Jesus' Face

Here is a recent teaching I did at Oasis Granger.

What Makes A Dad Part Two

"God already knows what you need before you ask," Jesus tells us this in Matthew 6:8. I think a lot of people read this as "God knows what I really need", usually alluding to some hard life lesson. Maybe something like, "I needed a job and headed to my job interview but God made me miss the bus to show me something..."

This doesn't really line up with what Jesus says. After He tells us God knows what we need, He gives us a prayer after which we can pattern our lives.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

(Matthew 6:10-13)

Our Father knows what we need already. Now think about this - What does it mean for God's Kingdom to come and for His will to be done on Earth as it is in heaven?

Well, what is heaven like?

Are people sick?

Is there evil?

Is there hunger? Strife?

Toiling?

No. Heaven is a great place and Jesus wants us to see our world become more like it.

Notice how Jesus covers everything from being fed (physically) to be protected (physically) in this prayer.

Our Dad know what we need before we ask. So, let's word this in a more understandable way.

Dear Dad in Heaven,

You are awesome and great. Make my life & world perfect like heaven (no sickness and hurting). Thank you for providing for me & for forgiving me so that I can love others. Keep me away from trouble & protect me. Amen.

He does know what we need before we ask. And we can see through this prayer what a perfect Dad desires for His kids. Since we know what we really need now, we can believe that it will happen.

What Makes A Dad

I had a conversation with my friend, Brian, the other day. We started talking about kids and parenting since we have both been married to our wives for two years. As we talked, he said something that caught my attention.

"Any body can make a baby but it is all the other things that make you a dad."

I began to ponder this. My thoughts went immediately to my father. No, not my physical father. My spiritual Dad.

It make me sad to see people who don't see God as their Dad. Even a lot of Christians don't. They say things like "Our Heavenly Father". But saying isn't knowing or believing. God really is their Dad but they only see him as "Creator" (biologically). He doesn't provide for them. He becomes the distant, drunk, abusive guy or the strict man that they have to call father. He causes harm and heartache.

This isn't what a dad does. And no, the "he does it because he loves me" isn't an excuse. That is called battered woman/child syndrome. It's a lie.

So what does a real dad do? It's not that birthing of a child that's makes you a parent, it's how you care for the child.

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." Matt 7:9-11

Isn't it true that God is good all the time? Why can we then justify that he does terrible things to people "for the greater good"?

I have news for you. Jesus died for the greater good so we could be saved from death. You aren't Jesus. You don't save. He does.

Yes, people are persecuted for the Gospel (not by God). After all, "no one ever hated his own body, but feeds it and cares for it, just as Christ does the Church - for we are members of His body." Eph 5:29-30

I never want to balance God's goodness by saying, "Sometimes God has to ______ in order to ______." He doesn't change. He won't lower His standards to anything less than being a perfect Dad.

So, do you look at God as just the Creator or do you see Dad. It is the good things he does for us to care for us that makes Him a Dad. Not because He has to but because He wants to.

Exodus - What Not To Do

The Israelites exodus from their slavery in Egypt can be found in detail in the book of Exodus. Though this took place thousand of years ago, there are some patterns we can see that we should not follow. Please view what I am saying under the light of the Gospel of Jesus: a Gospel of Grace.

The Israelites were in slavery to Egypt but God wanted to be their salvation and lead them to a promised land (promised to their ancestors) so that they could live a free life. So God sent Moses to lead them out.

At first, Egypt refused to let them go but when they saw God working miracles through Moses, they finally consented. As Israel was leaving, the Egyptians changed their minds and pursued them to kill them.

This is where the Israelites trouble really began.

They began to complain against God and doubt Him. They let their fear consume them and they became paralyzed. Of course, God is faithful and rescued them. He completely wiped out the Egyptian army and showed Israel how powerful He was. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Israel from complaining. Every time there was an issue the same feelings of resentment came up. They complained.

• Complaining or blaming God is a dangerous first step into unbelief. Allowing your heart to walk down this path is essentially walking into death and is exactly what the devil wants. Take Job, for instance. Satan robbed him and yet he blamed God.

Israel continued until they reached Mt. Sinai. Here they received the Law, but not before an interesting sequence of events. In a tone of arrogance, they claimed that (before God gave the Law) they could do anything he commanded. Then God put restrictions on them punishable by death.

