In the Bible God identifies Himself by many special names.

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1 SERMON FOR SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 21, 2009 (MY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY AT CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST) MESSAGE 3 OF 13 IN THE OLD TIME GOSPEL SERIES CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister ************************************************************************************ An Old Time Gospel Message On God, The Greatest Father of All (Message 3 of 13 in Old Time Gospel Sermon Series ) Luke 15:11-32 Today as we continue in our Old Time Gospel Sermon Series I want to preach a Father s Day Message on God, The Greatest Father of All. In the Bible God identifies Himself by many special names. *Of course, GOD is His signature Name. The Name, GOD appears over 3,000 times in the Bible. *Another Name by which God identifies Himself is the Name, Elohim, which refers to God s three in One nature; God the Father God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. * Another Name by which God identifies Himself is the Name, JEHOVAH, which means, the Eternal, Ever-Loving One. The Name JEHOVAH appears over 7,000 times in the Old Testament alone. And it might interest you to know that every time the Name JEHOVAH appears it is always written in small capital letters rather than lower case letters, making it easier to identify in the text. *There is another special Name by which God identifies Himself in the scriptures and that is the Name Yaweh which means, I AM THAT I AM.

2 But perhaps out of all the beautiful Names by which GOD identifies Himself in the scriptures, perhaps the most common, the most endearing Name of all is simply the Name, Father. God wants us to call Him, FATHER. And one of the most beautiful portraits of God s Fatherly nature can be found in Jesus Parable of The Prodigal Son in Luke 15: Probably most of the messages you have heard and most of the messages I have preached from this parable focused on the actions of the Prodigal Son. And indeed, later on in this series of sermons we are going to come back and revist this same parable in the Old Time Gospel Message on Backsliding. But for our thoughts today, I would like for us to focus our attention on THE FATHER in this Parable. Let s read this familiar parable together and focus your thoughts in on the nature of the FATHER. Read: Luke 15:11-32 Fathers, there are four valuable lessons you and I can learn from God s Fatherly example in this parable: First of all

3 I. God Is A Father With An Open Mind.That speaks of A Father s Wisdom vs You know what I have always found interesting about the Father s reaction when His son asked for his portion of the inheritance? It s the way the Father DIDN T react! Notice the Father didn t say, Your share of the estate..i ll make you think your share of the estate. Boy, when I was your age if I had asked my dad for my share of the estate he would have popped me right in the kisser! Why, my dad never gave me anything.i had to earn it! So you just march yourself right back out to that field mister and don t give me any of your lip! P-h-h-h-h-h-h-h. give me my share of the estate.. kids these days, who do they think they are? Sound familiar DADS? The point I m making is this: The Father in this parable didn t respond like most of us might have responded. And remember, this Father is an image of our Heavenly Father. verse 12 simply says, So He divided His property between them. 2. This Father had the WISDOM to know when to ease His grip and let go. Was this hard for Him? Sure it was! The Father knew the minute He put that inheritance money in His young son s hands that would be the last time He would see it..yet HE GAVE IT TO HIM ANY WAY. The Father knew the day His young son set off for the distant country he was about to make some very stupid, foolish mistakes.yet HE LET HIM GO ANY WAY.

4 Was He a bad Father? Was He too permissive? Too lenient? NO! He had enough wisdom to know that by giving His son room to fail, room to make some mistakes, that his son would learn some very valuable life lessons he might not learn any other way. 3. Father, do you give your kids room to fail? Do you give them room to make mistakes? Or are you so smothering so strict so demanding so inflexible so close-minded that you have broken the spirit of your kids? 4. Paul warns us not to be that kind of Father in Ephesians 6:4 Fathers do not exasperate your children, instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Exasperate means, to irritate to provoke to increase the anxiety of another. In the field of botany (which is the study of plants) exasperate means, to be covered with rough, hard projecting points. Dad s, would your kids say you are covered with rough, hard projecting points? Are they afraid to talk to you? Are they afraid to approach you? Are they afraid to ask you for anything? Do your kids live in constant fear that they might say something or do something that is going to set you off? 5. God is a Father with an OPEN-MIND. He invites all of us who are His children to draw near to Him and ask Him for anything!

5 Secondly we see.. II. God Is A Father With An Open Heart.That Speaks of A Father s Love 1. In order to see the FATHER S OPEN HEART we must first read what transpired from the time the Prodigal left home until he returned home. READ: Verses (Now pay close attention to the Father s response in the first part of verse 20 ) So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion 2. Clearly, the Father had been waiting and watching for His son s return from the distant country. The late Dwight L. Moody said, The Prodigal s Father had been looking for His son through His telescope of love. 3. The Father s love for His son was unconditional! -He loved him when he was at His best and He loved him when he was at his worst. -He loved him when he made good decisions and He loved him when he made bad decisions. -He loved him when he was loveable..and He loved him when he wasn t loveable.

