REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
God the Father (August 24, 2025)
Who exactly are we talking to when we pray "Our Father, which art in heaven"? For many believers, God the Father remains the most abstract member of the Trinity despite being the one to whom Jesus directed our prayers.
In this powerful first installment of a series on the Trinity, we unpack the nature and character of God the Father through scripture and practical examples. Beginning with the foundational truth that "for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created," we explore how the Father functions as Creator, Provider, Protector, and the perfect embodiment of love.
Unlike our imperfect earthly fathers, God represents perfect fatherhood—the source of all life and care. His creative work wasn't random but precisely designed, from Earth's perfect positioning on its axis to the intricate balance of nature. As Provider, He cares for our daily needs just as He cares for the birds and wildlife, though many of us struggle to fully trust this provision when challenged to tithe or step out in faith.
The Father's protection surrounds us like a shield, not eliminating challenges but giving us confidence to face them without paralyzing fear. His love manifests both through unconditional acceptance and through discipline—correction that isn't punishment but rather proof of His desire to see us grow. The ultimate expression of this love came when "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."
Perhaps most misunderstood is God's jealousy—not a petty emotion but rather His protective concern for relationship with us. When we feel God pursuing us, it's because something is threatening our connection with Him.
Ready to transform your understanding of prayer, provision, and divine relationship? Stop focusing on Jesus only during emergencies and start seeking God's face in every moment. Pray with us: "Father, meet all my needs according to Your perfect will," and watch how He responds to those who trust Him completely.
Amen, amen. Let the little little ones go back to nursery. Where did my wife go? She bailed, she did what. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. I don't blame her.
Speaker 1:A couple of weeks ago, I promised that I was going to do a series on the Holy Trinity, on the Godhead, and we're going to start that series today, and the reason that I promised it was because I realized there were a lot of people who didn't fully understand it. Now, normally, whenever I step into the pulpit, I step in to preach, not to teach. So this is kind of a new facet for me. So prepare yourselves. Okay, I'm going to be a little bit slower today. I'm not going to yell as much. I'm going to try not to yell as much. This is something that's incredibly important for us to understand, because we need to understand who God is, who Jesus is and who the Holy Spirit is. Now, while they are all one thing, we look at them to serve different purposes. Amen, and so I want to start.
Speaker 1:Joe, I actually I'm guessing you have your Bible with you. Can you open your Bible? I need you to go to Matthew 6. I brought a King James Version and a New Living Translations with me this morning, but I need to know what Joe's. Joe, how old is your Bible? Okay, that's what I was hoping for. I don't know how old this one is. This one's not even mine. I don't even actually know who it belongs to. It's got lots of stuff in it, so somebody's gotta be missing it, but apparently they're not, because it was a little dusty sitting back there and it's been laying back there for I can't tell you how long. That's how I get new Bibles. I wait for you guys to leave them lay around long enough and I'm like, oh, they obviously don't want it. Joe, can you read out of your Bible Matthew 6, 9 through 13? 9 through 13? Well, here, can I just borrow it with that? I probably can't read it either. Matthew 6 you're in the right spot there. It is no well, I have it highlighted in this one too, but I'm looking for an old bible. Oh, sorry, joe, I'm dropping your stuff on the ground now. Hopefully that wasn't marking anything important.
Speaker 1:What did I tell you? Matthew 6. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. That's what I wanted to see, because we've always said that forgive us our trespasses, right. And I don't know why that I have such a hard time that the King James Version is debtors instead of trespasses, I don't know why. So I looked at the New Living Translations and I was really like, ew, this doesn't feel right. So we have to go back to the OG, right? Okay, that gave me what I needed. I'm like how much stuff do you have in that Bible? Joe Just keeps jumping out. Man, there you go. All right, we're gonna start there. So we're gonna start over again.
Speaker 1:Matthew 6, nine through 13. And it says after this manner therefore, pray ye this is King James Version. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom, come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. So I wanted to start with that, because in the book of Matthew it says after this manner therefore, pray ye, our Father which art in heaven? Right, that tells us that we are praying to the Father. Right Now, this is New Testament, so there's a lot to be learned here. But we start every prayer knowing that we are praying to the Father, amen. So there's some confusion in that. Who are we praying to? We are praying to the Father, to God the Father, amen. We all together on that, okay, great, wonderful. Okay, now we're gonna jump real quick to 1 Corinthians 8, 6. It says but for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created and for whom we live. All right, we good. Do we get it? It says but for us, there is but one God, the Father, by whom all things were created. Are we getting there now? God the father is the creator. Good job, you guys are catching on fast.
