We Call Ourselves Christians?

We were at the church this morning and me and Rae was standing out on the street before the service started, and this man came up to us and asked us for a single peso which works out to about 2.5 cents so it was a ton of money. We both (me and Rae) look at each other and say to him that we didn't have it. We did. So he walked away, we just got to thinking and talking about and decided that what we did was wrong. I went and gave him some money but that's not the point.

The point is we have become so conditioned to think that people are asking for help or asking for something when they don't need it and thus we simply dismiss them without another thought. This is not right we are called to take care of the poor, of the widows and orphans. I was disgusted with myself thinking about all of the times that people have asked for help and I have just dismissed them.

We are supposed to look to Christ as our example, what would he have done? How many times have you seen someone in need and simply walk on by or done nothing? I know that some people game the system and beg for things when they don't need them or will use whatever money that they get to fund a drug habit, I'm not stupid, but we should still help people. Rae has told me a good idea, you get a Ziploc bag and put travel size soap toothpaste, baby wipes granola bars etc and keep them in your car and give them to people in need. Now I know this is not enough but I don't know what else to do at this point. if anyone has any ideas.

This is a challenge for me because I tend to be very cynical of people. But I am trying to get better, & we are called to love people. Back in college I went on a week long missions trip to NOLA (New Orleans then the LA is the state abbreviation) and the group we were working with had a sort of catch phrase that I liked but I fail to live out so much of the time "Love God with all you got and love people till you drop." How many times I have failed to do either part of that catch phrase. 

Jesus our High Priest NoG11

This week we are going to take a look at a name or title of Jesus. We are going to look at Jesus as our High Priest. As I am sure you all are aware God set up the Old Testament Levitical priesthood to minster in the temple for him. When Jesus came down to earth he fulfilled forever what the High Priest is supposed to do. It is a very interesting parallel study, the Old Testament priesthood is a type of shadow of what Jesus was going to do.

So we are going to look at some of the things that were done in the temple service by the priests and look at how Jesus has fulfilled that for us. This name for God comes out of Hebrews 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of  Melchizedeck.

Chosen

Let us begin looking at what the priests did, what it meant to be a priest. The first thing we need to know is that God choose Aaron to be the first priest, Aaron was Moses brother and helped to show Gods power to the  Egyptians before the Jews started the Exodus out of Egypt.

Exodus 40:13-15  And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.  And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats:  And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.

Aaron was chosen by God to become the first high priest and his sons were chosen to help him fulfill the duties of the temple. And the priesthood passed from 1 generation to the next so after Aaron died his son Eleazar took over as high priest and the office past from one to the next.

Now Jesus was not a Levi and thus could not become a high priest under the Levicial Law.

 Hebrews 7:11  If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedeck, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

Because the Levites could never fully take away sin then a new type of priest was needed. If we look at another passage in Hebrws

Heb 7:1  For this Melchizedeck, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; Heb 7:2  To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Heb 7:3  Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

That new type of priest that came into being needs to take away all sin and in order to do that he must be without sin. Thus Jesus is our High Priest because he is the only one to be without sin. If we read the passage in Hebrews 7 we learn that Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchizedeck for a couple of reasons, looking at verse 3

Heb 7:3  Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

We know that Jesus was with God from the beginning and had no natural father or mother on earth; because he was born of the Holy Spirit. We also know that Jesus did not stay dead so he had no beginning since he was with God from the beginning and he had no end because he is with God now. And Jesus stands before God continually.

I have heard, and it seems to be the best answer, that God would appear in bodily form in the old testament so when the writers of Hebrews is talking about Melchizedeck he was a person in bodily form, that was really God who descended for a time. There are other instances in our Bible that would fir this as well. So maybe Melchizedeck was Jesus earlier in time. Because when it talks about Melchizedeck it seems to be that he was neither born nor died so he would have to be God. Jesus became our High Priest because the old priesthood could never do enough to take away sins because they were still in sin.

