The Father's Voice Part 2

Looking to Jesus in danger. Every child craves security father's embrace what many Christians may not realize is the provision of God is made for us is our heavenly father we can be sure of his care. No matter what happens, Your Honor, please church in Chicago with Dr. Sir teaching helps us make it across the finish line postulates or your teaching us from first John chapter 3. Tell us what to expect in today's lesson about the father's voice Dave. This is critical. It is so because once we understand the nature of the father's love toward us, it can be transforming it as a divine unconditional love. It is dependent upon the lover, not the ones who are loved because all of us vacillate in our experience, and in our love but God's love is there left this bless our souls. You know, we are so grateful for the fact that running to win is heard in so many different places. Thousands upon thousands of people listen. I want to emphasize that you my friend are a part of what God is doing were so thankful for the many who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts would you consider becoming an endurance partner endurance partners are those kinds of people who regularly connect with us with their gifts and with their prayers to find out more. Here's what you can do. Go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Now let's open our Bibles and let us allow God to bless us from his holy word. You could have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior yesterday and begin to walk in the inheritance that is your is a son of God is your gonna belong to him for ever. He adopts us my dear friend. It's possible for us to live without recognizing that the blessings of some ship are included in salvation. You are an adopted son you're an adopted daughter before God. Third, he loves us, and for this I do ask you to turn to first John first John in that marvelous passage in chapter 3. These are thou, the letters of John first John chapter 3 it says how great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Let me pause there. How great is the love of God toward us.

That's a good question to ask. Let's take it into the human realm when our three daughters were born. My wife and I didn't say to ourselves. Now we don't know whether or not we're gonna love these girls are not until we see how they turn out and how they perform and if one of them becomes a nurse and another becomes a teacher and another becomes a missionary will then we'll decide to law is not the way it was with them is not the way it was with our grandest sons. We didn't say now that Jack becomes a doctor and if Samuel becomes a preacher will love them that they needed to do is to be born. In fact we love then before they were born without any performance on their part, without any other reason except that there are children and our grandchildren. Let me ask you today how much does God love us. God loves us as much as he loves Christ. Jesus said, thou hast loved them that even as thou hast love me he makes no distinction between his love for Jesus Christ and his love for us is mind-boggling because we know that he is desperately in love with his son Jesus. Let me ask another question. How long has God love you begin to love you in that special sense. We know that he loves the world and loves his own people in a special sense the love you in that special way. Just since you were converted know he loved you. That way from all of eternity.

Let me quote the rest of Jesus words old father thou hast loved them even as thou hast loved me or thou loveliest me from before the foundation of the world pulses in first Timothy that God has granted us grace from all eternity. I speak to those of you who are weary of performance I speak to those of you who are weary, trying to please God and never thinking that you have done enough. If you are a member of his family. We want you to know that God has lavished his love upon you how great the father's love is and that love is secure. Quite apart from your performance. How can I put it most clearly. Perhaps this will help you realize that it would be heresy for you to say that I think that God would love me more if I were better with heresy already loves you as much as he loves Christ. Of course he wants us to be better. Of course it's possible to displease him, but nothing shall cut us off from the love of Christ.

Whether it is outside forces. Whether it is our own disobedience. We are his sons forever and he loves us because he loves us because he loves us. No wonder David who was always struggling with his identity and David having experienced rejection from his family, as is evident in first Samuel. No wonder David keeps coming before God. No wonder he keeps reaching out to the Almighty and saying God. I do have within me this bottomless pit of unmet needs, but you come to me and you will need to mind the security of his father in heaven.

God loves us. He exalts us notice what the text says in verse two dear friends, we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is mind-boggling.

John is saying that to the spirit of God comes to us as Paul says in Romans eight, a spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, father, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God says the Scripture and its sons, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is behold what manner of love the father has put upon us now think this through. Realize that God had one son, the Lord Jesus who may greatly love but he wanted to have many son says that he wants to receive many sons into glory. So Jesus comes and dies so that God will get his many son and those sons are going to rule on the throne of the universe. It says in the book of Revelation. Those who overcome.

Jesus said to them, I will have them sit with me on my throne, even as I overcame and sat with my father on his throne.

Allison those of you who are into logic and clear thought does not that mean that we are going to sit on the throne of God. I think so. He who overcomes will sit with me on my throne, as I overcame and sat with my father on his throne.

Is it possible to get anything more beautiful.

