The Father's Love (06/06/1999)

I'm here at Park Meadows. It's all my dear friends and brothers and sisters. It's good to see y 'all.

I hope it's good to see me. Y 'all looking like, well, we don't know how we feel about you yet.

It's all right, y 'all can relax a little bit, you know. It's going to be all right. All right.

First John, chapter number one. And we're going to read the first four verses.

And I want to just kind of give you a little bit of something to think about, something to act upon this morning.

First John chapter one, beginning with verse one. Stand with me if you will, please. And the reason we stand when we read right now, the reason

I'm having you stand is because it's going to be so long before you get to stand up again. You're going to say, ooh, thank the Lord he had us stand up.

All right, first John, chapter one, beginning with verse one, and then going to verse four.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the

Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard, the

Lord declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us. He's telling us the purpose, why he's doing this, that ye may have fellowship with us.

And truly our fellowship is with the Father. I'm sorry, is with the

Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Now watch this, these things write

I unto you that your joy may be full.

That is so good, I just hope y 'all see how good that is for we leave this morning, that's good.

I wanna talk to you this morning on this subject, experience the Father's love, let's pray.

Father, I thank you so much for your goodness. Thank you, Father, for the songs that we've sang already, the ones that we've heard.

Thank you for the Sunday school lesson this morning. Thank you for everybody that's here this morning, but thank you most of all for you.

And we just praise you, Father, for who you are and ask you that you might manifest yourself to us indeed, that our fellowship might be with you, and that our joy might be full, in Jesus' name, amen.

You know, when we think of God, there are so many things that we have to think about. God is as infinite in his attributes as he is in his existence.

The Bible says that which was from the beginning. When I open up the Bible, do you ever stop and think about God? Do you ever just stop and think about him, and you just kind of get, whew.

I can't even think about him anymore because it's just, it's like, man, it's overwhelming. When I read

Genesis chapter one and verse number one, I think the Bible says in the beginning was God.

I mean, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and that right there is enough to just, if you started thinking about it, it could make you think for so long and so hard, you'd actually get tired.

The Bible says, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Now, we cannot comprehend that because everything that we know, everything that we experience, everything that we've ever seen has a beginning, but if God created the earth and the heaven in the beginning, then

God was before the beginning, which means God don't need time. Now, we need time.

I need time. I need more time so I can be a better husband. Somebody say amen right, no, you don't have to say.

I need more time so I can be a better father. I need more time so I can be a better preacher. I need more time so I can get things done.

I wish I had, you know, some people like sleep. I just, I mean, I just can't stand it. You know, every day you get tired, you gotta go to bed.

You know why, because you gotta get rested up. I wish I had more time, wish there was 48 hours in a day instead of 24, there's not enough time.

But God doesn't need time. You ever think about that? Do you know that God doesn't need anything?

Now, that's amazing. We need, I mean, we can't do, we need everything. We need food, we need water, we need air.

God doesn't need anything. The Bible says that which was from the beginning. When I think about the attributes of God, I think about God's immutability.

He don't change, not change. Sometimes I'm a nice guy. Most of y 'all have only seen me when

I'm a nice guy, but I'm not always a nice guy. Sometimes I have energy.

Sometimes I have none. Sometimes I'm happy and joyful. Sometimes I'm down because I'm focused on the wrong things.

God's always the same. I think about the holiness of God. You ever think about that? A lot of people, that's the only aspect they know, the holiness of God.

God is holy. That's how he describes himself. He said, be holy for I am holy. But the attribute that I want us to focus in on this morning is more a part of the nature of God.

And that is his love. When I think about God, when I remember as a small child thinking about God and thinking, you know,

I don't want to do this thing wrong because God is going to get me. But when we think about God as Christians, when we think about God as believers,

God wants our experience with him to be that of a small child with a loving father.

The Bible says, that which we have seen declare we unto you that ye may also have fellowship with us.

And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son,

Jesus Christ. These things write we unto you that your joy may be full, since we know that the father wants us to relate to him as children.

And not merely as servants, not merely as creatures. Why do so many relate only as servants to master?

Why do so many relate to the father as only creatures to creation?

I'm talking about, say people, I'm talking about the misunderstanding that sometimes we have of God.