The qualification to become high priest under the Leviitical law from what I understand was that a man had to be a decedent of Aaron. This is not best way to pick a person for a leadership position. I know of plenty of people who came from great families that have done nothing for God, but I also know a ton of people who had no church background growing up and are serving the Lord to the best of their ability.

The difference of how Jesus became our High Priest is that he did not obtain that title at birth or even during life. Every reference other than prophetic of Jesus being called our High Priest did not occur until after his death and resurrection. So in a sense Jesus had to earn his title of High Priest. He had to make the perfect sacrifice that no one else could have made before he received this title.

Represent

One of the main duties of the priests and the high priest in particular was to represent the people before God. The high priest would present the offerings that were commanded so that the wrath of God would not fall on the people. That is the priests offered the sacrifices that were needed

Leviticus 4:20 And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

As we touched on earlier though the sacrifices that were made by the priests did not take away the sins of the people it simply pushed off God’s wrath to a later date.

When Jesus came down to earth and offered up the sacrifice for all sins, that is himself, then we can accept that and all of our sins are forgiven.

John 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

See John the Baptist knew what Jesus was going to do. John knew that Jesus was going to offer the final sacrifice. So that no more sacrifices of sheep and cattle would be needed in the temple. Jesus being without sin offered himself up, just as the earthly high priest offered up sacrifices for the people.

The entire point of the animal sacrifices as well as Jesus’ sacrifice is so that the wrath of God could be taken away, at least for a little while in the case of animal sacrifices. This means that main job of the high priest was to make intersession for the people before God. When Jesus offered up his sacrifice it was for us alone, Jesus had no need to offer a sacrifice for himself since he was without sin. This is in stark contrast to the Levtitical priests because since they were men they sinned, for the Bible tells us for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Since these mean had to make a sacrifice for themselves before making the ones for the other people. There was still this separation between men and God. But since Jesus’ sacrifice was just for us and he had no sin he was able to go straight to the father.

For Who

Since the Levitical priesthood all came from the Jews they were concerned with ministering for the Jews before God. Thus all of the sacrifices and other temple rights that were carried out were carried out for the Jews. We get a picture of this throughout the new testament, about how other groups of people were not able to come before God; or were separated from God.

Even the way the temple was built people who were not Jewish could only enter the outermost part. Let us once again contrast that to our relationship before God through Jesus our High Priest. Jesus came into the world to serve as the everlasting High Priest for the Jews but he also came to serve as our everlasting High Priest, that is for us Gentiles. Jesus tells us in John 10:16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Jesus knew that through him and his disciples that other people would come to know him. The biggest thing to take away from this point is that while the Levites would offer sacrifices and minister to the Jewish people our High Priest being God himself was able to offer the sacrifices and fulfill the priestly duties for all people.

It seems that we keep coming back to passage out of Hebrews comparing Christ and Melchizedeck in chapter 7 at the end of verse 2 it tells us that Melchizedeck was a king. Now as I’m sure we are aware Christ is a king. So there is a similarity between those two but how does it contrast to the Levites?

The Levites were not kings or rulers in Israel and Judea because they belonged to God they were set apart to minister before God and to intercede for the people when they messed up. Christ did that once for us on earth. He took all of our sins and offered up the sacrifice for them. But he still makes intercession for us before God.

Romans 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

I always got this vision in my head about what this looks like and it’s not a perfect illustration but it’s simple, whenever we mess up and sin then God looks down and wants to pour out his wrath on us since he cannot be around sin. But when you have accepted Jesus as your High Priest then he comes in front of the Father and says “Father I know that this child has messed up but they are mine. They may have messed up but I know them by name I have made the sacrifice for them.” Then God says “Very well my son they are righteous because of your sacrifice.” I know that this is not a completely accurate picture and that I’m sort of putting words in Gods mouth but it helps me to visualize what Jesus is doing for us when he make intercession as our High Priest.

