Who is Your Daddy?

Who is Your Daddy?

Good Morning Friends,

The book of Matthew alone refers to God as our Father 43 times and Jesus taught us to pray to our Father. Jesus asked His Father to forgive us so we might join the Family of God. However, although we are all made in His image and from His hand, we are not all His children.  Only those who believed him and accepted Jesus, were given the right to become children of God…. reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. We do not have the privilege of calling upon Abba until we have believed and accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord. So, Who is Your Daddy?

Scripture: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

John 14:1-17 (NRSV)

Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

Matthew 21:23 (NIV)

¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12-13 (NRSV)

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly form heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:1-2 (NRSV)

Message: When the leaders—the chief priest and the elders tried to ask Jesus a trick question about his authority, they had hoped to make a fool out of Jesus. The only problem was that their question became a boomerang when Jesus met their challenging question with a question of His own. When Jesus asked them His question it was clear that either way that they answered the question would be incriminating. This text is about how our words match our actions when it comes to obedience to the will of God. It is both our actions and our words that communicate on which side of the fence we are standing whether it be obedience or rebellion.
Friends, the solution to a troubled heart is trust. And as the disciples gathered in the upper room troubled by the thought of what is to come so too we gather. But unlike the disciples we need not be troubled, for we have the comfort of home in the Holy Spirit as they discovered on the day of Pentecost in that same upper room. Friends, the way to the Father’s house is Jesus…a risen Jesus. Think of touching His hands. Think of breathing the new air of heaven. Think of waking up in the glory of finding home on earth as it is in heaven. Think of seeing Jesus face to face as the hope of the reality of His presence with us now in the comfort of the Holy Spirit…think of Him and us in the arms of our Father.

Pray we live by faith in the Father revealed by the faith of His Son. Pray we trust the Father. Pray that wherever and whenever we come together in prayer, we grow in grace and love and the Word. Pray we trust in the Holy Spirit’s presence. Pray we trust in God’s promises. Pray we trust in Jesus and never reject Him. Pray we realize that Jesus is still the way, the truth and the life. Pray we trust Jesus to prepare a place for us in this life and the next. Pray we appreciate the relevance and importance of faith on our journey as a worshipping community. Pray we learn to trust enough to seek the benefits of comfort found in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Pray we find the Savior in the Scriptures, the Teacher in the Temple, and Christ in Creation. Pray we like Jesus are a shining witness of the spirit of God…in our Daddy’s Church.

Blessings,

John Lawson