Speaker 1:I want you to think for just a second about earthly fathers. Right, life wouldn't come to us without earthly fathers Amen. Now. Some of us have great fathers, some of us have subpar fathers. Some of us don't even know our fathers. Amen. Now. Some of us have great fathers, some of us have subpar fathers, some of us don't even know our fathers, right, and it is hard to realize how good God is when we base it on what we call a father here on earth? Right, because I will promise you that there isn't a dad in this room who has been perfect at any point in their fatherhood career. Right, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. However, god is perfect and he is our sustainer. We can list all of the things that God is, and we're going to get into some of them, but we have to stop thinking about the father in the manner in which we think about the father here on earth. Amen, because he is the source of all life. He is the source of love and the source of our care.
Speaker 1:Genesis 1.1 says in the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. We already talked about this. He is the creator. Right, at this point, god is speaking things into existence. He is putting the birds in the skies, the fish in the seas, the animals on the land, and we can question that right. Frogs, why Mosquitoes? Why? What's the purpose? Right, I think we can get further in life without some of those things. But why did he make vampires with wings? Right, like they suck in my blood all the time. I can't go out in the front yard here without practically being carried away. I absolutely don't understand why God created some of the things that he did, but here's what I do know he has infinite wisdom compared to me.
Speaker 1:Amen, and that's the part that we fail to realize in the creation. See, we talk about science and evolution and people think about those things and they think well, that can't be possible. God couldn't have created everything. Certainly, things have evolved. I promise you he is the creator of all things. They are still finding creatures in the depths of the seas and in the depths of the rainforest that have never been discovered before. If we are finding the species that live in the world, it is not hard to believe that we are still finding tribes of people in this world that we have never seen before. Can I ask you a question? What is the Great Commission? To preach the gospel until every ear has heard right. And the challenge is this we haven't discovered all of them yet, so not every person has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we know that Jesus' return is dependent on everybody hearing the gospel, amen. And so we know that God, the creator, has designed this perfect atmosphere in which we cannot possibly find all of those things until his time calls us to find them. That is divine creation.
Speaker 1:I love to think about the world and I apologize to anybody who thinks the world is flat. The earth is flat because I'm not gonna talk about a flat earth. Okay, think about how the earth sits perfectly on its axis at a tilt and spins the exact speed at which it should spin so that we don't fly off Right, so that we can stay on the earth, that gravitational pull that allows us to stay there. And think about all of the things that are in the layers of the earth. That is not something that happened by accident. It was designed so that we could live here.
Speaker 1:The challenge is we live here, but we abuse where we live right and we don't take care of the things that God has given us. And because we don't take care of them, we watch it decline. And as it declines, we think well, he gave us dominion over all of these things. It is ours to control. Can I correct that for just a second? It is always his and always will be his. It is our responsibility as flesh and blood to care for what God has gifted to us. He has created this perfect thing so that we may have life abundantly here right Now.
Speaker 1:The challenge is the word tells us that heaven is welcome on earth. What we allow in heaven will be allowed on earth. Right, and what we allow on earth will be allowed in heaven amen. And what we allow on earth will be allowed in heaven Amen. So the challenge is we're allowing things on earth that are not heavenly. We don't want those things in heaven, do we? But we also are not expecting heaven on earth. God did not create us to show up with subpar expectation. He created us to show up expecting big things, not from one another, because we will let each other down. He has called us to expect great things from him and him alone Amen.
Speaker 1:In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. Everything began with him. Literally every star, every plant, every weed, everything, even the stuff you don't like, began with him. But, most importantly, every breath began with him. The breath in your lungs would not be there if it weren't for God Amen.
Speaker 1:Now, when we think about God being so good to us and breathing life into our lungs and allowing us to live the life, a lot of us look at life as if it's a sentence right, we have to get to the end of it in order to have heaven. I'm going to tell you we should be inviting heaven here. We should be inviting heaven to be on earth with us, because when we get to glory, that's wonderful. But why would we live sick and broken? Why would we live that way when God did not call us to live that way? He has given us the ability to live in health, in plenty, amen.
