family. Because of the difficult home environment that she was in, a person in uniform in her early years meant a policeman coming to the door, because father was doing this, her mother was doing that, and taking her away from them.

And it really struck me there just how deeply and how viscerally some of these things that people are exposed to today in their lives can leave an impression in terms of how they think of certain concepts. As simple a thing as most of us would take for granted, which is when a policeman is there, it's someone we can turn to for help. When a security guard is there, they're going to help to keep us safe. And we should think about that as well in terms of how we think of the idea of a father. Because again, not all of our experiences have been the same, not all of our experiences have been positive in terms of what a father does. But I think we know overall that the idea of a father, and what's meant by this analogy of God as a father, is someone who cares for the child. Someone who's there to raise that child, to look out for what's best for them, and to think long term about that child and the child's well-being. Not to think moment by moment about keeping the child happy, but about developing that person into someone who will be an independent, upstanding adult that can support themselves and contribute positively to society. That's what a father does.

Let's turn back to Luke 11, and let's look at the two analogies that are given in this passage after the Lord's Prayer itself. We'll take a few minutes to take these apart, again in the context of God as a father. Luke 11, and let's start in verse 5. The friend coming at midnight. So Jesus said to them in verse 5, Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he'll answer from within and say, Don't trouble me, the door is now shut, my children are with me in bed. I can't rise and give it to you. I say to you, though he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So what is it that's going on here? What is this saying to us, and what is it that's not that it's not saying? Because I think when it comes to prayer, one of the things that sometimes causes us difficulty, especially people who are younger in the faith, or haven't thought through these things deeply, as we read some of these verses that imply that God will give us anything if we ask for it enough, and when that clearly doesn't happen, we can prove from the Bible that our prayers are not all answered, it can cause people a real crisis of faith. But we need to understand this in the context not only of these parables, but in the context of God as a loving Father who does what's best for us and does not do everything that we ask of him for his own reasons.

So we look at this parable a bit. First of all, we have to step out of the context of our lives today and the way that we understand neighbors, friends who come over at midnight and borrowing three loaves of bread. Now, depending on where you live, knocking on your neighbor's door at midnight could result in a whole variety of things, including death, the police coming, things being thrown at you, and who knows what else. But this is not the same context as going over your neighbor's house at midnight and asking if you can get a tube of toothpaste because you ran out of it. You need to brush your teeth before you go to bed. So in Middle Eastern society, the idea of hospitality is integral to what happens in society. So we can remember, for example, the biblical account of Abraham, and when Jesus Christ in human form with some of the angels came to visit, what did Abraham say? Come in, we're going to kill the fatted calf, and we're going to set a meal before you. And this was standard in terms of what's expected in Middle Eastern hospitality. And the idea of people coming in as a traveler at midnight would also not be terribly unusual because you put yourself in the context of these cultures. You're living in a desert climate, in a lot of cases. The days are extremely hot. The sun is extremely hot. So a lot of travel, a lot of manual work would often be done in the evening time into the night or perhaps early in the morning. And for those of you who have visited that part of the world or been to any other Mediterranean climate, right, you go to places like Italy, places like Spain, generally speaking, you'll expect those people to keep later hours, right? Because very often they might even take a nap in the afternoons. Sounds kind of nice right now. Please hold off for the next half hour if you can.

But they'll often take a nap in the afternoon. I know where we've gone to the feast several times in Italy. You'll go into town and you'll try to shop between two and four in the afternoon. It's all closed. Everyone's off having a nap. They open back up at four o'clock and things go on into the evening. So the idea of someone coming in at midnight in the dark is not that terribly unusual. Then it says the person from within would say, don't trouble me. The door is shut. My children are with me in bed. So the thing that we take for granted today is the amount of space that we live in, right? Because at that day and time, most people would live in a one-room house. And in that part of the world, it's not unusual, at least out in the villages, to have a single room house. And families would not be unusual for them just to simply, when nighttime came, lay out the carpets on the floor, perhaps some heavier blankets, and all together lie down there in that one room to sleep. Perhaps they might have a small platform type of thing to serve as a bed. So this idea that he had bolted the door, he was now lying on the floor on some mats with his family asleep, where it would be difficult. He'd wake up the rest of the family. If he was to get up, step over them, get to the door, and try to open that up. That's the kind of context we're talking about. And then it says in the end, I say even though he'll rise and give it to him, not because he's his friend, but because of his persistence, he'll rise and give him as many as he needs.