Now, I don't want us to get the idea that God is some heavenly grandpapa, but I want us to understand that though he is holy, see, as Christians, as people, it is very difficult for us to maintain balance.

It's hard for us to be holy sometimes and loving at the same time, but it's not hard for God. God can be 100 % holy and 100 % loving at the same time.

God can be 100 % righteous and 100 % gracious at the same time.

See, that's hard for us. We feel like we have to be one or the other. Let me, first of all, point out to you some hindrance, some hindrances to experiencing the father's love.

I mean, how often do we really feel like a small child with a loving father when we think of God?

Well, I'd say if we're gonna find out some hindrances to experiencing the father's love, first of all, we'd have to say sin, turn to Genesis chapter three.

Genesis chapter three. There's some very amazing things that we find in this passage of scripture that hinder us just like they hindered

Adam and Eve from experiencing the father's love. The Bible says in Genesis chapter three in verse number seven, and the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and they heard the voice of the

Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God amongst the trees of the garden.

And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and hid myself.

And he said, who told thee that thou wast naked is now eaten of the tree where I commanded thee that thou should us not eat.

And the man said, the woman whom thou gave us to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.

There's a lot of stuff in there that we don't have time to cover this morning, but a lot of Christians have an idea of what our relationship with God is supposed to look like.

In other words, we know that we're supposed to pray and we know that we're supposed to read our Bible. We know we're supposed to come to church and wear our tie and all the rest of that.

You know, that's the way we feel like it's supposed to look. We know what it's supposed to sound like because we say, amen, and we say, praise the

Lord. And we say, hallelujah, we know what it's supposed to sound like. But very few of us know what this relationship between us and our heavenly father is actually supposed to feel like.

Well, whenever we were experiencing any of the feelings that Adam and Eve had in this passage of scripture, we cannot relate to God, we cannot experience the father's love.

We see the first feeling they had was a feeling of shame. They knew that they were naked, the

Bible says, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. They knew they were naked.

They had shame before God because they felt like that God was about to find something out about them that he didn't know.

God wasn't asking Adam and Eve questions because he didn't know the answer. God knew where they were when he said,

Adam, where art thou? God knew what they had done when he said, hast thou eaten of the tree where I told thee that thou shouldest not eat of it.

But God wanted Adam and Eve to know that he knew and he wanted to give them an opportunity to confess what they had did wrong.

And they blew it again, just like we do. Because they had this feeling of shame.

The Bible says that we have the ability because of Jesus Christ, because we are saved to come boldly to the throne of grace.

In the presence of God, we need not feel shame because any righteousness that we have is his righteousness anyway.

That's a good feeling. Did you know that one of God's names is Jehovah Sidcanu, which means the Lord our righteousness.

So he's my righteousness, so I know I'm okay when I come into the presence of God because I am in Christ.

I don't have to be ashamed because he doesn't look at me. When he sees me, he sees

Christ when he sees me. So I don't have to have shame even though I know he knows everything about me, he doesn't want me to be ashamed when

I come before him. Well, I'll tell you it's not just shame that causes a hindrance to experiencing the father's love, but also separation.

The Bible says Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden, which means they put something between them and God.

God didn't put anything between them. They heard the voice of the Lord walking in the midst of the garden in the cool of the day and they hid themselves.

They put a tree between them and God. Now I wanna ask you a question this morning,

Christian. And I want you to think about it, what is it that you are hiding yourself behind?

What is it that you are hiding yourself from the presence of the Lord in?

I think about the trees in the garden. We know that there were good trees in the garden, amen. Y 'all know that, okay, there were good trees in the garden.

We know that there was a bad tree in the garden, amen. Okay, y 'all get with me now.

We know that there were some trees that were probably there just for shade purposes or just beauty purposes, they didn't bear fruit or bear food.

There are many people who hide themselves from the presence of God in bad things.

Christians hide themselves from the presence of God. They fill their mind with sin and foolishness because they don't wanna have to think about this

God who has redeemed them. There are many people who hide themselves from the presence of God in things that are not necessarily bad, not necessarily good, they're just things, but they hide from God.

There are many people who even try to hide from the presence of God in good things.

