Dr. Rick Mandl - January 8, 2021
Our Father In Heaven
Devotional Manuscript: Our Father In Heaven
Message by Dr. Rick Mandl, January 8, 2021, Eagle Rock Baptist Church
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
Hey church family, “The Lord's Prayer” is arguably the world's most famous prayer, It’s recited more often than any other prayer and known by almost everyone, even unbelievers. Today I want to look at just one line of this prayer — More to the point, I want us to just look at the first four words, of the prayer
Those first four words are - - - "Our Father in heaven" From those four words I want to ask you to think about four things that they teach us about God as Father:
#1. His RELATABILITY.
Father is a term that points to a family relationship. Now, I know that – because of that it can be a term that carries a lot of baggage for a lot of people. But the ancient Jewish culture, was more stable and family-oriented than our own, And in that culture the term “father” brought with it warm, welcoming, and intimate feelings. However, when Jesus used the term 2,000 years ago to refer to God, it was revolutionary. He was the first Jewish rabbi to directly call God Father. And He tells us to do the same thing When we talk to God, we're not talking to a force or some impersonal ruler; we're talking to our Father.
#2. His RULE.
If God is our Father, then we are His children, Which means our relationship should be one not just of intimacy but also of respect Because we are His children, we should be concerned about doing our Father's will, respecting and revering Him as the sovereign ruler of our lives.
#3. His REACH.
That word “Our” in front of the word Father ought to remind you that God has other children besides you. In fact, read through the Lord’s Prayer and you’ll find there isn't a single personal pronoun in the entire Prayer. And for a good reason: Jesus came to replace the words “I”, “me”, “my”, and “mine” in our vocabulary with “we”, “us”, “our”, and “ours”. We are part of a family, the church. This means your personal relationship with God should not be a private relationship. There's no place in God's family for isolationism or radical individualism. It’s “together” that we are the body of Christ.
#4. His RESIDENCE.
God is our Father in heaven. You can think of heaven as His base of operations, the place from which He exercises all power and authority. This is important to remember when we come to Him with our issues. Things may be bad on earth, but God is on His throne in heaven, and there, it’s all good. Think about your own relationship with God. What's it like?
Sometimes people refer to God as "the good Lord" or "the Big Guy." That's usually a dead giveaway that they don't have any kind of close, intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. Let me encourage you - if you've wandered away from God as your Father and gone your own way, know this: when you come back to Him like the prodigal son, confessing, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight". . Know that you have a heavenly Father who will run to you, and embrace you and welcome you home. And for that we all ought to thank Him. Amen
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
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