How was your relationship to your father? Some will say great, others not so good, and even others may never even have known their fathers at all. In either case: How should Christians view their relationships with their fathers? Should a bad relationship with an earthly father impair or render impossible a magnificent relationship with God as a heavenly Father? Well, in honor of father’s day, Pastor Landis has prepared a special topical message just for the occasion. So we have placed our study of the gospel of Saint Mark on the back burner till next Lord’s Day. Listen in as our Pastor opens the Word to show us how we have been “Fathered For Glory”
Old Testament Scripture Reading: Psalms 103:1 – 14 (KJV)
Psa 103:1 A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Psa 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psa 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Psa 103:4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Psa 103:5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psa 103:6 The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
Psa 103:7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
Psa 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Psa 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
Psa 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
Psa 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Psa 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Psa 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
New Testament Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:1 – 11 (NASB)
Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, Heb 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. Heb 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; Heb 12:5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; Heb 12:6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” Heb 12:7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Heb 12:8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Heb 12:9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? Heb 12:10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. Heb 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Transforming Power Statements:
#1) God initiated the concept of fatherhood even from before the foundation of the world, therefore it is a glorious idea to be reverenced in all the earth.
#2) Our fathers of the flesh as fallen men, could not have had a perfect record as compared to God, nevertheless we should honor them anyway due to the glory that God has designed into them to forward to the next generation the opportunities of His glory and the possibility to attain His salvation by His Fatherhood of Jesus Christ.
#3) The greater we increase in understanding of all the trials of this life the greater ability we will have to grow closer to one another and to God who is The perfect Father who has chosen to love us in spite of our sin by offering His Only Begotten SON JESUS!