Speaker 1:Now listen, you're going to experience want. Embrace it. I'm living in a season of want, like you have no idea. I think about all the things that I should have that I don't have, and then I think but God, but God. You have given me so much to this point, right, you have given me so many things, and I say this a lot, and I know this sounds crazy to some of you, but I have never experienced real loss in my life. I have never experienced a loss so great that I didn't know how to recover from it. Some of that is because I'm stubborn Amen. But some of that is because I know that God is faithful in all things and even when I take a loss, even when I don't win like I expect to win, I know that God is using that for victory.
Speaker 1:I don't focus on all of the bad things that are happening. Listen, it takes me a minute sometimes. Right, we're not all just able to go. Oh well, that wasn't a big deal. Our lives get changed and turned upside down at a moment's notice. But we cannot focus on all of those things because that is not what we are called to do. The breath in our lungs is to sing praise and give glory, not to speak death. Not to speak death. It is not designed to speak death and hate.
Speaker 1:Imagine if you were to show up to an art gallery and you look at how many of you guys like art. I like art, but I can't afford it. Right, like, I haven't figured that out yet. I haven't figured out how somebody can sell a piece of art for a million dollars. I'm not saying you're not talented. There's some beautiful art out there, but I'm still a little bit confused by it. But you walk through an art gallery and you see some of these paintings and you look at them and you know just how beautiful they truly are. Right, and when you look at it, you think the person who was painting that knew exactly what they were doing at every stroke of their brush right.
Speaker 1:God is the exact same way the creator of this universe. He knew with every single thing that he would be creating the purpose and the longevity of those things. He knew what he was doing far before you and I were ever even formed. He knew that we would be sitting in this building on this day and he has called you into this place for such a time as this that you might hear the words, embrace the words and change your life. Listen, we cannot live our lives for the world and for sin any longer. God has called us to repentance simply through the creation. Amen. When he called us to be, he called us to be perfect, blameless, sinless, and unfortunately, the enemy found a great way to make us feel shame. Shame is not from God. Shame is not from God.
Speaker 1:If you're sitting in your seat right now, feeling like something in your life just isn't right, or you know, lord, I don't feel like I'm worthy, lord, I don't feel like I deserve to be. Listen, god has not called you to live that life. He has called you to be free, and I will be free, amen. Okay, the Father is also our provider. How many of you believe that God will provide everything all the time. Yeah, you know what? Can we just show hands real quick? Who believes that God is going to provide all things? Can I ask you another quick question? Keep your hands up for just a quick question, for just a quick second. Actually, you know what? Put your hands down, because here's my next question. So many of you raised your hand right Because you believe that God is going to provide all of your needs in your life. Yet I would bet three quarters of you go.
Speaker 1:I can't tithe 10% Because if I tithe 10%, we won't have the money for groceries. I can't afford to not tithe. Listen, guys. I lost my job and my wife and I are still tithing on what I made then. Do you know why? Because we believe that if we continue to give at what God was giving us before, he'll give it to us even bigger next time. It doesn't have to be money. You know, I left a job after almost seven years, after almost seven years, all of the things that I had in that place and I walked away. I'm making a third of what I was making, but God is still blessing us every single day. You know what I have the ability to get up and go to work every morning. That is a blessing all in its own, amen.
Speaker 1:But here's the challenge we believe, or say that we believe, that God will provide all things, but we don't actually believe it. We only believe it when he's giving us something, amen. We don't believe it when he's taking something away. Let me promise you this when he has taken something away, it's to stretch you to the next level, right? He has taken a lot away from me in the past.
Speaker 1:Every time I feel like and I have argued and wrestled and fought with God about all of the things you know, lord, you told me that you would bring me to this place. You told me you would set me on that mountaintop, and now you're taking me off. And you know what he says it's time to move on, it's time to grow. I don't want to grow, god. I like this mountaintop, right. I like what I've got here. I don't. And he says, no, not today. It is time for bigger, it is time for greater, amen. God has called this place to greater for years and every time I walk in here, I am in awe of the things that he does, in absolute awe. God has never provided halfway. He has never provided for you halfway. He meets your needs daily, every day. He has met your needs. I don't think we give God enough glory for that. I don't think we give him enough.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're sitting in your seat and you're just feeling like you're in pain, or maybe you're sitting in your seat and you're feeling depressed. You're sitting in your seat, but you're sitting in your seat. Can I tell you that God woke you up this morning and brought you to a place of worship. Right, he's humbled your heart so that you can hear his word. We should be excited about what God is doing in that Amen.