Did you know that? There are probably some folk here this morning that are hiding from the presence of God. Well, you know, if I didn't go to church, everybody might think

I'm, you know, backslidden or, cause we're more concerned about what people think about us than we are with what

God thinks about us anyway. Somebody say amen right there, oh me, some say something. But the fact of the matter is

God does not want anything coming between us and him. Now, when we look at this passage of scripture in Genesis chapter three, we see that word, they hid themselves, which means they withdrew.

It means to hide oneself. It means to draw together. It means to thicken and to harden. What is that thing that causes you to withdraw from God?

You know, God begins to speak to us in our hearts. You know, brother Otis was teaching at Sunday school this morning, he said, he said, y 'all have a good teacher this morning cause he's talking to me.

Man, I have that happen so often, I don't know if anybody else is getting anything out of what I say. But I know the spirit of God is talking to me.

And sometimes we try to shut that voice down because when God talks to us, he don't holler at us.

He don't hit us over the head. He don't say, hey you, wake up. But what God does, he speaks to us in a still, small voice.

And so often we try to hide from that voice. Well, I want you to notice something else that's really interesting we find here in Genesis chapter three,

Adam said, when God asked him where he was, he said, I heard thy voice in the garden.

I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Selfishness will hinder you from experiencing the father's love.

And you say, why are you saying the father's love instead of God's love? I'm saying the father's love because we got,

God wants us to know that he wants us to relate to him as a little child relates to his loving father.

You know, I thank God that God is holy. I thank God that God is eternal. I thank God that he's faithful.

I thank God that he's good, but I thank God that even in all of that, he loves me like I'm a child.

See, we as men, and some of you men can relate to this. You know, every wife's looking at us, children are looking at us, they're expecting us to provide.

They're expecting us to protect. And sometimes we feel like we can't do it.

Come on now, let's be honest. So I'm like, man, I just don't have the strength to be dad today, I don't have the strength to be husband.

I don't have strength to be the man. You're the man, I don't feel like the man all the time. Sometimes I feel like a little baby without the ability to do anything, which is in essence, what we all are anyway.

Without him, we can do nothing. But the fact is, when we come to God, we don't have to put up that veneer, we don't have to, when we come to God, we don't have to poke our chest down and say, you know,

I've got it covered, Lord. That's okay, you just, you stay, no, we don't have to do, I have to do that with my wife sometimes.

I have to do that with my children sometimes. I don't ever have to do that with God. I don't have to act like I have it under control.

When in my mind, I'm wondering, Lord, what am I going to do? That's why

I say the father's love. Well, this hindrance is manifested in selfishness.

The Bible says, he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.

You notice how many times Adam referred to himself in that passage of scripture, somebody once said, anybody who's all wrapped up in themselves, it makes a pretty small package, and sometimes we get all wrapped up in ourselves, and we're so consumed with I and me and I and me and mine, and what we need to realize is that when we're selfish and when we're all wrapped up in ourselves, it hinders, it hinders us from experiencing the father's love.

He had self -awareness. The Bible says they knew that they were naked. They were aware of themselves.

God wants our focus not to be on us. Some people are so self -conscious. You know why when somebody gets up to sing a special, do you know why we get nervous when we get up to sing a special?

Because we're conscious of self. What is so -and -so gonna think about me?

What are these people thinking about me? I can't sing. I might stand, and I guarantee you one thing, if I stood up here and sang, y 'all would know

I ain't no singer. But it's okay. The fact is we ought to be more concerned and consumed with what

God thinks about us. The reason we don't witness sometimes because we're consumed with what man thinks about us.

We're consumed with ourself. We have self -consciousness. We're aware of ourself.

When we begin to serve the Lord, God wants us to be consumed with his presence. I guarantee you when we come in the actual presence of God, physical presence of God, if I can call it that, when we come into his presence one day and we see him, we will forget about ourselves.

We will be totally consumed with him. Why not practice that right now? Start getting practice.

I'm just thinking about God. Becoming consumed with him. He had self -awareness.

They knew that they were naked. He began to feel fear. Do you feel fear sometimes in your Christian life? Do you know when you are feeling fear, you are not experiencing the

Father's love? God does not want us to fear anything. He doesn't want us to fear circumstance, doesn't want us to fear man, doesn't want us to fear the future, doesn't want us to fear anything except him.