Anything more encouraging anything higher than that doesn't make the pains of this life seem rather small and knowing what awaits us. And that's why Paul says that the suffering of this present age cannot be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us does not this somehow bring healing in the midst of our own.

The family struggles and the own failures that perhaps the been pushed upon us. What I'm trying to say to you today is, it wasn't necessary wasn't necessary for Hemingway to commit suicide.

Just because his father had done so and because his mother included in the birthday cake. The gun with which he had done it. There is such a thing as finding a rest in God and his fatherhood that somehow begins to make up for the lack and the pains and the hurts of life that we could go on, God comforts us. He is the God of all comfort. God forgives us like as a father pity if his children, so the Lord pity, and them that fear him, for he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust now, in light of the fact that God is done so much this now becomes the basis upon which we make peace with our earthly father and I want you to know that you can do that with or without his cooperation for some of you, your father is dead.

I think the woman who told me I can't even visit his grave. Because standing there. I fear that his hand might come out of the soil and hit me one more time. My dear friend, I want you to know that it is possible for you to make peace with that task and how do you do it. First of all you be truthful, be truthful, think about what happened to you.

It's okay to go through the grief and the sorrow of your home life, like Ernest Hemingway could have done. Secondly, in addition to truth what is important is to grieve for the past it's okay to grieve for a childhood. Some of you for a childhood that you didn't have it's okay to weep. It's okay to have feelings. God created us this way. But then what we must do is to choose to forgive because it says in the book of Malachi, God says I'm gonna turn the hearts of the fathers towards the children and the children towards the father's lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. There is healing in relationship to God our father in relationship to our earthly father as well.

In his book Abba's child, Brennan Manning tells the story of a Jewish boy named Mordechai who would not go to the synagogue.

His parents get all that they possibly could. They threaten him they cajoled him they tried to manipulate him. Perhaps they did as my parents did when I was five or six years old.

They promised me candy if I would go to church because I was not a willing churchgoer at that age changed a little bit.

I have to be here now you understand well they brought in a psychoanalyst and he took the boy and cycle analyzed him until there was nothing left to analyze the boy still ran out into the woods across the streams listen to the birds but would not go to the synagogue so they brought in an expert of on the behavior modification and he modified everything that could possibly be modified. He was supposed to unblock his blockages and he tried to unblock his blockages and unblock the blockages boy still run out to the woods across the streams listen to the birds but he would not go to the synagogue.

So one day a rabbi and old Rabbi came to the village and the parents told him their tale of woe and he said leave the child with me and after the parents left the rabbi took the boy in his arms and held him and pressed the trembling boy closely to his heart and held him said nothing, just held him all the next day the boy went to the synagogue and after he went to the synagogue. He went to the woods and he then listen to the birds and cross the streams, but in the woods. He began to speak the word of God and the story goes on to say that he turned out to be a very wise and gentle man. And when people were filled with panic, they would come to him to find peace and when they were looking for hope would give them hope and when they experience tragedy, he would give them comfort you see when we talk about the heart were talking about that effective part of us were speaking about the origins of our lobs and our hate sin and all of our desires and wishes and somehow when that young boy was held to that old man's heart.

He penetrated the consciousness of that rabbi, so that now the boy.

He not only knew some things intellectually which he was rejecting but he now knew some things affect ably or emotionally and and somehow his head in his heart were unified. You know, if we are to come to the New Testament in interview the man called John, the disciple of Jesus and where to say John a tell us who you are. What is your identity.

I don't think John would say, will I was a disciple of Jesus. I don't think that John would say I'm the author of one of the largest books of the New Testament including three epistles. I don't think John would say I'm the one that was on the island of Patmos.

When God revealed himself to me and gave me what is known as the book of Revelation most assuredly would not say will my claim to fame is that I am the brother of James. What would John say I think John would say my identity is the fact that I am the disciple whom Jesus loved, and I am the one who leaned on his breast.

At dinner, and that's really who I am. I am the one that who is love by God. I want to say something each you today heart-to-heart man-to-man woman to woman. I don't believe that we are ever healed within as long as our identity is still our vocation.

We think of ourselves as being an attorney or we think of ourselves as being a missionary or we think of ourselves as being a carpenter or a nurse or a banker. We are healed.

When we think of ourselves as being one who is the law by God love you because we are love, love because we are his sons and daughters love because he begat costs love because he redeemed us and we simply rest in that love guys give question today.

Are you willing to give God permission to sense and to feel his love. Regardless of your past. Whether it's good or bad.