Sacrifice

 Under the old testament law there were a series of sacrifices that the priests had to make in order for the people to stand before God. Let us take a look at some of them briefly.  The first is the burnt offering. Quick snippet of what that entails from:

Leviticus 1:4-7  And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:

This was the offering that was commanded by God to be offered by the priests for the sins of the individual person. The priests would lay the entire animal on the alter and burn it except for the skin which the priests kept. This was an offering that was to take away the sins of a person on an individual basis

Jesus fulfilled this for us when he died on the cross and poured his blood out for us. It’s kind of strange to me going through this study because not only is Jesus our High Priest and is offering up the sacrifices for us he is also the sacrificial lamb.

The next offering is the peace offering.

 Leviticus 3:1  And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD.

 This was a sacrifice offered by the believer when they wanted to have peace with God or come back into fellowship with God. This was a unique sacrifice in the sense that the animal sacrifice was accompanied by a grain offering that the person offering the sacrifice ate along with wine. This was signifying that the person realized that they had been separated from God and that they had done their part to return and now they had sat down to a meal with the Father. The person was back in fellowship with God.

This sacrifice was a shadow of the peace we have in Jesus because of the sacrifice that he offered up as our High Priest. It was also a shadow of the Lords Supper because the person offering the sacrifice ate the grain and wine portion. Just as we eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus at the table.

1Corointhians 10:16-18  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.  Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

The act of communion is supposed to be drawing us as people closer to God but also closer to one another. 

We have looked at how Jesus our High Priest is the same as the Old Testament priest and how he is different. We looked at four different aspects, we looked at how priests were chosen. We have discussed how the priests represent the people before God. We also looked at who the priests represent before God. And lastly we looked at some of the sacrifices that were offered by the priests. To wrap this all up the Levitival priests served God on earth during the Old Testament times fulfilling all of these things. They also were helping to show what needed to happen through Christ our High Priest so that we can all have a good relationship with God.  So we need to all remember our High Priest and all of the different things that he has done for us and all that our High Priest will do.

"Church"

I (Cliff) have been doing some thinking since we have been here in the Philippines on this trip. This mostly stems from what I feel are misconceptions people have about the church, Christianity and living for Christ.

I feel that all people who are saved belong to the same church. This is church in the sense that its a group of believers. I have heard some people talk about how this cannot be, how there is no such thing as a universal church, but I feel that they are not reading the Bible correctly.

The only other option I have ever heard is that there is no relation between believers who do not attend the same local physical church building ie 2nd Christian Church on Elm street. Yes that is a church- because a church is a group of believers but those people that go to 2nd Christian in Rolla MO are also part of the larger Body of Christ.

An easy way to illustrate why I feel we are called into the same 'church' is the great commission says for us to go into all nations Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..., 

So if each of the local churches are not connected to one another then each local church (using our made up example of 2nd Christian Church on Elm street)  they would have to send someone from their church to minister to every group of people in the entire world.

You run into a couple problems trying to do this,
1. Most churches don't have enough people to send one to every area in the world and set up effective local churches.
2. You simply run into a money problem because if the local church is the only one that matters then each person sent should be 100% supported and funded by 1 local church and funding people to live abroad is expensive.
3. Even if you send just a single person or single family to each country, there's a problem there too. I googled it there are anywhere from 189 to 196 countries in the world depending on whose counting. So just averaging that each local church on their own would need to send 193 missionaries into the world. Most churches couldn't send 193 members away and still function as a church.

Before everyone gets all excited I believe the local church is important, it is the functional unit of the church. My wife and I were talking & she used this illustration so I'm going to steal it.

The church is like Walmart. Walmart is an organization that has many different local buildings, that all are working to fulfill the overall goal: to sell stuff. Each local store is set apart from the others, but is still connected to them and is working with all the other local stores worldwide to fulfill the goals of the organization. I believe the church is like that. The Church, the Bride of Christ, is the group of believers, and each church building is simply the local place that people in that area meet to fulfill the goals and mission of the Church. 

