1 00:00:00,126 --> 00:00:03,326 When we're talking about one God and Father of all 2 00:00:03,326 --> 00:00:05,240 who is in all, 3 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:08,324 this is not a universal statement 4 00:00:08,324 --> 00:00:09,970 about all of creation, 5 00:00:09,970 --> 00:00:13,284 nor is it some sort of universal fatherhood of God among all men. 6 00:00:13,284 --> 00:00:15,444 This is a statement - remember - 7 00:00:15,444 --> 00:00:18,585 that unifies the people of God. 8 00:00:18,585 --> 00:00:22,824 This is like remember back to those words - 9 00:00:22,824 --> 00:00:25,755 Jesus said to Mary, 10 00:00:25,755 --> 00:00:31,330 "Go tell My brothers 11 00:00:31,330 --> 00:00:35,467 I'm going to My God, My Father - 12 00:00:35,467 --> 00:00:38,285 your God, your Father." 13 00:00:38,285 --> 00:00:40,255 "Go tell My brothers." 14 00:00:40,255 --> 00:00:43,661 "Your Father." 15 00:00:43,661 --> 00:00:45,303 That's the idea here. 16 00:00:45,303 --> 00:00:49,796 That's the idea behind "all" - 17 00:00:49,796 --> 00:00:53,905 a uniquely Christian expression. 18 00:00:53,905 --> 00:00:57,575 The thing is, I can find in the Old Testament 19 00:00:57,575 --> 00:00:59,255 where God is called "Father" - 20 00:00:59,255 --> 00:01:00,355 the book of Malachi, 21 00:01:00,355 --> 00:01:05,206 but the Jews did not call God "Father." 22 00:01:05,206 --> 00:01:08,115 Catholics - yeah, they may once in awhile 23 00:01:08,115 --> 00:01:09,664 throw that term around, 24 00:01:09,664 --> 00:01:13,685 but they focus on the mother. 25 00:01:13,685 --> 00:01:19,714 Muslims do not call Allah "Father" 26 00:01:19,714 --> 00:01:21,292 because he's not a father. 27 00:01:21,292 --> 00:01:24,538 He's not a father figure. 28 00:01:24,538 --> 00:01:30,146 We have one God and Father of all. 29 00:01:30,146 --> 00:01:32,266 This is Christian expression to say: 30 00:01:32,266 --> 00:01:36,788 you have received the Spirit of adoption 31 00:01:36,788 --> 00:01:41,936 by whom you cry, "Abba, Father." 32 00:01:41,936 --> 00:01:46,584 Notice: it says "Father of all." 33 00:01:46,584 --> 00:01:47,916 Don't you like that? 34 00:01:47,916 --> 00:01:51,326 "Father of all." 35 00:01:51,326 --> 00:01:55,166 God is not like a father. 36 00:01:55,166 --> 00:01:57,306 He is a Father. 37 00:01:57,306 --> 00:02:01,646 He is a Father to every one of His children. 38 00:02:01,646 --> 00:02:04,075 To all - that's so unifying. 39 00:02:04,075 --> 00:02:10,895 Christian, Christian, are you single? 40 00:02:10,895 --> 00:02:16,694 He's your Father. 41 00:02:16,694 --> 00:02:20,625 Are your children lost? 42 00:02:20,625 --> 00:02:23,613 He's your Father. 43 00:02:23,613 --> 00:02:27,104 Christian, do you feel empty? Forgotten? 44 00:02:27,104 --> 00:02:29,555 Lonely? Despised? Suffering? 45 00:02:29,555 --> 00:02:32,557 Cold? Distant? 46 00:02:32,557 --> 00:02:34,023 You have to hear it: 47 00:02:34,023 --> 00:02:37,855 He's Father of all. 48 00:02:37,855 --> 00:02:40,605 Sometimes we look at it and we say: 49 00:02:40,605 --> 00:02:42,205 Oh, but my brother or sister - 50 00:02:42,205 --> 00:02:44,467 they had this certain experience. 51 00:02:44,467 --> 00:02:47,254 He's a Father to all. 52 00:02:47,254 --> 00:02:49,709 He's a Father to all that come to Him 53 00:02:49,709 --> 00:02:51,665 by Christ Jesus. 54 00:02:51,665 --> 00:02:56,215 Through Christ we have access 55 00:02:56,215 --> 00:02:59,005 in one Spirit to the Father. 56 00:02:59,005 --> 00:03:01,454 If your trust is in Christ, you have access. 57 00:03:01,454 --> 00:03:02,994 It doesn't matter if somebody 58 00:03:02,994 --> 00:03:04,496 has experienced something else 59 00:03:04,496 --> 00:03:06,545 or if they're on the mountaintop right now, 60 00:03:06,545 --> 00:03:09,706 or if God has seemingly given them blessings that you don't have, 61 00:03:09,706 --> 00:03:11,895 He's a Father to all. 62 00:03:11,895 --> 00:03:13,205 And I'll tell you this, 63 00:03:13,205 --> 00:03:14,639 you're in the palm of His hand 64 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:15,934 and nobody plucks you out. 65 00:03:15,934 --> 00:03:17,710 He guards you. He protects you. 66 00:03:17,710 --> 00:03:18,805 He knows you. 67 00:03:18,805 --> 00:03:22,134 What did Jesus say? 68 00:03:22,134 --> 00:03:24,336 There in Matthew 6? 