Because whatever you fear will control you. And God doesn't want anything in control of you but him.

They felt fear. They felt guilt, anger, blame shifting, bitterness, self -awareness.

They were aware of self. Isn't that what our modern man says you need? You got to be self -aware. You got to have self -esteem and self -sufficiency.

You don't need all that self stuff. Well, another thing they had, other than self -awareness, they also had self -sufficiency.

The Bible says they made themselves aprons. This is an all -out rejection of the

Father's love. When a person tries to cover himself in the presence of God, what could we put on that would hide us from God?

What could we cover ourselves with that could hide us from God?

They made themselves aprons. Now that's a picture of man's righteousness going about to establish his own righteousness.

We make ourselves fig leaves today by just doing this thing or doing that thing and whatever it is you try to do to make yourself acceptable to God.

God does not accept any of us because of ourselves. Any of us that he accepts, he accepts because of himself and in spite of ourselves.

They had self -sufficiency. They tried to cover themselves in the presence of God. Paul wrote in Romans chapter 10 verses one through four, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be safe.

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth or the fulfillment of the law.

To need to make things you're covering and your significance is a direct indication that you are not experiencing the

Father's love. Whether they be, quote, spiritual things, whether they be, quote, physical things.

Do you know some people feel good as long as they have, as long as they have a lot of money in their pocket.

They feel good. They feel like, well, you know, I'm somebody. I got money in my pocket. I feel good about myself.

A lot of people feel good when they can drive a big, nice car down the road. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with any of those things. But if you get your sufficiency from this, if you get your sufficiency from this, you can't experience the

Father's love. You know why I feel good about me? Now, one thing I'm gonna have to say, I do feel good about me.

I do. But it ain't because I got a lot of money in the bank. It ain't because I got a big, fine car to drive down the road.

It ain't because everything's going okay. You know why I feel good about me? Because I am accepted in the beloved.

Now, I'm gonna tell you something. If we get to the place where we realize if God can accept me, hey, if Bill Waller don't like me,

Bill Waller's got a problem. If God can accept me, if Brian Boyd has a problem with me, hey,

I can live with that. I'm accepted in the beloved. And if we could get to the place where we could teach our children instead of worrying about what this one thinks or worrying about what that one thinks and begin to get their self -sufficiency from God, well, we'd be doing something, wouldn't we?

That'd be good, wouldn't it? Oh, but what's so -and -so gonna think? What about what is

God? What's he gonna think? And I'm telling you, if you get to the place where all this stuff, and I'm not saying stuff is bad.

Sometimes stuff is fun. Just don't get your sufficiency from stuff.

Because stuff is here today and stuff will be gone tomorrow. Oh, notice this.

Not only did he have self -awareness, not only did he have self -sufficiency, but he also had self -preservation.

Do you know what Adam said? Adam said, the woman that thou gave us to be with me, she gave me of the fruit and I did eat.

That's called self -preservation. Because God said, in the day you eat thereof, you will surely die.

When Adam said to God, the woman you gave me gave me that fruit, what was God saying? I mean, what was

Adam saying? Adam was saying, kill her, Lord. That's what he was saying.

He was looking out for number one. How often do we do that? He was shifting blame in order to preserve his own self.

Well, let's talk about some helps and experience in the Father's love. First, the first help and experience in the

Father's love is faith in our Father's provision. You cannot experience the Father's love if you have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ as your

Savior. You can't experience the Father's love because he ain't your Father. If you've not yet come to the place in your life where you've trusted

Jesus Christ as your sole salvation, you can't experience the

Father's love because you're not his child. The Bible says in John 1, 10 through 12, he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not, but he came unto his own.

His own received him not, but as many as received them, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

If you want to experience the Father's love, you've got to be one of his children. I know what the media says. They say everybody's a child of God.

I know that the people on TV, surely you're not bold enough, you're not proud enough, you're not arrogant enough to think that your way is the only way.

Nope, I'm not. But I am trusting enough to know that his way is the only way.

The Bible says in Galatians 3, 26, for ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Faith in our Father's provision is the first thing you need to experience the Father's love.

