Why Father
Category: Peace & Assurance
Key Passage: Matthew 6
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: October 30, 2022
Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter six.
Your walk with God and your time alone with God—growing your time alone with God—is the way we’re calling the whole series this morning. Really, it would be, “Why Father? Why Father?” And we’ll get to that in just a minute here. But growing your time alone with God, we sang “In the Garden.” I hope you have a garden where you meet with God, and he walks with you and talks with you. I hope you really experience that. And they are great, great songs. I hope you think about the words as you sing them; they are wonderful.
Now, talking about this, we’re going to read in just a minute what’s called the Lord’s Prayer. You heard about the two men sitting around talking Bible. One fellow could tell that his buddy really didn’t know any Bible. So he said, “I tell you what, I’ll give you 20 bucks if you can say the Lord’s Prayer.” The guy said, “I can do it.” And he said, “I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I shall die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” And the fellow said, “Man alive, all right, here’s your 20 bucks.”
You’ll get that after a while, amen.
Matthew chapter six. If you say, “Pastor, my prayer life, I don’t know about that. I just have a rough time with it.” Can I be honest with you? The apostles were probably the best Christians of that day and time. And they asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” So, the best Christians at that time, the apostles—for the most part, I’d say—if they asked them that, “I need to learn to pray better,” you are not uncommon if you are there too. So don’t feel so bad. You’re in a pretty good crowd. The apostles needed help in their prayer life too. So I need it for sure. And that’s what we’re trying to focus on. Matthew chapter six. We’re going to start in verse number six. Matthew 6. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together? Matthew 6 and verse number 6.
Of God’s word. The Bible there says: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
By the way, did you notice heathen people pray too? They don’t pray right. They don’t pray to the right person. They’ll pray; they’re not getting it. They’re kind of calling, but nobody’s answering, if you will, you know.
And verse number eight—that’s a sad thing about it. That’s a sad thing. I don’t say that gleefully. I say that’s a sad thing. I remember the park where we’ve baptized sometimes, over here once a year, at Jefferson Springs Park. I remember seeing a Muslim spread their prayer cloth or blanket out on the ground right in the middle of everything and praying to Mohammed. That’s in a tomb that’s dead. Mecca and Medina can’t answer. Sad thing. By the way, praise the Lord, we get to pray to a resident Savior. Amen! What a wonderful thing. But they pray, but they don’t know how to pray. Not praying to the right person.
Verse number eight: “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.”
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father.” Would you out loud quote it with me or read it with me what we typically call the Lord’s Prayer? Here we go: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”
I believe we’ll get to the start of the Lord’s Prayer this morning, but maybe next Sunday we’ll finish it up. Would you pray with me that God would work in our hearts this morning? Lord, I do ask, Father, that that song would be true more after today where you said, “And he walks with me and he talks with me.” Father, help us to have a relationship that close to you, where we can walk with you. We talk to you, but you talk to us, Lord, through your Spirit. Father, would you just grow our time alone with you? Father, would you give these young people over here throughout the auditorium a vision of them walking with you? The older folk, us, Lord—would you give us a vision of growing our time alone with you? Lord, make it real to your people. Would you put a desire in our hearts to know you more? And Lord, we’ll thank you for what you do. Father, we’re asking for this; would you do so in the name of Jesus? We’re praying. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Last week, for the most part, we covered how not to pray—that’s verse 5, 6, 7, somewhat of 8. We covered that a lot last week, how not to pray. We’re going to try to get into verses 9 through 13, how to pray today. And then after that is what we typically call the Lord’s Prayer. By the way, it’s not really the Lord’s Prayer because Jesus couldn’t pray that. Jesus never needed to ask for forgiveness; He never sinned. “Forgive us our debts”—that’s not Jesus praying; it’s Jesus teaching us how to pray.
But there’s a little order to the Lord’s Prayer. If you notice, at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer, it’s directing or focusing on God: “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” So it’s about God. Then the middle part of the Lord’s Prayer is more about us: “Give us this day our daily needs,” “Forgive us our debts,” and so on. And then the ending, the tag, really the focus goes back to God: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.” Amen. So there’s a little order: God, us, God. That’s a good pattern for your prayer life. We’ll get into more details of it, but that’s a pretty good pattern.
