Three Seasons Community Church– 6-3-07

What we long for as children is not presents– although that’s nice– but presence!

We aren’t meant to figure life out on our own. God wants to father us!

The truth is, He has been fathering us for a long time– we just haven’t had the eyes to see it! He wants to father us much more intimately, but we have to be in a posture to receive it. What that involves is a new way of seeing, a fundamental reorientation of how we look at life, and our situation in it.

First, we accept that we are unfinished men, partial men, mostly boy inside, and we need healing.

Second, we turn from our independence and all the ways we either charge at life or shrink from it. We must be willing to take an enormous risk and open our hearts to the possibility that God is healing us as men– maybe even in the very things in which we thought He abandoned us. We open ourselves up to be fathered. Eldredge

A sort of fundamental mistrust is something we learn through the course of our days built on that core mistrust in God we inherited from Adam. Making the switch will feel awkward.

The more we’ve become accustomed to seeking life apart from God, the more "abnormal and stressful" it seems "to look for God directly." May

Psalm 28:7 (NLT) The Lord is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trust in him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. [6] Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.

Matthew 7:9-11 (CEV) Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? [10] Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? [11] As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.

The point is that if you, who are evil, would give good gifts to your children then how much better is God going to do!

Matthew 6:25-34 (NLT) "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life-whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing? [26] Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. [27] Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. [28] "And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, [29] yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. [30] And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! [31] "So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. [32] Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, [33] and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. [34] "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 18:10-14 (CEV) [10-11] Don't be cruel to any of these little ones! I promise you that their angels are always with my Father in heaven. [12] Let me ask you this. What would you do if you had a hundred sheep and one of them wandered off? Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go look for the one that had wandered away? [13] I am sure that finding it would make you happier than having the ninety-nine that never wandered off. [14] That's how it is with your Father in heaven. He doesn't want any of these little ones to be lost.

Every man wants to know that He is a beloved son!

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV) But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 13:14 (NLT) But now your dynasty must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already chosen him to be king over his people, for you have not obeyed the Lord's command."

Acts 13:22 (NLT) But God removed him from the kingship and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, 'David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to.'

When you read the Psalms, there can be no doubt that David knew he was a Beloved Son of God. His poems are filled with the kind of heartfelt assurances of God’s love and favor that only a Beloved Son can express.

Psalm 103:1-5 (NKJV) A Psalm of David.

Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! [2] Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: [3] Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, [4] Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, [5] Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 23:1-6 (NKJV) A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. [2] He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. [3] He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. [4] Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. [5] You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. [6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Matthew 3:16-17 (NKJV) When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. [17] And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Fathers, do your children know that they are your beloved son[s]? Do you show and tell your children that you love them?

Do you know that you are a beloved son?

Allow God to say to you "__________ , you are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased!"

Do I trust God with all my heart? Do I really believe that God will take care of me?