Sermon note (3rd svc)
- Pastor Lawrence
We need to pray. Not just look at what is happening.
Prayer changes everything. I do not know what is your situation, let your faith arise. When you pray, things will start to change.
The Lord spoke to Pastor Prince to pray for North Korea’s leader for his salvation last year.
Singapore is a country of profound grace and beauty. President Donald Trump mentioned this in his thank you note.
Children need to have encounter with the Lord. Know the Lord for themselves.
Joshua knew the Lord and the works of the Lord. But arose a generation who neither knew the Lord or know the works of the Lord.
We must not neglect the preaching of the Lord.
Don’t just come to church on Sundays, but get involved in the life of church.
We need to be in constant contact by meditating on His Word, constant fellowship. Kingdom friendship. We need it.
Speak into each others’ lives.
We need to experience and encounter with the Lord.
John 17 is a record of Jesus’ longest prayer in the gospel. He was interceding for His disciples. He was praying for us !
Way before we were born, Jesus saw us. His heart is always tender towards us. He sees your future and is interceding for us.
John 17:6
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
Jesus is making a statement. He has revealed God’s name to His disciples.
What is the name of God that Jesus has revealed?
What is the name that Jesus came and reveal that is unique and special?
In the beginning God created heaven and the earth.
We believe in a God that is 3 in 1
God created man. Male and female He created them.
Yahweh! God wants to be covenant Friend. Covenant keeping God.
El Shaddai!
It is a miraculous working power of God!
Jesus did not come to reveal any of these names. What is the one name Jesus came to reveal?
Two of the most common statement are God and Father.
Jesus will refer to God as Father.
Psalm 103 – Father was revealed
Isaiah 9 – written 600 years before Jesus was born. Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace
Though it was revealed as Father but not widely used.
Every time Jesus mentioned about God He mentioned Father.
John 17:11-12
Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
When you understand God as God, it puts a distance between you and Him. Is not personal. But when you call God Father, something changes. There is a closeness and nearness.
Fears many times are not rational.
When you are afraid you will run to the person who is not afraid. You need to run to the Lord.
We truly have a Father who is almighty! What is your fear? Go to Him!
Psalm 91
Shadow of the almighty.
Protection that we yearn for, is when we are close n near to God
God wants us close. He is already close. The sense of it. The faith you have must be in your heart. He wants to be close to you. In the closeness and nearness, in Christ, you are protected!
You are with your Father and your Father is with you!
John 17:25-26
O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
There is something about knowing His name Father. Know God as Father.
He is your good good Father. Know Him as your Father and be kept in His love for you.
More than 100 times Jesus referred to God as Father.
Psalm 22 was a prophecy when Jesus quoted on the cross. He addressed God as God so that you and I can address God as Father!
Own and realise God is your Father! He is not far away. He loves you and He cares for you.
The love which He loves us
River Jordon is near to the Dead Sea. It speaks of the lowest point. Jesus did not need to be baptised. He submitted to the will of the Father.
Jesus submitted and was water baptised. A voice came from heaven. God said He is His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. This was before Jesus perform any miracle.
God the Father spoke to Jesus the Son and the lowest point in Israel.
He wants everyone to know about His love for His children.
Our same God is speaking to you and me.
As He is, so are we in this world.
The righteousness we have is the same righteousness that God has. God sees us and is well pleased with us.
The moment you awake to righteousness, everything in you changed!
He knows when we know the truth, is knowing the truth that will set us free.
The truth of what Jesus Christ has done.
The same love for Jesus.
You are the beloved of God.
Nothing to prove and no one to impress. There is a stability and security and maturity that will come upon you.
When you know God as Father, will deal with the supply for your needs.
Matthew 7:7-11
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking
(Luke 11:9–13)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
We who are evil selfish can give good things to children because we love them, what about God? Ask Him! Just ask! No condition given!
Peter walked on water because He asked
Are you asking?
See God as good Father who gives good gifts.
Don’t envy. Ask Him. He will bless and He will give.
Luke 12:32
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
God does not just want to give, He is happy to give!
He is happy to give! He owns everything! He wants to give and He is happy to give!
He is happy to give to you. He has no lack. He loves it when we are happy.
God is delighted to give to you.
Matthew 6:7-9
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
If you think by reminding God everyday, it is not about nagging God. There must be a rest in your heart. Thank Him for what He has done.
Your Father knows the thing you have need of before you ask Him.
Ask because it is relationship.
He loves to talk to you.
Prayer is not always asking for things. Is a relationship
We pray. Prayer is an enjoyment of our relationship with our Father.
God has a yearning for you.
Song of Songs 7:10
I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is toward me.
God’s desire is towards you.
Live life knowing you are loved and He yearns for you!
Jesus came!
Abba means Father
Abba is a Aramaic term
Mark 14:36
And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
In the crisis you are going through, call Him Abba!
This is new covenant revelation
Romans 8:15-16
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Christianity is not controlled by fear. We receive sonship. He is your Father. We are children of God.
You are a child of God. He is your Abba!
Because of what the Lord has done, He is your Abba!
Galatians 4:4-7
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Cry out to God, Abba!
A son and an heir to God. He is your Father who loves and protects you.
Romans 1:7
To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God our Father
1 Corinthians 1:2-3
To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God our Father
Ephesians 1:2
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God our Father
God is your Father!
God’s disciplines, He discipline with His Words
God will never reject you as a son.
You cannot change your identity as a child of God
Luke 15:16-24
And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
He felt unworthy because of his sin.
When he was returning home, while he was still a long way off, his father saw him!
God is full of compassion for you even when you sin!
God hugs and kisses you!
Still a son! The father called him a son! You are still a son!
The party began!
It has not stopped ever since. There is a party! God welcome you home!
Is God loving us!
1 John 2:15-16
Do Not Love the World
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
When you receive the love of the Father, it satisfy the vacuum of your heart!
It will change you.
Do you know you are yearning of your Father’s love? He loves you. He is your true Abba. He created you. He is your Daddy. When you receive His love, something change inside you.
The power of Father’s love.
Experience His embrace and kisses of His heart for you today.
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Encounter your Father’s love for you
We are more than conqueror through Him who loves us.
