Our Heavenly Father #6

Heavenly Father Overview

In this sixth session of the ongoing series on Our Heavenly Father, the pastor of NTC Ministries opens with a powerful declaration drawn from 2 Corinthians 13:14, anchoring the entire message in the triune blessing of grace, love, and communion. The teaching centers on the condition of the human heart and how everything that flows into or out of a believer’s life is determined by the softness or hardness of that heart toward God. Drawing from Ezekiel 36, Matthew 6, Ephesians 3, and 1 Timothy 2, the pastor traces God’s eternal purpose to sanctify His name by giving every person a new heart through Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and humanity. Rich illustrations, including the analogy of a loving dog, the Greek meaning of pleroma, and the three historical uses of that word in Roman life, bring the theology to life. The session builds toward a liberating conclusion: believers are not called to strive harder but to receive more deeply, fellowshipping daily with the Father until His love transforms every area of life, from marriage and finances to identity and destiny.

Heavenly Father Outline

• 00:00 – Opening and Series Context: The pastor welcomes the congregation, expresses gratitude for their spiritual hunger, and sets the stage for the sixth session of the Our Heavenly Father series, calling the people to be open to receive the love of God.
• 04:30 – Foundation Scripture and the Condition of the Heart: An exposition of 2 Corinthians 13:14 introduces the three-part blessing of grace, love, and communion. The pastor explains how the heart, not circumstances, determines the outcome of every person’s life.
• 12:00 – Sin as a Nature and Jesus as the Axe at the Root: The distinction between sin as a nature and its fruit is unpacked. John the Baptist’s declaration to lay the axe to the root is presented as the announcement of a new heart, not merely new rules.
• 21:00 – God’s Name Profaned and Restored: Ezekiel 36:23-27 and John 17:25-26 are explored to show how God’s name was misrepresented among the nations and how Jesus came to restore the Father’s true identity as a God of love, provision, and goodness.
• 31:00 – The Lord’s Prayer and Heaven on Earth: Matthew 6:9-13 is read and unpacked with emphasis on the phrase ‘on earth as it is in heaven,’ calling believers to stop waiting to go to heaven and start allowing heaven to invade their present lives.
• 39:00 – Ephesians 3 and the Unsearchable Riches of Christ: Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:8-19 is developed at length, covering the mystery hidden in God, the economy of grace, and the eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus for every believer.
• 49:00 – Rooted in Love and the Four Dimensions: The pastor expounds on being rooted and grounded in love and comprehending the width, length, depth, and height of Christ’s love, explaining how accepting God’s love opens the door to divine revelation.
• 55:00 – The Meaning of Pleroma: Filled with All Fullness: The Greek word pleroma is unpacked through three vivid Roman illustrations: a census of occupied homes, a fully loaded cargo ship, and a battleship manned by skilled soldiers, representing complete comfort, provision, and protection.
• 1:01:00 – Closing Exhortation and Prayer: The pastor calls the congregation to open their hearts, receive God’s love without guilt or condemnation, and trust that fellowship with the Father is the key to transformation in every area of life.

Scripture References

2 Corinthians 13:14, Proverbs 4:23, 1 Corinthians 3:2, 1 Corinthians 15:34, 1 Timothy 2:3-5, Ezekiel 36:23-27, John 17:25-26, Isaiah 1:18-20, Matthew 6:9-13, Ephesians 3:8-11, Ephesians 3:14-19, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:16, Hebrews 12:2, 1 John 4:7-8, Deuteronomy 11:18, John 8:31-32, John 10:10

Key Takeaways

• Everything that flows in and out of your life originates in the condition of your heart, not in your circumstances or other people.
• God’s eternal purpose is to sanctify His name by revealing to the world that He is a Father of love, provision, kindness, and forgiveness, not a source of destruction.
• Jesus came as the one mediator to give every believer a brand-new heart and the indwelling Holy Spirit, making intimate fellowship with God continuously possible.
• Receiving the love of God is not optional spiritual enrichment but the essential foundation for transformation in marriage, finances, identity, and destiny.
• The word pleroma means to be filled with all the fullness of God, encompassing complete comfort, complete provision, and complete protection with nothing lacking.
• You are not called to strive under law or self-condemnation but to fellowship with the Father daily, allowing His grace to accomplish what no human effort ever could.
• There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, so forgiving yourself is as essential as forgiving others because the penalty has already been fully paid at the cross.

Heavenly Father Notes

The Heart Determines Everything in Life

The pastor anchors this entire session in a foundational truth from Proverbs 4:23: the heart is the source from which all the issues of life flow. This is not the physical heart but the inner spirit of a person. When that inner heart is soft and open toward God, it receives His love, His promises, and His blessings freely. When it hardens through neglect, wrong associations, or sinful patterns, it filters out the very goodness God intends to pour in. The pastor emphasizes that hardness of heart is not defined by dramatic moral failure but by distance from fellowship, and that restoration is always one open conversation with God away.

God’s Name Was Profaned, Now Restored

Drawing from Ezekiel 36:23-27 and John 17:25-26, the pastor addresses a theological problem that runs through all of history: God’s name being misrepresented. When insurance policies call disasters acts of God, or when people attribute sickness and poverty to divine will, His name is profaned. Jesus came specifically to correct this misrepresentation by showing the Father through His own life and ministry. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, demonstrating unmistakably that the Father is for humanity, not against it. This revelation should reshape how every believer reads Scripture and how they speak about God to others.

Fellowship Is the New Covenant Currency

The old covenant operated through laws, regulations, and external requirements because the hearts of the people were hardened. But in the new covenant, God’s administration shifts entirely. He places His own Spirit inside the believer and governs not through rules but through relationship. The pastor uses the Greek word oikonomia, the root of the English word economy, to explain that grace is now portioned out freely to every open heart. This is why consistent fellowship with God, talking about His goodness at the table, on the road, and at rest as Deuteronomy 11:18 describes, is not religious duty but the practical pathway to having heaven on earth.

Pleroma: Three Pictures of Complete Fullness

One of the most memorable moments of this session is the pastor’s exposition of the Greek word pleroma from Ephesians 3:19. He describes its three historical uses in Roman life. First, a census taker marking a home as full when every bed was occupied. Second, a cargo ship declared ready to sail when every hold was packed with everything needed for the voyage. Third, a battleship ready for combat when every station was manned by a skilled soldier. Together these images communicate that the believer who receives God’s love is filled with all comfort, all provision, and all protection simultaneously. There is nothing missing and nothing lacking.

Receiving Love Breaks Every Cycle

The pastor speaks with pastoral honesty about his own experience of striving under law as a Spirit-filled Christian and the dramatic transformation that came when he finally embraced grace through faith as a gift, not an achievement. He invites listeners to recognize that their struggles in marriage, finances, and character are not primarily faith problems but knowledge problems. Specifically, a lack of experiential knowledge of the Father’s love. When the love of God is truly received into the heart, it begins dissolving every cycle of worry, pressure, confusion, and condemnation automatically, not through human willpower but through the working of God in the inner man as Paul describes in Ephesians 3:16.

No Condemnation Means Open Hands Before God

Romans 8:1 is invoked near the close of the message to liberate believers from self-punishment. The pastor draws a vivid analogy of a person lashing out at a loyal and loving dog and then immediately feeling genuine remorse, not because of a rule broken but because of a relationship wounded. This is the healthy response to sin in the new covenant: grief over wounding the One who loves you, not a spiral of guilt and condemnation. Past, present, and future sins were all covered at the cross. Therefore, the believer’s posture before God should always be one of open hands ready to receive more, not closed fists bracing for punishment.

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