Again, we need to understand the context of the time and the culture and how those people would have understood this story. Because the hospitality and giving somebody food and shelter when they come is considered an obligation. And it's not just considered an obligation of the person receiving, but as a village, you're expected that when strangers come, you're going to take them in and care for them. And I think it comes from the harsh conditions you're dealing with there, because if you think of what it was like to travel as a stranger in the desert, at the point that you came onto some civilization, if people didn't have food to give you and some shelter, you could end up in a situation where your life is in danger. And so these people would be taken in, and you would expect other people to do the same thing for you if you're on a journey and you're traveling to different places. So there's an understood joint obligation that's here that the neighbor would understand, just as well as the person who's knocking to get the bread. Which is, we have someone who's come into our village, the place that we live, and part of our reputation, part of what we are as a village, is that we need to take care of these people who are here. And one of the stories that I read, as a commentator was talking about this, gave an example when he was in the Middle East himself, and living in one house in a village, and they'd go and they'd visit somewhere, and they would be invited into someone's house. And what would happen when they were invited to that house is kids would go running in three different directions, and they'd start knocking on the neighbor's door. Can we borrow some oil? Can we borrow some bread? Can we borrow some wine? Can we borrow some plates? We have guests. We have to share with them. We have to give to them. And said that sometimes they'd even end up with their own plates from their own house, and be served on those plates in the house of these other people that they were visiting. Because they lived more communally than what we're used to today. And again, it was this shared obligation to be able to give hospitality to those people. So it's because of this obligation, this persistence of the person asking for it, and reminding him of the obligation, I've got a friend here, we've got to give him food, that this person would get up and give him what he needs. So we're not talking here about a situation where a guy gets up on a, you know, on a whim in the middle of the night, I'm kind of hungry and my refrigerator's empty, I just need some food, and goes knocking on the door of his neighbor until the neighbor answers and gets a slice of pizza. Okay, there's more going on here in terms of a shared responsibility to care for someone who's come into their village, into their area, and to give them what they need. As a result, because of the persistence of the person asking, and probably reminding that person, look, I've got guests here, it's an obligation, what are people going to think of our town? If I have guests who come in at night, I ran out of food, and you don't help me so we can feed them. What kind of word is going to spread about the kind of people we are, if we act that way? And you can kind of picture that type of entreaties that would go on for this period of time, as this guy's knocking on the door at midnight, trying to get his friend to get up and share some supplies and provisions with him.

Let's go to the next section, which is entitled, my Bible, keep asking, seeking, and knocking.

So I say to you in verse 9, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?

Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Now this is a verse as well that, depending on which of the accounts and the Gospels we read, some people take as a carte blanche. Whatever we ask of him, if we ask enough times, God will simply give it to us.

But that's actually not what it says here, is it? Let's talk through this section a little bit more and think about it as well, because the example of what's talked about here in terms of the things that it says the Father will give his child are very specific in this case as needs, right? Father asks for food. It goes through three different, or the child, it goes through three different types of food that the child is asking for.

It doesn't say if the child asks for a new Harley Davidson, or if the child asks for a new house, or whatever else, won't every father give it to him? The answer is actually no, right? But it says, if they ask the Father for these necessities, these things that you know the child needs in order to grow and develop, what Father in his right mind would deny the child those things?

Again, of course, we know we're dealing at a time when it was not the level of dysfunction within families that we have today, and sadly, today we can say there are fathers who probably would deny their children that.

But this is written to a different day and time where the readers and the hearers of this would have understood no father in his right mind that loves and cares for his children would deny the children these necessities. Now, when we lived in Colorado, we would experience it probably happened once every couple of years. There'd be some horrible car accident. I remember one of them, it was a, I think it was a Porsche, ended up in the front living room of somebody's house, and there were a couple of other similar sorts of accidents.