Teaching us how to pray. But let’s just study the Bible. Isn’t that interesting—Christians in church studying the Bible? What about that?
Would you look at verse number seven, please? Verse number seven. We left off somewhere along there last week. Verse number seven, he says, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: For they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
Now, they’re saying “vain repetitions.” What exactly does that mean? Can I just be real blunt for a second? There are no Hail Marys in the Bible. I don’t mean football, the long pass, all right? I don’t even know how it goes—“Hail Mary, full of grace,” all that they say in the full rosary. There are 53 Hail Marys in there, for what I’ve heard. Can I tell you, friend, there are no Hail Marys in the Bible?
Have any of you ever heard a Muslim begin to chant? Anybody heard that? Yeah. This chanting sometime of the same thing over and over to whomever—these are vain repetitions. They’re empty because we don’t pray to Mary; we pray to God. By the way, Mary said she called Jesus her Savior. You don’t need a Savior unless you’re a sinner. So Mary was a sinner, friend. I’m not putting her down; she’s blessed among women, but I don’t pray to Mary. I pray to the Father. I pray to God. Vain repetition. I don’t pray to someone in a tomb somewhere. Vain repetition. I don’t do chants when I’m praying. That’s vain repetition.
Now let’s get just a touch closer home here on this thing, just trying to follow it out. Sometimes we’ll do this, and I’m not saying this is a sin—we have to work at it—but sometimes we’ll sing. We sing our theme song around here, which is pretty much “Victory in Jesus,” right? We used to have a song, but anyway, we changed so much, and I get it mixed up sometimes.
Here’s the thing: some of these hymns you have sung about 50,742 times. We sing them, and I’ve been guilty so many times. We sing them not even knowing what we’re singing. Boy, I hope you’ll work at that. Brother Anthony did a great job this morning of planning the songs along the theme about walking with God, and I got a blessing out of that. I hope you think about the words.
But sometimes, because you sang “Amazing Grace” so many times, you’re not even thinking about it. And when you’ve been praying for a while, you can get in ruts where you’re saying things, but you don’t mean a word of what you said, or at least you’re not thinking about it. It’s not a conscious thing; it’s kind of just habit.
John Rice said he got convicted when, you know, I hope you pray as a family before you eat, amen. Dads, husbands, you ought to lead in that. It doesn’t mean you can’t get somebody else to do it, but you’re the leader of the whole. We’re going to pray in our house. Pray at McDonald’s, wherever you are, before you eat. Pray before you eat at Cracker Barrel. Pray before you eat at Legends. Man, I’m on a roll right here. Pray before you go to Jason’s Deli. Pray before you go to Outback Steakhouse. Pray before you go. Is that good preaching or what?
But anyway, somehow that steak got me off, too. Where was that at? Oh, John Rice. John Rice said he was praying with his family. They always prayed before they ate. He noticed one of his daughters began to say “Amen” right before he finished. He thought, “How does she know that I’m about to finish my prayer?” And then he began to realize, “Man, I’m just saying a routine, a ritual. I don’t mean a word of what I’m saying.” John Rice, a great Christian, said he got convicted.
If you will, I’m just saying a little praise, but I don’t mean anything by it. Sometimes the sweetest prayers are from those people that have never really prayed in public—I’m talking about because I don’t hear it when they’re praying in private. But some of the best, I think the most sincere ones, are those who don’t know all the phrases to use. So it’s really coming from the heart. That’s awesome. I love to hear those.
I can get into vain repetition where I’m just saying something, and I really don’t mean a thing by it. Sometimes I change up just to keep me from falling into habit. I want to mean what I’m saying. There’s some—I don’t know if it’s vain repetition—but sometimes you get in the habit of saying things. You talk to your kids or your wife, and before you hang up the phone, you say, “I love you, bye,” whatever. I think I was talking to one of our men in our church years ago; he’s in heaven now, praise the Lord for that. He was kind of doing that. And before we hung up on the phone, he said, “In Jesus’ name, amen.” I thought, “Wait a second, buddy.” Just habit. But I don’t want to get like that. I want to sincerely pray to God.
