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  OUR FATHER LOVES US AND RULES THE UNIVERSE
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of addressing God as our
loving Father in prayer, highlighting the immense love and care God has
for us compared to earthly fathers. It discusses the privilege of
calling God 'Father' in the new covenant and the need to truly believe
in God as our Dad to experience rest and intimacy with Him.
Additionally, it delves into the concept of God's complete control over
the universe, showcasing His sovereignty and the peace that comes from
trusting in His perfect will and timing.

Topics: "God as Father", "Trusting in God's Sovereignty"
Scripture References: Matthew 7:11, Romans 8:15, Daniel 4:35, Hebrews 4:9, Isaiah 55:8

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of addressing God as our loving
Father in prayer, highlighting the immense love and care God has for us
compared to earthly fathers. It discusses the privilege of calling God
'Father' in the new covenant and the need to truly believe in God as our
Dad to experience rest and intimacy with Him. Additionally, it delves
into the concept of God's complete control over the universe, showcasing
His sovereignty and the peace that comes from trusting in His perfect
will and timing.

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CONTENT
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Jesus taught us to pray and before we rush into the requests we make to
him, he told us how to address God. He taught us to pray our father who
art in heaven. So there are two things there.

One is to be absolutely convinced that God is our loving father, father
who loves us immensely more than any earthly father. Jesus always said
that if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more shall your heavenly father give only good things to those who
ask him. We have many good fathers sitting here and when Jesus said that
there must have been some good fathers in front of him but he said all
of you are evil compared to God and I would say that to every one of you
including myself.

We are evil fathers compared to God. In other words on a scale of one to
hundred God is a hundred. We are zero.

We are not even one. So think of how much you care for your children,
how much you sacrifice and provide for them. It is zero compared to
God's love for you.

If you don't begin there, it's no use praying. The problem with a lot of
people who pray is they do not begin where Jesus told us to begin. Our
father, it's one of the great things in the new covenant.

Do you know that if you had gone to a Jew in the old testament said hey
you can call God father. He said oh no he's not our father. He's God
almighty.

It's a tremendous privilege which I don't think we have realized fully
and no matter we even though we hear it so much I remember in the early
days nobody taught me this. In fact most of the truths I discovered by
reading the bible because I sat in churches where just like today you go
to these churches you don't hear the most important truths in scripture.
So most of the time I would pray oh God, oh Lord Jesus.

You ask yourself how you pray. Oh God, Lord Jesus. Very rarely will you
pray father.

If you don't believe me you check your prayers in the past days and
check in the coming days how you pray. Spontaneously your prayer is not
father. You know prayer is not that.

It took me years to come to the place where I could look up to him and
say dad have you come there. It says the holy spirit cries out within us
saying abba. If that were translated, that's a Hebrew word by the way
from Romans 8 16.

The spirit cries out within us saying abba father. Unfortunately they
didn't translate abba. It's like some I feel very sad that some of these
words are not translated.

For example baptism. They shouldn't have put that Greek word baptizo
into the English. They should have said immersion.

That's the meaning of baptism. There would be no more child sprinkling
if that was there. In the same way abba.

They should have said spirit within us cries out dad. Have you ever
looked up to heaven and said dad. We were hearing about rest.

That's what I'm telling you. You cannot come to rest no matter how many
messages you hear, no matter how many verses you until you are convinced
that God is your dad better than your earthly dad. I was taught that
when I was born again but it was not a reality in my life for many
years.

I could not spontaneously look up and say that even in church if I
prayed in public it would be oh God oh Lord. Very good nothing wrong in
saying Lord God but Jesus said pray our father. Why don't we say that?
Who do you think is making us not say that? It's the devil.

He doesn't want you to be intimate with your father. It's like you know
there are some of these songs like guide me oh thou great Jehovah. I
never sing that Jehovah because he's not Jehovah to me.

There are many other songs like that where there's no God like Jehovah.
There's no God like my dad and so while others are singing Jehovah I
quietly say dad. It's really true.

I remember people once when I said that to someone I said isn't he
Jehovah? I said yes but if one of my children came to me and said Mr.
Poon and I'd like to talk to you I think he's angry with me. He wouldn't
call me by that name. I say I'm Mr. Poon to everybody else in the world
but to you I'm dad and that's what God is telling many of us to the
whole world.

He says I'm God but to you I'm a dad. I hope you will believe it today.
Believe me if you ask the Holy Spirit to fulfill in your life.

Romans 8 16 which says the spirit within us I think it's 8 16. Yeah no
sorry it's 8 15. The spirit within us cries out dad ask the Holy Spirit
to make that real to you so that it's not just because brother Zach said
it or even because Jesus said it but the Holy Spirit has come in and
assures you the one who is in heaven is your dad.

That's the way to come to rest. The rest that you were hearing Bobby
speak about. The second thing is our father who are in heaven not in
heaven means he's got complete control of everything in the universe.