Speaker 1:Listen, I don't wake up. I don't wake up every day I probably do this more often than I should complaining that I have to go to work. I wake up excited that I get to go to work because I'm gonna do something with my life today. Listen, I'm gonna look at who I serve, not what I have to do. Right, I look at who I serve. I serve a good God In all things. I serve a good God and in serving a good God, I get to serve a broken people. Right, because when somebody have you ever listen? I don't like to answer the phone when I go to work to serve a broken people, right? Because when somebody have you ever listen? I don't like to answer the phone when I go to work, because sometimes you answer the phone and there are people that just yell Like the first word out of their mouth is not appropriate to say in the pulpit or ever to be clear, and I don't like talking to those people.
Speaker 1:But God has called me to that place. Do you those people? But God has called me to that place. Do you know why? I think God has called me to that place? My wife knows why God has called me to that place. Because I can be that person. I can lift you up and I can tear you down. Right, don't charge me a late charge on my credit card. I'm gonna call you. Right, it's my fault, it's 100% my fault, but I'm gonna call you. I'm gonna let you know. Right, that's not good. So God has put me in a place where I have to. I have to deal with those people and at the end of that call, do you know what I have to say? My pleasure, my pleasure, it was my pleasure to have you belittle me for something that wasn't my fault. And God says, yeah, but do you do it? And when God calls you to that moment, you should realize that he is making you grow into something you have never even realized you could grow into. Amen, matthew 6, 26.
Speaker 1:It says look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? My wife and I were just talking about this. My wife and my kids. We plant all kinds of pollinating flowers because we love monarch butterflies, milkweed and all of the things. It's fascinating to us and we can't figure this out, but this should be a very clear sign of divine creation. These butterflies will come to our house and eat off of our flowers and then, when the weather gets cold, all of the monarch butterflies all of them fly to Mexico for the winter months. For the cold months, those butterflies will fly back to the exact same flower the following year. That's fascinating, isn't it?
Speaker 1:If he will care for them in such a way, will he not care for you the same way? If he has cared for them, if he has given them the understanding to go somewhere else to get fed so that they may not die, has he not done the same for you? You will never starve, you will never be left without, because God has called you a friend. I am a friend of God, you are a friend of God. If that doesn't excite you, I don't think anything can, right? Listen, I got some pretty crappy friends, right, and I am a pretty crappy friend. But let me tell you something God doesn't care how terrible of a friend I am, he is still always good to me. When I go to him and I say, lord, I haven't been here in a minute and I just need you to know that I am thankful for all that you do.
Speaker 1:He continues to bless me. He calls me into that time with him. He calls me into that relationship with him, and sometimes the phone has to work the other way. Right, he can't always call me into that. Sometimes I have to call him into that. Lord, I am lost and I am broken. I am coming to you to give me peace. Lord, let your perfect will be done in my life today, amen. But so often it has to be the other way and sometimes he really has to do something bad to get ahold of us right, really has to shake us up. We have to trust him with our daily needs, not just in an emergency.
Speaker 1:Have you ever walked into a situation where you're like, oh, that shouldn't happen like that, and you immediately start to pray, but you haven't talked to God in three weeks? You might show up to church and you might oh, pastor Michael's praying. I bow my head and really you're thinking about what you're having for lunch or where you're going after church or whatever your plans may be, and that prayer completely slips through your mind. I promise you at the end of the service, when I'm praying, I'm praying that God moves in your life in a mighty way. I can't pray you into heaven. It is your responsibility to get yourself there right. And so what I need you to understand is that we cannot focus on Jesus whenever we have a need. We need to focus on Jesus at every moment of our lives, at every turn, at every question, at every desire. We should be seeking God's face.
Speaker 1:Now, when I go to God, I always ask him that his perfect will be done in my life. Okay, that's the best thing you can do. Here's the problem. I will ask for his perfect will and then I'll say but if you could do it my way right. Lord, your perfect will, but here is my will. If you could, if it would be your pleasure, lord, allow me to be independently wealthy. Did you guys know my dad hit the lottery? Hit the lottery $28. But he hit the lottery right. Not enough to quite retire on.