Can I say this? Be careful of teaching your children bedtime riddles or rhymes because you just don’t want to lead them to have a habit of saying this little thing that doesn’t mean anything in the world. You want to teach them to sincerely pray. You are talking to God. You are learning to get along with God. That’s very important.
Now, notice what he says—we’ve got to hurry along here—but he says that they think, “For they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” That reminds me: remember on Mount Carmel? I ever wonder if there’s like a lot of caramel, like caramel you put on an ice cream sundae, that type of Mount Carmel? Anybody think like I think? Thank you.
Elijah and the false prophets—remember they prayed from morning till noon, thinking they were going to get a hold of their God? They thought, “If I just pray long enough and loud enough,” and boy, they even cut themselves and all that. He said, do they think they’re going to be heard for all that? God said, don’t think all that. Don’t use this vain repetition and think you can get loud enough and long enough, or you’re going to twist God’s arm and make God do something for you. God’s not a genie. You rub his bottle and get him to do something; God is not like that. But it’s vain repetition.
Now let me just say this as far as finishing up on verse number seven: Just because you say something repeatedly does not mean that it is vain repetition.
Paul, one of the greatest Christians in the Bible, said, “Three times.” I don’t think that was just three, boom, boom; I think it was three seasons of prayer. He said, “I have sought the Lord three times concerning this thing.” That was repetition. Jesus in the garden prayed, “Father, let this cup pass.” He prayed that repeatedly. “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done,” but he prayed.
Just because it’s repeated doesn’t mean it’s vain. If you get burdened about someone, or maybe you’re burdened about somebody getting saved or somebody’s sick, and you’re just kind of all day long saying, “Lord, I’m just burdened about it,” it’s just kind of on your tongue all day long: “Lord, help them, save them.” That’s not at all vain. Vain is empty, useless. That’s not empty or useless. You’re praying for somebody getting saved; there’s nothing vain about that for you. So don’t think just because it’s repetition, it’s wrong, but vain repetition. See? I don’t think just because you do it so long, “God’s, I can make him do this.” No, you’re not going to make God do anything.
Well, let’s keep going. I want you to notice something about this passage, all right? We’re going to move past verse number seven. I want you to notice something. Would you go back up to verse number six right there? Verse number six, and when I stop, would you say the next word? When I just stop? If you do that, please, I’m trying to emphasize a word for us here.
Verse number six, follow me if you would, please: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: For they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: For your Father…”
Wow, he keeps bringing this word up: “For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.”
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father.” You notice the emphasis? He keeps bringing up this word: Father. Father.
Can I say this? Being a father or a dad is more than biologically birthing a child. It’s having that child right beside your side. It’s putting them to bed at nighttime. It’s waking up. It’s providing for them. It’s loving them. It’s teaching them. It’s sometimes disciplining them. It’s spending time with them. It’s buying things for them. It’s loving on them. It’s encouraging them. It’s comforting them. It’s being there for them in the bad times and the good times. It’s being there at the graduation parties, celebrations. It’s all that and 10,000 things more.
God here is emphasizing this: God is saying, “I want to have a relationship with you. I want to be your dad. I want you to be my son. I want you to be my daughter. I want to just be with you all the time like a dad takes care of its children.”
Look in verse number eight, if you would please. Verse number eight: “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.”
This time alone with God is not an informative time where you’re trying to tell God, “I need this, this, this.” God knows what you need. The big thing here is not you telling God, “You got to do all these things.” It’s you building a relationship with your Dad. He wants to be your Father.
It’s not just informative. It includes that on down, just maybe a verse or two out of all of them: “Give us this day our daily bread.” That’s the shortest verse of all of them, verse number 11. It’s not really the big thing. Is it part of it? Sure it is, but that’s a small thing. The big thing is, before he even got to praying, he’s already mentioned Father three times before we even got to the Lord’s Prayer. It’s about God saying, “I want to be close to you. I want to walk with you.”
