INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER–KC    MIKE BICKLE

A.    Jesus came to reveal the Father to the human race and to offer relationship with Him. Jesus came to earth to be an offering for our sin and to reveal the personality of the Father to the human race.
 
7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father…8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." 9 "…He who has seen Me has seen the Father…” (Jn. 14:7-9)
 
B.    Jesus came to reveal the Father in a Jewish context which saw God as the transcendent creator as seen in Genesis 1. They kept their distance and trembled before this God. Jesus taught that God was a Father. He has the affections, commitments and desire for a close personal relationship like a Father. They were to draw near with confidence before this kind tenderhearted God.
 
C.    If we understood Jesus’ teaching, mission and personality, then we would know the Father. To read the gospels and interpret them accurately is to know the Genesis 1 God as our Father. As we study the gospels to see what Jesus said and did, we learn about the personality of the Father.
 
D.    Jesus’ personality, ministry and teachings were profoundly attractive to the disciples. They so enjoyed being in His presence. He taught that if they knew the Father, they would see the same attractiveness in His personality. They would tremble before God’s great power as creator, but would also have confidence in God’s presence because of His great affections as a Father.
 
E.    God’s names reveal different facets of His personality. He has over 300 names in Scripture. The fatherhood of God dominated Jesus’ teaching about God. From the beginning, God had a Father’s heart and wanted a family to share His love with in deep relationship. Jesus emphasized the affectionate, deeply involved, relational dimension of God’s personality as a Father.
 
26 I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it… (Jn. 17:26)
 
F.    The Holy Spirit reaches to God through us as the “Spirit of adoption” crying, “Abba”. Abba is a term of endearment like “Papa”. It is respectful, yet affectionate and intimate. 
 
15 You received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." (Rom. 8:15)
 
G.    The Spirit of adoption is the person of the Holy Spirit. He is also called the Spirit of comfort, truth, hope, holiness, conviction, power, etc. These various names of the Holy Spirit give us insight into how He ministers to us as believers. As the Spirit of adoption, He reveals the glory of our position as adopted sons and daughters. He convinces us of the truths or benefits related to being adopted by God. Being adopted speaks of a legal position of privilege in which the child became an heir of the family name, resources and estate.
 
H.    By our new position as adopted children we have access to the Father’s heart in a unique way.  The Spirit convinces us that we can encounter God’s heart as our Abba. The “Abba revelation” empowers us to endure difficulty and to reject Satan’s accusations that we are hopeless failures.
 
I.    The measure of the Father’s love for Jesus is the measure of His love for us. This is the ultimate revelation of our worth. It gives every believer the right to view themselves as “God's favorite”.
 
23 That the world may know that You…have loved them as You have loved Me. (Jn 17:23)
 
J.    The Father feels about you in the same way that He feels about Jesus. He will not increase in His love for Jesus nor will He ever love anyone more than He loves Jesus. Therefore, since He loves you in the same way, He will never increase or decrease in the measure He loves you.
 
K.    We ask the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth about the Father loving us like He loves Jesus.
 
13 When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth… (Jn. 16:13)
 
L.    Our lives are broken and unsettled without a “stabilizing anchor” until we know the embrace of the Father as our Abba. We need the assurance that we are enjoyed by God in our weakness.
 

A.    God does not confuse spiritual immaturity with rebellion. God loves unbelievers, yet He loves and enjoys believers. He immediately rejoices over us at the time of our repentance. He smiles over us when we begin the growth process with repentance, long before we attain maturity.
 
4 What man…having a hundred sheep…does not leave the ninety-nine…and go after the one…? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing…6 he calls together his friends…saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' 7 There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents... (Lk. 15:4-7)
 
B.    Jesus feels compassion over the prodigals on the day they repent. The newly repentant yet immature prodigal son had many areas of his life that still needed transformation.
 
17 When he came to himself, he said, '…18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned…9 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."' 20 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. (Lk. 15:17-20)
 
C.    God feels gladness and enjoyment of His prodigals on the day they repent. The father made this known by giving the prodigal son the best robes and family ring on the very day he returned.
 
21 The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned…and am no longer worthy to be called your son.” 22 But the father said…, “Bring out the best robe…and put a ring on his hand…23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” They began to be merry. (Lk. 15:21-24)
 
D.    This parable is not primarily about a son who lost his inheritance, but about a father who lost his son and how the father gets his son back. We can have a new beginning with God as a first class citizen after we sincerely repent. We “push delete” after we have sincerely repented.
 
22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (Lam. 3:22-23)