69 00:03:24,336 --> 00:03:26,085 He said when it comes to clothes, 70 00:03:26,085 --> 00:03:27,920 when it comes to food, 71 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:32,386 He said your Father knows what you have need of. 72 00:03:32,386 --> 00:03:34,504 He's mindful. 73 00:03:34,504 --> 00:03:36,826 He knows what you need. 74 00:03:36,826 --> 00:03:38,564 So often we feel like 75 00:03:38,564 --> 00:03:41,085 He's not giving us what we think He should give us 76 00:03:41,085 --> 00:03:44,006 so we feel like we're somehow a stepchild. 77 00:03:44,006 --> 00:03:45,917 No. 78 00:03:45,917 --> 00:03:55,744 There is one God and Father of all. 79 00:03:55,744 --> 00:03:57,855 And I've heard certain Christians - 80 00:03:57,855 --> 00:04:01,225 I've heard some Christians just recently 81 00:04:01,225 --> 00:04:04,015 tell me that at certain points 82 00:04:04,015 --> 00:04:05,736 in their Christian life, 83 00:04:05,736 --> 00:04:07,956 they were confronted by certain trials 84 00:04:07,956 --> 00:04:12,504 or certain situations where they felt like 85 00:04:12,504 --> 00:04:17,975 they might even fall away. 86 00:04:17,975 --> 00:04:19,546 You know what? 87 00:04:19,546 --> 00:04:22,974 Jesus is talking to His disciples one day - 88 00:04:22,974 --> 00:04:26,934 you know the day - His last day. 89 00:04:26,934 --> 00:04:30,015 His last day before the cross. 90 00:04:30,015 --> 00:04:36,396 His last day before the grave. 91 00:04:36,396 --> 00:04:39,196 And you know what He said to them? 92 00:04:39,196 --> 00:04:42,960 He said guys, I'm telling you what I'm telling you 93 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,715 so that you won't fall away. 94 00:04:46,715 --> 00:04:48,285 And do you know one of the things 95 00:04:48,285 --> 00:04:51,764 that He told them so that they not fall away? 96 00:04:51,764 --> 00:04:56,095 He says in that day, 97 00:04:56,095 --> 00:05:00,003 you're going to ask in My name. 98 00:05:00,003 --> 00:05:01,973 And He said this: 99 00:05:01,973 --> 00:05:06,504 "I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf." 100 00:05:06,504 --> 00:05:07,646 Have you ever read that? 101 00:05:07,646 --> 00:05:10,235 If you just stopped right there, it's like, "what?" 102 00:05:10,235 --> 00:05:11,885 (incomplete thought) 103 00:05:11,885 --> 00:05:17,262 "That's going to cause me to not fall away, Lord?" 104 00:05:17,262 --> 00:05:20,535 "That You're not going to intercede for me?" 105 00:05:20,535 --> 00:05:22,975 Which isn't what He's saying. 106 00:05:22,975 --> 00:05:24,665 That's not the emphasis there. 107 00:05:24,665 --> 00:05:29,006 But He says to them: 108 00:05:29,006 --> 00:05:31,412 "I am not saying to you that I'm going to 109 00:05:31,412 --> 00:05:34,784 ask the Father on your behalf." 110 00:05:34,784 --> 00:05:37,375 What? Why? 111 00:05:37,375 --> 00:05:39,884 And He comes back with this: 112 00:05:39,884 --> 00:05:46,075 "Because the Father Himself loves you." 113 00:05:46,075 --> 00:05:49,635 Now, of course, that came just as fast as the rest, 114 00:05:49,635 --> 00:05:51,647 so they didn't have really time to stop 115 00:05:51,647 --> 00:05:54,605 like I did there. 116 00:05:54,605 --> 00:05:56,854 But you just think about that. 117 00:05:56,854 --> 00:05:59,669 What Jesus is saying is this: 118 00:05:59,669 --> 00:06:01,284 Just look, guys. 119 00:06:01,284 --> 00:06:04,125 You know that I've loved you. 120 00:06:04,125 --> 00:06:05,774 He showed that to them. 121 00:06:05,774 --> 00:06:07,576 He expressed His love to them. 122 00:06:07,576 --> 00:06:10,656 He convinced them of His love. 123 00:06:10,656 --> 00:06:12,916 But what He was saying as He's getting ready 124 00:06:12,916 --> 00:06:17,676 to go away so that they not fall away: 125 00:06:17,676 --> 00:06:21,956 My Father's love for you is sufficient 126 00:06:21,956 --> 00:06:24,198 for God to act on your behalf 127 00:06:24,198 --> 00:06:26,645 whether I'm there or not. 128 00:06:26,645 --> 00:06:30,462 Oh, He'd be there. He wasn't going to leave us. 129 00:06:30,462 --> 00:06:33,005 He'd still intercede for us. 130 00:06:33,005 --> 00:06:35,564 But the Father Himself loves you. 131 00:06:35,564 --> 00:06:36,795 Now here's the thing: 132 00:06:36,795 --> 00:06:39,886 We're talking about unity. 133 00:06:39,886 --> 00:06:44,355 What unifies us more than that? 134 00:06:44,355 --> 00:06:48,085 The Father loves you. 135 00:06:48,085 --> 00:06:50,586 This clip was from the full sermon: 136 00:06:50,586 --> 00:06:52,525 One God and Father