Can I be honest with you? I don’t pray—and I’m not saying this is right just for me, and last week I was trying to emphasize it’s going to be different for everybody—but I don’t pray a whole lot about money, personal finances, that I’ve found over the years. If I pray very much about it, you know what happens? I kind of digress and I start worrying about finances. I don’t pray that much about it. I’ll mention it a little here and there, but for the most part, it’s kind of like, that’s not the big deal here.
By the way, a child, a little child in a normal, healthy home, from a baby on up to years old, in a normal healthy home, doesn’t worry about if there’s going to be food on the table. Dad—that falls on your shoulders; that’s your responsibility. And little kids, for the most part, they don’t worry about that. They don’t stay awake at nighttime thinking we’re going to have food in the morning. They shouldn’t. That’s not the big concern for them. Man, they’ve got too many other things—dolls for little girls and things to play with, and boys have little guns and all the rest of that. That’s their world.
I’m saying, listen, the big thing about your prayer life is not getting God to provide finances for you. Will he do that? Can he do that? Yes, and he will. But God wants it so much deeper and better and more wonderful than that. He wants to have a Dad-son, a Dad-daughter relationship with him. That’s what he wants.
You know, it’s funny how children get security from Dad and Mom, even from the littlest times. I look back—I hope you don’t mind me mentioning, Brother John—but Miss Maria had a procedure a couple weeks ago, and for a while she couldn’t pick up those twins because of the procedure, and those boys got a little fidgety and fussy because they weren’t getting security from Mom. She couldn’t pick them up. Children get security from that.
Sarah, when she was little—Dad, don’t tell those stories—but I’d be sitting in the living room, and she would just back up to whoever was there and say, “Lap, Daddy. Lap, Daddy.” She was just little. She would come sit on Dad. You get security. That’s where they get that from. That’s just part of it.
It’s a little bit of time when you get along with God, when the children of God go to God and they say, “Hey, Lap, Daddy.” I love this story about Brother Bobby Robertson. He’s in heaven now. God used him for years. He pastored the church for years and years in Walkertown, North Carolina. Brother Bobby said when he was a young preacher, he never went to Bible College. He would always say, “I’m for Bible College,” but he said, “I was kind of raised out in the country. We thought they were either educated preachers or God-called preachers.” He said, “I’m not against it, and I tell all my young preachers to go to Bible College,” but back in the day, that’s why we thought that way.
Someone asked me about Bob Jones, Sr., the guy that started Bob Jones University. Brother Bobby and some of those younger country preachers said, “We’re going to go hear this guy.” They were a little hesitant: “Well, I don’t know, this guy started a university. I don’t know if he’s a true preacher or not.”
They went to hear Bob Jones, Sr., preach. They thought, “We’ll see if this educated man has got the goods.” Brother Bob started to pray before he preached. He said, “Lord, before I preach, I feel like I just need to—would you let me climb up in your lap and sit in your arms for a minute? Just hold me in your arms for just a minute before I preach.”
All those country preachers, Brother Bobby said, thought, “This is the real deal. He knows God. Educated or not, he’s been walking with God because he’s talking to his Dad.” Now that’s what God wants your prayer time to be like. You’re getting to know your Dad. You’re walking with your Dad. You’re in a relationship. See?
Relationships with dads are so important. Moms, you’re just vital; there’s no way around that, and typically dads are gone so much, so moms are just key. But can I be honest? The Bible talks more to dads about raising the children, much, much more. You study it out—much more to dads than to moms about raising children. That’s amazing. I didn’t write the book; I just preach it.
Ephesians 6 starts off: “Children, obey your parents,” plural, both. But then he says, “Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” That’s what it says.
Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 4, verse number 6, the last verse of the Old Testament: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.”
Deuteronomy: “Thou shalt teach them the ways that thou shalt walk when thou goest in and comest out, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” It’s just a very biblical thing. I say that for a couple of reasons. One thing I’ll say that because one of the major problems of the past generation—hopefully not this generation—is a lack of dads in America. That’s a major problem we’ve had. Major, major problem.
By the way, the problem is that the poor wife has got to do all the work on her own. That’s a sad thing. Don’t fall for that philosophy of, “Well, I’ll bring home the paycheck and you raise the kids.” Oh, no, Dad, you better get involved in that thing. No, no, don’t fall for that.
