Romans 108: Romans 3 - What is God The Father Doing Right Now?

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there.  I hope you have a day filled with ties and underwear and Auto Zone gift certificates and golf, and all the other meaningless gifts that are directed at fathers (he said sarcastically).  In this lesson, a Barah Ministries tribute to Fathers.

 

There is more to life than increasing its speed.  As Christians, we use the expression “all in God’s timing” quite a bit.  At least the people around me do.  Whenever I hear this expression, I am always reminded of a few lines from a poem called “Slow Me Down, Lord,” a poem credited to so many people that I don’t know to whom I should give credit.

 

SLOW ME DOWN, LORD

 

Slow me down, Lord…

Remind me of the fable of the tortoise and the hare

That I may know the race is not always to the swift…

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

Let me look up at the branches of the towering oak

And know that it grew tall and strong because it grew slowly and well.

 

Believers in Christ are like oak trees in God’s eyes.  God is slow, steady and deliberate in His making of us…in bringing us to maturity, and He takes no shortcuts.  George Goodman says of God’s plan, “Blessing will follow blessing, and storm will follow storm before the fruit of our lives comes to maturity.”

 

Spiritual growth includes joy and sorrow, contentment and suffering, inactivity and service, death and life, frenzy and rest.  In Philippians, Chapter 1, Verse 6, Paul says…

 

PHI 1:6

For I (Paul) am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will (keep on) perfect(ing) it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Moses spent forty years in the desert on his way to maturity.  David endured many trials and tribulations on his way to being described as “the kind of man God likes, the one who wills to do all His will.”  Paul spent three years alone with the Lord before teaching one thing to the Gentiles about the Christ.

 

As believers in Christ, we do well to patiently wait for a Savior…the Lord Jesus Christ…who will take the body of our humble state and transform it into the same resurrection body in which He now resides.

 

In God’s plan there is no hurry, so don’t you be in a hurry.  He perfects us in the time frame of eternity, a time with no beginning and no ending.  Let us relax as we redeem the time.  Welcome to the next step in our maturation process, the next chance to learn about our God and His Word.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

Destiny

 

As God prepares your soul for RENEWING through the study of His Word, let’s hear June Murphy worship our Lord in song.  In the opening song our God reminds believers in Christ of our DESTINY.

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute

truth...the Word of God…

 

Bless Fathers all over the world…help those around them to see their hard work…to appreciate them…to treat them like people and not like things…to regard them as we regard You Father…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.

 

TODAY’S STUDY

What is God The Father Doing Right Now?

 

Those close to me will tell you that I am not prone to bouts of effusiveness, the pouring out of bubbly reaction to things.   I pretty much take everything in stride no matter how exciting it is.  As Lila and Alyssa will tell you, they gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received for Father’s Day (or any other day), and my reaction was a simple, “Thank you.  Thank you very much.”  My girls took good care of me for Father’s Day.  My reaction did not match my appreciation for their thoughtfulness.

 

Yet in the wee small hours of May 19, in a hotel room in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (it was May 18 in Phoenix), a text message with a picture of a little baby boy came across my phone, and I shrieked in delight.  I’m sure I woke up my hotel neighbors as I danced a happy dance on my bed.  Snoopy and Woodstock had nothing on me!  Perhaps it’s just that I don’t get that excited for self, but for others I get totally excited.  The picture was of William Goodall…and I couldn’t have been happier for two people…Denny and Emilie Goodall…that our God had given them the desires of their heart.  Today’s lesson is a tribute to Deacon Denny on his first Father’s Day.  I’m happy to be able to honor him this way.  By looking at God the Father’s work on our behalf, we can illuminate Denny’s fathering path.

 

First, a few announcements…

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The next Lord’s Supper Celebration is July 13, 2014

 

VISIT THE VETS

June 22

1:45PM

See Susan Embree for details

 

PRAYER MEETING

Immediately Following Next Sunday’s Service

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Debbie Cramer

Got a Job in Phoenix

Moving to the Warmth!

 

Coeur D’Alene Bible Conference

August 8 and 9

John and Monica Miller

Red Lion Templin’s Hotel

414 E. 1st Avenue

Post Falls, Idaho

208-755-8829

 

Ten room guarantee.  Need to get your rooms immediately!

 

Let’s take the offering.  Welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall.

 

Let’s remember to give with the motivation suggested in Scripture

 

2CO 9:7

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful (grace oriented) giver.