• Do not think you can merit yourself before God. God loves to give freely (Romans 4:4-8). Under Christ we are blessed freely. Meriting what you do causes self-righteousness (self-reliance) and arrogance. This causes a disdain for Grace (Galatians 5:4).

After receiving the Law from God, Israel continued toward its destination. This place (the promised land) was supposed to be a comfortable place of rest. Unfortunately, the people of Israel came to a point of total unbelief. When they realized they had to first drive people out of the promised land, they were afraid because they thought they were too weak and again they complained. Because of this, God didn't allow them to enter. Instead they wandered for 40 years until all of those who doubted were dead.

• A combination of self-merit and bitterness towards God led to unbelief, which is anti-faith. When we don't believe the Lord has done something for us, we won't have confidence. For instance, if I don't believe Jesus forgave all of my sins on the cross, I will continually think God is against me. Jesus has promised to never leave us. A lack of belief in His promise and finished work causes us to lose our peace (Hebrews 4:3).

People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord. Proverbs 19:3

So, what not to do?

• Don't blame God. He is the one fighting for you.
• Stop trying to ear God's love. Self-effort causes a disdain for His free grace.
• Unbelief in God's goodness (in His Good News) will cause you to wander without any peace.

Hope big

The things that you hope for will be limited to the knowledge you have of the things that you can hope for and faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1). In other words, if you don't know what you can hope for you will never have faith that those things will happen.

Many people are confused by the will of God because they don't have a firm foundation of the Gospel of Grace. They have just heard everyone else's opinion and have come to conclusions based on what they heard. A phrase commonly used is "We can never understand God or His will" or something along those lines.

While I believe God is amazingly big and awesome and mind blowing - I disagree.

You have heard this before -

no eye has seen,

no ear has heard,
and no human mind has conceived”

the things God has prepared for those who love him.

No one ever reads the following verses. Look at the Message translation for 1 Corinthians 2:9-13:

No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,

Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.
But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
Wow.
This is all based on the knowledge that you have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you. He doesn't come and go. He is always there. Let me let you in on a little secret - the list of things you can hope for (an ultimately have faith will happen) is much bigger than you can conceive. But He will continually show you!
Here is a small list for starters -
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103)

Acts That Lead To Death

People often get caught up in defining sin and avoiding sin. Sin is dangerous. But the Bible paints a picture of something else that we need to avoid - Acts that lead to death.

You might be thinking, "Aren't these the same thing?" Interestingly no.

Hebrews 9:14 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁴How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God?
Some other translations say "Acts that lead to death" and also "Useless rituals".
All of these are describing participation in the Law. Most people don't realize the Law mentality they have. If you are constantly going to God for forgiveness, you might be allowing yourself to fall into this.
You see, the blood of Christ ensures total forgiveness. There is no longer a need to make sacrifices (constantly asking for forgiveness).

Hebrews 9:15 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁵[Christ, the Messiah] is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement (testament, covenant), so that those who are called and offered it may receive the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance--since a death has taken place which rescues and delivers and redeems them from the transgressions committed under the [old] first agreement.
How we relate to God shouldn't look anything like what you see in the Old Testament. Our agreement is totally new and is totally based on Jesus.
Useless rituals cause us to have a performance mentality. When we are always thinking about how we appear before God there is no time to meditate on Jesus. If we can't do this, we will never be able to serve God.

Holy Spirit

I have felt condemned before when people have quoted Paul in Corinthians and said, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" The implication is that if it is too dirty He will leave. This is not true. God has promised to never leave us or forget about us.

Paul was trying the opposite of condemnation. He was reminding people that God always lives with them. His power is always present to free them.

But there are still some who think the Holy Spirit comes and goes. This mentality causes people to miss out.

Ephesians 1:3

May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!

If the Holy Spirit is coming and going you will have a hard time every receiving. But thank God that Christ dwells in us!

Now I have heard people say, "Spiritual Blessings are just spiritual, not tangible." What does that even mean? And why would God waste his time with something that doesn't do anything for anyone?

The truth is God's blessings are always tangible in some shape or form. But if you want to know what God's blessings are like, the Bible does a pretty good job of giving us a list.

^{Psalm 103:2-5}

²Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits--

³Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases, ⁴Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; ⁵Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!
If God really does these things (these spiritual blessings), than there will certainly be tangible results. Jesus loves you. He is not ashamed of you. More than that, he is not ashamed to call you his family. He does not hold back any of His benefits from you!