Speaker 1:I think about the blessings that God pours out on me. They're not always the blessing that I'm asking for, but they are blessings nonetheless, and I have to focus on those things daily and not just whenever I have a need. The Father is our protector, psalms 91.2. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety. He is my God and I trust him. I trust a lot of people. I believe that I will trust anybody until they prove that I shouldn't trust them. And once that trust is broken, it is really hard to rebuild that trust with me. Right Now.
Speaker 1:That's not to say I dislike you. That's not to say that I won't converse with you. That's not to say I won't be your friend. But when you volunteer to do something, I'm like your friend. But when you volunteer to do something, I'm like, yeah, probably not Appreciate the offer, because what I've asked in the past has not come to fruition. God is not that way in my life. Even when he's taking something away, I trust that it is for my good and it is not for the good of the person next to me. It is not for the good of the person who receives because of my debt. It is not for that person. He is doing it for my good, amen.
Speaker 1:How many of us actually believe that it's hard? Because God does something good in all things but we look at the bad things and we can't see the good. We want to argue with him about those things. You know, when we talk a lot about Job, whenever we talk about these types of things, job continued to give God praise. He wanted to die. He was miserable. But God to you be the glory, but God to you be the glory in all things, not just when I'm on the mountaintop, but when I'm in the valley too. I will wait in the valley as long as I need to be there, so long as God is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's never going to change. So that means when I hit that valley, I can wait with patience. I can wait with patience. It's hard, but it's a learned skill. It is a learned skill. The longer you fight him, the longer you stay in the valley.
Speaker 1:Mike, can I share your news? Yeah, so last week I'm not taking credit for this I want to be very clear. Mike had been looking for a new job and we'd been praying about it for a long time, and last week, when God spoke to him and said that there was something that he wasn't embracing I can't remember exactly how it was said we sat and we talked after service and he said that a lot of the jobs that he's interviewing for, that he's talking about, they require him to use new technology, which is not something that he's interested in doing, not something that he felt confident doing. And I said to him I said that's it. I said you need to get over that. You need to be prepared. Wednesday night I was here working and he walked in and he told me that he got a job at one of the places that he told me required him to use technology.
Speaker 1:When God speaks, we listen right. When we prepare our heart for what God is going to do for us, then he starts to move. We can embrace that right. How long did you look for a new job? How long Two months he was looking and wasn't able to find anything. Sometimes we are the roadblock to God's blessing. Sometimes we are the roadblock because we don't want to receive what it is that God is telling us to receive. Amen.
Speaker 1:When God says, step out, you have to step out. You have to be willing to do that with a great amount of confidence too. The one thing nobody can ever say about me is that I lack confidence. Right, I'm confident even when I'm wrong, even if I know I'm wrong. I'm gonna tell you confidently that you are wrong and I am right. If the clouds opened up and God said, michael, you are wrong and I am right. If the clouds opened up and God said Michael, you are wrong, I would say let's talk about this, right? Hold on, let me ask, chat GPT. Right, god surrounds his children like a shield.
Speaker 1:Now, I was you guys like those little Facebook videos of all the cute little animals, right? Aren't they cute? Like all the little baby ducklings and chickens and whatnot? And I saw this video where this mama duck was walking and she had all of her little ducklings behind her and, one by one, the ducklings fell into this drain, into the sewer drain, and she's just walking, just keeps on going, she don't even know. They just one by one they fall into this drain and the police came and rescued all of those baby ducklings from that drain, took the drain cover off, pulled all of the little ducklings out and as soon as they did, mama, when she realized all of her ducklings were gone, she came back and the minute that they took those ducklings out she opened her wings and those ducklings ran and hid under mama's wings. They were scared. They were so used to being close to her that when they were removed they had fear, a great amount of fear. Now chickens are the exact same way. Even when the weather gets bad, all of the chicks will huddle under mama's wings and she'll take care of them.
Speaker 1:God does the exact same thing for us each and every day. You know, I always picture myself walking around with like this, like clear shield around me and there's stuff just flying at me and it's bouncing off all the time, because God has designed me to believe that he can protect me from all of those things. I also think that sometimes that leads to stupidity. Right, I was Roger and I were working on those sound baffles in the gym and that lift is how? Where's Roger? How high is that ceiling, do you figure? I have no judge, I have no spatial reasoning.
