Our Heavenly Father #1

Our Heavenly Father Overview

In this opening message of a new series, Pastor explores one of the most profound revelations in Scripture: that through faith in Jesus Christ, God is not a distant deity but our personal heavenly Father. Drawing from Ephesians 3:13-15, 1 Timothy 2:3-5, John 14:6-11, Matthew 5:43-48, and Hebrews 11:6, the message unpacks the Greek word patria, revealing that every fatherhood in heaven and earth finds its origin in God the Father. Jesus is presented as the sole mediator between God and fallen humanity, not our ultimate destination but the bridge bringing us into intimate relationship with the Father. The sermon challenges wrong thinking about God, showing how distorted religious images kept the Pharisees from receiving the goodness of the Father. Pastor illustrates fatherhood through personal stories, including 59 years of marriage, tent crusades, and encounters with people far from God, all pointing to one truth: God withholds nothing from those who come to Him. Listeners are called to repent, which means to turn and change the direction of their thinking, and to diligently seek a Father whose plans outnumber the grains of sand. The message closes with a sinner’s prayer of surrender and new birth.

Our Heavenly Father Outline

• 0:00 – The Greatest Term in the Bible: The sermon opens with Jesus teaching the disciples to pray ‘Our Father,’ and why that phrase ignited hostility from the religious establishment who could not grasp God as Father.
• 6:30 – Ephesians 3 and the Word Patria: Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:13-15 is examined, with the Greek word patria revealing that every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named after and originates in God the Father.
• 14:00 – The Trinity Working as One: 2 Corinthians 13:14 is opened to show how the grace of Christ, the love of the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit all operate together to reveal the fullness of the Father’s love.
• 22:00 – Jesus the Mediator, Not the Destination: From 1 Timothy 2:3-5 and John 14:6-11, the message explains that Jesus is the one mediator between God and man, the bridge bringing us into relationship with the Father, who is our true destination.
• 33:00 – A Distorted Image and the Good Samaritan: Pastor traces how the Pharisees built a corrupted image of God and how Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to contrast religious indifference with the Father’s heart of compassion.
• 43:00 – The Father’s Kindness and Perfection: Matthew 5:43-48 is taught, showing that loving enemies, blessing those who curse us, and doing charitable deeds in secret are expressions of growing into the completeness of the heavenly Father.
• 51:00 – Rewards Passed to Our Children: Psalm 37:25-26 and personal testimony about sowing finances into Christian education illustrate how the Father’s rewards are generational and overflow to our descendants.
• 56:30 – Faith, Lawlessness, and the Coming Return: The sermon addresses the increasing lawlessness of the age, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and the imminent return of Jesus, urging listeners not to be moved by the behavior of others.
• 1:00:00 – Altar Call and Prayer of New Birth: The message closes with a corporate prayer of salvation, declaring God as Father, Jesus as Lord, and receiving a new heart and new spirit through the Holy Spirit.

Scripture References

Ephesians 3:13-15, 2 Corinthians 13:14, John 15:26, 1 Timothy 2:3-5, John 14:6-11, Matthew 5:43-48, Hebrews 11:6, Psalm 37:25-26, Philippians 1:6, Romans 8, Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Peter 1

Key Takeaways

• When you give your life to Jesus Christ, God becomes your personal Father and you are held in His hand within His hand, a double protection from God Almighty.
• The Greek word patria in Ephesians 3:15 reveals that every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named after God, meaning every person alive exists under His fatherhood whether they know Him or not.
• Jesus is not our final destination but our mediator, the one way that brings fallen humanity into intimate, transforming relationship with the heavenly Father.
• Repentance means changing the direction of your thinking, turning toward the Father so His goodness, healing, and plans can flow freely into your life.
• The Father’s rewards are generational: what you do in secret for Him overflows not only to you but to your children and their descendants, according to Psalm 37:25-26.
• Maturity in Christ means that other people’s behavior no longer determines your own character, because the Father Himself never changes and you are growing into His likeness.
• God’s plans for your life are more numerous than the grains of sand in the Sahara Desert, and He is able to do above and beyond all you could ever ask or imagine.

Our Heavenly Father Notes

God as Father Changes Everything

The sermon’s central premise is that the single word ‘Father’ reshapes every aspect of a believer’s identity and daily life. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray ‘Our Father,’ He was not giving them a religious formula but a relational reality. Religious leaders of His day considered this heresy because their image of God was built on law, distance, and performance. Understanding that God is your Father removes loneliness, insecurity, and fear, because everything is in the Father’s hand, and you are held securely within that hand.

Patria: Fatherhood Covers All People

Pastor draws on the Greek word patria from Ephesians 3:15, translated ‘family’ in most versions, to show that God’s fatherhood extends over every human being on earth, not merely over believers. The J.B. Phillips translation renders it ‘every fatherhood in heaven and earth.’ No person is a mistake; there is no lesser or greater in terms of origin. The critical difference, however, lies in relationship: those who bow their knee to the Father in Christ experience the covering and blessing of that fatherhood, while those who reject it forfeit it for eternity.

Jesus Mediates, the Father Completes

A key distinction in this message is that Jesus is the mediator, not the terminus, of faith. Drawing from 1 Timothy 2:5 and John 14:6, Pastor explains that Jesus continually works between God and humanity to correct preconceived, distorted images of the Father, the same distortions the Pharisees held. Even after salvation, believers carry wrong ideas about God that Jesus, through His Word and the Holy Spirit, progressively corrects. Faith is authored and finished by Jesus so that the Father’s fullness, what Paul calls pleroma in Greek, can be fully received.

Charitable Deeds Done in Secret Rewarded Openly

Matthew 6:1-4 forms a practical cornerstone of the sermon: doing good not to be seen by others but in secret before the Father who sees in secret and rewards openly. Pastor connects this to a personal testimony of sowing money into Christian universities before his congregation even existed, simply believing that his children would receive a Christian education. Every one of his children graduated from a Christian college. This illustrates that secret, faith-filled acts of generosity become generational blessings, reaching children and descendants as confirmed in Psalm 37:25-26.

Loving Enemies Reveals the Father’s Character

Matthew 5:43-48 is unpacked to show that the command to love enemies, bless those who curse you, and pray for persecutors is not merely an ethical demand but a call to reflect the Father’s own nature. The Father sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. The Greek word telios, translated ‘perfect’ in verse 48, means complete, mature, and whole in labor, growth, character, and moral development. You cannot achieve this completeness through personal effort; it comes by continually looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, and allowing the Holy Spirit to form the Father’s likeness within you.

Now Is the Acceptable Time to Turn to the Father

The sermon closes with an urgent invitation grounded in the reality that Jesus is returning soon and that lawlessness is increasing exactly as Matthew 24 foretells. Pastor emphasizes that today, not tomorrow, is the moment to repent and give your life to Christ. The corporate prayer of salvation spoken at the close echoes Romans 10:9-10: confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart. Surrendering to the Father is not weakness but the greatest act of wisdom, exchanging a self-directed life for one guided by a Father whose plans outnumber every grain of sand.

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