The Bible emphasizes that relationship a lot. It really does.
But here’s a problem with that. There are no perfect fathers down here. I sure wasn’t. You’re not. Your dad wasn’t. And so that creates problems and major problems. But God says, “Hey, I want to be your Father.” God says, “I want to be,” and by the way, He is the I AM God. “Well, my dad wasn’t this, wasn’t this, wasn’t it?” Well, God is. He’s the I AM God.
If you inherit sometimes problems that you have, God says, “Look, I can be a Dad that corrects and fills in the gaps when you need it so much.” He is the perfect Dad. And he wants to be that to you. Don’t get stuck on, “I didn’t have this.” It may make it tougher in some ways to get close to your Heavenly Dad because you weren’t close to your earthly dad. But oh, your Heavenly Dad says, “I can fill in things that you need so bad, and I want to give them to you.”
That’s why he said, “Don’t call anybody ‘Father’ except God.” God keeps that sacred. This is not Father Paul or Father whoever, Father Anthony, all that. No, that’s sacred. That’s God’s title. God says, “I want to be a Dad to you.” That’s what this is really about. God wants a relationship with you.
By the way, typically a lady will have this major overall question in her life: “Am I lovely?” And Dads—God, but Dads—is the key man that can answer that question. And God, your Heavenly Father, can answer that question for you. He really can.
Typically, a young man has this question: “Do I have what it takes?” Men are just bred for it; they know they’re supposed to fight and protect and all that. These kids out here in the school, they’ll be running around at recess time. The boys will have a stick and they’ll say, “God, this is my gun.” They’ve been fighting bears out back there, if you didn’t know that. The boys got their gun, and all that. It’s just kind of inbred in the boy. Praise the Lord, it is inbred in a boy. Praise the Lord for that. Don’t change it. Don’t mix it all up. They’re so different from day one. Leave them alone. God made male and female, amen. It’s either him or she; it’s not both altogether. Leave it alone. God didn’t make a mistake.
But that boy, “Do I have what it takes?” Probably a key person in his life, yes, Mom, very key there, but Dad. And God wants to answer that question for you, man. He made you. He knows you better than anybody. He didn’t make a mistake.
This old world tries to put its tag on you. God gives names out. It’s a wonderful thing. I think of two different men, especially in men’s sessions I’ve told this in a couple of different places. Both were kind of manly men, but they didn’t really have a close relationship with their dad. Well, they got along with God, and God gave them a name. I remember one of the men; he’s a big-time hunter and all the rest of that, did the military and all that stuff. But man, he just came back when God gave him the name; he was weeping and flying high. God wants to give you a name.
Satan is busy using this old world and so many things to try to put his tag, his name on you, and it’s just downgrading you and making you worthless. I’ve told this story so many times, I probably shouldn’t tell it again, but I’ll tell it just to show you in real life how this can happen. The man whose dad was a drunk… He said, “We were kind of used to Dad being a drunk, and we could handle that. Dad was physically abusive sometimes, but we were used to all that.”
But one day, Dad came home so drunk he literally drove into my bedroom, he said. He opened the door of the car and stepped inside the bedroom; he drove into the bedroom. The boys said, “We were used to that. Dad was violent when he was drunk.” We were kind of typically used to that.
He said, “My dad grabbed me and put a gun to my head.” We were used to all that, but the next two words he said messed my life up for the next 30 years. His dad had the gun to his head but just said, “You’re worthless.” And he put the gun up and walked away—kind of like, “You’re not worth shooting.” He said, “I spent 30 years of my life trying to prove those two words wrong.”
That is Satan giving you—Satan’s busy, often using people close to you—but he’s busy trying to give you a negative tag, Satan’s name for you. But God, he is very capable. He wants to give you his name. You’re born again; you’re born in his family. He gives you a name. He can whisper in your heart even now what your name is before you get to heaven. He’s your Dad. Our Father—it’s about the relationship with your Dad.
It provides security. It’s more than just getting things from God. Let me focus on a couple things real quickly. We’ve got to be done. Man, time is slipping away. I feel like I’m rambling a little bit here.