Speaker 1:25 feet, Think it's 25 feet in the air. And when you get up there, this thing wobbles back and forth like this. I'm driving at 25 feet in the air. He's like you know, you're not supposed to do that, right? I'm like, eh, it's fine, see, because I think God will protect me in all things, but I fail to realize just how stupid I can be. Right, challenge accepted. And the thing is is I don't ever want to test God like that, but sometimes I have to realize that he is good in all things and he will in fact protect me. But he can only protect me so long as I take him with me, right? And when I begin to do stupid things and I separate myself from the will of God, there is no guarantee of protection.
Speaker 1:In order to live under the covering, I have to live in relationship with God right Through prayer, through fasting, all of those things we don't have to live in. Fear every day is not of god. There is no such thing as having good fear, right, maybe a healthy amount of fear, like when you're on that lift, like I probably shouldn't do that, that that conscious that tells you you shouldn't do those things. There's probably a healthy amount of like reasoning, but fear is not of Having a strong foundation in the safety and in the understanding that God is our protector is one of the most important things that we can do. God as part of the Trinity is all of these things that we have talked about up to this point. If we know that he is our protector, then why do we worry about the things that are happening in the world around us? I'm not saying we shouldn't be cognizant of them, but I can't worry myself. If I live in worry all the time, I would never leave the house and if I never left the house I couldn't bless the world around me.
Speaker 1:Amen, the father is love. 1 John 3.1, it says see how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children and that is what we are. But people belong to the world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know him. Amen, that we are God's children because they don't know him. Amen. People look at us, the people who live for the world, look at us like we're the crazy ones because they don't know who God is, to know how good he is and know just how blessed they could be if they lived under his covering.
Speaker 1:The father is love. It is unconditional and is not earned. You do not earn the love of God through kind acts, through being good to people. Love is unconditional so long as you believe that God is the creator of all things, that he is the father of your life and you love him and you have a relationship with him. That love is free and without cost. If you think about the prodigal son's father running down the road to embrace his rebellious child like, you picture that in your head. That is how Jesus is to us every day. Or God is to us every day, right, when we are constantly pushing back on all of the things that he does, when we have that revelation that we need to be in relationship with him, that we need to be in his presence when we come running back, he is meeting us there. He's running far faster than you can because he is excited that you are home. Right, this isn't about you getting your way. This isn't about you having things or whatever the case may be. He just wants you to be home.
Speaker 1:The father is wholly unjust. Hebrews 12, 6, it says for the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes each one he accepts as his child. Now we just admitted we're all children of God right Now. Listen, for the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes each of the one he's accepted as his children. His discipline is proof of the love. It is not condemnation, it is not rejection. It is proof of his love. He wants you to change from glory to glory. Right, and without discipline, without correction, can we change? Listen, some of y'all got bad kids. You got bad kids because you don't discipline your kids right. Listen, it's the truth. You go out to the store. You see these kids like hanging from the clothes racks, knocking stuff off the shelf. Do you know why those kids do that stuff? Because they're allowed to do that stuff. God does not allow us to sin. It's not acceptable in the kingdom of God, amen. And when we do it, he corrects us. We don't like that. We don't like correction, because correction means change, accountability means change, and so we blame God for taking all the fun out of life.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna tell you what some of the most fun that I have is with my Christian friends. I've had a lot of fun with my non-Christian friends in the past, right, but I wouldn't call drunken stupors fun. At the time it felt like a good time and now I realize I can do all of those same things. I can play all of those same games and do all of and not have to be worried about whether or not I'm in control of my own body, right? And I am thankful that God gave me that realization and pulled me from that life. I was like geez Holly thanks a lot.
Speaker 1:Just as a coach will push his athletes to be better, so will God push us to be better. A coach isn't pushing their kids to be better just because he wants them to be better. He's pushing them for better for the victory, right, just as God is pushing us to be better for the victory. Now here's an important part the Father sent the Son. Amen. We're gonna talk about Jesus next week, but I want you to know that the Father sent the Son. Amen. We're going to talk about Jesus next week, but I want you to know that the Father sent the Son.
