God as Father

SCRIPTURE

“ ‘I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.” Mark 10:15–16

Additional Verses to read here: http://bit.ly/GodAsFather

Dealing with Bad Models
Last year on Father's Day I posted a fill in the blank comment on my facebook page. I wrote: My father is _________.

I naively looked forward to reading the testimonies of great dads and read of the love people had for their dads.  What I actually got was venom--lots of venom. People wrote vile descriptions of their dads and recounted many of the truly vile things their dads had done to them. It was heart breaking. 

The most difficult part for me was wondering how today's Christians can properly view God as a father when our earthly examples don't make great models.

God our Father

God encourages us to rely on him as a child relies on a parent. Some of us may have lost the ability to trust because our parents failed us, while others of us lost our ability to trust through circumstances—a failed job, death of a loved one, a lost desire, a broken relationship. But God can help us relearn that childlike faith—if we let him.

For some of us, the first step is to set aside our concept of “father.” Unlike abusive, selfish or absent human dads, God embodies the best of our dads and everything else we wish our fathers would be: engaged, protective, nurturing, constant, loving.* 

QUESTION
In what ways have you experienced God as a loving Father?

* These two paragraphs were taken from a devotion in the New Mom's Prayer Bible, which I created for Zondervan.

Jesus' Last Passover Celebration

Jesus’ final week unfolded against the backdrop of preparations for the Passover, a yearly festival that prompted many first-century Jews to travel to Jerusalem. The Passover feast, which commemorated God’s dramatic rescue of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, provided an important clue as to Jesus’ real mission: it involved the sacrifice of an innocent lamb.

The origin of the Passover Festival is found in ancient Egypt, where the family of Jacob (also called Israel) sought refuge from a famine. There, over hundreds of years, that family grew into a nation of Israelite people enslaved by the Egyptians (Exodus 1:6–14). The Old Testament book of Exodus tells us that when Moses asked for the freedom of these enslaved people, God sent a series of plagues to convince Egypt’s king to comply. In the last of these plagues, death swept across Egypt, taking the firstborn son of every family and firstborn male of all animals. Only the firstborn of those belonging to Israelite families were spared.  As commanded by the LORD, they sacrificed an innocent lamb and marked their doorposts with the blood of that lamb so that the LORD’s angel of death would pass over their homes (Exodus 12:21-23).

God instructed the people to commemorate the Passover yearly from then on. Each time a Jewish family celebrates the Passover, the children are invited to recount the story and all relive the event with a memorial meal.

Jesus, who anticipated his death (see Matthew 20:17–19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31–34), timed the decisive moment to coincide with the Passover Festival. His whole life seemed to be hurtling toward this moment, reinforcing his identity as the ultimate Passover Lamb, whose sacrifice has everlasting benefits. Years earlier, when Jesus was beginning his public ministry, John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And years later, the apostle Paul wrote, “our Passover Lamb is Christ, who has already been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Article taken from MESSAGES FROM GOD, which I created for Time, Inc and American Bible Society.

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Thinking of God as My Father.

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Video Bible Study: Good Friday Reflections

Join me Friday for a Bible Study on Good Friday. Broadcast is April 18, 2014 @ 11am (Central, USA).

Together we'll take a fascinating look at what happened to Jesus at his trial. We'll see the mistakes his accusers made and how Jesus' intentionally chose a road that led to the cross.

My friend Jeff Lewis who is a Bible teacher and attorney will provide a unique lawyer's perspective on Jesus' trial and the clear mission of Jesus. You won't want to miss this.

RSVP here:
http://www.spreecast.com/events/good-friday-reflections-bible-study

Video Bible Study: Heaven & Hell (What does the Bible say?)

Earlier today I hosted a video Bible study on Heaven and Hell.  This 25 minute Bible study was inspired by new book: Heaven & Hell: Are They Real?

Here's the link to the archived version of the broadcast.