We as Christians are connected to all believers all around the world to fulfill what God calls us to; just like all walmarts are linked together to sell us more stuff. See the stores use their collective power to buy stuff cheaper so they make more money, we as the church should be using our collective power to be accomplishing more for God, that is reaching more people and helping the reached people get a deeper relationship with God.

To me this also means that churches should work together to reach people. What I mean is that if you have 2 churches on the same street in a poor neighborhood, I don't feel like both churches should be running a soup kitchen and a drug addiction ministry. What they should do is pattern together and support each other so one can run the soup kitchen & the other can help with the drug problem. Its just a better use of resources & more would get done.

So looking larger picture, I feel that some local churches are called to do soup kitchens & drug ministries, and others are not. Other local churches are called to support the ministry in another way, this could be anything from providing the money for the churches soup kitchen or sending missionaries to other countries or maybe that church decides to start doing things like working for Habitat for Humanity. I feel all these things are ways churches can do God's will but we need to partner together to more effectively work. I'm nor just talking about the people who we share a denomination with, mostly because I strongly dislike denominations but we should be reaching across the small differences and working together to do what we are called to.

I have heard it said that Christ only cares for the local, Baptist church. I don't believe that is true. We are all called to work together, across nations, races, personality types, and backgrounds. This implies that there is a connection between all churches and all Christians. That connection is the Church. We all are the one and only bride of Christ, not many independent local churches and brides.

Honeymoon Babies

First off, I want to say that ultimately, all kid decisions should be made between the two spouses only, and when they feel the time is best for them. 

Honeymoon babies. For me, this term means any child conceived or born within the first two years of marriage.

I'm just going to write my heart on this one.

I have several friends (nearly a dozen total) that fall into one of two categories: Those that have been married less than two years and have kids or are expecting, and those that are getting married (or just got married) that are planning on having kids right away. When I look at these friends I get really sad for them. In my life I've seen and spent time with a lot of different families. There is one thing that I think, based on my observations and conversations with people from all stages of life, that is a huge factor in how strong, fulfilling, and happy a marriage can be.

I think that factor is how long they wait to have a baby. I'm not saying don't have kids. I'm not even saying don't have kids when you're young and first married. I'm just saying think about it a lot first.

I've read and heard that the "honeymoon bliss" lasts about two years. I've read it in several different marital books and heard it from a few different pastors, I don't know that it's fact but it does make sense.  It's the idea that it takes about two years for the "in love, absolute bliss" feelings to fade, and for couples to realize that they married a real, breathing, annoying person. Supposedly, it takes that long to stop seeing the other person as perfect.

It's kinda like with roommates. It starts out great, and you're both excited, but then someone forgets to fill the dishwasher, or leaves clothes all over the floor, or uses the other person's special fork, and then it's not as much fun anymore. Then it's real life, and real life is messy.

I feel like it's the same in marriage. Sometimes it takes a while to go from these great expectations to reality. I feel like once you get to that reality stage, that's when you find out what kind of marriage you really have.

I don't think anyone will argue that it takes two wholly committed people with a good, strong marital foundation to raise a family. You need to know each other better than anyone else, and you need to have gone through some rough patches; you need to know how each of you handles difficulties.  Your kids need the best possible parents they can have, and your marriage's strength will play a big part in that.

I don't feel like it's probable that a couple will truly have that great solid foundation within just the first couple of years. You're still trying to figure out this whole marriage thing, and there's all kinds of new to get used to, and starting out on your own as a couple can be hard. So why make it harder?