And I'm telling you, there is no love like that love that God gives us as a father to dear children.

The Bible says that we're his children by faith in Christ Jesus.

Well, not only by faith in our Father's provision, but also by following our

Father's pattern. You cannot experience the Father's love as long as you have bitterness in your heart towards another person.

The Bible says in Ephesians, chapter five, verse one and two, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also had loved us and had given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for sweet smelling savor.

He said, be ye therefore followers of God. And whenever there's a therefore, there has to be a before.

What came before verse one of chapter five? Verse 32 of chapter four.

And be ye kind one to another. How are we gonna be kind one to another?

We're gonna be tenderhearted, forgiving one another.

How? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.

So why do we forgive? I don't forgive for my sake. I forgive for Christ's sake.

Do you know what? There are people, I'm telling you, since I've been saved, there have been a number of people who have done me wrong.

There have been a number of people, I mean, I can think of one person who's done a lot, I mean, who did quite a few folk in this church wrong.

I was one of them. But you know what? I ain't got no problems with that, brother. Now, some of y 'all don't know who

I'm talking about. It don't matter. Some of you do know who I'm talking about. The fact is, we can't go through life holding on to what so and so did to us.

I could tell you some stuff the folk did wrong. You'd say, man, if I was you, I would, but guess what?

I have no choice. I mean, if God can forgive me for what I've done, I can forgive anybody for what they've done.

I've got a friend in Brunswick, Georgia, full of bitterness. Won't forgive.

But I'm telling you, experiences no joy, no father's love.

I'm telling you, you know what? It feels good to know I can look at anybody and know I ain't got nothing against any of them.

Nobody. Matter of fact, if I was trying to think of somebody, I got something against, I can't think of nobody. I can't think of nobody

I'm mad at. Well, we have to follow the father's pattern, and I'm telling you, if you want to experience the father's love, you've got to be willing to forgive people that have done you wrong.

Forgiveness is easy. The only reason people don't forgive is because they're proud. I'll show them.

Hey, what if God had that attitude? We'd all be in a fix, wouldn't we? I'll show them.

Well, I'll tell you what. What we need to do is we need to realize, think about some of that ugly stuff you did.

Don't sit there and act like you don't know what ugly stuff I'm talking about. Some of that ugly stuff you've done in your life, you think about that, and you think about the fact that God loved you so much, that he forgave you of that.

Oh, how can I help but forgive somebody? How can I help it? Well, how else do we experience the

Father's love? One help, you've got to be saved. Second one, you've got to be willing to forgive.

Third one, you've got to forsake filthy practices. Ephesians chapter five, verse three through eight says, but fornication, all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becoming saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, that no man deceive with vain words.

For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the

Lord. Walk as children of light. I'll tell you what, when you're committing something you know is absolutely wrong in the sight of God, you don't experience that love, you experience guilt.

You experience fear, you experience, you experience confusion. The Bible says first John one through six, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.

When we walk uprightly, see I used to think when I first got saved the reason we do right is so God will be pleased with us.

No. The reason we ought to want to do right is so we can be in the right relationship with God so we don't wanna run and hide behind a tree, so we don't wanna hide from the presence of God when

God begins to speak to us. It's not for God's benefit that we do right, it's for our benefit that we do right.

Hereby do we know first John chapter two verse three. Hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.

Hereby do we know that we know him. I know him, he saith

I know him, he that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandment is a liar and the truth is not in him.

But whoso keepeth the word in him verily is the love of God perfected or mature.

Hereby we know that we are in him, he that saith, I'm sorry, he that saith he abided in him ought also to walk even as he walked.

How did Jesus walk? Jesus walked in the father's love. He said, I do always those things with the father.

He said, the father has not left me alone. He said, the father is always, I mean the son is always in the bosom of the father.

Jesus walked in the constant experience of the father's love. Do you know every time Jesus referred to God he always referred to him as my father.

Do you know when Jesus said to the disciples when they came to him and said, Lord teach us a prayer. John taught his disciples.

He said, when you pray say our father. That's not the words our father.

But it's the realization that God is not just the God who created the universe. He's not just the

God who keeps everything going. He's not the God who's just decreed all things. He is the God and our father.