 

TODAY’S OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

Barah Ministries Financial Policy

 

Even though we are sanctioned by God to charge for the many things we provide so you can worship God, we choose not to exercise our right.  Therefore no price appears on any material from Barah Ministries so that anyone who desires biblical teaching may have it free of charge.

 

Barah Ministries Financial Policy

 

Even though the materials we provide are free of charge, they are not free of cost.  We appreciate it when the Word of God motivates you to give financial support so as to provide biblical teaching, both for yourself and for others.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

GAL 2:20

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

 

OFFERING

Dance with My Father

 

TODAY’S STUDY

What is God The Father Doing Right Now?

 

One of the strangest questions I have ever been asked in a biblical question and answer session is, “What is God the Father doing right now.”  I can remember laughing hysterically over the question.  I had just said, “Please ask any question you want.  There are no dumb questions.”  When I got back to the post conference debrief with the other Pastors, I said, “I take it back!  ‘What is God the Father doing right now’ is one of the dumbest questions I have ever heard!”  We all had a good laugh.  Turns out, the laugh was on me.  God the Father planted the question and directed it toward me because He knew I didn’t know Him very well.  Since then, I have discovered that He has a very heavy hand in our lives.  It was easy for me to relate to the manifest member of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ.  I have been a son…I have laid down my life and borne my cross for many, so it was easy to relate to Him.  It was easy for me to relate to God the Holy Spirit, our Mentor and Teacher.  I have been a lifelong mentor and a career teacher to many, so I understood His role and its heartaches very well.  But fathering?  I didn't understand it at all.  Not fathering.  Not being a father.  Not having a father.  This is a role I had to pioneer.  What seemed to be a stupid question helped me know my real father, God the Father.

 

One of my favorite people in the world, one of my most trusted and admired friends, is having his first Father’s Day today.  I am so happy for Deacon Denny Goodall.  Denny and I have known each other for almost a decade and a half.  If you asked me to, I can easily recount every hurt I have ever experienced in lousy relationships.  It’s easy to remember the painful relationships.  It’s difficult to remember or to be grateful for the pleasurable relationships.  I can say with all sincerity, and at the risk of jinxing it, that my relationship with Denny has been all pleasure.  In the time we have known each other, we have never had a fight.  Until recently, I would have considered this highly unusual.

 

To be sure, Denny is not confrontational.  He’s mild mannered, easy-going and surprisingly funny.  He also has a noise for everything.  So it would not surprise you that we have not fought.  But I’m sure you know that intimate relationships between people have tension levels that rise and fall.  So it was interesting for me to think about why our relationship has never gone off the rails.

 

I can truly say it’s Denny’s fault that our relationship hasn’t gone off the rails.  One word that underlies our relationship is Christ, because our relationship is powered by Christ.  Another word that defines our relationship is respect.  There is a mutual respect that is always bigger than anything that is going wrong in our relationship.  Things have gone wrong.  But Christ and respect is always bigger than anything else.

 

One of the reasons I wanted to dedicate this lesson to Deacon Denny is to let you in on things that go on behind the scenes in the life of a person that means so much to Barah Ministries and to me, as a Pastor and as a person.  When I arrive at church, or at any church related event, from the very beginning of our relationship, Deacon Denny is virtually always the one who is first to greet me and to lift my burden.  A warm smile, a hug, a handshake, a willingness to help and to serve is always the hallmark of his work.  It’s the same personally.  I know that I can call him at any time for any reason and that my requests will be greeted with the same enthusiasm, whether it is three in the morning or five minutes before an event when I am making a ten-minute long request.  Deacon Denny finds a way.  Imagine what it has been like for him for the past ten years or so, giving up every single Sunday to set up and to tear down and to transport audio and video equipment to ensure that people all over the world can see and hear the messages from Barah Ministries.  It has been a burden to say the least, one that has been met with his characteristic cheerful servant attitude.

 

I met Deacon Denny when Barah Ministries was in my home.  He came to one of my lessons with his mom, Susie Embree.  It’s easy to see where Denny gets his easy-going and supportive style from.  Susie is one of my most respected friends, and I can remember how she handed Denny off to me, as a mom would, encouraging me to take good care of her son’s spiritual life.  I was a bit intimidated by the challenge.  I knew Denny had been studying the Word of God from his youth, and I was always worried that I would get something wrong and he would catch it.  I would always be surprised when he would have profound words of encouragement as he communicated how the lessons hit his soul, a practice he continues to this day.

 

When Denny and Emilie first announced that they had embarked on the pregnancy path, I was as excited as I would have been had my own sons said the same thing.  I was a bit crushed when the process wasn’t easy for them, not because I doubted God, but because I was so hopeful for them.  When the path was hard, I insisted that they know, especially Emilie, that God was going to come through for them in a big way.  Of course He did.