Look in verse number eight, if you would please. Verse number eight: “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.”
Notice he doesn’t say your grandfather or grandmother because grandparents will give you anything grandchildren ask for. God gave children to parents, typically. There are exceptions. Grandparents, man, we live a thousand miles away from our grandchildren. My wife said, “Can I buy them something else?” I thought I’d have a little bit of a wallet with them moving so far away, but my wallet’s gone. Praise the Lord, she loves them, but dads and parents sometimes know what’s best. They know that little Susie doesn’t need a hundred lollipops.
Part of this relationship with God is, “All right, not my will, but thine be done.” Not trying to twist your arm and make you give me this. You may know better what I need.
I forget when someone came back after praying about a situation, and I said, “Did the Lord speak to you about that?” They said, “Yeah, but not like I thought he would. Actually, I was praying about this situation, these people, and God spoke to my heart about it; he dealt with me about my love of money.”
“He spoke to me. He didn’t give me what I wanted, but I wanted what I was asking for. Well, he spoke to me. He changed my heart. He told me something I never dreamed, something outside of what I was thinking about.” He’s Dad. He knows the bigger picture. We’re his kids. I want to go to him. It’s not like I’m going to inform him about everything; I’m going to him as a child. I’m talking to Dad.
He can really change problems and issues in your life—your marriage, your finances, all that. I’m not talking about the surface things up here; I’m talking about root things. He can make your life so much sweeter because he actually does, if you let the Spirit—his Spirit—bear witness with our spirit, he speaks to us. I’m not talking about audible. If he spoke to me audibly, I’d still be running. But he speaks in your heart.
Part of it sometimes is Dad says, “No, no, you don’t see the big picture. Why I’m letting you go through that problem is because you need to work on this right here.” And you go, “Whoa, I never saw that.” He’s that.
Elijah is a prime example. After Mount Carmel, he went through that time; he just went into depression basically. Finally, on that mount, he heard the still, small voice. When he heard the still, small voice, he went out and spoke with the Lord. Elijah said, “Lord, I’m zealous for you; I’m the only one standing for you, and they’re trying to kill me.”
God didn’t really answer that directly. God had already given him food and rest. But at that point, God said, “Elijah, go over to Syria. You’re going to know that Hazael is to be king. And on the way back, get Jehu; he’s going to be king of Israel. And then Elijah is going to be your successor. Go on and get busy.” God sees a bigger picture than you.
But if I have this relationship, I’m his child, he’s my Father. Yes, I’m coming to you about some things, and yes, part of it is even getting things from God. “You have not because you ask not.” But the bigger picture is I can go to God and say, “Lord, you know what? You know better than me. I’d like you to speak to me about this situation.” He will.
A couple of thoughts real quickly here. This father, father-daughter, father-son—never get ashamed of your Father. I hope my wife didn’t mind me telling the same thing. She doesn’t know what I’m going to tell either, but my wife says when she was a teenager, her dad did construction for years, and he had this old yellow truck. If I remember right, the hood had like a cable to keep it from flying up. You know what I’m talking about? And there’s stuff always hanging out of the back; it was loud. She said, “When my dad would take me to high school”—she went to public school—“my dad would take me to high school and drop me off right in front of everybody.”
Years ago, we went down to a church in Spring Hill to help them trim trees, and we borrowed an old, beat-up bucket truck from a guy. Me and John went to pick it up, and it broke down about a mile away. We lifted the hood up to see it. There were so many rubber grommets and all that, and oil leaked down on the spark plugs. First of all, it was burning; we had to put the fire out. Then we figured out the gas gauge wasn’t working. Oh, I remember that thing was out of gas. We put some gas in it. Spring Hill is pretty nice now, all developed. We pulled into one of those shopping centers, and it was loud, this old, rusted-up bucket truck. I was like, “John, all right, help out and put some gas in there.” John was a teenager. He was like, “Oh, man. I had to get a little gas along there.” Oh, Mom, somebody look at John!
It’s great sometimes Christians do that with God. “I want to have my hair cut because I just don’t like long hair.” “I want to have my hair cut because I want to obey the Bible.” Then, “I want to have my hair cut because I want everybody to know whose side I’m on.” I want to be clear: That guy’s an old, funny, nutty Christian—that’s me. I’m just using that one thing that came to my mind.