And those accidents that happened, it seemed like every couple of years, in these cases, were all connected to a child who had just turned 16 and a rich father who had given him a new car. And on the night or the week after the birthday, the car ended up in the living room of somebody's house because they'd been driving 80 miles per hour down a local road or something. Okay? So we know why fathers don't give, most fathers, don't give fast cars to their kid who just turned 16, right? Now, in some cases, they can handle it, and fathers make a judgment that that's the right thing.

But by and large, most people judge that that's not the right thing to do for a kid when they turn 16 because of the dangers that can go about that. So when we read this, and again understand the context of what it's talking about, it's talking about a father giving necessities to their children. What father in the right mind is going to deny those necessities? So why do I spend time on these things? I think we need to understand and think about the way that God deals with us because we see verses in the Bible, and let's turn to one in 1 John 5 verses 14 and 15.

And we also see preachers who are out there in the world at large who will sometimes speak irresponsibly about the things that God will give us. 1 John 5 verses 14 to 15. This is the confidence we have in Him. It says in 1 John 5 verse 14, If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. We have to be careful with verses like this and realize that here it talks about asking according to his will. And if we said in a physical sense to every child, if you ask of your father a big chocolate cake, be confident you will receive it, we all know that's not true.

It's just not the best thing for a kid to have a big chocolate cake every day. And God, in His wisdom and judgment, knows what it is that He's going to grant us and what He won't according to His purpose. It's not always easy to understand. It's certainly not always easy to deal with humanly. But that's where faith comes in and we realize that God is trying to develop something long-term in His children, just as we as fathers or those that we see around us as fathers are long-term looking to develop qualities, skills, attributes in their children.

Now, if you ever hang around with a group of fathers who are talking, you probably see it as well. Because it's not long before stories come out about, oh yeah, my son was just asking me for this. And I said, there is no way in the world I'm going to give him that. Because if I do, he's going to do this, and then he's going to do that, and then he's going to get in trouble because I know he can't handle it, right?

How many conversations like that have we been party to? I've been in lots of conversations with folks here in the congregation, too, who are fathers. And we inevitably, after a half hour or something, it always turns to something like that. Things that are going on with our kids, how we're dealing with it, why we're dealing with it in those ways, and what the purpose is that we're trying to accomplish in doing that. Often it involves the words knucklehead or bonehead or clueless as well.

But that's part of growing up, right? And fathers realize that about their kids as well. God wants to deal with us as a father. So let's get tactical here and ask my favorite question for a sermon, which is, so what? So what? Why does it matter? It matters in how we approach God and how we understand the things that we pray for. And I think it's incredibly important that we understand what are a few of the things that God absolutely will give us if we ask for them. Things that God absolutely will give us if we ask for them.

So I stand here almost 50 years old. I started attending church when I was about a half year old. And so I remember hearing plenty of things. And for those kids who are back there looking at their phones or drawing or other things, I hope you'll spend a few minutes listening. Because I remember from the time I was eight, 10, 12 years old, understanding that God was up there and that there were things that God would do and that God did care for me. And that's something that I think those of us who have kids and the children that are out there, just absolutely a central thing for you to understand. And the fact that there are things that you can go to God and ask for and ask for them persistently over the upcoming years. And I can tell you categorically, He will give them to you because He promises that He will. The fact that we're here, whether it's baptized people, whether it's people who are developing their relationship with God, whether it's children who aren't at the age yet to make a decision to formalize their relationship with God. These are things that God promises to us and that He will give us. Now, they're not the exciting things all the time, right? It's not riches and glory and new cars and big houses and all the other things we might wish for, but they are the things that matter long term, the things that matter for God's plan. So let's spend the balance of our time talking about those three things. We'll talk first about forgiveness. We'll talk secondly about His Holy Spirit, and we'll talk thirdly about wisdom.