Honestly, this is my heart: I feel so sorry for my friends that are so young in their relationship and are already embarking on the most challenging (and rewarding) task possible. I worry that even though they are excited about their coming baby, they don't understand or haven't considered the long term effect on their relationship. Kids are forever. The couple will never just be ___ & ___ again, they will always be parents. I believe those first few years together are a precious gift, and one that can not ever be gotten back once given up. It's a time to get to know each other better, laugh and have fun, have a clean house, sleep through the night, be able to do all the things that a couple can't (or is incredibly hard to do) once they have little kids. It's this magical time of just being together and cherishing every moment spent alone with each other.

I have know couples that waited years before having kids, and still have a lot of struggles and I know couples that had kids right away that have great relationships. So this idea isn't conclusive, but it's something to think about.

Kids are great and if you want them that's awesome, but you have your whole lives to be parents. There is a finite number of years you have alone together. Don't lose them.

Abba NoG10

Let us look tonight a name for God that is truly personal for each one of us. We are going to look at God as our Abba. The translation for this word is father.

 But it is more personal, it is more like how a little kid says daddy. If your father was around when you were growing up I’m sure you had this sense that he could do anything. That it didn’t matter what happened, your daddy was going to take care of you.

In the same way God is there for us, he is there to take care of us and direct us just the way a father does. We have been looking at all of these names for God that show how powerful he is or how he fights for us, but it is important to know also that he is our Father and that he cares for just like a father.

Jesus refers to God as his Father, and we can call on God as our father Luke 11:2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

This was an important distinction Jesus was making about how we are to approach God and how the Jews had been doing. If you remember weeks ago when we talked about Yahweh, how the Jews would not even speak that name for God out of reverence to him. I am not saying that we shouldn’t have reverence for the name of God but what I am saying is that we are Gods children, so we should not be afraid to come before our Father at any time. Romans 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Now let us begin looking at the characteristics displayed by God as our Father, we have already looked at some of these in the past weeks. But I know it didn’t click with me that they were all revealed through this one name of God. That is God as our Abba.

We are going to look at God our Father as Love. 1 John 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

We all have people that we love, be it children, parents, or spouses but God not only loves us he is Love so love is from God. If we know what love is and how to show love to other people how much more can God show love to us since he is love. Just like an earthly father shows love to his children, God shows love to us. There are many instances in Bible that shows that God loves us, but the greatest example is the sacrifice of his son on the cross. Just like how an earthly father makes sacrifices for his children God made that sacrifice for us. God love us so much that he has given us the time to come back to him and he gives us a chance to get to know and grow up as Christians.

Another thing that fathers do for their kids is to provide for them. In the same way God as our Heavenly Father provides for all of our needs. Php 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus..

God knows what we need before we ask him, it sounds very simple but all we need do is to ask him and the need will be fulfilled. An earthly father goes off to work every day to provide for the needs of his family. In the same way God works all of the time to make sure that our needs are met. He may work directly to provide us with a job or some sort of physical help but most of the time he speaks with and provides to the counsel we need to make the correct decisions.

Just like an earthly father guides and directs his children so to our Heavenly Father guides us.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

When we are faced with a decision that needs to be made then we need to take it before God and seek out what his will is. Just like how we seek out counsel from our earthly fathers, and other Godly people. But our heavenly Father knows more and he is perfect so his guidance will always be true.

I know in my and Rachel’s life we have been asking God for guidance on what our next steps are going to be. We just are not sure were God is trying to send us or what he wants us to do and accomplish. We must remember to seek out God in all of our life decisions.

Let us think about how little we know due to our short period of time we are on earth compared to God, so we are like very young children in comparison, so we do not know much. So we need to seek the guidance of our heavenly father just like a young child does with his earthly father.  

God not only provides for our needs but just like our earthly father he wants to give us what is best. Jesus makes a very good point about the quality of gifts that God provides for us in Luke 11:11-13  

 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

This is a very true statement, would you intentionally give something to the person you love that could hurt them? Of course not. In the same way God provides for our needs and gives us what helps us. God’s gifts are so much better than anything that we can imagine. Now our Abba providing what is best for us does not mean that he will provide what we want.  In the same way a parent provides vegetables for the child because they are good for them even if the child does not like them, God sometimes must place us in situations that we do not want to be in so we can receive the gift that he is providing.

