Bible Study Notes – 06/13/18
Pastor Washington, Pastor/Teacher
How to Talk with God! Part II
Scripture reference:
- Isaiah 9:6
The study is “How to Talk with God,” because we ought never come into His presence making our demands, without spending time with Him, and waiting for Him to Speak. It should be a two-way conversation when we meet with God. He speaks, I listen. I speak, He listens.
The Parent- The Story
Before The Lord Jesus Christ comes into the world the idea of fatherhood is understood by Jews.
In Exodus 4:22, the idea of fatherhood is born here. God speaks to Moses, where He says….”Israel is my Son.” This is important because it is connected to redemption. This is a redemption dynamic. When God makes the statement Israel is in bondage in Egypt, but they belong to God. So that their present circumstance is an indication that something else is going on. The relationship remains the same, in spite of the conditions. This is associated with the covenant that God made with Abraham 800 years earlier.
Genesis 12: Where God’s covenant with Abraham begins. In genesis 15, God is ready to bring the promise to past. 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we believe not, yet He abides faithful because He cannot deny Himself, ” is confirmation that God keeps His Word. God brings His promises to past for His own glory. He is committed to us because He is faithful to Himself. When I am at my worst He continues to be faithful. When He responds to us in the context of His promises, He is looking at Himself, and not at me.
Exodus 4:22: Redemptive Relationship- Israel is identified as His firstborn Son, but here is the suggestion that there will be a “second son.” The second born will be “The Church,” connected to the covenant made with Abraham because he is the father of faith (Genesis 15:3 )…..”He believed the Lord….”
Galatians 4; Romans 4 emphasizes the fact that Abraham is our father in light of Faith. Through the act of Jesus Christ on the Cross, the Church becomes His second born. We come by faith, the exact same way, but we have a better covenant; an eternal covenant, better that what Israel had. Our covenant guarantees that we have a home in Heaven.
Some Old Testament references to The Fatherhood of God are: Deu. 32:6, Is. 64:8, Jer. 31:9, Hosea 11:1, 1 Chr. 29:10. But the Fatherhood of God was well-known in the days of Jesus and the apostles. In Acts 17:28 …”We are also his offspring.” By the time of the New Testament, the notion of God, as father, begins to impact more than Israel, but they were not believers in the True & Living God, they had many gods.
The Participants – The Singularity
Jesus does something with the statement in Acts 17:28. And in Matthew 6:9, Jesus says , begin your prayer this way … “Our Father,…”
At Matthew 5:1-2, and at the close of Matthew 4, Jesus is performing miracles, and crowds gather. He teaches his disciples in the midst of the multitudes (The Sermon on the Mount), and the people heard it. But the message was specific for His disciples. At Matthew 5:48, The Chapter begins to change the dynamic of His relationship with his disciples, and He shifts from God to Father. He lets them know that God makes Himself the standard for what He wants. They would be forced to put their confidence and hope in someone who can help them. God alone.
No authentic follower of Christ believes that he can handle what God expects from us. I have to see myself as God sees me: totally dependent on Him. (Read Matthew 5:148). He helps them to know what it is that God is looking for in their lives.
He called them. They didn’t sign up for it, and because they are Jews they already understand the culture of God, as Father.
At Matthew 6:1 –Father, here, is referenced to the Redeemed. Only redeemed people have the right to call God Father. In this context He is not the father or the unredeemed. We are all His offspring, but only by creation; directly connected because we are all created by God, but only to the redeemed is the Creative God our Father. There is privilege connected to this truth.
The Product – The State of the Relationship
The state of this relationship is inclusive. [Matthew 6:9] Here Jesus says I can call Him Father. Under “singularity,” this is an exclusive relationship for only redeemed people. Every redeemed person can call God Father, not just those who think they are “Super-Christian’s.” [Read The Gospel of John; Chapters 14 and 15].
A day is coming when I can go to the Father myself, because He loves me, because I love Him. Jesus gives me the privilege to call His Father my Father. [Matthew 6:9] Jesus gives the disciples the right to call His daddy, their daddy. He wants us to understand that there is an awesome privilege to call God Father. I can talk to Him the way Jesus did.
Authentic prayer does not begin with a need. What drives me into the Presence of God is God Himself. The lesson is not how to talk to God, but rather He wants to talk back. The theme of the Psalms is Worship, and when we approach God we ought to come with humility and authority- in worship- recognizing that it is at His invitation, that I have come; I can come boldly, but it is in His Presence that I ought to begin the conversation with Thanksgiving first. My Father knows what I have need of………”
“Lord Open Our Eyes…” Amen.