Things that God unconditionally does promise to give to us who are His children. Forgiveness. Luke 11, verse 4, part of the Lord's Prayer again, the section that we just read, says, forgive us our sins as we forgive those or everyone who's indebted to us. How often do we acknowledge our sins before God? Whether we're long-time church members, whether we're people who are just beginning to walk with God, whether we're children, we can understand and acknowledge at whatever level we are the things that we've done that are wrong. And God asks us to bring those to Him and promises He'll forgive us of them. But we have to acknowledge them. We have to go before Him. We can ask Him to lead us to repentance. Or if we're baptized and we've repented of our sins, we ask Him to refresh us in that, to wipe away those sins, and to help us to walk in that repentant and justified state with Him the way we want to, but as humans, because of our weaknesses, the way that we cannot always do. Turn with me to John 1, verses 8 and 9.

Much stronger categorical statement here in John 1, verses 8 and 9.

I'm sorry, it's 1 John 1. 1 John 1, verse 8.

If we say that we have no sin, 1 John 1, verse 8, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

But in verse 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's a strong and straight categorical statement. Jesus Christ gave His life. He gave His life so we could be forgiven for our sins, and that's there for us to ask for, to acknowledge our sins and to receive that forgiveness from Him.

Turn with me to 2 Peter 3, verse 9. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9.

Again, looking at the certainty of God forgiving us of our sins. 2 Peter 3, verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So not only for us, but also for the entire world, everyone who's ever lived, it's God's will that they will repent and receive forgiveness from our sins, from their sins. But we have the opportunity now, having the access to this relationship to God, to come before Him now as our Father and be reconciled to Him, to ask Him to grant us that forgiveness. So again, whether we're baptized members who've been around for a long time and have repented of our sins, we still need to come before Him, acknowledge our shortcomings, acknowledge our faults. Also, as we grow and mature, we realize that sin is not so much about what we do. It starts in the heart, right? And as we go along longer and longer in our walk with God, we recognize more and more the things in our hearts that are the source of the things that we do.

And we ask God to show us those things in our heart. We repent of those, and we try to move forward, having His will and His way written in our hearts so that our actions, then, are consistent with His way. And likewise, those of us who are new to the faith or children, we can look at our lives, we can tell God, God, I want to be your child. I want you to lead me to repentance. I want you to forgive me of my sins, to tell Him that and to ask Him to lead you in that direction. It is a prayer that He will answer. Let's talk, secondly, about the Holy Spirit. And we'll go back, and we won't read through the entire passage, but in Luke 11, in this entire passage, it talks about asking, seeking, and knocking. It's important when we read the Bible to read the entire context, the entire passage, to see what's being said, because the punch line here at the end of this section of verses 9 through 13, in verse 13, it says, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So the topic here of asking, seeking, and knocking, not only talking about necessities that a child, a physical child, is asking for, then ties it to that spiritual necessity of the Holy Spirit. It says, just like a human father is going to keep his children well fed and not put something poisonous on his plate when the kid needs food, God in the same way is going to feed you, give you His Holy Spirit, which is the necessity of our spiritual lives. Turn with me, if you will, to Ephesians 3, and we'll read verses 14 through 19.

Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 3, verse 14 through 19.

It says, starting in verse 14, for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Holy Spirit, through His Spirit, in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Something that Paul prayed for for the members of the Ephesian church all the time, knowing that this is something that God wants for His people to be filled with His Spirit, filled with the fullness of Him, and having that Spirit lead them from their hearts so that the things they do in their day-to-day lives reflect God. Something we can and should pray for on a regular basis, because God as our loving Father will not deny us, strengthening us through His Holy Spirit when we ask Him to do that.

Let's turn to one more passage along these lines in John 10. John 10, verses 25 through 30. This is a topic that I've prayed a lot to God, especially in times that have been troubling within the church, or when I'm not sure which way things are supposed to go, in talking about the shepherd and the sheep, and the sheep hearing His voice and understanding His voice. John 10, verses 25 through 30. Verse 25 of John 10, Jesus answered them, I told you, and you don't believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you don't believe because you're not my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. A prayer that I think should always be on our lips to God is that we can hear and recognize and understand and follow His voice as our shepherd.