Another thing a father does is to protect his children. God protects us as well.

 Psalms 121:5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

Psalms 121:7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

Just like when children are growing up and the parents try and keep them from harm and put them in good positions, God does that for us. We will face struggles and we will face hurts but our Father is still there, he is making sure that we are protected. Being protected by God does not mean that we will not face situations that hurt but what it means is that God is with us and provides a way for us to survive it and learn from a bad situation. A picture I thought of was when a parent is teaching their child to ride a bike, the child is going to fall and maybe get hurt but the will learn from the experience.

Most parents don’t place a child on a bike without a helmet to protect them falling. In the same way God as our father will place us in difficult positions so that we learn and we may get hurt a little but we will be ok. God will be right there to pick us up and tell us to get back on the bike and try again.

A good father will listen to his children so that he knows what is going on in their lives and so he can know how to be a good father, in the same way God does this for us.

Psalms 55:17  Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

It is not good for someone to be taking care of children if they are not listening to them. Our Heavenly Father is always paying attention to us, he hears us when we talk to him and he will give us answers. God just like any good father is available for his kids. He wants to spend time with us but we are the ones that have to make the time to spend with him. Just like spending time with our parents on earth makes us closer to them so does spending time with our heavenly father. So we need to be communicating with him and spending time getting to know him.

Our Father also is with us, he goes before us and stands next to us.

Deu 31:8  And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

 This part of Gods charter as a Father is similar to listening to his children because he is with us always. He does not leave us. The way I have been viewing this is that God as our Father is looking at us and we are like 3 or 4 year olds. Meaning we are helpless without our Father. Think about that a little kid is not able to care for themselves, or to do things on their own. They are reliant upon their father for everything.

In the same way we as Gods children are reliant on our heavenly Father for all things. Just like a parent is around their child to take care of them so is God with us. Our Heavenly Father cares for us so much so he is available to us whenever we ask. Just like any good father.

Then just as any earthly father does to his children our Heavenly Father disciplines us

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

I know for me growing up I did not like it when I was in trouble and had to be disciplined by my parents but looking back on it now I know it was needed. So God knows this, God knows that we need to be reprimanded if we stray outside of his will. Part of discipline is that children need boundaries that are set by the parents, God sets up very clear boundaries in his word, he provides us the law so we know what to do and what not to do. He also has set up very clear punishments if we fail to do what he calls us to do. God does not discipline us because he is mean or angry he disciplines his children because it is what is needed for us to grow. We need to be growing so that we are more like our Father.

God as our father is an overarching name. Meaning it has a lot of different parts. But the important thing is that they point us toward the fact that God wants what is best for us. Everything that he does is meant to help us and draw us closer to him. We are looking at God not as this big distant scary thing but as our daddy, we need to view God for what he is to his children, a caring and loving daddy.

Galatians 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Through Jesus we have been adopted by God as sons and thus we are able to come to our Abba and talk with him and know that he has our best interest at heart.

Our Heavenly Father has adopted us as his children

Ephisians 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,.

Which we have talked about, but the important thing to remember is back when this letter was written once a person was adopted they had all of the rights of a natural son but more so than that of a natural son, who could have their rights revoked by the father. Not so with someone adopted by the parent. So by God adopting us and deciding to be our Father and our daddy then we cannot lose our rights as his son unless we choose to reject God.

The important things to remember about our Abba is that yes he is God and is all powerful but we are his children and he will never leave us or give up on us and he only wants what is best for us. This is a name for God that shows how much he cares for and loves us. So when we have been going through a tough time or we just need someone to understand then it is time to climb into our daddy’s arms. Try to spend some time with your Abba today.