I'm glad, I mean I'm glad I'm his child this morning.

More importantly than being a preacher, more importantly than being a this or a that is the fact that I am a son of God.

Now, last point and I'll be done. We talked about hindrances to experiencing the father's love, helps in experiencing the father's love.

Let's talk about happiness in experiencing the father's love. The Bible said in verse four, 1

John chapter one verse four, and these things write I unto you that your joy may be full.

Is your joy full? I mean, are you just full of joy? And I ain't talking about happiness,

I'm talking about joy. The reason most

Christians do not experience fullness of joy is because they are not experiencing the father's love. A lot of Christians are trying to walk their

Christian life in responsibility. There's no joy there. I mean, and I'll be honest with you, that would be easy for me naturally to do.

Be naturally easy for me to just, you know, I did this, I did this, I did this, I'm joyful. Which is good.

I'm not saying those things are wrong, but the reason, the motivation. Remember the story of the prodigal son?

When the younger brother came back, which one of those brothers had joy?

The younger brother had joy, the older brother didn't. Why? Well, because experiencing the father's love is not found in meeting your responsibilities.

I'm not joyful because I'm always the best Christian in town. I don't,

I'm not, I'll be honest with you, I'm not. You know, I'm not the best preacher in the world, but I can live with that.

But I'll tell you what I am. I'm my father's son. The Bible says in Luke chapter 15, verse 25, now his elder son was in the field and came and drew nigh to the house and heard music and dancing.

And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, thy brother is come and thy father killed the fatted calf because he had received him safe and sound and he was angry and would not go in.

Therefore, it came his father out and entreated him. And he answering, said to his father, lo, these many years do

I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends, but as soon as this thy son was come, which had devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this, thy brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found.

What's the point? Experiencing joy in the father's love is not found in meeting your responsibilities.

They're important. You need to read your Bible every day. You need to pray every day. You need to witness at every opportunity. You need to come to church every

Sunday. You need to be back on Wednesday night. You need to study the Bible. You need to do all those things, but that's not where the joy is.

The joy's not found in the rules. Now, I believe in rules. I don't want y 'all to think I don't believe in rules.

I believe in rules. I think you need them. You gotta have them. I mean, imagine, on your way home the day after church, somebody's driving on your side of the road, no rules.

You get home. You finally make it home just by the sheer grace of God. You make it home because everybody's driving everywhere.

People driving on the sidewalk. You make it home. You find your next door neighbor sitting in your favorite chair eating food out of your refrigerator, no rules.

See, we got to have rules. You gotta have them, but experiencing joy is not found in rules.

Now, it's necessary. The rules are necessary, but that ain't where the joy comes from. See, the son said to the father, these many years do

I serve thee? Nope, it's not found in meeting your responsibilities. He said, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandments.

It's not found in me. in the rules. He said, yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make marry with my friends.

This is gonna shock you. It's not found in reward. He said, why are you so happy?

I'm happy because God blessed me with a new job and God blessed me with a new car and God blessed me with a new house and God blessed me with a new suit of clothes and God blessed me.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm telling you that it's not found in reward.

Where is that fullness of joy found? It's found in relationship.

The relationship between you and your father. Notice what the father said after the son gave this long speech.

He said, son, that's a relationship word. Thou art ever with me.

That's relationship. Now see, the brother, the older brother said, as soon as this, thy son was come, he had no idea about relationship.

But you notice what the father said. In verse 32, he said, for this, thy brother.

That's a relationship word. He was dead and he's alive. Was lost and is found.

I'm telling you that our heavenly father is more important, is more interested in a relationship with you than he is in you meeting some responsibilities.

I'm telling you that our heavenly father is more interested in a relationship with you than he is in you obeying some rules.

I'm telling you that our heavenly father is more interested in a relationship with you than he is in giving you a reward.

Because he knows that if the relationship is right, all the other stuff will just fall in place.

But if the other stuff is in place and the relationship is not there, it's all artificial. It's all fake.

This prodigal son story is not the only place we find this in the Bible. We also see it with Mary and Martha.

Same story, same scenario. Martha was concerned about, look, my sister's left me to serve alone.