God's not going to deny that prayer. God wants to lead us. He's called us. He's given us the ability to understand Him in His way. Let's come before Him in prayer and ask Him to lead us so we can understand His voice. There are a lot of voices, a lot of noise that comes in today's world, aren't there? Well, there's things we see on TV, things we hear on the radio, the things that we see the people around us do wherever we are, if we're at work, if we're at school. There's so many voices that are coming at us leading us in different directions. They're trying to take us in different ways. We need to be able to discern from all that noise that's going on in our life the voice of our shepherd and the direction that that voice is trying to lead us. I encourage that as a constant prayer that we have in our minds as we come before God and one that He, I'm confident, will answer based on all of these things that are written in the Scripture. So again, the second item that God will grant to us is His Spirit. So if we're baptized members who've been around for a long time, when's the last time that we prayed to God about His Holy Spirit? About Him leading us directly and tangibly through that Spirit. That we could hear His voice as our shepherd. That we could understand the direction that He wants our lives to go. For those of us who are new to the faith or children, bring that before God. Let God know you want to follow Him. You maybe don't understand all of the ways to do that yet. You don't understand necessarily all of the complexities or the depth of that, but let God know that's something you want. Tell Him you want to follow Him. Ask Him to lead you. It's a prayer that He will answer. Lastly, let's talk about the topic of wisdom.

Topic of wisdom. Again, dwelling here in these three items on the things that God really as a loving Father, categorically and without doubt, tells us that He will grant to us. Things that we need. Things that will ensure us long-term success as children of His in His Spirit. Let's turn to 1 Kings 3. I think a lot of us are familiar with this passage where Solomon asked for wisdom. I know when I was a child, this was a passage that meant a lot to me as a young kid because it was something I could identify with in terms of coming before God and asking Him for things.

Solomon was pretty young at this point in time. I haven't looked at it recently, but my memory is that he was probably somewhere in his mid-teens at the point in time that he was asking this prayer.

I don't recall exactly anymore and didn't look it up when preparing for this message.

But again, especially for our children, for our youths, we would encourage you to pray this prayer as Solomon did. 1 Kings 3, verse 4, The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was a great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar, and at Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon and dreamed by night, and God said, Ask, What shall I give you?

And Solomon said, You have shown great mercy to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have continued this great kindness for him, and you have given him a son to sit on this throne as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child.

I don't know how to go out or come in, and your servant is in the midst of your people who you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Now, I just love that term of speech. I don't know how to go out or come in. I just, ever since I've been a little kid and read that, I was struck by that as a figure of speech, because, you know, Solomon is saying, Look, David, my father was this fantastic king.

There's this huge nation, a bunch of really knowledgeable people, a whole group of people going forward, and here I am this kid. I mean, I'm lucky if I can find the bathroom, right? That's basically what he's saying. I don't know how to go out. I don't know how to get anywhere. I don't know how to come back once I've gone there. I'm helpless is what he's saying to God. He's laying himself out before God and saying, I need your help. And your servant, he says, in the midst of these great people. So he probably felt intimidated when you think of the great generals.

David was a man of war. Think of the people that he had with him that waged these wars with him for years against Saul as they were out in the wilderness and then for many more years as king. And here you are a young man as king over all of this. He had no idea what to do with it. And therefore, he says to God in verse nine, give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil.

For who is able to judge this great people of yours? And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said to him, because you have asked this thing and have not asked for long life for yourself, nor have you asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice.

Behold, I've done according to your words. See, I've given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I've given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so there shall not be anyone like you among all the kings all of your days. So if you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. Notice the condition there wasn't, I'll give you wisdom if you do those things. I'll lengthen your days if you do those things. God, as I see it here, unconditionally told Solomon he was going to give him unparalleled wisdom, because of the way that he laid himself before God and asked for it.

And as we'll see in a few minutes, there are very categorical statements in the New Testament as well that God will give wisdom to us if we ask for it. So my challenge to everyone here, but especially to the children, to the young people, come to God daily and ask him for wisdom. Lay yourself out before him. As kids, we run into so many situations that intimidate us, people that intimidate us, places where we just don't know how to go out or how to come back in.