These are the two facts that will bring rest into your life. One is the
assurance of a dad in heaven who loves you more than anyone on earth
ever loved you even when you make mistakes. A good father will not
forsake his son if his son makes a mistake even if it's a gross mistake.

Yeah a good father will not forsake you. He said I'll stand by you. You
know the fathers are willing to be in prison for the sake of their
children or they're willing to be hanged in place of their children that
that's what Jesus manifested on the cross.

God sent his son to be killed in our place but one who rules in heaven
controls there's absolutely nothing outside his control and as I've
studied the scriptures the most complete and the absolute statement of
the sovereignty of God that I've found in the whole bible is not in
Romans 9 where it speaks of God's sovereignty. It's not in any of the
apostles words. It's in Daniel and it's not in the words of Daniel.

It's in the words of a heathen king called Nebuchadnezzar who was an
arrogant king who built Babylon and was so proud. He said in Daniel 4 30
isn't this Babylon the great which I have built. It was an amazing city
by the way Babylon.

I believe the walls were so thick that a four horse chariot could ride
around on the walls. They're so thick and this great which I've built. I
built it and I built it for my residence and I built it with my power
and I built it for my glory from man through man to man.

It should be from God through God to God like it says in Romans 11 36
from God through God to God are all things but this is the opposite of
that Babylon. The mark of Babylon Christendom today Babylonian
Christianity is plans that originate in man's mind done through man's
power and man's money and done for man's glory. That's here Babylon.

He says this I built by it was my idea to build it. I built it with my
power and it is for the glory of my majesty and God said okay I'm going
to humble you. A voice came from heaven saying sovereignty verse 31 has
been removed from you Nebuchadnezzar.

You're going to be driven away and you're going to live with the animals
in the field. You're going to eat grass like cattle until seven periods
of time pass over you. Now I don't know how many that means seven years.

Well seven years he was like a the king the ruler. He was the greatest
sovereign in the world at that time. He became like an animal eating
grass and his nails grew it says in verse 33 the last part like bird's
claws and his hair became like eagle's feathers and then God humbled
him.

He was eating grass like cattle verse 33. At the end of it God healed
him and he learned a lesson and then he says in verse 34 I blessed the
most high the last part of 34 praised and honored him for his dominion
is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to
generation. Now here verse 35 is the verse I'm referring to the most
absolute statement of the sovereignty of God that I have found in any
verse in the whole Bible.

All the inhabitants of the earth believers, unbelievers, every single
human being is zero. That's the first thing he says I've discovered that
every human being on earth is zero before God. You won't be afraid of
anybody now once you recognize he's a zero before our father who is in
heaven.

All those people who have power over you can trouble you can change your
circumstances you can make like difficult your boss in your office or it
doesn't matter who people who make a mistake and because of that mistake
you suffer. He's a zero in God's eyes and he does this God of ours this
father of ours does I mean Nebuchadnezzar didn't know him as father this
God does exactly what he wants in the heaven and the heaven includes the
second heaven where the devil dwells. The devil's on a leash you know
the leash of a dog you can only go that far and can't go beyond thus far
and no further that's how God the devil is on a leash like a dog is on a
leash.

God has allowed him to exist you know in pilgrim's progress once the
pilgrim is walking through a narrow path and two lions are there scaring
him and then he gets near he finds both the lines are chained they are
permitted to come pretty close to the narrow way and bark I mean growl
and roar but they're on a chain and once the pilgrim sees oh there's a
chain there he walks now if you walk out of the narrow way into that
path they can bite you but you stay in the narrow way they can't touch
you so in all the hosts of heaven it's not only among the good angels
even among the demons in the second heaven and he does exactly what he
wills. Next and he also does exactly what he wants among all the
inhabitants of the earth that includes those people you are a bit
concerned about he does according to his will those who have a
difficulty with their mother-in-law you believe that God does according
to his will even with her and no one no one can stop his hand and say
what have you done nobody nobody can stop his hand if God is stretching
out his hand to do something for me no one can stop it. If you don't
believe in the father in heaven like this the devil is smart enough to
create some circumstance to bring you into unrest anxiety tension and
you'll be uptight and when you're uptight you'll get easily upset with
people and irritated and you know a lot of our irritation and getting
upset with people is we are uptight about something else in our life.

So when we are addressed inwardly it makes a tremendous difference in
our behavior to other people we are relaxed the secret of being in a
good mood 24 hours of the day is to believe that I have a father in
heaven and I want to encourage all of you in future when you pray I'm
not saying it's wrong to pray Lord Jesus we read in second Corinthians
12 Paul said I had a thorn in the flesh and I prayed to the Lord
definitely you can pray to the Lord Jesus but we are told to pray to the
father in the name of Jesus. Father, I cannot come to you directly but
because Jesus is my mediator the one mediator between God and man I come
in the name of Jesus to you that's what the Bible teaches. So as I say
there's nothing wrong in praying to the Lord Jesus we teach little
children to pray to the Lord Jesus because they don't know yet what it
means to know God as father but the sooner they come to know God as
father the better but that is what I found in my life that brought rest
into my life.