A young man in a church used to carry his Bible with him to public school, gospel tracts. Boy, I don’t know if I carry a gospel tract. I don’t know if I hand them out—why? Somebody might know you’re a Christian. That’s a little funny nut; he’s giving them out everywhere he goes. Woo-hoo! I sure do. Proud of my Dad. I’m not ashamed. He saved me, amen. I’m glad! Let everybody know whose side I’m on. Don’t ever be ashamed of your Dad. He’s your Dad. He saved us; he redeemed us.
It may be your language where you go at work, who you hang out with at work, what you talk about at work—your language. It may be your dress. Man, I never want to be ashamed. I’ve been there before, but I don’t want to be ashamed.
Let me just finish up this thing here. I’m talking about “Why Father”—your Dad. I’m talking about your Heavenly Dad. He always has time for his kids. Always. It doesn’t matter; he’s always got time for his kids.
What about that verse over in Hebrews 4? “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Look over in Psalm 145. Psalm 145, verse number 8, is a wonderful verse. While you’re turning there, I’ll mention a little phrase from Proverbs 15:8: “The prayer of the upright is his delight.” He loves it; he delights in it.
Psalm 145, look in verse number 18 if you would; it’s a wonderful promise from God’s word. Psalm 145, verse number 18. When you find that, would you say, “Amen”? Amen. Look at verse number 18: “The Lord is nigh unto all those that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”
Well, he’s nigh. He’s kind of like saying, “Look, if you come as my child, you come to him in truth.” By the way, Jesus is truth. You come to him by the way of the cross; he’s nigh. You’re not justifying; you’re just coming to him in truth, according to his word. You’re being truthful about your situation; the Lord is nigh.
I remember one conference where the dad pastored a large church, and the sons were preaching too. They said Dad always had a standing rule: if we really needed Dad, anytime, anywhere, we could walk right into his office and talk to Dad. God Almighty is a better Dad than that. Any time, anywhere you have a need, you come to him truthfully. He’ll always be there for you. It doesn’t matter how big it is or how little it is. It’s not too small to bother God about. God loves it when you come to him. The prayer of the upright is his delight. He delights when you come to him. He’s your Father.
Let me say this: You can’t go to him as a Father unless you truly are born into his family. You’ve been saved through Jesus Christ. He moves inside your heart when you trust only in Jesus. He regenerates you. He gives you the strength to be his son, his daughter. Not everybody is his son—they are his creation—but you are not his son or his daughter until you are saved. You are born again. If you’re not there, I’d encourage you to get saved today.
If you say, “You know, I’m going to be praying. I’m going to be working at it. I want my relationship with my Heavenly Father, my Dad, to grow. I like to get closer. I like to know him more. I like to work at this thing, getting closer to my Dad, my Heavenly Father.” God spoke to my heart about that this morning. If that’s you, would you slip your hand up? God bless you. That’s a great desire. God bless you.
Maybe you say, “I want to hear his voice more.” If that’s you this morning, slip your hand up. God bless you.
Maybe here this morning you said, “Preacher, I never want to be ashamed. I want the world to know he’s my Dad. I’m his child.” God bless you.
One more question. You said, “Preacher, I need to become his child. I’m not saved. I need to be born into the family of God.” If that’s you this morning, would you raise your hand? That’s the first step for anybody.
Let’s go to him like a child going to his Dad. Dad, I want to know you better. I want to hear your voice. Would you let him know that?
Would you stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. Spend some time with him. Father, thank you. It’s amazing you want to be my Dad. Help that to be true of all of us where we have that close, moment-by-moment Father-son, Father-daughter relationship with you. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Would you come? Spend some time with your Dad. Lord, I want to know you better. I want to hear your voice. He’s waiting for us. He’s given us forgiveness through Christ, redemption through Christ. Spend the issue, just throw it down to God. His word shall not fail you; he promised. He’s a Dad that helps his children. I hope you’re going to be dismissed.
Original File: Why Father - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday PM 10302022