And God is there ready to listen, and God is there ready to grant wisdom to us if we ask for it. Turn with me to Proverbs 2, another passage I just love. Proverbs 2 verses 1 through 7, talking about wisdom. Great area to reflect on and spend time with. Wisdom, of course, is not only for the young. There's plenty of us who are on in years that can use as much wisdom as we can get. Proverbs 2 verses 1 through 7, My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, then you'll understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright, and he is a shield to those who walk uprightly.

Beautiful words. You think of the things that we need in life. Wisdom and a shield. His commandments to be with us. His protection. All of these things that he gives to us and grants to us.

Encourage you to think on these words, and let's take them before God as our loving Father. Because how could God as a Father who loves us not grant us wisdom? Now, we have to be ready, of course, because wisdom doesn't always come with the wave of magic wand, does it? It comes through experience, comes through pains, comes through mistakes, but then dwelling on those mistakes and those pains and understanding what caused them so they're not going to happen again, as we reflect on our lives and our hearts and on things that are wrong, on him and how we move from where we are to where he is. But God will grant us wisdom in that process as he works with us.

Last verse on this topic, James 1, verse 5. And here, again, is the categorical statement that I was talking about earlier. James 1, verse 5. James 1, verse 5, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

I don't see any hedging here. I don't see any ifs. I don't see any maybes. It will be given to him.

If we go back to the parables, and there are other parables that talk about this, we remember our friend at midnight knocking on the door of his neighbor's house. It didn't say he knocked lightly on the door and the neighbor leapt out of bed and delivered him three loaves of bread and said, you know, I was just thinking you were going to come to the door and eat him. There is a level of persistence. There's knocking. There's explaining. Again, if we go back to that parable, I'm willing to bet you that in a situation like this, the neighbor is saying, come on, get up. I know you might wake up your kids, but I've got a friend over here. What's he going to think of all of us if we don't give him the bread? You really want me to leave this guy to go hungry all night in my house? What's he going to do when he goes on to his next stop and talks about our town? I'll bet in a real situation like that, that's the kind of dialogue that was going on. It wasn't, knock, knock, knock. Can I have some bread? I've got a friend who came over. Knock again. Can I have some bread?

It went a lot deeper than that, didn't it? A lot more persuasive, I'm sure, and that's exactly the way that we need to go to God as we're talking with him about these things that he promises to give us. Explain to him why. Why do you want it? Why do you need it? Why is it the right thing? We know these things are in line with his will, without a doubt, and why is it that we want him to fulfill his promises and bless us with those things so we can lead stronger Christian lives, so we can be better witnesses and examples for him. So, no matter who we are, no matter what our situation, whether we're near the end of our lives, whether we're at a very mature point of our spiritual walk or only beginning it as children, ask God for wisdom. Come before him on your knees and ask him to give wisdom to you, something he wants you to have, something he promises to give to the people who come before him. So, as we wrap up this message thinking about prayer, again, we've focused on God as our Father, not always an easy concept these days because of the experiences some might have had in their own lives with fathers, but God is someone who is interested in the long term and bringing many sons to glory. And as a father dealing with children who, if he's a good father, is patient, rides through the bumps in the road that happen day after day, week after week, month after month, until he sees that son or that daughter grow into a mature human being over the course of time, that's what pleases that father, isn't it? For those of us who are fathers, there's nothing like having one of your kids come to you at some point in time and say, you know, I was thinking, and I decided I needed to do this and this and this. And you start hearing your words and the things that you've taught and the approaches coming back to you out of the mouth of that child, and there is absolutely no feeling in the world like that as a parent, because you're seeing they got it, they understood, and I've got some confidence now that they're on the right path. That's exactly what God is looking for from us. So let's go before God as our father, and let's think about the things that he will give us. Forgiveness from our sins, his holy spirit and wisdom, the things that in the end are essential for our spiritual lives. Let's go before him as our father and ask him regularly and often for those things.