She's concerned about her responsibilities. Lord, tell her to come in here and help me. Jesus told

Mary, I mean, Jesus told Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, calm down. Thou art cumbered about much serving, but one thing is needful.

Mary's in there sitting at Jesus' feet learning. One thing's needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part and it shall not be taken away from her.

I'm talking about a relationship with God as a father.

I have, I feel like a wonderful life.

I mean, I'm blessed. As I tell people, I'm too blessed to be depressed and I'm too blessed to be stressed.

I'm blessed. But I'll tell you, the greatest blessing that I have in my life is the fact that God is my father.

I feel like he says to me every day, like he said to Abram in Genesis chapter 15, he said,

I am thy exceeding great reward. Lord, thank you for the truck.

Thank you for the house. Thank you for the car. Thank you for my wife. Thank you for my children. Thank you for clothes.

Thank you for money in the bank. Thank you for all. Thank you for, let me be a preacher. Thank you for all that.

But Lord, thank you for you being my exceeding great reward.

There's a song we used to sing when I was a child and I won't sing the whole thing because I don't remember all the words, but it goes like this.

He's all I need. He's all

I need. Jesus is all I need.

There's another song that goes like this. I need thee.

Oh, I need thee. Every hour

I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my savior.

I come to thee. You know what we think we need?

We think we need more of that. And I'll be honest with you, more of that wouldn't be too bad.

I think we need a nicer car, a newer car. That wouldn't be bad. But the only thing we really need is we need to realize what a loving, heavenly father we have.

And we need to experience in us the love that he has for us.

Because once we become consumed with that great love, that's all based on him, not on us, then we can begin to love him because we love him, because he first loved us.

Father, I thank you for your word. I feel like I've done a very average at best job of trying to explain that eternal, awesome, magnificent love that you have for us.

And in trying to encourage your people to walk in that love, to experience that love, be followers of God as dear children and walk in love.

Help us, Father. Help us as we read our Bibles, as we pray, as we witness, as we sing specials, as we preach sermons, as we come to church, and as we go to Bible study, and all the other things that we do in meeting our responsibilities, help us to experience that love that you have for us.

Help us to realize that you are our heavenly Abba, Father. And that you want us to rest in your bosom and to experience that love that we might have fullness of joy.

Heads bowed, eyes closed. I wanna ask this question. You say, Brother Myron, I know I'm saved. I know

I'm saved because I've trusted in Jesus. There's no doubt in my mind about that. If that's your testimony, just raise your hand briefly.

You know you're saved. No doubt in your mind about it. God bless you. I see hands all over the room. You can put your hands down. Who say, Brother Myron, I don't know

I'm saved, but I sure would like to know. I'd like to know I'm saved so I could experience the Father's love. Please pray for me.

Who say, please pray for me. I'm not sure I'm saved, but I'd like to know. Anybody, not sure you're saved. God bless you, young lady. Who else?

Anybody, I'm not sure I'm saved, but I'd like to be sure. Who else? Father, I thank you for this young lady who's come this morning, who's raised her hand.

She's a small child, but you said suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of heaven. I thank you that she had the honesty and the courage to raise her hand and say she's not sure she's saved.

I pray that you bring her to saving knowledge of you as only you can do. Who say, Brother Myron, I have not been experiencing the

Father's love. This thing you're talking about, Father's love, I don't know anything about that. Or that's not been my experience lately.

Please pray for me that I will experience my heavenly Father's love on a daily basis and walk in that love.

That's your prayer. Please pray for me. Anybody? Anybody, God bless you, ma 'am. God bless you.

God bless you, young man. Who else? Pray for me that I might experience the Father's love. God bless you.

Who else? Pray for me. Father, I thank you for these that have raised their hand and said they're not walking, they're not experiencing that Father's love.

I pray, Father, that you'd help us to be aware of how much you love us, not because we do this or do that or have this or have that, but Father, help us to realize that you love us because you are our loving heavenly

Father. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Heads bowed, eyes closed. Stand with me if you will, please.

I wanna give you an opportunity to respond to the message of the Spirit of God has spoken to you. I wanna give you an opportunity to come down and kneel and ask

God to help you experience that love. Whatsoever he saith unto you, you do. Don't wait for somebody else. If he's spoken to you, you do it.