We are looking at the names of Jesus and what they mean for us.
Isaiah 9: 6 His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Today we want to look at the name Father.
Father = if people come to your door and say Jesus was not God this verse alone shows that Jesus and the Father were one because they have the same name.
John 5: 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
God as Father is a series in itself sow e are going to focus on one part of the Bible to see what God as Father is like.
1. Acceptance from the Father
This prayer is not exactly like the prayer in Matthew so Jesus is teaching us a form of prayer rather than exact wording.
Our Father
- When Israel prayed they used the terms God of Israel or Our Father Abraham
- Now Jesus states we can pray to our Father
- You have the right to be called children of God.
John 20: 17 ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
We can know the Father because of Jesus
Not the Father of the whole world, but father of those who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
Jesus thinks the world of his children
- “He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” (Zeph. 3:17 KJV)
- “Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.” (I Peter5:7 LB)
EXAMPLE: the quartz crystal’s molecular structure vibrates at the speed of 9 billion movements per second. If God could only think that fast, He could think a loving thought towards you about twice every second without straining His ability to relate to the rest of His children DON’T KNOW HOW HE DOES IT JUST ENJOY THAT HE DOES.
We live in a society that demands if you then I will. God is not like that. He accepts us because of Jesus.
2. The Father is Generous
The focus on this parable is not on the person in bed being disturbed, but on the person boldly asking for an answer to their need. If the focus is on the man in bed, we can get an image of a God who we have to beg to get something from.
The person is answered according to Vs 8 because of their shameless persistence. This is the only place that this word is used in the Bible. We can get examples of this when Abraham talked to God about the saving of Sodom in Genesis 18. It is also shown in the story of the Gentile woman talking with Jesus in Matthew 15: 21 – 28
We can ask and we will receive. What are we going to receive?
James 1: 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows
Matthew 5: 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous
Key Point: God our Father is good
- Bread= stone something worthless
- Fish or egg = scorpion or snake something that will hurt us.
God will not give us something worthless or something that will hurt us.
Vs 13 I am an evil father and I will not give my children these things, why would God because he is perfect. This is why he gave us the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit transcends all the temporal things we may need in this world.
Our Heavenly Father is being slandered all over the world right now by wrong images of who he is. We can come shamelessly into his presence and receive from Him a true image of who the father is.