Learning How To Live with God as our Father

Mini-Seminar

Learning How To Live with God As Your Father

I.  Common idea:  Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of humanity.

"(10) "Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?" [Malachi 2:10 NASB]

Creation:  This was true before the rebellion against God in the garden.  Here the idea of  “Fatherhood” was one as the source of life.   Clearly the idea of  “am my brother’s keeper” is found as a question that is based on care of other the life of other humans. 

All human beings are sacred, and made in God’s image.  Every life is precious.  There should be love and care shown to each other because we all bear thus image and this is what unites humanity.

Rebellion:  But after the rebellion against God this spiritual relationship was lost.  We became the children of the devil instead of the children of God.  We divorced God as our Father and adopted the devil as our dad.   We are spiritually dead to God due to our rebellion.

"(44) "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." [John 8:44 NASB]

"(1) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, (2) in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (3) Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." [Ephesians 2:1-3 NASB]

II.  To have God as your heavenly Father you receive Messiah Jesus as your prophet, priest, and king which can only occur if you have been “born again” so you can see the LORD Jesus as the one hope we have of life.

Redemption:  This is why we must be “born again” in order to now be the children of God.

"(11) He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. (12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, (13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." [John 1:11-13 NASB]

III.  What does it mean to live with God as our Father?

A. Your heavenly Father provides and gives you every good thing in your life. 

You can trust your heavenly Father’s character, competence, and compassion.

"(17) Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (18) In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures." [James 1:17-18 NASB]

The heavenly Father is good

The heavenly Father is great

The heavenly Father is full of grace

The heavenly Father is with us in this life of grief.

The heavenly Father will make sure that all our grief will be used for good.

The greatest gift

"(13) "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?"" [Luke 11:13 NASB]

Our prayers should be based on the idea that God is our Father.

"(9) "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (10) 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." [Matthew 6:9-10 NASB]

B.  Father God cares for the poor and oppressed so we should also care for the poor and oppressed.

"(27) Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." [James 1:27 NASB]

C.  All humanity is made in our Father’s image and so we should never curse another human being.  To curse a person is to stand in self-righteous judgment of them and condemn, their very essence of their being. 

"(9) With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;" [James 3:9 NASB]

D.  God loves you more than you can understand for believers have been given the “Sonship “ of Jesus.  We are adopted “in Jesus”.

"(15) For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"" [Romans 8:15 NASB]

"(6) Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"" [Galatians 4:6 NASB]

III.  Final Thoughts