 

I see the wisdom in God sitting Emilie down for a couple of months in the hospital as she waited for William to come, so she could marvel at how much the Lord is on her side.  From the quiet of her hotel bed, she could watch as the Lord performed miracle after miracle to get William here at just the proper time.  And little William has no idea how lucky he is that God hand-picked these two parents for him… a wonderful, nurturing teacher in Emilie, and a picture perfect servant in Denny.

 

I love you Denny.

 

I want to thank you for being my faithful friend, and for all the things you have done for me and for us here at Barah Ministries.  Happy Father’s Day!  When we come back from the break, a few words of advice on fathering from the example of the best Father of all…God the Father.

 

BREAK

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

 

Welcome back!

 

You’ll be happy to know, Denny, that being a father has been done.  So you don’t have to blaze the trail.

 

What is a father?

 

FATHER

A man who exercises paternal care over other persons; a paternal protector or provider.

 

Men can easily emulate God the Father if they want to know how to be a great father.  What is God the Father doing right now?  Let’s take a look.

 

God the Father is overseeing His plan for all mankind.  Acts, Chapter 2, Verse 23…

 

ACT 2:23

…this Man, (Jesus Christ) delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God the Father, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

 

Being a great father is an intentional choice.  Great fathers are great planners.

 

God the Father is guiding us.  Philippians, Chapter 1, Verse 6…

 

PHI 1:6

For I (Paul) am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will (keep on) perfect(ing) it until the day of Christ Jesus.

 

Being a great father means keeping your children on the path.

 

God the Father is sacrificing for us…John, Chapter 3, Verse 16…

 

JOH 3:16

“For God the Father so loved the world (unconditionally), that He gave His uniquely born Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

 

Being a great father means giving, no matter the cost.

 

God the Father loves us unconditionally no matter how we act…Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 4 to 6…

 

EPH 2:4

But God the Father, being rich in mercy, because of His great unconditional love with which He loved us…

 

EPH 2:5

…even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…

 

EPH 2:6

…and God the Father raised us up with the Lord Jesus Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in (union with) Christ Jesus.

 

In spite of His children’s rejection of Him, a father keeps giving.

 

God the Father is preparing a legacy for His Son…Luke, Chapter 20, Verses 42 and 43…

 

LUK 20:42

“For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND…”

 

LUK 20:43

“…UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.’”

 

Every great father makes things easy for His son…

 

God the Father is providing for us…Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 3…

 

EPH 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in (union with) Christ…

 

Great fathers are great providers.

 

God the Father is protecting us…Psalm 37, Verse 24

 

PSA 37:24

When the believer in Christ falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the God the Father is the One who holds his hand.

 

Great fathers brood over those in their charge.

 

God the Father fights for those with whom He has relationship…Nehemiah, Chapter 4, Verse 20…

 

NEH 4:20

“At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God the Father will fight for us.”

 

Great fathers are pugilistic toward anyone who attempts to harm their children.

 

God the Father loves…First John, Chapter 4, Verse 8…

 

1JO 4:8

The one who does not love does not know God the Father, for God the Father IS unconditional love…

 

Great fathers do not hold grudges.

 

God the Father hears our prayers…Matthew, Chapter 21, Verse 22…

 

MAT 21:22

“And all things you ask God the Father in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

 

God the Father is encouraging…Ephesians, Chapter 6, Verse 4…

 

EPH 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

 

Great fathers encourage their children.  Great fathers introduce their children to the Lord.

 

God the Father is on our side…He gives us everything.  Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 31…

 

ROM 8:31

If God the Father is for us (and He is), who is against us? God the Father, who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

 

We fathers have a sterling example to follow in watching God the Father deal with us.  What is God the Father doing right now?  Everything.  For us.  He considers our problems to be His responsibility.

 

I look forward to seeing his manifestation in human form as we watch the fathering of my friend, Deacon Denny Goodall.  Happy Father’s Day Denny.

 

The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ

 

1TH 5:16-18

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God the Father’s will for you (who are) in (union with) Christ Jesus.

 

1PE 5:6-7

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God the Father, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

 

EXO 14:13

“Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today…”

 

ISA 40:29

He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.

 

CLOSING SONG

The Word is Alive

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

THANKS

INTERCESSION

PETITION

 

And we pray that You continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are an accurate reflection of Your unconditional love, Your person, Your thinking, Your work, and Your essence...we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

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