I used to be a person frequently discouraged after I was born again
discouragement and self-condemnation were very common with anxiety,
tension, wondering what will happen, how will this fellow is a trouble
me or in different circumstances maybe we made a mistake or a blunder
somewhere we all make and then we begin to think oh what will be the
consequences of that in my place of work or what will be the
consequences in some other situation I've messed up some situation and
it's going to be pretty difficult now some problem may come into my life
I may be ruined financially or something like that you know what the
answer is our father who is in heaven dear brothers and sisters this is
the rest into which God wants us to come this is the meaning of the
Sabbath in Hebrews it says here in Hebrews chapter four there remains
verse nine there remains the Sabbath rest for the people of God. Adam
went to work on the eighth day I hope you know that not the seventh day
he was created on the sixth day he had to learn to be at complete rest
in God even before sin came into the world on the seventh day
experienced that Sabbath of sitting and delighting himself in the
presence of God he didn't know God as a father but at least knowing him
as God and then the Lord said on the eighth day now go and if he had
learned if Adam and Eve had learned that lesson fully when the devil
came to them on the eighth day they would have resisted him but they
forgot it while they're sitting in God's presence they say yeah it is
wonderful to be in God's presence that's how we are today but tomorrow
you may forget it and the devil comes that's what you learn from Genesis
chapter three they should have been in the Sabbath rest in Genesis
chapter three also in the presence of God but then they didn't have the
Holy Spirit like we have but there's no excuse for you not to be in the
presence of God tomorrow like you are today because you've got the Holy
Spirit so if you're in a Sabbath rest today you must be there tomorrow
and the day after all the time it took me some time to understand this
and to come there but I tell you it has brought tremendous deliverance
in my life from bad moods never to be in a bad mood 24 hours of the day
seven days of the week 24 7 I want to say to you that is God's will for
you why because we have a father in heaven who does exactly according to
his will in heaven and earth then we may have certain questions like why
did this happen why did God do that for me I don't want to go into all
the verses but you know that place in the Bible where it says Acts
chapter 12 James was imprisoned and Herod cut off his head the apostle
James he's only 30 years old and you question didn't God have a ministry
for this man his brother John lived up to 95 how useful this man would
have been if he had lived up to 95 as well long life was in the genes
his brother lived up to 95 and he's God allowed his head to be cut off
at the age of 30 and a couple of days later Peter is imprisoned and I
don't have time to you read that in Acts chapter 12 sometimes and God
sends an angel to open the door and says Peter come out and Peter comes
out and goes to the house of one of the sisters there where a prayer
meeting is going on where they're praying for Peter home and he knocks
on the door they can't believe it's him and he comes and speaks in the
prayer meeting and says God sent an angel to deliver me from the prison
and you know who's sitting listening there James's mother and if you
were James's mother sitting there or James's father sitting there what
would be the thoughts passing to your mind your son was beheaded two
days ago and here Peter comes in saying the angel opened the door for me
you know what the thoughts will go through your mind why in the world
didn't God send an angel two days ago to save my son isn't he needed in
God's kingdom there's where you have to believe our father in heaven he
does exactly according to his will and you also need to know one more
truth in that connection that is in Isaiah chapter 55 Isaiah 55 and
verse this has been a great help to me to understand this God says my
thoughts are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways Lord why didn't
you send an angel two days earlier this is James's mother asking in her
mind to the Lord, Lord Peter is here standing testifying he was
delivered with an angel two days ago my son was there why didn't you
deliver him answer the Lord says my ways are not your ways how different
are my ways from your ways as the heaven is higher than the earth so my
ways are different from yours don't question me today Mary's James's
mother is in heaven and will be saying Lord now I see why you took away
my son at that time and I believe all of us will say one day the things
we have complained about here on earth the things we question Lord why
this Lord why that why that one day we'll be ashamed Lord how I doubted
your sovereignty you planned a much better thing if you if you had done
it the way I wanted it it would have been a mess it all depends on do
you believe you have a father in heaven who will never allow you 1
Corinthians 10 13 never allow you to be tempted beyond your ability
never never never I believe that with all my heart otherwise I couldn't
face the future I can tell the devil to his face you can never do
anything that to me that I cannot overcome because my father in heaven
controls you you're on a leash Satan you're on a leash don't be afraid
to tell the devil that you cannot do anything to me through human beings
or through circumstances which will be beyond my ability if it's beyond
my ability God will not allow it to happen to me if it's going to be my
ability one year from now it'll happen only then it's like you know your
children go from fifth grade to sixth grade they get a tougher exam they
don't get that tough exam fifth grade because they're still in the fifth
grade when they go to the tenth grade it'll be still tougher this is how
God leads us step by step if you believe these fruits that I've shared
with you and allow the Holy Spirit to make it real in your life I assure
you you will not be in unrest you will not live in anxiety you will not
have those bad moods that make life difficult at home God bless you all

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/UJVmK6EN4dI.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/our-father-loves-us-and-rules-the-universe/
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