6 4. What a beautiful picture of God, our Heavenly Father. His love for you and me is unconditional. No matter how many times we fail no matter how bad we mess up.no matter how many stupid mistakes we make no matter how many times we fall down OUR HEAVENLY FATHER STILL LOVES US! 5. Fathers, its easy to love our kids when they please us, when they obey us, when they do things that make us proud. but the greatest test of our love as a Father is how we respond to our children when they FAIL..when they make STUPID MISTAKES and UNWISE CHOICES and when they have MESSED UP. ILLUSTRATION In March of 1981, John Hinckley Jr. tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. In the book, Breaking Points. Hinckley s parents describe their first visit with their son after the shooting. What do you say the first time you see your son after he has done the unthinkable Why did you shoot the President son? Of course you don t! Instead, as we did that day and have done on the telephone many times since then, we simply said, JOHN, WE LOVE YOU! No amount of anger or revulsion could change that. We still loved our son and we intended to see this thing through together. 6. Sounds like something the Prodigal s Father would say, doesn t it! God Is A Father With An Open Mind that speaks of a Father s wisdom. God Is A Father With An Open Heart that speaks of a Father s love.

7 Next we see. III. God Is A Father With Open Arms That Speaks of A Father s Forgiveness 1. Let s go back and read verses 20, Could the Father have done anything more reassuring or reaffirming than welcoming His son home with a hug and a kiss? Those open arms were the Father s way of saying to His son, I don t care what you did, all I care about is that you are safe, alive and back home! 3. Brothers and sisters, there is a picture of how our Heavenly Father responds any time you and I have sinned. When we come to our senses and realize we need to go back to God in repentance, our Heavenly Father runs to meet us with open arms of forgiveness. 4. Fathers, when our children fail..when they make stupid mistakes..when they make foolish choices..what they need from us more than anything else is a HUG and a KISS to let them know all is forgiven. ILLUSTRATION The true story is told of a Spanish father and son who became estranged. The son ran away and for months the father had no idea where to look for him. In desperation the Father decided to run an ad in the Madrid newspaper, which read: Son, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon on Saturday.ALL IS FORGIVEN. At noon on Saturday over 800 boys showed up in front of the newspaper office hoping the request was from their father.

8 God Is A Father With An Open Mind.That speaks of a Father s Wisdom. God Is A Father With An Open Heart.That speaks of a Father s Love. God Is A Father With Open Arms That speaks of a Father s Forgiveness And finally IV. God Is A Father With Open Hands.That Speaks of A Father s Grace READ: Verses Can you imagine what must have been going through the young prodigal s mind at this point? Not only had his father come running out to meet him and greet him with a hug and a kiss But now his Father has sent His servants scurrying to put together a huge celebration! (a) First the Father told the servants, bring the best robe and put it on him. Oh what a beautiful scene this is. When the father saw the condition of His son He ordered that the best robe be brought and wrapped around him to cover over all the signs of his sinful wanderings.

9 This is a beautiful picture of what our Heavenly Father did for you and me. By His wonderful grace, His unmerited favor, God clothed you and me with the very best robe of all to cover all the scars and bruises of our sinful wanderings. And that robe is Jesus Christ. (b) Next the Father ordered His servants to put a ring on his finger. The ring is always an emblem of completeness. By giving His son a ring it said, My son, my love for you is complete. (c) Next the Father ordered His servants to put sandals on his feet. This tells us the son was so destitute when he came home from the distant country that he didn t even own a pair of sandals. In Christ s day, going barefoot was a mark of slavery. By having sandals put on his son s feet, the Father was restoring the young prodigal to a position of Sonship, thus setting him free from the life of a slave. Likewise through Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father has set you and me free from a life of slavery to sin and made us His adopted children.

10 (d) Finally, the Father ordered His servants to Bring the fattened calf and kill it and let s have a feast and celebrate. The fattened calf was an animal clearly marked for some special occasion. And in the eyes of the Father, nothing could be more special than celebrating the return of His son which was dead but was now alive again.the son who was lost, but now is found. That fattened calf represents the lavish blessings of salvation the Heavenly Father bestows upon us when we come Home to Him! Luke 15:10 tells us There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. CONCLUSION Every year around Father s Day we see those caps and T-shirts in the stores which read: World s Greatest Dad. Dad s I don t know about you, but I have never felt worthy to wear the title, World s Greatest Dad. If you re like me, you can probably think of more reasons why you don t deserve that title than reasons you do. I believe we have all seen here this morning that there is only One who is truly deserving of the title and that is GOD THE FATHER WITH THE OPEN MIND OF WISDOM.. THE FATHER WITH THE OPEN HEART OF LOVE. THE FATHER WITH THE OPEN ARMS OF FORGIVENESS AND THE FATHER, WITH THE OPEN HANDS OF GRACE God is truly the Greatest Father of All!

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