Speaker 1:Most of us know this, but John 3.16, it says for this is how God loved the world he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Now we look at John 3, 16 in New Living Translations. Most of us can quote it in King James Version For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So, therefore, everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life, however that may go towards the end. But his only begotten son. We are the children of God, amen. But Jesus is the only begotten son of the heavenly Father. Amen. But Jesus is the only begotten son of the heavenly father, amen. And he sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our salvation. That is a sacrifice that none of us will ever understand. You may lose a child, you may lose a spouse, you may lose—God did it willingly Sent his son, knowing what would come, so that we may have everlasting life.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I want to just tell you, though and I think this is incredibly important is that God one of the things that he is that we tend to take out of context he's a very jealous take out of context. He's a very jealous God. He is not jealous like you, and I look at the word jealous, right. I get jealous when somebody gets something that I don't have. I get jealous when my wife spends time with somebody else instead of me with her boyfriend. That just started a rumor. That just started a rumor. Exodus 30, what Don't even start? Exodus 34, 14.
Speaker 1:It says you must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose name, whose very name, is jealousy, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you. God is not jealous when you go and spend time with other people. God is jealous when you don't his relationship with you. God is not jealous when you go and spend time with other people. God is jealous when you don't spend time with him because he wants you to be in relationship with him. He doesn't care about the other things that you're doing. He wants you. He's jealous when you reject him for other things. Amen. Deuteronomy 4.24,.
Speaker 1:It says the Lord, your God, is a devouring fire. He is a jealous God. God's jealousy is about protecting what belongs to him. Right, he is trying to protect you in all of those things. He wants to protect his glory and his people. We look at jealousy very differently. But when you feel the Lord chasing, but when you feel the Lord chasing you, when you feel the Lord pursuing. You know that he is jealous of something that's happening in your life and he wants to protect you from it. Amen, and you have to be ready to embrace that jealousy.
Speaker 1:God, the Father, is not distant. Many times we often think that the only thing that we have connection to is the Holy Spirit. God is not distant. He is your creator, your provider, your protector, your lover, your corrector. He is the only one who sent his only son so that you shall have everlasting life. Every part of his nature is caring. Every part of who he is is. Every part of who he is is designed to show you that he cares. If you've struggled to see God as the father, today is an invitation to run to him. Picture yourself as the prodigal, picture yourself as the one who has turned from God. I know that each and every one of you I believe this in my heart you're all in a great place in your lives and you're all in such a good relationship with Christ that if the trumpet sounded and Jesus returned right now, we would all go to heaven. Amen. I wanna believe that.
Speaker 1:The thing is is. I'm standing here in this pulpit watching some of you sleep in your seat right, which tells me you aren't concerned about what God is doing in your life. You are more concerned about nap time. You are more concerned about lunchtime. You are more concerned about what you're going to do this evening. Is there a football game on today? Anybody getting worked up about that? Yet Okay. Next week, anybody getting worked up about football? Yet yeah, when professional football starts, I'll be lucky if I get some of you to church on Sunday mornings. You know the Browns play at 10 am. Pastor Michael, I can't Listen. They're going to lose anyway. They're going to lose anyway. You might as well, not, right? They're undefeated in preseason. Okay, congratulations on your zero real wins. I don't know. Anyhow, we're not going there Today.
Speaker 1:I need you to trust him with what you cannot control Amen. There are so many things outside of your control. You need to trust him with that. You need to release the fear that he won't come through for you. That is the best return on investments you're ever going to make is believing that God will show up when you need him to show up.
Speaker 1:I want you to pray this week, father. All of my needs be met in your will. Father, meet every desire of my heart in your will. I want you to pray that this week. More than anything, I want you to seek his face in all things Amen. When you get to work and it goes sideways, I want you to just say, lord, whatever it is you're teaching me, make it abundant and make it clear, lord, because I live to serve only you. Just as our earthly fathers are put in this position to protect us, god is designed. His desire is to protect us, to love us, to care for us. Amen. Let's pray together.
Speaker 1:Father, I thank you and I praise you for the move of your spirit in this place today, lord, for the stirring of our hearts that we may be able to recognize exactly who you are and what you have done for us. Lord, not just what you have done by sending your son, jesus, to die on a cross for us, but, father, what you are continuing to do through his death, through his resurrection, father, that we have everlasting life because of a sacrifice that you were willing to make by sending him to us. Lord, I thank you for pouring out your love upon this house and this body, father, father, I thank you for moving so freely in this place, but, lord, even more I thank you for simply sustaining us when we feel like there is no way. Lord, I pray a blessing over every person sitting in this room. Touch their hearts, father, lead them, guide them and direct them in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church says amen.