Are you willing to peel back all of the layers that have developed in all of the rationalization that is developed and there in the presence of God simply say God I'm broken and I'm wounded and I give you permission to love may hold me close to your heart and if that's true of you and if it's true of me. Not much else about us really matters. Cleveland Kathy wrote, there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest her near to the heart of God, oh Jesus, and blessed Redeemer sand from the heart of God hold us who way to before they near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort suite near to the heart of God. A place where we, our Savior need to near to the heart of God. There is a place of full release near to the heart of God.

A place where all is joy and peace near to the heart of God. Ernest Hemingway needed to hear that. Too bad he didn't, but you and I need to hear it to. We are healed. When God takes us close to his heart and says I love you because I love you and because your mind.

Let's pray and our father. Today we want to thank you for your mercy and your grace thank you for your fatherhood. We saying earlier. Our father who art in heaven. Oh what a joy it is to be able to say father and thank you that you show us your love granted to old God in the lives of all who have listened and bring healing where there has to be healing and deliver us from the performance mentality.

Show us father, your love, and may we bask in it and delight in it. We pray that we shall be strong in Jesus name, amen. My friend, this is pastor concern, I have to ask you, are you blessed as a result of the ministry of running to win messages like the one that you have just heard that is intended to bring about the transformation of lives.

One of the things that encourages me greatly is the fact that running to win is heard in so many different places and more than 20 different countries and of course we are grateful for the thousands upon thousands of people who not only listen but who support us, perhaps you have listened to running to win for years and have never connected with us. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner endurance partners are those who stand with us regularly in the ministry with their gifts giving a monthly gift praying for us connecting with us were so grateful for the fact that running to win is a ministry that belongs to you and we want to thank you in advance. Now if you want to know more about endurance partners. Here is what you do go to RTW offeror.com that's RTW offeror.com. Click on the endurance partner button while you're there, find out all the information that you need or if you prefer you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let me give you that phone number again and thanks in advance for helping us 1-888-218-9337. Thanks for helping us to run the race and help other people make it all the way to the finish line. It's time again for another chance for you to ask pastor looks or a question you might have about the Bible or the Christian life.

Understanding God's purposes, and judgment can be difficult.

It's become very difficult for William, who listens to running to win in Nebraska. He wrote with this observation and this question most of the doctrines taught by Christians I can and do accept, but I cannot accept the doctrine of eternal hell which says that God tortures nonbelievers brutally forever in the flames of hell is it a sin to practice torture like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein have done to people over the years the Christian community condemns the actions of these and other men believes it's okay for God to torture people in hell. How can God say in eternity. There will be no more sorrow no more crying and no more pain if there is this torture chamber somewhere where billions of people are screaming, crying and hollering in pain as they are tortured by Almighty God, will you and you certainly have chosen a very, very difficult question to ask and it's one I'm sure that has plagued us and that I thought about many many times I preached about hell. I've written about hell. So your question in one sense is not new, but I need to say that you need to revise your image of God. God doesn't torture people like Saddam Hussein did, or Hitler. Those people did it with wrong motives. They did it because they wanted to have political expediency or out of vengeance. It seems to me that hell is people bearing the weight of their own guilt for ever and one of the things that distinguishes it from the situations that you described is that while those others were unjust. Hell will be just as a matter fact because responsibility is based on knowledge, not everyone in hell is going to suffer the same way, or for the same reasons, it is going to be finely tuned justice. And yes, hell is terrible, but sin is terrible and God is eminently holy. Now let me respond to the second part of your question regarding no tears in heaven and no sorrow. It's not going to be because we know less in heaven than we do on earth.

It's not as if we won't know that there are people suffering in hell, but I believe that we will see everything from God's perspective with such clarity that if God can be happy." Throughout all of eternity. We will also be happy and we will be able to say with truthfulness great and wonderful is the Lord and his judgments are unsearchable and just. That's the best I can do with your very tough question. Thank you William for that tough question pastor looks or for that very clear answer if you'd like to hear your question answered. Go to our website. It said RTW offeror.com. There you can click on ask pastor looks or you can call us with a question at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337 you can write to is running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago 60614.

Christians are not immune to addictive behavior. Many are trapped in a web of deceit and bondage like those stuck in quicksand runners and wife's race cannot win if they're caught up in addictions of any kind.

Next time I'm running to win will trace the roots of addiction and then point the way toward freedom. Dr. Erwin looked certain this is Damon Alister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church